Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 4 © BahamasUncensored.Com 2006
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| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The George Mackey Fox Hill Festival officially opened this week. The Fox Hill Festival Committee named the Festival for this year in honour of the former Member of Parliament for Fox Hill who died in January. The Free National Movement’s wannabe candidate planted stories in the treacherous lousy John Marquis run Tribune to subvert the effort claiming that the Festival had been highjacked by the Member of Parliament for Fox Hill Fred Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell refused to be drawn into it, and the next day the Committee for the Festival told the country that the critics were sadly mistaken. The decision was theirs alone. You may click here for the full address by Mr. Mitchell. Our photo of the week from the Fox Hill Festival Committee shows young Fox Hill girls from the troupe 'Charlene's Angels' as they perform during the opening ceremony. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE DESPERATION OF JOHN MARQUIS
The Tribune may finally have ended its one thousand part series
of anti PLP editorials; for now. First it was day after day of attacks
on Bradley Roberts, the Minister of Works, which can only be described
as sick. Then there was a series of attacks on Senator Philip Galanis
that can only be described as twisted and demented. Finally they
described that rather than comply with the request of the Minister for
Immigration Shane Gibson to unveil their training programme for Bahamians
to explain why John Marquis, a man of seedy opinions, is still running
their newspaper and not a Bahamian, they would battle it out in their news
columns. Mixed up in all of these Tribune editorials was their favourite
whipping boy Fred Mitchell, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. We understand
that a law suit is pending against The Tribune for defaming Mr. Mitchell.
On Thursday 3rd August, The Tribune on its front page did a hatchet job on Fred Mitchell that proves the point that his attacks on their bias and their anti Black, anti PLP hatred are correct. The story led with the headline FOX HILL DAY HIGHJACKED (LOCALS CLAIM MP FRED MITCHELL IS POLITICISING EMANCIPATION DAY EVENT). The story went on to quote from sources (presumably local of Fox Hill) who it said were concerned that Mr. Mitchell was bringing in politicians from the Caribbean to the Festival to secure his alternative job if he lost so he could be Secretary General of Caricom. It also repeated a number of lies, all of which were deliberately planted by partisans close to the wannabe candidate for the FNM for Fox Hill, whom we call the Faker of Fox Hill and whose leader does not even know her proper name, sounds like he's saying “Juice in dere”.
So, for the moment, PLPs in Fox Hill are calling the wannabe candidate “Juice in dere”. We use Juice in dere and Faker of Fox Hill interchangeably.
The campaign that is being run is one of deceit, lies and faked allegations. The Chairman of the Fox Hill Festival Committee Charles Johnson when he spoke at the opening of the Fox Hill Festival on Friday 4th August spoke without calling any names about how she left the Committee high and dry, leaving him to take over without notice. The facts are that the wannabe candidate resigned without notice from the Fox Hill Festival Committee and then sought to blame the MP for Fox Hill for the fact that she couldn’t get along with her own home people and is simply too intemperate and difficult, and phony to get along with anyone. So much for leadership.
Then Juice in dere showed up at the Ministry of Tourism sponsored public meeting in Fox Hill on Thursday 3rd August with little children in tow, all dressed in red T shirts in a demonstration designed to do exactly what no one could quite tell. She got up made a foolish intervention in which she had to admit that the MP for Fox Hill and his team were in part responsible for her PH D. The audience was surprised that she didn’t refer to herself as Doctor more than the usual 20 times that she does in every sentence. Doctor Juice in dere strangely enough did not have the courage to show up in one of her own red T shirts. That is why some people call her the Faker of Fox Hill. It is a game of political fake and feint.
The latest inside dope is that Juice in dere is supposed to be officially nominated by the Free National Movement on Wednesday of this week. The people of the Fox Hill constituency are waiting for her. Their arsenal is full.
So the idea of The Tribune story was to push this agenda. Looking at the layout of the Tribune newspaper on that day, the lead story was clearly slammed in at the last minute. Mr. Mitchell who announced that a Caribbean Prime Minister might be coming to the Festival did not make his announcement until well after The Tribune's usual deadline. All the other papers led with what was really the news of the day, a potential hurricane bearing down on the country. The Tribune removed that story to second fiddle so that John Marquis’ hatred for Fred Mitchell could be displayed in full flight with this stupid story about Juice in dere.
Mr. Marquis who according to a long editorial note on a letter published in The Tribune on Saturday 5th August is an experienced journalist, should know that first using an unnamed source for such a defamatory attack is just bad journalism. Secondly, the writer (there was no byline suggesting that it was Mr. Marquis himself who wrote it) ought to have contacted the other side that is Mr. Mitchell’s side to find out if he had any response. Thirdly, the story certainly does not rank as front page, much less banner headline material.
It continues to be important therefore to always expose The Tribune for its lousy worthlessness. Mr. Marquis has a pattern of this kind of behaviour. He for example has written a book in which he claims to have new information on the Harry Oakes murder. The book takes us nowhere and is simply based it appears on the cocktail conversation of two inebriated men at a bar in Nassau. What was particularly offensive in the book however is that Mr. Marquis also interviewed the venerable Levi Gibson who was taken advantage of in the interview without Mr. Marquis getting proper permission to interview Mr. Gibson from responsible relatives. Lawyers are looking into this matter as well. It would be like someone calling up Lady Dupuch, the mother of the owner of The Tribune and interviewing her without first getting the permission of her daughter. But Mr. Marquis would go to any length it appears for his commercial ends, to the extent of taking advantage of a senior and distinguished Bahamian citizen. That appears now to be the ethics that he has taken to The Tribune.
The latest tack now at that establishment is the opinion piece. Stung by the criticism that The Tribune mixes in editorial opinion with fact, we suddenly now have all the Bahamian reporters with opinion pieces so that the biases of The Tribune can work their way through the mouths of the Bahamian reporters. That can't work either because no one believes a word that is said is really a free word. They either write material that is sympathetic to The Tribune’s point of view or they are out. They simply have to speak to Nicki Kelly, now consigned to the dungeon of the down market Punch, to find out what freedom of expression brings you at The Tribune.
We want to congratulate Fred Mitchell, Bradley Roberts, Senator Philip Galanis, and Shane Gibson for all that they have done to defend the PLP cause. Trying to keep this crew at The Tribune honest. John Marquis should leave, not a moment too soon should he leave.
The Tribune claimed that they found out about the fact that they had to provide to the Minister material on their training programme to show why a Bahamian is not running the paper from a story in the Nassau Guardian. The Guardian on Monday 31st ran a story saying that Mr. Marquis’ work permit had been deferred pending this explanation. The Tribune said they read similar words on this site last week, again using that to try to show some how that the Minister of Foreign Affairs was involved in the matter. Their last editorial on the subject on Friday 4th August was they could not care what Minister Gibson and his “buddies” do about the work permit of Mr. Marquis.
Fine! But we care, and we think that since the work permit is expired Mr. Marquis ought to be given 21 days like other illegal migrants to leave the country.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 5th August 2006 at midnight: 72,610.
