bahamasuncensored.com
JULY 2004
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Volume 2 © BahamasUncensored.Com
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11th July, 2004
18th July, 2004
25th July, 2004
Columns From 2002 - 2003

 
4th July, 2004
Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com
  How do you do today?  It's great to have you as a reader.  We have the most incisive political news about and from The Bahamas! 
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A DRUG MAN SURRENDERS... ONE BOY, 9, DEAD AND TWO MISSING AND FOUND...
FREEPORT STILL HAS A CONTAINER PORT... HARAJCHI LOSES HIS COURT CASE...
HIGGS OF COB CONFIRMS HE’S OUT... THE PUNCH ADMITS, IT LIED ON MITCHELL...
INDEPENDENCE FOR THE BAHAMAS... THE U.S. AT 228...
LIBRARY RENAMED FOR MRS. COAKLEY... PM OFF TO HEADS OF GOVERNMENT...
WENDALL JONES EXPANDS LOVE 97... GET YOUR ANNUAL PHYSICAL...
OBIE WILCHCOMBE ON GAY TOURISM... CONGRATULATIONS TONIQUE WILLIAMS DARLING...
THIS WEEK WITH THE PM...
The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party... The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
PLPs On The Web... Interesting Places...
Bradley Roberts / PLP Grants Town Bahamas Government Website
Neville Wisdom / PLP Delaporte Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
Alfred Sears / PLP Fort Charlotte Bahamians On The Web
Melanie Griffin / PLP Yamacraw Bahamian Cycling News
John Carey / PLP Carmichael FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES...
Grand Bahama PLP
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK - On Monday 28th July, the Government of The Bahamas and the Government of the United States signed a comprehensive maritime agreement.  This was the culmination of years of tortuous and often testy negotiations between the two sides.  The Minister laid the agreement on the table of the House of Assembly.  There is really no new ground in the agreement, since the parties have been operating on a series of ad hoc notes and procedures since at least 1964 when the then Governor of the colony Sir Ralph Grey signed a letter permitting the United States Coastguard to enter Bahamian waters for search and rescue.  Now search and rescue, drug interdiction and capturing illegal migrants are all incorporated in one text.  The two sides appeared to be all smiles on Monday 28th July as Robert Witijewski, the Chargé of the United States, shook hands following the signing with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas Fred Mitchell. The photo is by Derek Smith of the Bahamas Information Services.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

A NATIONAL CULTURE OF DITHERING
The Public Service in The Bahamas has been under attack by both PLPs and Independent members of the House over the past few months.  There is a feeling that they are expressing an exasperation with the state of how things are decided, how slowly and how inaccurately.  It is a matter that the Government has to deal with almost three years into its term.  The faithful are being affected by policies of the Government that the Government says it is deciding but the evidence of execution leaves much to be desired.  Try even the situation of getting a letter from a Government office.  The Minister might write it and sign it, but does it ever reach its destination?

The man on whom the main responsibility for this falls will be the Minister for the Public Service Fred Mitchell.  Ever since the Government came into office the Prime Minister has been talking about public sector reform.  From all indications one vendor after the next has been to The Bahamas trying to sell their services in this area.  So far, the Government has made no decision.  The Minister in his early days identified two areas that he hoped he could tackle that would lead to some lasting change.  One was to get a human resources track and career path for public servants.  In this he has not been successful. There are powerful forces within the service that block the effort.  The other is to ensure that the public receives reasonably quick service while encountering the ‘front of house’ in various government departments or when trying to reach the offices by telephone.  That has not improved either.

It is clear that talking about the need for public sector reform does not help either.  The Prime Minister gets ever more exasperated when he thinks of the way public services are delivered.  Too many things fall between the cracks.  And so the Minister in his address to the House of Assembly during the budget debate put his finger on what he thought was the real problem.  He described it as a cultural problem, in other words there is something in the way we live, the way we are trained, the way we are raised that has so affected the national psychology that we have problems communicating what we hear, executing what we decide, and responding in a timely fashion to events that carry deadlines.

The Minister said that this occurs both in the private sector and the public sector.  On a radio programme he gave the example of Cable Bahamas, that is a private sector company, which has the monopoly to provide cable television services for The Bahamas.  One customer complained to him that he had paid his money for an installation and he was told that it would take two weeks for them to show up to install the service.  When the men showed up two weeks later, they stayed at the premises for fifteen minutes after discovering that there was not the necessary link to complete the hook up.  The team said that the link would take another week to come to fix that and then they would come again. That meant that Cable Bahamas had the money of the customer for three weeks but no service was delivered.  Once the Minister mentioned the fact on the radio, the service was delivered the next day.

And this is the story in the public service.  The public service responds when it has a deadline to meet but only under pressure.  The way the public service works is that with most things it waits until the last minute to get decisions or to carry out decisions.  And so the public servant might know in February that the matter has to be executed in time for a deadline in July.  But you can bet that one day before the deadline in July, they are scrambling around trying to get it done in time.   And that is the normal course of things.  We call it here a national culture of dithering.

Politicians cannot escape the criticism either.  The same cultural phenomenon that strikes the public service at large, strikes the political class.  This column has always argued that many people think that it is the politicians themselves who are the ultimate drag on the economy through the slowness of their decision making, and the attempt to always be in control.  There is an argument made by some that this retards economic growth and progress.

Whatever the cause, it is clear that The Bahamas is still trying to run itself like the village it was in the 1940s.  The systems are clearly inadequate for the demands of this modern country.  The problem is that there is a great inertia in doing something about it. The curious thing is that everyone is for public sector reform, but no one wants to actually reform.

And so it will be interesting to know whether the Minister’s ideas about stopping all permanent and pensionable employment for new workers and everyone working on contract will succeed.  There is a need for greater management flexibility, and the contract work will help to that end.  It will have the added benefit of the Government ceasing the present non contributory pension, and all pensions will be dealt with by National Insurance, or a contributory pension scheme.

The time to move is now.  The Government does not have long to make an impact in this area before they are swamped by resistance, swamped by this national culture of dithering.  Stall! Delay! Defer!  The rule in the public service is similar to that line from The Lion in Winter when Queen Eleanor tells her husband Henry II: “I don’t have to stop you.  I only need to delay you.”

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 3rd July 2004 at midnight: 40,616.

Number of this for the month of June up to Wednesday 30th June 2004 at midnight: 180,268.

Number of hits for the month of July up to Saturday 3rd July 2004 at midnight: 11,762.

Number of hits for the year 2004 up to Saturday 3rd July 2004 at midnight: 1,334,966. 



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A DRUG MAN SURRENDERS
    Now here is a curious thing to report.  Pedro Smith, who according to the Americans is supposed to be the mastermind behind the Smith/Maycock drug ring that they and The Bahamas police busted up week before last, decided that he would waive his rights to resist extradition to the United States, and instead surrender into U.S. custody.
    According to a report in The Tribune Tuesday 29th June, Mr. Smith was arrested when he was trying to leave The Bahamas by private plane on Thursday 24th June.  His court appearance came in Miami on Monday 28th June.  He was remanded in custody.  It is reported that one other defendant has also waived his right to extradition.  Everyone else is set to fight the extradition.  You may click here for last week's story.
    The community has been reflecting on what the real reason is behind the alacrity of the surrender to the United States.  While, he was denied bail in Miami because he was said to be a flight risk, many will be watching to see how the two who surrendered conduct their case hereafter and the relationship if any that they exhibit to the authorities in the U.S.  Things that make you go: “Hmmm!”
 
 

ONE BOY, 9, DEAD AND TWO MISSING AND FOUND
    The community in Nassau was alarmed this week by the apparent murder of a little boy 9 years old who set off early one morning to play basketball on the St. George’s Park in the eastern part of New Providence.  He was last seen on Wednesday 23rd June and he set off to play ball at 6 a.m., after a restless time in the house.  He was never seen again, until the discovery of his partly decomposed body on Saturday 26th July.  It was being speculated that he had been sexually assaulted.  Dead is Devon Knowles, pictured.
    The case of the missing boy itself set off alarms bells but when it was also reported that two other male children had also gone missing, there was panic in the air.  The two boys were later found safe and sound at the Children’s Emergency Hostel.  They are the children of Haitian immigrants: Stephen Delles (10) and Dario Joseph. (8).  The nine year old of course was a tragedy that has occurred all too often in the society.
    The police immediately announced with the Social Services Department a special unit to deal with children and the issues which arise with them.  The Bahamas was traumatized by the murders of six children in Grand Bahama last year.  Those murders have been solved but the question remains why this is a phenomenon in The Bahamas.  What can we do about it?
    You have to ask yourself as we asked ourselves with the cases of the missing boys in Grand Bahama: why would you allow a 9 year old to leave your house on a school day at 6 a.m. to go play basketball, unaccompanied, given what you know is the tenor of the times?  It raises the question about parenthood and whether people are as prudent as possible in exercising concern about the fate of their children.
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FREEPORT STILL HAS A CONTAINER PORT
    The people of Freeport (we suppose) can breathe a sigh of relief now that they still have a container port.  Last week, we reported (You may click here for that report) that the owners of the Port were threatening to close the Port down because of the walkout of some 400 members of the staff after a union organizer was fired.  We said then that while the workers might not be justified in contract in walking off their jobs, the fact that an explosive incident of this kind happened meant that something was seriously wrong with the employment practices of the container port.  They should have seen it coming.  The managers who are in charge of this area should see their career’s end.
    The representatives of the container port's management in their public pronouncements were also unhelpful as well.  They seemed to be promoting the closure of the Port as an act of vengeance against the men, instead of promoting its reopening.  They issued a statement of gloom and doom, in particular that they were about to lose their major customer, which was responsible for 85 percent of the traffic through the port.
    We think that the container port's owners should stop the gloom and doom.  So much gloom and doom that they inspired The Tribune’s gloom and doom specialist Eileen Carron to write long pieces about how the workers of The Bahamas threatened the very survival of our economy.  That is the line The Tribune always takes.  Mind you even though there are these disruptions from time to time, it is clear from the history of The Bahamas that social progress comes as a result of this.  It is the management that does not seem to get it.  They seem always to think that you can plan the people factor out of the business.
    The Port has now fired some 40 people since the incident.  The talk around Freeport is that they wanted to fire all of those and more in order to change the terms and conditions of work at the Port.  It is also said that the Department of Labour dropped the ball on this one.  The matter of a conflict brewing came to the attention of the Department in Freeport but they did not act swiftly enough to get on top of the issue.  And so we have the mess that we are in now.
    We want the container port to reopen and stay open.  We want the employees to know that they should not walk off a good paying job.  In the face of the unemployment out there and the ready pool of alternative labour, many Bahamians think it is foolish to walk off a job for something that can be dealt with in another manner.  Aerial photograph of the Freeport Container Port.
 
 

HARAJCHI LOSES HIS COURT CASE
    What will Mohammed Harajchi (pictured) do now? (Click here for last week’s story).  The Suisse Security Bank has lost the appeal to the Court of Appeal to set aside the decision of the Governor of the Central Bank to wind up the bank.  The unanimous decision was made by the Court of Appeal on Tuesday 29th June.  It gave no written reasons.
    Will Mr. Harajchi who has been making threatening noises at the PLP claiming that the PLP promised to give him his licence back in exchange for political contributions, now go to the Privy Council?  We believe that Mr. Harajchi on that score is a stranger to the truth.
    The Central Bank itself has announced that it is now going ahead to liquidate the bank and distribute its assets.  Philip ‘Brave’ Davis, the lawyer for the bank said that he was awaiting further instructions on the matter.
 
