bahamasuncensored.com
JULY 2006
Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every
Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 4 © BahamasUncensored.Com 2006
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.
9th July, 2006
16th July, 2006
23rd July, 2006
30th July, 2006
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|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - It
was a glorious service, full of pageantry and drama. There were all
the Bishops from the Caribbean, led by the Bahamian Archbishop Drexel Gomez.
Even the Roman Catholic hierarchy in The Bahamas showed up in the persons
of the Archbishop Patrick Pinder and Monsignor Preston Moss. The
leaders of the state were there led by the Governor General Arthur D. Hanna
and Mrs. Hanna, Prime Minister Perry Christie and Mrs. Christie, several
Cabinet Ministers and the Leader of the Opposition Hubert Ingraham and
several FNM Parliamentarians. The Christ Church Cathedral was packed,
and seats had to be provided outside. It was simply glorious.
This was the ordination and consecration of the Bishop coadjutor of the
Anglican Church in The Bahamas Laish Zane Boyd. In the midst of his
wife, children, other family, friends and the wider community, he pledged
to take on the responsibilities with the help of God. The community
applauded, and for three hours the time was lost in the beautiful music,
including fine singing, ancient hymns, blended trumpets, the pipe organ
at its best. It all took place on Thursday 29th June. The photo
of the consecration by Donald Knowles is our photo of the week. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
WHAT IS ANGLICANISM?
As
the country watched the consecration of Laish Zane Boyd on Thursday 29th
June as only the fifth Bahamian bishop of the diocese of The Bahamas (only
two diocesans), it was watching history take place. Bahamian Anglicans
chose Drexel Gomez to succeed Michael Eldon. Archbishop Gomez brought
to the church the international dimension and involvement in the world
community; less emphasis on evangelizing and proselytizing. His predecessor
Michael Eldon had a reputation for pastoral care. Archbishop Gomez
took the church in The Bahamas to historic heights by bringing the office
of Archbishop the Province of the West Indies to The Bahamas. Now
he was arranging for the hand-off to his successor. This is a great
example of how leadership ought to act.
By all accounts the Archbishop is a healthy man, with a strong intellectual
gift that is useful throughout the world. While there have been some
mutterings about the involvement in the international debate on human sexuality;
that it is not an issue for the Bahamian church, he has heightened the
profile of the West Indian province in the world. What is often a
problem in many small countries, indeed third world countries is that many
leaders don’t know when it is time to go. They stay until the bitter
end, leaving their flock in total disarray and in bitterness. This
is not to be the fate of Archbishop Gomez. The choice of Laish Boyd
has gone down well in the community. It seems just right. It
appears that it was done with a minimum of acrimony and in 2008 when the
Archbishop demits office, there is to be a smooth transition to a new diocesan.
Many people keep saying that Anglicanism is at the crossroads.
This is because the American and Canadian Churches, to a lesser extent
the Australian and New Zealand Churches , have decided that they will deal
with the issues of humans sexuality by fully involving homosexuals in the
life of the church including to the level of Bishop. It set off a
crisis in the Anglican Communion in the United States and Canada, and certainly
in the world. The Archbishop of Canterbury who is the titular head
of the Church called together a Commission to study the matter and make
recommendations about the issue to the world wide communion. You
may click
here for a copy of that report called the Windsor Report.
The essence of the report was that the American and Canadian churches
should refrain from ordaining any further homosexual Bishops and that there
should be no further blessing of same sex unions. The Archbishop
in The Bahamas like other third world prelates was vocal in his opposition
to what the American church had done, and vocal in his opposition to homosexual
priests in the Anglican Church. He said that he would not countenance
a homosexual priest in the church in The Bahamas. The whole issue
threatened to break the loose bonds of what was really a politically created
church that ultimately served the purposes of the British colonial power.
Unfortunately issues like this are never just black and white.
