bahamasuncensored.com
FEBRUARY 2003
Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every
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9th February, 2003
16th February, 2003
23rd February, 2003
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return
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|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The photo of the week is a picture
of Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell with the delegation that traveled with
him from Fox Hill to the Altadena United Methodist Church in California.
Last Sunday 26th January. Mr. Mitchell delivered the homily at the
Methodist Church. The Pastor is Rev. Yvonne Boyd. The members
of the delegation were joined in front of the church by Ambassador to Japan
for The Bahamas Sidney Poitier. You may see a full picture spread
in this week’s edition of bahamasuncensored.com. You
may click here for the address of the Minister to the church. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
MOTHER LAYS DOWN THE LAW
Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt, the Deputy Prime Minister got a late start
on Thursday 30th January as she officially opened the meeting with civil
society to conclude the National Drug Control Strategy for The Bahamas.
When she arrived you could see that her face was set for a serious task.
And the speech turned out to be a winner. She set her face firmly
and delivered her message directly. She was talking to the Americans
and to the American Ambassador. She never called either name.
The US Ambassador who on 6th December 2002 forced The Bahamas to
adjourn the Joint Task Force Meeting with The Bahamas was not present.
There were several representatives of the US Government there and no doubt
the message would have been carried by them, although the speech received
wide publicity throughout the country. It was a message of: “I am
sick and tired”.
The Deputy Prime Minister laid the groundwork early in her speech
by telling her audience that the drug problem was principally an American
problem. The demand for drugs came from the US and the supply came
from outside The Bahamas. The drugs were passing through The Bahamas
and we were suffering because of that. She defended the Defence Force
that had been unmercifully and unfairly sandbagged by the US Ambassador
on 6th December and accused of being corrupt.
Mrs. Pratt said of the US Ambassador’s remark that the US was willing
to forgive the Defence Force for the events in 1992 when a boat named HMBS
Inagua was allegedly involved in removing drugs from a controlled bust,
that she did not want nor did the Defence Force want forgiveness.
She said that she would cause an investigation to be done that was open
and transparent and that if wrongdoing was discovered it would be punished.
She said that what the US was doing to the RBDF amounted to discrimination
because of an incident that had not been brought to official notice.
According to Mrs. Pratt: “Our efforts in this regard [to find out why the
RBDF was considered corrupt by the Americans] both formal and informal,
were met with stony silence.
She repeated the words “stony silence” about four times.
Mrs. Pratt said that the law enforcement agencies in The Bahamas
suffered only from lack of resources. She said that no one could
say with truth that The Bahamas was not doing all that it can to fight
the scourge of drugs. And then she added to loud praise from her
audience: “Those who want The Bahamas to do more should put us in resources
with which to do more”.
As for the comment by US Ambassador Richard Blankenship 6th December
that The Bahamas was a beggar nation to the US for money to fight drugs
when it had money that had been confiscated under its control, Mrs. Pratt
was direct again. Mrs. Pratt said that The Bahamas Government has
been in hot pursuit of an agreement on the use of those funds from the
United States but she added “Our efforts have been met with silence and
lack of resolution. The criticism is particularly irksome as its
effect results in deception of the Bahamian public”
We congratulate Mrs. Pratt for her frank address. This is the
first Bahamian Minister of the Government to publicly support the position
taken by the Foreign Minister on 6th December when the insulting remarks
of the US Ambassador led to the adjournment of the joint task force meeting.
This is how a country is supposed to act, not ducking and hiding
behind corners. Of course the United States is more powerful.
If they want to they can send in their army and take us over within a day,
but not without a fight for our way of life. We have no enemies.
We have no fight with anyone. What is inexplicable to Bahamian citizens
is why a US Ambassador chose to embarrass and attack our country in the
tone that he did on 6th December. It is time the record was
set straight.
Mrs. Pratt said: “I give you my assurance that I have the full support
of the government of The Bahamas in this.” You
may click here for the full remarks of Mrs. Pratt.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 1st February 2003 at
midnight: 23,364.
Number of hits for the month of January: 91,033.
Number of hits for the year 2003 up to Saturday 1st February 2003
at midnight: 92,340.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
HOW
THE US RESPONDS TO MRS. PRATT
Since the remarks of the US Ambassador on 6th December
that attacked The Bahamas, many Americans have sent messages both written
and oral but always private apologizing for the manner and tone of the
remarks. Many said they were embarrassed that a US Ambassador could
create such a climate of hostility. The problem is that you had fifth
columnists like those who run The Tribune who were giving aid and comfort
to the thought that The Bahamas is some rinky dink country that should
be insulted in the way it was. Mrs. Pratt is not quite the lightning
rod that the Foreign Minister is and it will be interesting to see how
The Tribune reacts to the statements by the woman who has up to now been
the darling of the media set. It is clear that Mother does
not play.
The US issued a press statement following the statements
by Mrs. Pratt and they were mild as a pussycat. They welcomed everything
that she said. They not only welcomed the remarks but also welcomed
them warmly. This is a strange turn around from the threats and mayhem
that came from the US Ambassador following the meeting of the 6th December
2002. You may click here for the full
statement of the US Embassy. The only slight controversy that
they could muster was to say that they did not discriminate against the
Royal Bahamas Defence Force. They said that the only reason the go
fast boats they gave to The Bahamas last year were given to the Royal Bahamas
Police Force was because they had to be limited to the fight against drugs.
They said the RBDF could not accept that limitation. That is exactly
the opposite of what they had been saying up to now. Up to now they
had been saying that it was matter of the Defence Force being corrupt.
If the statement of the US is anything to go by,
let us hope that we have achieved a more normal relationship and that the
US Ambassador will now start to conduct his country’s affairs in a manner
that is like all the other resident envoys in the country. We will
see.
NOTTAGE
RISES FROM THE GRAVE
Dr. Bernard Nottage, the leader of the defunct Coalition
for Democratic Reform, had a chance to get on the front page of the newspaper
on Friday 31st January. It must have been a slow news day.
Dr. Nottage said that he was furious at the remarks of Prime Minister Christie
when he spoke about threats of death that had been made against him and
his family. (See story below) Dr. Nottage was speaking at a
Rotary West meeting in Nassau. Dr. Nottage said: “I have never been
as angry with a politician – and this is not personal – as I was with the
honourable Prime Minister on Monday evening (27th January) as I watched
his dramatic monotribe at the Woods Alley function. In that statement,
I believe that he did more to alarm the public than anything I have heard
from a public official in a long time.” Dr. Nottage also said that
since the PLP had come to power it had done little to fulfill its promises.
He said that the PLP had not announced one single new initiative for diversifying
the economy. He added that despite the fact that there was a Financial
Services Ministry investors had been handled very poorly. Would that
you were there Dr. Nottage? Would that you were there?
We are certain that now that Dr. Nottage has gotten
this off his chest, we won’t hear from him for another few months.
Further, the Prime Minster has every right to discuss threats against him.
The fact is that the police heightened the alert around his family and
home. This is not something that would have passed without notice
of the public, and so it should be told to the public. The problem
is the credibility of the threat and it was revealed later in the week
that it was an unsubstantiated threat by a lawyer who may for other reasons
have wanted to create a smokescreen from something else.