 

HIGGS OF COB CONFIRMS HE’S OUT
    As you know, this column has always opposed the departure of the now President of the College of The Bahamas Dr. Leon Higgs (pictured, left).  Our feeling was that he was never given the tools for the support to do the job that he was required to do.  But the Board of the College in its wisdom advertised the job, clearly sending the signal that he was no longer wanted.
    It appears that some kind of compromise has been worked out.  And so after months of uncertainty and behind the scenes negotiating, the president of COB has announced that he is withdrawing his application to succeed himself at the College.  This should clear the way for the Board to make another appointment.
    We would be opposed to anyone from the College itself getting the job of President.  The speculation is that the new President will be Dr. Rodney Smith, a Harvard PH.D and a Bahamian (pictured, right).  Dr. Smith has served as the President of a college in New Jersey and the press has been saying that the negotiations are in the final stages.  Once again, we regret Dr Higgs’ departure and thank him for his work at the College but hey, that's life.
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THE PUNCH ADMITS, IT LIED ON MITCHELL
    The Punch is a lying rag.  Now it confirms what we always known.  It is a paper that purveys lies, distortions of the truth, and thrives off the prurient and salacious.  The paper itself now admits that it tells lies.
    On 17th May 2004, the newspaper (if you can call it that) published a set of defamatory lies about the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell in his capacity as a counsel and attorney at law.  The Minister himself in the House of Assembly called persons who write articles of that type as something just above scum.  The Punch has now in a remarkable development completely retracted the story, and unqualifiedly apologized.  Their apology reads as follows:
    “The Punch is satisfied that the thrust of the allegations should not have been directed at Mr. Mitchell and The Punch apologizes to Minister Mitchell for publishing the allegations and for the embarrassment or injury to his reputation caused by the publication of the article.
    “Although Mr. Mitchell represented Mr. Munroe when the action was brought against Customs, Mr. Mitchell gave up the practice of law upon his appointment as Minister in May 2002.  After Mr. Mitchell left the law firm the matter was dealt with by other persons.  And any complaint by Mr. Munroe was directed at other lawyers and not Minister Mitchell.  The Punch is pleased to announce that the matter is now being dealt with in a satisfactory manner.
    “Mr. Mitchell’s good name remains untarnished.  The Punch is satisfied that there was no wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Mitchell.
    “And any apparent negligence in the matter was due to the unintended oversights by other lawyers after Mr. Mitchell gave up practicing law.”
    The problem with this is that even though there is an unqualified apology, the damage is done with a lot of ignorant people going round picking up on lying trash and garbage like this newspaper and its publisher seek to purvey.  It won't stop and no doubt the publisher will be back at it again.  He obviously can't help himself.
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INDEPENDENCE FOR THE BAHAMAS

    The Bahamas will celebrate the 31st anniversary of its independence on Saturday 10th July 2004.  The country is now awash with flags and festive bunting in the national colours.  We wish the country well, and a happy birthday.  This year Ministers of the Government are being assigned to go to the Family Islands to take the salute for independence.  Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell has announced that he will travel to Georgetown, Exuma for the ceremonies there.  Young Clinton Clarke sells Bahamian flags on Jerome Avenue Monday. (Bahama Journal Photo by Omar Barr)
 
 
 
 

THE U.S. AT 228
    The United States celebrates the 228th anniversary of its break from Great Britain under King George III.  There will be a reception to mark the occasion at the Ambassador’s home now vacant in Nassau.  U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Robert Witijewski will host the event.  The Governor General will attend as will Acting Foreign Minister Vincent Peet.  Mr. Witijewski speaking in Nassau on Thursday 1st July said that the new Ambassador designate John Rood has not yet been confirmed but that no adverse political implications go with that fact.
 
 

LIBRARY RENAMED FOR MRS. COAKLEY
    The Southern Public Library was the domain of a demure and tiny woman named Lillian Weir Coakley from 1955 until she retired almost four decades later.  She herself was armed with a Master’s Degree in Social Science from Hampton University but not being able to find a job when she returned home to her field, she succeeded her aunt at the library that had earlier been established through the advocacy of the late Claudius Walker who was then the representative for Grants Town, part of the old Southern District.
    Ever since Mrs. Coakley died, civic leaders have been saying that the library should be renamed in her honour.  During this season of the 31st year of our independence, the Prime Minister stood under the bandstand on the Southern Recreation ground in the spot where Sir Randol Fawkes, Sir Lynden Pindling, and Sir Milo Butler all stood to deliver their evocative orations that led to majority rule in 1967 and the Prime Minister officially renamed the library the Lillian Weir Coakley library.  It was an emotional time as her protégés came up and paid tribute to her.  We think that this was a good decision. Bahamas Information Services montage of Southern Public Library and Prime Minister Perry Christie by Derek Smith.
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PM OFF TO HEADS OF GOVERNMENT
    Prime Minister Perry Christie will head off to Grenada in the southern Caribbean for the Heads of Government meeting of Caricom from 4th July to 7th July.  He is expected to return to the country on Wednesday 8th July.  He will be accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell, Minister of Transport Glenys Hanna Martin, Minister of State for Finance James Smith, Ambassador Leonard Archer (Caricom) and Ambassador Eugene Newry (Haiti).  It is expected that Haiti will be fully readmitted to the Councils of Caricom at this meeting.
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WENDALL JONES EXPANDS LOVE 97

    On Wednesday 30th June, the Minister of Financial Services Allyson Maynard Gibson officially launched the northern service of Jones Communications’ Love 97.  The owner of the station and publisher of the Bahama Journal is Wendall Jones.  Mr. Jones has come far in the long years since a stormy termination from the Broadcasting Corporation.  He is these days very much the media tycoon.  Mr. Jones promised that the station would be used to try and bring the populations of New Providence and Grand Bahama closer together.  The PLP gave Mr. Jones a national licence, which was denied him under Hubert Ingraham and the FNM. Bahama Journal photo of Mr. Jones and Minister Maynard Gibson at opening.
 
 

GET YOUR ANNUAL PHYSICAL
    Prime Minister Perry Christie officially launched the ten million dollar facility of Dr. Conville Brown (pictured) on Collins Avenue in New Providence that is to provide state of the art radiation therapy and treatments for cancer patients in The Bahamas on Thursday 1st July.  The facility is backed by some of the best talent from hospitals in Detroit, Michigan.  The whole radiation therapy field in The Bahamas got a bad name under a previous clinic during the FNM's time that was closed down because of allegations of gross negligence.  One hopes that this facility fares better.  People who are cancer patients are desperate for cures and it is a cruel fate, if the facility itself turns out to be the thing that kills you.  The Minister of Health has promised that the facility has the back up to make that not a possibility.
    The Prime Minister’s comments were important for another reason and that is the Prime Minister asking men to go and get annual physicals.  Here are some statistics from articles on health in The Tribune of Tuesday 29th June.  Women have a life expectancy at birth of 75 years of age, men of 67.  According to Dr. Robin Roberts as quoted in The Tribune men have higher death rates than women.  They have elevated incidents of high blood pressure, more cancer, more alcohol related problems, more illegal drug abuse, and more men are imprisoned, homeless and are the victims of job fatalities than women.  He adds that good health is no accident.
    Dr. Roberts spoke of the need to deal with prostate cancer in men.  Between 1987 and 2000 there have been 534 cases of prostate cancer in The Bahamas reported.  In 2001, there were 84 new cases.  Men should get an annual prostate exam if they are over 50.  He explained that erectile dysfunction (as in not being able to get an erection of the penis for sex) is also a problem for men as they age, but only 10 per cent of the men seek treatment for it.  A survey of the Bahamian population between 15 and 64 showed that nine per cent of them have hypertension.  These are only reported cases.  Bahama Journal photo of Dr. Conville Brown at the official opening by Omar Barr.
 
 

OBIE WILCHCOMBE ON GAY TOURISM
    Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe made a sensible and defensible statement on the question of gay people visiting The Bahamas reported on Saturday 3rd July in The Tribune.  We have said it here before; The Bahamas is in the tourism business and should not discriminate against anyone provided they follow the laws.  Homosexual conduct between adults in private is not an offense in this country.  The statement of the Minister came in response to the news that Pastor Mario Moxey is to mount a demonstration against Rosie O’Donnell who is leading a gay family cruise to The Bahamas.  Here is what the Minister had to say in his own words:
    “The handling of this protest is extremely important.
    “The Bahamas has run an extremely successful campaign in recent years to invite visitors to our country and Bahamians must embrace all those that come to enjoy what we have to offer.  With steadily increasing visitor numbers there will always be people we do not approve of.
    “I understand there are strong opinions on this matter and I respect all positions, but we must be mindful of the message we send
    “We have to learn to appreciate each of our visitors and stop placing them and their lifestyles under such microscopic scrutiny…
    “Pastor Moxey has a chance to speak to Christian values even to those indifferent to them.”
File photo of Minister Obie Wilchcombe addressing the Caribbean Tourist Organisation of which he is chairman.
 
 

CONGRATULATIONS TONIQUE WILLIAMS DARLING

    There is a new Bahamas record holder for the 400 metres.  She is Tonique Williams Darling.  She set the record of 49.25 at the IAAF championships in Italy on Friday 2nd July.  This overturns the record set by Pauline Davis in the 1996 Olympics.  Congratulations Tonique.  The picture is from The Tribune, Saturday 3rd July.
 
 

THIS WEEK WITH THE PM

    Prime Minister Christie joined Marguerite, Lady Pindling and Senator Pindling Sands for the Pindling Foundation's Legacy Ball this past weekend.  The Foundation honoured the country's founding Deputy Prime Minister, the Honourable Arthur Hanna.
    It wasn't all official duty, though, for Prime Minister and Mrs. and Mrs. Christie shown at bottom right, enjoying a dance.
    Earlier in the week, the Prime Minister was joined by Attorney General and Minister of Education, the Honourable Alfred Sears; Minister of Foreign Affairs and The Public Service, the Honourable Fred Mitchell and Mrs. Miriam Curling at the renaming of the Southern Public Library.  (See story above).

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11th July, 2004
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK - Saturday 10th July was Independence Day for the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.  The Bahamian people showed forth their patriotism and general love of country by a turn out at all of the important national functions promoted by the Government.  They also displayed that love of country in their own spontaneous ways.  Flags were everywhere: on the cars, on the buildings, in the hands of the people both young and old.  The most inventive was clothing that matched the colours of the flag.  Bahamas Information Services' Peter Ramsay was at Government House where Governor General Dame Ivy Dumont held a state reception to mark the day.  Dame Ivy is shown sharing the first piece of the official Independence cake with Mrs. Bernadette Christie, wife of the Prime Minister as he looks on with Mr. Dumont, Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt and Mr. Pratt.  Official celebrations are scheduled to take place Sunday 11th July at Clifford Park.  HAPPY 31st BIRTHDAY, BAHAMAS!