It was no surprise then that with a new Bishop on the way to be chosen
and as the requests for interviews came and were honoured by Bishop Boyd,
that the issue would be placed squarely on him. Bishop Boyd is from a younger
generation being born in 1961. The views on human sexuality in that generation
are more tolerant. However, he is not the man in control and the
traditional teachings of the church are very certain on this, and have
been reaffirmed by the Anglican Communion in this province through the
voice of Archbishop Gomez. It is really a marketing decision where
uncertainty on the question will cause a run on the church’s membership
in a homophobic society.
When the question was asked of the putative Bishop on last week’s
Love 97 programme, what his view was on the question of homosexuality in
the church and amongst priests, the commentator Wendall Jones said that
the Bishop took a long pause to answer. What came next though
was a thoughtful and careful answer.
Bishop Boyd said: “The church is open to everyone but the reality
is the whole question of sexuality is one area in which I don’t think the
church has been very honest.
“Now why do I say that? We know that homosexuality is a reality,
that it is something that occurs in six or seven percent of the human population.
It is a subject that we as a church seem to be afraid to discuss.
We cannot deny that there are many, many persons who live struggling with
this reality.”
As to how he would deal with an openly homosexual priest: “That would
present some difficulties. That would present some difficulties because
the traditional teachings of the church on the question of sexuality has
been, as it is, that homosexuality is wrong.
“We really need to be careful that we honour the traditional teachings
of the church while at the same time we are prepared to be compassionate
and we are prepared to affirm the gifts that everybody has. That’s
all I’m prepared to say at this time.
“The church needs to be a place where we encourage persons to be
honest with themselves and also to understand the very complex issue of
human sexuality because human sexuality is not a simple issue. It
is very, very complex and I think the church needs to be a place where
we encourage that honest discussion so that we may help our people to be
their full selves and to learn how to love and accept themselves.”
Dr.
John Holder who is the Bishop of Barbados and was Bishop Boyd’s Professor
at Codrington College, delivered the sermon and addressed the issue in
similar terms. In a masterful sermon and in reassuring terms he posited
that the extremes that were being advanced of conservatism on the one hand
and liberalism on the other hand on the discussion of human sexuality were
just extremes and there must be an Anglican middle way. He cautioned
the new Bishop to be careful of the company he keeps and be careful that
he didn’t feed the need of the regional press for instant answers on every
question. Please click here for
Bishop Holder's full sermon.
Bishop Boyd will for the moment continue as the Rector of the Holy
Cross parish until 31st December 2006. He then moves into the careful
tutelage of Archbishop Gomez until 2008 when with the help of God he becomes
the Bishop of the diocese. One era will have passed away and we will
enter a new phase. Many people, are watching because Anglicans are
uncertain about what their church believes, the changes of accepting women
priests, the uncertainties over human sexuality: all of these are challenges
that the new Bishop will have to provide some leadership on. A failure
to provide certainty could lead to schism and to an exodus to the certainty
of Roman Catholicism or the anti intellectualism of fundamentalist Christianity.
The latter would be bad for this society.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 1st July 2006 at midnight:
85,273.
Number of hits for the month of June up to Friday 30th June 2006
at midnight: 422,621.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 1st July 2006 at
midnight: 2,533,404.
TOP: Father Laish
Boyd awaits his consecration in deep thought; ABOVE: Roman Catholics Archbishop
Patrick Pinder and Monsignor Preston Moss on their way to the consecration.
Photos by Peter Ramsay
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
THE
MISLEADERS OF THE TEACHERS UNION
Ida Poitier and Belinda Wilson are at it again, the President and the Secretary
General of the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT). This time having
walked out of the negotiations with the Minister of Education Alfred Sears
(pictured) without allowing him to finish what the Government wished to
offer on salaries, they ordered the teachers to withdraw their goodwill
and work in the summer activities of the school system. This included
Report Card Day on Thursday 29th June. Ida Poitier claimed that they
had the full support of the teachers on that score.
The Minister of Education said that the actions
of the Bahamas Union of Teacher’s leaders were misguided. It turned
out that he was right. The teachers ignored the request of their
leadership and the teachers turned up to ensure that grades were presented
as scheduled. In Grand Bahama there was one hundred per cent compliance
with the Ministry of Education. In New Providence, the overall participation
in the unlawful industrial action was under twenty per cent. What
is going on here? It is clear that the teachers are sending a signal
to the government that they are sick and tired of the antics of their leadership
and they want the Government to take the lead and pay the money.
