bahamasuncensored.com
JULY 2005
Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames   Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 3 © BahamasUncensored.Com
While material on this web site can be used freely by other sections of the press, as a courtesy, journalists are asked to attribute the source of their material from this web site.
Click here for the law on copyright as it applies to this website.

10th July, 2005
17th July, 2005
24th July, 2005
31st July, 2005
Columns From 2002 - 2003
3rd July, 2005
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! 
Please tell all your friends about us.
BURNING THE NORTH ANDROS AIRPORT... LESLIE MILLER’S OIL DEAL...
THE BENEDICTINES END THEIR TIME... THE HOUSE ADJOURNS FOR THE SUMMER...
THE GUARDIAN KOW TOWS TO INGRAHAM... THE REGISTRAR GENERAL...
MELANIE GRIFFIN ANSWERS HER CRITIC... FOREIGN MINISTER IN ST. LUCIA...
POETRY FEATURE... 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
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return to the top of the page.


PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The runway is ready and was ready on time.  The Prime Minister had inspected it just the day before. The FNM had left power with a major headache for the PLP.  The main runway at the Nassau International Airport was in such bad shape that airlines were threatening to pull up stakes if the Government didn’t act.  It took 40 million dollars to solve the problem.  Virgin Atlantic Airlines wanted to fly a 747 jet aircraft into NIA to serve their London Nassau route.  They would not do it unless the airport runway was repaired.  This also helps with the needed airlift for the Kerzner Atlantis project on Paradise Island.  Virgin was also concerned as was Kerzner and the Bahamas Government about the state of the airport itself.  The next stage is a new contract to give someone the management rights over the airport which is quite simply a mess.  But now is the time to celebrate the new runway and the arrival of Virgin Atlantic for the inaugural flight which Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe laid at the feet of a lobbying effort of Director of Europe for the Ministry of Tourism Tommy Thompson.  Our photo of the week is an ebullient Richard Branson, owner of Virgin, shown with the Police Band who greeted the arrival of Virgin’s first 747 into Nassau on Tuesday 28th June 2005.  The Bahamas Information Services photo is by Peter Ramsay.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

JACK HAYWARD’S OUTBURST
If we didn’t know better, we would have said that the whole thing was a set up.  The Tribune carried in its Tuesday 28th June edition a front page story, with a banner headline: MYSTERY OF $1M GIFT – SIR JACK’S ANGER AT NEMA SILENCE.  The Jack that they were talking about seemed to be acting like a “jack” indeed.  They were talking about the Co-Chair of the Grand Bahama Port Authority Sir Jack Hayward, one of two principal shareholders in that private company which is responsible for running the city of Freeport.

Those of us who know him from the old days as the eccentric “Union Jack” would not be surprised at any foolish outburst of his.  It appears that at 82 years old, he has become even more eccentric than in his younger years.  Sir Jack was complaining that he could not get an answer from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the agency responsible for hurricane relief, on the gift of 1 million dollars from Edward St. George, his late partner, and himself for hurricane relief.  He claimed that they had given the gift of the money with a condition.  That condition was that the money was to be spent on education in Grand Bahama.

Enter into the picture Eileen Carron, the publisher of The Tribune. The Tribune is the newspaper in The Bahamas that represents the business and colonial interests in The Bahamas, and believes that anything concerned with Black people must be suspect.  The PLP Government being Black, it follows that the PLP are prima facie crooks and then have to prove to The Tribune that they are not.    The Tribune’s editorial attacked the Government siding with Jack Hayward even after it was fully explained by Luther Smith, the Prime Minister's aide and Bradley Roberts, the Minister of Works in the House that Sir Jack’s assertion was foolishness.

The fact is that no gift to NEMA can be accepted or could have been accepted with a condition attached.  The fund is a national fund, and any money donated to it has and had to be used for national hurricane relief.  That was made clear to both gentlemen at the time the gift was given.  The gift then was not accepted with any legal condition attached to it.  Secondly, The Bahamas government has spent over six million dollars on housing alone in Grand Bahama, and some $1.4 million dollars on repairs to schools in Grand Bahama.  The sum that is expected to be spent in total in Grand Bahama will be about 20 million since there is more work to be done.

Sir Jack’s comment and the response of both The Tribune and the editorial of the Nassau Guardian was to try and send some doubt in the minds of the people of the country at large and the other donors that something untoward had happened to the money they donated.  The fact is that Deloitte and Touche are the external auditors of the fund and when the audit is finished, there will be a full report to the country.

Jack Hayward has a history of opposing the PLP.  In the past, he campaigned at FNM rallies showing up just before the 1992 election supporting Hubert Ingraham.  At public functions in Grand Bahama at various openings after Hubert Ingraham became Prime Minister he openly touted his support for Hubert Ingraham.  His partner Edward St. George who ran the company basically kept Jack quiet in later years because it became clear that his outbursts were a liability to the company.  The Grand Bahama Port Authority has to get along with whoever is the Government, FNM or PLP.  Mr. St. George developed a relationship with both.

What Sir Jack’s outburst brought to the fore is the fact that the transition at the Grand Bahama Port Authority is very precarious.    Since Edward's death, the company has been in limbo with no clear direction as to where to head.  Julian Francis, the former Governor of the Central Bank, has been hired as its new CEO without any business experience or political savvy.  He is a quick learner, but what he must also learn quickly is the vagaries of Grand Bahama politics: the fractiousness and the parochial nature of it, as well as the fact that he is working for a family company, in a company town.

Jack Hayward no doubt has every contact for the Government if he wished to get answers.  He certainly did not have to deal with the head of NEMA if he couldn't get answers.  He could have and can contact the Prime Minister directly, whose telephone number is openly listed in the telephone directory.  Further Julian Francis should be the person to find out information for him.  Or if in doubt, Sir Albert Miller who continues to work with the company also has the full range of contacts with any Government Minister.

The problem with the outburst is both an external and an internal issue.  Externally, the government must look askance at the Port where it has a principal that can’t control his big mouth, and chooses instead to make a political attack on the government when he has other means of addressing it.  This means that Jack Hayward is trying to sink the PLP again.  Secondly, it is the internal problem.  Henrietta St. George, the widow of the late Edward St. George is thought to retain the other major share of the Port.   Does this outburst now mean that there is a family fight coming in the company?  Instead of Sir Jack leaving the company to the professionals and staying in England where he belongs, he chose instead now to intervene in the daily affairs of Grand Bahama.

The Bahamians in the company would now get nervous no doubt, if they see signs that there is to be a struggle for control of this company.  Does this mean that the Government will have to intervene if fighting breaks out amongst the factions?

Jack Hayward is given to outbursts.  He does not think before he speaks.  He did not in this case.  He has no idea how this single outburst has now put everyone on enquiry that the transition at the Port may not be going as smoothly as  most people, thought it would go, with a professional management finally being able to run the company without the interference of family members.  The jury is still out on this, but it would be a good idea in the first instance if Jack Hayward would simply shut up.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 2nd July 2005: 54,910.

Number of hits for the month of June up to Thursday 30th June 2005: 291,244.

Number of hits for the year 2005 up to Saturday 2nd July 2005: 1,885,483.


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

BURNING THE NORTH ANDROS AIRPORT
    Vincent Peet has had a hell of a week.  First, the Immigration Department made the smart decision to get rid of two expatriate pilots who were flying for Western Air for fighting on the tarmac of the Nassau Airport and for working without the proper permits.  Then the Department told the airline that they had to tell four others to pack up and go because they too were in violation of the law.  The Western Air people predictably ran off to The Tribune claiming victimization because they said the female part owner of the airline is running against Mr. Peet in his North Andros constituency on the FNM ticket.  She never disclosed that they had been in violation of the law on work permits.  But in the FNM’s world enforcing the work permit laws is victimization.  Then guess what happened next.  Friday morning 1st July, the North Andros Airport and the Customs Warehouse burned flat to the ground.  Arson is definitely suspected and the police think they know who did it.  The fire didn’t touch the huge hangar owned by Western Air which is headquartered in North Andros.  Things that make you go hmmm!
 
 

LESLIE MILLER’S OIL DEAL
    Leslie Miller flew into Nassau International Airport on the morning of Tuesday 28th June.  He had signed a deal say the newspapers to bring cheap oil to The Bahamas courtesy of the bad boy of the region Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.  All the Caricom countries signed the deal except Trinidad and Barbados.  They said they needed more time to study the proposals.  The problem is Hugo Chavez makes the Americans nervous and makes the international oil cartels nervous.  Can The Bahamas really take advantage of this?
    Mr. Miller says that this deal promises big oil savings at a time when gasoline is almost 4 dollars a gallon in The Bahamas.  The deal does not provide cheap fuel.  Under it Venezuela will subsidize the price of the oil you buy from them, when the price goes over a certain level per barrel.  If it goes over 40 dollars per barrel you get a discount in the form of a soft loan over twenty years, the discount being the equivalent of forty percent of the price over 40 dollars per barrel.  If it goes to one hundred dollars, you get to keep fifty per cent in the form of a soft loan over twenty years.  In order to access it, you have to negotiate a bi lateral treaty with Venezuela.
    The big question for The Bahamas that does not have central government owned oil importing machinery is why should we get involved in this when we already have an efficient oil distribution system where the consumer pays for the gas he or she wants?  Some of the Caricom countries like Jamaica and Guyana already have central government importing capacity and have used that capacity to intervene in the market when the private sector refuses to pass on savings in gasoline prices from the world market.  But The Bahamas has price control.
    Mr. Miller obviously thinks that this deal is worth the aggravation to the private sector.  He has been arguing that in order to access it we have to have a National Energy Corporation.  There’s where the private sector gets nervous.  What will this actually mean?  Why should the Government be in the oil business?
 
 

THE BENEDICTINES END THEIR TIME
    They have been in The Bahamas since 1891.  It was in that year that almost by happenstance, Fr. Chrysostom Schriner came to The Bahamas.  He was a Benedictine monk and took to the islands.  He started a mission.  He met fierce resistance but in the best Benedictine and Minnesota farm tradition from which he had come, he set about establishing a Catholic presence in The Bahamas.  They went after the poor Black people.  The Catholic Church invested in education.
    Today, the Church is the largest single domination in The Bahamas.  The Baptists have more members but they are not a single entity.  The Catholic Church is now fully indigenized.  The Monastery at St. Augustine's College first on the grounds of the now cathedral church and then on its present premises in Fox Hill was the facilitator of their education drive and the home of some 50 monks at one time.  That number has now dwindled to two.  The Monastery closed last week.  The Abbot from Minnesota came to say farewell, and to thank the Bahamian community at a mass of thanksgiving at St. Francis Cathedral in Nassau.  Archbishop Patrick Pinder who is himself a product of St. Augustine’s College preached the homily.  Malcolm Adderley, a graduate for St. Augustine's moved a resolution in the House for Assembly that was immediately adopted. A formal presentation is to be made when the House resumes from its summer rebar in October.  We wish them well and thank them for their service to The Bahamas.  The monastic property in The Bahamas is to be transferred over to the Catholic Church of The Bahamas.
 
 

THE HOUSE ADJOURNS FOR THE SUMMER
    Members of Parliament have had their last do for the year until they meet again in the Fall.  On Wednesday 29th June, the House of Assembly met to pass several resolutions to assist the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation.  They also passed the Marine Mammals Protection Bill which will facilitate Kerzner International’s swim with the dolphins attraction.  The environmentalists were outraged saying that no capture of dolphins should take place.  The House then adjourned for the summer, and MPs will be back after the summer vacation sometime in October.
 
 

THE GUARDIAN KOW TOWS TO INGRAHAM
    On Wednesday 29th June, the Nassau Guardian proved how craven it can be.  With all of the news happening in the country that warranted being on the front page of a Bahamian major newspaper, The Guardian chose instead to print an apology to Hubert Ingraham.  The apology was because they quoted Keod Smith the MP (PLP) for Mt. Moriah who accused the former Prime Minister of  “double dipping” that is he was receiving his salary and his pension at the same time.  You know the view is that this should be stopped by law so that Mr. Ingraham will have to choose to retire from active politics or lose his pension.
    Mr. Ingraham was apparently able to frighten The Guardian, easily frightened as they are since they support the FNM, into apologizing because he was able to produce a letter in the House of Assembly from the Treasurer of The Bahamas saying that he has not received his salary since May 2002.  The Nassau Guardian never printed the fact that the Secretary to the Cabinet wrote the Speaker of the House of Assembly to say that while Mr. Ingraham had not collected his salary since May 2002, in fact the salary is owed to him and that a voucher was signed for him to get the pay which was due him from May 2002 to the present.  How that warrants an apology to Hubert Ingraham one never knows.
    Pierre Dupuch MP said it right when he said that we should not fool people.  Mr. Ingraham is no saint and he ought to do what is honourable and give up the pension or resign from the House of Assembly.
 