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

CREAKY CARICOM DECISION MAKING
There is a movie title from the old days: STOP THE WORLD I WANT TO GET OFF.  One can’t help but think of that title as the decision of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean was announced with regard to Haiti.  The rest of the world has accepted that the situation in Haiti has changed dramatically since Jean Bertrand Aristide left his country on the morning of 29th February 2004.  Colin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State, says that the departure was voluntary.  Mr. Aristide says that the departure was forced by the Americans.  No one in the Caribbean believes the story of the Americans.

The point that many have now reached is that even if the Americans’ story is not true, how do we best help the people of Haiti?  The world at large at the United Nations and at the Organization of American States have all decided that notwithstanding the controversy, if we want to help the Haitian people, we have to engage with the Government installed by the United States.  Such is the role of power in world affairs.

There are two groups in the world community that have not yet come to accept the de facto situation on the ground in Haiti.  One of them is the Caricom group of countries of which Haiti is a member.  Then there is the African Union.  The African Union is following the lead of Caricom.  The Haitian interim administration has been craving the legitimacy of Caricom, even though their interim Prime Minister Gerard La Tortue said some unfortunate things about Caricom, calling it small and insignificant and seeking to identify it as an organization that propped up Jean Bertrand Aristide.

But the Caricom position has gotten a bit tiresome, and some countries within the Caricom region have been fighting to have the position reversed.  The argument led publicly by Patrick Manning, the Prime Minister of Trinidad, is that the question of who or who is not the Prime Minister of Haiti is an internal matter for the Haitian people.  He believes that the matter has taken up far too much of the time of Caricom leaders, and Caricom needs to put the issue behind it.  We think that he is right.

The Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie has repeatedly said that The Bahamas must engage with Haiti.  He argues that The Bahamas has any number of reasons to remain engaged with Haiti, the chief of which is the fact that there are immigration issues between the two countries that have to be resolved from day to day.  The Bahamas dealt with the Duvalier dictatorship as well as all the other military and civilian Governments.  It has to engage if its bilateral issues are to be resolved.

Some countries are more ideological than others on this.  Some countries are farther away geographically than others from Haiti, so they can afford to take stands which are more ideologically pure.  Their argument is that the Haitian Government, such as it is, is a puppet of the United States.  Purely and simply, it has no democratic mandate, and the civil society charter of Caricom does not permit a government that is not democratically elected to sit in the councils of Caricom.

That’s fine and good.  But what undermines the position of the ideological purists is that they signed on at the OAS to a resolution sponsored by Caricom countries, including Haiti, and which passed without dissent calling within its terms Haiti’s interim administration a “Government”.  The resolution urged the OAS and its member states to do all that they could to help Haiti.  So as they say: “what exactly is the problem of Caricom?”

In fairness to some members like Grenada, they do not want a situation to exist where it can be said that they supported a Government that came to power as a result of a military coup.  They see the ousting of the Aristide administration as one brought about by military force.  But even in Grenada, Governments changed by military force, but eventually one had to move on and accept the new status quo.  The only question is when and on what terms.

There were still some holdouts when the meeting of Heads convened in Grand Anse, Grenada on 4th July.  They did not deal with the matter with dispatch.  It was not until the day of the retreat on Tuesday 6th July that the leaders considered the Haitian issue.  They decided not to decide, yet again.  And so with the world's press waiting and the people of the region wondering what their leaders were doing, the leaders decided that they would postpone the matter of recognition within the councils of Caricom for yet another day.

The matter was referred to a committee of Foreign Ministers.  Five foreign ministers headed by that of Barbados Foreign Minister Billie Miller with the Foreign Ministers of Antigua, Trinidad, Guyana and The Bahamas are all headed to Haiti for Tuesday 13th July.  There they will meet the interim Government of Haiti as well as the Opposition Lavalas party.  There are certain preconditions that the Government of LaTortue must meet in order for them to be able to rejoin the Councils of Caricom.  No decision is to be made on the issue until the Heads meet in a special meeting in Trinidad and Tobago in October.

The United States, the Europeans, the Canadians and some of Caricom's own citizens must be at the end of their ropes on this issue.  But the ideological purists have won the day.  We hope that the mission of the foreign ministers goes well.  We hope that they are able to recommend that if the LaTortue government agrees to move forward to democratic elections, and to ensure that Lavalas is able to freely engage in elections that the process can move forward.  We think that it will be best for the region, and we believe that there is nothing to stop Jean Bertrand Aristide from coming back to Haiti and standing for the position of Prime Minister of his country.  He is a free Haitian citizen and should be able to return if he wishes.  Let us hope that when next this subject is visited, Haiti will be back sitting in the Councils of Caricom and creaky old Caricom will have decided to decide.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 10th July 2004 at midnight: 52,246.

Number of hits for the month of July up Saturday 10th July 2004 at midnight: 64,008.

Number of hits for the year 2004 up to Saturday 10th July 2004 at midnight: 1,387,212. 



CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com

PM IN CAR ACCIDENT IN GRENADA
    The accident turned out not to have been a serious one.  The Prime Minister was the guest of the Government of Grenada in a car provided by them during the Heads of Government meeting from 4th July to7th July.  This is standard operating procedure during official visits of heads to another country. That country provides the transportation and security arrangements from the time you arrive to the time you leave.
    Some time after nine a.m. on the morning of the Prime Minister’s expected departure from Grenada on Wednesday 7th July, the Prime Minister was being taken in convoy to the meeting site.  On his way across a junction, another car cut across the convoy causing his driver to have to swerve and put on brakes.  The backup car could not stop in time and bashed into the back of the Prime Minister's vehicle.  He was badly shaken but otherwise uninjured.  His protocol officer seems to have suffered some whiplash injuries.
    X rays were taken of the Prime Minister.  No broken bones were discovered.  He was discharged.  The issue caused concern in the country in the sense that there is a need to know whether or not adequate provisions are made for the security of the Prime Minister during his travel abroad.
    There are reports that these convoys in foreign countries dash around at breakneck speeds, dangerous to the persons they are transporting.  Also is there enough public service backup being taken overseas for the various functions which he has to perform on these official trips?  Further, if there is some emergency what are the procedures that should be followed?  Bahamian officials tend to take the whole question of security too lightly, and it is only when something happens that we begin to get concerned.
    Perhaps this small incident and the concern that it raised might cause a proper review to be made of the Prime Minister's travel arrangements, who goes with him and under what circumstances he should travel including the type of aircraft and who pilots him and to where.
 
 

CHANGING THE EXTRADITION ACT
    The Government has announced that it is moving to reverse the effect of the decision of Mr. Justice Hugh Small regarding extraditions in The Bahamas.  You will remember that some weeks ago Justice Small shocked the Government by ruling that he did not think that Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles (pictured) should be extradited from The Bahamas because he would be unable to get a fair trial in the United States.
    The result of Justice Small's decision is that if the other extradition proceeding now winding its way through the Privy Council results in a reversal of the decision to extradite Mr. Knowles, Mr. Knowles will then be free to go from Bahamian prisons.  This of course would cause a huge political problem for the Government of The Bahamas, even though it would be the result of a fair judicial process.  The U.S. would no doubt start threatening sanctions.  The United States has no respect for the ruling of courts in small jurisdictions.  They will probably then move to kidnap Mr. Knowles.
    The Government has now decided that just in case a similar situation happens again, they ought to be in a position to appeal the matter.  As the law stands now it does not allow for an appeal of the dismissal of the habeas corpus application.  Attorney General Alfred Sears announced during the meeting of the House on Wednesday 7th July that the bill to amend the act should be passed by the House on Wednesday 14th July.  Once it becomes law, the Crown will in future be able to appeal such cases.  We think that the matter is being done with unseemly haste and should be thought out carefully before proceeding any further.
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SOME GOOD NEWS ON HIV AIDS?
    Dr. Perry Gomez who is head of the infectious diseases area of the Princess Margaret Hospital has some interesting, yes, even good news to report on the situation re HIV/AIDS in The Bahamas.  Well, good news and bad news.
    Speaking on Monday 5th July at the opening of a three day ‘Focus on Youth’ training workshop sponsored by the Ministry of Health, Dr. Gomez reported that to date some 10,000 HIV infections have been reported in The Bahamas.  Four thousand plus individuals have full blown AIDS and another 6000 individuals are HIV positive.
    The good news is that The Bahamas leads the region in scaling up its response to the problem.  Dr. Gomez reported that 40 per cent of the individuals are getting treatment.  This has resulted in a dedicated hospital ward empty of AIDS patients.  The mortality rate has dropped fifty percent in 2003.
    Last year no child died from AIDS and no mother who received treatment during pregnancy gave birth to a child with AIDS.  Only two children were born with AIDS last year and that was because the mothers did not receive ante natal treatment.  But as usual, we have to warn that The Bahamas should not slacken its resolve.  This is a dangerous and deadly disease and we have to be ever vigilant to fight its spread because it continues to kill, and to kill young people.
 
 

THE ARCHBISHOP & THE POPE - PHOTOS

   The photos are finally in!  Archbishop Patrick Pinder, the first Bahamian Roman Catholic Archbishop of The Bahamas received the ceremonial pallium from Pope John Paul in Rome on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday 29th June.  The pallium is made of lamb’s wool and worn around the neck as an insignia of the office of the Archbishop.  It symbolizes the Archbishop's role as a shepherd of the church and his relationship with the Pope as Bishop of Rome.
    Scores of Bahamians travelled to witness the historic event.  Bahamas Information Services' Peter Ramsay was among the Bahamians in Rome and we present a full photographic essay of the occasion. Please click here for the photo essay.  Archbishop Pinder is shown at centre in procession amidst his colleagues on the steps of St. Peter's in Rome (top photo).
    Minister of the Cabinet Bradley Roberts travelled to Rome on behalf of the Prime Minister and presented Archbishop Pinder with a portrait commissioned for the occasion by The Bahamas Government.
 