DEATH
THREATS ON THE PRIME MINISTER
The Tribune reported on Tuesday 28th January that
armed police threw a tight security cordon around the home of Prime Minister
Perry Christie over the weekend after death threats were made against his
wife and family. His children were reportedly under police guard
as well. The officers were armed with sub machine guns, and
they were guarding the house because of a report that someone had threatened
to shoot up the home of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister himself
spoke about the fact that he came home one evening that weekend to find
that the police were there with submachine guns. Mr. Christie said:
“Well the next morning, I went out and declared war. Why should that
happen in any country and why should we as citizens tolerate that?
Who has the right to threaten my life without feeling that he won’t be
punished?”
THE
POLICE SAY THREATS TO PM IDLE
The Commissioner of Police called a press conference
on Thursday 30th January to disabuse the public’s mind of the seriousness
of threats against the Prime Minister Perry Christie. (See story above)
Paul Farqhuarson, the Commissioner of Police said that on Thursday 23rd
January, his officers were placed on high alert after a local attorney
reportedly received a telephone call from a reputed Bahamian drug dealer
in Jamaica warning of reprisals following an unfavourable Appeal Court
ruling against Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles. As a result of the report,
there was an increased police presence. But Mr. Farqhuarson said
that the investigations by the police showed that the threat was unsubstantiated.
The problem with this kind of stuff is that you have to take every threat
seriously. The information given to the police was that the homes
of Philip Brave Davis MP for Cat Island and Roger Minnis and Prime Minister
Christie were to be riddled with bullets.
THE PM’S
SECURITY
If the PM’s trouble were not enough this week on
crime and threats to his family, the police officers themselves thought
to sandbag him with a front page story in the new Punch/Tribune format
that The Tribune has become saying that the policemen who guard his house
were not being properly housed. How this falls at the feet of the
Prime Minister is an interesting twist of logic. The officer said
that police officers have to sit out in the car all night guarding the
PM's home. The Tribune then went on to give a litany of complaints
against previous PLP Ministers who had police guards.
The police ought to learn this. The security
of the Prime Minister and other Government officials is the job of the
police, not the job of the Prime Minister. This includes the housing
arrangements for the police who guard the Prime Minister. The police
found that out when they visited the Commissioner of Police to make a formal
complaint and the issue was said by week's end to have been resolved by
the Commissioner of Police satisfactorily. Obviously, this was some FNM
policeman trying to make headlines.
ATMOSPHERE
OF CRIME AND THE WILD WILD WEST
If you were to read the Bahamian newspapers during
the past week, you would get the impression that this is a very wild place
indeed. There was an attempt to rob the Bank of The Bahamas by six
men on Monday 27th January. That failed and the men were caught and
charged (see Tribune photos). Over the weekend of 26th January, a
tile layer was seriously injured at the office of Algernon Allen in Dowdeswell
Street, shot by a gun. Two other persons were shot in armed robbery
attempts that same weekend. You add this to the threats of harm against
the PM and other public officials. You add that to the murder toll
of 7 for the year. It is all very grave indeed.
Under the gun (pardon the pun) is the Government.
The response was a declaration by the Prime Minister that something had
to be done to fight crime. The Deputy Prime Minister too was angered
by what was happening with crime. The Cabinet and the backbench met
in conclave to be briefed by the Attorney General's office and the police
on matters ranging from the Privy Council, executions, the law on bail
and what new if any police powers were needed, what handicaps the police
have. With the greatest of respect to all, that is very nice but
it does not get us very far at all in the fight against crime. The
Bahamian people and its public officials seem every time there is some
spate of crime to rise up in a kind of spontaneous spasm of let's hang,
let's put them in jail, let’s tighten the bail laws. They are aided
and abetted in this shortsighted public policy by the United States on
the point.
Some have argued that we need three strikes and
you're out like many US states, even though the law is totally discredited
as discriminatory. Further, some have argued for mandatory minimum
sentences, even though they too have been discredited and we had a Crime
Commission that indicated that they should all be scrapped and we just
passed a law last year to scrap them. We think that engaging in a
public dialogue on this is a waste of time right now. The government
simply needs to commit its resources silently and efficiently and right
now to curtailing the problem and that is the criminal factory of our school
system that is spitting out little boys who come out and go on to commit
crime. When we are willing to invest in these little boys who obviously
need a lot of help then we will see a turn around in the crime statistics.
Until then, we will continue to have the flapping of gums and angry words
of all kinds but no resolution of the problem.
QUOTE
OF THE WEEK
Alleged bank robber of the Bank of The Bahamas (see
story above) as he was being charged with his five co-defendants in Magistrate’s
Court on Friday 31st January: “Tell mum put up the house. Thug for
life, it’s like nothing.”
SIR
ORVILLE TO FIGHT THE PROSTITUTES
The tile layer who got shot on the premises of former
MP Algernon Allen has caused Sir Orville Turnquest, the former Governor
General who also has an office in Dowdeswell Street to come out of retirement.
This time he is to lead the fight with Mr. Allen to bring an end to the
red light district that he says Dowdeswell Street, in New Providence has
become. The Tribune of Tuesday 28th January 2003 said that Sir Orville
called a meeting together of business people in the Dowdeswell Street area
to see what they can do to clean up the street. According to Mr.
Allen in that same paper, the area becomes a red light district every night
and is full of “pimps, prostitutes and drug users”. Sir Orville
agreed with Mr. Allen and said that the atmosphere on Dowdeswell Street
changes after dark. In the sunshine, Sir Orville said it is busy
and professional with lots of traffic. But as offices close the area
reverts to an atmosphere for which Dowdeswell Street has become fairly
infamous. Sir Orville said that the street is known as a red light
district where criminals and ne’er do wells congregate. Sir Orville
told The Tribune that Dowdeswell Street has been that way his whole life.
Now remember this is a place that he said was residential up until fairly
recently. Persons like Lady Patricia Isaacs grew up there.
How do you think that would make her feel?
The Tribune said that they were told by Sir Orville
that as far as he knows both prostitution and drug elements are part of
Dowdeswell street’s nightlife. He added: “I really don’t know because
I make it my business to get out of this area before nightfall and I never
come back to my office at night." But the people of Dowdeswell Street
should never fear, one of Her Majesty’s knights Sir Orville is coming to
the rescue. He said he wants to change the perception of Dowdeswell
Street that it belongs to the criminals after dark. He wants closed
circuit television and patrols by security guards after dark.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Ferguson said that
the police were willing to help. But we could not help thinking back
to the Italian dictator Mussolini and the way he dealt with the prostitute
problem in Italy. The streets were clean during his time as leader
of the country. He just made sure that the prostitutes were kept
safely indoors. He didn’t stop their work. You simply could
walk the streets without seeing them.
NO
RESOLUTION ON SIDNEY STUBBS
Despite all the high drama of the week before this
one past about the Prime Minister having to make a decision between
Sidney Stubbs MP and Chair of The Bahamas Agricultural Industrial Corporation
and the Minister for Trade and Industry Leslie Miller, no announcement
has been made on either person. And so the stage continued this week.
The week started off on Tuesday 28th January with yet another speculative
story by the new Punch/Tribune combination that The Tribune has become.
It said that the Parliamentary group was in full revolt against the Prime
Minister and were refusing to allow Sidney Stubbs to accept transfer to
a new area. No response from the Government.
THE
QUEEN’S PANTS SUIT
Last week we ran a story about Glenys Hanna Martin’s
one woman campaign to change the practice of the House so that the rules
would allow women to wear pants suits in the House of Assembly as a member.