Number of hits for the month of August up to Saturday 5th August 2006 at midnight: 42,486.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 5th August 2006 at midnight: 2,986,248.
INGRAHAM
TO REDUCE THE PUBLIC SERVICE
Hubert Ingraham’s hubris was its best as he huffed
and puffed around Sol Kerzner’s Paradise Island project on a tour on Tuesday
1st August. It must have felt like being Prime Minister again.
He told the press that he intends to shrink the public service if he gets
to be Prime Minister next year. So you saw it in cold print folks.
The public service has an acute shortage of manpower now. Imagine
if he cuts it back any further. Thankfully, he won’t get that chance
to see the door of government again. But remember, Mr. Ingraham is
promising to cut the public service. Look out!
THE
FAKER OF FOX HILL’S AMBUSH FAILS
Fred Mitchell, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Public Service and
the Member of Parliament for Fox Hill is at the height of his constituency
activity and profile during these days. He is the representative
for the constituency that has celebrated for 172 consecutive years the
emancipation of the slaves throughout the British Empire. He is also
a lightning rod for the press and the Free National Movement. Both
have decided to target him and his constituency with a view to discrediting
him and causing him to lose. If you read our editorial comment for
this week, you know what has happened and how the Faker of Fox Hill, the
potential opponent for Mr. Mitchell in the Fox Hill constituency has been
busy with a campaign of lies and deceit (click
here for the previous story on the Faker of Fox Hill).
This week, the Faker’s campaign sunk to a new low.
It was apparently not low enough for the campaign to claim falsely that
the Roman Catholic Church in Fox Hill was built by the Faker’s husband
for free. The campaign went further and tried to sabotage a community
event, the town meeting on Thursday 3rd August, sponsored by the Ministry
of Tourism on heritage tourism and community tourism and how Fox Hill can
be a part of it. She had all of her supporters show up in red T shirts
symbolizing the Free National Movement. The community was deeply
offended by it, turning a community event into a political one. What
was worse was that she herself did not have the courage to show up in a
red T shirt but instead profiled herself on TV and told how she had a PH
D.
Once again, the Faker of Fox Hill failed to get
any traction. The PLPs in Fox Hill are just waiting for her to get
the nomination officially. They will certainly fix her business for
her. You may click
here for the Minister’s comments on heritage and community tourism in Fox
Hill, delivered on Thursday 3rd August and his
address officially opening the Fox Hill Festival on Friday 4th August 2006.
Sideburns from The Nassau Guardian of 5th August, 2006; young Fox
Hill girls from the troupe 'Charlene's Angels' perform during the opening
ceremony of the Fox Hill Festival. Photo: Fox Hill Festival Committee
TRIB
SPECULATES ON ELECTIONS
The headline in The Tribune of Friday 4th August
was: ELECTION ON SIR LYNDEN’S BIRTHDAY? (MARCH 22 TOUTED AS MOST LIKELY
DATE). Nonsense! The Tribune was up to mischief and this is
the great problem with a newspaper that is supposed to be a paper of record
and should therefore be scrupulous with the truth of their position.
Instead, they have become a propaganda rag, just barely differentiated
from the down market tabloid newspaper. The thinking of this entirely
speculative story is that since Sir Lynden Pindling’s birthday is 22nd
March then the Prime Minister will call the elections on that day.
While that is idle nonsense, what the article did was it gave an opportunity
for a few words of analysis to be given by Felix Bethel, a lecturer in
political science at the College of The Bahamas. He did not speculate
on the 22nd March date but here is what he had to say in his own words:
“Sir Lynden’s death in August 26 2000 catapulted
the Progressive Liberal Party to power. There is no doubt about that,
that event was a singular event in the history of the country as important
to the mind of the black Bahamian as significant as January 10th, 1967.
The death of this man who became patriarch chief…
“This is the year 2006 going into 2007 the Pindling
card is being played. We saw it being played in the naming of the
airport, a massive event that shows you that the legacy of Sir Lynden is
real and therefore politically potent. I suspect that there will
be some honour or other for Lady Pindling which will secure in the mind
of the people the place of this man and woman and that family.
“It is a family with a large legacy, a large
name so the party that secures itself in that and owns that legacy gains
that support. But will it get support from people who are removed
in time from that legacy? That remains to be seen.
“Going into the next election it would really
be Pindling vs. Pindling. Perry Christie and his former law partner
Mr. Ingraham is one aspect of the Pindling legacy.
“I do not believe (Mr. Ingraham) has to this
point made a compelling case for his return as leader of the country.
He was able to make a case for being leader of the FNM because the men
who would be leaders of the FNM were so massively mediocre.
“Mr. Ingraham is now remaking the FNM.
The question for him is does he have the time to do it? I don’t believe
he has sufficient time. If I was told that he was preparing the groundwork
for the year 2012, I would say he is off to an excellent start.
“The history shows you that in 1987 when the
PLP was wallowing in scandal and corruption the PLP won. The Bahamas
is not a place where scandal, unfortunately brings down anyone. You
have to mix scandal with hard times. That is the brew, scandal and
hard times. But if you have scandal and money, the Bahamian who has
moved from piracy to all sorts of plundering as part of his psyche will
say let the good times roll.”
GALANIS
MAINTAINS HIS POSITION
There was blood all over the newsroom floor in The Tribune last week.
In their vicious campaign to get at PLPs for attacking their integrity,
they have printed any garbage without checking the facts. One such
allegation was made against Senator Philip Galanis in a letter written
to the press by Rick Lowe, who is part of the right wing think tank the
Nassau Institute. Mr. Lowe in his anxiousness to savage Mr. Galanis
and the PLP made the assertion that the Senator had asked for the revocation
of the work permit of John Marquis, the Managing Editor of The Tribune.
Mr. Lowe had to eat humble pie and admit that Mr.
Galanis did no such thing and he had to apologize in The Tribune of Friday
4th August. Perhaps Mr. Lowe might get his graceless friends at The
Tribune to do the same thing to Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell who from
all the press releases we have seen has never indicated that he concerned
himself at all about the work permit of John Marquis. But that is
by the way. What is important is that The Tribune lied on Mr. Galanis
again by saying in one of its news stories SENATOR CALLS FOR WORK PERMITS
OF ALL FOREIGN SENIOR EXECUTIVE TO BE DEFERRED. The story written
by Mark Humes was not true.
The Senator’s statement on which the story was based
laid out a compelling case for there to be time limits on how long a foreigner
can hold a work permit in The Bahamas and for there to be a plan laid out
for the Bahamianization of the position.
Hubert Ingraham The Master Triple Dipper of The Bahamas |
A WORD
ON CASTRO
On Monday 31st July it was announced that the President
of the Republic of Cuba Fidel Castro would temporarily give up power to
his brother Raul, the Minister of Defence. Mr. Castro said in his
announcement that he had over extended himself on his recent visit to Argentina
and that this had resulted in internal bleeding. He required surgery
to stop it. It appears that until his recovery, power is passed over
to the younger Castro brother. The U.S. press made much of it saying
that this was the first time since he took over in 1959 that he had not
been effectively the President of Cuba.