 

PROTECTING CHILDREN
    We are good at rage when the children are already dead but are we protecting them while they are alive?  That again is our sentiment as we viewed the anguishing picture of an anguished relative of the nine year old boy Devon Knowles whose body was found in bushes near St. George’s Park in New Providence week before last.  The relative, whose picture appeared on the front page of The Tribune on Tuesday 6th July, cried that the blood of Devon is crying out.
    The point we make is not to be unsympathetic, but one keeps asking the question whether or not people in this country live in the real world.  It is clear how dangerous these times are, and while no child should have to concern himself with his own protection, the fact is the world is what it is.
    Last year after all the anxiety of dealing with children with the loss of the five boys in Grand Bahama, it appears that people are still too casual and cavalier, allowing young children to roam unaccompanied at times of the day when they ought to be at home.  In this case, the report is that the child was allowed out on his own to go and play basketball at six o’ clock in the morning.
    The relative claimed that the blood of Devon was crying out.  We think so ourselves but it is crying out not for vengeance but for people to take greater care of their children, then perhaps there will be less of a need for anguished public rallies that make us feel good but do little to protect the children.  Tribune photo by Dominic Duncombe.
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JAMAICAN PRIME MINISTER COMPLAINS
    Prime Minister Perry Christie reported to the press of The Bahamas upon his return to Nassau on Wednesday 7th July that the Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson (pictured) had complained about the treatment received in The Bahamas by retired cricketer Courtney Walsh.  Mr. Walsh who was travelling on a diplomatic passport through the Nassau International Airport last month was manhandled and treated rudely by police officers and security personnel as he passed the through the airport on his arrival into The Bahamas.
    The Prime Minister of The Bahamas told the press that an investigation was to be conducted into the matter.  The press did not seem interested in the matter.  In fact many of the public officials noted at the press conference that the press of The Bahamas lacks the penetration that is required for keeping a modern public well informed.  The press conferences of the Prime Minister and other public officials seemed to be of very little interest to them.
    We think that the manhandling of Mr. Walsh and the manhandling of another Jamaican citizen just a few weeks ago, leads to the point that we have heard report after report of the mistreatment of Jamaicans at the Nassau International Airport.
    We remember all too well the conviction of a former immigration officer for slapping a Jamaican lawyer whom he was processing at the Nassau International Airport.  The officer went to jail for three months for doing so.  Now there are the reports of constant mistreatment of Jamaicans.  There must be a full investigation by both the police and immigration and whatever needs to be done to correct it must be done.
    We cannot have a situation where The Bahamas is engaged in discrimination against citizens from the Caribbean.
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FOREIGN MINISTER IN EXUMA
    The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Public Service Fred Mitchell visited the islands of Exuma and Long Island on the Independence weekend.  The Government agreed this year for the Minister to take the Independence salute in Georgetown, Exuma.  Last year, he took the salute in Marsh Harbour, Abaco.  The Minister then travelled on to Deadman's Cay, Long Island to visit with the local leadership of the Progressive Liberal Party in Long Island.  The visit to Exuma was Friday 9th to Saturday 10th July.  The visit to Long Island was Sunday 11th July.
    On Monday 12th July, the Minister will join fellow Caricom Foreign Ministers in Haiti.  He will then fly on to Cuba for the biennial Cuba/Caricom meeting of Foreign Ministers.  On 17th July he will then visit Miami for Independence celebrations with Bahamians in Miami.  Minister Mitchell will then fly on to South America from 18th July to 26th July to Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay to help Caricom to promote Port of Spain as the headquarters for the Free Trade Agreement of the Americans (FTAA) headquarters.  He returns to The Bahamas on 26th July.
 
 

JACKASS OF THE WEEK

    This feature has been missing from this column for months.  One of our regular readers has been petitioning for its return.  But the political season is really over, and it was not really necessary to point out with regular, political sharpness, the stupidity of the other side.  But election time or not, some people just seem to fit the category.  One of those persons is this week’s JACKASS OF THE WEEK.
    The Chairman of the Free National Movement seems to have special penchant for using half baked ideas and theories, mixed up with a little knowledge and playing on the fears and ignorance of himself and those who will listen to create a special blend of problems.  Such is the proper response to the assertions made this week at the Blue Hills Constituency Association meeting of the Free National Movement on Friday 9th July.
    The Tribune on Saturday 10th July reported that the FNM Chairman told the FNM Association’s members that the Government did an about face on the question of recognizing Haiti’s provisional government, after initially refusing to do so following the ouster of former President of Haiti Jean Bertrand Aristide.  Then he said that the Prime Minister made a state visit to Cuba, which meant that he had to spend valuable time during a meeting with U.S. President George Bush explaining away his visit that would have been better spent in advancing the national interests of The Bahamas.  Oh what a web we weave when first we practice to deceive.  We could tangle spiders in the webs he weaves.
    The truth is that the Prime Minister and the Government of The Bahamas have maintained from the day that Mr. Aristide left Haiti that whoever the Government of Haiti was The Bahamas had to engage with Haiti because of the immigration issues between us.  That does not mean that we did not forthrightly disagree with what happened in Haiti re Mr. Aristide.  The two are not mutually exclusive.  Secondly, the Prime Minister made no state visit to Cuba.  He went to Cuba in December 2002 to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the diplomatic protocol establishing relations between Caricom countries and Cuba in 1972.  He was there with fellow Prime Ministers of the region.  Mr. Bethel obviously does not know the difference between a state visit and a visit within the multilateral context.
    It is interesting to note that this is the same Carl Bethel who boasted that it was the FNM that brought Haiti into the Caricom fold.  Yet, he gave no explanation as to why they never brought The Bahamas into the Caricom fold, since we pay the bills but have not yet signed the Treaty.  The FNM decided that.  Mr. Bethel as usual is mixed up saying that he agrees that there ought to be a consular presence in Cuba because there are Bahamians in need of services.  That means that the PLP and the FNM agree on this subject.  So why raise this bit about putting an Ambassador from The Bahamas there because it may damage relations with the United States?  The only reason could be political.
    In fact, no one is proposing to put a resident ambassador in Cuba, even though there would be nothing wrong with that.  The Bahamas Prime Minister did not have to spend time explaining away the trip to Cuba.  He simply told George Bush that The Bahamas is both a friend of the United States and a friend of Cuba.  Both states are on our borders, and it behooves us to have good relations with both.
    And so for all the reasons listed above, we name Carl Bethel, the mixed up and ill informed Chairman of the Free National Movement our JACKASS OF THE WEEK.
 
 

INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATIONS
    This year independence took place with a twist.  The celebrations were expected to come off on Friday 9th July into the morning of Saturday 10th July.  The Christian Council insisted on having us all out in the hot sun on Saturday 10th July even after a long night of tattoo, flag raising, parades and Junkanoo.  They claimed to be able to get an audience out at a 9:30 a.m. start time for a church service on the Saturday morning.  The fact that it would have stretched the security forces to breaking point seemed to mean nothing to them.
    God had other plans.  It poured rain on Friday 9th July in the evening making it possible for anything to take place either on the Friday night or the Saturday morning.
    The ceremonies were kicked over to Sunday evening 11th July for the church service and then the tattoo, march-past and Junkanoo in the early hours of Monday morning.
    Monday 12th July is a public holiday in The Bahamas.  Peter Ramsay is expected to chronicle the events for Bahamas Information Services and we will have these pictures of Independence 31 for The Bahamas in our next week’s edition.
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THIS WEEK WITH THE PM

    Prime Minister Christie and Mrs. Christie along with Deputy Prime Minister Pratt and Mr. Pratt joined Governor General Dame Ivy Dumont and Mr. Dumont for an official state reception at Government House in celebration of the country's 31st anniversary of Independence.
    Earlier in the week, Mr. Christie declared officially open E. Clement Bethel Estates, a housing subdivision by Franklyn Wilson's Arawak Homes in west New Providence named for the late Director of Culture.
    Mr. Christie's week of official rounds also included a visit to the Pompey Museum on Bay Street for the travelling exhibition of a slave ship (below).  Bahamas Information Services photos by Peter Ramsay.
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18th July, 2004
Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com
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THE ARGUMENTS FOR SIDNEY STUBBS... CUBA'S ANALYSIS...
WHAT IS THE STORY IN HAITI?... AMENDING THE EXTRADITION PROCEDURES...
THE ANTI GAY CRUSADE - WHAT THE REVS HAD TO SAY... INGRAHAM’S PROPAGANDA...
WHY TOMMY WON’T  RUN... RIDING HIGH...
JUNKANOO LEADER SAMMY THOMPSON DIES... FAREWELL MOTHER NATURE...
INDEPENDENCE PHOTOS... FOREIGN MINISTER MARKS INDEPENDENCE IN MIAMI...
THIS WEEK WITH THE PM...
The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party... The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
PLPs On The Web... Interesting Places...
Bradley Roberts / PLP Grants Town Bahamas Government Website
Neville Wisdom / PLP Delaporte Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
Alfred Sears / PLP Fort Charlotte Bahamians On The Web
Melanie Griffin / PLP Yamacraw Bahamian Cycling News
John Carey / PLP Carmichael FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES...
Grand Bahama PLP
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK - What will the PLP do now?  The Free National Movement has called for the PLP’s Sidney Stubbs to resign from Parliament and for the Prime Minister to call a bye-election.  This betrays their lack of knowledge of the law.  The fact is that once Mr. Stubbs has run out of appeals his seat is vacant by operation of law.  He does not have to do anything more.  The lawyers are no doubt huddling to see if he can be saved.  But the verdict is in from Joan Sawyer and the other two Judges who sat with her in the Court of Appeal to hear the appeal of Sidney Stubbs that he should not have been made a bankrupt.  Mr. Stubbs was declared bankrupt by Justice Jeannie Thompson on 30th March, 2004.  Since that time he has not been able to carry out his duties as a Member of Parliament pending an appeal.  The Court of Appeal turned aside his appeal saying they had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.  That ruling came on Wednesday 14th June.   The Nassau Guardian published a photo of the Member of Parliament and his lawyer Charles Mackay, with MP Keod Smith in tow with a cell phone to his ear as they went to receive the bad news in the Court.  Mr. Smith later claimed on a radio talk show that the National General Council was one hundred per cent behind Mr. Stubbs.  That photo by Donald Knowles is our photo of the week.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

A CALL FOR CIVILITY
By Sharon Z. Smith (guest writer)
Once again this country is caught up in one of these periodic cataclysms over the question of homosexuals in The Bahamas.  Every few years there simply comes an explosion of vitriol and hate in response to the fact that there are homosexuals in The Bahamas or that homosexuals propose to visit The Bahamas.  A group of Bahamian Ministers of religion have an ad hoc coalition that has engaged in the most vile statements about people of that orientation that seems to have crossed the border of civility that is required of them as preachers, and that is required of public commentary.  The reason this time is a ship of homosexual visitors on a family cruise to The Bahamas led by the American film and television star Rosie O’Donnell on 16th July.

The language had become so inflammatory that the United States Embassy for the first time in any of these situations wrote to the Ministry of Tourism to express concern for the safety of the passengers on the ship whom the Embassy felt would in the main be American citizens.  The newspapers, television and radio stations did man on the street interviews.

On street corners throughout The Bahamas, there were groups of people gathered, and they joined the preachers denouncing what they claimed was the fact that “sissies” were taking over The Bahamas.  Some argued that it was time to get the “sissies” out of the country.  They were echoing the statements of the preachers who claimed that the reason why the visits were taking place was because there were “sissies” in Parliament.  One preacher is said to have libelled several persons by name, although that did not make it to the airwaves.  The preachers led a group of persons denouncing the visitors as they left the ship on Friday 16th July 2004.  This was filmed by the American network HBO and will no doubt be a great source of embarrassment to our country.

In the man in the street interviews, there was a great deal of embarrassment evidenced that the country could be engaged in such an unseemly spectacle of ignorance.  Yet in a country with all the educated persons that we have, no one seemed to be able to articulate the fact this spectacle was unbecoming, and roundly condemn the inflammatory language, and the incivility of the public dialogue.

The closest that anyone came to it in public was the Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe who warned that the country had to respect and embrace people who we had invited here as visitors.  That brought him a sharp condemnation from the President of the Christian Council Dr. William Thompson.  No preacher of religion seemed able to step in and suggest to their fellow ministers that this kind of dialogue was gravely disordered.