If the Government does pay, this will be the most
significant pay and benefits paid to any professional class within the
public service when one adds the fact that the entry level pay of teachers
is to rise from $21,000 per annum to $27,000 per annum over the life of
the contract. Further, the Government will be paying the same per
capita amount over the life of the contract as they offered to doctors
and nurses. The BUT's leadership still wants more. They are
pushing the envelope as they have throughout the negotiations where their
view seems to have been: “My way or the highway!”
You are dealing with two leaders, or more properly
misleaders who have intemperate dispositions and if they are not careful
will break up the union. Since the announcement of the pay increases,
teachers have been calling the Government and asking the Government to
ignore their union and pay the increases directly on to their salaries.
The Minister of Education Alfred Sears speaking at a press conference on
Friday 30th June said that the Government did not want to be irresponsible
and that the payments had to await the conclusion of an agreement.
We are on the side of those who say that the Government
must take decisive action. It is clear that the attitudes of the
two leaders of the BUT are unacceptably irresponsible. The Government
must now act in the best interests of the system even if it means that
the BUT will crack under the strain of the foolishness of their own leadership.
The national interest demands it.
Bahama Journal photo
WHAT
WAS THAT DAME IVY?
When you become Governor General it means that you are out of the politics
of the country no matter what political stripe you were before you got
to the job. This applies to those who actually are Governor General
and those who are no longer in the post and are retired. Interventions
in public should be neutral, non partisan and more importantly not perceived
to influence or attempt to influence in any way the general political debate
in the country. In fact reporters themselves ought to know better
than to even raise certain questions to those who are in the job or who
are former occupants in the job. Sir Gerald Cash, the country’s second
Bahamian Governor General so scrupulously adhered to that creed that he
did not even vote in general elections.
The public woke up to their newspapers on Monday
26th June to find that Dame Ivy Dumont, the former Governor General was
being quoted liberally in a story in The Tribune on Monday 26th June about
an apparent breakdown in communication between the Minister and the Director
of Education; the Minister and the Permanent Secretary. All of it
no doubt speculative nonsense to fit The Tribune’s anti PLP agenda.
When you actually see what Dame Ivy said it is really
just a description of the relationships which exist under the constitution
with regard to responsibility for education. The Prime Minister is
ultimately responsible, then the Minister for Education, the Permanent
Secretary and the Director. But the comments placed in the story
as they were by the reporter, juxtaposed with the political comments in
the story about the actual relationships with the individuals at work today
in the Ministry clearly put the former Governor General Ivy Dumont into
a position where it appears that she was making a political comment.
Many people took it that way as well.
We are convinced that the fault is with the reporter
and The Tribune, the latter of which exercises no restraint in the protection
of Bahamian institutions. It was clearly wrong to do so, and The
Tribune is condemned once again for its irresponsible behaviour.
One footnote to history: at the Minister’s press
conference of Thursday 29th June, the Director of Education Iris Pinder
announced her retirement from the public service after 38 years, eight
of them as Director of Education. Mrs. Pinder is the sister of Independent
MP for Bamboo Town Tennyson Wells. No successor has been named.
THE
LEGACY BALL
Each year Lady Marguerite Pindling, widow of the
founding Prime Minister of the country Sir Lynden Pindling, carries on
the work of Sir Lynden in the form of charitable work through the Pindling
Foundation. Its principle fundraising activity is the Legacy Ball.
The ball is held each year just around the time of the Independence Day
of the country. The Ball was held this year at the Crystal Palace
Hotel on Saturday 1st July. The country’s leaders were there including
Governor General the Hon. Arthur Hanna and Mrs. Hanna, the Prime Minister
Perry Christie and Mrs. Christie and Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell.
The tie worn by Sir Lynden in the photo that graces the one dollar note
in The Bahamas sold at auction for $15,000. Photographer Peter Ramsay
was there and we present this montage of his photos from the event.