In Miami, the Cubans who live there immediately
began celebrating and there were party like scenes in the streets.
That community and its leaders including some leaders at the U.S. federal
level started making plans for the post Castro Cuba. The scenes
were unseemly and seem to betray a fundamental misconception or illusion
about what the post Fidel Castro Cuba will be like, as if when Fidel Castro
dies the exiles can turn back the clock in Cuba and march in and take over.
We think they are dead wrong on that.
The Cuban system of today is so opaque that it is
difficult to know what is going on behind the scenes. Certainly a
man of 80 years (his birthday is 13th August) will have a difficult recovery
in these circumstances. There was a subsequent announcement that
suggested that all had gone well with the operation but that he had to
spend time recovering. In Miami, Juanita a sister of Mr. Castro said
that she had been told that he had left intensive care and was recovering.
She criticized the exiles for their behaviour in Miami.
The U.S. officials at the federal level including
the Secretary of State and the President urged the Cuban people to
work toward multi party American style democracy. There was also
some concern about whether in the face of change of leaders in Cuba there
would be collapse in Cuba like in the former Soviet Union that would lead
to an implosion and a refugee crisis. There was no immediate sign
of that but it was impossible to know. Bahamian authorities had no
comment on the situation but should be watching events closely as they
unfold.
SOME
VIEWS ON ISRAEL
The Israeli Defence Force has launched at the behest
of its Government a series of attacks on the neighbouring state of Lebanon.
In the space of almost three weeks of bombardment by Israel, the state
of Lebanon and its infrastructure patiently built up after years of civil
war has been reduced to rubble. This attack appears to have the tacit
support of the Western powers. It is being done it appears with a
view to trying to destroy the resistance to the occupation of the West
Bank territories by the Israeli Defence Forces. This occupation of
Palestine has been continuous since 1967 and continues in the face of resolution
after resolution of the United Nations to roll back the occupation.
It is ironic now that yet another U.N. resolution
is being fashioned to try to protect the new status quo that Israel seeks
to impose on Lebanon. The scenes of carnage in Lebanon are distressing.
The lack of balance in the reporting by the Western news media is even
more distressing. The whole thing appears to have been turned by
the news media into entertainment with various correspondents reporting
from the battle scenes with bombs bursting in the back ground. This
is a tragedy for the people of Lebanon and the long suffering Palestinian
people.
THE
FIRE DEPARTMENT UNDER ATTACK
On Saturday 29th July, fire broke out in a shopping
centre owned by Rupert Roberts in Mackey Street. That centre houses
one of his Super Value stores and at first it was thought that the fire
originated there. It turns out that the fire started in another one
of the shops earlier on that Saturday. Observers said that the fire
looked at first to be completely under control but later in the evening
the media was called back to the scene and watched as a building went up
in flames. The store Super Value itself was damaged by smoke and
later had to be closed temporarily by health officials.
A round of public recriminations against the Fire
Branch of the Royal Bahamas Police Force then began. Mr. Roberts
himself accused the fire department of dereliction of their duties and
allowing one of the buildings in the shopping centre to be destroyed without
making a sufficiently valiant attempt to end the fire. The Fire Department’s
spokesman rejected that claim saying that the heat was extremely intense
and that the best decision in some circumstances was to let the fire burn
itself out while saving the nearby buildings.
One fireman was said to be hurt in the fire.
An investigation will follow in due course. Several of Mr. Roberts’
Super Value stores have burned down before. We do not know what the
investigation will uncover but certainly the observations made by the public
and with the memory of the lack of performance in saving the straw market
in the fire of 2001 suggests that we need to have a careful look at the
ability including skills and equipment of the fire department what with
all the mutli story buildings that are going up in the country as part
of the tourism sector. This is no playing matter.
Firefighters battle Mackey Street Hilltop Plaza blaze - Bahama Journal
photo by Stephen Gay
OSWALD
BROWN’S CONSPIRACY THEORY
In his column of Friday 4th August Oswald Brown
took a curious course. Preston Stuart, the Freeport businessman,
who died it appears by his own hand in Freeport and was buried in Freeport
on Saturday 30th July, was Mr. Brown’s friend from childhood. Mr.
Brown claimed in the column that the two were so inseparable that they
were often even as recently as within the past month mistaken for one another,
with people actually calling him Mr. Stuart. He said that to say
that he knew Mr. Stuart so well that he could not have taken his own life.
That was not the Preston Stuart that he knew. He said that until
the police can convince him otherwise he would not believe it.
Around Freeport it appears there is a conspiracy
theory about how Mr. Stuart met his death. This is normal in a society
that relies on oral traditions for its news. That means it is subject
to every little rumour that makes the rounds. These rumours persist
often in the face of strong, obvious and cogent evidence. The experts
will tell you that this is also often a reaction of friends who are seeking
often unknowingly to disguise their regret and remorse that they did not
pick up the classic signs of depression leading to suicide and further
that they failed to do anything about it. The same comment of Mr.
Brown that Preston Stuart, the man he knew would get over it and not do
such a thing, is often a mistake that friends and family make in the face
of these signs of depression. That is why we said in the column when
we reported the matter that it is clear that there needs to be greater
public education on the subject of depression in The Bahamas.
It is important that you grieve for your friend
but it is also important to learn to accept the truth of the matter and
that is he is dead and by rewriting history or seeking after the fact to
reorder those facts, the fact of his death won’t change. The investigation
will show what happened in the end. In the meantime, you can say
of your friend: “He was good man, bless him”. Remember him
fondly but life must move on.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Another
Englishman in our Business Again
...as
a friendly reminder
Well, the International Airport issue certainly
rattled your cage and you then followed the well-recognised path of propagandist
invective and damning someone with faint praise! The issues aired
have, and will, occur again...
Anyway, by way of adding one or two genuine comments,
I've attached a photo of the very kind gift presented to me by the staff
of the Freeport Harbour Company on my departure from the Bahamas in 1988...
the Queen conch is real and the comments well-meant by Bahamian folk!