The Queen was recently seen sporting a pants suit as she left hospital
in the UK following knee surgery. No doubt Mrs. Hanna Martin would
not be able to afford that pants suit that the Queen had on but it’s a
start. We urge the women to fight the power and all join in with
the pants suit revolution. Picture Her Majesty our Queen. How
much do you think that suit cost?
THE
STRAY DOG PROBLEM
The Tribune reported on Wednesday 29th January that
stray dogs in Harbour Island along the beach attacked a tourist and according
to them ruined the Canadian tourist's vacation. This setoff a whole
round of discussions in the country about stray dogs and what the country
is going to do to get on top of this problem. The fact is that this
is yet again another problem that we have been flapping our gums about
but not doing very much about it. Most Bahamians take it for a joke.
But the town is full of filthy, mangy dogs going around in packs and there
does not seem to be any organized effort to stop it. The problem
appears to be getting worse with the report of the Canadian couple’s vacation
attack, and then the previous report of a young girl in Fox Hill being
attacked.
The former MP Lester Turnquest had tried to get
legislation to ban pit bulls, but to no avail and it is time to ban them.
But more importantly is the pack of mongrels that rove around New Providence
and the other islands simply upsetting the garbage, making noise at night
and attacking people who are unable to defend themselves. There is
a laudable effort by the Ministry of Agriculture’s canine unit, the Humane
Society and Advocates for Animal Rights to spay and neuter dogs.
The US Ambassador’s wife to her great credit has been instrumental in helping
out with this. She is a trained and active veterinarian in the US.
At week’s end, the Minister of Tourism had gotten into the act saying that
the stray dog problem was affecting tourism in The Bahamas.
THE
CENTRAL BANK REPORT
The Central Bank’s quarterly report has indicated
that the national debt of the country has grown in the first fiscal quarter
from July to September by 3.3 per cent to 2.155 billion dollars.
The report also indicates that the Government’s budgetary operations for
the opening quarter (July to September 2002) showed an increase in the
overall deficit to an estimated 34.2 million dollars from 2.4 million dollars
in the same period during the last financial year. This shows we
are still on track for the most massive deficit in the county's history.
With the US engaged in the madness of war, we are in for more trouble and
further drops in revenue. The country needs extensive investments
in infrastructure.
The Central Bank report does not show a flattering
picture but we wonder a couple of things. First, why does the first
quarter report take so long to be published? And finally, the Central
Bank has to ask itself why increasingly it is being criticized for its
role in shutting down the financial services sector in The Bahamas by what
is believed to be extra statutory powers of regulation. There is
said to be a huge flight in capital still going on in The Bahamas,
result of the failure of the Government to effectively curb the power of
the Central Bank and to review the financial services laws. It was
interesting to note a report last week that the British Government was
said to have planted a spy in the financial regulatory agencies of the
Cayman Islands. Do you think they might do the same thing here in
our Central Bank?
GOING
TO WAR— A RESPONSE FROM LAST WEEK
Last week we got a note from one of our readers
who appreciates the column for what it is and he made a point, which we
think, bears repeating. He said that we did not carry the whole story
about going to war. We need to more fairly represent the Bush administration’s
point of view and why there needs to be a war. We don’t accept that
there needs to be a war. It is clear that the evidence is not there
for it. The war in Iraq is not likely even to be a war. It
will simply be an unprecedented remote control bombing assault on a people
who have no technological means to fight back, after being systematically
stripped of the right to fight and control their own country for more than
ten years. It is simply big power politics to get control of the
oil revenues of Iraq. Those aside, however, we agree with our letter
writer that we can’t really depend on France, Germany or China. They
are all saying now that there is a need for more time for the inspectors
and that there must be another UN resolution. France and Germany
have said that they are against the war. But in the end we believe
the letter writer is right, we can’t depend on France and Germany to stick
it out. When they see the others lining up they will want to get
into the act as well so they can sell their equipment to the new regime
that will be propped up by the Americans when they have laid flat the present
Iraq. This is the modern version of Pax Romana, now Pax Americana.
FOOTNOTE
TO HISTORY
Theresa Moxey Ingraham has been installed as the
executive director of the Sojourner Douglass College campus in Nassau.
She is the first Bahamian in the 13 year history of the campus to so serve.
Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell spoke at the installation. He congratulated
her on her appointment. You may
click here for his address.
MITCHELL
AND HEPPLE IN SOCCER TRAINING
The Tribune reports that Demont Mitchell was one of two students who
will travel to the United Kingdom to be reviewed by soccer authorities
there about the suitability of the young Mitchell for professional soccer.
He and another youngster Hepple are said to be the first Bahamians to have
such an opportunity. We wish them both well. Demont is the
nephew of Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell, son of Matthew Mitchell his younger
brother.
THE
SHUTTLE DISASTER
The Prime Minister has issued a statement expressing
condolences of the nation on the explosion of the Shuttle Columbia from
the United States, which appears to have suffered a tragic accident in
reentry into the United States after 16 days in space. The Prime
Minister while attending the funeral of PLP general Kenneth Rolle in Staniel
Cay, Exuma offered condolences to President George Bush and to the President
of Israel. The crew consisted of six US citizens, one of whom was
Indian born. The other crew member was Israeli. You
may click here for the full statement of the Prime Minister.
We express our condolences. Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell said that
the Foreign Ministry had communicated to the Deputy Chief of Mission of
the US the expressions of concern and sympathy of The Bahamas government.
The editors of this site join the Prime Minister, the Minister and the
country in expressing our condolences.
CALIFORNIA
PHOTOS
Last Sunday 26th January, Foreign Minister Fred
Mitchell travelled to California to deliver the homily at a church service
there. Mr. Mitchell was accompanied by a group of Bahamians and hosted
many other Bahamians resident in the greater Los Angeles area. Here
are some of the photographs from that visit... first at a reception held
for Bahamians, please click here, and at the church service itself, please
click here.
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Congratulations - to Reginald and Annie Minnis of Long Island.
In a memorable and touching special service at the Anglican Church of the
Good Shepherd in Pinder's Point on Saturday 1st February, the couple celebrated
their silver wedding anniversary with a renewal of marriage vows.
They were attended by their children Reg jr. and daughter Ms. Denise Minnis
who is an avid reader of this site. Again, we offer our heartfelt
congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Minnis along with the wish that the loyalty
and dedication of their union may serve as shining example to all.
FNM Branch Elections
This past week, the Pineridge and Marco City branches
both held elections of officers for the 2002/2003-year. After our
story last week, FNMs all over the island of Grand Bahama sprang into action.
One FNM told us “Tommy T must be given a fair chance to lead so all the
plotters and schemers might as well get used to Tommy because nothing will
change at the convention.”
We are informed that the rebellion against Tommy
in Grand Bahama has been crushed. We are further informed that in
one constituency the rebel forces were beaten three to one in Tommy’s favour
and in another constituency all but one of the existing officers were returned.
Another informant asked us “Where was Iron Mike with his rod of correction?”
They told us that our Mike Edwards needs to “learn a little humility” and
maybe then he might become a leader one day. Another source told
us to ask Iron Mike what happened to him and his Marco City boys?
“Tell him ‘take that’.”
Senior FNM MP Ken Russell
Reports have reached News From Grand Bahama that
MP Ken Russell who like to refer to himself as the senior MP on Grand Bahama
has denied speaking to us. We stand by every word that was written
because it was spoken in the midst of Maurice Glinton, Rawle Maynard, Forrester
Carroll, all upstanding and honourable members of the Grand Bahama business
and professional community. In part two of that interview, Mr. Russell
suggested that the FNM move to expel Tennyson Wells from the party if not
he believed that Wells “would offer himself for leader of the FNM”.
