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 for its third consecutive
term. All Dr. Brown would say is what he has told the people of Bermuda:
“Keep your bags packed!”
Trinidad Elections
Elections are to be held in Trinidad and Tobago on 5th November.
Forty one seats in the House of Assembly are up for grabs. The ethnic
divide in Trinidad gives the Indians 40 per cent and the Africans 38 per
cent. But the Africans have been in control of the government but
for a brief ten years, Patrick Manning is the Prime Minister and he is
looking for his third term. Mr. Manning has replaced 31 of the incumbent
candidates causing a huge uproar in the party. But it appears that
all has settled down and the PNM is expected to win again handsomely against
a divided Opposition force.
Fred Smith Attacks The Christians
Fred Smith, the mercurial lawyer from Freeport who spends his time
charging at windmills, was at it again in the press. This time he
was attempting to debunk the oft repeated phrase that The Bahamas is a
Christian nation. Mr. Smith reminded the country that the constitution
gives the Bahamian citizen protection for the freedom of his conscience
and religion including to choose his religion, to change it or to have
none at all. The report appeared in The Tribune of Wednesday 10th
October.
Friday Boycott Of The Freeport News
Oswald Brown has been the Jackass of The Week on this site more than
any other person. Still he does not learn. His inanity knows
no bounds. We are encouraging all PLPs in Grand Bahama to start a
formal boycott of the Freeport news on Fridays. PLPs should not buy
the Freeport News on Fridays, the day that Mr. Brown writes his column.
Mr. Brown has still not answered whether or not he is still a Bahamian
citizen which was raised in this column last week.
Stalwart Councillor Anne Grant
We have learned with regret that Anne Grant, the widow of former Senator
Austin Grant Sr. JP is gravely ill following two strokes. Mrs. Grant
was honoured by Her Majesty The Queen in the New Year’s Honours 2007 for
her work in her own right in politics and community service. We urge
you to pray.
What’s Happening To The Commissioner?
It looks like Reginald Ferguson is about to become Commissioner of
Police despite the objections of the PLP to is appointment as Deputy Commissioner
of Police. A story reported here some weeks ago indicated that the
Commissioner of Police was about to resign to take up a diplomatic appointment
in London. Now we hear that it is Canada, but he is going; that much
seems certain. The country will need to know whether he has been
pushed out which is what we suspect.
IDLE BEAUTY
Our caricaturist DenE is on leave this week, so
we thought we'd bring you a treat in the form of this idyllic sunset, shot
by photographer Peter Ramsay as he idled away leisure time in the summer
of 2004 outside his back door. "Don't pay attention to how you slave
away the hours", he said at the time, "But ah, where you live..."
LETTER
TO THE EDITOR
Christie and team PLP had it right... AGAIN
As The Bahamas suffered its fifty ninth homicide
and would surely surpass last year’s statistic of sixty, I am reminded
of the infamous and ill-fated public interventions of the FNM in the days
and weeks leading up to the 1992 and 2007 general elections. During
the 1992 campaign the Hon. Janet Bostwick blamed the element of crime on
the ruling PLP and told the electorate that if they elected the FNM, they
(the FNM) would significantly reduce the level of crime in The Bahamas.
For a brief moment during the 1990’s, the Hon Theresa Moxey-Ingraham claimed
that the FNM government had in fact broken the back of crime. History
will record that the 1990’s was arguably the most violent period in an
independent Bahamas where the murder count topped seventy in the year 2000.
In the days leading up to the 2007 general elections,
the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham claimed that crime was out of control and
that the “PLP government was paralyzed to do anything about it.”
The FNM shamelessly politicized crime and claimed that they had the magic
bullet... just elect the FNM and they would eradicate crime from Bahamian
society. History is apparently repeating itself as The Bahamas is
on course to suffer a murder count in excess of seventy... again... under
the same government who claimed to be able to unilaterally eradicate crime
and who publicly eschewed and scorned the practice of consultative governance.
They assailed, tarred, and feathered former PM Christie for calling commissions
and consulting with civil society on national issues to solicit feedback
that was used to form the basis for effective and relevant public policies.
Under growing public pressure, Minister Turnquest
promised a comprehensive national anti-crime initiative by September 2007.
As criticism grew during September, the minister called a temporary commission
comprising civil society and held a two-day crime symposium. At the
end of the conclave, Minister Turnquest made a remarkable statement: he
promised to appoint a permanent council on crime. I believe this
council will consult with civil society, make recommendations to the FNM
government, and these recommendations will form the basis for public policies
and programs in the fight against crime. In a nutshell Minister Turnquest
called a temporary commission to consult to call a permanent commission
to consult to advise the government. But is this not the style of
governance that he and the FNM publicly assailed, feathered, and tarred
former PM Christie for practicing with one exception? Christie appointed
temporary commissions and Turnquest took it a step further in promising
to appoint a permanent one. The recurrent themes of duplicity and
hypocrisy in this administration are becoming increasingly pronounced and
centralized. I do however take comfort in the knowledge that Christie
and the PLP had it right... again.
Larry Smith in his “Tough Call” article called
for the political directorate and society to focus on building families
and communities. He described all of the goals of the Urban Renewal,
Character Counts, and the National Youth Restorative (with Y.E.A.S.T) programs
while conveniently avoiding any mention of these social programs.
I interpreted Mr. Smith’s article as a tribute to and a vindication of
Christie and his aggressive social agenda. Christie and the PLP
had it right... again.
During his speech at the United Nations on the
occasion of its 62nd session of the General Assembly, Foreign Minister
Theodore Brent Symonette bragged to the world about how The Bahamas had
passed into law two pieces of legislation that were designed “to protect
the rights of women and children, (and) end discrimination and violence
against women and children.” He made reference to the Family and
Child Protection Act and The Domestic Violence Act. These two acts
formed the legislative framework of the PLP’s social agenda. I simply
repeat that Christie and the PLP had it right... again.
The single greatest challenge facing a
21st century Bahamas is social development or the lack thereof and the
focus of the government must reflect the commitment to conquer this challenge.
Dissolving the Ministry of Social Services probably does not reflect this
commitment. Suffice it to say that on the issue of social development,
together with the PLP’s consultative approach to overall governance and
national development, it is becoming increasingly clear that Christie and
the PLP had in right all along.
