Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 4 © BahamasUncensored.Com 2006
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
DRUNK AGAIN
Drunk again!
Every weekend
You’re drunk again.
--Geno D
The Leader of the Opposition Hubert Ingraham spoke to the FNM Grand Bahama Women’s Association on Saturday 25th March at Old Bahama Bay in West End, Grand Bahama. He told them that he would be announcing his full slate of candidates in May of this year and that he would announce them all at a rally in May. He didn’t have much to say beyond that.
Apart from that the press seemed to indicate that Mr. Ingraham was agitated that ZNS TV cameras had shown up at his meeting. He launched into a tirade against the Government saying that ZNS covered too many Government Ministers and not enough of news of the Opposition. He said that when he had rallies in Exuma and in Long Island, ZNS would not cover those events. “Welcome ZNS,” he said to West End, Grand Bahama.
We understand that the real story behind the story is that when Mr. Ingraham arrived in West End there was nary a person in sight. There was a sparse gathering of people and he was most unhappy. So when ZNS shows up with their cameras, he knew that they might show the lack of attendance at the function, and that was the real source of his unhappiness.
Our reports are that Mr. Ingraham is not a happy camper these days. The early euphoria of his return has worn off and the discipline that he thought he could impose is just not there. One evening it is said he was attending what was supposed to be a Council meeting to deal with important party issues, among them the first foray into choosing candidates for the next General Election. Some 30 persons showed up to the meeting. That was not very much at all since the FNM must have close to 400 council members. The reports say that Mr. Ingraham paced the floor, up and down, up and down waiting for what he believed to be a number to work with in the meeting. Eventually, he gave up and left muttering under his breath “people think I can win this election by myself eh?”
No you cannot win the election by yourself. It can only be won with the help of ordinary FNMs, the rank and file. However, when you come into a party, descending like God from on high, you will find that Gods unlike human beings will get no help. What that means in plain English is that when people are given the impression that you can do it all, they sit on their hands and make you prove it. Now the hard reality is setting in for Mr. Ingraham. He has to build a consensus with other FNMs in order to win. Further, he is going to have to work with people who are not now in political parties, and some who are PLPs if he expects to ever win.
What would you do if you were Tommy Turnquest and Dion Foulkes? Here it is, you are the next generation of FNM leadership or so you think. Mr. Ingraham had earlier announced that he was leaving, finished, done with politics. He was content to spend his remaining years representing Abaco and collecting his pension. Tommy Turnquest took him at his word and headed the party through its worst defeat and attempted to revive the spirits of the faithful. On the night before he was betrayed, a telephone call came to Tommy Turnquest. The convention of the FNM was to happen the next morning, and nomination for officers was to take place. Mr. Ingraham unsolicited called Mr. Turnquest to assure him that he was not placing his name in nomination for the office of Leader. Mr. Turnquest was led to believe that he had a clear field in front of him. That was we now know not to be.
The next morning Mr. Ingraham had unceremoniously changed his mind and was having his name entered into the race. It was a race which he won. Then to add insult to injury, Mr. Turnquest was humiliated in front of his wife, his family and the entire country when he was summoned up to the podium and told how he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and that while others did not see the leadership potential, he Mr. Ingraham did and one day perhaps Mr. Turnquest would be able to come back and persuade the FNM voters.
That’s a hell of an indictment of Mr. Turnquest. It must have been highly embarrassing. It certainly must have been uncomfortable. To have the leader of the party strip and denude you in front of the public. A similar thing was done to Dion Foulkes. Now if you are in their position, being as you are only human what would you be doing this week and in the months and weeks running up to an election?
We think that Carl Bethel, the Senator, former Holy Cross MP and the former Chair of the FNM, has the answer. He makes the right noises, but friends of his have made it clear from their private musings that they must concede this election to the PLP. It is the only way to rid the FNM of Hubert Ingraham, and then with the field clear, the younger generation of real FNMs can take their rightful place. It’s a long shot but sounds like the makings of a strategy to us.
It is only Mr. Ingraham who cannot on this one see right from wrong. He thinks that it is all forgotten and by sheer will and grit he can simply impose a victory for the FNM. We think he has a big surprise coming. We think that at the end of the day the FNMs who were hurt by what happened to Tommy Turnquest, will take a page from the Tennyson Wells playbook and simply savage Mr. Ingraham from the sidelines, and then sit on their hands for the campaign. In true Bahamian fashion they will be telling him of course what he wants to hear. Yes boss! Anything you say boss! Three bags full boss!
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 1st April 2006 at midnight: 91,950.
Number of hits for the month of March up to Friday 31st March, 2006 at midnight: 443,799.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 1st April, 2006 at midnight: 1,246,618.
THE
NAYSAYERS ON CONDI RICE
Dr. Dexter Johnson is a quizzical fellow.
He is almost a senior citizen and has now decided that he will form a political
party called the Bahamas National Party (BNP). Right now it is not
clear who is in the party beside himself, but the Nassau Guardian and Mendel
Small seem to think that he is important enough to entertain us with us
front page articles on his views. The last headline on Saturday 1st
April was that the PLP was using Cold War tactics in its foreign policy.
Of course the only one who is really involved in a cold war is Dr. Johnson
himself.
Lest we forget, the Cold War in capital letters
ended in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall. However, Dr. Johnson
who is anti West Indian and anti Cuba under Castro is keeping his own private
cold war going. You will remember when Condoleezza Rice came to Nassau
she indicated that she had no concerns about The Bahamas and its relations
with Cuba or any other country. She said she was here to strengthen
relations between the United States and The Bahamas. The cartoonist
Stan Burnside and Dr. Dexter Johnson must have been on the same wavelength.
His cartoon from Saturday 25th March in the Nassau Guardian implied that
she really did not mean what she said. Dr. Johnson said it out loud
and was rewarded with a front page story by Mendel Small. His view
was that she was just being polite. She had to say it, he claimed.
She didn’t really mean it.
Dr. Johnson had a fellow traveller in the mercurial
born again Christian Zhivargo Laing, the former Minister who now lives
in Freeport, who told the public that he was withdrawing from active front
line politics a few months ago but since Hubert Ingraham has come back,
this born again Christian is busy savaging the Prime Minister and the PLP
every week in the press even as he collects a weighty paycheque from the
Grand Bahama Port Authority. Mr. Laing said in his weekly column
that he searched the U.S. State Department’s website up and down and saw
no reference to what Dr. Rice said about thanking The Bahamas for what
it did on releasing the two Cuban American dentists. He was trying
to suggest that the PM was telling the country an untruth.
Oh well, you know how these born again Christians go.
We say both Dr. Dexter Johnson and Zhivargo Laing
ought to go get a life. Politics in The Bahamas for the 21st century
is not for the loony fringe or for the chronic iconoclasts. It is
really for serious people with a serious purpose. The Nassau Guardian,
The Tribune who host the words of these two gentlemen are of course in
the business of entertainment, and the columns of the past week have really,
really entertained us.