PM
TO ST. KITTS AND NEVIS
The Prime Minister Perry Christie will lead a delegation
to the Caricom Heads of Government Conference on Monday 3rd July.
At that meeting Haiti will be accepted back into the Councils of Caricom
for the first time since its suspension following the removal of former
President Jean Bertrand Aristide from office in 2004. The seat will
be taken by the new President Rene Preval. The Prime Minister will
be accompanied by the Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell, the Ambassador to
Caricom Leonard Archer and First Assistant Secretary Rhoda Jackson of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
HEALTH
INSURANCE TO COME
One of the most important parts of the PLP’s new
manual for election 2007 will be the fact that the PLP will implement National
Health Insurance. Dr. Bernard J. Nottage, the Minister of Health
was speaking at the annual general meeting of the Chamber of Commerce on
Wednesday 28th June. He told the business community that National
Health is coming and could come in two years. That will be not a
moment too soon.
It is clearer than day that in The Bahamas if you
do not have access to money, then you have substandard health care.
You will die prematurely if you do not have money. Even though the
present system of those who cannot pay being provided free care is a good
thing, in practice too many people fall between the cracks and have substandard
care or suffer from neglect and long delays. It is important therefore
that the PLP fight the FNM on this issue. The PLP can only win on
it.
THE GREAT
ESCAPE
The Detention Centre’s fences or walls as the case
may be appear to be as porous as old shoes. This past week it was
reported that five persons escaped from the Detention centre including
two that had previously escaped and were recently turned back over to Bahamian
authorities when they were interdicted by U.S authorities on their way
to the states from Grand Bahama. This is the third reported breakout
this year. It is clear that something needs to be done to stop it.
One thing that might be done is to make sure that no one is in the detention
centre. As fast as they come in, they should be shuttled back to
their home countries.
There is a need to change the leadership of the
Detention Centre. Edwin Culmer who was shunted over to the detention
centre when it proved that his leadership at the prison was something
less than spectacular, still does not have an office down at the
facility, and it seems clear that there is just not the interest in the
job. The Defence Force needs to be moved from guarding the facility.
The troops are clearly not suited for this duty. The country is constantly
being embarrassed by the escapes and pretty soon if we don’t do something
about it, the governing party will suffer because it will look like it
is unable to provide the most basic security for the most basic facility
in this country. The breakout took place on Wednesday 28th June.
Defence Force guards patrol the Detention Centre in this Nassau
Guardian photo
MARCUS
BETHEL TO LEAVE POLITICS
Speaking in the Senate during the debate on the
country’s Budget, Senator Marcus Bethel, the PLP’s former candidate for
High Rock (2002), announced that he will not be seeking political office
after the next general election. Senator Bethel told the Senate that
he will be returning to private life before the next general election,
and will be watching his esteemed colleagues from the private sector.
The PLP has not announced who will replace him as the standard bearer in
the High Rock constituency in Grand Bahama, to run against incumbent Ken
Russell (FNM).
MITCHELL
VISITS GRAND BAHAMA
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell spent
two days in Grand Bahama from Tuesday 27th June to Thursday 29th June.
While there he met the press to talk about the United States Customs pre
clearance lounge in Freeport. He also addressed the issue of the
negotiations with the Bahamas Union of Teachers. On the pre clearance
lounge he indicated that while closure of the facility in Freeport was
not going to be immediate, there might be problems if the volume of passenger
traffic going through the Freeport airport did not improve and if the security
breaches at the airport were not lessened. There is a reported rise
in drugs being found on board aircraft leaving Freeport bound for the United
States. Mr. Mitchell said that he expected to meet with the U.S.
Secretary of State sometime in July in order to discuss the issues related
to the lounge and to the future of the anti drug effort by the United States
in The Bahamas.
