Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 4 © BahamasUncensored.Com 2006
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
ARTHUR HANNA REACH
Arthur
Dion Hanna Sr. is now the Governor General. His son Arthur Hanna
Jr., aka Dion and also ‘Boomshack’ spoke on the radio to say that while
he was proud of what his father had accomplished, he was disappointed that
he had accepted a colonial office. He added that he hoped that he
would not further disappoint him by accepting a knighthood. Of course,
only your first born could speak about a father in that way and everyone
understands. We are unabashed in our congratulations to our man in
Government House. The Governor General’s post should be abolished
and replaced by that of President but right now that is what we have, and
we can think of no finer occupant for that house at this time than Arthur
Dion Hanna.
As for the knighthood, it is not necessary to hold the office and the matter is entirely up to him. If he wants it, he can have it. If he doesn’t want it, he doesn’t have to have it. All the same to us! It seems to us that the reaction of the country from both sides is that we now have a man in Government House who is a man of the people. The Prime Minister in his remarks at the swearing in on Wednesday 1st February said that it was a long way from Pompey Bay, Acklins to Mount Fitzwilliam (the hill where Government House stands). That brought loud and thunderous applause, particularly from those in the ballroom who represented Arthur Hanna’s beloved constituents from what was known as Ann’s Town. In Arthur Hanna, Kemp Road, the main street in the former constituency disassembled by the wicked work of Hubert Ingraham, and known for its working class African Bahamians, and intermittent social trouble with a host of “bad boys” coming from there, had reached Government House.
A.D. Hanna was the late Sir Lynden Pindling’s confidant. He served as Deputy Prime Minister of the country, Deputy Leader of the party, and Pindling’s alter ego for nearly a generation. They parted ways following the Commission of Inquiry report in October 1984 and Pindling’s move to reorganize the Government, moving Mr. Hanna from the post of Minister of Finance. Mr. Hanna thought it was slap in the face to his integrity and he resigned. That resignation precipitated the dismissal of Hubert Ingraham and Perry Christie from the Pindling Cabinet, and the resignations of George Smith and Kendal Nottage. The PLP was never the same again. Mr. Hanna was elected unopposed to the House in 1987 but five years later, he was defeated and left active politics.
He
did not leave the PLP. This was the same man who ran in Cat Island
in 1956 when he had to walk from settlement to settlement; who came into
the House in 1960 following the constitutional revisions as the representative
for the Far East including Fox Hill; who threatened to go with Pindling
in 1977 in what is described as the night of the long knives; who told
Pindling in 1984 at the convention “right is right and wrong is wrong!”
He could not bring himself to betray all that and continued to serve the
party behind the scenes with distinction as an elder statesman of the PLP.
With the years of the PLP back in power, with Pindling dead and gone, Arthur Hanna became a cosy type avuncular figure, who recalled the history of the party, who made great jokes in his speeches and gave the PLP a sense of comfort. In one of his interventions last year, he debunked what he called the myth that Stafford Sands was the father of tourism and of the financial services sector in The Bahamas. Arthur Hanna is down in history as the catalyst for Independence, the radical who followed Sir Milo by getting himself thrown out of the House of Assembly in 1965. He goes down in history as the man who invented Bahamianization, the policy of ensuring that Bahamians came first in the new economy of the country.
All of this came flooding back to the memories of the collective ruling class as they sat in Government House waiting for the ceremony to begin. Even in the ceremony, with the pages getting stuck and mixed up during his speech; that too was vintage “Midge” as he is affectionately known: glasses sometimes missing, speaking like he would forget what he was going to say, but getting there.
You may click here for the full statement by Mr. Hanna. All the former Governors General who are alive were there: Dame Ivy Dumont, Sir Orville Turnquest, and Sir Clifford Darling. The entire Cabinet was there.
We like this story. It beats even the fact that a domino table has to be ordered for the first time at Government House. A woman is leaving the food line, her plate overflowing with food, following the reception. She looked positively delighted at the choices she had made. Someone asked her about the food: “What they gat?” “Chile ,” she said, “they got stew conch, pig ears, pig foot and johnnie cake. Hanna reach!”
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 4th February 2006 at midnight: 99,304.
Number of hits for the month of February up Saturday 4th February 2006 at midnight: 48,006.
Number of hits for the month of January up to Tuesday 31st January 2006 at midnight: 407,738.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 4th February 2006
at midnight: 455,744.
THE
GENERATIONS TALK ABOUT RACE
It is clear that when W.E.B. Dubois said in 1903
that the question of the twentieth century would be the question of the
colour line that he was on to something. This is the twenty first
century and it is still the question of the century. Race dominates
the politics of The Bahamas, and try as the other side (the FNM) might
to exorcise the demon or rather cover the whole matter up, the issue of
race keeps coming up. We explained racism as an invidious sickness
that infects some people so badly that they self-hate. But there
are three articles which appeared in the Bahamian press this week that
we thought ought to be brought to your attention. Two we think ought
to be read in entirety.
One letter is by HELEN KLONARIS and appeared in
The Tribune of Friday 3rd February. She is a white Bahamian woman
and says that she is embarrassed by some of the comments of white Bahamians
on the subject of race. It was very brave of her. You may click here
for that article; page 1; page
2.
ANDREW EDWARDS is a former Chair of the Young Liberals.
He has the makings of someone who will be prominent in our country one
day. He is slowly emerging as a full public persona it seems, having
finished his course of study to become a lawyer. He published a two
part piece on racism in The Bahamas in the Nassau Guardian’s Weekender
Magazine, entitled
'Race' in The Bahamas
- A perspective from the nation's youth. The central theme of
it is that the young people of The Bahamas have felt the direct effects
of racism in The Bahamas and still feel it.
Finally we share with you the words of NICOLLETTE
BETHEL, the Director of Culture, who had an interesting observation to
make about black men in uniform on a foray over to her old stomping ground
at Paradise Island. We share some of her thoughts in her own words:
“… What struck me about most of the faces that
I saw there, on Kerzner land (Paradise Island and Atlantis) was this: either
they were white, or they were black and uniformed…
“… It’s not the fact that people are required
to wear uniforms on Paradise Island that piqued my interest enough to write
an article about it. I get the concept of the uniforms, and I even
like it in certain times and places. No; what arrested me was the fact
that virtually the only black people I saw loose on Paradise Island – not
driving cars, or sitting eating in the Hurricane Hole Plaza, or behind
the counters in Marina Village – were uniformed. Almost all the other
faces were white.
“I can only presume that there’s something very
comforting about black people in uniform. Uniforms make black faces
look as though they fit in. They allow for categorization, and for
control; each uniform tells you where this person is supposed to be and
who’s responsible for this person. All very comforting…
“… Because the relegating to the black face to
its appearance above a uniform smacks to me of a structure of class and
race that Majority Rule was supposed to dismantle… What it really suggests
to me is that we have moved from an era where black faces were confined
to uniforms because they were considered inferior to an era where black
faces are confined to uniforms because it’s better for the bottom line.”