This is a very difficult subject for this society, and other societies in the Caribbean.  Homosexuality is a phenomenon that few people understand or want to understand.  There is outright public denunciation and an atmosphere that engenders physical attacks on people suspected of being homosexual.  There is the over reliance on biblical verses, taken out of their context, overly literal and without proper interpretations of what they really mean.  It is a selective approach to biblical teaching.  Some of the man on the street interviews pointed this out.

To us, the issue of homosexuality is less the issue than the incivility.  The country is embarrassed by this unseemly behaviour. The incivility is uncalled for, and the persons who engage in it do no justice to their cause.  In fact, the young people of the country are deeply disturbed by this frightening level of ignorance.  This is because we have a society that generally says live and let live.

Several years ago, there was a similar outburst when a cruise of gay persons came to Little San Salvador renamed Half Moon Cay.  The employees went on strike because they said that it was immoral for them to serve homosexual people on the cay.  They all lost their jobs.  Six weeks later when they had all been replaced because they had refused to work, they went to the press to beg for their jobs back saying that they had finally realized that they we re in the service business, and that their job was not to question what their guests were but to serve those guests so long as they behaved with decorum and within the laws of The Bahamas.

It is too much to expect that this will stop any time soon.  But the response is probably symptomatic in a way of how well the country is doing.  The fact that with all the problems the country has, this is what its religious and moral leaders find time on which to consume their passions, means that The Bahamas is really doing very well indeed.  As one of the interviewees said, what about the incest, the adultery, the poverty, the dispossession, the abuse of children, the theft from businesses, the children born out of wedlock?  Silence!

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 17th July 2004 at midnight: 54,150.

Number of hits for the month of July up to Saturday 17th July 2004 at midnight: 118,158.

Number of hits for the year 2004 up to Saturday 17th July 2004 at midnight: 1,441,362.

Chanting protestors in Rawson Square Friday 16th July in this Tribune photo by Dominic Duncombe.

CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com

THE ARGUMENTS FOR SIDNEY STUBBS
    Sidney Stubbs MP is said to be in a kind of no man's land of the law.  This column has taken a strong position on what needs to be done with this issue.  The matter should have been put behind the PLP long ago.  Instead it continues to fester and create problems where there should be none.  There are some who are afraid of a bye-election but such an election would be won hands down by the PLP.  The FNM simply does not have the courage to put into the race who should be in the race, and the retread that they are proposing will go down in flames.
    The politics of the matter aside, Mr. Stubbs had his day in court on 14th June, and the Court of Appeal ducked the bullet.  They dismissed the appeal on the narrow and easy grounds of jurisdiction.  They did not even get to the substance of the case.  They suggested that since they did not have the jurisdiction to hear the matter of an appeal, since it was not clear that Parliament had provided for one, the only recourse for Mr. Stubbs would be to go back to the Supreme Court and ask that he be discharged as a bankrupt.  That then takes you back to what the constitution says.  The constitution talks about an appeal being open to the Member who has been declared bankrupt.  So when Mr. Stubbs was declared bankrupt: was an appeal open to him?  If the Court of Appeal is saying that there is no appeal and they are right, then it appears that the seat was vacant as at the declaration of bankruptcy.
    What now lies open to Mr. Stubbs?  His supporters are going all out to save him in that old PLP way of sticking to the bitter end when it is clear what the right thing to do in the circumstances would be.  It is clear, despite the declarations of one of his parliamentary colleagues, that the party is treading carefully on which way to go.  The party that won the middle class by sticking to the middle in the last election cannot afford to anger voters in Holy Cross, the heart of the middle class, by dithering over this issue when it is clear what to do.  There are other ways to take care of Mr. Stubbs and the PLP ought to be thinking about that and about who the candidate should be.  Indeed the Prime Minister has already said that politics being what it is he was not waiting to the end to consider who if anyone should run.  The PM's personality is such that he wants to give Mr. Stubbs every opportunity to exhaust all legal avenues to save the seat without a bye-election.
    Perhaps Mr. Stubbs can consider in his legal arsenal an appeal to the Privy Council by special leave.  But that may be difficult to do successfully given the concessions made by his lawyers in the Court of Appeal.  Or of course, he can try the route suggested by the Court of Appeal, which is to go back to Jeannie Thompson and see if he can get the order discharged.  The constitution does say that if the circumstances that obtained cease to exist during the time when the appeal is being prosecuted, then there is a return to the status quo ante.
 
 

CUBA’S ANALYSIS
    The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell travelled to Cuba for a one day meeting on Thursday 15th July with Foreign Ministers of Caricom and the Cuban Foreign Minister.  They also got to meet with El Commandante Fidel Castro who kept them up well into the hours of the night on one topic to the next.  The photo shows the Foreign Minister shaking Mr. Castro’s hand on the evening of Thursday 15th July.
    Cuba finds itself where it has been for at least four decades.  It is in a hostile place vis-à-vis the United States of America.  All of the support of Caricom and the rest of the world has not changed the official United States view.  It appears that if the Bush administration returns to office in November that they intend to invade Cuba and take out the old man.  This has rattled the cages of the Cubans, and it seems from their public pronouncements that they are preparing their public for it.  The U.S. State Department issued a statement during the week saying that the Cubans were wrong.  The Bahamas has Cuba as it neighbour to the southwest.  The last thing we need is for the instability in Haiti to spread to Cuba, because of some American misadventure in that country.
    Cuba has done well.  Despite all the unremitting hostility of the United States, by any measure Cuba’s health care, education, the ability to feed its people, and its standard of living is relatively good for a country its size.  No other country has to put up with the foolish and anachronistic policy of the United States that it has to endure.  The Caricom countries support the lifting of the US embargo.  This column also thinks that it is unlawful.  The only hope is that if John Kerry wins the election in the fall in the United States, which is certainly no sure bet, that the embargo will be lifted and life will be returned to normal in Cuba.
    Once the embargo is gone, the Caribbean needs to tackle the governance issues.  The state apparatus in Cuba that they have organized around the embargo must be dismantled.  Such matters as the elimination of exit visas for its people to travel abroad, the right to public dissent and freedom of expression, regular elections to say whether people support the Government ought to be the sine qua non of continued interface between Cuba and Caricom.
    The Minister of Foreign Affairs told the Bahamian public that The Bahamas appears to be the leading trading partner with Cuba from Caricom with some 22.7 million dollars of commerce between the countries.  This does not include the value of services.  He also reported that some 20,000 Bahamians visited Cuba last year, which means that we lead the region in tourism to Cuba as well.
    Clearly, there is a need for a consular presence in the country to serve the needs of Bahamians.  That is why we agree with the Minister who denounced Carl Bethel, FNM Chair, for his statement seeking to cause mischief about whether or not there ought to be a resident Bahamian presence in Cuba.  Last week Mr. Bethel was the JACKASS OF THE WEEK (You may click here for that story).
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WHAT IS THE STORY IN HAITI?
    Fred Mitchell, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has also just returned from a one day visit to Haiti and a meeting with representatives of the Government installed by the United States of America, the Canadians and the French.  The visit took place on Tuesday 13th July.  The Foreign Minister joined four other Ministers of Foreign Affairs from Caricom; those of Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Antigua and Guyana.  The purpose of the mission was to carry out a mandate of the Heads of the Government of Caricom to seek certain assurances from the Haitian Government about their commitment to democracy and the return to normal democratic activity in Haiti, if that is ever possible.
    The Ministers pronounced themselves impressed by the commitment of the interim administration but remained disturbed by the reports of the Lavalas party of former President of Haiti Jean Bertrand Aristide now without a leader.  The party claimed that they are prevented from organizing countrywide and their leaders are being arrested.  The chief amongst those who were targeted are former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune who is in jail but should not be in jail.  The interim Prime Minister Gerard La Tortue said that he visited Mr. Neptune and assured him that there will be a fair, quick and expeditious judicial process.  The point is that Mr. Neptune should not be in prison at all.
    The American benefactors of the interim administration seemed to back the view of Caricom on Mr. Neptune.  Roger Noriega, the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere told the Miami Herald reported on Saturday 17th July that he thought that the interim Government should not be arresting former President Aristide’s supporters and expressed concern about the arrest of former Prime Minister Neptune.  The stage now seems set for Caricom to accept the interim administration into the Councils of Caricom.  The Americans are pressing Caricom and the interim administration to get this matter concluded.
    We think that the interim government should be allowed to return to the Councils of Caricom and quickly but the message has to be frank to them, they need to get on with elections, they need to find the money some say 75 million to get them done.  Further, those elections should be done freely and fairly and with transparency, most of all allowing Mr. Aristide's party to participate.  The fact is that Mr. Aristide may return if his party wins as Haiti’s new Prime Minister after this so called technocratic administration has finished its term.
 
 

AMENDING THE EXTRADITION PROCEDURES
    Against the counsel of several senior advisors, the Government hurriedly passed in a late night session on Thursday 15th July a bill to amend the Extradition Act to allow for an appeal by the Crown against an order of the Supreme Court granting habeas corpus applications.  This was brought sharply into relief by the decision of Justice Hugh Small who had earlier ordered the release of Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles on the grounds that he cannot get a fair trial in the United States (click here for previous story) having already been declared a drug kingpin by the U.S. President.  The Crown disagreed largely because the U.S. wants this man and the country will suffer an onslaught of bad publicity about being run by drug traffickers if Mr. Knowles is not extradited to the U.S.  But the Crown has no right of appeal, so they had to fill a lacuna in the law.  This was a lacuna that was pointed out in a minority decision of the Privy Council in February 2004 in the Samuel Knowles case.
    The minority judges said that Parliament had made a mistake by not granting a right of appeal to the Crown when the Act was first passed in 1994.  Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham denied that it was mistake.  He said that it was deliberately done by his administration because the liberty of the subject was a serious matter, and there had been no clamour for it with other serious matters like murder robbery or rape.  The Supreme Court's decision was always believed to be final in habeas corpus matters.
    The Government wanted to pass the bill amending extradition procedures on Wednesday 14th July but they had to stop after backbenchers mounted a revolt and the Opposition said that it was uncomfortable with the retroactive effect of the proposed legislation with an automatic stay of the decisions of the Judge without any right of bail once appeal was filed.  That caused a major rethink and the bill is no longer retroactive to 1994 which had it passed in its original form would then have reversed the decision of Justice Small.  Everyone was resolutely against that.
    Then there was the more vexing question of the pending applications, that is, those that are already in the pipeline.  The legal opinion is that there is nothing unconstitutional about affecting those.  But Tennyson Wells, a former Attorney General argued that, this was most unfair, changing the rules in the middle of the game.  It would mean that with all the pending applications of habeas corpus before the courts, the Crown will now have a right of appeal once the matter goes through the Senate and is passed into law.
    The geopolitics won the day.  The fear of what the Americans will generally say and do, blacklisting the country as not co-operating in the drug war, is a spectacle that the PLP did not relish fighting anytime soon.  The lawyers said that it was not unconstitutional, so off to the races went the Government.  The act was passed by Parliament and now it’s on to the Senators.  Whitney Bastian, the MP for South Andros who was denied a nomination from the PLP because of a previous arrest for drug possession, was livid.  He said that the act was only being passed at the behest of the US and that he could not support it.  Hubert Ingraham, the former Prime Minister, sought a division after the vote to formally record who voted yes and who voted no.  Of the 20 people left in the chamber at 9 p.m. when the vote was taken, all twenty voted aye including Mr. Ingraham.  Attorney General Alfred Sears is shown contributing to the House debate on the change in extradition procedures in this Bahama Journal photo.
 