THE
LITTLE WOMAN CARRON TO THE RESCUE
Well it turns out that some people are simply unable
to defend themselves. The little woman at The Tribune had to come
to their rescue and what a rescue it was. In an editorial dated Monday
27th March, Eileen Carron weighed in on the comments of Fred Mitchell on
the question of “My country right or wrong”. This was a line taken
from an address that he gave in the House of Assembly that outlined why
the Cuban Dentists issue took as long as it did to settle. He quoted
from the Hon. Arthur Dion Hanna, now Governor General who used to say “my
country right or wrong”. At the time, it provoked uproar in the House
because the Opposition FNM disagreed with it. She then moved
on in an editorial on Wednesday 30th March to say that this column had
unfairly attacked Craig Butler who is a columnist in the Nassau Guardian
and Adrian Gibson who is a columnist for The Tribune. But we suppose
what really incensed her was the comment that it seemed to us that
Andrew Allen was the only man at The Tribune who had the courage
to take a different position from his mistress at The Tribune. So
for that the mighty pen of Eileen took to the pages and savaged Fred Mitchell.
Of course Fred Mitchell has nothing to do with it. What it has to
do with is her hatred of the PLP, and anything resembling PLP, that is
African or that is Black. She just can’t support. Well we are
not sure that Craig Butler and Adrian Gibson are comforted that Eileen
Carron is sticking up for them. In the old days, most people regarded
that as the kiss of death. But as she pointed out these are not the
old days, so maybe, just maybe different rules apply, but we doubt it.
These are strong Bahamian men, independent thinkers and can fight for themselves.
We disagreed with their views, not their right to say and write what they
wish. These are obviously two smart men. We would expect nothing
less from them.
A
DEFENCE FROM ADRIAN GIBSON
Later in the week, The Tribune of Friday 31 March
published a defence by Adrian Gibson who writes of this site: "...while
these PLP propagandists claim to seek liberalism, they contradict this
by attacking opposing opinions to their own." First, one needs to
understand liberalism. It is about tolerance for the views of others;
and - as we say above - we disagree with the views, not the right to say
and write what you wish. If one puts ideas into the public domain,
one had better get used to those ideas being attacked.
MITCHELL
SAVAGES JOHN MARQUIS IN THE HOUSE
Brent Symonette, the Deputy Leader of the Free National
Movement was in full flight as he address the House of Assembly on the
rather humdrum debate on the Consumer Protection Bill. He spoke in
a rally like tone on Wednesday 29th March. He said that it wouldn’t
be long before the FNM rolled out the PLP. One Government Minister
told him that he would never awake from that nightmare. It was good
natured but he crossed the line when he quoted from a piece from INSIGHT,
a Tribune piece that appears in one of the back sections of the paper,
usually on Mondays.
While it does not carry a by-line, INSIGHT is written
by John Marquis, an English émigré who is the Managing Editor
of The Tribune and who has views that are viciously opposed to the PLP
and Black people who are not subservient. This column has had to
set the record straight with any number of facts that were inaccurate or
untrue from that column. We have said that we think that what is
written in the column does not have the ring of truth. Now Foreign
Minister Fred Mitchell has joined the fray.
The Leader of the House Vincent Peet pointed out
the rule of the House that unless the Member of Parliament is willing to
adopt the words from a newspaper article he quotes in the House as his
own, the MP cannot read from a newspaper article. When confronted
with that choice, Mr. Symonette tried to squiggle out of it by saying that
he selectively adopted various matters that had been discussed in the House
of Assembly before; amongst them, references to criminals being hired on
the police force. This was an allegation made by Ken Russell, MP
for High Rock, Grand Bahama.
Mr. Symonette also referred to newspaper stories
of a visa scandal. This was another tack of the FNM in a vain attempt
to sully the name of the Foreign Minister. Mr. Mitchell was having none
of it, and insisted that Mr. Symonette either say that he was adopting
the words of Mr. Marquis from The Tribune or withdrawing them. He
said that he considered what John Marquis writes to be trash, and normally
treated it with contempt. He said he would believe nothing that John
Marquis writes. However, if Mr. Symonette was adopting the words
of Mr. Marquis and they became allegations of Mr. Symonette, the subtext
of which was that Ministers of the Government were complicit in illegal
activities then he was bound the answer Mr. Symonette. Mr. Symonette
withdrew the quotation.
Last Sunday as we were uploading the Minister of Foreign
Affairs Fred Mitchell was visiting the South Florida area on an official
visit to St. Agnes Anglican Church where he addressed from the pulpit at
the request of Canon Richard Marquess Barry the congregation of Bahamians
and those of Bahamian descent with state and local government officials
about the facts on the Cuban dentists that were deported from the United
States and the relations generally with the South Florida community.
The photos are by Patrick Hanna of Bahamas Information Services.
You may click
here for the full address.
Minister of Foreign Affairs & Public Service the Hon. Fred Mitchell
was the special speaker Sunday morning at the historic St. Agnes Episcopal
Church in Overtown, Miami, Florida. Also pictured left to right are Minister
of Social Services & Community Development Melanie Griffin and her
husband Mr. Leon Griffin along with Bahamas Consul General in Miami Alma
Adams.
FOREIGN
AFFAIRS MINISTER ADDRESSES SECURITY COUNCIL
The Foreign Minister was in New York during the
week. As the Chairman of The Council for Foreign and Community Relations
(COFCOR) of the Caribbean Community, Minister Mitchell participated in
the Open Debate at The United Nations Security Council on the situation
in Haiti, 27 March 2006. The Foreign Minister urged the international
community not to abandon Haiti. The United Nations photo shows Minister
Mitchell during his address as Haitian President elect Rene Preval at right
pays close attention. Mr. Preval is to be sworn in as Haiti's President
on 14 May. You may click
here for the Minister's full statement.
THE
FIGHT FOR A COB PRINCIPAL
It has been a tough week for the Minister of Education
Alfred Sears. As if the nutty policies of the Bahamas Union of Teachers
were not about to drive him crazy, he had also to deal with another set
of nutty policies by the Union of Tertiary Educators over at the College
of the Bahamas. First the crackpot policies of Belinda Wilson and
Ida Poitier over at the Bahamas Union of Teachers. The policies of
these are fast making their views seem the very personification of evil
in The Bahamas. There is no goal post that is not so fixed as will
not be moved by this pair’s views. After their ungracious conduct
at the bargaining table, they moved the posts again by saying that they
will now not agree to anything but what they want as a salary increase.
Get this; the bill for the demands comes to $56
million over three years. The total bill for the public service for
the five year contract 44 million. What on earth must these twin
sisters of the policies of evil be thinking? Because they can’t get what
they want, they have now announced a work to rule which will stop teachers
doing all volunteer work: no drama classes, no homework assistance, no
extra music classes, and no sports. They mean to cripple the children,
and the future of the country.