HOUSE
OF ASSEMBLY PROROGUED
The House of Assembly has been prorogued by the
Governor General. The new session of the House will begin on Wednesday
15th February. The Commissioner of Police Paul Farquharson read the
proclamation of the Governor General from the steps of the House of Assembly.
This will be the final session of the Parliament before a general election
next year.
Provost Marshall Commissioner Paul Farquharson
is shown reading the proclamation proroguing the House of Assembly on Tuesday,
January 31, 2006 flanked by senior police officers in this Bahamas Information
Services photo by Patrick Hanna.
THE
PRISONER IS CAUGHT
In the end Corey Hepburn surrendered quietly in the late hours of the evening
on Wednesday 1st February. Mr. Hepburn may have been the mastermind
behind the prison break on Tuesday 17th January from her Majesty’s Prison
that resulted in the death of Corporal Dion Bowles. He was described
by the former prison Superintendent Edwin Culmer as an escape artist.
The “artist” is now back in custody. He was captured in Coral Harbour
under the direction of a police team headed by Chief Superintendent of
Police Marvin Dames. Congratulations on the fine police work. He
was found with a small quantity of drugs. The police reported that
he was retaken without any trouble at all.
The capital punishment lobby was reportedly hoping
that the police would simply kill the escapee and not bother with custody,
but either God is working in a mysterious way or we have to thank police
officers that continue to believe in the rule of law and not the law of
the jungle. On the capital punishment issue, one sane voice in the
whole debate has come forward from the church, Bishop Simeon Hall has warned
the country not to let emotions override the law when it comes to the issue
of capital punishment. Deacon Geoffrey Lloyd, the MORE FM Talk Show
host makes the same point. Good for them! Let’s hope that now that
the escape artist is back behind bars, they can now manage to keep the
man safely behind bars.
On Saturday 4th January, The Tribune published photographs
of two of the prisoners who had tried to escape with Mr. Hepburn but were
recaptured. They appeared to be lying naked in what the newspaper
described as “a blood smeared” holding area in chains. The Ministry
of National Security has ordered an investigation into the photos.
Police officers are shown taking recaptured escaped prisoner Corey
Hepburn out of a mini van outside the CDU’s Thompson Boulevard headquarters.
Bahama Journal photo by Stephen Gay.
ADDERLEY
PREDICTS A REPUBLIC
On the day that Arthur Hanna was being sworn in
as Governor General, Paul Adderley who had acted in the job up to Mr. Hanna’s
appointment, was holding forth on what now, with regard to constitutional
development. Mr. Adderley told The Nassau Guardian of Thursday 2nd
February that he thought that Mr. Hanna would be the last Governor General.
Oh really? Yes really!
We think it makes eminent sense for The Bahamas
to get rid of the Queen and proceed to a republic. The whole present
state of affairs is so anachronistic. Independent for 33 years and
still talking about The Queen being the Head of State of The Bahamas.
What a joke. Republic here we come! But let’s enjoy Mr. Hanna’s
tenure (see ‘Arthur Hanna Reach’ above).
RIGBY
SMACKS INGRAHAM’S NONSENSE
Raynard Rigby, the Chairman of the Progressive Liberal
Party issued a statement to the country on Thursday 2nd February in response
to a foolish statement by the former Prime Minister and now Leader of the
Opposition Hubert Ingraham. Mr. Ingraham in congratulating the new
Governor General sought to pollute the waters by suggesting that he needed
to be consulted on matters of national importance, the underlying
charge seemed to be that he was not consulted on who should be Governor
General.
Curiously this is a charge that came up as well
in Jamaica where the Leader of the Opposition while not objecting to the
choice of UWI Professor Kenneth Hall as the new Governor General of Jamaica,
Bruce Golding, the Leader of the Opposition there said that the Opposition
Jamaica Labour Party had not been consulted on the matter.
The first thing is that Mr. Ingraham is being misleading
because we are certain that he was consulted. The second thing is
there is no constitutional requirement for consultation. The third
thing is when he appointed Dame Ivy Dumont to be Governor General; he did
not even consult his Cabinet much less the Opposition. What is sauce
for the goose is also sauce for the gander. You may click
here for the full statement of Mr. Rigby. Party Chairman of the
FNM Desmond Bannister tried to rise to Mr. Ingraham’s defence but he needs
to find out from Mr. Ingraham what the truth is before he speaks.
NO EARLY
ELECTION
Paul Adderley, former Acting Governor General and
Head of he Constitutional Commission, was on a roll at Government House
on the day that Arthur Hanna was sworn in as the Governor General.
Not only did he tell a Guardian reporter on Wednesday 1st February that
he thought that Arthur Hanna would be the last Governor General and predict
the coming of a republic (see story above), but he also pooh poohed any
talk of an early election. Mr. Adderley described it as nonsense
and propaganda. He said that no Bahamian Prime Minister was going
to call an election after four years when there was no need to do so.
He said that the state of registration and boundaries were simply not set
for an election to take place, so those who were talking about an early
election were simply verbalizing wishful thinking. Amen!
MITCHELL
IN JAMAICA AND HAITI
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the following
statement with regard to the travel of the Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell,
under the caption 'FOREIGN MINISTERS IN PRE-ELECTION VISIT TO HAITI':
"Foreign Minister the Hon. Fred Mitchell is off
to Port-au-Prince on Friday 3rd February, 2006, on a fact finding mission
to the Haitian capital. The Minister will join foreign ministers
from Caricom countries Trinidad & Tobago and Dominica in the pre-election
visit to meet with Haiti's President, Prime Minister and officials of the
Haitian Provisional Electoral Council as well as representatives of participants
in the upcoming election.
Minister Mitchell is expected to
return to The Bahamas on Saturday 4th February. Caricom will be sending
official observers to the election in Haiti, scheduled for 7th February.
The Bahamas is expected to contribute three to that team of observers.
The meeting in Haiti was mandated by the Chairman
of Caricom on Monday, 30th January, when Heads of Government gathered in
Kingston, Jamaica. Foreign Minister Mitchell attended that meeting
as the representative of Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie.
Mr. Mitchell returned to the country on Saturday
4th February.
ZHIVARGO
LAING SHOWS HIS IGNORANCE
The former Minister of (un) Economic Development
is at it again in his column in The Tribune dated Thursday 2nd February.
This time Zhivargo Laing says that Perry Christie was somehow not being
forthright with the public when he said that he supports hanging.
Mr. Laing in his column asked how Mr. Christie could speak about hanging
and supporting hanging when he has executed no one on his watch.
Silly comment! The courts have injuncted the Government from executing
anyone until they have pronounced on the legitimacy and constitutionality
of the death penalty. The next case will be heard in May 2006.
Until then no hanging! Some people! Sheeesh! Anything for politics!
LARRY
SMITH GETS IT WRONG ABOUT THIS COLUMN
Talk about not being able to rise above the politics
of race, we visit again some of thoughts of Larry Smith, The Tribune columnist
who over the past week described this column as Fred Mitchell’s surrogate.