 

THE REGISTRAR GENERAL
    The saga of Elizabeth Thompson claiming that she is still the Registrar General of The Bahamas still goes on.  It is clear that there is only one validly appointed Registrar General and that is Shane Miller, not Elizabeth Thompson.  Ms. Thompson despite being told by the Government to get lost continues to show up to work on the spurious basis that she has a judgment from the Supreme Court that says she is entitled to still be the Registrar.  She has no such Judgment.  The Judge’s decision to set aside a letter of dismissal is being appealed.
    The newspaper headlines were all full of the so called loss by the Government when Hugh Small, the Judge who started this whole mess with his decision, compounded the problem by declining jurisdiction when the Government asked for a stay.  The decision of Mr. Justice Small has implications for the conduct for The Bahamas Government’s contractual relations if the Government like any ordinary contractor cannot rely on the terms of a contract between two consenting entities for full capacity.
    The Court of Appeal should hear the matter of the stay quickly and stop this lady who refuses to stay away from the Registrar General's office and causing bad headlines in the paper.  We believe that the Government is playing softly softly with this and in the process is making itself look bad.  They should have their own version for the defenestration at Prague and put this matter behind them.
Top
 
 

MELANIE GRIFFIN ANSWERS HER CRITIC
    Can you imagine someone who has never been known until recently to be involved in politics or any form of public commentary on controversial matters suddenly takes an interest in a pathological way in the public life?  You probably can as this political season gets going.  It is absolutely amazing, and Melanie Griffin ran into just such an individual during the week.  Paul Moss attacked Ms. Griffin, the Minister for Social Services, accusing her of plotting to sell Cheshire Homes, the volunteer house that was until recently a haven for the disabled.  The home was built on land owned by the Government, but the volunteer committee wants to get out of the business.  The Ministry does not own the home.  Mr. Moss accused Mrs. Griffin of plotting to pay $650,000 for the home to the volunteer group.  No such thing in the plans said the Minister at a press conference held on Thursday 30th June to answer the false charges.
    Mr. Moss claimed that the disabled persons who were accommodated by the Ministry in another place were not properly housed because their wheel chairs could not fit through the new home's door.  Mrs. Griffin said this was false.  Mr. Moss also read a line item in the budget for $650,000 in the Minister’s Budget and jumped to the conclusion that this means that the money was being paid to someone.  When you don’t know you just don’t know.  Mrs. Griffin said that while there was such a line item, the Government was not obligated to pay anything strictly speaking because the place was on Government land, but the Government felt that it was equitable for some payment to be made for the out of pocket expenses of the volunteers.
    What a funny life we lead in this country, when the uninformed get the play of newspaper headlines, and all for political effect.  One suspects that Mr. Moss has a political agenda that he has been on since he viciously attacked the Minister of Foreign Affairs during the campaign against the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).  He has also been involved in the Save Elizabeth Thompson campaign.  As we said at the start, when you see things like this happening, you would be crazy not to ask some probing questions as to what this all amounts to.
Top
 
 

FOREIGN MINISTER IN ST. LUCIA
    ZNS Radio reported on Saturday 2nd July that the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell is in St. Lucia, filling in for the Prime Minister Perry Christie at the heads of government conference for Caricom.  The main topic is UN Reform.  The Minister’s delegation includes Bradley Roberts, the Minister of Works, the Leader of the Opposition Alvin Smith, the aide to the Leader of the Opposition Gilbert Kemp, Philip Miller, Undersecretary for Trade and Economics, Leonard Archer, the Ambassador to Caricom.  An historic first; Opposition Leaders and PMs met in conference to discuss issues of common concern. The meeting got off to a rocky start with Opposition Leader for Trinidad and Tobago Basdeo Panday, a former Prime Minister now on a corruption charge in Trinidad, refusing to sit next to the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
Top
 
 

POETRY FEATURE

    Giovanni returns this week with verse four of 'The Death of Ayana'.  Please click herePOET FEATURE, by Bahama recording & literary artist, Giovanni.Stuart (www.nubah.com).
Top
 
 

THIS WEEK WITH THE PM

PRIME MINISTER INSPECTS NEW RUNWAY - Prime Minister Christie is shown congratulating Glenys Hanna Martin for the on time delivery of the main runway 1432 at Nassau International Airport.  The runway was officially opened on the eve of Virgin Atlantic Airways inaugural jumbo jet service to Nassau from London this past week.  At left is the Chairman of the Airport Authority Anthony Kikivarakis and at right is Minister for Works Bradley Roberts.  Bahamas Information Services photo - Peter Ramsay



 
 

Happy Birthday, Bahamas!


10th July, 2005
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! 
Please tell all your friends about us.
JOSEPH PRATT AIRLIFTED TO MIAMI... FIGHTING AT THE REGISTRAR GENERAL’S OFFICE...
CARL BETHEL BACKS OFF SUPPORT FOR INGRAHAM... HOUSING MOVES AHEAD AGGRESSIVELY...
TUBERCULOSIS IN ABACO... TRIBUNE TALKING NONSENSE ABOUT THE PLP...
THE BLAST IN LONDON... FATHERS HAVE RIGHTS TOO...
FOREIGN MINISTER IN EXUMA... THE GOVERNOR GENERAL ON CSME...
THE CAC GAMES BEGIN... HOUSEHOLD INCOME IN THE BAHAMAS...
ANTHONY ROBERTS DIES... GLENROY NOTTAGE DIES...
CHRISTIAN CAMPBELL ENDS HIS TIME... IGNORANCE FROM BARF...
MISS FOX HILL... FORMER AMBASSADOR’S SON COMMENTS...
ALFRED BRAITHWAITE RETIRES... POETRY FEATURE...
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
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return to the top of the page.


PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell is back from St. Lucia after having represented the Prime Minister at the 26th annual heads of Government Conference of the Caribbean Community in St. Lucia.  The Minister had perhaps his toughest international assignment in seeking to convey to the Caribbean nations in succinct and non inflammatory terms the decision of the Bahamian people that they do not want to sign on the revised Treaty of Chaguaramus including the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).  The Minister issued a tersely worded statement from St. Lucia late on Tuesday 5th July.  It said simply that The Bahamas has indicated that it cannot sign on to the revised Treaty.  That the Government had stopped the national debate on the issue in The Bahamas.  That The Bahamas could go no further.  The statement said that the other countries understood and that the status quo with regard to The Bahamas position with Caricom will continue.  Mission accomplished for the Minister. Congratulations! Bahama Journal photo of Minister Mitchell briefing the news media at Nassau International Airport by Omar Barr.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

INDEPENDENCE 2005
Today marks the 32nd anniversary of the Independence of The Bahamas.  We are of course a nation that is relatively well off.  Things are going relatively well.  Last year despite the fact that we suffered two significant hurricanes, the country seems back on the mend.

If you were in The Bahamas on this weekend you would see the spontaneous outpouring once again of Bahamian flags as the nation celebrates.  People, men and women are dressing in the colours of the flag.  There is the official pomp and pageantry of the ceremony on Clifford Park which seeks to re-enact the ceremony that originally took place within the view of Prince Charles when he saw the British flag come down from over The Bahamas for the last time in 1973.

Times have changed since then.  Britain has abandoned its last official post in The Bahamas, closing its embassy this year with scarcely a thought of any sentimental ties.  It said that it was trying to save money all though it is not clear how much money it will actually save.  It just adds up to the fact that their colonial days are over and it is time to put the past behind and concentrate on Europe where the British really belong.

The United States is of course the great protector of The Bahamas.  It was interesting that during the debate about our relations with Caricom there was considerable sentiment for becoming a colony of the United States just like Puerto Rico.  One wonders what precisely then are we fighting for, did we fight for and what precisely our nationhood means.   It was the most appalling display of ignorance.

In the shadow of a great power, it is really hard to define ourselves. We keep trying but there are great forces arrayed against us.  As you look on the streets, with the youngsters dressed in their American clothes, speaking more and more with American accents, wanting to be American by having their own children in the United States, what is the future for The Bahamas?  Is this period of thirty two years or whatever years we have left as an independent nation to go down in history as an interesting chapter in a history of being governed by other people, that we ourselves will one day sing: “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”

That will ultimately be up to the young people who gathered on the parks of the nation at midnight last night to witness the raising of the Bahamian flag at midnight.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 9th July 2005 at midnight: 56,728.

Number of hits for the month of July ending at Saturday 9th July 2005 at midnight: 67,584.

Number of hits for the year 2005 up to Saturday 9th July 2005 at midnight: 1,942,165.


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

JOSEPH PRATT AIRLIFTED TO MIAMI
    The husband of the Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt Joseph Pratt was airlifted to Florida at the Cleveland Clinic for medical treatment on Thursday 7th July.
    The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell announced the airlift by Air Ambulance owned by Dr. Franklin Walkine as he returned from the Heads of Government Conference in St. Lucia.  Mr. Pratt’s airlift was necessary because the medical equipment at Doctors Hospital for angioplasty, a procedure to remove the blockage of the arteries of the heart, was recently installed and not yet properly calibrated.   The procedure was carried out in Florida without incident on Thursday afternoon.
    It is not known how long Mr. Pratt will be in hospital.  Mr. Pratt was accompanied by the Deputy Prime Minister and his doctor Dr. Conville Brown.
 
 

FIGHTING AT THE REGISTRAR GENERAL’S OFFICE
    The saga of Elizabeth Thompson, fighting to retain her post as Registrar General of The Bahamas continues.  The woman should know that she should not show up for work.  She is certainly not welcomed by her employer.  Her actions have become an embarrassment to herself and to the country, yet each day her actions continue to create confusion in the Registrar General's office.
    This week again there are pictures in the newspaper of the former Registrar General trying to force herself into a situation where she is not wanted.  The staff in the office have been reportedly told that they are not to accept any instructions from her.  Documents signed by her should not be held to be valid.
    The Bar Council riddled with FNMs as it is tried to get in the mix by calling a meeting, to discuss what we don’t know.  It is none of their business.  They came hard on the heels of the FNM getting into it as well, telling the Prime Minister he must intervene to stop the madness.  The only person who can stop the madness is the woman herself.  The quicker she gets a life and moves on the better.  The whole thing is simply unseemly.
 
 

CARL BACKS OFF SUPPORT FOR INGRAHAM
    We have hardly heard a word from Carl Bethel, the usually voluble Chairman of the Free National Movement.  He has been silent since the Privy Council slapped him in the face with a decision that Sidney Stubbs MP for Holy Cross had been wronged by the Bahamian courts when they pronounced him a bankrupt in March 2004.  Carl was hoping he would get a chance to run for office in a bye election in Holy Cross.
    This time, the usually cocky Mr. Bethel had to issue a statement to The Tribune on Friday 1st July saying that he was not endorsing the return of Hubert Ingraham to be leader of the Free National Movement.  The Tribune reported these statements of Mr. Bethel:
    “At no time did I endorse or throw my weight behind or indicate any kind of personal support or encouragement of Hubert Ingraham or any potential candidate for the leadership for the FNM.
    “It is strange that The Guardian could deliberately misconstrue a comment to fabricate an endorsement for a person who has not announced his candidacy and had not even sought my endorsement.”
    Way to go Carl!  Backstroke!
 
 

HOUSING MOVES AHEAD AGGRESSIVELY
    Franklin Wilson’s Arawak Homes opened a new subdivision on Thursday 7th July.  It is the sixth subdivision that they have opened in New Providence.  This subdivision is for homes priced at $150,000 just east of St. Augustine’s College on land that used to be owned by the Roman Catholic Church.
    The new subdivision is to be called Fr. John Pugh Estates.  Fr. John Pugh was an Anglican priest who came to The Bahamas as part of the RAF and stayed to be ordained a priest after training at Codrington in Barbados.  He served as the Rector of St. Anne’s Church in Fox Hill from 1954 to his retirement in 1971.  He was made a Canon of the Cathedral in The Bahamas in 1974.  He was the founder of St. Anne’s Anglican School in Fox Hill.
    George Mackey, the former Representative for Fox Hill spoke about his life and how he considered himself the son of Fr. Pugh that was never adopted.  Also speaking at the function and filling in for Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt was Shane Gibson, the Minister of Housing.  The Minister congratulated Franklin Wilson, the Chairman of the Board of Arawak Homes.  He also announced that the Government had completed 850 homes since it came to office in 2002 compared to 750 homes for the entire ten years of the FNM’s term of office.
    Minister Gibson said that the Government was also committed to further building and construction, and to refurbishing rental accommodation for low income families.  He told the public that the Government would be paying for the temporary accommodation for people who had to be moved while the rental units were refurbished, and that he guaranteed that they would be returned to their homes.  The Minister was responding to speculation in the press during the week that once the people were moved out they would not be returned.
    We congratulate Shane Gibson who is perhaps the most popular of all Ministers in The Bahamas at the moment and we also congratulate Franklin Wilson.
 