Now, let’s turn to the people over at the College
of The Bahamas. They don’t want Janyne Hodder to be their next president,
even though she is quite qualified having served as University President
before and now the Vice Principal and Acting Head of McGill University
in Canada. She has a Bahamian child, was married to Bahamian Pat
Rahming and is a permanent resident. They say she needs a PH D.
She only has a masters. We need to tell them go speak to Portia Simpson
Miller the new Prime Minister of Jamaica who had to point out to her rivals
that her lacking a doctorate did not mean she did not qualify for the job.
The Minister of Education has had to spend time
listening to one foolish argument after the other, one non sequitur after
the other, all boiling down to prejudice and the fact that the staff members
seem want to manage the college and not allow the administration to manage.
They appealed publicly for the Minister to intervene. He had to point
out that he had no jurisdiction under the act. The Chairman of the
Council Franklin Wilson indicated that Ms. Hodder will probably reconsider
her withdrawal that we reported last week. It looks also like Ms.
Hodder is the best candidate now available. We shall see.
A
FIGHT OVER CENSORSHIP
The bad decision to ban the showing of the movie
Brokeback Mountain, has brought bad press overseas. The Ministry
of Tourism must be aghast at this. Their view is we have to make
up our minds whether we are a mature tourist destination or we are going
to live in the dark ages. We welcome all law abiding citizens without
distinction. Some Hollywood studios have already indicated that this
is not now as a result of this their destination of choice for making films
which counteracts all the work that the Ministry of Tourism has done to
get the film makers to come here.
The bad publicity is not good for the country.
Somehow the decision should be reversed. It won’t undo the damage
but it would at least set the constitutional record straight that this
is not a country bigots. The little known Plays and Films Control Board
indicated that the ban has the support of the Government. It is important
to note in law that this decision was made by an independent Board not
by the Government. No such decision has come before the Government,
at least none that has been publicly announced.
The Plays and Films Control Board is in fact an
anachronism since movie houses are not in the main where people go to watch
the things. The result of the “ban” was to see a rise in private
DVD sales of the movie. If you go to any hotel in the country and
press the menu button, you can get it on your screens. If they had
allowed the movie to be shown, it would have probably passed quietly and
those who did not want to see it would not.
PRESIDENT
OF THE COURT OF APPEAL MUST EXPLAIN
We are not a fan of Joan Sawyer, the President of
the Court of Appeal. We have criticized her court as not being a
friendly place for lawyers. Time and again and quite apart from the
complaints of lawyers about her conduct in court, including one Member
of Parliament, there have been numerous decisions by the Privy Council,
which when you read the language of the decisions, quite frankly slaps
the Court of Appeal down for the way it handles its decisions.
Quite frankly though we cannot believe that even
Joan Sawyer would go as far as she is said to have in response to some
timely and appropriate comments by attorney Maurice Glinton about the Court
of Appeal arising out of the case of the most recent death penalty matter
where the Privy Council struck down the mandatory death penalty in The
Bahamas. Well, the President did not apparently like it. We
say apparently because we still can’t believe the quote.
The President of the Court of Appeal is reported
to have said that she prays for Maurice Glinton and when she prays for
people they die, not of accidents but of natural causes. She reportedly
said that Mr. Glinton should be careful what he says about the Court of
Appeal. If this is true, and we say if, then this is clearly sacrilegious
and smacks of obeah or voodoo. Further, it in our view it should
form the basis of a complaint for the Prime Minister to take action for
her removal from office for cause.
How is Mr. Glinton in these circumstances ever to
get a fair hearing before her? What is imperative therefore is for
the President of the Court of Appeal to clarify without delay what she
said and did not say. We think that the President of the Bar
Wayne Munroe, one who tends also to be quite comfortable in that court
instead of sticking up for lawyers, should without delay seek an urgent
clarification of the remarks.
MISS
BAHAMAS UNIVERSE FROM FOX HILL
Samantha Carter who was once Miss Fox Hill has been
crowned Miss Bahamas Universe on Sunday 25th March. The beautiful Ms. Carter,
a Fox Hill girl, will represent The Bahamas in the Miss Universe contest
later this year.
Nassau Guardian photo by Donald Knowles
PORTIA
TAKES OVER JAMAICA
A delegation of Bahamians headed by Deputy Prime
Minister Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt went to Jamaica on Thursday 30th March
to represent The Bahamas at the swearing in of the new Prime Minister of
Jamaica Portia Simpson-Miller. Mrs. Simpson Miller succeeds Prime
Minister P.J. Patterson who has retired after 14 years in the job
and 30 years in public life. Mrs. Simpson Miller started out with
references to God in her life and with a prayer for her success.
You may click
here for her comments in full.
THE
REAL STORY ON THE CONTAINER PORT
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell called
a press conference on Wednesday 29th March to explain The Bahamas’ position
in response to factually incorrect reports on the security checks of cargo
bound for the U.S. from Freeport, Grand Bahama. U.S. lawmakers were
alleging that The Bahamas was not allowing U.S. Customs officials to view
the security procedures at the port. Mr.
Mitchell’s full statement can be seen here.
PASSAGES
Andrew Bowe
Attorney Andrew Bowe was buried on Saturday 1st April following a service
at St. Agnes Anglican Church in Grants Town. Mr. Bowe was 53.
Anthony ‘Bando’ Bostwick
We are saddened by the death of well known civic and sports leader
Anthony ‘Bando’ Bostwick. Mr. Bostwick was an executive in the Bahamas
Association of Amateur Athletics (BAAA). He was a close friend of
the late George Mackey MP and only recently spoke at his memorial.
He died on Monday 27th March and was buried on Saturday 1st April.
He was 59 years old.
Losing Brands
The Nassau Guardian reported on Friday 31st March that the Bacardi
brand of liquors, mainly rum has left Burns House owned by Garrett ‘Tiger’
Finlayson and will now be distributed by Bristol Cellars.
Rudy King “Dr.”?
The man who has been using the title doctor, and has pictures of almost
every celebrity on the planet, who made the news by running up a half a
million dollar American Express bill, and most recently was embarrassed
in Bermuda when a promised ceremony was announced but the celebrities he
said were coming knew nothing about it, has been declared a bankrupt by
the Supreme Court of The Bahamas. This was a report from The Tribune
of Saturday 1st April. Cavalier Construction reportedly brought the
action in the courts against him.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Good job
I must shamefully admit that I only just visited
your site tonight for the very first time. However, I will now redeem
myself by “biggin' you up”. Your site - bahamasuncensored - is really
well put together, and it is very informative. Keep up the good work.
It’s nice to have different “flavours” in the news mix.