Elcott Coleby
| 21st
October, 2007
Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com |
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| INGRAHAM AND THE JUDGES... | NO PLAN ON CRIME... |
| YOU SAY AND I SAY ON BAHAMAS HOUSE... | THE FUNERAL OF YAMADA SAN... |
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| PLPs On The Web... | Interesting Places... |
| Vincent Peet / PLP North Andros & Berry Isl. | Bahamas Government Website |
| Alfred Sears / PLP Fort Charlotte | Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
| Keod Smith / PLP Mount Moriah [former MP] | Bahamians On The Web |
| FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES... | Bahamian Kayaking News |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
A PAINFUL TIME FOR OUR COUNTRY
Why aren’t you happy?
Henry’s given you everything you want!
Eleanor of Aquitaine
in The Lion In Winter (1968)
For the Progressive Liberal Party it is one of life’s ironies that it finds itself having done all that it could, for all that it could and being turned out of office as a reward. The PLP sits on the Opposition benches and finds a wicked task master simply setting out with one direct and swift agenda and that is to dismantle and ruin everything that the PLP put in place to further build this nation. Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister is about whom we speak. He has that one task: destroy everything in sight that is PLP.
Everyone remembers the story of the day that Sir Lynden Pindling resigned from the House, tricked by Hubert Ingraham into resigning in exchange for a pension, desperately ill and without money, and where was Hubert Ingraham but in his home drinking up champagne, toasting the fact that he had at last destroyed his former master. That is the Hubert Ingraham we know.
The Hubert Ingraham we do not know is the one who described himself as a grandpa during the campaign. Who said that he had changed during the campaign, that he had become more tolerant and more understanding. He deceives himself and the truth is not in him.
Since Hubert Ingraham has come back to power, he has victimized the civil servants, firing masses of them. He has cancelled the Bahamian cultural invitation to the world by refusing to host Carifesta. He has reneged on the agreement to support the Bahamians who live in New York to save a valuable historical asset, and then tried to mislead the public on the matter in the House last week. The economy was on a fast track to the greatest period of growth in the country since the 1960s. He has brought all the projects to a full stop, not because he believes there is anything wrong with them, but simply to bring them to a stop. He likes to pull wings off butterflies. There is a mean and wicked streak in his logic. The PLP must find a way to defeat this, otherwise our country is headed for a crash and we do not know how and when we will climb out of it.
There is a view around town that the PLP is afraid of Hubert Ingraham. Some say that the leaders of the PLP simply do not stand up to him in the withering heat of his ill manners, boorishness and perfidy. The PLP is not afraid, neither are its leaders afraid of this national stooge, a man who has been called by some an Uncle Tom, who really has placed this country in a position to be sold down the river. He seems to have a real self hatred.
Last week, we spoke about the insecurities of the FNM and the group that now leads the country. It starts of course with their leader who having come from the racial discrimination in Abaco as a small boy, is grateful for anyone whom he perceives is a social better giving him the time of day. The fact that those social betters are often of a different hue is so much the better. God after all favours them.
His insecurities notwithstanding, the wickedness of Hubert Ingraham’s logic notwithstanding, something must be done. After all, you simply have to walk out to the streets and look at what is coming behind us. The thousands of youngsters coming out of the schools, insecure themselves about an identity what with the Haitians and Jamaicans and others amongst them, who are all God’s children but who come into a mix of what is Bahamian that is still seeking to identify itself. In seeking to identify itself, discrimination becomes the order of the day. The net affect is that all are unsure about their identities, identity of race, their dark skins and nappy hair especially and nationality and just plain humanity. How do you build a Bahamas on this?
We have reached the spot where everything seems to be on the verge of a breakdown. The roads, the parks, the garbage, the phones, the airport, the national airline, the Grand Bahama Port Authority, the Courts, the press, the Government. It seems so fragile. Yet the solution seems so clear. We have to impose some discipline upon ourselves. But who will start, and what does the discipline mean?
No one really is quite sure what to do about all of this. We are watching the economy falter since Hubert Ingraham came to power. Our surmise is that he is simply slowing down the economy, wrecking our national institutions, to spread propaganda that it is the PLP’s fault and then next year some time when it is all in melt down, he will argue that he must go to the electorate again to try and clean up the mess made by the PLP. In fact the mess is made by him and him alone.
In this week, then, we simply send out a warning again. It marks our deep concern that the country made a huge mistake in electing Hubert Ingraham to office. He is not fit for office. He is not looking out for our interests. By all lawful means, he must be removed from office in the quickest possible time. Those are the realities of life in this very painful period of time.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 20th October 2007 up to midnight: 311,989.
Number of hits for the month of October 2007 up to Saturday 20th October 2007 up to midnight: 788,879.
Number of hits for the year 2007 up to Saturday 20th October 2007 up to midnight: 3,930,703. [Does not reflect hits prior to 30th June, 2007]
INGRAHAM
AND THE JUDGES
It is the style of the FNM to heckle, jeckle and harass PLP speakers in
the House of Assembly. The heckle and jeckle does not go into the
record but it is there in the air all the same and you can take notice
of it because from an evidential point of view it is there. It is
important what is said from the seat, sometimes more important than what
is said from the feet. What is said from the feet gets into the record,
what is said from the seat does not. But that does not stop you from
hearing it.
The Ingraham administration came back after a long
summer recess with an amendment to the act which authorizes the selection
of jurors. They want to reduce the number of jurors in non capital
cases from 12 down to 9. This is their contribution to reducing crime.
The junior Minister in the Office of the Attorney General, Desmond Bannister,
told an incredulous House that this would improve the administration of
justice.
The Bar Association does not agree with the bill.
The Chief Justice does not have it amongst his recommendations for the
improvement of the Judiciary. Alfred Sears, the former Attorney General
was able to produce a letter of suggestions for changes by the Chief Justice
and not amongst them was changing the size of the jury. Nonetheless
in the world of Alice in Wonderland that passes for an FNM government,
this is what we have to fight crime.
Mr. Ingraham, tough, master of all he surveys, and
in his arrogance said from the seat an interesting set of mumbles.
Someone was talking about judges being unhappy. We think it was Philip
Davis PLP MP for Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador (pictured top right).
Before Mr. Davis could finish his point, Mr. Ingraham was shouting from
his seat the question, who? He went on to boast, there is only one.
He said that he had inquired of each one and they said, no not I, not I,
it’s the other one, only him. We think that is quite an incredible
admission.