John Hinchliffe
Padstow, Cornwall UK
Capt. Hinchliffe’s opinions are as incorrigible as ever. You
can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
The plaque which is pictured (yes, he actually sent it) reads: Awarded
to Capt. Hinchliffe for being a conscientious boss to the staff of Freeport
Harbour and the restructuring of our Port, placing us high among world
ports. Many thanks for all your charitable contributions and in return
may you have great success. Staff, Freeport Harbour Company, Bahamas
1980-1988
I wonder how much he paid them to say that? Just joking – Editor
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Photos from This Week with the Prime Minister will
return.
| 13th
August, 2006
Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com |
|
| THE HOUSE IS ON VACATION... | LIFE AT THE TRIBUNE... |
| FNM DENIES INGRAHAM... | THE BEC UNION... |
| SHANE’S IMMIGRATION POLICY... | THE AIRPORT SECURITY... |
| MITCHELL IN BIMINI... | THE WEEK THAT WAS IN FOX HILL... |
| TELEPHONE OUTAGES... | ARTHUR FOULKES ON ISRAEL... |
| STADIUM CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT SIGNED... | THIS WEEK WITH THE PM... |
The Official Site of the Progressive
Liberal Party... |
The Official Site of the Free National Movement... |
| PLPs On The Web... | Interesting Places... |
| Bradley Roberts / PLP Grants Town | Bahamas Government Website |
| Neville Wisdom / PLP Delaporte | Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
| Alfred Sears / PLP Fort Charlotte | Bahamians On The Web |
| Melanie Griffin / PLP Yamacraw | Bahamian Cycling News |
| John Carey / PLP Carmichael | FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES... |
| Grand Bahama PLP | |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
UNCLE TOM IS ALIVE AND WELL
John Marquis of The Tribune is busy as bee trying to stay in The
Bahamas, a country he hates, with a government that he despises, a people
who are the wrong colour. We have been relentless on him because
he practices the worst kind of sloppy, slimy journalism. He is a
bad example for the journalists of The Bahamas, and further The Tribune
cannot explain why after more than a decade in The Bahamas, he is unable
to provide a training programme or a Bahamian to become the Managing Editor
of The Tribune.
This week the Minister for Immigration laid down the rules: comply with the request that was made to supply the training programme or no work permit. The response of The Tribune was continued defiance of the rules. They are busy working themselves up into a political campaign using the Bahamian reporters who work for them. Operative words “work for them”. Then there is an assortment of toadies and FNM supporters who wish the PLP ill like Guardian columnist Oswald Brown who are busy trying to prescribe what the PLP should do in the situation. It is quite safe to ignore their twisted advice. They even got the country’s resident carpetbagger politician Cassius Stuart to venture an uninformed and Uncle Tom position.
From our point of view, the matter is quite simple. Mr. Marquis should go. If he had been a Haitian living in The Bahamas on an expired work permit, the Immigration officers would have picked him up on a bus and escorted him via the detention centre to an aircraft where he would depart for his homeland. That is what should be done, and there should be no further discussion about it. The case that he and his supporters present is unremarkable.
Consider this. If you had a doctor in this country who was botching up medical cases, killing his patients, he would be out of the country, work permit cancelled. The same case could be made if you had an accountant who was simply defrauding his clients or not up to the mark; he would be gone. Our criticism of John Marquis has nothing to do with whether or not he criticizes the Government. He is free to do that. He simply does not provide a good example for journalists in this country and is not a proper teacher for the values of this country.
One has only to look at the number of stories printed in The Tribune that lack certain basics. Who, what where when and why are missing. The reporters do not know that they have to quote who they are quoting accurately and within context. The reporters don’t seem to know that they have an obligation to print the other side. The Tribune that is considered by many to be the paper of record in The Bahamas has descended into a competition with the down-market Punch, seeking to grab headlines by reporting salacious material. John Marquis must go and he must go now, not later.
This week, The Tribune plans to carry a piece under the headline INSIGHT. It is a weekly column written each week anonymously by John Marquis. What they intend to do is to publish the views of Bahamian journalists about the so called work permit controversy. No doubt, there will be the line up of reporters who will say how this is wrong, and then the rub: it is an attack on freedom of the press. The press does not have the right to break the law. Mr. Marquis does not a have that right. He needs a work permit. The work permit has expired. Every day that he remains gainfully employed within The Bahamas is a further breaking of the law in this country. The Tribune has not complied with the rules to explain their training programme. Mr. Marquis and The Tribune continue to defy the rules. The reporters have to ask themselves whether they support the law and the rules in this country or whether they support breaking those rules.
The rules are in place to support the right of Bahamians to live and work in their own country. Does this generation of Bahamians believe in Bahamianization or not? That is the question.
Mr. Marquis and Eileen Carron are insidious and wicked. They are using this matter as if it is some campaign for freedom of the press. There is no such issue except in their own minds. Oswald Brown in his usual twisted and contorted way claimed in his column of Friday 11th August in the Nassau Guardian that if Mr. Marquis does not get his work permit, The Bahamas will be attacked as having attacked the freedom of the press, particularly since The Bahamas has opened an embassy in Cuba. Mr. Brown’s continuing ignorance even in the face of his sickness is amazing. It never ceases to confound us. Clarence Bain had the right expression: the weak kneed apologetic negro.
Enter into the fray a 22 year old school teacher, a public servant who is prescribed by his contract from engaging in political polemic. For that he can be subject to discipline and even dismissal. Adrian Gibson (aka the wild man of Borneo) admits that he is in the above mentioned category. Yet he continues to defy the rules of his contract, and writes political opinions in The Tribune every week. He claims that John Marquis should be given a work permit because Mr. Marquis gave him the courage of his convictions, and gave him the chance to write the rubbish that he writes in The Tribune every week. Uncle Tom is alive and well. No Minister of the Government insofar as we are aware has threatened anything against this very foolish young man. He claimed in his letter to the editor that his job had been threatened. This is a figment of his vivid and lying imagination. What he must answer is whether or not as a teacher of our children, he stands as a good example when he himself is not obeying the rules, when presumably that is what he should be teaching our children. No wonder the country is in trouble. We would support disciplinary action against him so that he can answer this important question. When the rules go out of the window, then order collapses. Presumably that is what he and his fellow travelers at The Tribune want in their anti Black, anti PLP campaign that they use every opportunity for illogic to defend.
Let us once again be clear. Mr. Marquis must go. There are no compelling reasons for him to stay. There are six direct flights to London every week. This week ahead of us, he should find himself on one of them and do not return. Take all of his belongings with him. Remember that no gels or liquids are allowed in your luggage on board the plane, and oh yes on planes flying to London, no lap top computers are allowed. That means that you will have to wait to write badly about The Bahamas when you land in jolly old England.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 12th August 2006 at midnight: 63,306.
Number of hits for the month of August up to Saturday 12th August 2006 at midnight: 105,792.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 12th August 2006 at midnight: 3,049,554.
THE
HOUSE IS ON VACATION
The House of Assembly has finally taken its summer
break. The House adjourned on Wednesday 9th August and will reconvene
on Wednesday 27th September. The resumed session will likely take
us to the Christmas break, following which there will be a General Election.
The Prime Minister advised all House members to try to get their constituents
to register to vote. He said that it was important for the Constituencies
Commission to be able to do its work based on the registration of voters.
Before ending, the House passed a resolution that will transfer parcels
of land used by the Ministry of Housing for public low cost housing to
the Minister of Housing from the Treasurer.
LIFE
AT THE TRIBUNE
Usually we put all letters to the editor under one
head so that readers can have a full sense of what other readers were interested
in during the week. This week, we got a letter from a source close
to The Tribune. The note describes what life is like at The Tribune.