On the subject of his performance while in Cabinet
during the previous FNM administration, Mr. Russell told us that former
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham’s first impression of him (Russell) was
that he was ‘another Maurice’ but that Ingraham later came to like him
(Russell) after he saw that Russell was a man that could get things done
and that Russell didn’t “bite his words”. Things that make you go,
hmmmm!
GB Power Hike Electricity Costs
The Grand Bahama Power Company in has announced
a two percent increase in the cost of electricity. The ‘senior FNM
MP’ was quick to respond to the company’s announcement saying that it was
a bad time for the company’s increase to take effect with so many people
in Grand Bahama working only two or three days a week. We agree with
that, but then he went on to chastise the Government for not letting the
Public Utilities Commission (PUC)investigate the increase. This is
the height of hypocrisy, because not more than eighteen months ago, the
Coalition for Democratic Reform asked the same question of the FNM administration
in which Mr. Russell sat as Cabinet Minister. The only response at
that time was that the Government had not given the PUC any jurisdiction
(we believe wrongly) to police the power company.
News From Grand Bahama was told by other sources
that the FNM administration had given the Power Company the authority to
raise the power bills as they see fit if they were able to electrify the
whole island of Grand Bahama. As a Cabinet Minister and Minister
responsible for Utilities, Mr. Russell would have known about any agreement.
Now that Russell and the FNM have been tossed out of office, he is suddenly
able to see the wisdom in having the PUC police the cost of all utilities.
On that basis, we feel that he was being disingenuous to the public; trying
to score cheap brownie points. Shame.
Prime Minister Christie
The Prime Minister is the commander-in-chief; the
buck stops with him. He should never be seen to be causing hysteria
or alarm. He should be the calming influence on his people.
We believe that it was wrong to make public the fact that there were threats
of harm made against him. The only people who should have known were
those affected by the threat and of course the police. As a tourist
destination, we have unwittingly given ourselves a black eye. As
a Prime Minister, sometimes one has to make unpopular decisions and these
things happen, they go along with the office of Prime Minister.
On the other hand, there seems to be in the print
news media, elements that have not come to terms with the defeat of the
FNM on May 2nd and seem hell-bent, even at the expense of scuttling the
whole ship of state, on seeing our Government fall. So the Prime
Minister and his advisors must not allow themselves to fall into the trap
of unduly causing alarm. This government, after all, was given a
five-year mandate, so it should pace itself and remain focused to the job
at hand, leaving the hysteria to those who do not wish you and our country
well.
BS
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return
to the top of the page.
|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The photo of the week is a picture
of a Bahamian soldier who is a part of the British Army fighting in Afghanistan.
He is Adam Goldsmith of Grand Bahama. He is part of the United
Nations Special Peace Keeping Forces. He has seen duty in Kosovo
and is now in active duty in Afghanistan. Adam Goldsmith is a Lance
Corporal in the British Army. His parents are Terry Goldsmith, a
former teacher originally from Britain but now a Bahamian citizen and his
mother Dorothy Goldsmith who though born in the Turks and Caicos, grew
up in Pineridge and is now herself a Bahamian. Mr. Goldsmith
is today the Director of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Grand
Bahama. We congratulate Corporal Goldsmith for his accomplishments
and wish him well. He is an excellent role model for young Bahamians.
The photo shows Corporal Goldsmith, his fellow soldiers in the desert of
Afghanistan with the Bahamian flag flying. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
WHAT’S A PRIME MINISTER TO DO?
The
slow bleed of negative public opinion continues, and the public is wondering
why it is taking so long to deal with the matter. Once again, the
lurid headlines could be seen in the newspaper of Sidney Stubbs MP either
attacking or being attacked. This time, it seemed a little clearer
that someone at a high level might be behind the whole saga of information
that is being dispatched about what is being alleged at the Bahamas Agricultural
Industrial Corporation.
On House day Wednesday 5th February, the Member of Parliament for
South Andros Whitney Bastian launched a bomb at Sidney Stubbs, the embattled
Member of Parliament for Holy Cross and Chair of the Bahamas Agricultural
Industrial Corporation. No one can quite figure out how this unimportant
Government Corporation, that loses money hand over fist, and does virtually
nothing except hire some people, has suddenly come into the limelight as
such a political hotspot and the Government appears helpless to stop the
bleed.
Mr. Bastian made serious allegations; that Mr. Stubbs ran up a $15,000
credit card bill at the Corporation. The implication of the allegation
was that this was some how improperly done or done in the manner of a spendthrift.
Then there was the suggestion that the Corporation's monies were spent
to pursue the “carnal lusts” of Mr. Stubbs. Then there was the allegation
that a consultant to the Corporation Earlin Williams had been paid some
$40,000 for public relations work that was somehow not justified.
No one from the PLP's side in the House objected. In a response
the next day Mr. Stubbs complained that his privilege had been breached
and he said that he was not comfortable with the fact that his colleagues
seemed to take delight in the allegations being made against him.
He said that he wanted the matters referred to the Committee on privileges.
He denied any wrongdoing and said that his conscience was clear.
Some were wondering what privilege had been breached, since there
are only two recognized privileges of the House. One is the freedom
from civil arrest also known as the privilege of access to the House.
The other is the privilege of free speech. How those were breached
by Mr. Bastian’s allegations is beyond most, but anyhow.
At week’s end the matter was still not dead. The Speaker of
the House reserved his ruling on whether or not the matter was a breach
of privilege. But there was further attack reported in The
Tribune on Saturday 8th February. The Tribune reported that the Board
had met and stripped Mr. Stubbs of his signing authority and of the day
to day running of the Corporation. It was also reported that he can
no longer sign cheques. The staff has been told that the day to day
running of the Corporation is to be left to Deputy Chair Godfrey Eneas.
This is a strange turn of events. Is this lawful?
One hopes that next week, the PLP will be proud to say that this
matter has been put behind us and that we can move on without this distraction.
It is a great shame that there will be damage all around on everyone, the
parties involved and the wider party. It should not have come to
this. One thing that seems certain is that a young man has allowed
himself to be pilloried unfairly but it seems a pillorying exacerbated
by his own deeds, which normally would have called not for a combative
defence but a quiet easing of oneself out of the picture. But that
is the past, we can only hope for the future.
The number of hits up for the week ending Saturday 8th February 2003
at midnight: 32,343.
The number of hits for the month of February up to Saturday 8th February
2003 at midnight: 33,680.
The number of hits for the year up Saturday 8th February 2003 at
midnight: 124,713.
Tribune photo of Mr. Christie in the
House of Assembly debate on thee-commerce bills.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
LACKING
THE POLITICAL WILL
Brent Symonette, the scion of the UBP in the House of Assembly, seems once
again an impassioned fellow. He is little too sensitive about race
and until he can get over that, his future as a possible Prime Minister
of The Bahamas is very much in doubt. Nevertheless, he is trying
to make a go of it. On Wednesday 5th February he attacked the PLP
saying that it lacked the will to carry out its political mandate.
He was speaking on the compendium of e-commerce bills that the government
hopes will become law within a month’s time. The bills will bring
The Bahamas in from the dark ages on e-commerce and set the legal framework
and protections for electronic business including digital signatures.
Mr. Symonette made the point that passing laws is not enough. He
said what is needed for example is the Bahamas Electricity Corporation
should have a reliable supply of electricity and that was not the case.