NO PLAN
ON CRIME
It is clear that the FNM is completely bankrupt when it comes to fighting
crime. Tommy Turnquest, the Minister of National Security, had no
groundbreaking matters to reveal to the House of Assembly, just the same
old claptrap and commentary that we have already heard. His views
are just like those of an ordinary citizen who is frustrated with the idea
of how to deal with crime. Mr. Turnquest gave a litany of statistics
that included that there are 114 persons on bail for murder in The Bahamas.
This is a shocking statistic, because it shows that there is something
seriously wrong with the administration of justice here. Yet the
government came with nothing new to deal with this.
Cases simply cannot get off the ground. No
more egregious a case of delay is that of the alleged murderers of young
Mario Miller, son of the former Minister of Trade Leslie Miller.
Mr. Miller, the younger, was murdered in June 2002, shortly after his father
became a Minister. The case came to trial once but a mistrial was
declared because a juror was related to one of the accused and did not
declare it. The retrial has not taken place. Mr. Miller left
office a bitter man about the case. You can imagine then the feeling
of ordinary citizens over the matter of the cases that are left hanging
(pardon the pun).
The junior Minister who led the debate Desmond Bannister
offered no hope. Tommy Turnquest did no better. But Hubert
Ingraham in one of his mumbled jibes from his seat had his own ideas.
He claimed that the reason for the failures in the justice system was incompetence.
There are too many incompetents was his cry. Was he talking about
the Judges, the lawyers in the AG’s office, or the police? Who knows
but it is typical of him to say something like this.
We remind Hubert Ingraham of the story of him sitting
at the Cabinet table where he hosted a press conference just before he
left office the last time with the then Commissioner of Police Bernard
Bonamy sitting by his side with his officers, and Frank Watson, the then
Deputy Prime Minister on the other side. Mr. Ingraham declared after
the murders of two white women on Paradise Island that it could not have
been a Bahamian who did it. We immediately dubbed them Inspector
Ingraham and Sergeant Watson. The crime solvers! Turns out
that it was a Bahamian. The same Bahamian was convicted for both.
One Bahamian male was convicted of both murders. Talk about incompetence.
File photo of Tommy Turnquest
YOU
SAY AND I SAY ON BAHAMAS HOUSE
Hubert Ingraham must reverse course and show that he does after all have
some Bahamian blood in his veins. It is increasingly being asked
around The Bahamas where does this mean man come from?
The now Prime Minister of The Bahamas takes every
opportunity to destroy that which is Bahamian, that which is civil.
We have commented before on his Government’s abrupt cancellation of hosting
Carifesta 2008. He did it because it was PLP inspired and he did
it in the face of the widespread criticism of the artistic community.
Now he has further shown his anti Bahamian traits by confirming that his
government is no longer going to support the development of Bahamas House
in Harlem. This is the building bought by the Bahamian community
in 1946 and that has been in the hands of Bahamians until now, that the
Bahamas American Association of New York wishes to keep in Bahamian hands.
The Association had asked the government to help
them to develop the building. The PLP agreed. The FNM disagreed.
It was interesting that the question asked by Fred Mitchell, the shadow
Minister for Foreign Affairs had been asked since the summer recess.
Brent Symonette, the now Foreign Minister, rose on 3rd October when the
House returned and answered the question with one line. The government
did not propose to proceed with the project. That was not enough
for Mr. Ingraham who seems to have been upset by the PLP’s news conference
on the matter. You may click
here for the report of that news conference.
Mr. Ingraham responded with a further answer in
the House on Wednesday 17th October. He did not let Brent Symonette
who is responsible answer it. It is interesting that Mr. Symonette
had to hide behind the gown tail of Mr. Ingraham. It is also interesting
that the master did not deign to give an explanation, he sent the servant
to do it. It is also interesting that the Prime Minister felt it
of sufficient importance to answer it. All of it is interesting but
the fact is the Bahamians in New York have been sabotaged by their
own government. That was the response of Shadow Minister Fred Mitchell
to Mr. Ingraham’s statement. You may click
here for the full response by Mr. Mitchell.
File photos
Our photo of the week this week shows the denouement
of the funeral of Shoichi Yamada, the Honorary Consul of the Bahamas to
Japan. Mr. Yamada died on Wednesday 10th October in Tokyo after a
brief illness. He was 59 years old at the time of his death, a victim
of Jacob Crudfelt’s disease. Many friends from The Bahamas travelled
to Tokyo for the funeral service and cremation. They included his
long time business associate from The Bahamas Lowell Mortimer, Attorney
at Law and Co Trustee with Mr. Yamada of the Freedom Foundation Trust.
Mr. Yamada was appointed Honorary Consul to The
Bahamas in 2006 and served with distinction. Mr. Mortimer described
him as “a real friend of The Bahamas.” Mr. Yamada supported The Bahamas
through his many business connections, especially by listing ships on the
Bahamian Registry.
Mr. Yamada converted to Christianity in May 2007
along with his wife. They became Anglicans. He took the Christian
name Ambrose. His funeral service took place at St. Cyprian’s Church
in Tokyo. Following the church service, the priest, family and friends
attended his cremation. Two representatives of Japan’s Foreign Ministry
also attended the church service.
Among others attending the service and cremation
from The Bahamas were Bernadette Christie, wife of the former Prime Minister
Perry Christie, Fred Mitchell, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Leslie
Fernandes, Chairman of Dockendale Shipping, Antony Prince, President of
G.T.R. Campbell Marine Consultants, Nassau, Captain Kamana Valluri, President
Dockendale, Nassau, Captains Joseph Vaz and A. Misri of Dockendale, India,
Ken McLean, Executive Director of the Bahamas Maritime Authority, Nello
Lambert, Dockendale Shipping, Nassau.
Mr. Yamada is survived by his wife and two sons.
Another son predeceased him earlier this year. We show a number of
the pictures of aspects of the ceremony and its aftermath.
ROUND
ONE FOR THE PLP
One of the daily newspapers led with the headline THROW PINEWOOD PETITION
OUT. It had a picture of an aggressive looking Pinewood MP Byron
Woodside reporting to Court to hear the start of the case against him being
brought by former Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson, who was declared
the loser in the general election for the seat.
The case started as expected. Michael Barnett,
the attorney for Mr. Woodside, immediately launched an attack on the petition
itself saying that it should be struck out because the evidence did not
support the case outlined in the petition but was in fact a new case.
The Judges Anita Allen and Jon Isaacs did not accept his position and on
Friday 19th October ruled that the case should go forward. The evidential
hearing now begins on Monday 22nd October. The case was originally
expected to take ten weeks for hearing.