 

TUBERCULOSIS IN ABACO
    The Department of Public Health has announced that there are two cases of tuberculosis in The Bahamas that it is investigating.  The cases reportedly showed up in Abaco.  The disease is spread by air and people whose immune system is compromised are especially susceptible.  The disease is not generally known in The Bahamas.  The Haitian community with their greater incidence of tuberculosis may be the source of the disease in The Bahamas.  The disease if caught in time can generally be treated by a course of antibiotics within six months.  There are some strains that are becoming resistant to any of the present generation of antibiotics. Dr. Baldwin Carey , the Director of Public Health, said that people ought to go and get themselves checked out if they suspect that they have been close to someone who has the disease.  No word on whether the cases have been confirmed.
Top
 
 

TRIBUNE TALKING NONSENSE ABOUT THE PLP
    Those of you who do not yet understand that election time is coming should re-examine the facts.  Here is just one example of how everything gets twisted these days by the mainstream media to ensure that their political message gets across.  The Tribune was supposed to be writing a supplement for independence that came out on Friday 8th July.  The supplement did indeed speak to the independence of the country.  Of course this is a country that is only a money making machine for The Tribune, they have no greater affinity to The Bahamas than to the man in the moon.   That does not stop them from talking foolishness either about the political leadership of the PLP, as if it is their business.
    There was an idle speculative story in The Tribune about who is going to succeed Perry Christie as if the matter is a live issue.  We have said in this space before that if God forbid something should happen to the Prime Minister the Deputy Prime Minister will fill in.  But The Tribune wants to speculate endlessly about which Minister is or is not in favour at the moment.  The latest incarnation of their silly speculation is that there is a political crisis in the leadership of the PLP because of the PM’s illness.  They used the occasion of the country’s independence celebrations to raise it.  How that arises no one knows?  What we know is that it is a figment of the imagination of The Tribune.
    The Prime Minister has returned to good health and is expected to return fully to work in September.  He already chairs the Cabinet meetings and continues to run the Government.  There are no challengers to his supremacy in the party, so where is the evidence for a political crisis?  Not so the other guys.  Hubert Ingraham wants to come back.  Tommy Turnquest wants to run again.  Dion Foulkes, another former Minister, wants to run.  Brent Symonette was described as the “white hope” by The Tribune.  He too wants to run.  There are several waiting in the wings to run for leader of the FNM.  So there is no crisis in the PLP but it sure looks like something else in the FNM.
Top
 
 

THE BLAST IN LONDON
    It was a curious thing to see the front page of The Tribune which is supposed to be a Bahamian newspaper leading on Friday 8th July with the story LONDON ATTACKED.  The subhead indicated that the Bahamas Maritime Office in London had to be evacuated.  Of course the story was about the multiple bomb blasts that killed 50 people in London on Thursday 7th July on the London Underground.  You would have thought that a Bahamian newspaper would have led with a story about the Bahamians in London.  That is what both the Bahama Journal and the Nassau Guardian did.
    What accounts for The Tribune’s British bent is the fact that the paper is actually run by Englishmen, who have no more care for this country than the commercial interest which they have as employees of the paper.  So the story was about the son of the Managing Editor and how he escaped, and then they spoke to some other Bahamians, and at the end of it mentioned the issue of how Bahamians generally were affected in that country as a result of the bombing.  No problem.
    Each paper is entitled to take whatever approach they wish.  We just want to point out what the problem with The Tribune is.  It is Bahamian in name only.  There is another master whom they have to serve and another country to which it apparently owes allegiance.  Oh by the way, the High Commissioner to London for The Bahamas Basil O'Brien says that all is well in London for Bahamians.  The office functions normally and all Bahamian official staff are accounted for.
Top
 
 

FATHERS HAVE RIGHTS TOO
    We want to congratulate Clever Duncombe for his advocacy for single men who are fathers.  Even though the moralists amongst us would say their fatherhood is an irresponsible act, there is no need to compound the error by the way the law is presently worded.
    As it stands now, a father who is not married, nor was married to his children’s mother can only see his children as of right if the mother of the child wants him to.  He can only access the courts for custodial or visitation rights if there is a court order in place making him pay maintenance.  That is only done if the mother of the child moves the court for maintenance.  If she doesn’t and there is no court order, the father can be effectively shut out from the life of the child at the whim of a mother who has a bad relationship with the father.
    The Minister for Social Services Melanie Griffin is pledged to do something about it before the year is out.  Mr. Duncombe should keep up his advocacy.  His latest statement was reported in The Tribune of Friday 1st July.  It is the only way the voices are going to be heard on this very important matter for men in The Bahamas.
Top
 
 

FOREIGN MINISTER IN EXUMA
    Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell witnessed the raising of the Bahamian flag in Georgetown, Exuma on the eve of Independence late Saturday 9th July.  This is the second time in two years that he has witnessed the flag raising there.  Accompanying the Minister was the Chinese Ambassador to The Bahamas who toured Exuma’s mainland with the Minister.
Top
 
 

THE GOVERNOR GENERAL ON CSME
    A Governor General rarely enters in matters of public controversy. But it is refreshing when a Governor General chooses to intervene in the state of the common debate.  The comment of the Governor General at the annual Independence Day lunch put on in her honour by the Honorary Consular Corps about the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) on Friday 8th July is worthy of quoting Dame Ivy Dumont, Governor General in her own words:
    “The world is gradually becoming a marketplace of groupings. The pace of formation of organizations, associations and unions is accelerating. Because these formal groupings are being driven largely by economic concerns, they continue to challenge our concept of sovereignty and independence. More and more we must become comfortable with the notion of inter-dependence. Recently, in our community there has been heated and extended dialogue with regard to The Bahamas becoming a part of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).  It may well be, as stated in a quotation attributed to a Mr. Max Planek:
    ‘NEW…TRUTH DOES NOT TRIUMPH BY CONVINCING ITS OPPONENTS, BUT RATHER BECAUSE ITS OPPONENTS DIE, AND A NEW GENERATION GROWS UP THAT IS FAMILIAR WITH IT’
(THOUGHTS ON ACHIEVEMENT, TRIUMPH BOOKS, CHICAGO, P.94).”
Top
 
 

THE CAC GAMES BEGIN
    We congratulate Neville Wisdom, the indefatigable Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture on the spectacular opening and conduct of the Senior Caribbean Athletic Championships being held at a newly refurbished Thomas A. Robinson Track at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Nassau.  The games began on Saturday 9th July.  The official opening ceremony took pace on Friday 8th July. Athletes are competing from 35 countries in the Americas.  This includes Cuba.
Top
 
 

HOUSEHOLD INCOME IN THE BAHAMAS
    Director of Statistics Charles Stuart reported to the country on Thursday 30th June the results of an occupational wage survey of more than 48,000 people in the private sector carried out in New Providence and Grand Bahama.  Apart from the raw fact of the size of the wage packet, it seems to confirm that there is still a wage differential between women and men, despite laws that guarantee equality for pay between men and women.  Men continue to earn more in all categories.
    The overall salary for all people on average was $23,751.  For men the average overall was $25,869 and for females $21,675.  The differential applied on an hourly basis: for men $13 per hour and women $11 per hour.  On a weekly basis, for males it was $497 per week and for females $417 per week.
    The survey revealed that women seem to work shorter hours than men, with men working on average 39 hours per week and females 38 hours per week.  The differential between men and women, with men being higher paid in each wage category whether senior managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals.  The basis of this report is from the Nassau Guardian of 1st July.
Top
 
 

ANTHONY ROBERTS DIES
    Rev’d. Fr.  Anthony Roberts, a retired politician and Anglican priest, died at the age of 73 after a brief illness.  Fr. Roberts was ordained a priest in 1987 and served throughout the country most recently as the Chaplain of the Royal Bahamas Police Force up until 1994.  Fr. Roberts prior to the priesthood served as a politician.  He was elected to office in 1968 and served as the Minister of Home Affairs and then Agriculture from 1968 to 1977.  Upon retirement from that post, he served as the High Commissioner of The Bahamas to London.  Fr. Roberts was son of the late E.P. Roberts, an educator after whom a school is named.  He was also the uncle of Neville Wisdom, the Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture.
Top
 
 

GLENROY NOTTAGE DIES
    Rev. Glenroy Nottage, Director of All Saints Camp of St John the Devine has died.  Rev. Nottage devoted the last years of his life to running the Camp and assisting those afflicted with HIV/AIDS.  He was a tireless worker in the cause and often chided the public, once saying “I think we need to have more support from the public… This is the only place in The Bahamas where someone can come in and really see the effects of HIV/AIDS. I’m surprised that people are not breaking the doors down to visit us.”
Top
 
 

CHRISTIAN CAMPBELL ENDS HIS TIME
    The boy genius, well not so boyish anymore, but genius all the same, has ended his stint as the editor for  The Weekender, the Nassau Guardian’s weekend newspaper that was filled with interesting information about the African and Creole presence in The Bahamas.  It was written with the perspective of young Bahamians in mind.  While there is speculation that with the ouster of his Uncle James Campbell from the Board of Colina, the parent company of the Nassau Guardian was the reason for his ending his stint, there was no official word.  The real truth may be far more mundane in that he may simply be returning to school.  In any event, an interesting voice is off the scene for the moment but we wish him well.
Top
 
 

IGNORANCE FROM BARF
    Some people don't seem to know when to shut up and keep quiet, when the game is up, when there is no more to be said.  A group that calls itself BARF (strange name since it means vomit) was one of the main progenitors of the anti intellectual thought police that wanted no further debate on The Bahamas role with the Caribbean Community.  The Government having succumbed to the arguments of ignorance stopped the debate.  There has been no comment from anyone in the Government despite the fact that the ignoramuses who led the opposition to it have been jonesing for an argument.
    Trying to get a rise out of the Government one of the BARF members gave a statement to the press on Saturday 9th July responding to the comments of Owen Arthur, the Prime Minister of Barbados who indicated to the Nassau Guardian on Wednesday 6th July that part of the misunderstanding in The Bahamas about the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) had to do with lack of information on the subject.  He said that Bahamians were uneducated about the subject and that there was a need for further information.
    Such is the bizarre response of the intellectual thought police in The Bahamas that this truthful message got twisted into some kind of insult to the Bahamian people.  There to take up the gauntlet was the vomit group saying that they wanted to tell Mr. Owen Arthur a thing or two.  Our response: BARF ought to go get a life!  Blow it out their ears!
Top
 
 

MISS FOX HILL

    It’s that time of year again when the beauties of Fox Hill gather as part of the Fox Hill festival.  The festival begins at the end of the month.  This will be the 171st anniversary of the emancipation of slaves in The Bahamas.  We thought that you would like to see the beautiful ladies who will be vying for the title of Miss Fox Hill Emancipation this year.


Top
 
 

FORMER AMBASSADOR’S SON COMMENTS
    It is always interesting to see how the times and the generations see things so differently.   Nothing pointed out this to us more this week than an interview published in the Nassau Guardian with a young man Avaran Collin Rolle.
    Mr. Rolle was featured in the Lifestyles Section of the Nassau Guardian of Saturday 9th July with his locks down to his shoulder.  He is a singer and a recording artist who is Bahamian, the son of former Ambassador to Haiti Frank Rolle.  His father is also a former Member of Parliament.  His grandfather was the pastor of the Zion Church in Bimini and a pillar of the Christian community.  His father is a great believer as are all of is uncles.  No doubt he was raised in the tradition.
    But son takes a different tack from father and grandfather.  When asked by the interviewer whether he considered himself a Christian or a Rastafarian, Avaran Rolle's reply: “Christianity is tainted.  I am Rastafarian which is just a certain way to live your life.  The Christianity based religion today seems like big business.”  Things that make you go Hmmm!
Top
 
 

ALFRED BRAITHWAITE RETIRES

    Dr. Alfred Braithwaite has retired from the Rand Memorial Hospital in Freeport where he served for many years the sole Pathologist.  Minister of Health Dr. Marcus Bethel, among the dignitaries paying tribute at the retirement banquet for Dr. Braithwaite, described the night as “a wonderful occasion, an exemplary celebration for an exemplary doctor who had contributed much to Grand Bahama.   Dr. Braithwaite, a native of Grenada, has a long and distinguished career as an educator, scholar and scientist.   He and his wife of 30 years, Vivian (nee Isaacs) have three children – Nanika, Ricio and Chandre.  Dr. & Mrs. Braithwaite, left, are shown with Minister Bethel and Mrs. Bethel at the recent Retirement Dinner for Dr. Braithwaite.  Bahamas Information Service photo - Vandyke Hepburn
Top
 
 

POETRY FEATURE

Independence Numerology
    This week, Giovanni asks us to “Ponder how these figures play up”…

Consider this numerology, a fun study of
The occasion marking our nation’s birth-date
You are 32 years more brilliant, more blessed
Likewise, at 32 I am a product of independence
Three and two is five and two equals the lucky 10
Hence, we are gathered here this day, to wish our
Island commonwealth all the best of fortune, plus

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BAHAMAS!