William (Billy) Roberts
An open minded conservative in Abaco
Thank you, Mr. Roberts. We view your informative letters as
well and we appreciate them, but remember that our views are often very
controversial. – Editor
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Two Days of Urban Renewal Talks
In his first address as the Minister responsible
for the Urban Renewal Programme, Prime Minister Christie spent two full
days on the topic at a workshop and conference. Representatives of
all Government agencies and departments responsible in the Programme gathered
to decide on the most efficient manner to expand and institutionalise the
successful project. Mr. Christie is pictured as he spoke on the theme
'Strengthen, Create and Co-ordinate" at the Radisson Cable Beach Hotel
on Thursday, 30 March, 2006. (BIS Photo: Tim Aylen)
Power to spare in Eleuthera
The Prime Minister travelled to Cape Eleuthera during
the week to officially open the Cape Eleuthera Institute. The Institute
is a project investigating environmentally advanced and ecologically sound
ways to generate energy in The Bahamas. Through both wind and solar
sources, the Cape Eleuthera Institute generates several hundred percent
more electricity than is needed to run the facility. In an innovative
arrangement with The Bahamas Electricity Corporation, the electrical power
helps to supply the surrounding communities.
Cape Eleuthera Marina
While in Eleuthera, the Prime Minister toured the
Cape Eleuthera development and marina, dormant since the mid 1980s and
now under redevelopment. During the tour, Mr. Christie reminded that
the redevelopment and revitalisation of Cape Eleuthera was a promise made
and fulfilled. He reiterated his call for island communities to prepare
themselves to take advantage of the opportunities being presented by the
many developments taking place. The Prime Minister is shown at the marina
with a representative of the developer, Parliamentary Secretary John Carey
(partially hidden, Minister of Education Alfred Sears and the representative
for the area and Speaker of the House of Assembly Oswald Ingraham.
Cape Eleuthera Institute Students
The Cape Eleuthera Institute hosts students from
around the world to experience its energy and conservation innovations
first hand. The students who also assist in building and running
the facility spend three month terms. During the official opening,
the Prime Minister is shown being greeted by some of the more than forty
young people at the facility; a Bahamian among them.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE HEALTH OF THE NATION
Speaking
at a funeral on Saturday 1st April, Rev. Dr. Charles Saunders’ theme was
that everyone will have to die. And as if to disabuse the congregation
of the feeling that only the old will die, he told the story of looking
at the popular obituary announcements on ZNS TV during the day time.
He said that of all that he saw; only three of the persons who were listed
there had exceeded the biblical three score and ten years.
This sparked a thought that has been ruminating in the minds and conversations all over the country for the past two years. Why are so many young people dying in The Bahamas or so it seems. There appears to be an epidemic of cancer cases both prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women. Every day it seems that some forty something, fifty something falls and dies from a stroke or a massive heart attack. The young men seem to be killing off each other in fights and accidents. The people who happen to reach their sixties seem to come to a quick end from the ravages of early onset diabetes and hypertension.
This week we counted the obituary notices in the Nassau Guardian as they appeared on Thursday 6th April. There were 31 funeral announcements. We counted 19 of them as being under the age of 70. So that means that more than fifty per cent of the people listed for this week to be buried did not make it to age 70. The list included two children.
Two weeks ago Bernard Nottage, the new Minister of Health held a press conference to talk about the Ministry’s Healthy Lifestyle Initiative. The initiative was launched last year by the Ministry of Health with the Prime Minister as its poster boy. He had been felled earlier in the year by a transient ischemic attack. Luckily his was caught in time and following hospitalization, he was immediately put on a regime to control his diet, hypertension and he was put on a rigorous exercise regime. He ended up losing 20 pounds.
This column reported that on the same day that the Prime Minister was launching his initiative, there was a cookout on one of the public parks. The fare at one was stall was a choice between okra soup, loaded with salt beef and short pork ribs and ham and the other choice was pig feet souse. No vegetables in site but for the obligatory okra in the soup. People were lined up in droves to get it.
When
you go onto Bay Street at lunch time, you will see the nice, young svelte
girls sashaying to the lunch counters. Coming back from those counters
you will see them loaded with peas and rice, macaroni, fried plantains,
potato salad and some stewed beef or fried fish. No vegetable in
sight. This after the launch of the healthy lifestyles initiative
and the most recent initiative is not the first time that the Ministry
of Health has been trying to change the food habits of Bahamians.
It is hard to know what works and what does not work. If you believe the medical literature, you will note that if you eat certain types of foods, if you exercise and keep your weight down, you should but for certain genetic factors be able to live a life free of hypertension, diabetes, heart attacks and strokes, perhaps even cancer.
Amongst the young, the disease HIV/AIDS is the big killer. Again, if you read the literature you will find that if you practice safe sex, using a condom each time you have sex, you should have a lifetime free of the disease. Further, if you learn to drive carefully, stop speeding, don’t drink while driving, avoid excessive alcohol, don’t smoke, control your temper, then you should live a life that takes you well into your sixties.
When you read psalm 90, it describes the days of our lives as being three score and ten (70 years). By reason of strength, they may be four score (80 years) but it says that eventually you tire and pass away. It is remarkable that a text from so long ago was able to describe that fact. Most people in the Christian tradition think that it means that you will live to 70; God has promised. In fact the psalmist is simply describing an observation that he made. In fact, it appears that it is really up to us in many cases just how long we have to live.
Levi Gibson who is at the centre of the photo of the week this week and celebrated his 92nd birthday has long exceeded his life expectancy at birth when he was born in 1914. What accounts for it? On the day of his birthday, he was joined by three other nonagenarians, one of whom was 99, and still walking, talking and out for a luncheon outing.
But Dion Strachan at 48, the Chair of Nassau Flight Services, the dynamic tourism manager, lies stricken by a massive stroke in a Florida hospital. Brenda Russell, at fifty something, is struggling with breast cancer. Other men in their sixties have prostate cancer. It is frightening. Our life expectancy at birth is said to be at 69 for women and 67 for men. Compare that to Japan at 82 and Zimbabwe at 36.
Who knows? Perhaps, it is best summed up in this line: “If you live right heaven belongs to you”. That is a little to fatalistic for us. It seems clear that following the prescriptions above, there is a general trend toward longer life. The Ministry of Health should be more aggressive in this, and go after the Bahamian restaurant owners to tackle things like the use of saturated fats and salt in their meals, a real honest to God effort to change the way the foods are prepared in The Bahamas and the choices that are available.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 8th April 2006 at midnight: 97,895.
Number of hits for the month of April up to Saturday 8th April at midnight: 106,330.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 8th April at midnight: 1,352,948.
THE
CORONER’S INQUEST
The official inquest into the death of Corporal
Deon Bowles is underway in the court of Linda Virgill. The inquiry
is mandated by law. The evidence given on Wednesday 5th April reveals
that the there may have been some negligence on the part of either the
prison or the officers that facilitated if not positively causing the breakout
of the prison that led to the death of officer Bowles. You may click
here for the original story.