 

THE ANTI GAY CRUSADE - WHAT THE REVS HAD TO SAY
    One of the persons interviewed on the streets by the newspapers over the past week described the protests against the visit of the Rosie O’Donnell led gay family cruise to The Bahamas as a disgraceful display of religious intolerance and invective.  We thought that no commentary was really necessary since the words speak for themselves.  The commentator said, “You could hardly believe that you were in The Bahamas, so much intolerance was displayed.”
    Here is what the various people had to generally say in their own words. We believe that at base the Bahamian society is still a tolerant society as witnessed by the many young men and women who rejected the imposition of the threats at our visitors.  The value of tolerance must be preached and bigotry rejected.  That is the essence of a civil polity.  Nassau Guardian photo by Patrick Hanna of protest.

Pastor Mario Moxey (As reported in The Tribune Saturday 17th July on the site of the protest meeting gays as they left the ship):
    “The homosexuals are fighting to be the authority on right and wrong.  They want to remove God and put themselves as the awesome almighty, but that cannot happen.
    “If you let it pass then tomorrow they bring civil unions. And if we let that pass, they’ll bring same sex marriage.  We cannot be fooled.  They’re not coming here to pick sides they’re coming here to take over and they will change everything.  But The Bahamas is still a nation that is based on moral values and they do not compromise.
    “The Government is listening and we are trusting them to make the right decision and they’re gonna have one or two choices.  Either they will look at this and comply with the wishes of the majority of the Bahamian people and that which is decent and moral in this nation or they will have to vacate their office because they refuse to do as God commands them to do.”

Pastor Christopher Russell of the Christian Tabernacle, Robinson Road: (At a rally at Rawson Square Sunday 11th July.  There is some confusion in the media about whether his last name is Wallace or Russell)
    “We’ve got to fight this thing in Parliament because we got too many sissies in Parliament.  We’ve got to start in Parliament…amen.  Next election we cannot vote for sexually confused parliamentarians…
    “I question Parliamentarians that claim they can’t find a wife. Fifty one year old man can’t find no wife… All these gorgeous brown-skinned Bahamian women and you can’t find a wife?  You nasty good for nothing you, you want a man.
(As reported in the Nassau Guardian Saturday 17th July)
    “During the previous administration, I engaged in verbal duels with both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister over a number of issues, with the only other clear voice raised being that of another minister who dealt with other issues.  I never stopped until the individuals lost their positions and by God I am not going to ease up until I see some changes or they get out of power.  I guess if I can raise hell under the Free National Movement then I can raise hell under the Progressive Liberal Party.”

Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt:
(As reported in the Nassau Guardian Saturday 17th July)
    “The Government does not support homosexuality, nevertheless, it does not dissuade tourists who may be of that sexual orientation to visit the country…
    “The Government put its position in a statement issued by the Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe.  We live in a democracy where everyone’s entitled to their own opinion and expression thereof.  Bahamians must embrace all those that come to enjoy what we have to offer.
    “I support the church’s stance against homosexuality and I do not support the homosexual lifestyle.  At the same time, we have laws in our country and as long as people behave themselves according to the laws of our land, we cannot say to persons “You cannot come to The Bahamas.”
(As to the accusation against a 51 year old unmarried presumably male Parliamentarian. [There is no such person—Ed] who according to Pastor Christopher Wallace or Russell above who can’t find a wife):
    “That’s his views.  You cannot make a broad statement like that.  It’s not fair, not right.  If that’s his views then that is his view but I know that if you were to judge people, be careful that you are not judged.  That’s what the Bible says.”

Senator Tommy Turnquest, Leader of the FNM
    “We cannot have a case where we have cruise visitors coming to The Bahamas and being confronted in the manner that is envisaged and I think it is incumbent of the government to take leadership in this regard.
    “I do not know who Apostle Wallace was referring to when he mentioned a 51 year old parliamentarian who cannot find a wife.   This harsh statement ought to be clarified.  I am only 44 years old and I am married.  I don’t know how many parliamentarians we have that are not married.  I can’t understand it, but I don’t fall in that category.”

U.S. Government’s Expression of Concern
(Letter to the Minister of Tourism by the U.S. Embassy, Nassau published in The Tribune on Friday 16th July 2004)
    “It is believed that the vast majority of the passengers on the Norwegian Dawn will be U.S. citizens and the Embassy takes a special interest in the protection and welfare of U.S. citizens living or visiting The Bahamas.  The right of citizens to peaceably assemble to express their opinions is one of the cherished fundamental rights of a democracy.  A similar corresponding right is that of citizens and visitors to be safe and secure.”

Erin Greene of the Rainbow Alliance in The Bahamas:
(As reported in The Tribune Friday 16th July)
    “We will make sure that the passengers see friendly and accepting faces when they step off the ship.  We hope it will send a message to the GLBT (Gay Lesbian Bi Sexual and Transgender) community [in The Bahamas] that there is no longer a need to remain invisible… All who support human rights should honk their car horns at 9 a.m. if they are yet not prepared to come and stand openly with us.”

Bill Swanson and William Sawyer, a same sex couple from California as quoted in The Tribune as they disembarked in the face of protests, reported on Saturday 17th July 2004:
    “With all people who tend to protest against the rights of gays and lesbians it’s really reflective of the fact that they are not very intelligent.  And then trying to find biblical references to reinforce their phobias about gays is just not right.  We don’t hate them.  Why should they hate us?”
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INGRAHAM’S PROPAGANDA
    Nothing can be straight forward with Hubert Ingraham, the former Prime Minister.  He said that he was supporting the Amendments to the Extradition Bill, which would give the Crown a right of appeal if a judge of the Supreme Court allowed a habeas corpus application by someone who was the subject of an extradition order. The bill was passed on Thursday 15th July by the House of assembly.  That should be the end of the story.  A former Prime Minister supports what is the right thing to do for the country in very difficult circumstances.  But nothing is that simple with Mr. Ingraham.
    The ex prime minister first had to start to pollute the issue in the halls of the Parliament by suggesting that if the PLP did not pass the act retrospectively that this would show that Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles paid off the PLP.  He knows that is foolishness but that does not stop him from circulating it around.  Then he goes into the House of Assembly and in his arguments in the debate, he says that he hopes the country now sees that while they thought it was the FNM who was anxious to extradite people to the U.S., they should see now that the PLP has extradited even more people to the U.S. and proposes to extradite more.
    Now if the PLP had not followed the obligations imposed by a law passed by his Government in 1994, he would then have said how the PLP is a drug tainted party; that the old boys are back in power.  Only goes to show, that he is not credible.
    Mr. Ingraham took the additional step after the vote of asking for a division.  This is the procedure where the ayes and the noes are recorded of the vote.  No excitement there, 20 persons were absent.  Twenty who were there, all voted in favour, including Mr. Ingraham.  Mr. Ingraham said he wanted to do this so that the Bahamian people could see who voted for the bill.  Big deal!
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WHY TOMMY WON’T RUN
    The Free National Movement’s Leader outside the House of Assembly Tommy Turnquest is all anxious for a bye-election.  He wants that bye-election to be held in the seat that Sidney Stubbs now has, but in which he cannot perform his duties because of the declaration of bankruptcy (See story above).
    The question is who will the Free National Movement put up as its candidate if there is a bye-election?  Well you would think that the answer is obvious.  The person that they would advance is Tommy Turnquest, since he is the leader and he does not now have a seat in the House of Assembly.  If he won the seat in a bye-election he could kill two birds with one stone.  He would then become the real Leader of the Opposition with all the perks of the job provided by the state.  He would also show his party that he is a real leader and can take them to victory in the general election.  But Tommy won’t run.
    The word on the street is that he does not want to risk a confrontation with Carl Bethel, the Party Chairman who is already out in the constituency canvassing voters.  But some are suggesting that the real reason is that he is afraid that he will lose, then it will be the PLP’s turn to have killed two birds with one stone.  They would have shown the FNM that Tommy can’t win a seat and he can’t lead them anywhere.  He would have given up his Senate seat and not have a House seat.  That would be the end of his leadership.  Senator Turnquest does not want to risk that.
 
 

RIDING HIGH

    It was the beginning of a great achievement.  The reconstruction of the main runway at Nassau International Airport.  Simple repaving was not an option due to the long neglect of the previous government.  Minister of Transport & Aviation Glenys Hanna Martin is shown with a paver atop this massive machine.  An interesting photo and one which we thought we'd share.  BIS / Peter Ramsay
 
 

JUNKANOO LEADER SAMMY THOMPSON DIES
    It is with deep regret and a great sense of loss that we announce the death of Sammy Thompson, the Junkanoo leader of the Music Makers.  Mr. Thompson died at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida on Friday 16th July after a long fight with what was reportedly liver cancer.  Mr. Thompson was 48 years old.  Mr. Thompson was a Grants Town man, and as a young man he took to Junkanoo design over 27 years.  The group the Music Makers was first named the GM and Sons and was headed by Winston Churchill Rolle.  The name was changed in 1976 to the Music Makers.  Mr. Thompson became its chief designer.
    Two years later, the Nassau Guardian reports that the group became the first in history to win three consecutive Boxing Day parade titles.  Mr. Thompson then became its leader.  According to its Deputy Leader Gary Russell, under Mr. Thompson's leadership the Music Makers became the first to introduce music and also choreographed dances by women.  The Minister of Culture Neville Wisdom expressed his sadness at the passing of Mr. Thompson.  Mr. Wisdom said that he would be sadly missed.
 
 

FAREWELL MOTHER NATURE

    Louise Greene, affectionately known as ‘Mother Nature’, was laid to rest at the age of 84 on Saturday 17th July.  Mrs. Greene is survived by her two sons John of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation and Garth of Bahamas Customs.  Mrs. Greene was a stalwart councillor of the PLP.  She was a career chef for homes in Lyford Cay before her retirement.  She was haled at her funeral by Sir Clement Maynard, the former Deputy Prime Minister as one of the heroes of the PLP.  Prime Minister Perry Christie spoke at her funeral at St. John's Native Baptist church to a full turnout of the party leadership including party Chair Raynard Rigby, family and friends.  May she rest in peace!
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INDEPENDENCE PHOTOS

    Independence Day this year came on a Saturday, but the official holiday was Monday, with celebrations taking place last week Sunday.  These are some images captured by Bahamas Information Services' Peter Ramsay. Mrs. Bernadette Christie and Minister Allyson Maynard Gibson sport matching Harl Taylor bags in patriotic colours; Senator Paulette Zonicle and Mrs. Sharon Wilson in Independence hats and (below) Prime Minister Perry Christie dispenses a small flag to a young patriot.  (Please click here for more photos)



 
 

FOREIGN MINISTER MARKS INDEPENDENCE IN MIAMI
    Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell is in Miami today, Sunday 18th July, where he addressed a service at St. Agnes Anglican Church marking the 31st anniversary of Bahamian Independence for Bahamians in Miami.  Later Sunday, Minister Mitchell will fly on to South America from 18th July to 26th July to Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay to help Caricom to promote Port of Spain as the headquarters for the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) headquarters.  He returns to The Bahamas on 26th July.  Please click here for the Minister's address to Bahamians in Miami.
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THIS WEEK WITH THE PM

   Prime Minister Christie turned the earth this week on what he characterised as "the most significant project in the history of the independent Bahamas".  It was the reconstruction of the main runway at Nassau International Airport.  The initial cost of project is $35 million dollars, but it is expected to be the start of a transformation of the ageing and run down airport, long needed and promised by successive governments.  Mr. Christie is shown -shovel in hand - with Minister of Transport & Aviation Glenys Hanna Martin and Minister of Works Bradley Roberts.