Recording and literary artist, Giovanni Stuart – www.nubah.com
Top
 
 

THIS WEEK WITH THE PM

CAC Games opening - Prime Minister Perry Christie (third from left) joined dignitaries at the official opening of the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games this past week at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre.  The Games took place in a spruced up facility and their hosting is considered in the region to be quite a coup for The Bahamas and its Minister of Sports Neville Wisdom.  Also pictured (second from right) is Dr. Bernard Nottage, one of the principal organisers of the games in The Bahamas.  Bahamas Information Services photo - Peter Ramsay



 
 
17th July, 2005
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! 
Please tell all your friends about us.
WHITES COME IN FOR CRITICISM... THE BOYS WIN BIG AT CAC...
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS SIGN A CONTRACT... GAS PRICES TO TOP 4 DOLLARS...
CONFUSION OVER VENEZUELA DEAL... ISLE OF CAPRI CASINO DOWNSIZES...
SENATOR CYPRIANA MCWEENEY RESIGNS... ANTHONY ROBERTS’ STATE FUNERAL...
CIVIL SOCIETY TACKLES IMMIGRATION... IMMIGRATION POLICY IN THE NEWS...
PM IN ELEUTHERA TO BREAK GROUND... MINISTER MEETS WITH CHAMBER...
BURYING ED WHITE... FOREIGN MINISTER BACK IN EXUMA...
30TH CPA CONFERENCE... MISS FOX HILL CONTESTANTS VISIT MP...
POETRY FEATURE... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...
THE COLOUR OF THE FLAG...
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
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return to the top of the page.


PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The Prime Minister, looking trim, fit and relaxed, is pictured arriving with Mrs. Christie to attend Independence celebrations at Fort Charlotte.  In the background is Minister of Youth, Sports & Culture Neville Wisdom, whose Ministry engineered and spearheaded the extravaganzas.  This engaging picture by Bahamas Information Services Peter Ramsay is our photo of the week.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

NOT ONE RED CENT
You all know that this column does not believe that there should have been any negotiations, discussions or otherwise with Elizabeth Thompson, the now former Registrar General of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.  She is now “former” because by all accounts from the press and latterly out of her own mouth she has resigned from the job.  The press said that the resignation became effective on Thursday 14th 2005.  The press says that she was paid some $260,000 in compensation to settle the dispute with the government on her appointment.  She says that she is relieved and can now move on with her life.

According to The Tribune of Saturday 16th July, Mrs. Thompson says that she believes that our democracy has been strengthened by the stand that she took.  She believes that she fought for a principle and that in standing up to the Government the nation is far stronger for it.  The notion is preposterous.  It is hyperbole; self-serving hyperbole of the worst kind.  We can not agree with her.  We think that no settlement should have been negotiated, and that she ought to have been fought in the courts all the way up the Privy Council.  There ought to have been a hard fought  defence of the position of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission that would have resulted we are certain in pulling back from a ruling in law that was not acceptable.

But we also have another view.  The political party that this column supports does not in these times have the stomach for such a battle.  Having no stomach, it seems for any controversial fight, it did not make sense for an Attorney General to continue in this vein.  The way this whole thing has developed is that there is this weak female victim being set upon by the great Government.  The reality bears no resemblance to those facts, in our opinion.  It was therefore sensible to put a quick end to this situation, even at the cost that has been printed in the press.

What we think is that the only person who has benefited from this is Elizabeth Thompson.  We see scarcely any public benefit, save and except that we will not now have to see the embarrassing spectacle of a grown woman's actions at a work place where she was clearly not wanted.  She can go on with her life, but the public is entitled to ask, how many basketball courts could have been built for that $260,000?  How many poor persons could have been helped with food aid with that $260,000?  How many wheel chairs could have been given to the disabled with that $260,000? So while Mrs. Thompson can talk about how her children can now be fed and how she and her family can now rest comfortably and feel relieved, many other people should remind her what other things could have been done with the money which she has now negotiated with the Government to settle her legal dispute.

The whole matter was exacerbated by a clear political agenda on the part of those who supported her.  The same voices that “barf” in the political action group BARF, including a relative of hers were at work politicizing the CSME debate, politicizing the work of the Minister of Social Services.  So it seemed that the whole matter was extended, and twisted and extended because there might have been other considerations at work.  Everyone thinks that it is open season on the Treasury.
 

We too hope that the matter is history, and that the Government has learned its lessons from this.  Chief amongst them is that when people are brought on in contract that in future it is absolutely clear that the terms of the contract are to be followed, and that there is no appeal to any court in matters where the Government needs the desired management flexibility to run its offices.  We hope also that there is more circumspection is exercised when hiring people in these jobs in the future.  There is only one victim here; that victim is certainly not in our view Mrs. Thompson, but the Bahamian people whose Treasury now has $260,000 less than it did this time last week.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 16th July 2005 at midnight: 67,896.

Number of hits for the month of July up to Saturday 16th July 2005 at midnight: 135,480.

Number of hits for the year 2005 up to Saturday 16th July 2005 at midnight: 2,010,061.


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

WHITES COME IN FOR CRITICISM
    The headline in the Nassau Guardian was quite surprising.  Most people would have thought the theme was dead.  The headline said: WHITES SLAMMED – C.B. MOSS WANTS TO SEE MORE WHITE FACES AT NATIONAL EVENTS.  Hmmm! Rev. C.B. Moss  was speaking in the Senate as Senator of the Progressive Liberal Party and the Vice President of the Senate prior to a debate on the Marine Mammals Protection Bill when the Senate met on Wednesday 13th July.  Senator Moss claimed that when he looked around at the national events held over Independence, there were no white faces in evidence.  It is a continuation of the theme that the white Bahamian does not participate in the life of The Bahamas.  We do not think that it stands up to examination but on the face of it we can understand why people say it.  Not a new theme, but one that most people had stopped talking about.
    Pierre Dupuch, who is a white member of parliament, well mixed ancestry but in this country white, responded by pointing out that half the Cabinet did not show up to the national events.  That too was profound.  He also made the point that the events are too protracted in any event.  We are with him there.  Who wants to be sitting in one spot for three or four hours at a time in the midst of the summer heat?  We say again these celebrations really ought to be cut down in their formal character to one hour or less, then let's get to the beach!
 
 

THE BOYS WIN BIG AT CAC

    The Senior Central American and Caribbean Championships ended on a great note for The Bahamas when its men triumphed in the men’s 4x400 metre relay.  The four who participated won the race above an impressive field in a time of three minutes, 1.08 seconds.  This is a repeat for The Bahamas.  The four were happy as larks, and posed for the finishing photo that was published by the Bahama Journal on Tuesday 12th July.  Congratulations to them. Congratulations to the Minister of Sports Neville Wisdom for pulling off a well organized games.  Kudos also to Dr. Bernard Nottage, who was the chief organizer of the games.  From left: Chris Brown, Nathaniel McKinney, Aaron Cleare and Andre Williams.
 
 

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS SIGN A CONTRACT

    There was a happy picture on the front page of the Bahama Journal of Wednesday 13th July of the Bahamas Air Traffic Controller’s Union following the signing of a contract with the Government which brought to an end ten years of negotiations.  The agreement calls for pay and benefits amounting to some 1.7 million dollars according to the Minister of Transport Glenys Hanna Martin.  The signing took place at the offices of the Minister of Labour Vincent Peet.  Sitting in the wings was the Minister of Public Service, the former Attorney for the Air Traffic Controllers Fred Mitchell.  We congratulate both the Minister of Transport and the Air Traffic Controllers, especially their President Roscoe Perpall for the hard work in bringing the matter to this conclusion.  The photo is by Omar Barr, showing union president Roscoe Perpall at left, hugging Senior Radar Controller Percival King.
 
 

GAS PRICES TO TOP 4 DOLLARS
    Leslie Miller was quoted in the press on Thursday 14th July as saying that the price of gasoline in New Providence is expected to go up $4.05 within two weeks and may well hit five dollars per gallon by the end of the summer.  At present the Nassau Guardian reports that gasoline which is price controlled sells at Esso $3.59 per gallon, Texaco $3.64 per gallon and Shell at $3.69.  The price hike has been the subject of some controversy out of the Ministry of Trade because the Minister has been saying that through co-operation with Venezuela he would like to start an Energy Corporation which would intervene in the market to lower the price of gasoline.  This is not something which this column approves of.  The market price of gasoline is what it is, and maybe this will force the public away from its over reliance on the automobile.  Somehow, despite the rise in the price, neither on the fiscal side nor the monetary side does there seem to be any cause for concern to the economy.  Demand is as brisk as ever.
 
 

CONFUSION OVER VENEZUELA DEAL
    The speculative stories continue apace in the press about the Venezuela deal and what it means.  You know that we reported on this site (you may click here for the original story) about the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed with the Government of Venezuela to sell petroleum to The Bahamas and other Caricom countries at a supposed discount.  Despite the public statements by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell on the matter, The Tribune continued this past week with the idle speculation on the issue.
    Once again for their benefit we will repeat what the Minister said.  The Memorandum of Understanding is not a binding agreement on any country in Caricom.  It is a framework agreement and in order for its provisions to be effected, there needs to be a bilateral agreement worked out with the Venezuelans.  The Bahamas has to consider whether this is good for us.  As we said before, the key issue is whether or not The Bahamas Government should be in the business of petroleum distribution and its infrastructure when the present system works quite efficiently.
Top
 
 

ISLE OF CAPRI CASINO DOWNSIZES

    The Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe said that he was blindsided by an announcement made by the Isle of Capri casino that it was downsizing the workforce at its casino operation in Freeport at Lucaya.  The incredible thing about this is with the hotel full of people, demand greater than ever for Freeport hotel rooms and Isle of Capri decides that because it did not get a tax break from the Government, it would downsize its operations.  The matter needs to be investigated, and one thing  especially should be investigated is whether this company should continue to have a licence in Freeport, and whether a more high brow and dynamic operator needs to be chosen that can keep the place open with a full staff complement.  Minister of Labour Vincent Peet is shown at a Grand Bahama conference after meeting with executives of the Isle of Capri to express the government’s concern on the layoffs, which he said could have been better handled.  At right is Parliamentary Secretary Ann Percentie.  BIS photo / Vandyke Hepburn
Top
 
 

SENATOR CYPRIANA MCWEENEY RESIGNS

   Senator Cypriana McWeeney announced her resignation from the Senate after three years in office on Wednesday 13th July.  She said that she is pursuing various private interests but those interests do not include a consultancy with the Prime Minister's office.  Here is what she said in her own words:
    “This is not the time and place to announce what these new ventures are.  They will be revealed in the fullness of time and in the appropriate setting.  What I can reiterate, though, is that I will not be taking up a job or consultancy in the Prime Minister’s office or in any other part of the government.  Those rumours as I have said before are completely unfounded.
    “I believe in the PLP and I believe in the government of the Right Honourable Perry Christie.  I believe that the PLP and Perry Christie are still the best hope for this country of ours.  I believed that when I agreed to serve in the Senate back in May 2002 and I believe it even more passionately now in July 2005 as I leave the Senate to pursue new ventures.
    “I am truly grateful for the confidence that he placed in me.  He is truly a great leader and he knows that he will always be able to count on my full support.  I am a Bahamian patriot to the core.  You can therefore be assured Madam President that I will continue to serve my country.”  Photo from the Bahama Journal
Top
 
 