It is probably lost on Mr. Smith but we repeat it anyway: this is not a
surrogate for Fred Mitchell or anyone else. The disclaimer on the column
clearly states that this column does not represent the opinions of Fred
Mitchell, the Government or the Progressive Liberal Party. Larry
Smith and the others, get over it! Mr. Smith claimed that Fred Mitchell
sought to answer the U.S. Ambassador through this column about his comments
about The Bahamas human rights record of The Bahamas. How he jumps
to that is a small miracle. You may click here for last
week’s Letter to the Editor in this regard.
What is clear is that Mr. Smith doesn't know what
The Bahamas’ record is on human rights. He is involved in the same
knee jerk propaganda emanating from much of the western press where The
Bahamas is supposed to vote in the United Nations against every cause which
the developed world thinks is against their (the developed world’s) interest.
He has also fallen into the same trap of anything the U.S. says is correct
syndrome by assuming that because it was said by the U.S. Ambassador it
must be correct, akin to God speaking from the throne.
The question any right thinking Bahamian must ask
themselves is how in God’s name do we get up in the business of Iran and
nuclear energy and their human rights record? What in the name of
heaven does it have to do with our national interest? It is clearly
the sensible course to stay out big people’s business. It is not
that we do not care what happens to the people of Iran. When it came
time to condemn Cuba for its human rights record two years ago, The Bahamas
did so, telling them that they were wrong to execute the dissident group
that was returned by the United States Government to their shores.
That was within our sphere of influence.
As the Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell often says,
The Bahamas is not in a position to lecture other countries on their internal
politics. Larry Smith is, and he can do so but he should leave Fred
Mitchell and this column out of his silly machinations.
THE
CASE OF WHO KILLED MARIO MILLER ENDS
Earlier in this column, we reported that the case
of who killed the son of Leslie Miller, the Minister of Trade and industry
was finally in the courts. Mr. Miller’s son Mario was killed in June
2002 and the matter has finally come to trial. The evidence appears
to place the two men, brothers Ricardo and Ryan Miller charged in the matter,
on the scene. The evidence is circumstantial. The prosecution
closed its case last week, and the Judge is expected to sum up the case
and send it to the jury within this week. Let us hope that this brings
successful closure to this tragic matter.
FALLOUT
ON LARRY CARTWRIGHT
Last week, we reported that the then independent
Member of Parliament for Long Island and Ragged Island announced at a rally
in Long Island that he was joining or more properly rejoining the Free
National Movement. This was not unexpected but it has had a sickening
effect on the PLPs who supported Mr. Cartwright when he was dumped by the
FNM in 2002 and who thought that he had the good sense and fortitude to
remain an independent and continue to prevail.
The PLPs were particularly sickened to hear him
say from the public platform with the wretched Hubert Ingraham hugging
him that the PLP had done nothing for Long Island. The Ministry of
Works and the Minister of Works Bradley Roberts had been personally involved
in one project or another for and on behalf of Long Island including paving
– as we write – the very road on which Mr. Cartwright lives. PLPs
will be meeting in Long Island to plan their strategy for the future and
to look for a candidate.
MORE
CUBAN REFUGEES
The Miami Herald reported on Friday 3rd February
that eight Cuban migrants were found on the Cay Sal banks in the western
Bahamas near Cuba. It appears that 14 had originally left Cuba and
that six of them did not survive. One of the survivors was airlifted
to Florida for medical treatment and the others are going to be brought
to Nassau for processing.
Under the terms of a treaty with Cuba signed between
the two countries in 1995, the Government of The Bahamas must notify the
Cuban Government that the migrants are in the country within 72 hours.
The Cuban Government is to ensure that they are received back in their
country within two weeks. We believe that the repatriation must be
direct and vigorous. The numbers of people coming into The Bahamas
threatens to overwhelm the country. You have here a country of just
over 300,000 with ten million Cubans on the south west and eight million
Haitians on the south. The Bahamas is relatively wealthy and a drawing
card for those wishing to gain success up the economic ladder and go on
to the United States. The immigration laws must be strictly enforced
otherwise the floodgates will be opened.
There are some elements in the United States who
want to be selective about certain Cuban migrants coming into The Bahamas
and taking some into the United States. The question that must be
asked is who will take them when The Bahamas abrogates its treaty obligations
and the Cubans then refuse to accept them into their country. The
United States that vigorously sends Cubans back on the high seas directly
to Cuba should say whether or not they will take all whom the Cubans refuse.
We know that it is not politically possible for them to do so. In
response to this situation, the country has to put up with the abuse of
being called anti human rights, when the reality is we are only seeking
in our small way to protect our borders. So we are back to our slave
past as a country, shuffling and smiling in the face of the bigger boss,
hoping that the bigger boss’ unreasonable requests will simply go away.
All countries in the Caribbean face these issues.
Jamaica recently described their foreign policy
in response as being pragmatic. They tell the story of a U.S. Ambassador
who came to them to complain that Jamaica votes against the United States
70 per cent of the time at the United Nations and demanding an explanation
for why this was so. The Jamaican Foreign Minister reportedly drew
himself up in utter shock: “What” he responded incredulously, “You mean
the United States votes with Jamaica only 30 per cent of the time?”
The double standards of how persons are treated
from the Caribbean coming into the United States to spend good hard cash
as tourists. The double standards between white Cubans and black
Haitians who want to immigrate to the United States. For legitimate
Caribbean tourists it is often like they are doing you a favour at the
border. There is the rudeness of the Immigration and Customs officers,
the preemptory decisions to close the lanes, the lack of manpower to man
the lanes. The Brazilians had a response when the U.S. demanded the
fingerprints of those coming into their country, Brazil responded in kind.
No Caribbean country can do that.
Our purpose here is simply to show what a complex
time in which we live and how difficult it is for a small country to maintain
its independence, its thoughts and views in the face of a larger power.
The only response we have is our dignity, our voice, our principles.
If we are crushed so be it but our voice should be heard but this is not
the kind of discussion that any Caribbean country needs to have.
Every Caribbean country is a friend of the United States, tied inextricably
to the United States, has never acted against U.S. interests. That
apparently is not enough. It appears that at every turn, one must
simply do as one is told or be embarrassed.
TRIBUNE
UP TO MISCHIEF
Suddenly to be the daughter of the Governor General
is a conflict of interest if you are a Cabinet minister. If we follow
that logic, it means that we ought to dock the pay of Sir Orville Turnquest
ex post facto because he was improperly GG while his son Tommy Turnquest
was in the Cabinet. Foolishness! Yet that is the case that
The Tribune is seeking to make by suggesting, asking whether or not Mrs.
Hanna Martin is going to resign as a Cabinet minister because her father
is now the Governor General. Too stupid to comment further!
MOTHER
PRATT SUES THE PUNCH
The Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt is suing
The Punch for libel. The down market rag is at every week, and it
appears that this time someone has had enough. The Punch had to apologize
to Fred Mitchell, the Foreign Minister for lying on him, now let’s hope
that in addition to their apology, they are socked for big money for lying
on the Deputy Prime Minister.