Mrs. Maynard Gibson has identified 159 people who
were not entitled to vote in the constituency by reason of the fact that
they were not ordinarily resident in the constituency or they were not
qualified to be voters in The Bahamas. Before the case started on
Monday 15th October, the court brought to the attention of the litigants
the fact that comments made on the outcome of the case are sub judice.
Philip Davis MP the lawyer for Allyson Maynard Gibson
brought to the attention of the court a complaint from the PLP side about
an announcement the FNM side made about the result in a ruling on an application
by the PLP that failed. The FNM made a statement saying that it was
fatal to Mrs. Maynard Gibson’s case. The Justice Anita Allen told
the litigants that the court had the necessary powers to deal with the
kinds of violations of the rules on comments on the cases that were sub
judice. That means she could send the offenders to jail for contempt.
Nassau Guardian photos by Letisha Hennderson
DEATH
SENTENCE DEBATE IN APPEAL’S COURT
Dame Joan Sawyer, the President of the Court of Appeal was at it again.
You will remember that she was reported in the press to have criticized
former Ministers Allyson Maynard Gibson and Fred Mitchell on the question
of the extradition of Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles. The comments, if repeated
outside the Courts, could have been ruled defamatory. We criticized
the remarks here as irresponsible. Now comes a further strange comment
on the matter of the death penalty against a convicted murder Cordell Farrington.
Mr. Farrington was convicted of killing his male
lover in Grand Bahama. He has been charged though not convicted of
killing six young boys in Grand Bahama. As a result of the Privy
Council’s ruling on the death penalty, the courts have had to re-sentence
everyone on death row, going through a hearing to determine whether the
sentence should be affirmed or some other sentence should be imposed.
In Mr. Farrington's case, Justice Anita Allen passed
the death sentence after a penalty hearing. His attorney has appealed
on the grounds that by the evidence he had an abnormality of the mind that
should have led to a manslaughter conviction. In ruminating over
the subject, Dame Joan was reported as saying from the bench during the
hearing that if the court upheld the death sentence it would be known as
a hanging court, and if it did not it would be seen as anti hanging.
Oh dear! What is a judge to do? We did
not know that judges thought about public opinion in deciding cases before
the courts. The Court is supposed to do what is correct in law.
If they get it wrong, the Privy Council is there to correct it. Just
decide according to the law and move on.
In any event, we find it strange that the Court
of Appeal is still hearing these cases, since it was Dame Joan who reportedly
opined in another case that the PLP did not put in place a law to give
Judges the guidelines on how to apply the discretion on whether or not
the death penalty should apply and so the issue of a sentence in the absence
of that might be unlawful. Who knows with her though?
File photo
IN PASSING
Mitchell In Havana
Fred Mitchell, Member of Parliament for Fox Hill and shadow spokesman
on Foreign Affairs returned today to The Bahamas from an informal visit
to Cuba.
Condolences To Dorothy Coleby And Family
We extend condolences to Dorothy Coleby, a part of the protocol staff
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs working usually out of the VIP Lounge
at the Lynden Pindling International Airport. Her daughter died suddenly.
The loss must be heartbreaking. Mrs. Coleby and her family have our
sympathy.
Mitchell First Speaker In House Debate
Fred Mitchell, MP for Fox Hill and Shadow spokesman on Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Trade and the Public Service will be the first speaker when the
House resumes its debate on the Juries Bill on Monday 22nd October.
Proposed Jobs Cuts At ZNS Confirmed
The Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union’s President Robert
Farqhuarson has confirmed to the press in The Bahamas what was reported
first here on this website that there is significant downsizing coming
at ZNS TV and Radio. Mr. Farqhuarson said that they will be meeting
with the Board to discuss an expected 89 layoffs from the Corporation.
Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister said that he would give “not a copper
more” than the eight million that ZNS now gets in public funding.
How they live within their budget will be their business and he does not
know who they intend to layoff. He spoke in one of his seated mumbles
in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 17th October.
Ministry of Tourism Apologizes for Gay Raid
The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism has issued a formal letter of apology
to a tour group that organizes gay tourists to visit The Bahamas.
The apology came in a letter from the Director General of Tourism Vernice
Walkine who told the group that the Ministry does not condone discrimination
against anyone who is law abiding. The apology came following what
the tour operators described as a police raid on a party they were having
at a club in Nassau. The group’s director said that this would not
prejudice their returning to The Bahamas but an explanation and apology
was required from the Government and from the police. The police
have so far been silent in the matter.
Pauline Glasby Dies
She trained a generation of musicians at the College of The Bahamas
and in the Government High School before that. She was an native
of England who migrated to The Bahamas and made it her home. She
succeeded E. Clement Bethel following his untimely death as the director
of the Renaissance Singers who are known for the annual Government House
Christmas concert. The cultural community was plunged into sadness
when it learned that Pauline Glasby, College of The Bahamas lecturer and
director of the Renaissance died in hospital on Saturday 20th November
following a long illness.
| 28th
October, 2007
Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com |
|
| DEBATE ON THE JURIES BILL CONTINUES... | PLP DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM INGRAHAM... |
| A HEINOUS CRIME IN GRAND BAHAMA... | LAUNCH OF POLICE BOOK... |
| KOZENY GETS OFF... | BUSH ON CUBA... |
| ELMA MISSPEAKS ON IMMIGRATION... | ZHIVARGO LOST AGAIN ON TRADE... |
| ELECTION COURT CASE CONTINUES... | IN PASSING... |
| DEATH REPORT CORRECTION... | LETTER TO THE EDITOR... |
| The Official Site of the Progressive
Liberal Party... |
The Official Site of the Free National Movement... |
| PLPs On The Web... | Interesting Places... |
| Vincent Peet / PLP North Andros & Berry Isl. | Bahamas Government Website |
| Alfred Sears / PLP Fort Charlotte | Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
| Keod Smith / PLP Mount Moriah [former MP] | Bahamians On The Web |
| FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES... | Bahamian Kayaking News |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
INGRAHAM - JACKASS OF THE
WEEK
The FNM partisans who run the Broadcasting Service ZNS TV and Radio
probably thought they were doing Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister, a
favour last week when following the House of Assembly’s meeting on Monday
22nd October, they broadcast an extraordinary attack by Mr. Ingraham on
the Opposition and Perry Christie in particular. They did Mr. Ingraham
no favour. It exposed all the lies the FNM had been telling during
the campaign about him being a changed man. In the House, Mr. Ingraham
engaged in an outburst that showed him in all his vindictive spitefulness.