ANTHONY ROBERTS’ STATE FUNERAL

    The nation’s leaders turned out at a state funeral for the late Rev. Fr. Anthony Roberts on Saturday 16th July.  Rev. Fr. Roberts was also a retired politician, having served as a Parliamentary Secretary, Member of Parliament; a Minister of the Government from 1968 to 1977.  Following his stint in Parliament, he served as a High Commissioner for The Bahamas to London.  Fr. Roberts before his career in politics was a trade unionist, the founding President of the Airline, Airport, Allied Workers Union (AAWU).  He came into the Progressive Liberal Party from the trade union movement.
    There was a military salute at the end of the funeral.  The body lay in state for viewing by the public on Thursday 14th July at the House of Assembly. The funeral was attended by the Prime Minister and Members of the Cabinet.  A tribute was delivered by the Hon. A.D. Hanna, former Deputy Prime Minister who served with Mr. Roberts.  The eulogy was delivered by his Grace the Archbishop of the West Indies Drexel Gomez.  He was buried in St. Matthew’s Cemetery.  May he rest in peace!  The widow Roberts is seen receiving the national flag from Prime Minister Christie after former Minister Roberts' burial and at right, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister among the mourners at the gravesite.  Bahamas Information Services photos by Peter Ramsay.
Top
 
 

CIVIL SOCIETY TACKLES IMMIGRATION

There was a town meeting this week sponsored by the Civil Society Group that found its genesis at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Freddie Munnings Jr., is now its head, succeeding the late attorney Reginald Lobosky.  Its first foray into the national dialogue came in the form of a national discussion on Immigration.  It was an emotive topic and the scores turned out.  Maurice Glinton, who is normally not a public speaker in this way, showed up at the podium to talk about the failure to Bahamianize the Judiciary.  The real treat for the audience was everyone's favourite in this jingoistic time but controversial in his own time, A. Loftus Roker, the former Minister of Immigration, who sought to purge the country of the illegal immigrants half a generation ago.  He lost the political support of his party, and left office.  But today, his name is a famous one for someone who tried to get on top of the issue.  The discussion took place at the College of The Bahamas on Wednesday 13th July.  Attorney Glinton is shown at the podium with A. Loftus Roker sitting and looking on with former Member of the House of Assembly Elwood Donaldson. Bahamas Information Services photo / Tim Aylen
Top
 
 

IMMIGRATION POLICY IN THE NEWS
    The country is going thorough yet another spasm or cataclysm, call it what you like, on the issue of immigration.  What happens is that periodically the country gets in a frenzy on illegal immigration.  The Government responds by rounding up scores of Haitians that are sent back in a high profile manner to their homes.  It usually turns out to be a public relations exercise and once the public gets tired of talking about it, the press moves on to other things.  Now the public is exercised about it again.  This time, they brought out all the voices of “throw them out”.  Chief amongst them was the Hon. A. Loftus Roker (pictured in this BIS photo) who led the charge back in the 1980s to oust the Haitians from the country.  He predicted that country of eight million, with unrestricted flows into The Bahamas would swamp us, a country of 300,000.  That is certainly true but as with all things, there is in fact an effective programme of interdiction.  It needs to be beefed up, but it is not like the borders are completely unprotected.  More needs to be done, but we have to be concerned that we don’t lead this country into one of these ethnic cleansing exercises that many seem to be urging.  Bahamas Information Services photo / Tim Aylen
Top
 
 
 
 
 
 

PM IN ELEUTHERA TO BREAK GROUND

    Congratulations go out to Franklin Wilson (pictured, with Mrs. Sharon Wilson applauding) who with the other leading officials of The Bahamas broke ground in Eleuthera for the revival of the Cotton Bay Club in Eleuthera.  It is a 300,000,000 dollar investment by a Bahamian group.  One of the main progenitors of the investment was the late Albert Sands who sadly died of cancer several weeks ago.  The project is dedicated to Mr. Sands.  On Friday 15th July, the Governor General and the Prime Minister joined Mr. Wilson and his partners to break ground for the new hotel construction. Bahamas Information Services photo / Peter Ramsay
Top
 
 

MINISTER MEETS WITH CHAMBER

    There is a new generation of leaders at The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce.  The Chamber, which used to be a staid organization for older white men of the post 60s age vintage, is now headed by the young dynamic female Tanya Coakley Wright.  Ms. Wright is the head of the Bank of The Bahamas Trust International.  She brought her team of fellow Chamber leaders to pay a courtesy call on the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell on Friday 8th July. The new generation Chamber is pictured with the Minister, whom we believe himself to be a man of the future.  Bahamas Information Services photo / Tim Aylen
Top
 
 

BURYING ED WHITE

    Ed White, a popular business man from Fox Hill, Step Street in particular, was committed to the waters of Exuma on Saturday 16th July.  It was his wish to be returned to the place where he was born.  His wife and family were joined for the committal by the representative for the Fox Hill area Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Bahamas Information Services photo / Tim Aylen
Top
 
 

FOREIGN MINISTER BACK IN EXUMA

    Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell has the additional political responsibility given to him by Prime Minister Perry Christie of working with the Representative for Exuma Anthony Moss, the Deputy Speaker.  For the second time in a week, the Minster was in Exuma.  This time he was filling in for the Prime Minister as the guest speaker of the Exuma Chamber of Commerce at their inaugural dinner.  The Minister urged the audience and the new officers to embrace the future for Exuma and The Bahamas, and not to be afraid of the future.  Minister Mitchell is shown with officers of the Exuma Chamber as he cuts the ribbon to officially open the Chamber's offices.  Please click here to read the Minister's address or  click here to listen to the Minister's addressBahamas Information Services photo / Tim Aylen
Top
 
 

30TH CPA CONFERENCE

    Parliamentarians attended the 30th Regional Conference of the Caribbean, the Americas and the Atlantic Region of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in Bermuda, July 10 – 16.  Head of Delegation was Parliamentary Secretary John Carey, MP, MP Pleasant Bridgewater, Senator Tanya McCartney and Chief Clerk Maurice Tynes.  The Bahamas delegation led the discussion on the Role of Parliamentary Committees in a Parliamentary Democracy. From left are Parliamentary Secretary John Carey, Barbados House Speaker Hon. Ishmael Roett, MP Pleasant Bridgewater, Bermuda Senate President Senator the Hon. Alfred Oughton, MBE, Senator Tanya McCartney, and Chief Clerk Maurice Tynes
Top
 
 

MISS FOX HILL CONTESTANTS VISIT MP

    Contestants in the Miss and Little Miss Fox Hill Emancipation Beauty Pageant are shown during a courtesy call on the Member of Parliament for Fox Hill, the Hon. Fred Mitchell Thursday.  Minister Mitchell told the young ladies how proud he was over their participation in the pageant, which “honours Fox Hill’s unique position in the history and culture of The Bahamas and celebrates 171 years of emancipation… When we develop a sense of who we are, and from whence we came, we can more easily see how much more we can aspire to achieve,” said Mr. Mitchell.  Saturday, the contestants will take part in a judging of their costumes and a float parade at the Fox Hill Parade, with the Pageant to take place on Sunday 17th July at the Wyndham Nassau Resort.  At centre with the contestants from left are Mrs. Janet Davis, Pageant Co-ordinator, Minister Mitchell and Dashanique Poitier, outgoing Miss Fox Hill Emancipation.
Top
 
 

POETRY FEATURE

    Please click here for this week's contribution 'Aquatic Phantasm' from recording and literary artist, Giovanni Stuartwww.nubah.com
Top
 
 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Sir Jack's comments. [10.7.05]
    I was delighted to read that Sir Jack is still vigorous enough to generate an 'outburst' and, from the other information I have to hand, he was quite entitled to do so. He and the late Edward St. George had every right to ask for the money to be 'targetted' and your Government appears to have 'dropped the ball'.
    To bang on and on about 'colonialism' after you have had the destiny of your country in your hands for so long is regrettable... and ... if my memory serves me right, Sir Jack has Bahamian citizenship and has as much right to reside there, with you, unlike a few names that come to mind!
    Remember the words of Abraham Lincoln..." if you have a heart to help, you have a right to criticise!"
    As always, and on this special day, the 60th anniversary of the end of WW2, here’s honouring the part played by your Islands…
John Hinchliffe

With respect to Captain Hinchliffe, whose contribution to Grand Bahama we admire, we think it is fair to say that unfortunately, some Englishmen have a problem.  It is the knee jerk reaction to the word colonialism.  It is almost a guilt complex.  The thing has nothing to do with colonialism.  Jack Hayward and his partner both knew that the gift could not and was not accepted with conditions.  The facts are that work far in excess of his gift was done in Grand Bahama to the schools.  The fact is he could have called the PM directly if he had a concern.  His was a pure political inspired act of spite.  - Editor
 
 

THE COLOUR OF THE FLAG
    The talk about town is that the Ministry of National Security of The Bahamas is going about quietly enforcing flag protocol.  This usually happens around the time of independence 10th July 2005.  It is at this time when people think that they can use the symbols of the country for commercial purposes.  Under the present laws, you have to get permission from the Ministry of National Security to use the symbols of the country for commercial purposes.  Many people have become concerned about the colours that have been showing up in Bahamian flags.
    The official colours are black, gold and aquamarine.  It is usually not hard to get the first two.  It is the last that is the most difficult.  You see deep blue to nearly green, and all shades in between.  Someone in the upper circles must be fed up and the word has gone out that the law is going to be enforced about the use of the flag.  So this year, the flags seemed to be truer in their colour.  Let us hope that this is a trend to continue.  As a footnote to history, it is said that the Government of the day which chose the flag back in 1972 was warned that aquamarine was going to be difficult colour to keep true for replication.  They went ahead any way. Bahamas Information Services photo / Peter Ramsay
Top
 
 

THIS WEEK WITH THE PM

STATE RECEPTION - Prime Minister Perry Christie and Mrs. Christie joined the Governor General Dame Ivy Dumont and Mr. Dumont for the official state reception marking the 32nd anniversary of Bahamian Independence.  Among the other many events on the Prime Minister's schedule this week, was a courtesy call from a special envoy from the government of Cuba.  Below right, Mr. Christie is pictured with the Consul General of Cuba Felix Wilson, the special envoy and Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell. Bahamas Information Services photo - Peter Ramsay



 
 
24th July, 2005
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! 
Please tell all your friends about us.
DEATHS IN BIMINI... THE NORTH ANDROS AIRPORT...
PETROCARIBE IN THE NEWS AGAIN... STORM TRAVELLING...
THE DEBATE OVER NATIONAL HONOURS... BOMBS EXPLODE IN LONDON...
COLINA UNDER SCRUTINY... THE COLINA AUDITORS IN THEIR OWN WORDS...
JOHN MORLEY DIES... PUBLIC SERVICE UNION ELECTIONS ARE SCHEDULED...
RAYNARD RIGBY FOR THE SENATE... PLP FAIR...
A TIZZY OVER JUNKANOO... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...
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
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return to the top of the page.


PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The residents of Bimini have much to cheer about.  This week on Thursday 21st July, their representative Obie Wilchcombe who is also the Minister of Tourism came to Bimini with a team of Ministers.  Bradley Roberts, the Minister of Works and Glenys Hanna Martin the Minister of Transport were both with him.  They led the delegation that announced the dredging at long last of the Bimini Harbour to a depth of 14 feet, which will allow access to all of the vessels to the harbour.  Bimini is built on a huge sand bar and that natural feature prevents the largest vessels from getting into the Bimini docks.  Bimini is the fishing capital of The Bahamas and yachts are getting larger and larger.  This should be a great boost for Bimini’s tourism.  It is expected to take four weeks from start to completion.  It is just the kind of news that is needed now that the celebrations for the Native Fishing Tournament are about to get underway.  You may click here for the full address of the Minister of Works.  The photo of the happy group of Ministers and the contractor is shown and was taken by Tim Aylen of the Bahamas Information Services.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT
There are two startling statistics that barely got a notice when published at the start of the week.  The Tribune in its business section on Monday 18th July reported that the Department of Statistics extrapolating data from the National Labour Force and Household Income Survey from 2004 of 3500 Bahamian households, reported that the youth unemployment rate is 34.6 per cent.  It also found that of the 10.2 per cent of the general work force that was unemployed, 40 per cent of those were under 25 years of age.

If this is a true report of what was collected by the Department of Statistics, then this must give the government pause for thought.  What it means is that one in three persons under the age of twenty-five does not have a job or have given up looking for work.  This comes despite the fact that overall employment has dropped in the year from 2003 to 2004.  Again, we are making an educated guess but it would seem that the drop in unemployment has been caused by older workers going back into the work force.

The figures should alarm the PLP.  There is no quick answer save and except that the government has to continue to push along with its plans to cause more direct investment in the economy both foreign and domestic.  The prediction is that when the construction starts going in earnest, there will be a shortage in the economy of skilled labourers because of the lack of training of the very young people who need work.

