Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 2 © BahamasUncensored.Com
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
| 11th
July, 2004
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|
| PM IN CAR ACCIDENT IN GRENADA... | CHANGING THE EXTRADITION ACT... |
| SOME GOOD NEWS ON HIV AIDS?... | THE ARCHBISHOP & THE POPE - PHOTOS... |
| PROTECTING CHILDREN... | JAMAICAN PRIME MINISTER COMPLAINS... |
| FOREIGN MINISTER IN EXUMA... | JACKASS OF THE WEEK... |
| INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATIONS... | 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 | |
 |
| 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
 |
| 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.
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).
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