It showed him ranting and raving like a lunatic. It was maniacal
and unseemly. It was boorish and rude and all the other adjectives
of negativism that one can think about. It was certainly unbecoming
of a leader of this country.
The whole news report left many in the Bahamian public wondering what kind of man they have as Prime Minister. The display was sickening. It was disgraceful, besides being disrespectful. He accused the former Prime Minister and his colleagues as giving a disgraceful performance in office but the only disgraceful performance was that performance by Mr. Ingraham in the House.
You will remember that we reported in this space that Mr. Ingraham was making fun of the fact that Alfred Sears, the MP for Ft. Charlotte had spent time as a youngster in the Simpson School for boys then called the Industrial School. He had three stints in the school. But despite all of that Mr. Sears rose to become the Attorney General of The Bahamas. Mr. Ingraham and his ministers thought that was the proper object of derision. This was being done in the House while the kids from another one of the special programmes of the Ministry of Education were sitting in the gallery of the House. No thought. This was done for political effect. This is simply a man with nasty words on his mind at all times.
Some PLPs in Grand Bahama observing what has been happening in the House and also reviewing what has happened during the campaign of 2007 made the observation that the PLP has a problem because its responses are too intellectual. They think the PLP also have the intellectual edge on the MPs for the FNM, but it appears to them that the public that MPs serve today has gone so down market, with The Punch as their Bible, seeming to revel in slogans and one liners and who can jam who by rhetoric. If you visit downstairs in the lobby of the House, you see the drivers and others gathered laughing away at what they think is funny as Mr. Ingraham and his group engage in one set of one liners after the next.
You will remember that the entire campaign of 2007 was fought on one-liners last year by the FNM: “Aint long now”; “Late again”. Mr. Ingraham has obviously practiced his one-liners. It is not playful banter. It is serious nasty invective.
What is interesting is that the House of Assembly actually operates quite well once Mr. Ingraham is not there. Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest is from a different background, a different social class. Mr. Turnquest is from the elite blacks. His father did not make Prime Minister and the son to boot could not make it as Leader of the FNM party precisely because they did not have the skills of boorishness that Mr. Ingraham has. Mr. Turnquest as former Leader was embarrassed by Mr. Ingraham who lied to him about his intentions. Mr. Turnquest did not leave; he stayed and was further humiliated by Mr. Ingraham on the public stage.
But one thing we say about Mr. Turnquest and the rest of the FNM parliamentary team except for Brent Symonette who is in a class by himself, he has the broughtupcy to know better. We cannot say the same for Hubert Ingraham. He obviously does not know better. Mr. Turnquest tries his best to be civil and so do his other members. They operate the way they are supposed to with the possible exception and surprisingly so of Loretta Butler Turner, granddaughter of the national hero Sir Milo Butler who should really know better. But you can be assured that as soon as Hubert Ingraham turns up, the whole atmosphere in the House changes, and it becomes like the school yard playground.
This is not the PLP way. This is not the way of a civil polity. It appears however that in the Hubert Ingham dispensation civility has completely gone out of the window. It appears that shouting and carrying on like an absolute mad man is the way of the future. The PLP if it does not respond in that way is accused of being scared or cowardly or afraid and so is expected to match what Mr. Ingraham does.
What is also interesting is the way the spin is being managed on this issue. The House dissolved into disorder when Mr. Ingraham started with his unseemly tirade last on Monday last. The Speaker had to get up and restore order. The ZNS broadcast did not show that nor did the audience get to hear what was being said by the PLP because the microphones were changed by the Speaker of the House without consultation with the House making them unidirectional. So that with the new microphones it is not possible for the public to hear what is being said by others in the House. The result is that it is reinforcing in the public’s mind that the PLP did not adequately defend itself in the House on that day. This is a matter that has to be revisited by the PLP at the first opportunity.
And so we have said it here before, we think that the country made a serious mistake by voting into office the FNM. They and their leader are again showing what a nasty and despicable group they are. They must go. Their leader is especially despicable in his attitudes. For all of those reasons we consider Hubert Ingraham this week to be our JACKASS OF THE WEEK.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 27th November 2007 at midnight: 276,465.
Number of hits for the month of October up to Saturday 27th November 2007 up to midnight: 1,078,650.
Number of hits for the year 2007 up Saturday 27th November 2007 at midnight: 4,220,474. [Does not reflect hits prior to 30th June, 2007]
DEBATE
ON THE JURIES BILL CONTINUES
The FNM appears to have had little more to say about their
proposed amendment to the Juries Bill. The PLP speakers all took
to the podium to denounce it as an ill thought out piece of legislation
that did not deal with the issue of crime. Loretta Butler Turner
FNM MP for Montagu came along. She is the Minister responsible for
the units that incarcerate children for offences. She said nothing
about the recent breakout of girls from the Willamae Pratt School.
But she had plenty to say about the amendment and principally that it may
not be as comprehensive as the PLP wants but it is a first small step at
helping to solve the problem. The issue is; where are the other steps?
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham then came just before
the end and changed the whole tenor of the debate by his nasty vicious
attack on the PLP. (See Comment
of The Week).
PLP
DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM INGRAHAM
As this site went to upload, the Progressive Liberal Party held a news
conference at its Gambier House headquarters outlining its position on
the Juries Bill currently before the House of Assembly and demanding an
apology from the Prime Minister for his behaviour in the last meeting of
the House. Leader of Opposition business in the House of Assembly
Dr. Bernard Nottage MP said "the Prime Minister appeared to go berserk,
shouting at the top of his voice and berating the Leader of the Opposition
in a manner unbecoming of any Prime Minister. Indeed, he went too
far."
Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie said he
was disappointed that the FNM government chose not to build on the successes
of the PLP in fighting crime and the fear of crime in The Bahamas.
The news conference was chaired by Fred Mitchell
Fox Hill MP and former Attorney General Alfred Sears gave a rousing defence
against the charge that the Christie administration had left the judiciary
in shambles. Please click here for Dr.
Nottage's full remarks and you may visit the official Progressive Liberal
Party website www.myplp.com for further
coverage or you may click
here to download the full audio of the news conference.
A
HEINOUS CRIME IN GRAND BAHAMA
The alarm went out last weekend when Police Corporal Edison Bain 28 (pictured
above) and about to be married went missing. His picture appeared
in the morning paper in Freeport seeking information and speaking the word.
But alas it was already too late. In the early hours of the morning
of Monday 22nd October, Corporal Bain’s body was found bound and gagged.