In fact there is a suspicion that this is the case today.  The job opportunities in the economy that are available can’t go to young people because when they come out of school they are not skilled to do anything in particular.  What the school system seems to train people to do (and not very well at that either) is to become clerks for the government service.  Every other young person it appears is lined up in their MP’s constituency office asking for a Government job.  The public service already has 20,000 workers, some 15 per cent of the total work force.  Why would we want to put more people onto that force?

The public service might be a workforce to look to but one policy in particular has exacerbated any room that might have been able to make way for new employees.  The decision to increase the retirement age to 65 from 60 has had the affect of clogging the top and not allowing younger workers into the work force.  This was seen as a policy to stop age discrimination when workers who were often healthy and productive were being forced out of the system.  But the weight of the ability to survive in the private world would surely be better at the top age bracket with their experience than with those who have no experience or training down at the bottom.  It is a difficult set of choices.

It is clear that the private sector must become more dynamic, and that means that in the policy of promoting individual and private investment amongst Bahamians, especially those in the small business sector must be pushed and pushed even more.

The Parliamentary Commissioner must in a few weeks announce when he is going to start registration for the next electoral roll, which expires every five years.  He starts before the roll expires so that there will always be a roll from which he can work to have an election, a bye election if necessary.  The PLP has only 15 months effectively left to govern, and we all know that it will be the young people who will determine the election.  If that statistic of 34.6 per cent does not alarm and startle, we don’t know what will.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 23rd July 2005 at midnight: 79,058.

Number of hits for the month of July up to Saturday 23rd July 2005 at midnight: 214,538.

Number of hits for the year 2005 up to Saturday 23rd July 2005 at midnight: 2,089,119.

Last week, this site passed another significant milestone; more than 2 million hits in a single year and barely six months gone.  Thank you to you readers for your continued and growing support.


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

DEATHS IN BIMINI
    As we went to press today there were reports of two murders in Bimini.  It was reported that the bodies of two persons a man and woman believed to be in their 30s and Austrian tourists to the island of Bimini were found shot to death in their rooms at a Bimini hotel on Saturday 23rd July.  Reginald Ferguson, the Assistant Commissioner of Police for Crime is said to be in Bimini leading the investigation.  More details as they become available.  Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe in whose constituency Bimini is, flew immediately to the island as did the police in furtherance of the investigation.
 
 

THE NORTH ANDROS AIRPORT
    There has been a back and forth in the marginal seat of North Andros that was won by the PLP’s Vincent Peet in 2002.  Mr. Peet is the Minister of Immigration.  North Andros has been in the news continuously for the past four weeks.
    First, one of the owners of Western Air which does a good job as an alternative to Bahamasair around the country challenged the Minister politically, telling the FNM women’s convention that she would be running against him in the next election.
    The Department of Immigration sought to regularize the work permit status of Western Airlines pilots.  Bahamians say they won’t work for Western Air because the owners won’t pay for the training of the pilots.  The result is that Western had been granted a series of temporary work permits for their foreign pilots to fly Bahamians across their country including into North Andros.
    The Immigration Department threw two pilots out of the country for fighting on the tarmac of the Nassau International Airport, plus revoking the permits of four more for violations of their immigration status.  The owners of Western Air claimed it was victimization.  Then the North Andros Airport burned down.  Arson was suspected.  No arrests made.  The owners of Western Air said they did not burn down the airport.
    Then the Tribune came with a story that someone died on the runway waiting for three hours for an emergency flight from Nassau to take a sick person in.  Both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport said that no such thing occurred or existed.  The Tribune said residents were concerned about it, when they only quoted one resident who also is an opponent politically of the Minister and representative.
    On the face of it, the story had to be nonsense.  Why would someone wait three hours for an ambulance, knowing that the airport was closed and the Fresh Creek Airport was only 45 minutes away by car and remained open?  Further, no opening of the airport is required for the emergency landing or takeoff of an aircraft.  But such is the silly season of politics that The Tribune throws all the rules out of the window.
    By midday Friday 22nd July, the Ministry of Transport announced that the airport was once again open for normal traffic.   Thanks and kudos go out to the U.S. Government who, it is said despite objections from the stodgy British, got the temporary structures up and moving for use as a temporary airport.
 
 

PETROCARIBE IN THE NEWS AGAIN
    The Nassau Guardian’s Raymond Kongwa has been having a field day with the Minister of Trade and Industry Leslie Miller.  The week started on Monday 18th July with a bare denial by the Minister of Trade and Industry that he did not have the permission to sign the Petrocaribe Agreement which is supposed to be the gift of Venezuela to the region to help it through the present oil crisis.  The trouble is the deal is so darn complicated, we wonder why The Bahamas would want to fool with it.  In any event, there is a need for a bi lateral agreement to be worked out with the Venezuelans and it is unlikely that the thing will go any further.  (You may click here for previous stories).
    Mr. Kongwa grilled the Minister on whether or not he did have permission to sign the agreement.  His answer finally was he did not have time to deal with foolishness.  Then he scheduled a press conference for Thursday 21st July to tell all to the press.  Thursday came and the press conference was cancelled, citing other important matters.   The cartoonist Stan Burnside seemed to accept the point in his cartoon that the Cabinet of The Bahamas was uneasy about the whole thing.  He got that from the speculative stories that have been running in all the dailies The Journal, The Tribune and The Nassau Guardian.  The Stan Burnside Cartoon appears.
 
 
 
 

STORM TRAVELLING
    The fifth named storm of this season Franklin sprung up overnight at the start of the week, just on the eastern flank of The Bahamas.  A strange season indeed.  While in the vicinity of The Bahamas it never got up beyond thirty-five mile an hour winds near the centre but was expected by today to develop into a hurricane but it is well north of The Bahamas.  People looking at it from the satellite pictures, however would have been very concerned for The Bahamas since the storm appeared to hover over Abaco and Grand Bahama.  These are the same two islands that were hit last year by hurricanes Frances and Jeanne.  People here are praying since the country is still digging out but so far everyone is safe from the latest storm.  But it is very hot in The Bahamas; scorching hot.
 
 

THE DEBATE OVER NATIONAL HONOURS
    The Chairman of the National Heroes Day Committee Rev. Fr. Sebastian Campbell told the press last week that he was disappointed that Winston Saunders, the Chairman of the Cultural Commission (pictured) would accept the British Colonial honours, the very same honours that the Commission was pledged to abolish.  The fiery priest said that if Mr. Saunders rejected the honour that he was recently given in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List that of Companion of the order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG), just next to a knighthood, then it would go a long way toward sending a signal to the country on the coming of local honours.
    Truth be told we cannot understand what is taking the local honours so long to come into being.
    A Nassau Guardian’s editorial the same week took Mr. Saunders to task as well.  The facts are though that the Cultural Commission was not established with a remit to do anything other than make recommendations on the subject, not to abolish the British honours.  The Commission did a report in which it argued that the honours should coexist with local honours and the British honours eventually fading out as their acceptance falls into disuse as the nation progresses.
    The fact is there are many who still find that they have more value and currency than any local honours, and in truth and in fact up to now they are the only national honour you can accept since the Government has not brought into being any others.  It is time then for the Government to move on the matter and let’s leave Mr. Saunders and his personal preference on this matter alone.
Top
 
 

BOMBS EXPLODE IN LONDON
    There were three new explosions in London during the past week.  This time no one was hurt by the would be killers.  The police in London are searching for those who did it.  But in the meantime, they shot and killed someone at point blank range that had nothing to do with it.  The backlash is now setting in where a country is so nervous about this problem that the police start seeing evil on everyone with a dark skin and a heavy coat.
    The Bahamas Embassy in London and its tourist office and maritime offices were all safe and the personnel there unharmed.  The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell issued a travel advisory during the week saying that Bahamians travelling to London should exercise the appropriate level of caution for the risk that is attendant to the place that you are visiting.  He said that in visiting London, if you have to, then you ought to exercise extreme care.
Top
 
 

COLINA UNDER SCRUTINY
    We don’t quite know how to interpret this but it does not look like good news for Colina.  You know all of the heartache that the Government went through before it could issue permission to Colina to buy Imperial Life’s business in The Bahamas.  Now the management of Imperial Life is in control of Colina.  There was a bust up in the boardroom and James Campbell who put the deal together with his 45 per cent stake in the company is out, ousted by the Emmanuel Alexiou and Anthony Ferguson who together have 55 per cent of the company.
    Now comes the news that the external auditors are not happy about fees that have been paid to what are called related parties.  That means transactions in this publicly traded company with entities that have someone connected to Colina.  There is also the question of explaining certain large fee payments.  The one that most comes to mind are legal fees charged for example and The Tribune speculates that almost one million dollars may have been paid to a firm in which the principle Mr. Alexiou is a law partner.
    The question of related transactions was one of the matters raised by opponents when the deal went through, and the question is whether given the criticisms by the auditors this is not enough to raise the concern of policy holders about how this company is managed.  The Minister responsible for Insurance Allyson Gibson should be taking a very eagle eyed approach to this company with millions of dollars of Bahamian pensions riding on this matter.
    The Tribune speculated in its story of Friday 22nd July: “Colina’s financial statements are also likely to be seized upon by the company’s critics as proving that Colina Financial Group and its principles are continuing to take large sums out of the insurance company, with the latter helping to prop up the rest of the group in an atmosphere where there is not transparency or disclosure.”  The Tribune continued: “Colina's view is that the company is engaged in a cleaning up exercise on its balance sheet following its recent acquisition spree and bitter feud that saw Mr. Campbell removed from both Colina Financial Group and his position as Colina Holdings President earlier this year”.
Top
 
 

THE COLINA AUDITORS IN THEIR OWN WORDS
    PriceWaterhouseCoopers had this to say as quoted in The Tribune Friday 22nd July 205 about the financials of Colina:
    “Despite having significant arrangements and transactions with related parties, the company does not have adequate procedures in place to ensure that such arrangements and transactions are identified and reported to the Board of Directors on a periodic basis.  Consequently the company’s records may not provide sufficient and appropriate detailed information regarding these transactions.  Accordingly, we were not able to satisfy ourselves that all related party transactions were properly accounted for and disclosed.”
Top
 
 

JOHN MORLEY DIES
    A prominent businessman and realtor John Morley died on Monday 18th July of brain cancer.  He had been battling the disease for ten months.  He is survived by his widow Diane Cole Morley.  He was buried on Saturday 23rd July at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church.  Mr. Morley in this present generation is better known for his business acumen that saw him become a wealthy man beyond his wildest dreams.  He was a part owner of the Mall at Marathon, and a developer of much of the old Oakes Estate which he purchased with his former partner Geoffrey Brown, selling lots to middle and upper class Bahamians.
    The subtext of this of course is that in the black and white politics of The Bahamas of the 1960s John Morley featured prominently being a former Chairman of the Licencing Authority under the UBP, and member of and defender of the United Bahamian Party, the minority rule government that ran The Bahamas up to 1967.
    John Morley was a big supporter of the Free National Movement.  He never seemed to accept that Blacks had the right to run The Bahamas, even though he admitted to making more money than ever under the late Sir Lynden Pindling and even at the end was involved in a revisionist interview on television in which he refused to accept that majority rule had been good for the country.  However, he revelled in his belief that it was Stafford Sands who really invented the modern Bahamas.  On Sir Lynden Pindling who most people describe as the father of the country, he had an attitude of noblesse oblige as in “I did quite a number of things for him. He used to come to me all the time.”
    Mr. Morley was also a past President of The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce.  The Free National Movement issued a statement lamenting his passing.
Top
 
 

PUBLIC SERVICE UNION ELECTIONS ARE SCHEDULED
    The Bahamas Public Service Union and it mercurial President John Pinder has scheduled elections for the last Friday in September.  Nominations for the offices that become vacant took place on Wednesday 20th July.  The present officers are running against one another.  John Pinder, the incumbent claims that he will win because he has accomplished all of his goals save and except 15 per cent of them.  Mr. Pinder though faces stiff competition from Synida Dorsett, who is now the Secretary General.  Ms. Dorsett was elected three years ago on the slate of William McDonald, the predecessor of Mr. Pinder.  She was so popular that her re-election came against the tide that swept John Pinder into office.  Mr. Pinder has been at loggerheads with Ms. Dorsett ever since.
    There is a swirl of rumours around Mr. Pinder who appears headed for a FNM nomination for the Fox Hill seat against the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Public Service Fred Mitchell.  Many are questioning then whether a politician should be getting into the race for BPSU Chair.  Mr. Pinder denies that he is interested in a political race.
    The nominees for the office of President are: John Pinder, Synida Dorsett, and Michael Stubbs.  Executive Vice President: Katrina Marche, Sloane Smith, Alexander Burrows, Edward Moncur and Kenneth Christie.  Vice President: Solomon Hilton, Godfrey Burnside.  Vice President for the Northern Region: Roosevelt Newbold, John Curtis and Rudy Stubbs.  Treasurer: Philip Greenslade, Craig Bethel.  The Secretary General: Stephen J. Miller, Helena Rolle, Gwendolyn Charlow, Sherman Stevens and Ivan Thompson.  Assistant Secretary General: Frederick Hamilton, Deborah Colebrook, Fredericka Ellis and Paula Johnson.   Election for three trustees, eleven are vying: Stephen Douglas, Stephanie Braynen, Vanwright Murphy, Antoinette Bowe, Anthony Robinson, Shelia Dames, Joy Tucker, Bernadette Davis Smith, Tyrone Coakley, Alburn Rolle and Roland Fawkes.
Top
 