He said that BaTelCo should be privatized and the Government has been dragging
its feet on the issue.
We think that the Government is moving too slowly:
that is clear for all to see. The din of the disgruntled supporters
of the PLP is loud and clear. Too many decisions just seem to be
bogged down in endless hand wringing. But given the record in its
last term of the FNM’s launching off half cocked and the many mistakes
made, there is a strong case to be made for caution. BaTelCo’s
privatization was promised in 1998 by Hubert Ingraham the last Prime Minister.
When he left, he left the job incomplete. To be fair half of the
PLP wants nothing to do with the privatization of BaTelCo. The other
half fears only that if we don’t go forward, critics will attack the PLP
and so are maintaining an FNM policy simply for the sake of peace.
The BaTelCo privatization is of doubtful success anyway, since it is unlikely
in this market that the proper price will be fetched for the corporation.
We think that the privatization should be stopped
dead in its tracks. It is a failed FNM policy and should be rethought
so that Bahamians can buy the company. Then there is the question
of BEC. Under the FNM, BEC squandered its resources. It bought
a bad generator that has taken months to install and is difficult to get
started. So there is a deficiency in the capacity that is available.
The then Opposition Member Bradley Roberts (now MP for Bain and Grants
Town and Minister responsible for BEC) made the point that the machine
that was being purchased could not do the job. Mr. Roberts reminded
the FNM of that in the House again on Wednesday. The machine is still
not up and running. And so it is clear whose fault BEC is.
And so Brent Symonette, the scion of the UBP, ought
to be careful as he launches his attacks. In this day of scud missiles,
it may well be that the scud will come back on him.
WHY
DUPUCH AND WELLS LEFT THE FNM
The two independents who now sit in the House of Assembly and who were
former Members of the Free National Movement explained on Charles Carter's
Radio programme Parliament Street why they left the FNM. Tennyson
Wells, the MP for Bamboo Town (left) and Pierre Dupuch, the MP for Shirlea
(right) said that they both left because of corruption and their discomfort
with their relationship with former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. Their
remarks were made on Sunday 2nd February.
Mr. Wells said that there was no doubt in his mind
that there was corruption during the ten year term of the Free National
Movement. Mr. Wells also compared and contrasted the style
of leadership of the late Sir Ceil Wallace Whitfield to that of Mr. Ingraham.
He said that there was room for independent thought under Sir Cecil but
not under Mr. Ingraham. He said: “Everybody was not like this and
unfortunately for the FNM, when Sir Cecil died, the former Prime Minister
Mr. Ingraham came in and it was handed to him on a silver platter, no argument
or contest. He was not the kind of leader that Sir Cecil or Sir Kendal
was, in the sense that if he was opposed to you, or he thought you had
a different view from his, you were a threat. This was unfortunate.
(Mr. Ingraham) could not take criticism, and it had to be his way or no
way.”
Mr. Wells added that the FNM’s entire machine was
corrupt. He said that the country is now progressing, and despite
criticisms of the pace of Perry Christie’s government, Mr. Christie should
be given a chance to prove himself in office as eight months in office
is too short a time to decide on whether his administration is a success
or failure. “There is a lot of criticism already, but what he is
doing is something that is new and it may be beneficial to the country
in the long run. I do not know yet but the style of the former Prime
Minister Ingraham had was certainly in my opinion detrimental to the country.”
Well said, Mr. Wells!
JOBS!
JOBS! JOBS!
PLP MPs are screaming out for help on the hustings.
The number one complaint is that with the construction industry having
shut down virtually in New Providence, and Grand Bahama’s economy dead
as doornail the people are without work and seem to have no prospect of
help. There is still a great deal of patience reposed in many PLPs
over this issue, but as MPs and other PLP leaders go into their constituencies
they are no longer sure what to say. They complain to Ministers and
it is reported that many Ministers complain that they feel frustrated over
their inability to do some things for PLPs. The situation is so dire
that it may be that it is important for there to be some further deficit
spending in order to provide for public works jobs through private sector
initiatives to get some people especially the young men of the country
back to work until the construction projects kick in again.
PM
RECOGNISES PROBLEMS WITH PLP
In a nod to his critics, Prime Minister Perry Christie told the Bahama
Journal's Candia Dames on Monday 3rd February that there is impatience
on the part of Ministers and on the part of the voting public about the
pace at which the Government is moving. Here is some of what he had
to say in his own words:
“There is impatience on the part of the voting
public. There is impatience on the part of Members of Parliament.
There is impatience on the part of Ministers. But I happen to be
the chief executive of the nation and I have to be realistic and sensible
and I believe I have laid the infrastructure for the transformation of
our country.
“I must be the one to absorb the impatience and
to be encouraging to people, to say that the things we are doing are so
necessary to the future of our country…
“We have been faced with the prospect of a slowing
down of the economy, of the need to borrow substantial sums of money and
in fact, a construction industry that is not as dynamic as it has been
previously. And so therefore, unemployment is a significant factor.
The levels of anxiety and frustration on the part of persons have not decreased
and in fact may have increased and so, therefore, the challenge for our
Government is even more profound that it has been…
“When I do act, you will see why I waited
and you will see the basis of the changes I make…"
In answer to his critics that he over consults,
Mr. Christie said:
“I have created what I consider to be a resource
bank for the Government of The Bahamas by involving hundreds of Bahamian
professionals, Whites, Blacks, FNMs and PLPs where I’m able to access them
for ideas which are being implemented. That’s the process that I’m
trying to encourage in this country.”
WHITNEY
BASTIAN’S ACCUSATIONS
Whitney Bastian, the MP for South Andros used the occasion of the House
of Assembly’s debate on the e-commerce package of legislation on Wednesday
5th February to launch an attack on Bahamas Agricultural & Industrial
Corporation Chair Sidney Stubbs and a number of other Government agencies.
Here is what he said in his on words. This is based on a report from
The Tribune of Thursday 6th February:
“Can you imagine the Chairman of BAIC (Sidney
Stubbs MP) paying this so-called consultant (Earlin Williams) last week
another $6,950 in pursuit of immoral carnal lust and delights?
“Mr. Williams was paid some $40,000 for two for
three months work… I see why we can’t get anything done for South Andros.
I see why we can’t get any road fixed. I can see why we are in short
medical supply because they are just wasting taxpayers’ money in the name
of BAIC”
“Mr. Williams was paid $1500 to speak to a gathering
in West End, Grand Bahama.
“Mr. Stubbs has run up a bill of almost $15,000
on the company’s credit card…
“BAIC has incurred a debt of almost one million
dollars. “
“Public funds are being spent at a foreign company
then being funneled to a Nova Scotia Bank account in the form of kickbacks…
“The Minister of National security and the Commissioner
of Police have failed to deal with police officers in my constituency who
are guilty of facilitating the drug trade in South Andros. ”
“One of these Ministries is the Ministry of Health
[involved in the kickback scheme] where you have a hospital administrator
who has a house in Grand Bahama, who has a house in Nassau but who is paying
himself $30,000 housing allowance. That money can be used to buy medical
supplies for the people of South Andros.”
[Editor’s Note: The Prime Minister told the House
that he was aware of the allegations made about the Ministry of Health
in connection with the purchase of surgical supplies but cautioned Mr.