CHARLES
MCKINNEY IS BURIED
The Governor General Arthur Hanna came to say farewell to his old friend
Charles McKinney, the liquor store owner and Stalwart Councillor at his
funeral on Saturday 1st July at the Annex Baptist Church. Mr. McKinney
was more than just that. He was praised for a lifetime’s contribution
to the work of freedom in The Bahamas, and for assisting many in the education
of their children and the development of their lives. The people
of Rolle Avenue and Culmerville, a part of the old Centreville constituency
in New Providence, were represented by Brave Davis Sr., a former resident
of Rolle Avenue. Mr. Davis talked about the many loans that Mr. McKinney
made, the many school fees he paid. He said in so many instances
people did not pay back the money.
Mr. McKinney and his brother George were well known
freedom fighters in the PLP and their business establishments on Wulff
Road were frequented by the powerful in the PLP hierarchy. The Prime
Minister Perry Christie spoke of Mr. McKinney as one of the heroes of the
revolution. Also attending were Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt,
Minister of Works Bradley Roberts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell,
Minister of Agriculture Leslie Miller, Minister of State James Smith, Frank
Smith MP, Ron Pinder MP, Senator Traver Whylly and a host of Stalwart Councillors
of the party. Mr. McKinney was 89 years old at the time of his death.
A
COMING OUT FOR NEW COB PRESIDENT
The new President of the College of The Bahamas
Jayne Hodder was at the Legacy Ball on Saturday 1st July. (See
story above). She was there to accept a cheque from the Pindling
Foundation for the sum of $100,000 toward the Harry Moore Library.
The Library will have a special room dedicated to the memorabilia of Sir
Lynden O. Pindling. It was the first official function of the new
President who was appointed in the midst of angry and bitter statements
in the press about whether or not she was acceptable to the staff of the
College.
It will be the task of Mrs. Hodder to take the college to University status.
Photo: Peter Ramsay
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Clifton Heritage
Prime Minister Perry Christie toured the site of
the Clifton Heritage Park this past week. Mr. Christie is seen with
Clifton Heritage officials Ken Dorsett, left; and Sean McWeeney, centre
overlooking the ocean at Clifton. The Prime Minister saved the historic
site from residential development as a main plank in his election effort
for 2002. The site is thought to be the only remaining place where
the history of the Lucayans, the Loyalists and the Africans of The Bahamas
intersects.
Support for Downtown Redevelopment
The Prime Minister gave encouragement to members
of the business community who have formed into a group to support his move
to redevelop downtown Nassau. The group held a meeting at Atlantis
on Paradise Island Friday.
Christies attend consecration of Bishop Laish Boyd
The Prime Minister is pictured with Mrs. Bernadette
Christie about to enter Christ Church Cathedral for the consecration of
Bishop Laish Boyd, Anglican Coadjutor.
In Step
The Prime Minister is shown enjoying a dance with
Lady Marguerite Pindling during the Legacy Ball staged by the Pindling
Foundation at the weekend.
Bahamas Information Services photos by Peter Ramsay
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return
to the top of the page.
|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - Today
Sunday 9th July is the eve of Independence Day for The Bahamas. Tomorrow
will mark 33 years since the country achieved full self government.
The country is doing well. Our people are proud of their accomplishments
and believe that there is a great future in front of them. You have only
to see the cars driving around town with flags on each side, the flags
that fly at full staff on public and private buildings, the festive bunting
in the colours of the flag everywhere, the people themselves dressed in
the colours of the flag. This is the month of The Bahamas.
It was fitting therefore that the founder of the modern Bahamas Lynden
O. Pindling, its first Prime Minister who died on 26th August 2000 would
be honoured during this week. On Thursday 6th July, Nassau International
Airport got a new name in a moving and colourful ceremony.
The widow of Sir Lynden, Lady Marguerite Pindling headed the list of special
guests for the ceremony presided over by the Governor General, her husband’s
former Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Hanna and her husband’s protégé
Prime Minister Perry Christie. Our photo of the week by Peter Ramsay
of Bahamas Information Services shows Lady Pindling at the newly renamed
Lynden Pindling International Airport. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
WHAT DOES INDEPENDENCE MEAN?
When the debate on whether The Bahamas would participate in the
Caricom Single Market and Economy ended last year, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs Fred Mitchell in his final address on the subject said that the
irony of the whole debate was that those who had opposed the independence
of The Bahamas in 1973, were now the very ones opposing what was a regional
trade pact for the benefit of The Bahamas on the ground that this would
dilute the sovereignty of The Bahamas. It sparked an interesting
round of discussions on what precisely the sovereignty of The Bahamas meant.