 

RAYNARD RIGBY FOR THE SENATE

    The Nassau Guardian wrote a speculative story on Tuesday 19th July on who will fill the senate seat left vacant by Senator Cyprianna McWeeney (PLP) who resigned last week.  The Guardian reports that there is speculation that Raynard Rigby, the now Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party, will be chosen.  Mr. Rigby refused to comment but said that if asked he would be willing to serve.  We think that such an appointment, were it to happen, would be a credit to The Bahamas and to the PLP.
Top
 
 

PLP FAIR

    The Progressive Liberal Party staged a fine fair Saturday 23rd July in Nassau at the R.M. Bailey park.  Tuning up for challenges to come, branch organisations of the Party from the various constituencies all came out to market their specialties and raise funds.  Our cameraman caught up with national chairman Raynard Rigby as he visited with the Fox Hill branch at their stall.  Among those pictured with Chairman Rigby (at right) are Branch Secretary Deidre Rolle, Administrator Altamese Isaacs, Laverne McPhee, Vice Chair Charles Johnson, Evangelist Rev. Irene Rolle, Chaplain, Fred Mitchell MP and Assistant Secretary Millie Bethel.
Top
 
 

A TIZZY OVER JUNKANOO
    The Grand Bahama Port Authority is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Freeport and on Sunday 31st July on the eve of Emancipation Day, they plan a mass Junkanoo parade in Freeport.  They have reportedly offered a $75,000 first prize and they have reportedly paid for 200 persons each of the main groups to come to Freeport to rush.
    Enter the Christian Council of Grand Bahama or one of its former Presidents who denounced having Junkanoo on Sunday.  He called Junkanoo the work of the devil.  Imagine people still saying that in this day and time.  Anyway, the Bahamas Christian Council intervened and the Bahamian compromise has been worked out.  You know the kind that allows you to call it a victory while sticking your head in the sand.   The compromise is that it will still take place on Sunday but only later in the day, so that God forbid it does not clash with the church hours.
Top
 
 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Whites Come In For Criticism... [14.7.05]
    C.B Moss wants to see more white faces at national events... If you watch ZNS, you wouldn't think any white people live in the Bahamas!!  But, maybe in his capacity as a Reverend he should try to bridge the gap!  Rev. Moss, like many others think Nassau is the Bahamas...  For his info there are places in the Bahamas where white and black Bahamians co-exist in harmony!!!  They go to school, work, church, nightclubs, retaurants... wherever TOGETHER!  They have worked together to build some of the most beautiful communities in this country!  And they celebrate independence together!  The independence celebration I attended was well attended by Bahamians of all colours.  And not only did the white ones attend, THEY ACTUALLY PARTICIPATED!!  Imagine that!!  So maybe Rev. Moss can work over the next months to see if he can plan national events that INCLUDE his white brothers and sisters.  Ask a few (hopefully he knows a few!) to PARTICIPATE and see what happens!!!!  He maybe surprised!!
'Abaco Potcake'

Some have made the point that many national leaders don't come.  Editor
Top
 
 

THIS WEEK WITH THE PM

LOCAL GOVERNMENT WORKSHOP - Prime Minister Perry Christie delivered the closing address this pasts week at a dinner marking the end of a training workshop and annual conference for the newly elected leadership of local government in The Bahamas.  Mr. Christie is pictured during the event at the Crystal Palace hotel. Bahamas Information Services photo - Peter Ramsay



 
 
31st July, 2005
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! 
Please tell all your friends about us.
ART TEELE’S DEATH... STAFFORD SANDS OFF THE NOTE; HURRAH!...
MOTHER CLAIMS HEALTH LIED - HMMM!... GLEN NOTTAGE BURIED...
BTC PROFITS TO GO SOUTH... CHANDRA LOOKS GOOD...
TONY BLAIR MORE AND MORE RIDICULOUS... SUPRISINGLY SENSIBLE ANDREW ALLEN...
FREEPORT'S FIFTIETH... JOHN MORLEY’S FUNERAL...
FOX HILL FESTIVAL BEGINS... CALVIN BROWN LOSES HIS BROTHER...
CONGRATULATIONS SIR ALBERT... NEW DOCK IN CAT ISLAND...
POETRY FEATURE... RODNEY SMITH IS ILL...
EDUCATION CONFERENCE OPENS... FOREIGN MINISTER IN PANAMA...
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
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return to the top of the page.


PHOTO OF THE WEEK - Last week on this site, we spoke in our editorial comment about the fact that there was a report from the Government on 34.6 per cent unemployment amongst people under 35.  The PLP is facing a General Election in 15 months and so if the PLP is to win employment must clearly be in the cards.  So you can imagine the delight of the Prime Minister as he officiated at the official launching of the Marina Village at Sol Kerzner’s Paradise Island Resort at Atlantis on Tuesday 26th July.  The Marina Village is a shopping and restaurant complex.  There is a Carmine’s there.  Café Martinique, the famous restaurant for the high end that Kerzner closed when he took over the resort is to be revived.  The idea is to provide more amenities for guests in an expanded resort.  Next step the conference centre, a contract was signed with Cavalier for 50 million dollars to start that.  Then there is the big daddy, the new 1500 room condominium hotel.  The Marina Village hires 500 Bahamians.  More jobs seem to be on the way.  So our photo of the week is the opening of the Marina Village by the Prime Minister Perry Christie, flanked by his wife and by Sol Kerzner and his wife.  The Bahamas Information Services photo is by Peter Ramsay.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

NASSAU INSTITUTE NINCOMPOOPS
During the aborted battle over the Caribbean Single Market and Economy, there was a group that we described in fairly negative terms.  They claim to be an economic institute but they are a stalking horse for the FNM, run, driven and developed by an FNM ideologue who acts like he has a tenth grade education who is masquerading as an expert on everything under the sun.  The newspapers continue to give play to this group of idiots and nincompoops who wouldn’t know economic theory if it stared them in the face.  What they are is a group of ideologues who are intent on destroying The Bahamas, at least in its African incarnation.

Strong words!  But what else can we say to the utter claptrap and foolishness which they continue to publish, week after week, year after year.  This committee of two: the one who sips tequilas at the Lyford Cay Club after a few hours on the back nine, and the other a retired banker (and believe us that is a euphemism) his great emphasis is on making a good deal of showing his Lyford friends how well connected he is.  They both know nothing about international relationships.  They are so blinkered that nothing outside of the European, colonial theatre can pass muster with them.

Over the past week, the Nassau Institute, the nincompoops about which we speak, published a letter to the editor in which they sought to explain to the Bahamian people that the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Leslie Miller and Fred Mitchell, respectively were steering the country in a direction away from our traditional friends.  In support of this they claimed was the attempt to sign on with reservations to the single market and economy and the most recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government Venezuela,

This is a case of adding two and two together and making five.  First, it is entirely stupid and plain wrong to describe the attempt to sign on to the single market and economy as turning away from our traditional friends.  Our traditional friends have been the Caribbean people since the turn of the twentieth century.  We have pointed out before and the Foreign Minister has pointed out that this is a country which was invented by the children of West Indians who came here and married Bahamian women.  You may click here for the essay by the Minister ‘What It Means to be Bahamian’.

Secondly, The Bahamas already buys petroleum products from Venezuela.  The United States does as well and so does everyone else in the Caribbean.  The fact that the Minister of Trade thought that it might be in the best interests of The Bahamas to negotiate some kind of protocol which might lead to cheaper prices for oil in The Bahamas does not translate into turning away from our traditional friends.

What does the Nassau Institute mean when they say what they have said?  They mean that we do not stick with our eyes firmly planted north and firmly in the grip of the European colonial tradition.  Anything outside of that is wrong as far as they are concerned.  They can’t help their racism.  It is difficult to escape the upbringing of superiority inbred over the generations to the point where they don't even realize it.  If you confront the pair of nitwits they will probably say they are not racist, and react with complete incredulity, and then accuse the accuser of racism.

But as they say, if it quacks like a duck, and it walks like a duck it must be a duck.

We think that the Bahamian people must be merciless in rejecting this group of sour grape losers and these Eurocentrics who cannot see the forest for the trees.  A country like The Bahamas has to use all of its voices and choose friends and allies wherever we can find them.  That does not mean in any case that we are turning aside from traditional friends.  We are simply enhancing our international relationships.

We think the Government is on the right track.  We encourage the Government to continue on this path.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 30th July 2005 at midnight: 65,394.

Number of hits for the month of July up to Saturday 30th July at midnight: 279,932.

Number of hits for the year 2005 up to Saturday 30th July at midnight: 2,154,513.


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

ART TEELE’S DEATH
    We were saddened this week to learn that Art Teele, a former Miami Dade County Commissioner had shot himself in the lobby of the Miami Herald.  His demise at his own hand came following the most recent disclosure in the Miami New Times about allegations of corruption and other alleged nefarious activities.  He had been deteriorating in his mind for years as he mulled over the disgrace of being removed from the Commission because of indictments on corruption, and apparently because of mounting debt including debt from legal bills.  It was a terrible end to a great career.
    Art Teele was the toast of the town of Miami just three years ago, full of life and people believed that no matter what they threw at him, he would survive.  They were wrong.  People have a tendency when things like this happen to say that they thought he was stronger than that.  One thing we know now that we didn’t know or appreciate before and that is that suicide is a sickness or disease.  It is not natural to want to kill oneself.  It is the end of the slide, the low point of depression which is a chemical imbalance of the brain to cause you to want to turn on yourself.  It takes a lot of care to spot the signs and a huge effort by loved ones to intervene, if the person is to save themselves.  So Mr. Teele did nothing wrong in taking his own life, in the sense that he was not mentally capable or culpable.  That is why it is appropriate in the new Christian tradition to pray for the repose of his soul.  This is simply a tragedy.
    The newspapers have to accept some blame as well with the relentless attacks on the character of individuals who have no way of defending themselves adequately.  We have our problems with that here too.  One reporter at the Miami Herald Jim DeFede has already been fired for taping a conversation with Mr. Teele without following the guideline which is to let the person know that you are taping him.  The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell speaking from Panama extended condolences behalf of the The Bahamas Government to the widow of Mr. Teele, the former Stephanie Kerr of West End, Grand Bahama.  You may click here for the full statement by the Minister and a report from the Miami Herald of what happened.  Photo of Art Teele from the Miami Herald
 
 

STAFFORD SANDS OFF THE NOTE; HURRAH!
    The Bahamas Government must have taken a decision months ago to stop the production by the Central Bank of The Bahamas of ten dollar notes with the likeness of Sir Stafford Sands, the first Minister of Finance and Tourism of The Bahamas.  The Bahamian economy is often called the Stafford Sands model, built as it is on financial services and tourism.  For his troubles and for his pioneering efforts, the government of the Free National Movement under Hubert Ingraham, the successor to the white minority United Bahamian Party Government, put Stafford Sands’ likeness on the ten dollar bill.  The PLP objected to the matter at the time but the FNM persisted.
    The PLP made it clear at that time that if the PLP ever got into a position to do something about it, the note would be history.  Here you were honouring someone who abandoned his country because Black people took it over; who despised Black people and who even his allies admit was a racist and couldn’t get over it.  Not to be proclaimed a hero in the modern Bahamas.  No announcement was made about it but somehow, the Nassau Guardian got a hold of the news and it was formally announced by a low level bureaucrat at the Central Bank who said that he did not know why the Government made the decision but they follow the Government’s decisions and the Queen is to go back of the ten dollar bill.
    We think that a proper announcement ought to have been made by the Government explaining to the young people of the country why he was taken off the note.  We don’t think the Queen is much better.  Our view is that the country ought to be a republic and we should be done with the Queen.  The Nassau Guardian in its rearguard action to attack the Government on the question did a man on the street poll in which some claimed that the Queen was not the appropriate person because she was not a Bahamian.  Oh but she is!  She is the Queen of The Bahamas, and that seems ridiculous in this day and age but there it is.  Now all we need is for these nitwits at the Nassau Institute to weigh in and the public opinion will no doubt be complete.  Stan Burnside, the cartoonist had his say in the cartoon that we show from the Nassau Guardian of Thursday 29th July.
 