CONGRATULATIONS
TO SYLVIA SEALY
The song says “Love is a many splendoured thing”
and to those who find it twice in life, they are very lucky. That
is the fortune of Sylvia Sealy, PLP Stalwart Councillor, who married Dr.
John Godet at a church ceremony at the Roman Catholic Holy Family Church
on Robinson Road on Saturday 4th February. Congratulations to the
happy couple. Dr. Bernard Nottage was the father giver. Fred
Mitchell, the Foreign Minister was to be the ring bearer but had to send
apologies as he was travelling on behalf of the country in Haiti. The happy
bride and groom are pictured with Roman Catholic Archbishop Patrick Pinder.
NATIONAL
CHOIR CONCERT
The National Choir of The Bahamas presented its
inaugural concert 3rd & 4th February at Christ Church Cathedral.
His Excellency Arthur Dion Hanna is pictured at the end of the concert
with Minister of Culture Neville Wisdom, Choir Director Cleophas Adderley
and Nancy Strelau, Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of Nazareth College
Rochester, New York. The Choir was established and is supported by the
Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Bahamas Information Services
Photo: Peter Ramsay.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Everything is significant
I read with much interest the points you made
about young men riding the streets of New Providence on dangerous bikes.
At the end you mention that the subject may not seem significant compared
to other things discussed in your column, but I am one to believe that
everything is significant.
Whether great or small, if something can have
an adverse affect on the lives of others, then it is indeed significant.
I am very impressed with the many issues discussed in your column and I
look forward every Sunday to reading it. Keep up the good work.
It is good to have read a lot of the things mentioned. I thank you
for your concerns. There is a saying that evil flourishes when good men
do nothing. I say thank God for Bahamasuncensored.com
Sharmaine Nottage
DOCKENDALE
SHIPPING HQ IN THE BAHAMAS
In our 29th January, 2006 edition, in a report about
the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, we wrongly identified the
office of Dockendale Shipping in Mumbai, India, as its headquarters.
Dockendale Shipping is in fact headquartered in The Bahamas, with branch
offices in Mumbai and Durban, South Africa.
Ministry
of Health National Healthy Lifestyles - Prime Minister Perry Christie
and Minister of Health Dr. Marcus Bethel at the podium Saturday for the
official opening of the Ministry of Health's National Healthy Lifestyles
Walk, Rally & Fair. The event was staged at the Queen Elizabeth
Sports Centre and featured many prominent and not so well known Bahamians
committed to helping the Ministry promote a healthy lifestyle. At
right, this group, including Mrs. Bernadette Christie and Minister of Labour
& Immigration Vincent Peet, races to catch the Prime Minister on the
walking course. Mr. Christie promised to be the Ministry of Health's
"Poster Boy" for its healthy lifestyle campaign.
Courtesy Call
GERMAN AMBASSADOR CALLS - His Excellency Volker Schlegel,
Ambassador of the Republic of Germany, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister
Perry Christie on Friday, February 3, 2006.
| 12th
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COMMENT OF THE WEEK
P.I. JOBS SITUATION
When
the Minister for Immigration and Labour visited the site of the Paradise
Island Kerzner International, Atlantis apprenticeship programme to launch
it officially, he was asked about the unemployment figures in the country,
pegged at 10.2 percent of the labour force. He reacted with exasperation
that the figures were nonsense. This set the cat amongst the pigeons,
and all the FNM critics started after the Minister saying that he had insulted
the Department of Statistics. We can see the Minister’s concern,
because project after project has been announced by The Bahamas government,
and yet the stubborn statistics don’t seem to move. Something must
be wrong with the data or something is not right in the economy.
We would not join the likes of Zhivargo Laing who talked foolishness about insulting the Department of Statistics. All we say is that the unemployment figure collected by a department leaves out those who have given up looking for work. In Barbados, they consider ten percent virtual full employment because it includes those who have no skills and who are unable or unwilling to find work.
What the controversy invited us to do was to look at what is happening in our economy and suggests that we ought to do something more radical to effect change in the economy so that those who are unemployed and presently unemployable can find work to do. The Minister’s apprenticeship scheme at Paradise Island is a start in the right direction. Another worthy project is the reorganization and redevelopment of the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Training Institute (BTVI). BTVI simply does not do enough to prepare the less academically inclined for useful work.
In our economy the lower level jobs are going to Filipinos, Haitians and Jamaicans. You visit a gas station, you call the homes of the rich and famous in The Bahamas, you visit a construction site, and increasingly you will hear the lilted French tinged accents in the yards and at the pumps. On the telephones, it is sometimes annoying to call the homes of middle class Bahamians and find you are speaking to the live in Haitians with very little English or Filipinos or Jamaicans who have no clue who they are talking to, and barely can take a message. The question is why won’t Bahamians take these jobs?
The conventional wisdom is that Bahamians don’t want to do the menial work in the economy. However there is another thought that Bahamians are simply not willing to take the jobs in households and other entry level manual or semi skilled jobs at the price at which is being offered for the labour. The businessmen and the middle class ladies of quality respond that they cannot afford to pay any more, otherwise they price themselves out of the market. The economic migrants, whether Haitian or otherwise, are here then because in this society, they fill a void which is not and will not be filled by Bahamians.
Quite apart from the willingness to work though is the question: are the unemployed able to perform any jobs in the market? Can they be sales clerks, or gardeners, or entry level clerks in the public service or janitresses or domestics in households or waiters or waitresses? This turns to the question of training, and increasingly the reply from many in the society is that those who say they want to work, and are not working are simply not trained to do anything. Their grammar is poor, their social skills negligible, their deportment and physical hygiene questionable; indeed some can hardly read, and they resist training. It sounds like a poor state of affairs indeed.
There is one further thing about this economy though and that is whether or not investors like Kerzner at Paradise Island and the new Bahamar Project in The Bahamas are helping the economy in any way other than with employment. In other words, they hire several thousand people at the lower levels in construction or as waiters but the bigger stake in the economy is still going to foreign management labour and to foreign companies. Indeed that is the cry today from Bahamian contractors and businessmen. They believe that they are being given the cold shoulder at Kerzner. They indicate that on the labour front Bahamians are being paid different and lower wages than foreigners on the job, the stuff which caused a riot at Burma Road in 1942. They indicate that Bahamian contractors are being discriminated against, and are forced into joint ventures which are not joint ventures but sophisticated fronting exercises. That the foreign contractors abound. When the projects are finished then, no businesses or skills transfers take place, only the jobs. The natives remain hewers of wood and drawers of water.
Further, an investigation must be done about the treatment of Bahamian professionals at Bahamar and at Kerzner. Are they getting a fair shake, since the report is that every time you go over there, there is a new face of foreign management while Bahamians are being pushed down and replaced to lower levels?