There is the thinking amongst the misinformed that the sovereignty
of The Bahamas means that the country and its leaders can do exactly whatever
they want to do. There is nothing further from the truth. Perhaps
in the realm of academic classes on legal theory one can persuade the students
that Parliament is supreme in that it can legislate for anything, anywhere
at anytime. However, we know that in many ways big and small that
is simply not practical nor possible. The fact is sovereignty is
hemmed in by all sorts of real and calculable issues.
Let us deal with a very simple example. There is the question
of illegal migration to The Bahamas. The legal theory is and certainly
the legal responsibility is that Bahamian authorities who claim a sovereign
right over the territory called The Bahamas should be able to protect the
borders of the country. This means not just from the incursions of
a declared war with enemies with guns but also from criminals and other
miscreants, including illegal migrants. Judging on that alone, it
is clear that The Bahamas does not have unlimited sovereignty in fact.
The country does not have the ability to stop the illegal migration.
It is struggling from a resources point of view. It does not even
have the full support of many of its people on how to deal with the issue.
It is also subject to international legal obligations that limit what can
be done with the illegal migrants within its’ territory.
The Minister for Immigration Shane Gibson in his communication to
Parliament on Wednesday 5th July on the illegal migration problem said
that the Cuban government was refusing to take back certain migrants who
had been in The Bahamas for over a year or who had been convicted of crimes
while overseas as illegal migrants from that country. He hopes to
be able to begin negotiations on a new accord that will agree with the
government of Cuba on how this problem is to be dealt with. The fact
is, however, we cannot impose our sovereign will.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell speaking after he came
back from trade talks in Washington D.C. said that it was clear that
The Bahamas had to decide if and how the country was going to integrate
itself into the world economy. The Bahamas at present stands aside
from the international system of trade in which all of the countries in
the Caribbean are a part. We have an application before the World
Trade Organization (WTO) to become members of that body but the application
has gone nowhere fast. When the Government last year sought to join
the single market of Caricom in order to prepare the country for accession
to WTO within a rules based system of trade, there was full scale revolt
led by the same idle and retrograde merchant class that tried to keep the
country from going independent in 1973 and before that had tried to subjugate
the majority population prior to 1967. For the time being they were
able to use the lack of knowledge amongst that majority on a very complex
issue to derail what was the best move for the country. In the next
five years, this is not a problem that will go away. It will get
more complex the longer we delay. This retrograde class did a great
injustice to our country.
Two strands are emerging on trade talks. Trade talks are tied
up with development assistance. The United States and Caricom in
their trade policies believe that trade must be liberalized to get rid
of preferences and border tariffs. This will allow the freer flow
of trade with all countries in both goods and services. The Bahamas
at present has a system of border tariffs and protections around Bahamian
enterprises in order to help boost local production and raise revenue.
The planning for a change in revenue base is rudimentary, and the merchant
class continues to believe that they can protect themselves by border tariffs
and legal discrimination against non nationals in certain areas.
Many argue that this is to the disadvantage of the poor because it results
in higher prices but that argument has gone nowhere. But the preference,
for example, which allows for lobster to go duty free into the United States,
expires in 2008. What then for the crawfish industry that hires an
estimated 20,000 souls who export some 98 million dollars worth of crawfish
a year into the United States? The U.S. has made it clear that if
we want a trade agreement, they would prefer a comprehensive trade agreement,
and further they would want a regional trade agreement because our market
is simply too small for a bilateral trade agreement.
The largest amount of development assistance comes from the European
Union. They will give nine million euros to The Bahamas this year.
As the present Contonou Agreement comes to an end, it will have to be replaced
by a new trade pact. The discussions are beginning now and The Bahamas
is unable to say whether it is fish or fowl. It sits at the table
with Caricom which is the only practical way to negotiate a trade pact
but we care not to be a part of the single market. That single market
and economy is going to become the only way forward into the international
trade pacts that will protect our services industry. Our sovereignty
is plainly limited by these practical decisions that we have to make.