The evidence so far reveals that after the escape
when the police searched the cells at the prison, they were able to find
hacksaw blades, cells phones and drawings of the cells that showed that
an escape was being plotted. This is important since one of the officers
advanced in evidence that he had done a search of the cells at about 3:30
a.m. just before the escape attempt. What was also interesting is
the evidence on what happened to Neil Brown, the convicted killer of Archdeacon
William Thompson. The medical examiner said he was shot in the chest
a close range. The underlying suggestion is that there may have been
an extra judicial killing. One of the extra parliamentary parties
was quick to jump on this point.
Some of the conclusions that the public may come
to are not a part of the remit of the Coroner. The Coroner is only
charged in law with finding out the cause of death of the officer and the
inmate Neil Brown. It will take the more comprehensive inquiry by
the prison itself to point to where blame lies for this. Of course,
it is open to a jury to find that Corporal Bowles and Neil Brown were both
murdered. In the case of the former that is probably to be expected.
It the case of the latter, such a finding would be explosive.
THE
TEACHER’S UNION AT IT AGAIN
The Bahamas Government issued a comprehensive statement
on the state of negotiations between the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT)
and the Bahamas Government. It said that the meeting on Thursday
6th April resulted in measured progress. There was no doubt that
it would. The BUT leadership is struggling with the fact that the
Government will pay the teachers directly if its leadership does not stop
dilly dallying and playing the fool; make up their minds to play ball.
We still think that the Government is playing it too soft with this crew
that runs the Union that does not have the support of its membership.
The teachers at the rank and file level simply want their money.
The Union leadership is bent on embarrassing the Government for political
reasons:
the two leaders Ida Poiter and Belinda Wilson seem to be acting like political
ideologues. The Government should appeal directly to the rank and
file.
The Union has called a work to rule. The affect
of the work to rule if anyone was paying attention to it is to stop the
children from completing their preparation for the Bahamas Junior Certificate
exams (BJC) and for the Bahamas General Certificate of Senior Education
(BGCSE). In the primary school it was designed to threaten the preparations
for the Grade Level Assessment Test (GLAT). This is dangerous stuff
on the part of the Union leadership. Thankfully, most teachers are
ignoring it, knowing that the children must come first.
Another unfortunate feature of the Government's
negotiations with the BUT is the disgraceful, crude and vulgar language
coming from leaders of the teacher’s union. Some of the language
they have employed in their public statements if their students had used
that language in the classroom, the students would have been asked to leave.
Yet this is the example they are giving in public discourse.
The Government issues a measured statement, the Union’s leadership comes
back with crudities and vulgarities. Throw the book at the lot of
them. You may click here for the
Government’s full statement.
A
WEDDING IN THE TURKS AND CAICOS
Prime Minister Perry Christie led a delegation from
The Bahamas to the wedding of the Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos
Islands Michael Misick. The wedding took place on Saturday 8th April.
Mr. Misick who is 38 years old married for the second time to Afro-American
actress LisaRaye who is the star of the UPN’s ‘All of Us’. The couple
has appeared on the cover of Ebony Magazine and in the most recent edition
of Essence Magazine (page 202). The marriage took place at the ultra
luxurious resort Amanyara in the Turks and Caicos. The best man at
the wedding was Obie Wilchcombe, the Minister of Tourism of The Bahamas.
Joining Mr. Wilchcombe for the ceremony was Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell,
Immigration Minister Shane Gibson and PLP Party Chair Raynard Rigby.
FOREIGN
MINISTER IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced last week
that the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell was leading a delegation
to the Dominican Republic for a series of meetings and a seminar sponsored
by the European Union. This was Mr. Mitchell’s first official overseas
foray into foreign trade matters since the change in portfolio allocations
in February brought foreign trade into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The delegation included Ambassador to Caricom Leonard Archer, The Bahamas
Ambassador designate to the Dominican Republic Dr. Eugene Newry and Hugh
Chase of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There are several EU projects
in the pipeline for The Bahamas that required review. The meetings
were held in Santo Domingo, capital of the DR from Thursday 6th April to
Friday 7th April. While in the DR, the Minister paid a courtesy call
on the Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Morales. He was accompanied
by the former Mary McWeeney who is a Bahamian living in the DR.
U.S.
CLARIFIES THE BAHAMAS/US LINKS
Over the past few weeks, a letter purportedly written
by J. Richard Blankenship, the former U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas was
published in Bahamian newspapers. The letter which no one knows whether
it
is authentic or not, attacks the Progressive Liberal Party Government.
In it, the letter writer asserts that while he was Ambassador to the Bahamas,
the security co-operation between The Bahamas and the U.S. was “non-existent”.
The newspapers of the country anxious to discredit the PLP were crying
that the Government must do something about it.
All of this was after the Secretary of State of
the U.S. herself came to The Bahamas and pronounced the state of the relationship
as good. Notwithstanding that, it was again “the PLP is threatening
good relations with the U.S”. The U.S. Embassy wrote a letter to
the press explaining that what they were talking about was nonsense.
You may click
here for that letter by Brent Hardt, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the
Embassy.
JONES
TV STATION
Wendall Jones won’t die no more. He has apparently been granted a
TV licence for The Bahamas. Amen! Mr. Jones, the CEO of Jones
Communications a company that owns the daily the Bahama Journal and the
radio station Love 97, has been after a TV licence from the time of Hubert
Ingraham. Now it is the PLP that has finally delivered it for him.
Do you think that maybe as this develops there will now be one voice in
the national media of the country that actually says something favourable
about the PLP? Probably not. However, it is the role of the
PLP to share the pie, to increase the pie, to ensure that wealth is spread
to those who would not have had a chance before the PLP got to power, largely
because they were from the wrong side of the colour line.
Mr. Jones made the announcement at a breakfast for
business people and political leaders on Thursday 6th April at the British
Colonial Hilton. The new station is to be called JCTV. Mr.
Jones says that it will be driven by news, sports and current affairs programmes.
Good for him! He is an aggressive businessman and we hope that the
television station makes it. This column is in favour of private
broadcasting. We believe also that it is time for the Government
to take the hard decisions necessary to strip itself of the Broadcasting
Corporation of The Bahamas.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Allyson Maynard Gibson
scans a copy of the Bahama Journal as Wendall Jones looks on. Bahama
Journal Photo by Timothy Clarke
THE
ACTION GROUP STRIKES AT HUBERT
Hubert Ingraham, the now Leader of the Free National
Movement has said something quite incredible even for his standards.
He claimed in a statement published in the Nassau Guardian on Tuesday 4th
April that there is no group called the Action Group associated with the
FNM that he leads. The comment was made in direct quotes. We
find this interesting. It is yet another sign of a rift in the FNM
between the Tommy Turnquest “real FNM” crew and the Hubert Ingraham “johnnie
come lately crew”.