The Prime Minister Perry Christie has prorogued the House, and the country expects some new initiatives from this new session. One hopes that as Arthur Hanna, the architect of Bahamianization and now Governor General, as he reads the Speech from the Throne on Wednesday 15th February, will be reading about initiatives that will force more into this economy both in terms of employment and Bahamian businesses as we have described. It makes no sense to us that you have these billion dollar figures tossed about and Bahamians are not benefiting proportionate to their size and interest in these investments.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 11th February 2006 at midnight: 103,664.
Number of hits for the month of February up to Saturday 11th February 2006 at midnight: 151,670.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 11th February 2006
at midnight: 559,408.
Prime Minister Perry Christie returned to the country on
Saturday 11th February from the intercessional Heads of Government meeting
of Caricom leaders. Mr. Christie held a press conference at the airport
upon his return and reviewed the matters of interest to The Bahamas.
Mr. Christie said that he had signed and signalled
the consent of The Bahamas to allow the 12 nations who wished to proceed
to the single market to do so without the participation of The Bahamas.
He said that Haiti is to be re-admitted to the Councils of Caricom once
the elections are pronounced as free and fair by the international community.
He said that he had briefed his colleagues on the Cuban American protest
against The Bahamas which he described as unjustified and unfair.
Also during the news conference, Mr. Christie said
that he expressed the thanks and appreciation on behalf of The Bahamas
to Prime Minister P.J. Patterson of Jamaica who is demitting office on
11th March 2006. Mr. Christie said that when his time comes the P.J.
Patterson model would be one which he would follow in that it will be a
final decision. No doubt it was a clever dig at the fact that Hubert
Ingraham reneged on his promise to retire from active politics and is now
back as the Leader of the Free National Movement. You may click
here for the full prepared statement by the Prime Minister. Prime
Minister Christie and Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell at a Nassau International
Airport news conference upon their return from Trinidad. Bahamas Information
Services photo: Peter Ramsay
THE
RESULTS ARE IN FROM HAITI
On Sunday morning 20th February 2004, the world learned that Jean Bertrand
Aristide, the beloved President of Haiti had been ousted by a violent rebellion
aided by the unwillingness of the international community to live up to
their principles and support an elected President. He was run out
of the country. The United States put him on a plane and packed him
off first to the Central African Republic and then to Jamaica and then
to South Africa where he now lives. The Caricom leaders were disrespected
and duped in the process and the result was that since then Haiti has been
suspended from the Councils of Caricom.
Despite the ouster of Mr. Aristide, the arrest and
detention of many of his supporters including former President Yvon Neptune,
the verdict is now in and to no one’s surprise Haiti’s people have elected
an Aristide ally. It only goes to show that Mr. Aristide is still
the most popular man in Haiti, and that his Presidency having been truncated
by violent revolution still has the support of the Haitian people.
There was no word from Mr. Aristide about election results, the first round
of which took place on 7th February. His ally Rene Preval looks set
to win with half the ballots counted with just over fifty per cent of the
vote. If that is so there will be no second round of Presidential
voting.
Mr. Preval has said that he will allow Mr. Aristide
to return home. The United States Department spokesman was reported
to have said that they expect Mr. Aristide to remain in South Africa.
The South African Foreign Minister said that Mr. Aristide will not be pushed
out of South Africa but is expected to return home when conditions permit.
Prime Minister Perry Christie said at his press
conference at the Nassau International Airport upon his return from Port
of Spain and the Heads of Government meeting that The Bahamas led the way
in saying that Haiti ought to be returned forthwith to the Councils of
Caricom once the elections are pronounced free and fair by the international
community including our own Caricom observers. He paid tribute to
Corporal Kevin Louis for his work on the observer mission of Caricom to
Haiti. A supporter of Presidential candidate Rene Preval reaches
towards a flag showing Preval's image as he and thousands of others march
towards the Presidential palace in Port-Au-Prince. (AFP/Walter Astrada)
BRAIN
DRAIN IN THE BAHAMAS
Bahamians have been telling themselves for years
that they are different from the rest of the Caribbean region, including
Haiti. You often hear that Bahamians don’t leave their country.
Turns out that the facts do not support it. At least if you are to
believe a report by the International Monetary Fund about Bahamians and
their work habits. The Tribune of Monday 6th February reports that
of all those people who were educated to the college level between 1965
and 2000 some 58 percent of that group has migrated to the United States.
Shock all around. Not so us. We maintained
during the foolishness spun by the not so intelligentsia of The Bahamas
last year during the CSME debate that Bahamians were emigrating to the
U.S. just as the Haitians were emigrating to The Bahamas. We also
know anecdotally that Bahamian women have been going to the United States
to have their children. But the hallmark of that debate was; don’t
let the facts interfere with a good story.
These latest statistics appear to confirm that Bahamians
are just like others if the economic opportunities abound in other countries;
they will follow that opportunity. We are not alarmed. We think
that this helps the country but it also imposes an obligation on the United
States to assist in the support and development of education in this country
and the region. We think that there ought to be a free market for
labour, and that if the FTAA comes into fruition, the United States ought
to be forced to allow a free labour market. We would support that
cause wholeheartedly.
CUBAN
AMERICANS ATTACK THE BAHAMAS
The Bahamas got a double whammy this week from the Cuban American community
in South Florida. There is a very public campaign now to boycott
The Bahamas because it is alleged that on Tuesday 7th February, a reporter
from a Cuban American news station in Miami was beaten up by a Bahamian
detention centre official. The Minister for Immigration Vincent Peet
who is in charge of the Centre has said that an investigation will be done.
Nevertheless, the predictable started. The U.S. Government with banner
headlines in the country expressed their concern and that they are awaiting
the results of the investigation. Of course what the Cuban American
reporter alleges is that he did nothing and he was simply set upon by a
Bahamian official for nothing, and of course whatever he says we must believe.
For our media, it must be the truth after all he is an American.
Let’s not wait on the facts.
The Cuban Americans immediately set upon us with
their friends threatening the consulate in Miami which led to one person
being arrested for making a bomb threat to the consulate. There were
pickets and demonstrations by a small group of Cuban Americans outside
the mission in Miami. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell
asked for Bahamians to be cautious in Miami as they went about their business.
Meanwhile up in Washington, the U.S. Congressman
Connie Mac went on the floor of the Congress and denounced The Bahamas
for not allowing two dentists in Bahamian custody at the detention centre
to be released to the United States. Lots of invective and threats
from that quarter about what will happen to The Bahamas. No understanding
that The Bahamas is not some joke country, that is has treaty obligations
and that the rule of law applies here as it is supposed to apply in the
United States. But you know we are the wrong colour and all that
and come from the island so you know: do as you are told.
The Cuban Ambassador to The Bahamas Felix Wilson
described the policies of the United States as being driven by an extreme
right wing. John Rood the U.S. Ambassador has criticized the country's
human rights record and said that we must tell the Cuban government to
provide freedom and democracy. Quite frankly in the middle of all this
geopolitical debate, it would be helpful if all sides would simply leave
The Bahamas to make its decisions without public comment. The problem
with what is being done in South Florida is that it is hardening Bahamian
public opinion and making their cause most unsympathetic.