This has been a rather dry economic text. We have left out
the all important cultural aspects that demonstrate to the world that we
have a unique way of life that we wish to protect. But even that
is changing before our eyes with the constant assault of cultures from
all around us by Americans, Jamaicans, Haitians and Cubans to name but
a few.
This is not a picture of gloom and doom, however. These are
simply the facts on this the 33rd anniversary of our independence.
It is time to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done, but it is
also time to think about the future.
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 8th July 2006 at midnight:
96,497.
Number of hits for the month of July up to Saturday 8th July 2006
at midnight: 105,524.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 8th July 2006 at
midnight: 2,638,928.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
CONGRATULATIONS
TO ALFRED SEARS
At long last an agreement has been signed with the troublesome Bahamas
Union of Teachers (BUT) led by the two people who lead, but who seem to
have a specialty in crude and disgusting behaviour. We call them
misleaders Belinda Wilson and Ida Poitier. The real hero of this
piece is Alfred Sears the Minister of Education who must have had the patience
of Job to put up with the foolish antics and silly behaviour of those two.
In the end, the Government gave up nothing and got
all that it wanted. The problem is the leaders of the BUT were too
blind and slow to see a good deal when they really had one. It took
them a long time to get to the point, and they got not a little help from
Bishop Neil Ellis. They finally saw the light. Better late
than never! The public service sanctity is now preserved without
breaking the bank. Hopefully, this crew will now live up to their
commitments and there will be some industrial peace in the work place.
The Minister signed the agreement on Friday 8th
July. He said that the overall package over five years will cost
the government 20 million dollars. The total amount per capita for
five years will be 785 dollars. The total amount to be paid to them
over the five years will be $3900, just slightly above where the nurses
are. They should not have gotten a penny more, given the costs that
they imposed on the country because of their silly antics during the negotiations.
We find it disturbing that there appear to be no consequences for the number
of blackmail artists that seem to be passing themselves off as leaders
in this country. It is a real shame but there it is.
BUT President Ida Poitier, left; and Minister of Education, Science
and Technology Alfred Sears sign a five-year industrial agreement between
the Government and the Bahamas Union of Teachers Friday at the Office of
the Prime Minister. BIS Photo: Raymond A. Bethel
GOVERNOR
GENERAL CITES 'LEVEL OF IGNORANCE'
The Governor General Arthur Hanna speaking at the
naming of Lynden Pindling International Airport said that the level of
ignorance about our country's history "distressing", especially amongst
young people. In addressing the ceremony, Mr. Hanna himself gave
a short history lesson about the forming of the modern Bahamas, noting
that "Once upon a time, The Bahamas was a very different place and that
time was not very long ago. It is important that our young understand
this. It is important that they understand the Distance from which
we have come. It is important that they know that it was a long and
difficult journey." Please click
here for the full address by the Governor General.
BIS Photo: Peter Ramsay
AN
END TO REVISIONISM ON PINDLING
“At the snap of his fingers he could have broken
Bay Street’s back… He could have… laid the rough hand of recrimination
and reprisal upon those who had themselves laid the rough hand of oppression
on the Bahamian people all through the years. But Lynden Pindling
chose another way”.
The address of Prime Minister Perry Christie at
the naming of Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau was an impressive
repudiation of the current attempts to revise history in relation to the
‘father of the nation’. Mr. Christie reminded the country that “all
Bahamians were the beneficiaries of what Pindling and his government did”.
Please click here for the Prime Minister’s
full remarks.