    Toward the end of the week, the Prime Minister relaxed with Minister of Financial Service & Investment and Pinewood MP Allyson Maynard Gibson at a Fun Day in the Minister's constituency.  These two young men were not shy about approaching the PM, to the apparent delight of their Member of Parliament.  Bahamas Information Services photos by Peter Ramsay.
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25th July, 2004
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK - For the leaders of trade unionism in a certain generation, there is a powerful picture that must loom in their minds.  There was a full strike by the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) at what was then called BaTelCo, the monopoly telephone company.  The police were ordered to clear the compound.  They did and the image that went into the public domain was of Keith Archer, then Secretary General and then President Charles Bethel being lifted out from the workplace by the police.  Obviously the BCPOU never forgot Keith Archer as their leader.  He later became President and took the Union to unprecedented heights until he was deposed by Idena Burrows in a surprise defeat.  But today as we go to print, the bad times have been forgotten and the good times remembered.  The Prime Minister showed up at the BCPOU Hall on Monday 19th July to officially open the renamed hall as the Keith Archer Hall.  This is a fitting tribute to a great trade union leader and we congratulate him on it.  The PM is shown at the ribbon cutting in this Nassau Guardian photo is our photo of the week.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

THE POLITICAL BACKLASH
By Sharon Z. Smith
Guest Political Commentator

Prime Minister Perry Christie speaking at the ceremony to rename the BCPOU Hall (see photo of the week) the Keith Archer Hall, spoke out forcefully at the religious critics who have been after the Government for the last few weeks on the question of gay tourists coming to The Bahamas.  This is what he said: “Don’t march down Bay Street and curse me for one moral deviance or segment of immorality.  Examine what contributes to the vulnerability of this country and show me the consistency on a sustained basis to help remove it from the country.”

That was pretty strong for the Prime Minister.  He later went on to describe himself as a conservative on questions of faith and morals.  He is known as a hanger and a flogger, supporting both sets of laws on the books.

But it is about time that someone spoke to put these wayward persons in their place.  It appeared to us by the silence that uttered forth in the face of the most extreme intolerance that we have witnessed in this country over the last two weeks, that the Government condoned the intolerance.

Further, it appeared that the Government was blind to one glaring fact that seemed to jump out at this columnist and that is that the words and statements of the parsons against gay people had little to do with the morality of the issue but much to do with the politics of the matter.  In other words it seemed to us that the parsons have decided that they want to replace the Government.  Both Christopher Wallace or Russell whichever name it is and Mario Moxey have a political agenda.  The others are being dragged into it.  It is especially surprising to see Miles Munroe, the Pastor of the BFM Church there with them.

If you visit the quotes on this site last week, it shows quite clearly that these parsons need to get out of the pulpit, form a political party and not use the church as a cover for trying to remove the Government.  Choose ye this day whom you will serve!

The Prime Minister would be entitled to remind them that the name of his political party is the Progressive Liberal Party and ask them what is the name of theirs.

It appears that there is a bipartisan agreement on the matter of gay tourists visiting The Bahamas.  The policy of both governments is the same: FNM or PLP.  This despite what we thought was a supercilious attempt by the FNM Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Tommy Turnquest to answer the allegation that there was a 51 year old Parliamentarian who is not married and can’t find a wife.  Mr. Turnquest’s response was to say: “it aint me”.  We are all relieved.

On that silly point made by the man who calls himself Apostle, we have examined the list of the Parliamentarians both in the House of Assembly and in the Senate and there is no one who is 51 years old, and cannot find a wife.  He went on to make the assertion that there are all “these gorgeous brown skinned women in the country and he can’t find a wife.”  The general statement is silly.  The bit about the brown skinned women is racist.  What about the gorgeous black skinned women presumably they are not good enough for this theocrat.  It is also alleged that this same Pastor libelled a former Deputy Prime Minister on a Radio Bahamas programme.

But the main issue is the question of calling these people down on their political motives.  The PLP itself must not be sleepy to this fact.  And what Senator Turnquest’s statement shows you is that you cannot expect the bipartisan consensus to hold on this matter.  The FNM will use whatever advantage it can.

The conclusion then for us is that we are happy that the Prime Minister has spoken out on the issue.  In our view this has nothing to do with the morality or immorality.  This is pure politics.  Once we see it with that motive then we will know how to deal with these parsons who want to take over the country.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 24th July 2004 at midnight: 51,050.

Number of hits for the month of July up to Saturday 24th July 2004 at midnight: 169,208.

Number of hits for the year 2004 up to Saturday 24th July 2004 at midnight: 1,492,412.


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PLP IN A QUANDRY OVER SIDNEY STUBBS
  Last week we made our views known again about what is being regarded by many as a crisis within the PLP as to how to deal with the Sidney Stubbs matter.  It isn’t really a crisis because there is no recall pressure on the PLP to resolve it.
    This week, the PLP's Chairman was in the press quoted in the Bahama Journal as saying that the PLP stands behind Sidney Stubbs.  Just in case, for those who don’t know, Mr. Stubbs is the first time MP who managed to be bankrupted as at 30th March 2004.  The constitution says the seat should be vacant save and except there is an appeal open to the Member of Parliament.  In that case, the member shall cease to perform his functions until the appeal is resolved.
    The Court of Appeal dismissed Mr. Stubbs’ appeal saying they had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.  Mr. Stubbs' lawyers have said they are still considering their options.  Mr. Rigby’s statement shows that the PLP is for the moment allowing the legal part to play out which must either be an appeal to the Privy Council or going back the Judge of the Supreme Court and asking for the bankruptcy to be discharged.
    Mr. Rigby said that Mr. Stubbs has effectively until September to get the matter sorted out in the Courts.  It is at that time that the House of Assembly will have to vote by resolution to allow him to continue as a member until the matter gets resolved.  That will be one hell of debate and it is unlikely that the Prime Minister would want to have that argument in Parliament.  But the question is whether the PLP is ready for a bye-election.
    We say ready or not here we come and we believe Mr. Rigby’s assertion that if the bye election were held, no matter who the candidate is, the PLP will win against Carl Bethel, who is simply, well, hopeless.
 
 

ILO REPORT ON AIDS IN THE BAHAMAS
    On Saturday 24th July, a young man 34 years old was buried.  He died of AIDS.  He was probably one of a number.  The news is that in The Bahamas, AIDS is the leading cause of death amongst Bahamians between the age 15 and 44.  This death comes in the middle of the artificially whipped up crisis of gays coming to The Bahamas on a cruise ship.  The tidal wave has passed for now on gays but you can bet it will come back to life again when someone sees the need again to make cheap political capital.
    The reason we mention the young man and the preachers is that these reckless preachers with their irresponsible words have to realize that they may be frightening off their congregations, men and women who are suffering like the man who was buried on Saturday but who are afraid to come forward to get needed help because of the condemnatory attitude of these parsons.
    The story of the young man that we are talking about is that 18 months ago, he suddenly started to lose weight and withdraw from his friends and from the church.  Then the whispers started.  He never in fact communicated to his friends that he had AIDS.  What we know also is that he had to work overtime hours and extra jobs to try to get extra money to pay for the medication.  So many problems still with AIDS as an issue after we have been dealing with the disease in the country since 1985.
    Preachers should know that they are there to uplift people, provide saving grace, help people, not condemn them and drive them away.  By harsh words, you have no idea what injury you may be causing and to whom.  These actions are the very opposite of Christian charity.  But the preachers are one thing.  The other thing is the report of the International Labour Organization about our country that says that the work force of the country is being sapped by AIDS at a time when it needs young people to keep this society going.
    We always crow about how the stats are going in the right direction with regard to AIDS but the stories of death and the secrecy and shame and the destruction of AIDS still exists.  The church and particularly these reckless leaders of late have to take their share of the blame for this.
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FOREIGN MINISTER IN SOUTH AMERICA
    The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell has ended a week long tour of three South American countries on behalf of the Caricom group of countries.  The tour took him from last Sunday to today from Lima, Peru to Asuncion, Paraguay and finally to Montevideo, Uruguay.  At each stage of the way the Minister reported in to the country about what had transpired.  The trip was organized by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.  Trinidad is promoting Port of Spain, its capital city, as the headquarters city for the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas secretariat.
    In Lima, the Minister said that the Peruvians had not yet made up their minds but said that Caricom could say that Peru will keep an open mind on the matter.  In Paraguay, there was the same response.  However, the Minister there Liela Rashid Cowles made it clear that she was advancing her name to succeed the Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States.  She suggested that her country would want the support of Caricom for her candidacy.  This is complicated by the fact that Caricom has already endorsed the candidature of Suriname for that post.
    Uruguay has already announced that it is supporting Miami, one of three cities vying for the headquarters.  The other is Panama.  The Government of Uruguay said, however, that they would keep an open mind with regard to Port of Spain if there were a second round of voting on the matter.
    The Minister also said that the trip was an opportunity for discussions on broader relations within the hemisphere.  There was a frank discussion and coincidence of views on a number of issues including relations with the United States, Cuba and the question of Haiti.  Each of the South American countries is providing troops to Haiti for the peacekeeping mission.  We think that this latter point is quite important.  None of the Caricom countries are providing troops.  Haiti is a member of Caricom.  It seems quite disgraceful that Caricom cannot get its act together.
    Just the week before this trip, the Minister joined several other Ministers in a fact finding mission to Haiti.  The Bahamas has said that it is of the view that Haiti should be fully reengaged in the Councils of Caricom.  The report is now being prepared for the Caricom Heads of Government so that they can make a quick decision.  The photo shows from left: Anibal Casal, the Honorary Consul for The Bahamas in Paraguay, the Foreign Minister of Paraguay, the Foreign Minister of The Bahamas and Ambassador Luis Ramirez Boettner, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay.  The photo was taken on Tuesday 20th July at the Paraguayan Foreign Minister’s home in Asuncion.
 