Bastian on the manner in which that he was making his attack without an
investigation. He was also aware of the complaint about the
housing allowance. The House was suspended for fifteen minutes because
Mr. Bastian refused to adhere to the rule on relevance and adhere to the
Speaker's admonition to desist from casting aspersions on persons who were
not members of the House and unable to defend themselves… Sidney Stubbs
MP got to his feet to deny all the allegations made by Mr. Bastian.
He said that the credit card bill was not what Mr. Bastian said.
He said Mr. Williams gave value for money. He said that the overdraft
was considerably higher when he came and under his leadership it had been
reduced substantially.] Tribune photo of Mr. Bastian in the House of
Assembly during the e-commerce bills debate.
WHAT
SIDNEY STUBBS SAID
After the attack of Wednesday 5th February, Sidney Stubbs the embattled
Holy Cross MP, came armed with a communication to Parliament to ask for
the matter to be referred to the Committee on Privileges. This is
the House Committee that examines the complaints of Members on abuse of
privileges of the House and recommends action. Curiously, no Member
of Parliament from the PLP side stood up to defend Mr. Stubbs against the
allegations on that Wednesday. What were raised were procedural objections
to Mr. Bastian's presentation. There was no denial of the substance.
Here is what Mr. Stubbs said in part in his own defence and in his own
words. This is taken from a report in The Tribune:
“Yesterday, here in this Honourable House, I
was the subject of scurrilous innuendo, vicious allegations, half truths
and just plain down right lies. I am of the opinion that my privilege
was abused… the Member for South Andros has allowed himself to be used
as a pawn to pursue an agenda that has caused me, my family and friends
constant anguish, unfair notoriety and political harm… I have a duty to
protect my reputation and my image as thousands of voters in my constituency
look to me and the PLP for help and hope…
“Powerful forces within and without my own organization
have aligned themselves in a constant battle to dislodge me as executive
chairman of the Bahamas Agricultural Industrial Corporation… It does not
give me any pleasure to observe my own colleagues relishing the amusement
of my perceived downfall… All I can say is that no man is an island. Every
man is a part of the whole. So don’t ask for whom the bell tolls.
It tolls for thee…
“Persons who have never even been suspected of
a crime should not be cannibalized in this fashion… I have a duty to defend
and protect those persons…
“Despite objections from me and the Honourable
Prime Minister, today these salacious comments are plastered over the front
page of a desperate and irresponsible press. My privilege has been
viciously abused. I have been attacked in my personal life and my
public life. The attack for the most part being of a personal nature
was completely unparliamentary.
“The record will show that Mr. Williams contrary
to the reports of being paid $40,000 was paid less than $25,000 over the
last six months for work at the corporation that elsewhere would have cost
more than $100,000. The Member for South Andros said that I
had amassed a credit card bill in excess of $15,000. That is a lie.
The press is having a field day at my expense and at the expense of BAIC,
the PLP government and some of the fine stellar citizens of our country.
The House was misled by the Member for South Andros.
“I have nothing to fear. I have done nothing
wrong. My conscience is clear. I am at BAIC to do a job and
I will not be deterred. These attacks have only strengthened me.
If this is the price that I must pay, then I bear it gladly but history
will show that those who seek to dig a grave for others would do best to
dig two.”
[Editor’s Note: When a Member of Parliament has
to make as statement of this kind, it appears that something is fundamentally
at odds between himself and his party and a resignation should follow from
his post as Chairman of the Government Corporation. This is not now
a question of what was done right or wrong or whether he did wrong.
There is a conflict that obviously cannot be resolved between himself and
the Government. The proper thing by convention to do is to go quietly
into that good night and allow the Prime Minister to fix the matter, which
he can if he would just be allowed to do so. There is no doubt plenty
of blame to go around both sides.]
THE
TROUBLE WITH WHITNEY BASTIAN
There was the Prime Minister appealing to the proper
sense of judgment, decorum and the rules to the Member of Parliament for
South Andros Whitney Bastian as he launched his attack on the Government
on Wednesday 5th February 2003. Such an appeal was bound to fail.
Mr. Bastian has made his life off operating outside the rules. He
has gotten to the House outside the established parties. Neither
one wants to have anything to do with him. Society generally does
not accept his legitimacy because of the previous allegations of drug trafficking.
Yet despite all that he is elected a Member of Parliament. It is
a quirk of democracy.
It is a blessing of democracy and also a curse that
people who are not generally acceptable can end up being a part of the
establishment and there is little one can do to stop it. And to appeal
to conscience is no appeal to him. It goes in one ear and out the
other. He has to play by his own rulebook. The sooner the PLP
remembers that, the better. The response is much too soft and impotent,
and it should be brutal, frank and direct. One has to act quickly
to cut this thing off at the pass.
What profit will it be to the Member of Parliament
for South Andros to play by the rules? He can get nothing done in
his constituency by being quiet. That is his complaint. He
is ignored by the Government and is unable to travel to the United States.
He cannot even carry out some of the basic functions of his job as an MP.
His only recourse then is to embarrass the establishment. How does
one come to terms with this? There is no middle ground. We
had better understand that. It is certainly going to get worse if
we don’t understand that fact.
PLP’S
REPORT VICTIMIZATION IN FREEPORT
PLPs in Freeport report that they are still the
victims of intimidation and victimization in Grand Bahama. They are
asking the Party’s leaders to come and visit and help them in their difficulties
in Grand Bahama. Some are displeased that they do not hear from the
leadership. But they were pleased that the Prime Minister visited
the funeral of a popular figure in east Grand Bahama last Sunday.
E-COMMERCE
BILLS
The Government has debated a compendium of e-commerce
bills to bring the laws of The Bahamas into conformity with modern legislation
to protect commerce over the Internet. But that is not enough.
Much has to be done to educate the Government itself on what e-commerce
and e-government actually means. A start would be MPs themselves
learning how to operate e-mail addresses and using them to connect.
WESTIN
BRAND IN FREEPORT
The news is good that the Westin brand has now been
added to the Our Lucaya product in Freeport. But the results on the
first day were not good. It took forty five minutes to one hour in
the queue for checking in and check out. And the maid service was miserable.
Westin had better act fast to correct this.
ANGER
AT THE POLICE
Anger has exploded in urban neighbourhoods in New
Providence at police shootings and the way police deal with persons who
are arrested. There was almost a repeat of the incident in Kemp Road
New Providence (see file story here)
when there was a riot that damaged the eye of a police officer and six
police cars. The riot squad had to be called. A police officer
shot a suspect this past week and the crowd said that there was unnecessary
use of force since the person had already been handcuffed. No doubt
an investigation will follow. But there is too much of this stuff
being reported.
GOING
TO WAR
The war drums continue to be beaten by the US Administration,
pressure is being put on countries around the world to line up with the
likes of Israel, Latvia and Estonia to support the so called coalition
of shared values to invade Iraq against such low lifes as France and Germany.
To his credit US Secretary of State Colin Powell tried hard to put a case
on the merits before the world at the United Nations Security Council on
Tuesday 4th February. But the case failed miserably. It was
not impressive, but was simply ‘it is so because I say it is so’.
No cogent and definitive case has been made for the world to go to war.
But it does not matter anyway to the United States what anyone says or
does. They will invade Iraq anyway. They intend to plunge the
world into a war. They intend to rain down mass destruction on the
Iraqi people in the name of getting rid of a dictator but they act without
thinking of the long term consequences. Within three weeks we shall
know if they are right as they march into Baghdad.