There are a couple of points that we would like
to highlight from the letter. First, that all Tribune reporters should
not be put under the support of John Marquis camp. The reporters
recognize who their employer is but in the main do not subscribe one way
or the other to the political and racist views of the owner and her right
hand man. Secondly, the letter makes the point that one of the reasons
that The Tribune carries so many anonymous articles is that it does not
want to run afoul of the immigration laws. Mr. Marquis is hired to
be the Managing Editor. The letter writer insists that Mr. Marquis
barely speaks to reporters and provides no training at all. He spends
his time in his glass cage writing anonymous articles.
The letter writer questions where the quotes come
from to support The Tribune’s political point of view. The letter
says that in writing anonymously Mr. Marquis and The Tribune hope to be
able to circumvent the Immigration problem. They know that they can’t
get a work permit for writers but The Tribune actually prefers writers
like Mr. Marquis to the Bahamian writers. When the articles are published
without a by line, immigration will not know who actually wrote the piece
and would not then be able to question what is being done by The Tribune
by someone who is supposed to be the Managing Editor. We will forward
the letter on to the Director of Immigration for his perusal.
We repeat the full letter below and you then click
on a number of pieces written by Mr. Marquis that show clearly why such
a person should not remain in The Bahamas.
John Marquis fraud
The debate over whether the denial of John Marquis’
work permit is a crackdown on free speech has largely missed the point.
Yes, he’s biased, but so is The Tribune as a whole. Yes, he looks
down his snobby English nose at Bahamians. But he does so at all
non-British nationals, including Americans. There are two more relevant
points that need to be examined: First, is he doing the job of a managing
editor? The answer is no, he works primarily as a writer, which is
a profession that is supposed to be the exclusive domain of native Bahamians.
Even Eileen Carron’s defence of Marquis referred exclusively to his ability
as a writer. Any former Tribune employee — and since the arrival
of Marquis there are plenty — can tell you the man spends all day in his
glass cage, interacting with hardly anyone. He does not edit and
he certainly does not manage.
John Marquis’ management skills? Don’t
make me laugh. If successful management is geared toward constant
staff turnover, he’s the best. Second, is he a good, ethical journalist?
Surely, this is a fair requirement for the government to ask of him.
A work permit would not be granted to a builder who did not rise to the
standards of his profession. Marquis fails on this account.
Included in this e-mail are two examples of Marquis’
work. The first is a story
that appeared in 2003 when virtually all of Marquis’ writing was published
without a byline — an appalling breach of journalistic accountability that
would not be tolerated at any legitimate news outlet. And he’s rising
to the defence of journalism here? He doesn't know the meaning of
the word. (Part of the reason his stories ran without a byline is
because both he and Mrs. Carron were well aware that to employ a foreigner
who worked primarily as a writer was forbidden.) In it, Marquis employs
his usual tack of using unnamed sources, but in this one — and his condescending
writing style is unmistakable — he actually refers to himself in third
person and includes quotes from himself. At any self-respecting news
organization, this sort of fraud would result in immediate dismissal.
But at The Tribune, the manager is, of course, the one who is committing
the offence. No punishment there.
The second article
is an entire rambling treatise about how awful the Bahamas is based
entirely on unnamed sources. Civilization is crumbling and we are
to believe there is no one on the island who is willing to allow their
name to be used in the paper? Maybe they just didn’t want to be associated
with Marquis’ shabby approach to journalism. Or maybe they don’t
exist at all. Here he quotes a leading academic who desires to be
more vocal about issues — but declines to be named. It would be laughable
is it weren’t so sad. And he actually put his name on this one.
Marquis’ frequently used defence is that everyone
is afraid to have their name used. This is nonsense. Certainly,
there are stories where a source cannot be revealed for legitimate reasons.
But Marquis uses this as an excuse for his lazy brand of shoddy journalism.
People speak out in newspaper articles all over the world in situations
where the reality of reprisal is much more prevalent and brutal than in
the Bahamas.
The image of John Marquis as the brave crusading
journalist being persecuted by government is ridiculous. Marquis’
use of secret sources is more supermarket tabloid than Woodward and Bernstein.
Of course, anyone who would quote himself in an article has long since
relinquished the right to refer to himself as a journalist. Perhaps
the publishers of the books he is now writing — notice there is no mention
of the word researching — would be interested in this most egregious violation
of basic journalistic standards. The government should and so should
any newspaper that lays claim to the legacy of Etienne Dupuch.
(Name Withheld)
FNM
DENIES INGRAHAM
On Wednesday 9th August, you could hear the sound
of cockle, doodle doo in the House of Assembly as FNM Members of Parliament
got up to defend and to deny on behalf of Hubert Ingraham, their vacationing
leader. Mr. Ingraham was on a cruise and so was not able to say for
himself what Brent Symonette, the Deputy Leader and Alvin Smith, the one
time leader had to say. Keod Smith, MP PLP for Mt. Moriah told the
House that Mr. Ingraham had said that if he became Prime Minister again
he would shrink or reduce the public service. That had the FNM members
jumping up.
You read that on
this very site last week. It was a comment reported by our friends
at The Tribune. The direct quote is that he would “shrink” the public
service. They finally had to settle down when Minister of Works Bradley
Roberts took to the floor to read the direct quote from The Tribune’s article.
There it was in black and white. The FNM was then mum.
THE BEC
UNION
We support the Government’s decision to refer the
most recent trade dispute between the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union
and the Bahamas Electricity Corporation. The capital city was once
again plunged into darkness on Thursday 10th August because the leadership
of the BEC Union decided that they are entitled to 9.1 million dollars
worth of back pay for which they have no legal entitlement. As a
consequence, they marched 300 workers to the BEC plant at Clifton and sabotaged
the equipment that led to the failures across the island of New Providence.
The Government seems powerless in the face of this kind of blackmail.
Clearly, the House of Assembly should have been
called back into session to pass an emergency law that would make it possible
for the tortious liabilities as a result of the Union’s action to be charged
personally to the leaders of the Union. That would put a stop to
the illegal walk outs immediately. The irony is that the PLP in Opposition
fought the FNM government on this matter because they thought that responsible
leadership of the Union would prevail. But with the economy going
great guns, it has simply become impossible for the country to rely on
the BEC workers who seem to walk out at will.
Incidentally the same tactics were used by the two
silly leaders of the Bahamas Union of Teachers in their recent negotiations.
No surprise there since Denis Williams the leader of the BEC Union was
their principal advisor.
On Thursday 10th August the Minister of Labour Shane
Gibson ordered the workers back to work as a result of his referring the
dispute to the Industrial Tribunal. The Union's leaders rather childishly
ducked the process server all day on Friday 11th August. The workers
did not return to work. The Government went to court to get a Supreme
Court order to get the workers to comply. If they breach the order,
there is imprisonment and fines waiting them on the other side. You may
click
here for the Minister of Labour’s full address to the nation on Thursday
10th August.