 

THE SEARCH OF THE HIGHJACKERS
    The international community saw the eerie pictures in stop motion of three young men of Middle Eastern appearance who the United States government claims were the hijackers of the planes that crashed into the United States Pentagon Building, the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence of the United States on 11th September, 2001.  No one has yet questioned how the US knows these were the people but we will pass on that argument for now.  The only observation we make is that since their intelligence has been so faulty on these questions, what gives any confidence in their investigative powers?  Their whole country just seems to be so quick to judgment on so many things.  And that is in part the wider point we make today.
    The fact is that the systems that were already in place at the airports in the United States stopped the men when the metal detectors went off.  They were searched using the hand held devices that they use at today’s airports, and once searched they were sent on their way.  Within one hour, the US claims these same men, properly screened, crashed planes into the Pentagon.  What this shows us is that the screening measures at the airports in the United States today and the ones that they have forcibly imposed on other countries do not add any additional and discernible measure of security for the trips on airplanes.
    We do not know how you increase the security on planes, but the fact is the systems that they have in place now do not add security but increase the hassle to the travelling public and annoy people, who have nothing to do with trying to hijack a plane.  Diplomats, Prime Ministers, Crown Princes, Ministers of Government, are all harassed going through US and other airports.
    The airlines have computers that routinely identify frequent diplomatic travellers who have to change their schedules at the last moment as security risks that must be searched secondarily.  All it does is create ill will for the United States.  In fact, many countries say that one of the reasons why they would not want the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas to be headquartered in Miami is because of the pure hell of passing through the Miami International Airport and the rudeness of its staff, the harshness and impertinence of US immigration and customs in Miami.
    In fact, if the Latins and the Caribbean wanted to bring the whole FTAA process to a halt as their populations wish in many countries, they simply have to put on the table hassle free access, visa free access to the United States in exchange for opened economies.  The US would never agree to it.  That would be the end of the discussion.
    As for security at airports and on airplanes, this requires an intelligent approach that has not so far been in evidence by US or world officials.  The fact is that the hijackers, whoever they were, used low tech tools to bring down a high tech nation.  Yet the response of the U.S. has been, just more high tech.
    The other fact is that the psychology of the hijackers was not to protect or save their own lives.  They were willing to go down with the ship.  Up to that time, the psychology of hijackers was different.  They wanted to negotiate some advantage.  It wasn't until the last plane that was highjacked over Pennsylvania was overtaken did the passengers realize that fact and acted accordingly to try and save their own lives.
    Someone ought to be sitting down somewhere to figure out that searching 83 year old grandmothers passing through airports and diplomats is not going to add to security.  Those eerie pictures show that fact quite clearly.
 
 

INTERNATIONAL WHITEWASH ON IRAQ
    The reports are in on the security and intelligence establishments, their capability and their performance over the 9/11 crisis and the response to that crisis by going to war with Iraq.  Three countries that led the fight Britain, the United States and Australia have all had reports made this week.  All of them face General Elections within the next year to 18 months.
    The reports have each exonerated the politicians in the countries but slammed the intelligences services about how they got the information and what they provided to the politicians.  The British protestors said it best when they decried the British report as a whitewash.  No one who has eyes to see can believe these reports.  They are quite simply incredible.  The facts are clear for all to see.  The countries that formed the so called ‘Coalition of the Willing’ were led by a gung ho United States that simply wanted to go somewhere and “kick ass”.  For some reason Tony Blair of Britain and John Howard of Australia felt compelled to do the same.
    There is a subtext of racism driving all of this.  The white powers once again feeling that they can freely dump on an Arab nation that was impotent to do anything in response.  The leaders are each claiming that they acted on the intelligence that was available to them that they say indicated that Saddam Hussein was trying to get weapons of mass destruction or had them and was going to use them against the western countries.  That has all proved false.  It is clear that the intelligence did not say that he had the WMD or that they should go to war.  Going to war was a purely political decision, calculated to try and win votes in their home countries.  We will see whether the calculation worked as the elections unfold in the countries named.
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WHAT IS JOAN SAWYER CROWING ABOUT?
    Dame Joan Sawyer has been appointed one of Her Majesty’s Privy Councillors.  The announcement was made at a special sitting of the Court of Appeal on Wednesday 21st July.  There was praise a plenty from her fellow judges.  She was there accepting the accolades of the humbled judge who had risen from the depths of poverty to higher heights.  At one level that is true.
    Dame Joan said all the right things about being humble and about lawyers being well prepared when they come to court.  She also said that she was not one who looked for praise but was thankful for it.  That on the face of it is all fine and dandy.  The fact is this elevation will now allow her the right to be invited from time to time to sit on cases of the Privy Council with the existing law lords of the United Kingdom that usually constitute the court.  On the face of it that too is praiseworthy for a Bahamian judge.
    There is one problem, however.  Dame Joan and the Court of Appeal over which she presides is the subject of adverse criticism in this country’s Parliament and amongst lawyers about the way the Court is run.  None of those criticisms were mentioned in the too well mannered form of The Bahamas where once someone gets a foreign honour we are busy crowing from the roof tops, putting all the bad news behind us.
    This column in the last week is replete with stories of comments by Members of Parliament about this very serious problem.  There is also the attempt by lawyers to circulate a petition because of comments made in the Court of Appeal about Justice Jeannie Thompson.  So let’s be honest with ourselves over this.  The real service the Dame can give to The Bahamas is to cause those criticisms of the Court of Appeal to disappear.  Then we will say congratulations.  BIS / Peter Ramsay
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THE US SAYS NO PROBLEM ON CUBA/BAHAMAS
    The Minister of Foreign Affairs returned from Cuba week before last.  He announced the Government’s intention to provide for Bahamian consular services in Havana and possibly the set up of an Embassy there with a resident Ambassador.  The Bahamas must be one of the few countries that has an Opposition that immediately started crying that while this was a sovereign right of The Bahamas we must do nothing to upset the United States by doing this.  The fact that we have had diplomatic relations since 1974 did not seem to occur them at all.  Then the fact that the FNM Government had appointed a non-resident Ambassador to Cuba Sir Arthur Foulkes who visited the region on a regular basis did not also seem to occur to them at all.  But then again, since it was Carl Bethel, the party's Chairman who made the statement perhaps that is the reason that it made no sense at all.
    Enter the Nassau Guardian’s intrepid Mindell Small who was on to scoop nonetheless.  He asked the U.S. Charge whether or not Washington had a view about the matter.  The reply came back a few days later that Washington saw that as Nassau’s business but they said they would encourage The Bahamas while in Cuba to work with the dissident community to help bring about change in Cuba.  Seeing that the U.S. despite their harsh words for Cuba has an interest section that is bigger than the Embassy in which it is housed, what could Washington actually say?  On another front, they asked Cuban citizens not to venture out at sea for the US.  They said that visas are being granted by the U.S. for Cubans to emigrate at a record pace.  For once we say that US has done and said the right thing.  Thanks to Robert Witijewski.
 
 

COB APPOINTS ACTING HEAD
    The Chairman of the College of The Bahamas Franklyn Wilson has announced that Rhonda Chipman Johnson is to be the Acting President of the College of The Bahamas.  While she is a competent individual, it would not be fair to the institution to allow Dr. Leon Higgs to have been replaced in a manner which appears to reward one the principal complainants emanating from his time at the College.  The College will benefit most by bringing in someone from the outside to complete the revolution that is necessary in its performance.
 
 

ELDRI FERGUSON MARRIES

    Eldri Ferguson, daughter of Eldin A. Ferguson jr. has been married in Washington, D.C. to Mr. Carlos Martin of Alexandria, Washington.  The bride is shown with Dad and Stepmom Mrs. Sharon Ferguson at left and sharing cake with Carlos at right.  Among the guests at the wedding were Bahamas Ambassador Joshua Sears and Grand Bahama Port Authority President Willie Moss.
 
 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Hating The US?
    As an American citizen who loves the Bahamas and the Bahamian people, owns property on Grand Bahama, and plans to retire there in a few years, I don't understand all the anti-American bias that is being published in the Bahamas press, much of it from your news.
    Take Haiti, for example.  What does the U.S. have to gain from the situation in Haiti?  They have no money, no resources, no stability, a history of crime and corruption, and an unstable government.  They have had no stability for 100 years, no matter who ruled the country.
    When the rebellion began in Haiti, the U.S. held back and everyone criticized the U.S. for not doing something to stop the violence and protecting the Haitian people caught in the middle of the rebellion.  Then, when the U.S. did do something, you criticize us for stabilizing the situation.
    We spend millions of dollars to stabilize Haiti with nothing to gain in return, and all we get from you is vilification.
    I have been visiting Grand Bahama for 16 years and have met many Bahamian people over the years.  None seem to resent or hat us to the extent that you publish.  If you want to hate Americans, just say you hate us.  Don't pick situations like Haiti to hide behind.
    Thank You.
Cal Morrison
    We think that you are being over sensitive.  No one hates the US.  It is a great and wonderful country, with wonderful people.  Bahamians love Americans. -- Ed.

Rice n' peas - Peas n' rice
    Salut!
     Over the last few weeks, I have read (with some alarm!), your reportage of the treatment of Jamaican visitors to the Bahamas.  It is of great concern to me because even though I grew up in the Bahamas, I was born in Jamaica.  My odyssey from William Gordon Primary, C. H. Reeves (formerly Robinson Road Secondary), and Saint Augustine College has always made me feel more Bahamian than Jamaican!
    I grew up in the constituency once represented by the current prime minister (love him!).  Yes!  I consider myself a Valley Boy!  There are many other special moments (too many to enumerate.) and experiences that have transpired uneventfully during my Bahamian Love Affair.
    This anti-Jamaicanism must be a new phenomenon!  Let us hope it is just an aberration.  It might help however, if more is done to illuminate the fact that the late great former prime minister, The Right Honourable L. O. Pindling was of mixed parentage - Jamaican/Bahamian.
Paul Richards
    We think that it is a disturbing trend as well.  Leadership is obviously required on the matter and some sensitivity training.  -- Ed.
 

PLP FAIR

Mrs. Bernadette Christie, wife of PLP leader and Prime Minister Perry Christie is shown enjoying a game of bingo at the PLP Fair on Saturday 23th July at party headquarters.  The day was a fun filled excercise for thousands of PLPs who partied well into the night at the fundraiser.  BIS photo / Peter Ramsay
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THIS WEEK WITH THE PM

    The Prime Minister began his week worshipping at St. Mary's Anglican church to mark the church's 160th anniversary The parish church of St. Mary the Virgin has a fascinating and rich history.  The early seeds for the establishment of the church were planted by Joseph Paul, a free black man who migrated to Abaco from South Carolina along with American loyalists in 1783.  In 1790, he moved to Nassau and began teaching Methodist doctrine to black people, but in 1800 after disputes with the Methodists he and others loyal to him joined the Anglican Church.

    Also this week, Prime Minister Christie joined Mr. and Mrs. Valentine Grimes [Thelma] who hosted hundreds of family friends to a sumptuous celebration of the entry to the medical profession of their three children, Dr. Valron Grimes, Family Medicine & Public Health; Dr. Valentine Grimes, Orthopaedic / Spinal Surgeon & Dr. Valya Grimes, Dermatologist. Bahamas Information Services photos by Peter Ramsay.

NEW HOMES IN GRAND BAHAMA – Prime Minister Christie and Housing Minister, Shane Gibson are pictured centre with members of the Blatch family, new home owners in East Coral Estate 3.  The Prime Minister was in Grand Bahama Wednesday for the official opening of several government subdivisions.  Pictured from left to right are:- Mr. Trevor Blatch, daughter Tuetesa, Minister Gibson, Mrs. Tezel Blatch, Prime Minister Christie, Miss Pleasant Bridgewater, MP for Marco City, and Mrs. Willie Moss, President of the Grand Bahama Port Authority. -  BIS Photo by Vandyke Hepburn
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