Mr. Ingraham’s statement was meant to dismiss a
complaint from the Action Group led by Chairman Oswald Marshall and Public
Relations Officer Fred Williamson, both of whom are staunch FNMs and staunch
Tommy Turnquest supporters. They are particularly close to Tommy
Turnquest, the former FNM leader, recently deposed by Mr. Ingraham.
They are a window then into Mr. Turnquest’s thinking.
Here’s the rub! The traditional FNMs, the
Tommy Turnquest, Dion Foulkes FNMs, are disturbed that all of the candidates
that Tommy Turnquest was setting up for a nomination are getting the finger
from Hubert Ingraham. Danny Ferguson, the former BaTelCo executive
has been told bug off in Fox Hill. He is a close friend of Mr. Turnquest.
Mr. Ingraham is busy negotiating with Charles Maynard and Phenton Neymour
of the rump of the Coalition for Democratic Reform (CDR) to give them nominations
where Tommy Turnquest wanted others to run.
The Action Group gave voice to the concern.
They issued a statement which said in part: “The Action Group of the Free
National Movement takes great exception to the cavalier and high handed
manner in which the leader of our party, the FNM, is finding and appointing
candidates to carry our party’s banner in the next general election.
We are also concerned with the lack of respectful review given to sincere
FNMs who were campaigning in the various constituencies for the past three
years and have developed warmth and bonding with the residents of these
constituencies.” Well we now know that these Action Group people
are disavowed by their leader.
CORRECTION
FROM PAT RAHMING
The following is an excerpt from a letter by Pat
Rahming, Architect, on his former wife, who is a candidate for the presidency
of the College of The Bahamas:
“Several ‘news’ stories have indicated that Janyne
Hodder and I have two Bahamian children. I am not sure which of our
three children you wish to ignore, but the three children we share are
Dr. Anne Rahming and Messrs. Mwale and Dylan-John Rahming. Anne is
a lecturer at Carlton University and Mwale and DJ live and work in Montreal…”
(The letter was published in The Tribune on Monday 4th April 2006—Editor)
TOUCHY!
TOUCHY! TOUCHY! GIBSON AND BUTLER
Boy did we touch a soft spot with the two columnists
Adrian Gibson of The Tribune and Craig Butler of the Nassau Guardian.
You will remember our story about being disappointed with them and their
stand on the Government's decision on the Cuban dentists. We stand
by our original point (click
here). They have allowed their misguided sense of political correctness
to get in the way of the facts. They can say hogwash and baloney
as much as they wish. Their responses were filled with invective
and how the PLP was seeking to silence them. What pray tell has the
PLP to do with this website? Poor Mr. Gibson was so angry and emotional
that he could not even keep his facts straight. What has Fred Mitchell
to do with this site?
None of Mr. Gibson's or Mr. Butler's invective and
righteous indignation obviates the point that we made that on the face
of the record what they said was illogical. But in response to what
we had to say, they really went overboard with emotion. It only goes
to show that they are simply not used to the public domain. It appears
that they expect to say whatever hogwash they want to say about the views
of someone else but you should not challenge what they say. Their
language is most unfortunate. It is again illogical but the point
is made and we move on. Perhaps, next time they will keep in mind
that someone is watching what they say and write.
BAHAMASAIR
CHALLENGED
Let us get on the record straight away on this point. Bahamasair
needs to be sold to the private sector. It is a continuing albatross
around the necks of the Bahamian taxpayers. It is clear that both
the domestic and international traffic can be handled by the private sector.
Yet that is not as easy as it sounds. The fact is the airline has
been going for over thirty years. The most difficult issue is how
you dispense with the staff. They have been loyal but it is time
for the Government to get out of the airline business.
The Prime Minister Perry Christie went to visit
with the Board and Staff of Bahamasair on Tuesday 4th April. He told
them to be ready for competition and to make themselves more financially
sound. That is a tall order. The PM talked about buying smaller
planes. The nations of the Caribbean have the same problem, trying
to keep Air Jamaica going; British West Indies Airways (BWIA) going is
a burden for Trinidad and Tobago, LIAT is a burden for the Eastern Caribbean.
The planes cost too much to operate and the money isn’t there to do anything
but maintain the bare minimum.
There are two ways to look at national airlines:
as a business or as a service. In the first sense, you would clearly
get rid of these airlines and hand them over to the private sector.
They simply cannot make a profit. But what if you look at them like
you look at the roads and the water systems, as infrastructure for the
country, essential to its well being that simply has to be provided by
the Government? The latter is the way of The Bahamas government.
The question then is: how do you get more for less?
If however, you looked at the national airline as
a business, you would quickly realize that the little companies, the little
air charter services have been steadily encroaching on what Bahamasair
does. They do it with a profit and they seem to do it safely.
This seems to us the way to go. However, we think that the safety
and security of the travel system must be maintained as the smaller airlines
take over. We think it is also important for the employees who lose
work at Bahamasair to be treated with sensitivity. We think that
the status quo is simply not an option in the long run.
Prime Minister Perry Christie speaking at the opening of Bahamasair’s
‘The Way Forward’ Strategic Planning Meeting, on April 4, 2006. Bahamasair
Chairman Basil Sands is seated at right. BIS photo: Derek Smith
AG
ON SHOOTING IN HER CONSTITUENCY
Attorney General and Pinewood MP Allyson Maynard
Gibson has promised that a complete and thorough investigation will take
place into the death by police gunshots of Deron Bethel in her constituency.
The community was incensed because of the manner in which they allege he
was killed by the police. The AG said that the file on the death
will be sent to her office for appropriate action. She has assured
the residents that there will be no cover up. Mr. Bethel was 20 years
old. Some in the Pinewood Community allege that the police shot an
innocent man. The Tribune reports that the autopsy revealed that
there were three shots fired, one directly into the heart, a second in
his chest and a third in his throat. The last shot also went into
his brain killing him instantly.
Mrs. Gibson defended her constituents to The Tribune
on Friday 7th April saying that she does not accept that her constituency
is crime ridden. She said that she had taken the person making the
allegations around Pinewood and showed them that it is very much a middle
class constituency and that the vast majority of crime is not committed
by residents of Pinewood but by those who use the main highways passing
through the constituency to cause problems. She added: “Pinewood
is a wonderful community of law abiding citizens. I resent the stigma
that people are attaching to us and our community. I, my friends
and family in the community are going to do everything we can to fight
that stigma.”
ANDREW
ALLEN ON PORTIA SIMPSON MILLER
The Tribune columnist Andrew Allen has had a go
at Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller of Jamaica. He said that
she started off with goodwill but stumbled early by her edict to her Ministers
that from henceforth all state boards created in their ministries must
have pastors as Chairs. Mr. Allen is concerned about the trend against
secular government in this region. He points out in the article that
Pastors are essentially self appointed and by what right should they automatically
get to make decisions about matters of state. Mr. Allen said “The
dangers of mixing religion and politics are evident all around us”
PEACE
MONUMENT UNVEILED AT P.I.
Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell was among the guests
on Paradise Island for the unveiling of a monument entitled 'Let There
Be Peace' by international artist Alexandra Nechita. The event also
included the worldwide pre-screening of "Ode to Peace," a documentary about
Alexandra and her Global Peace Initiative and an exhibit of the artist's
works in painting, sculpture, glass, print, coinage and line drawing. Minister
Mitchell was presented with a set of commemorative peace coins designed
by the artist.
BAHAMAS
IN CARIFTA SWIM LEAD
The BAHAMAS CARIFTA SWIMMING TEAM 2006 headed into
the final session of competition in Bridgetown, Barbados Sunday evening
in the leading over 14 other nations by 21 points. The BAHAMAS team
has led throughout the four day annual meet that brings together age group
swimmers from throughout the Caribbean region. This year’s 49 member team
is the largest ever fielded by the Bahamas Swimming Federation and is composed
of 36 young swimmers and thirteen water polo players.
The Bahamas Swimming Federation has also been represented
by three senior swimmers, Jeremy Knowles, Christopher Vythoulkas and Nikia
Deveaux at the FINA Short Course World Championships 2006 in Shanghai,
China. This meet also finishes today and Jeremy Knowles, son of Andy
and Nancy Knowles swam to a 5th place finish in the finals of the 200m
butterfly. Jeremy’s 4th place at the Commonwealth Games and 5th place at
the Worlds sets the pace for an exciting run for him through to the Olympic
Games in Beijing in 2008. It is expected that he will be joined by
a number of other Bahamian swimmers who are also leaving their mark regionally
and internationally.
Excellent recent results from the Commonwealth
Games, FINA World Short Course Championships and CARIFTA point to relatively
recent improvements in competitive swimming in The Bahamas. The BSF,
headed by President Algernon Cargill since 2003 has been committed to sending
more young swimmers into competition locally, regionally and internationally
than ever before in the history of swimming in the Bahamas.
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Increased Funding for National Trust
Prime Minister Perry Christie visited the Annual
General Meeting of The Bahamas National Trust this past week, giving a
wide ranging address on the position of the country with regard to the
environment. Mr. Christie challenged the Trust to work harder at
extending its membership to reflect the broadest base of people in the
country. Also at the event, the Prime Minister announced a doubling
of the Government's grant to the Trust.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
AMBIVALENCE ON HAITIANS
The
private polls reveal that Immigration is the number one issue in The Bahamas
today. It will rank with crime as the number one issue for the next
General Election. It appears that the Government has now responded
to that. First a new hard line Minister was appointed in Shane Gibson.
The consequence of that appears now to be that there will be a return to
the roundups and repatriations last seen in the country in 1980s.
The history of the Haitian problem can be found laid out succinctly and accurately in a study done by Dawn Marshall, sister of Justice Jeanne Thompson, in 1977. Until the study done by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) last year, hers was the definitive work on the issue. She traces the start of this round up policy back to about the mid fifties. When you read the news from that day, the language is the same. This was an attempt to answer the feeling in the Bahamian population that they were being swamped and taken over. Loftus Roker, the now revered former Minister of National Security took it one step further and defended the harsh measures of invading immigrants homes in the wee hours of the morning, taking away women and children, not securing their property, using dogs, all as being necessary to get on top of the problem once and for all.
There is of course one obvious lesson that has not been learnt from those policies of the past. They all failed to stem the problem. Yet that does not stop the officials from suggesting and carrying out the policy. It has the immediate affect of popularity. If you listened to the talk shows in The Bahamas last week, you would have thought that you were in the Wild, Wild West. There was no thought for law and order. People were congratulating the Minister for having done an excellent job. It was only left to the poor hosts of the programme in the face of overwhelming hostility to point out that most of those who were arrested last week had to be released because they were in fact legal residents of The Bahamas. People said they did not care. Just round them up!
There must be a middle way: the law must be preserved, and the illegal migrant must be sent back home. The question is whether or not the government has to face international condemnation to do this. The answer is no.
You see if history is any judge of these matters, the result is predictable. The Roman Catholic Church will get involved. The press in Miami with their significant Haitian population will get involved. The Canadians with their significant Haitian population including a Haitian born Governor General will get involved. The Black Caucus in the United States with their Haitian constituents will be all over us, and we will simply stop the raids, after the customary bluster and bravado. Once the U.S. gets involved there is no circumstance under which the Bahamas Government will stand up to that. So knowing that, and if not for that, for just plain humanity of one Black population to another, why do we persist?
It must be awfully embarrassing for all the human rights activists now in the Government to be a part of this, and they must be straining at the bit to voice their disavowal. It is a testament to the discipline of the Christie Cabinet that there has not been a dissenting voice heard in public, but clearly the whole policy has to be re examined. The Government has laid itself open to civil actions in our Courts which can costs hundreds of thousands, and there is a promise publicly to persist without apology which will only in the end lead to more damages, money in other words from the public purse.
The police themselves should be concerned that they do not come out of this with a black eye. They are a force that is known for discipline, for acting with equanimity, for acting with proper legal advice and for acting within the bounds of that advice. It was therefore most unfortunate for a senior officer of the Force to be quoted as saying that he had nothing to apologize for having arrested people who were lawfully in The Bahamas. That’s strange because if you mash someone’s toe by mistake you will say sorry. How much more then is it necessary to say sorry if you arrest someone who is legally here, has broken no law, who is taken away without their consent to another island, with their minor children in tow, and their old people in train, and you detain them for twenty four hours in a prison camp. You discover your mistake and you say you have nothing to be sorry about.
Yet again on all of the talk shows, the response was overwhelming that no apology was necessary. Too bad!
We are certain that the PLP that we know will find the middle ground to deal with this. Perry Christie has said in the past: “I would rather lose doing the right thing than win doing the wrong thing.” If ever a time for that aphorism to be in action, that time is now.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 15th April 2006 at midnight: 80,620.
Number of hits for the month of April up to Saturday 15th April 2006 at midnight: 186,950.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 15th April 2006 at
midnight: 1,433,568.
IT’S
EASTER SUNDAY
The Nassau Guardian in one of its special sections
during the week asked the question: “Is Easter A Pagan Festival?”
That probably got the waters running of the born again element but no doubt
it was simply to get the attention of readers to know that the answer is
both yes and no. First, Easter Sunday is not a fixed date like Christmas.
The Sunday celebrated as Easter is the first Sunday after the first full
moon after the spring Equinox. That is the source of the answer.
Easter is rooted in the pagan spring festivals.
The spring equinox in the northern hemisphere is
21st March. The Christians as they developed their religion
appropriated so many of the pagan celebrations and symbols. It was
easier than inventing new dates and times. The traditional pagan
celebration of the onset of winter became the time to celebrate the birth
of Jesus and Easter his resurrection. All of the major monotheistic
religions have celebrations around this time and around the onset of winter.