 

MOTHER CLAIMS HEALTH LIED - HMMM!
    Last week, we reported the fact of the contretemps, politically motivated, over the opening of the North Andros airport.  You may click here for that report from last week.  What we are concerned with this week, is that the mother of the 21 year old who died was in The Tribune on Tuesday 26th July, seeking to refute what both the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Health had said on the subject.  Those agencies were not in anyway responsible for the death.
    The man died while being taken back to the clinic.  There was no enforced three hours wait at the airport that caused the death.  The Tribune claimed in their headline that the mother of the deceased refuted the Government's statement.  Except when you read the story what you have is a situation where the louses at The Tribune really took advantage of a distraught mother, whose son is dead at a very young age.  What she actually did was confirm the fact that it was not the closing of the airport that caused the death.  The Tribune quotes her as saying that the son would have died anyway.
    What is reprehensible is not the mother’s comments.  One can understand a mother who is distraught over the death of her son.  It is both despicable and reprehensible for The Tribune to use this distraught mother for their purely political purposes.  So bottom line, the closure of the airport did not cause the death of the young man.
 
 

GLEN NOTTAGE BURIED

    Glenroy Nottage who died on Sunday 10th July was buried on Saturday 23rd July.  The family was led in its mourning by its famous brothers Kendal Nottage and Bernard Nottage, both former Ministers of the Government.  The funeral was conducted at Salem Baptist Church in Grants Town.  The Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie attended along with the Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt and other Cabinet Ministers.
    This touching photo was published in the Nassau Guardian, and in our final farewell to Glen Nottage who gave life to those afflicted with AIDS, we show his brothers Kendal (left) and Bernard in final farewell.  The photo is by Letisha Henderson of the Nassau Guardian.
 
 

BTC PROFITS TO GO SOUTH
    The Minister of Works Bradley Roberts spoke to the country last week when he appeared on a radio programme last Sunday.  He was concerned about the voice over internet protocol (VOIP) that he said is and will continue to eat into the profits of The Bahamas Telecommunications Company Ltd, formerly BaTelCo and now known as BTC.  BTC is a dinosaur.  Land line telephone companies are all facing trouble around the world.  There has to be some quick thinking about how to get this company off the Government’s hands and into the private sector and let them try to make a go of it.  It is probably too late for the PLP to do anything now about it since the government will probably be blackmailed by the trade unions over it, this close to a general election.  However, let there be no mistake that the handwriting is on the wall.
Top
 
 

CHANDRA LOOKS GOOD

    The World Championships of the International Athletic Associations Federation (IAAF) scheduled for Helsinki, Finland are almost upon us.  The Bahamas has usually had a good spot of success at these games.  They are second in importance only to the Olympic Games.  Looking especially good is Chandra Stirrup, one of our golden girls from the 2000 Olympics in Australia.  She finished ahead of the field at the Galan Super Grand Prix on the 26th July in Stockholm, Sweden.  We thought you should see her in her finest form as published in the Nassau Guardian of 27th July.  Good luck to Chandra and the whole team.
Top
 
 

TONY BLAIR MORE AND MORE RIDICULOUS
    We revisit the controversial subject of the bombings in London, and most recently the subsequent attempted bombing.  You already know how much we look askance at the killing by the British police of the Brazilian who was an electrician whose only crime one suspects was that he had swarthy skin and a heavy coat.  An investigation is being held as to why five to eight shots, depending on whose account you read were put into the man’s head at point blank range, even though he was laying on the ground.  The officers should clearly be charged with a homicide.  What concerns us further, is the response of official Britain on the subject.  We apologize, they said.  Another said, we are very very sorry.  But all of them added but we must move on.  It was like the man's life was absolutely worthless.  And then to start putting out information that his visa to stay in Britain has expired.  That‘s good!  It justifies shooting him dead one supposes.
    There is an official report in Britain, by a respected British think tank that says the British Government has made its country more unsafe by linking its fortunes to the botched American invasion of Iraq.  This is an invasion that must lead, inexorably to abject withdrawal.
    The problem for us is the young lives of American soldiers who themselves do not seem to understand that this is not about American patriotism but about their Government placing them in a political and religious quagmire from which there is no escape except to withdraw.  But then what about the thousands of innocent Iraqi children alone killed in this conflict?  No one counts the thousands of civilians killed in this conflict, not by insurgents but by the persons who came supposedly to rescue them.  Tony Blair’s British Government has an answer.  He says that it is absurd that anyone would link what is happening in Britain to their policy in Iraq.  He would also say one supposes in the face of the casualty count of innocent Iraqis; that is price we pay, we are terribly sorry but we must move on.  There are none so blind as those who cannot see.
Top
 
 

SUPRISINGLY SENSIBLE ANDREW ALLEN
    It is a little unusual for us to accept anything that Andrew Allen has to say on any subject.  But his column in The Tribune was surprisingly lucid and clear on the question of the British policy on the war in Iraq and its connection to the bombing campaign now going on in London.  In part, he said:
    “…[S]elf righteous denial of the context of the event is based upon a most simple-minded fallacy.  That fallacy holds that the moment some nutcase decides to use an evil, terroristic tactic, this event breaks the chain of causation between western policy and the anger, much of it justified, that it provokes around the world.
    “For every crazed and imbalanced young man seeking martyrdom, there are many balanced, intelligent voices calling Mr. Blair to account for having dragged his country into one of the most disgraceful and unjustified wars of aggression in memory.”
    Please click here to view the entire column from The Tribune of Monday 25th July 2005.
Top
 
 

FREEPORT'S FIFTIETH

    The City of Freeport is celebrating its 50th birthday... As part of the celebrations a new library was officially opened this past week.  Our Bahamas Information Services photo shows Minister of Tourism and MP for West End Obie Wilchcombe, centre, with Lady Henrietta St. George and Sir Jack Hayward of the Grand Bahama Port Authority doing the honours.
Top
 
 

JOHN MORLEY’S FUNERAL
    John Morley, the real estate agent was buried last week in Nassau at St. Matthew’s Church.  The service was conducted with the Anglican rite.  Some were surprised however by its length.  Usually, the funerals of white Bahamians are spare and brief.  But the report is that Mr. Morley’s funeral was of three hours duration and ten eulogies including those of the Archbishops of the Anglican Archdiocese and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese.  Now there’s an important man, and a true true Bahamian right up to the end.
Top
 
 

FOX HILL FESTIVAL BEGINS

    Glenys Hanna Martin, the Minister of Transport and daughter of the former representative of the Fox Hill area the Hon. A.D. Hanna filled in for the now representative for Fox Hill Fred Mitchell at the official opening of the Fox Hill festival.  This year on 1st August Fox Hill with the rest of The Bahamas celebrate the 171st anniversary of the emancipation of the slaves.
    The festival will have two highlights: on the morning of Emancipation Day, Junkanoo groups will gather in Fox Hill for the annual Junkanoo rush out.  Then at 11 a.m. the Governor General will join the representative and the people of Fox Hill for the annual Emancipation Day service.  The second will be the highlight of the Festival when Fox Hill day occurs on Tuesday 9th August.  The traditional climbing of the greasy pole and the dancing around the May Pole will take place.
    At top: The Fox Hill Parade is alive with colour from the costumes of the winners in the Miss and Little Miss Fox Hill Emancipation Queen pageant.  At rear are pageant organisers Mrs. Janet Davis (left) and Mrs. Charlene Curry (right).  In the photo at right, Minister Glenys Hanna Martin (centre) is pictured with Festival Committee Chairman Charles Johnson (right) and Chairman Emeritus Eric Wilmott as she officially opened the Fox Hill Festival 2005.  Photos - Fox Hill Festival Committee.
Top
 
 

CALVIN BROWN LOSES HIS BROTHER
    We wish to extend condolences to a friend of this column Calvin ‘Lady’ Brown.  Mr. Brown lost his youngest brother Ed who was found in the waters off Potter’s Cay on Wednesday 26th July.  May he rest in peace!
Top
 
 

CONGRATULATIONS SIR ALBERT

    We wish to extend congratulations to Sir Albert Miller who was presented with a lifetime achievement award from the Ministry of Tourism of The Bahamas for his contribution to tourism in The Bahamas and more particularly in Grand Bahama.  Sir Albert is the retired President of the Grand Bahama Port Authority former Chairman of the Grand Bahama Island Tourist Promotion Board and the now Co-Chair of the Grand Bahama Port Authority.  The Bahamas Information Services photo shows Sir Albert modelling the ring, which was presented as an emblem of his lifetime tourism achievement.  At left is Ministry of Tourism Parliamentary Secretary Agatha Marcelle.
Top
 
 

NEW DOCK IN CAT ISLAND
    Minister of Works Bradley Roberts is on the move again.  This time he signed a contract for the construction by Emil Knowles, the youngest son of former Cat Island MP Ervin Knowles to build a dock at a cost of 1.7 million dollars in Cat Island.  Our photo shows Mr. Roberts at the signing.  This is a welcome relief to the people of Cat Island.
    Mr. Roberts also addressed during the course of the week the issue of the New Providence Road Improvement project.  There has been some public criticism of the delay in the completion of the Harrold Road portion of the project.  You may click here for the full remarks of Mr. Roberts on the subject.
Top
 
 

POETRY FEATURE

    Giovanni returns this week with ‘Eternal Damnation’.  Please click herePOET FEATURE, by Bahama recording & literary artist, Giovanni.Stuart (www.nubah.com).
 
 

RODNEY SMITH IS ILL

    The special committee that was appointed by the College of The Bahamas Council to review the alleged plagiarism by the President of the College of The Bahamas Rodney Smith has its report ready but could not release it because the President checked himself into a Bahamian hospital and then out and then according to press reports into a hospital in Jacksonville.  It is not clear whether or not he has been released or what the nature of the problem was that caused him to check into hospital.
    The reports of a hospital stay sent the newspapers wild with speculation.  Chairman of the College Council Franklyn Wilson said that this was not a time to speculate but a time for payer and reflection.  The Committee delayed presenting its findings until the President is out of the hospital and back on his feet.  The Bahama Journal ran a cartoon in Wednesday 26th July which seemed to reflect some portion of public sentiment in the issue.
    The Council’s Chairman Franklyn Wilson is infuriated by the commentary in the press and the connection between the illness and the report.  He told the Nassau Guardian on Saturday 30th July that he was offended by the preoccupation of the newspapers with gossip.  The country awaits the report.
Top
 
 

EDUCATION CONFERENCE OPENS

    The photo was the very picture of charm and rapport.  Minister of Education Alfred Sears and Director of Education Iris Pinder were on the front page of the newspaper in a sonorous set of comments about the education conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers which began in Nassau on Wednesday 26th July.  The conference is designed to review the developments in education worldwide and to look at issues with a view to making recommendations on how the work in the schools can be improved. Nassau Guardian photo of Minister of Education Alfred Sears and Director of Education Iris Pinder by Patrick Hanna.
Top
 
 

FOREIGN MINISTER IN PANAMA
    Fred Mitchell, Foreign Minister of The Bahamas travelled to Panama as The Bahamas representative at the Summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).  There are some 28 countries that are part of the ACS which was formed in 1994.  The countries all rim the Caribbean Sea from The Bahamas in the north down to Venezuela on the South American continent.  The Bahamas worked with other Caribbean countries to get a strongly worded statement in the draft on the transhipment of nuclear waste through the region including the Caribbean Sea and the seas of The Bahamas.  You may click here for the Minister’s full statement.
Top
 
 

THIS WEEK WITH THE PM

MARINA VILLAGE OPENING - Prime Minister Perry Christie is caught by photographer Peter Ramsay being moved to dance as he tours after officially opening the new Marina Village at Atlantis, Paradise Island.  Mr. Christie offered congratulations to the developers of Atlantis on taking an area which was "little more than a walkway" and providing jobs, potential business profits and opportunities for more than 500 Bahamians.  The PM is being led on the tour by Mr. & Mrs. Sol Kerzner.


    Also this past week, the Prime Minister attended and spoke at the first summer youth programme between the Ministry Of Youth and the Farm Road Urban Renewal Project.  The camp was held at the Evangelistic Temple Campus Collins Avenue.  Mr. Christie is seen congratulating Paige Christie after a touching musical performance from the young lady.
Bahamas Information Services photos - Peter Ramsay