As for the call for a boycott: how in the name of
heaven that helps them is another matter? Most of the businesses
in Miami profit from Bahamian businesses. There is a billion dollars
of business from The Bahamas to South Florida every year; a drop in the
bucket one supposes is their argument. When they succeed in wrecking The
Bahamas by their boycott, one supposes they will happily welcome all the
economic refuges that pile in from Nassau to find work in South Florida.
Fat chance, one sees how the Haitians are discriminated against.
We simply believe that U.S. policy ought to be adjusted
to prevent what is happening in Cuba, recognizing the reality of
the present Government of Cuba and that the people in South Florida
ought to act with proportionality and rationality and not jump to irrational
conclusions before the report is in on what actually happened.
The Bahama Journal cartoonist 'Shuteye' on Friday
10th February expresses the feeling that Bahamians have in this matter
about what has happened.
MURDER
TRIAL STOPPED TO START AGAIN
Mario Miller died in a brutal murder in June 2002
shortly after his father Leslie Miller became a Cabinet Minister.
It has been a trying time for his father and for his mother and his sister.
The trial started after many fits and starts in January of this year.
It was coming to a conclusion but just as the matter was coming to be sent
to the jury alarm bells went off. The word was that a juror, a female
was a friend of a brother of one of the defendants. She did not disclose
this fact notwithstanding the Judge’s repeated questioning on the subject
to all jurors at the start. The matter was investigated and the jury
was discharged.
On Thursday 9th February Lenora Duncombe, former
juror, was sent to prison for 14 days for contempt of court for the failure
to disclose her connection. Thousands of dollars have gone down the
drain and the matter has to be tried again before a different judge or
perhaps the same judge in the next session.
Mrs. Miller, Mario’s mother, said that she was disappointed
but will trust in God. Mr. Miller was incensed and all the more so
against the background of an allegation during the trial which he said
was made by a pastor from the pulpit about his son and their relationship.
The contemptor has appealed the case to the Court of Appeal. Disappointing
but better safe than sorry.
A year or more ago and during the last general election
campaign in Jamaica, the 13 year serving Prime Minister of Jamaica
P. J. Patterson announced that he had enough and that he would demit office.
The date is now set with elections for a new leader of his party set for
25th February and the swearing in of the new Prime Minister of Jamaica
on 11th March. Prime Minister Patterson was lauded by his colleagues
at the Heads of Government conference in Port of Spain, Trinidad on 10th
February. It would be the last time he would attend the meeting as
a Head of Government. We salute P.J. Patterson for his contribution
to the region, and his assistance to The Bahamas over the years. In this
we join the Prime Minister. The Caricom photo shows the Prime
Minister Patterson during the Heads meeting in Port of Spain.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
The Diets of Bahamians
In our column of 8th January, in a piece entitled 'Some
Shops Are More Equal Than Others', we held forth on the need for healthy
foods to be available wherever Bahamians shopped. Lost in the e-mail
box was this interesting diatribe, which we now present.
Your commentary on the unequal quality of local
food store content misses the point.
All that is happening in the supposedly ‘upmarket’
outlets is that they are reflecting the continued and unchecked Americanisation
of local tastes and priorities.
Ultra-processed, diet-fad foods of the kind that
litter American foodstores are an example of a low quality culinary culture
that continues to bedevil our northern neighbour. High quality food is
food that is unprocessed, fresh, organic and preferably local. Go into
a European or a Japanese supermarket and you will see what I mean: canned
and packaged foods make up one tiny corner of the store, with fresh foods
dominating. Of course, these are countries that take agriculture seriously.
Since your PLP idols still have a subsistence
notion of local agriculture that centres around Potters Cay and packing
houses, ALL Bahamians, rich and poor, are subjected to low quality processed
American foods when they visit their local supermarkets.
As for marine products, the story is even worse.
It is not even possible to buy fresh conch or a fresh jack in the Cable
Beach foodstores (just one minute away from the sea!), but they both have
old, moldy packages of frozen salmon. For most Bahamians, rich and poor,
the word ‘tuna’ invokes an image of that horrendous canned stuff, while
foreign anglers know the Bahamas as a place teeming with real tuna.
So your apparent preference for diet junk over
just regular junk simply misses the larger issue. Your friends in government
are the ones you should be criticizing, for allowing an import mentality
(which says anything from the US is better) to stifle local productive
energies and subject us all to a sad second-hand American lifestyle.
Andrew Allen
The writer of this letter, himself, misses the point of the article entirely. The point is that proper foods of nutritional value are generally available at the upmarket stores but not in the poor neighbourhoods. He also misses the fact that partisanship has little to do with what is available - or not - in grocery stores in The Bahamas. Of course, this betrays his natural mindset. If the truth be known - packing houses, however limited in utility they may have been, were an invention and protectorate of the PLP, abandoned by the FNM, and a device to benefit Bahamian farmers without which many Nassuvians would never have known the taste of Eleuthera's pineapples, Cat Island's cassavas or Abaco's oranges. Still, before we all descend into hopelessly partisan behaviour, let's agree that we should all try as best we can to eat a healthy, balanced diet and hit those fruits and veggies. -- Editor.
This next letter writer takes issue with the comments last week about The Bahamas becoming a republic, see ‘Arthur Hanna Reach’ and ‘Adderley Predicts a Republic’.
Stop Bashing the GG system
I am a weekly visitor to your site, and I am
very active in Bahamian politics. I am disappointed however, in the
way you bash the Queen and the Governor General.
I support our current system, and we shouldn't
abolish it. I am very patriotic and very proud of our INDEPENDENT
nation, but I still believe that this system works the best and shouldn't
be changed or altered. The Queen does not have say in our decisions,
despite what you say or believe.
I am a PLP, but I am tired of politicians on
both sides, over the last 15 years or so, trying to make The Bahamas, like
the United States, if we become a republic, we might as well join them
as their 51st state. The Governor General and our government system,
keeps us distinctly separate, and we enjoy our unique system of governance.
Most of them envy us, in the fact that we still hold fast to our British
traditions, but let them.
Finally, it is time for people in The Bahamas,
including the politicians to start RESPECTING ALL BAHAMIANS. I am
white, and I am from Abaco. I respect many traditions that are regarded
as Bahamian culture like Goombay, Junkanoo, etc. (I am a big fan of Junkanoo....
Valley Boys are da best!!!!). But at the same time, a lot of white
Bahamians, particular Abaconians, still are passionate and still want our
British traditions, remained intact. No, we are not saying that we
wish that the Union Jack fly here, but there are traditions, such as the
judicial, and government systems (Westminster and Governor-General) that
should stay the same, if only to respect our culture.
I think most culture should represent black Bahamians,
but some should represent the rest of the population, and this is really
the only thing left that is a part of our heritage. This system can stay
in place and we will still be sovereign.