Minister of Immigration, Labour and Training the Hon. Shane Gibson
(centre), at a press conference on Friday, August 11, 2006, at the
Ministry of Immigration, Labour and Training in the Main Post Office
Building, East Hill Street, to discuss the strike action by members
of The Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEWU). Minister Gibson
has sent the dispute between BEWU and The Bahamas Electricity Corporation
(BEC) to the Industrial Tribunal for arbitration. Also present were
Dr. Hon. Marcus Bethel, Minister of Energy and the Environment,
whose portfolio includes BEC; and the Hon. Allyson Maynard-Gibson,
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs. BIS Photo: Raymond
A. Bethel
SHANE’S
IMMIGRATION POLICY
The Minister responsible for Immigration Shane Gibson
has promulgated a new set of procedures and policies for the issuing of
work permits. It is really a clarification of a longstanding policy
of the Department. What the policy means to do is support the idea
of Bahamianization. The applicant for a work permit has to show that
a Bahamian is not available for the job, then there has to be a training
programme in place and finally there will be a time limit set in any case
on how many work permits an individual can hold in succession. This
is the policy of Bahamianization envisaged by his illustrious predecessors
like Arthur Hanna, Loftus Roker, Darrel Rolle and Sir Clement Maynard.
THE
AIRPORT SECURITY
Here we go again. The Government of The Bahamas
called a press conference on Thursday 10th August with three Ministers
(Transport, Foreign Affairs and Tourism) to announce that because the British
and the Americans had declared a heightened security alerts at their airports
that the Bahamian airport would be on a heightened security alert.
Of course one has to take the business of threats
seriously but really you have to take anything that comes from the British
police with a grain of salt these days. First, they shot a completely
innocent Brazilian man for which they have refused to apologize and give
compensation or prosecute the perpetrators of the death. Secondly,
they arrested, detained and trashed the home of a group of Pakistanis in
London saying that they were suspected in a plot to cause terror in London.
In that case they shot a man again without it appears any warning.
That turned out also to be a false alarm and the arrested persons let go.
Now these same police report that there was going
to be mass murder on a vast scale by 21 people who were plotting to blow
up planes in mid air, one of whom they have now released. The latest incident
is now causing all the disruption at the airports in this part of the world.
The instructions seemed ludicrous: you can’t take
gels and liquids on the plane-- tooth paste is out for example. On
planes to Britain you can't put your lap top or cell phone in your hand
luggage. You have to pack it in checked luggage. Imagine, some
people never have checked luggage, so imagine now the inconvenience of
all this on the strength of dubious information from a police force that
has not been very reliable. The Ministers advised that passengers
be patient and arrive at the airport as early as possible.
In a related but unconnected story, the pre-clearance
for US customs and immigration at the Lynden Pindling International Airport
was interrupted on Friday 11th August as a result of a computer crash brought
on by a failure of the lines of the telephone companies of The Bahamas
and the U.S. and some suggested because of power surges in the electrical
supply to the units.
Government Ministers and Ministry of Transport and airport officials
brief the media on new security measures. BIS photo: Tim Aylen
MITCHELL
IN BIMINI
Every year at this time the Minister of Foreign
Affairs visits Bimini for the annual Glenda’s Road Race. The race
is in its 39th year. Glen Rolle, a popular businessman in Bimini, died
three years ago. In memory of Mr. Rolle, his friends keep doing the
race, started in honour of his daughter. The Minister of Tourism
Obie Wilchombe who is also the representative for the area supplies the
trophies for the race.
This year, the Ministry of Tourism headed by Norma
Wilkinson got into the act and put together the Julian Brown Walk/Run in
addition to the Glenda’s Road race. Mr. Brown, son of famous businessman
Harcourt Brown died tragically in a fire last year when the famous Compleat
Angler, the drinking bar of American writer Earnest Hemingway, burned to
the ground.
Several of Mr. Brown’s former customers showed up
to participate in the walk. The prizes were presented by the Minister
of Foreign Affairs, with the sister of Mr. Brown and the wife of Mr. Rolle.
The race took place on Thursday 10th August.
BIS photo: Derek Smith
THE
WEEK THAT WAS IN FOX HILL
This past week started off with the public holiday to commemorate the 172nd
anniversary of the abolition of slavery. Governor General Arthur
Hanna came to Fox Hill to mark the occasion. He used to be the representative
for the area. The current Member of Parliament Fred Mitchell in welcoming
him said that he (Mr. Mitchell) was the third member of his family to be
the representative for Fox Hill. The first was Sammy Isaacs, a cousin,
then Arthur Hanna another cousin and now himself.
The Fox Hill Festival was officially opened on Friday
4th August in honour of the late George Mackey, another representative
for the area who died earlier this year. Fox Hill Day was celebrated
the next day and with it the Prime Minister traveled to Fox Hill to visit
the churches in Fox Hill and speak to the various congregations.
He visited St. Paul’s, St. Marks’s, and Macedonia and Mt. Carey churches.
Then the fun began with the climbing of the greasy pole and the plaiting
of the maypole, and the music and dance. The representative Fred
Mitchell joined in the festival.
When Parliament met on Wednesday 9th August, Mr.
Mitchell thanked the Government for all of their support. You may
click here for the Minister’s statement
to the House of Assembly. The Faker of Fox Hill, also known as
Juice in Dere (click here
for last week’s editorial) was there at her stall, making money for
the FNM Association. This came despite the attempt by partisans close
to her to sabotage the Festival by adverse publicity in The Tribune.
Fox Hill Festival Committee Chairman Charles Johnson, Mrs. Betty
Mackey and Fred Mitchell MP after Mrs. Mackey's unveiling of a commemmorative
plaque in honour of her late husband, former Fox Hill MP George Mackey
- BIS photo: Patrick Hanna Winners of the Greasy Pole climb with
Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell (centre) and Festival Committee Chair Charles
Johnson (right) - photo: Fox Hill Festival Committee Please click
here for more photos of the week of the Fox Hill Festival.
TELEPHONE
OUTAGES
Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation had a strange
story to tell this week. They described their situation as challenged
as it related to the service of pre paid cell phones. What the public
knows is that on Thursday 9th August the cell phone service went down.
There was hardly a telephone connection. This is disgraceful in a
country that is supposed to be fully wired.
The fact is the system of communications is poor
and the Government needs to do something with BTC or the service it provides.
The company has simply run out of excuses, particularly in the face of
the progress made in other countries on telecommunications issues.
Tellis Symonette, the Vice President for Wireless Services for BTC, held
a press conference to say that once they got the prepaid cellular system
up and running, they immediately allowed access to the system even though
they were unable to bill for the use of the calls. The rumour went
out that calls were free; the system was overloaded and crashed again.
Oh well!
ARTHUR
FOULKES ON ISRAEL
We think that Sir Arthur Foulkes, the former Ambassador
to the United Kingdom, Cuba and China has it about right in his comment
reported in the press abut the current invasion of Lebanon by Israel.