The US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says that
the war will only last six days. Then no doubt they are on to North
Korea to stamp out the nuclear threat there. The more they talk,
the more the world's angst continues, that we are not really safe with
the authority and power in the hands of the present person in control of
the United States. This is a sad fact. All The Bahamas can
do is sit and watch. Surely this is madness. And the British
should be ashamed of themselves!
COMPANY
OVEREXTENSIONS & LOSSES
It appears that a number of publicly traded companies
are now undergoing huge problems because they got drunk with their spending
power and the acquisition fever of the latter years of the Ingraham administration.
There are many examples of it.
Abaco Markets
There is Abaco Markets who expanded into everything that they could
see and buy. They announced last week that they are looking for a
buyer for Bellevue Stationers. This is because the business market
for office equipment and supplies has gone dead and they now want to off
load the company. Their stock price like those of all the publicly
traded companies is depressed.
Doctors Hospital
Then there is the story of Doctors Hospital that was forced by financial
circumstances to stop honouring the claims of those who were going to have
their expenses paid by National Insurance. National Insurance owed
them over one million dollars. The claims were settled but it left
a bitter taste in the mouth of National Insurance. And it left the
company looking shaky and it was not helped by reports that the company
must be looking for further relief from the Government soon if it is survive.
Its stock price is depressed. Further, it is said that Doctors Hospital
made a bad decision by expanding into the facility into western New Providence.
The money appears to have been a wasted investment. The facility is seriously
underutilized. Some 30 nurses have been laid off by Doctors.
Colina
People are quite concerned about the fact that Colina and its investors
seem to be expanding into all sorts of areas. The latest acquisition
is The Nassau Guardian, Nassau’s oldest daily newspaper also in a losing
position with no prospect of any early turnaround. The paper has
editorially deteriorated even further since they bought it, and The Tribune
reported that the staff feels that the paper is now back into the hands
of the UBP and its friends who originally owned it. The paper is
now headed by Colin Callender, a lawyer and Emanuel Alexiou another lawyer.
James Campbell and Anthony Ferguson are the other Bahamian shareholders
in the new company. As if to prove the point about the newspaper
being in the hands of the UBP, the paper praised a speech by Sir Geoffrey
Johnstone, the last Chairman and Leader of the Opposition under the United
Bahamian Party (UBP) in its edition of Monday 3rd February. The scuttlebutt
is that the paperwork is reportedly not done on the acquisition by this
group for the Colina assets and the group is now stretching its resources
thin to buy the Guardian. The Guardian appeared all this week without
any names on its masthead as to who are the editor and publisher.
Pat Walkes and Elijah Knowles, the Publisher and Financial Head respectively
announced their resignations last week.
Family Guardian
But the coup de gras to all this bad financial news is the fact that
Family Guardian Insurance an heretofore rock solid company has announced
that for the first time in its history it will to be unable to pay a dividend
to its shareholders. They have announced a 2.9 million dollars loss.
The industry is saying that this too is due to over expansion. It
is believed that they paid too much for the Star Insurance Company when
they purchased it. It is also believed that with the economic downturn,
their business of low end life insurance has taken a dive with people lapsing
their policies. Further, they reportedly rushed into a health insurance
product that they had little experience with and made a tremendous loss.
But help and hope is on the way in the form of the woman who once headed
Global and was forced out when it was acquired by Colina. Patricia Hermanns
has an excellent reputation and if she can do it any one can.
More Trouble On The Way?
And so we brace for more trouble with the publicly traded companies.
Already the approval of the merger of CIBC and Barclays has resulted in
criticism of weak regulation of publicly traded companies in The Bahamas.
On the other hand, the Bank of the Bahamas, which is not publicly traded,
announced that it is declaring a dividend of ten cents a share to shareholders
of record. This follows the news that Commonwealth Bank has declared
a dividend as well.
BUDGET
DEFICIT NARROWS
The Bahama Journal of Tuesday 4th February carried
a story that says that the revenue collection for the Government of The
Bahamas was more than 30 million dollars above projections in the last
three months. This compares favourably to the position in the first
fiscal quarter from July to October 2002. The revenue was behind
projections by about 60 million. The Minister of State for Finance
James Smith spoke on the issue to the Journal. He said that the Government
expects each month to collect approximately 60 to 75 million dollars.
If those projections are not met then the Government has to borrow to meet
the projections. At last count the Central Bank of The Bahamas was
predicting a 200 million dollar deficit for fiscal 2002/2003.
VISIT
TO MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES
While in Los Angeles, the Minister of Foreign Affairs
went to Altadena United Methodist Church to speak. You
may click here for his homily at the church on Sunday 26th January.
But he also paid a courtesy call on the Mayor of Los Angeles James Hahn.
With him was Ambassador Sidney Poitier the Ambassador for The Bahamas to
Japan and soon to UNESCO. The Minister presented a gift from the
people of The Bahamas to the Mayor. From left: Mayor Hahn, Foreign
Minister Mitchell, Ambassador Sir Sidney Poitier and Ms. Janet Johnson,
head of the Bahamas Tourist Office in Los Angeles..
ALBERT
MILLER IN HOSPITAL
Sir Albert Miller, Chairman of the Grand Bahama
Port Authority, had a successful operation in hospital in Miami on Tuesday
4th February. He had a benign lesion removed from his lung.
He told The Tribune that he feels well and is no pain. He is expected
to remain in Florida for a further week. We wish him well.
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Attempted Local Government Coup Fails
The city of Freeport Local Government Council is made up of nine members.
It is an open secret that seven of the nine members are supporters of the
FNM. So after the July elections last year, Ms. Marva Moxey who is
believed to be an FNM supporter was elected Chief Councillor with the help
of the two PLP Council members. From that time to this, she has not
had one week of peace from her FNM brethren, but this week, it all came
to a head when a vote of no confidence was moved against her. Her
brethren later found out that there was no basis in the Local Government
law for the removal of the Chief Councillor by this means and Ms. Moxey
pointed out to her fellow councilors that the only basis for having a Chief
Councillor removed was for insanity or bankruptcy. Now, because of
their constant attacks on Ms. Moxey, FNM mover and shaker Earl Godet has
come to her defence and sent us a ‘tell all’ letter. Our editors
now have the letter in verification and we expect to upload it Monday evening.
Stay tuned.
FNM High Rock Branch Election
All hope of mischief to the leadership of Tommy T from High Rock was
put to rest on Monday 3rd February when the High Rock branch of the FNM
held elections of officers. Only two of the anti-Tommy faction were
elected to hold office and be eligible to vote in the upcoming FNM convention.
An anti-Tommy member told News From Grand Bahama that they will back off
and “allow Tommy to remain as leader” because elections are at least three
and a half years away. So, they said, they would be prepared to allow
Tommy to “remain as caretaker for the time being”. A Tommy supporter
- on the other hand – declared “tell them put that in their pipe and smoke
it.” So it seems that the bulk of the Grand Bahama delegates to the
next FNM convention will in large numbers support Tommy T, the current
leader of the FNM.
Ingraham Visits GB
Notwithstanding all the talk about Tommy T as now and to remain leader
of the FNM, there is apparently still some movement (no pun intended).
Late word is that former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham was in Freeport
for a day this past week meeting with a senior FNM MP who has suffered
recent setbacks. Other FNM MPs and supporters reportedly feel slighted
at being excluded. The meetings between the two reportedly lasted
for so long during the day visit that they broke bread together twice.
Things that make you go, hmmmm!
End Justify Means Logic
We would like to turn the attention of our readers
to a story in the Jamaica Daily Gleaner (www.jamaicagleaner.com) date 2nd
February 2003 under the heading 'Who Signed The Search Warrant'.