If our heritage and traditions are not respected,
then maybe it is time, with a new generation in Abaco to begin the Abaco
Independence Movement. I don't wish for this to happen, but we need
to be respected, and our culture needs respect.
Jeremy Sweeting
Deputy Chief Councillor
Hope Town District Council, Abaco
FOOTNOTES
TO HISTORY
Michael Pintard gets the Boot
Michael Pintard the satirist, poet and lately talk show host at Love
97 has been given the boot by his latest employer. It was a risky
strategy of Wendall Jones who is quite politically adroit to put the former
FNM candidate and political activist on his radio station in a position
where he essentially had to have no opinion. Mr. Pintard replaced the popular
Jeff Lloyd on the programme ‘Issues of the Day’. It did not work
and it wasn’t long before the political ideologue in Mr. Pintard came out
and he is alleged to have defamed the Prime Minister. Mr. Pintard
was fired according to Mr. Jones. Mr. Pintard held a press conference
on Thursday 9th February to say that he had parted company with Mr. Jones
because political pressure and business considerations had caused him to
part company. Mr. Jones rejected that and said that Mr. Pintard had
simply not told the truth and his logic did not add up, thus he had to
go. After the Nassau Guardian ended up paying tons of money to settle
a law suit with the Prime Minister for the same offence last year, Mr.
Jones had to move quickly to mitigate his damages.
FNM Chairman whose side are you on?
The Prime Minister Perry Christie came back to Nassau on Saturday 11th
February to find a headline in The Tribune based on a statement by FNM
Party Chair Desmond Bannister Mr. Bannister accused the Prime Minister
and key Ministers of leaving town while the Cuban American reporter had
been attacked without addressing the issue. The Prime Minister dressed
Mr. Bannister down. He listed all that had been done while he was
away. He told him that when a Prime Minister travels he takes the
business of the country with him. We only say to Mr. Bannister whose
side are you on brother: the Cuban Americans or the Bahamians?
Paying a Nine Million Dollar Bill
The Colina dispute with James Campbell has reached another low point
or high point spending on whose perspective you have. The Supreme
Court ordered that 9 million dollars be paid forthwith by the two lead
partners Anthony Ferguson and Emanuel Alexiou to Mr. Campbell who was ousted
last year. They appealed last week the Court of Appeal and that Court
led by Emanuel Osadebay told them to pay the money forthwith. They
were given leave to appeal to the Privy Council.
The Speech from the Throne
Arthur Hanna will be reading his first speech from the throne as Governor
General on Wednesday 15th February. The speech is written by the
Prime Minister and tells what the Government’s policies are going to be
leading into the next General Election. Mr. Hanna has always been
on the writing end, now it will be interesting to see him on the reading
end. We don't agree with the thing being held in the public square
and we hope that the ceremony is not more than an hour with the speech
being not more than fifteen minutes. Knowing us Bahamians: not in
this life!
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
A Beloved Pastor is Eulogized
Keith Albury, the late President of the Bahamas
Conference of Seventh Day Adventists Northern Region, is to be buried today
in Freeport, Grand Bahama where he last worked. Pastor Albury was
eulogized at a five hour service in Nassau on Saturday 11th February but
the funeral was held in Grand Bahama today. The Prime Minister Perry
Christie eulogized Pastor Albury at the service in Nassau. You may
click
here for the Prime Minister’s eulogy and here
for previous comments on this site about Pastor Albury. Rest
in peace brother!
 |
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - A letter writer to this column took issue with a comment alleged to have been made by Arthur Hanna Jr. re his father’s appointment, expressing his views about his father accepting the appointment to the post of Governor General. We are satisfied that the comment reported (click here) was inaccurate and withdraw it. None of that of course overshadows the former Deputy Prime Minister ascending to the heights of Governor General of The Bahamas and being represented with the Speech from the Throne. It was a big day for the Hanna family with oldest son Arthur Dion very much in evidence. It was a great occasion save for the fact that Hubert Ingraham (silly man) missed the occasion pleading an appointment for his physical at the Cleveland Clinic. His Deputy Brent Symonette for whom he is the stalking horse was also missing in action. But the show went on, and the Prime Minister Perry Christie took a reverential and respectful bow before the former Deputy Prime Minister now raised up. The cameras snapped the picture and we thought that it ought to be the photo of the week. The photo is by Patrick Hanna of The Bahamas Information Services. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
INGRAHAM DOES NOT SHOW UP
Whatever
are we to do with Hubert Ingraham? He got a cut behind from the Prime
Minister in Parliament, the likes of which we could never repeat in this
column after Mr. Ingraham’s conspicuous absence from the state opening
of parliament on Wednesday 15th November. The Prime Minister said
that he had never witnessed anything so scandalous. He said that
he qualified his remarks to allow for the possibility that there was some
health problem for Mr. Ingraham or his family. Apart from that though,
he said that this was contempt and disrespect for the institutions on the
part of Mr. Ingraham.
Mr. Ingraham for his part was unrepentant. The Tribune found him in Florida at the famous Cleveland Clinic where he said he had had a previously scheduled check up which took him two weeks to get, which he had had to cancel several times before and he was not about to cancel again. He said that he wanted to be sure that as he was offering himself to the Bahamian people for service that he was in tip top shape to do so. A fine time to think about that after having offered for service.
He then sought to deflect the argument by saying that Mr. Christie had set the prorogation of the House of Assembly without reference to him. This is an amazing arrogance. Without reference to whom? Mr. Ingraham is not the Prime Minister. This argument is the same tack he was taking about not being consulted on the Governor General a few weeks ago. There is no constitutional requirement to do so. He never consulted anyone when he executed executive authority, even in the case of the last Governor General his own ministers much less the Leader of the Opposition. The arguments are therefore pure red herrings, said out of his misplaced sense of importance and of course his embarrassment.
The public did not react kindly. On the radio talk shows they ate him alive. The FNMs who were already disgruntled about his having treated former Leader Senator Tommy Turnquest with such disrespect when Mr. Ingraham communicated to Mr. Turnquest that he was not going to run against him and then changed his mind without notice, said that this confirmed that they would not be supporting Mr. Ingraham in the next election. It was a hell of a time in the House as Prime Minister Christie scorched him up and down.
The same disdain was aimed at Brent Symonette, the Deputy Leader of the Party. Alvin Smith, the former Leader of the Opposition stood up to explain the inexplicable. He said that Mr. Ingraham had a previous engagement which he could not postpone. The talk in the press was that Brent Symonette and Mr. Ingraham had gone together to see the AES LNG group to solicit money for their campaign and to promise them an LNG licence. The FNM denied this on Saturday 18th February in The Tribune. Mr. Ingraham gave the clinic excuse. Mr. Symonette’s office said only that he would not be returning to the country until Tuesday.
But the speech from the throne went brilliantly. One monkey, in this case two monkeys don’t stop no show. Mr. Ingraham’s bench, increased by one Larry Cartwright of Long Island, had nothing to say. Larry Cartwright himself had a problem explaining to his constituents how on the day he was coming back to Parliament as an FNM, the leader and the deputy leader did not think it important enough for them to appear and welcome him back.