He had been murdered. The question was whodunit?
There are now three people charged with the murder
and it appears that robbery was the motive. The two men and one woman
were arraigned in magistrate’s court in front of a riotous assembly on
Thursday 25th October in Freeport with shouts of hanging and other threats
to the defendants. This was murder number 61 in the Bahamas for the
year, 9 short of the all time record under the last FNM government in 2000.
Corporal Bain was said to be a diligent, respectful
officer who kept to himself. He was robbed of just over $4000 dollars.
The persons who were charged are Edwin Bauld Jr. (a cousin of the Corporal),
Wilfred McPhee, pictured far right (both men are 24 years of age) and Ghanise
Campbell 19, pictured at right (a woman). The two men are also charged
with possession of marijuana and a string of other petty robbery offences.
The trial is adjourned to the 28th January 2008.
In the early hours of Saturday 27th August there
was murder number 62 in New Providence. This is a fitting if unhappy
drop back to resuming the debate on the amendment to the Juries Act so
that the PLP can ask the government yet again what is amending the act
going to do to stop murder number 63?
Freeport News photos
LAUNCH
OF POLICE BOOK
The book is called THE STORY OF THE ROYAL BAHAMAS
POLICE FORCE. Its authors are Sergeant Chaswell Hanna, Altida Khalfani
and Kemuel Knowles. They are all police officers. You may remember
Sgt. Hanna, a smart and self possessed young man, who did a work called
‘Homicide’ that analyzes the statistics on murder in The Bahamas.
This new project is a huge and comprehensive work
and is likely to be the swan song project of the Commissioner of Police
Paul Farquharson who is about to leave the Force and move on to work in
the diplomatic field. It traces the history of policing in the world
and in The Bahamas up to the formal establishment of the Force and beyond
to the present day. At 70 dollars, it is well worth the money.
The work was launched at a special ceremony at the Royal Bahamas Police
Force Headquarters on Wednesday 24th October.
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell
represented the Opposition at the event. Book presentations were
made to those who assisted in the compilation of the work as consultants.
Amongst them is now President of the Grand Bahama Port Authority Sir Albert
Miller who served as Deputy Commissioner of Police and as Acting Commissioner
before his retirement in 1971.
KOZENY
GETS OFF
Victor Kozeny, who is known in some circles as the
Pirate of Prague, after the city where he lived and made his fortune, is
like a cat with nine lives. The U.S and his former home country the
Czech Republic have been trying to get him for years to stand trial for
allegedly bilking thousands of investors out of their money in his home
country during the rush to privatization there.
The U.S. went first and having succeeded at first
in the Magistrate’s Court, they failed last week in the Supreme Court to
which Mr. Kozeny had appealed. Justice Jon Isaacs decided that the
Magistrate in the court below was wrong to have ordered the extradition
of Mr. Kozeny as requested by the United States government. His ruling
indicated that the evidence was not sufficiently disclosed by the U.S.
and further that the offences were not offences in Bahamian law.
The champagne corks must be popping in Lyford Cay
where he lives. Mr. Kozeny may face the prospect of an appeal of
the matter.
File photo
BUSH ON
CUBA
The vote at the United Nations to end the embargo
on trade between Cuba imposed by the United States comes up again on Tuesday
30th October. It takes place annually in the U.N. General Assembly
and is overwhelmingly passed by the Assembly save for the United States,
Israel and the Marshall Islands. This time look to see if The Bahamas
with the new toadies in power will change the vote to side with the United
States on this embargo which is clearly wrong. Don’t look for the
embargo to change anytime soon though despite world opinion being against
the United States. The Bush administration announced in a special
speech by the President of the United States at his Foreign Ministry the
Department of State that it will not change. He also asked other
countries to join in a fund to help Cuba make the transition to democracy
when Castro has died. It is unlikely that any other country will
help.
ELMA
MISSPEAKS ON IMMIGRATION
It always amazes you the press and the FNM.
It is always like something new has been discovered. During the CSME
debate former Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell pointed out repeatedly
to the country that the work permit scheme in The Bahamas did not prevent
anyone from getting a work permit, it really was really a revenue
raising measure. The figures for the year 2003 were set at 23 million
dollars in revenue. There is therefore no incentive for Immigration
to turn down anyone's work permit. We already have the free movement
of people. Now comes Elma Campbell Chase who is the Minister responsible
for Immigration as Minister of State to say that yes it is the third largest
revenue earner for the government at 29 million in the last fiscal year.
The Nassau Guardian covered this like it was a big surprise and the government
itself does not see what it has now admitted to doing.
ZHIVARGO
LOST AGAIN ON TRADE
You get more and more disappointed in this Laing
fellow. It gets worse every week. He just can’t rise above
the fact that he is mesmerized by a pied pier and simply be his own man.
He has now been put in charge of foreign trade issues for The Bahamas.
He is now lining us up for a disaster. First came word that he does
not propose for The Bahamas to sign onto the Economic Partnership Agreements
with the other countries of the Caribbean and the European Union.
In fact the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery which The Bahamas
pays to negotiate for us is absolutely lost as to what the position of
The Bahamas is. Perhaps we can help them. In the Nassau Guardian
of Friday 26th October Mr. Laing said that the work had not been done to
prepare the country for the Economic Partnership Agreement. That
is a bold faced lie. All the work had been done.
The PLP had left in place the creation of a Department
of Foreign Trade, headed by Ambassador Leonard Archer who is an expert
on the matter. The market access offer was complete and all that
remained was the services offer. It is a lie to say that the work
was not done and it is simply disingenuous to say that the FNM needs eight
months to decide what they are going to do.
The private sector is apoplectic. Polymers,
a Grand Bahama based manufacturing company, made a last plea in the press
on Friday 29th October for the deal to be signed. Mr. Laing replied
that the government has to do what is best for the whole Bahamas.
Surely saving 88 jobs in Freeport and the keeping the general shipping
rates low must be good for the whole Bahamas. But this fellow is
too smart, too myopic and just doesn’t get it. So the failures of
the FNM government now extend to foreign trade. The fishing industry
in the country is imperiled by the continued refusal of The Bahamas to
simply sit down with the other Cariforum countries and negotiate a deal.
What will be next?