The story tells of a lawyer's office raided and confidential clients' files
confiscated to be used against an accused as evidence. We believe
that these actions have far reaching implications for The Bahamas and the
principle of lawyer-client privilege, which stands at the foundation of
law. We would like to know from our readers what their views are
in this matter.
News From Grand Bahama is negotiating with a high-level FNM supporter
in Grand Bahama for a bi-monthly column. We ask our readers to stay
tuned for the surprise...
BS
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return
to the top of the page.
|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The Nassau Guardian carried this
photo under the headline A CRASH OR A HOAX. The picture was
taken by their photographer Donald Knowles as scores of Nassuvians gathered
at McPherson’s bend, on the eastern end of New Providence responding to
a report that a Bahamasair plane had gone down in the waters off the north
coast of New Providence between Nassau and Eleuthera. It turned out
to be absolutely untrue, even though several people swore that they had
heard something and seen something. The DEA helicopter was called
out, and the police searched in their go fast boats. Nothing was
found, but that did not stop the crowd who should all have been at work
at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday 11th February from gathering at the foreshore. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON…DEATH IN THE MORNING
The
Prime Minister cancelled his trip to the Caricom Heads of Government meeting
in Trinidad and Tobago from the 13th to the 15th February because of urgent
state business. The urgent business was the fact that there had been
two high profile murders within days of each other of two white businessmen.
The murder total within the first two months (not quite) of the year is
now ten. As we have said earlier that if it keeps up this pace, the
murders will amount to 90 this year, surpassing the highest total ever
in the year 2001 under the FNM administration.
The first was the death of James Bethel (pictured left), who was
a young father. It was in the afternoon at about five p.m. Saturday
9th February. Mr. Bethel, who ran an advertising firm and was quite
good at his job, was going into a plant store on Village Road when he was
accosted by an armed robber. Things went relatively smoothly as these
things go but he had his young daughter in the car. When the robber
asked for the keys to his car, the report is that Mr. Bethel put up a struggle
because he thought that the robber was going to kidnap and kill his daughter.
In the struggle he was shot and died. Senseless and in broad daylight.
Before the community could absorb that shock, there came another
one. This time it was Sunday 9th February in Freeport. Danish
born Bahamian businessman Arne Pedersen (pictured right), who was well
respected and liked in Freeport, was in his bed relaxing with his long-time
Bahamian woman. He was a man who loved this country, whose economic
partner was former Transport Minister C.A. Smith. He was gunned down
in his bedroom at around 8 p.m. It was senseless. Mr. Pedersen
was a significant investor in Freeport and with C.A. Smith was said to
be the new owner of the Las Palmas Hotel in South Andros.
People had all sorts of explanations. They had all sorts of
outrage. The Government was mainly silent and does not seem to know
what to do. And so it was left for the media to paint a picture of a country
that they said was reeling in national crisis.
There is no national crisis. There has been this sort of spate
of murders before. And each time the society responds with the same
impotent rage. One gets sick of it as more and more people get gunned
down. Let’s start hanging these people, they say. They forget
that you have to catch someone before you can hang them. Let's start
flogging these people, they say. The same thing applies. Let’s
start changing the bail laws. Let’s start locking them up –three
strikes and you’re out. Let’s start searches home by home.
Let’s have more roadblocks.
All of it is of course a police strategy. The police are the
first to be leaned on. The police have their place in it all but
they cannot be the ultimate place. They have to be led in this by
society generally.
The fact is that any study of what is actually happening on the ground
will show that the crime is being committed by a certain group of people.
That group is the male population between the ages of 18- 35. The
question is why is it that this is the group that is involved in the crime.
We suspect the little boys are in big trouble: frustrated, under motivated,
under educated and under socialized. This is not to excuse their
behaviour nor to say that anyone should go unpunished but we have to start
tackling the crime factory that is spitting out little boys who become
men that don’t have any sense of worth about themselves or anyone else.
When this society decides to implement a plan to deal with the dysfunction
amongst young men, then we can feel satisfied that it is worth listening
to what the public at large has to say on the point. Until that time, flapping
up our gums while people large and small get gunned down does absolutely
nothing.
We mentioned that these men were white. This has no significance
other than the fact that most tourists that come to the country are white.
As long as its black people being killed there is outrage but when you
start talking about white people being killed that is a whole new kettle
of fish for public policy. Strange as it may seem that's the way
it is.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 15th February 2003 at
midnight: 23,273.
Number of hits for the month of February up to Saturday 15th February
2003: 56,934.
Number of this for the year up to Saturday 15th February 2003: 147,967.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
STRANGE
HAPPENINGS IN NASSAU
It began around Nassau, sometime after 8 a.m. on Tuesday 11th February.
The first reports came not from the official radio or press sources but
from the telephone contacts one person to the next. The report was
that a Bahamasair plane had crashed over Fox Hill. And so people
must have jumped into their cars on the strength of the news and headed
in the direction of the supposed plane crash. The fact that the police
had not had any official report did not move the crowd. The fact
that the Bahamasair was reporting that all of its planes were in, did not
move the crowd. The news spread like wild fire. People insisted
that they knew someone who had seen a fireball in the air and had heard
a plane over the area, that it was clear that the plane was in trouble
and that it went down.
The Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell in his official
car was later seen surveying the crowd of people that had gathered at McPherson’s
bend to check out the story. It was quite an incredible scene.
There were grown men and women out on the waterfront, looking out at sea
to see exactly nothing. There was nothing in the harbour, no smoke,
no signs of activity, nothing. Yet people were there. The press
was there looking and insisting that there had been a plane crash.
When the Bahamasair rumour did not prove to be a truthful story, they then
made up another story about a private pilot whose plane had exploded in
the air after taking off from North Eleuthera. Some pilots claimed
to have seen the plane go down. They had a name and a registration
number. They said that the reason the tower did not know was because
it was travelling under the radar. The man later turned out to be
fit and well and his plane safely parked on the runway.
Nassau is just like that sometimes - a place for
rumours that move the crowd to an unexplained frenzy. There was the
woman in Collins Avenue who in 1979 claimed that sprits were occupying
her cottage in Ninth Terrace. The people turned out in the hundreds
to see, exactly nothing. It required police officers and at one point
fire engines to hold the crowd at bay. A generation earlier, there
was a church in Kemp Road that reported seeing the face of Jesus on the
wall. Again the crowds went out in droves. We were trying to think
what causes what is supposed to be a sophisticated society to get into
these kinds of frenzies – your guess is as good as ours. But we think
Sideburns, the Tribune cartoonist probably gave the best guess in his cartoon
of Wednesday 12th February – a chance to duck work.
SPEAKER
RULES AGAINST SIDNEY
The saga of Sidney Stubbs MP for Holy Cross continues without abatement.
It turns out that the Speaker did not accept the complaint of Mr. Stubbs
that his privilege had been breached. The matter was not referred
to the Committee on Privileges. If you remember last week, we reported
that Sidney Stubbs claimed that his privilege as a Member of Parliament
had been breached because of certain stories told about him on the floor
of the House by Whitney Bastian, the MP for South Andros. We pointed
out at the time that even on the face of it an attack on one's reputation
is not a breach of the privilege of the House of Assembly, and it was simply
a device used in the past by the FNM to quiet its critics in the House.
The famed Committee on Privileges never met once during the entire ten
years of the FNM’s term.
The