The FNM members including Larry Cartwright sat there in the house silent, glum and embarrassed for themselves as Tennyson Wells, the Independent MP for Bamboo Town rose and put it succinctly. The two leaders of the Opposition were missing. They were neglecting their duties to the constitution and to the country on this occasion, and that while there is no problem with them being absent as such, they should have at least had the courtesy to notify the Speaker that they would not be able to attend.
The speaker added that he had no such notice. We really have
to
stop Ingraham from ever becoming Prime Minister of this country
again.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 18th February 2006 at midnight: 88,972.
Number of hits for the month of February 2006 up to Saturday 18th February 2006 at midnight: 240,642.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 18th February 2006
at midnight: 648,380.
HIGHLIGHTS
FROM THE THRONE SPEECH
The Speech from The Throne is one of these traditions that began with the
British. We have inherited this monarchist constitution which has
the Queen as the Head of State of The Bahamas. Her representative
in The Bahamas is Arthur Hanna, the Governor General. He carries
out the executive functions on her behalf in The Bahamas. The reality
is that both of them, the Governor General and the Queen are simply surrogates
for the elected Government. Perry Christie, the Prime Minister actually
writes the Speech from the Throne.
The Throne speech lays out the policies of the Government
over the next session. The cold hard fact is that this country will
face a General Election by 10th May 2007. The election is probably
likely to take place this time or so next year. These matters in
the Speech then are the final sets of plans and programmes for this term.
The agenda is a very limited one, trying to boost the economy, promote
the welfare of the people, including promoting jobs and training.
The occasion of a state opening of Parliament is
full of symbolism. The Governor General, the Queen’s representative,
sending for the House, and the House closing the door in the face of her
representative, and then opening it after his knocking. This to record
who has the power in history, the Parliament is superior to the monarchy.
You may click
here for the full speech from the throne 2006 as posted on The Bahamas
Government website.
His Excellency the Governor General the Hon. Arthur D. Hanna delivers
the Speech from the Throne at the Opening of Parliament on Wednesday, February
15, 2006. (BIS Photo: Derek Smith)
CUBAN
AMERICANS PILE ON THE PRESSURE
The Cuban American lobby in the United States can be vicious, and it is
often not rational. The lobby has such hatred for the Cuban regime
headed by Fidel Castro that it is hardly possible at all to have rational
dialogue.
In the past two weeks, The Bahamas has been subjected
to one of these periodic onslaughts by the U.S. Congress and media to do
two things. One they were upset because a Cuban American reporter
came to Nassau and was injured in some sort of fracas at the Detention
Centre where Cubans who are illegal émigrés from their country
are housed. Secondly, there is another crew that want two Cuban dentists
released. The two dentists are said to have been granted U.S. exit
visas in Cuba but the Cuban government refused to let them leave.
The American government has now entered the fray
and wants The Bahamas to release them to the United States. The Minister
of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell has said that under the terms of a treaty
with Cuba, they ought properly to be returned to Cuba, but their status
is being reviewed having regard to their claim for political asylum.
Stan Burnside, the cartoonist on Friday 17th
February in The Nassau Guardian, described it best as a decision between
two countries that dislike each other, and The Bahamas in the middle.
It would seem that The Bahamas is trying to get the best of all worlds.
Our take on it, is if they don’t qualify for refugee status they should
be put on the boat and sent home forthwith. What complicates matters
further is that the Governor of Florida Jeb Bush is to visit The Bahamas
on Monday 20th December.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell issued
a statement during the week in response to two biased editorials by The
Wall Street Journal and the Miami Herald on the matter. You may click
here for the text of that release as posted on the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs website.
HAITI
SEEMS TO HAVE A RESOLUTION
Rene Preval, the ally of former Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide,
has been declared the winner in Haiti’s recent presidential election.
It was a cliff hanger which led to the usual confusion that is Haitian
democracy. Mr. Preval said that the elections were the subject of
a massive fraud because he was not declared the winner outright within
days following the election. Some burnt ballots were found on a rubbish
dump in Haiti. It appeared that there was going to an explosion.
In the end all the candidates agreed to the formula and Mr. Preval was
declared the winner. The follow up second round for presidential
elections will not now need to take place but there is to be a second round
for legislative elections on 7th March. The inauguration will take
place on 29th March.
A team of Caricom Prime Ministers is likely to go
to Port-au-Prince for the inauguration. Mr. Preval is almost immediately
going to be at odds with the Americans who have issued an edict that the
ousted President Aristide is not to come back to Haiti. Mr. Preval
has said that as a Haitian citizen he is entitled to return. We shall
see. We shall also see whether the Haitian elites respect the result.
After disrespecting Mr. Aristide and being in complicity with violent revolution
that overthrew him from power, the election of Mr. Preval shows that all
the manipulation by the international community and the local elites stood
for nothing. Mr. Aristide is still the most popular man in Haiti.
Haitian president-elect Rene Preval smiles at his residence in Port-au-Prince
on 17 February. (AFP/File/Roberto Schmidt)
SPECULATION
ABOUT CABINET CHANGES
On Tuesday morning 14th February, Valentine’s Day,
the Bahamian people woke up to the headline in their newspaper the Nassau
Guardian: CABINET SHUFFLE TODAY – NOTTAGE EXPECTED TO JOIN CHRISTIE’S REVISED
TEAM. The paper speculated about who was going to move from where
with a drop line on the front that only Fred Mitchell was going to remain
unchanged. That was a sure piece of mischief making to get Mr. Mitchell
into trouble with his colleagues. But never mind. At the end
of the story, they also claimed that Obie Wilchcombe the Minister of Tourism
would not change either. But according to The Guardian, change was
on the way that day, with Shane Gibson losing Housing and going to
Marcus Bethel or Melanie Griffin, and Leslie Miller getting Agriculture,
and on and on.
Nothing happened that day and nothing has happened
since the Prime Minister upon his return to The Bahamas from the Caricom
meeting on Saturday 11th February indicated that he would, be making some
adjustments to portfolios. The Nassau Guardian, not to be undone,
came back the next day to say it was not that day they predicted after
all; it would be tomorrow, the 20th February. Our bet is that it
won't take place at all. Many people wonder what would be the point
at this late stage in the game.
Some speculate that the Prime Minister has to find
a way to bring Dr. Bernard Nottage into the Cabinet. He and his supporters
are getting restless and wonder if this implied promise is ever to be fulfilled.
In the meanwhile, it appears that Dr. Marcus Bethel, the Minister of Health
who is the Leader in the Senate for the PLP has thrown in the towel.
He indicated to the press that he will not be running again.
Dr. Bethel was defeated by the FNM's Ken Russell in the last General Election.
Hmmm!
A
STRANGE AD FOR BOND MOVIES
The new Bond move with a new Bond actor is being
shot in part in The Bahamas. This week on Tuesday 14th February a
piece appeared in The Tribune asking for people to show up to be hired
as extras for the movie. We thoug