ELECTION
COURT CASE CONTINUES
The challenge brought by Allyson Maynard Gibson to the election result
in the Pinewood constituency that saw Byran Woodside being declared the
winner continued during the past week. The Court sits every day except
on Fridays. There were legal arguments at the start of last week
on the admissibility of evidence that was hearsay. The PLP side argued
successfully that second hand hearsay is admissible and the court agreed
to admit such evidence by the private investigator provided that the principal
witnesses were called to confirm it. Not sure what that means but
it seems to mean that the people whose names were called by the private
investigator that identified people who were not entitled to vote in Pinewood
will have to come to court in person and confirm whether or not they were
ordinarily resident in the constituency at the time of the election.
The problem is that many will be afraid to come
out to court and you cannot put it past the FNM to threaten and intimidate
the voters, the Judges or the private investigator on the stand.
They must all be very careful about their security with the FNM in power.
Put nothing past them. The main point to be made here is that it
is not the fault of many voters that they ended up being disenfranchised.
The fault seems to be in the Parliamentary Commissioner’s Department who
made massive errors while assigning voters to the new constituencies.
The case resumes on Monday 29th October. The PLP’s rank and file
have buoyed by the reports of the evidence in the case.
Nassau Guardian photo
IN PASSING
Tribune Makes 'Correction' over Oswald Brown and BahamasUncensored
The Tribune in its Friday 26 October edition corrected a story of Thursday
October 25, 2007, headlined 'Brown still demanding action over slur'.
That story had alleged that this website BahamasUncensored.Com contains
accusations that Mr. Brown is "A liar thief and a murderer'. It was
pointed out to The Tribune that there was and is no such assertion on this
website and the 'correction' was duly made.
Bishop Randy Fraser
Members of his congregation were rejoicing on Wednesday 24th October
when Magistrate Marilyn Meeres brought an end to the legal proceedings
against Bishop Randy Fraser in the criminal courts. It was always
believed that this was orchestrated by FNM operatives in the police force
to embarrass Bishop Fraser who was a known PLP and by extension to embarrass
the PLP. The evidence simply was not there. The Magistrate
in the case dismissed it on a no case submission saying that the evidence
was contradictory and in one case not relevant. The Crown has indicated
that it will appeal the ruling. It is not known whether the prosecutor
actually knew what he was talking about but the more likely route open
to the Crown is to proceed by way of voluntary bill of indictment taking
the matter directly to the Supreme Court without going to another Magistrate
or bringing the matter back before another magistrate. If they choose
either course that would be oppressive in the absence of new evidence not
brought before the magistrate who recently dismissed the case. But
with FNM operatives in charge of the Police Force and in the AG’s office
who knows?
The House Resumes
The House of Assembly suspended on Monday 22nd October after the Leader
of Opposition business in the House suggested that there ought to be further
consultation on the Government’s proposed amendment to the Juries Act before
a vote took place. The idea is to see whether with further consultation
the Government can get the unanimous support of the House. The Prime
Minister after much ranting and raving (see
Comment Of The Week) agreed to the delay. So the House resumes
of Wednesday 31st October to deal with the matter.
Sitting In The Gallery
Several times during House sittings, the Speaker of the House of Assembly
has had to point out to the visitors in the gallery that they are not to
participate in or respond to what is said in the House. They are
called strangers in the parlance of the House. That has not stopped
them from doing so, mainly because each week the House is full of FNM partisans
from the women's branch and other affiliated bodies who prevent others
from using the gallery. They are there for a purely political purpose
one supposes and are busy jeering and making faces while the proceedings
are going on. Pretty soon the PLP will have to ask for them all to
be asked to leave.
Mitchell Says Brent Symonette Must Say What Happened
Speaking in the House of Assembly on Monday 22nd October, Fred Mitchell
MP PLP for Fox Hill spoke of the alleged victimization of a senior police
officer at the Fox Hill police station that required an explanation from
the Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette. We present an excerpt
from Mr. Mitchell’s statement to the House:
“In Fox Hill, the business community met with the police last week, and they want to co-operate to help solve crime but the businessmen also know that for what appears to be a purely political reason the Superintendent that came to Fox Hill just after the general election has been removed. There was no question that he was competent and doing a good job. It is alleged that the Deputy Prime Minister visited his station unannounced one day and some exchange must have taken place which caused offence. It is alleged that the Deputy Prime Minister then called the Commissioner of Police to complain and the officer was removed from his post as the head of Fox Hill. We all know that he is the son of a PLP Stalwart Councilor so of course many in Fox Hill believe that it was a political motive against a man who was doing a good job in settling the area down following the general election and the sabotaging of the urban renewal programme by the present administration.
“The Deputy Prime Minister must say whether this is so or not, because it is believed that because he gave significant personal funding to the reconstruction of the Fox Hill station that he has a view that the station is actually his and not public property. And so it seems to me the question of this kind of private support for the repair or reconstruction of police stations will have to be revisited.
“The Member for Farm Road and Centreville likes to say that until lions have their authors the tale of the hunt will be told by the hunter. This incident in Fox Hill with the Deputy Prime Minister recalls an incident with another Bay Street Boy in 1963. A young police officer was working at a private function in Camperdown. He was instructed that no one should be admitted without an invitation. One of the Bay Street Boys showed up without invitation and insisted on entering. He was refused and began to swear at the officer. An altercation ensued and the officer was eventually dismissed from the Force. But amongst the lions of the time, he was one of the heroes of the revolution. What do we say about not knowing our history and being doomed to repeat it?
“The removal of the officer in Fox Hill after having such a short time at command now flies in the face of what was supposed to have been another policy of the Commissioner of Police, and that is that district stations are only to be headed by Superintendents. This station is now headed by an Assistant Superintendent. She used to head it before but when the PLP lost office, the policy changed and the Superintendent was placed there superseding her command which was not right or fair to the Assistant Superintendent in the circumstances. It was a bad human resources choice. It destabilized the work of the police in Fox Hill, at a time as I say when urban renewal was being dismantled in Fox Hill. And now having put in place a new command, within months it has been summarily changed again.
“And this question of a private contribution to the building of the Fox Hill police station is a particularly interesting public policy issue against the background of this present administration that has caused another senior officer to be hung out to dry, pilloried, embarrassed and humiliated in public for gifts that had been presented to him paid for by police funds but because solicitation took place from the public at large. There must not be a double standard.
“The Deputy Prime Minister of course has much to explain not only
for that but because the Leader of the Opposition in this place at the
last question time raised again the potential of a conflict of interest
between the Deputy Prime Minister’s public duties and his private holdings
in his participation in the redevelopment of the city of Nassau and the
creation of a new port in the south of New Providence. Mr. Speaker
as you know similar fact evidence is often an exception to the rule against
hearsay, and this may be the case in these matters.”