You may click here for our thoughts
on the matter last week. Here is what Sir Arthur said in his
own words as reported in The Tribune of Saturday 12th August:
“The attacks by Israeli forces on the civilian
populations in Lebanon are uncivilized. These civilians are not military
targets, and should not be treated as such. I support the statement
of Amnesty International and their request that the U.N. Security Council
call for an immediate, full and effective ceasefire to protect civilians
in Lebanon and Israel from what they dub unlawful attacks.
“Civilized people for a long time have come to
the recognition that even in war, there are rules. One of these is
that people and property that do not contribute to the war effort be protected
against unnecessary destruction and hardship.”
STADIUM
CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT SIGNED
The
Bahamas and Chinese Governments signed a contract to build The Bahamas
National Stadium at the Cabinet Office on Tuesday, August 9, 2006.
Present at the signing were, (seated from left) Personal Secretary in the
Chinese Embassy, Shen Ging, General Manager of Qilu Construction Group
Corporation Zhang Shi, Secretary to the Cabinet Wendall Major and Permanent
Secretary at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Housing Leila Greene.
Standing from left are Public Relations Officer Zhang Yu, Vice General
Manager Qilu Construction Group Corporation Li Guangren, Chinese Ambassador
to The Bahamas His Excellency Li Yuaming, Director of Legal Affairs Debra
Frazer, Minister of Youth, Sports and Housing, Neville Wisdom, President
of the Olympic Association Sir Arlington Butler, Minister of Foreign
Affairs and Public Service Fred Mitchell, Chairmen of the National
Stadium Committee Thomas A. Robinson, and President and Senior Architect
at Architects Limited Iram D. Lewis, Project Manager for the National Stadium.
BIS Photo: Raymond A. Bethel
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Fox Hill Day
Prime Minister Perry Christie this past week maintained
his seven year tradition of touring the Baptist churches of Fox Hill on
Fox Hill Day. Mr. Christie mused that he has been able to follow
the progress of the growth of many children in the village, simply by encountering
them each year on the day. In a tradition of many generations, each
Fox Hill Day 'party' services are held at the Baptist churches in the village,
featuring musical performances, recitations and the exchange of gifts surrounded
by the teaching of the history of Emancipation. The Prime Minister
is pictured during his visit to the 164 year old Mount Carey Baptist Church
on the Fox Hill Road.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE D PLUS GRADE IN SCHOOL
Can you believe it? The summer is almost over; the children
have to get ready to go back to school. The lines are long at the
U.S. Embassy as parents scramble to get visas to go to school. They
are late. The airport is frantic, not enough parking spaces at Lynden
Pindling International to be able to accommodate the cars. People
are leaving for Miami. It seemed like yesterday that school was closing
and parents thought that they could relax until they had to think about
the dreaded school fees.
This is also the time when The Bahamas begins to scramble to get the public schools ready for the opening of the school year. Invariably, it is a last minute business. It is in the culture. This year the Minister of Education Alfred Sears and the Minister of Works Bradley Roberts have had weekly meetings leading up to the summer and during the summer to ensure that the necessary contracts had been issued to get the construction crews on the job in order for the schools to be ready for the start of the year. Governments invariably get judged by how successfully the school year opens. We wish that this school year goes well. It is important that it does in this period just before a General Election. We think it will.
The Ministry of Education this week released the statistics on how the children performed in the BGCSE around the country. The result is that the average for the system is D+. The country went ballistic. The country was incensed. The school system seemed not to be doing the best for the country. What are we going to do? It is a typical response for too many things in The Bahamas. There is a lot of gum flapping and complaining, a lot of beating of the breasts but not much action. The problem of what we do is invariably complex and certainly cannot be laid entirely or we would go so far as to say at all at the feet of the present Minister of Education Alfred Sears, as some would have you believe.
The cold hard fact is that there is something wrong. The employers in the country are worried. The politicians are worried. The employers are worried because they see the quality of the pool of potential employees declining and the pool of the potential employees declining. This is not just on matters like Maths and English but in important non academic areas like the social skills that one should take to a job. The young men who cannot remember what time and day they are supposed to report to work, who think that because they are spoken to in a harsh manner by an employer this means they can walk off the job and go home sulking. Then there are the young women who report to government jobs like they are dressed for a cocktail party. The potential waiter and waitress hires who can’t set a table to save their lives. The result is that employers don’t get employees with the basics and they themselves have to spend money trying to build on a bad foundation.
The politicians have to be worried. It is difficult to lead a country anywhere, to talk about improving the gross domestic product and the terms of trade when the people you govern can hardly comprehend simple English sentences. The public policy of a country is infinitely easier to design and apply in a situation where you have a literate population. We are not talking about simple reading and maths. We talk more importantly about comprehension. There must be an ability to understand what is being said. You find increasingly in a society that depends on gossip for news, that it is difficult to generate complex policies because they get derailed by the slightest nonsense.
How then do we address the situation that faces our schools and which has already negatively affected our public life? The answer most people think lies in getting parents more involved directly in the education of their children. One of the interesting aspects of the criticism of the performance of the schools is that you have many parents who don’t go to PTA meetings, don’t pick up their children from school, don’t know the teachers of their children, never check to see that the homework of the children is done, yet complain about the national outcome and say we must do something about it.
We think that talking about and encouraging parental involvement is great and certainly is necessary but we also note another complaint; that increasingly the parents themselves, given that they have children when they are at such a young age, do not themselves have a clue as to how to be parents. We think that the state must step in and actually seek to provide paid for supervised homework and recreation for children in public schools after the normal school day is done. That is one suggestion.
The other suggestion that we have is that a concerted effort must be made and special attention paid to boys in the primary school classrooms and beyond. It is clear that given the disproportionate results in favour of women in schools even with these bad results, and given all the social problems based around male malperformance, it is seems imperative that special programmes must be established to save the young men. These programmes must not be to the detriment of the girls in the school system.
We also do not think that the society actually spends enough on education in the aggregate. The Government should agree to double the budget of the Ministry of Education over the next four years. It seems to us even if that means raising taxes then that is a decision that will have to be made. The fact is that what we are about to say is an overworked phrase but we say it anyway: we cannot continue in the present vein.
The Minister of Education Alfred Sears has worked overtime to solve these problems. He is finally beginning to get the team that he requires to get things done in his Ministry. He has a new Director of Education. We think that he deserves another term in the House of Assembly and will do all that we can to persuade the people of Fort Charlotte to support him again for the House of Assembly. Another four years under Mr. Sears and we think that a solid foundation would have been built.
The Minister held a press conference and in the conference he did indicate that there are some bright spots on the horizon. He said that seven schools in the Family Islands, all public schools were able to obtain a C average in the BGCSE. He indicated that for the first time two schools, although both private schools were able to maintain a B average in the BGCSE results this year: St. Augustine’s College with a B minus and Lucaya International with a B. Let’s hope there is more of such good news next year.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 19th August, 2006 at midnight: 61,804.
Number of hits for the month of August up to Saturday 19th August at midnight: 167,596.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 19th August 2006 at midnight: 3,111,358.