So the short answer is yes it is a pagan festival. The long answer
is no it is not since the festival has been appropriated by the Christians
and given new meaning.
Rev. Dr. Charles W. Saunders once told a church
congregation in Farmer’s Cay, in answer to a reading from the Koran, that
all he knows is that all over the world he was taken to the tombs of the
founders of religions but there was only one tomb that was empty, no body
was in the tomb of Christ in Jerusalem, because he (Rev. Saunders) served
a risen saviour.
Happy Easter to you all! The most glorious time
of the year in The Bahamas, perfect weather, simply perfect. The
official start of the swimming season begins on Easter Monday for most
Bahamians.
THE
KERZNERS REACH HALFWAY
On Monday 10th April, almost the entire Cabinet from the
Prime Minister on down, with the church leadership, Bishops and Archbishops
and President of the Christian Council were all gathered at Sol Kerzner’s
Paradise Island Phase III development. The ostensible occasion was
making the half way mark of the development. The new 1500 condominium
hotel is set to open officially in May 2007. The hotel is expected
to be ready for occupation in February 2007.
Mr. Kerzner has decided to take the company private.
There is a waiting period before they can act. The question of another
buyer might arise. After that display last week, what with the Prime
Minister endorsing the Kerzners: Sol and his son Butch directly, one would
wonder why anyone would think of making another offer if the Kerzners are
not involved in the day to day vision and management of the business.
The Heads of Agreement with the Government is almost akin to a contract
of personal services. The idea seems to be that if there is no Sol
and Butch, there is no development. The Tribune for once seems to
agree with the Prime Minister that this is the right thing to do.
The press was filled with wonderful and favourable
coverage about the resort. The Bahamians who work on the job site
seem happy. Mr. Kerzner is busy talking about a Phase IV.
The photo is by Patrick Hanna of the Bahamas Information Services.
THE UTEB
PROTESTS
On the front page of the Nassau Guardian, there were three
photos on Thursday 13th April 2006. The photos were of Janyne Hodder,
Rhonda Chipman, Pandora Johnson. These are the three candidates for
the job of President of the College of The Bahamas. The main responsibility
of the new President will be to take the College to University status.
The most recent report is that the College of The Bahamas Council believes
that Ms. Hodder is the best candidate. She is a permanent resident
of The Bahamas, now the Vice Principal of Canada’s most prestigious university
McGill. She does not have a Doctorate. The other two who presently
serve at the College do.
Our choice would have been a Bahamian man to head
the College, but in the absence of a qualified candidate then it appears
to us that the obvious choice is Ms. Hodder. She has three Bahamian
children; was married once to a Bahamian man, and started out her life
in this country living in the heart of Bain Town in Meadow Street.
Jennifer Isaacs Dotson, the Head of the Union of Tertiary Educators of
The Bahamas, is having none of it. The College Council was reportedly
unanimous in its recommendation of Ms. Hodder, save for the Faculty representative.
The students have resiled from their position in
opposition to the candidate and now say that it was only the lack of process
about which they were concerned. The teachers are still fighting
the appointment. Can the Government proceed in those circumstances?
They can but should not. There must be a clear campaign to win the
teachers over to the choice. It would be unfair to Ms. Hodder for
her to land in the middle of a fight with the very people that she has
to manage.
Someone should find out what Jennifer Isaacs Dotson’s
problem is. It is being said that her problem stems from personal
family matters that have nothing to do with academics, which would
be unfortunate and indefensible. She does not appear to be on a good
wicket. Even the mercurial Ian Strachan is now on board and
is said to be seeking to change minds. We think those minds ought
to be persuaded sooner, rather than later.
B.U.T.
WORK TO RULE COLLAPSES
Whatever is the Government to do with the troublesome
pair at the head of the Bahamas Union of Teachers? Long ago, we said
take off the gloves, but it appears that there is an unwillingness or inability
to do this. The fact is that the negotiations are going nowhere fast.
Each week, the Union heads say one thing and then do another. Their
language is inelegant, almost stupid. You just have to pray that
Almighty God never allows this pair back into the classrooms of The Bahamas.
It is clear why the children can’t learn anything if this is the type of
teacher that we have typified by the two person who head the Union.
As usual, the Government’s PR case has fallen flat.
Their most recent release did however make the point that the Government
will not pay what the troublesome two are demanding in wages. They
can only get what the rest of the public service gets. To us that
is a take it or leave position. We think let’s have the fight now
over it or we may as well capitulate. The bill is this. To
give the teachers what they want will cost the Government 56 million dollars
more, over three years, in addition to what is now budgeted. For
the whole public service over five years, the total additional cost of
the increases was 44 million. This pair must be nuts.
One footnote to history, the BUT leadership claims
that they have called off their work to rule as a sign of good faith.
The real reason is that the teachers were ignoring it anyway.
CLAIRE
HEPBURN’S DAUGHTER DIES
The only daughter of Claire (Attorney at law at
Graham Thompson) and Livingston ‘Bones’ Hepburn (former Director of Environmental
Health) collapsed and died on Friday 14th April. She died without
warning or symptoms reportedly from a cerebral haemorrhage. She had reportedly
just graduated from the University of Buckingham and was believed to be
29 years old. Her name was Tara Hepburn. We express our condolences
to her family. Her mother Mrs. Hepburn served most recently as an
Acting Justice of the Supreme Court. Tara worked at Graham Thompson
at the time of her death.
SERIOUS
PROBLEMS AT THE PRISON
The continuing coverage of the Coroner’s Inquest into the death of Corporal
Deon Bowles, who died at the hands of someone within the prison walls as
the three prisoners tried to make good their escape on Tuesday 17th January
2006, is cause for serious concern. You may click
here for the original story. The coverage has been especially
disturbing.
It now appears that the escape could not have taken
place and the death of the officer could not have taken place without the
complicity of officers within the prison. As the testimony unfolds,
it also appears that an officer may have, just may have shot Neil Brown,
one of the escapees, the convicted murderer of Archdeacon William Thompson,
without cause and therefore the person who killed him may have to be charged
with murder. The other more startling fact is the headline that one
officer at the inquest on Wednesday 12th April 2006 testified that the
information he received was that hacksaw blades supplied for the escape
came from an officer of the prison. He called the name Principal
Officer Van Johnson.
The jury in a Coroner’s Inquest, however, has only
a narrow task. That task is to say how the persons who died in prison
met their deaths. The jury can decide also that someone can be charged
with an offence including murder. The way it looks; that possibility
should not be ruled out. It may also be that not only are the prisoners
responsible but some of the officers as well.
Beyond the deaths and the culpability is a wider
problem which this inquest has revealed. The Prison Service and the
officers therein did not act as a disciplined force when this occurred.
They lost their discipline, refused to follow orders and acted like a mob
instead of responding with discipline to the event. Assistant Superintendent
James Farrington in his testimony on 12th April said that he twice had
to order the prison officers to bring themselves to order and to stop th