(You may click here for Mr. Mitchell’s
full statement)
Dame Marguerite
Word is that Dame Marguerite Pindling, the widow of the founding Prime
Minister of The Bahamas Sir Lynden Pindling, is out of intensive care where
she was for seven days in the Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau suffering
from acute pancreatitis. She is expected to be in hospital for a
few more days and visitors to her room at the private ward have been severely
restricted to allow her to rest.
Norman Lloyd’s Place at Barreterre Burns
We have learned that well known restaurateur at Barreterre in Exuma
Norman Lloyd lost his entire establishment in a fire that took place last
week. The cause of the fire is believed to be electrical. No
further details at this time except that the establishment was burned flat
to the ground. Thousands of Bahamians and visitors alike will know
Mr. Lloyd’s establishment from their trips to Exuma during the Regatta.
Lawyers At The Bar
On Friday 26th October, 33 lawyers were called to The Bahamas Bar.
According to Senior Attorney Stephanie Unwala that makes 400 women and
534 men for a total of 934 lawyers. More are on the way. Amongst
those called to the Bar was Algernon Allen Jr., son of Algernon Allen Sr.,
the former Minister. Mr. Allen Jr. was called before his mom Senior
Justice Anita Allen.
Helen Ebong Dies
Mrs. Helen Ebong, nee Adderley has died after a protracted struggle
with illness. At the time of her death, Mrs. Ebong was the Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.
Knights Bahamas District Plan New Service Year
The Bahamas District #66, Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal
service organization named for the voyager, Christopher Columbus, began
its new year with a meeting of two of the four Councils in The Bahamas
and the new District Deputy. Councils 11755 and 10415 of New Providence
met with new District Deputy Gregory S. Christie at St. Augustine’s College
campus recently and address plans for the ensuing year. A similar
meeting has been held with Council 10647 in Freeport and another is planned
for Council 12692 in North Eleuthera. Christie served as Grand Knight
of the Grand Bahama Council 10647 until taking up his new position in July.
“Our initial meeting was very insightful as it gave me an opportunity to
learn of the concerns of the members in New Providence, and together we
have committed ourselves to addressing those concerns and those of our
respective parishes as indicated by the priests of the parishes.
As Knights we’re committed to working in concert with our priests and the
parishes while at the same time implementing programmes for the youth communities
of our parishes,” said Mr. Christie. The Knights of Columbus is a
Catholic men's fraternal benefit society that was formed to render financial
aid to members and their families. Mutual aid and assistance are offered
to sick, disabled and needy members and their families. Above, members
of the two Nassau Councils pose with District Deputy Christie, seen left
in photo.
DEATH REPORT
CORRECTION
In the early edition of this website, we reported
in error the death of a prominent Bahamian chartered accountant.
The report was in error and has been removed. We apologize for the
error.
LETTER
TO THE EDITOR
The boorish behavior of the PM
Thank you editor once again. I suspect that you
are not surprised that ordinary citizens would find it necessary to weigh
in on the sensational transpiration that took place during the last sitting
of Parliament.
I could appreciate the PM's irritation with the
fact that no member of the legal fraternity endorsed this bill, an amendment
to the Juries Act that provides for a reduction in size. Both the bench
and the bar have not publicly endorsed this bill. The president of the
Bar Association thought the bill was a waste of time and decried the government’s
unwillingness to address the salient and substantive issues facing the
judiciary. Parliamentarians expressed their disappointment that after such
a long summer break, a bill was brought to Parliament that was woefully
lacking in substance. The least the FNM could have done was to consult
with these stakeholders and secure their support before bringing this bill
to parliament.
This was further exacerbated by the PLP's refusal
to support the bill. To add insult to injury, there was a 18 (FNM) to 17
(PLP) split in the house during the summation period. I suppose that the
PM was clearly uncomfortable with this composition and decided that the
voting margin was too close for comfort so he interrupted Desmond Bannister
so that he could defer further discussion on the bill until 31st Oct 2007;
the need for more consultation on the bill was the reason given.
I deduced that PM Ingraham was embarrassed about
having to defer this bill and sought to distract the nation from his minor
legislative defeat which did bruise his enormous ego. He quickly turned
the table on Christie and placed the focus on what he perceived were the
failures of the PLP. The irony in the nature of the tirade was the fact
that this is the legislative agenda of the FNM, not the PLP, but the PM
insisted on “TURNING BACK” (pardon the pun). We are quite familiar with
the “shame on you” tirade.
Never mind that the period 1992-2002 was arguably
the most violent period in an independent Bahamas and the FNM was paralyzed
to do anything about.
Never mind that back in the year 2001, the McWeeney
commission recommended salary increases of 45% and 35% respectively for
the Chief Justice and all other Justices and PM Ingraham rejected this
recommendation; he gave them 20% over a three year period.
PM Ingraham conveniently forgot that the FNM
left a huge judicial mess behind on May 2nd 2002. The disappearance of
files from the AG's office occurred frequently and capital cases took extraordinarily
long periods of time to come to trial and his government was paralyzed
to do anything about it.
The frustration of the PM is part of leadership
in a democracy; he has to be able to sell his programs and policies and
persuade the opposition and stakeholders to support them. He cannot force
anybody to support him. His behavior proves once again that PM Ingraham
is not a democrat. He is a dictator struggling in a democracy and to date
has not made the requisite adjustment. Paul Adderley was right about him.
His tirade in the House also proves that the
FNM relies heavily on propaganda and PR instead of good governance. At
the end of the day it is the hope of the FNM that the public discussion
and focus will center on what the PLP did not did or did not do, not the
ineffectiveness of his administration or the apparent lack of political
will to systematically execute the recommendations of the bench in improving
the administration of justice.
That debacle, or melt down, in the House was
a classic case of "mass distraction" of the Bahamian people. Suffice it
to say, I am yet to see a country advance and develop from a steady diet
of propaganda and spin, but I have seen national development as a product
of sound, well thought out, and properly executed public policies.
In today's Bahamas, the Bahamian people are over-fed
and under-nourished. They are saturated with PR gimmickry, propaganda,
and political spin, but they are starving for good governance and visionary
leadership, a staple that seems to be in short supply under this FNM administration.
A good start would be an update to the nation on the status of National
Health Insurance, a transformative piece of legislation that the FNM supported
unanimously. A word to the wise is sufficient.
Elcott Coleby