19TH
AUGUST A DATE THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY
The Free National Movement had the most awkward
ad in the press during the week. They announced that they were celebrating
the 14th anniversary of their first victory at the polls. They were
of course dreaming of that date that lives in infamy whereby the once and
would be leader of the country Hubert Ingraham led a lucky but infamous
rag tag band of misfits to election victory in the face of an economic
recession in 1992 and a tired and worn out Lynden Pindling.
The portent of what was to come was Hurricane Andrew
that bore down on the country almost as soon as the victory was secure.
It beat us up badly. For the next ten years, we got a licking like
when you go down to Bimini. Anyway, in Nassau, the FNM had a fair
on Saturday 19th August to mark the day and we fear they did not do well.
In Grand Bahama, Ken Russell, that wisest of FNM
sages, pronounced at a press conference that election time is nearer now
than it has been. He smiled to himself as if he had said something
very clever. Good one Ken!
Late news is in on the disastrous FNM meetings in
Nassau, Eleuthera and Grand Bahama. Hubert Ingraham could not find
the courage or the time to stay in GB overnight. Reports say that
he flew in and flew right back out.
Speaking out of his head in Grand Bahama he appealed
for unity and saying that the FNM must stick together. He must know
why since the whole process for nominations is held up because he asked
for two names for Marco City and they came back with four, one of them
is David Thompson who is insisting that he run again, while Mr. Ingraham
is insisting that he retire.
Mr. Ingraham also has a fixation with Foreign Minister
Fred Mitchell's constituency. He claims that he has the Fox Hill
seat. Dream on... but what is interesting is that Mr. Ingraham’s
camp is circulating that they have in their possession a tape that has
the Foreign Minister making critical remarks about the U.S. We would
bet 100 cases of Kalik that such a tape does not exist and if it does the
material on it is a complete and utter fabrication. Poor Hubert,
he just does not know what he is going to do.
FNM
SHOWS CLEAR SIGNS OF DEFEAT
A statement by the Chairman of the PLP issued today
in the wake of the FNM's 'victory' celebration says that party is showing
clear signs of defeat. Said Rigby:
"In fact, if Hubert Ingraham would just speak the
truth he would say to his party that the PLP has been accepting former
and disgruntled FNM supporters in large mass since his return to the leadership
of the FNM. Many of them say that Hubert Ingraham is the same old dictator
and that he believes and acts as if only he has all of the answers.
"At the FNM’s flopped mini-rally, Hubert Ingraham
again used the podium to speak untruths and to cast the most nasty and
vicious mischaracterizations against the PLP and the outstanding record
of this Government since we came to office on the 2nd May, 2002. The simple
fact of the matter is that Ingraham is disturbed and is walking around
like a political demon because of the following facts, which he knows he
cannot lie about:
"(1) The Bahamian economy is performing far better
than it did in May 2002 and is projected to reach a positive growth of
nearly 6% before the next general election;
"(2) The national reserves are at the healthiest
than they have ever been before in our history;
"(3) We have put more Bahamians in their own homes
than the FNM did in almost 10 years in office;
"(4) We have taken positive steps to reform the
educational system and to improve the grade averages; and
"(5) Bahamians everywhere, in Bimini, in Eleuthera,
in Inagua, in Grand Bahama and in Rum Cay, all over The Bahamas, have the
confidence in the future because this PLP government has brought real sustainable
economic growth right to their homes and settlements. All Bahamians know
that they are better off today than they were in 2002.
"These are the facts and nothing echoed out of the
mouth of Hubert Ingraham will distract from these facts."
Please click
here for Mr. Rigby's full statement.
THE
U.S. BAHAMAS RELATIONSHIP
A letter writer to this column advanced the following
arguments with regard to the public discussion on US/Bahamian relations.
The writer asked to remain anonymous but we thought that the analysis and
perspective was important to share:
The Tribune, Dr. Dexter Johnson (the one man party),
The Nassau Guardian, The Punch, Brent Symonette, the FNM’s spokesman on
Foreign Affairs, Oswald Brown and some would argue even the U.S. Ambassador
seemed to be piling it up on Fred Mitchell, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and the PLP as it relates to the relationship between the United States
and The Bahamas. With nothing else to grab at, these very desperate
people were seeking to make political brownie points. It is strange
that the U.S. Ambassador would end up in such a mix.
It all started off with a column written by the
Ambassador and a report on the front page of the Nassau Guardian, based
on the exclusive column written by the Ambassador for the Nassau Guardian.
The central focus of the piece, there were good things in his first two
years as U.S. Ambassador but he thinks that The Bahamas and himself don’t
see eye to eye on human rights issues, and that he reported that The Bahamas
only voted with the U.S. 11 per cent of the time on general issues compared
to 40 per cent of the time in 2000.
It was interesting that the Ambassador chose
the years 2006 and 2000. The year 2000 was of course when the Free
National Movement was in power. The year 2006 the PLP was in power.
So, did the U.S. Ambassador mean to intervene in the election politics
of The Bahamas and support the FNM? Brent Symonette certainly saw
it that way and said on Tuesday 15th August in The Tribune that it was
clear that the PLP had to take notice and adjust its polices to suit the
U.S. Ambassador. Hogwash!
Does Mr. Symonette mean that if The Bahamas is
told to go to attack Haiti with its Royal Bahamas Defence Force that The
Bahamas should do so, even if we suspect that it is to our own detriment?
The lack of patriotism by this motley crew is quite sad.
The fact is the U.S. has its own human rights
record to think about and as the position has been explained by The Bahamas
Ambassador to the U.N., The Bahamas does not vote on country specific resolutions
in the area of human rights. If we did, then imagine the position
we would be put in if there were a resolution to condemn the United States
for the way it treats prisoners of conscience, Black prisoners, and the
detainees at Guantanamo, which even the U.S. Supreme Court has indicated
that prisoners are being held there in violation of the Geneva Convention?
The Bahamas should not get involved in our view, stay out of it.
Only Paul Moss, the anti foreign trade activist,
seemed to get the point. He congratulated the Government for not
voting with the United States and said that more should be done.
As for the FNM, Brent Symonette clearly has forgotten that the FNM voted
exactly as the PLP did to condemn the embargo of Cuba by the United States
and also voted to put Cuba on the Human Rights Commission. No different
from the PLP. The question is whether it is right for The Bahamas.
As for the United States, if there is indeed
a problem with Cuba and The Bahamas having a relationship, which there
is not as far as the Bahamian side is concerned, perhaps the Ambassador
ought to explain to these desperate people why it is that the U.S. has
the largest embassy in Cuba, even though they call it the Swiss Interest
Section.
The Ambassador calls our country a friend but
proceeds to undermine that very friendship and feed the political enemies
of the present administration by writing what he has written. Surely,
some may now question just how friendly we are when such a piece is written.
(Name withheld)
(Editor:
Here is what the U.S. Ambassador wrote in his own words as published
in The Nassau Guardian on Monday 14th August and in The Tribune Thursday
17th August:
“Each year, the State Department is required to present a report to Congress analyzing the voting records of countries in the United Nations. For 2005, we reported to C