LEFT: Prime Minister Christie at the podium during the renaming
of Lynden Pindling International Airport; RIGHT: Minister
of Transport & Aviation Glenys Hanna Martin resplendent in independence
aquamarine at centre, beams at the success of her event as she is congratulated
by, from left Mrs. Bernadette Christie, wife of the Prime Minister; Her
Excellency Mrs. Arthur Hanna, wife of the Governor General and mother of
the Minister; Chairman of the National Commission on Culture Winston Saunders;
and Marguerite, Lady Pindling, widow of Sir Lynden. BELOW: Lady
Pindling and daughter Senator Michelle Pindling Sands join Prime Minister
Christie and prominent Junkanoos in a celebratory 'rushout' to mark the
occasion of the renaming of the airport. BIS photos: Peter Ramsay
PHILIP
GALANIS SWATS THE TRIBUNE
Philip Galanis, the Senator, is almost single handedly carrying the battle
joined some months ago by PLP Party Chairman Raynard Rigby against the
biased press of The Bahamas. Mr. Galanis who took on the Tribune
several weeks ago was at it again this past week when he sent another letter
to The Tribune indicating that as usual they had missed the point of his
first letter, and objecting to the racist invective of John Marquis, the
Managing Editor of The Tribune. In the process of responding, The
Tribune’s editorialist revealed that Mr. Marquis does not have a work permit.
It appears that the work permit is still pending.
Our view is quite clear; John Marquis' work permit
should not be renewed. Let Mr. Marquis go back to England where he
can cuss this country that gives him his livelihood all he wants from afar.
No amount of disingenuous double talk by them about freedom of the press
and the fear of foreigners can cover up their pure race hatred and political
bias.
The Tribune’s statement about the work permit being
outstanding was like a dare to the Government: dare to not renew it and
face the consequences. The answer is easy, these consequences we
can live with. Mr. Marquis should go and go now. If he were
a Haitian working in The Bahamas without a work permit, this discussion
here would certainly be academic. He would not be here to join it.
You may click
here for the full text of Mr. Galanis’ letter to the press.
INGRAHAM’S
PARTISANSHIP
Hubert Ingraham, the Leader of the Free National Movement and Leader of
the Opposition is an ever desperate man. He used as a pretext for
not showing up at the national ceremony to rename the airport in honour
of Sir Lynden Pindling, the first Prime Minister of The Bahamas and the
Father of the Nation, the fact that he did not get his invitations until
two days before in the House of Assembly. He and other parliamentary
members of his party refused to show up for the ceremony. For that
the radio talk shows bashed him and his colleagues for being petty and
ridiculous.
As it turns out, Mr. Ingraham actually misled the
country and the House of Assembly about the invitations. Mr. Ingraham
out of his own mouth said to the House that he got an invitation but the
invitation that he received two weeks before was that of the spouse of
Delores Ingraham his wife, the headmistress at a government high school.
It also included the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham. He was miffed about
that. The fact is he got an invitation.
In any event Mr. Ingraham's invitation as Leader
of the Opposition was according to Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe
delivered two weeks before. What Mr. Ingraham was talking about were
the extra five invitations that the Government decided to issue on the
day of the House of Assembly meeting, the day before he event Wednesday
5th July. These invitations were meant to be given to FNM supporters
who would have liked to attend the meeting. Alas their leaders chose
to do otherwise. It backfired badly on them.
Nassau Guardian photo
WHY
INGRAHAM CALLS FOR PARTY UNITY
Beware of This Man
Hubert Ingraham
The Master Triple Dipper of The Bahamas
|
The latest comments from Hubert Ingraham speaking at
a service for one of his meritorious councillors - a 92 year old - confirms
what we have been reporting in this column all along. His party is
in deep, deep doo doo. We have been saying for weeks that he has
a problem with party unity. The FNM mainstream is so cheezed off
at the way he has abused them that they have decided that in this next
general election they will sit on their hands. Tennyson Wells, the
MP for Bamboo Town (Independent) has been almost single handedly carrying
the battle against Mr. Ingraham’s perfidy. He has gotten some help
from MP Pierre Dupuch. But now Algernon Allen, another of Mr. Ingraham’s
former Cabinet Ministers has predicted that the PLP will win, even though
there will be casualties.
The former FNM Minister said that the PLP will win
26 seats and the FNM 14. Mr. Allen said that Mr. Ingraham has gutted
the FNM, cut it off from its history. He says that the party is actually
Mr. Ingraham’s party and does not in any way resemble the party of Sir
Kendal Isaacs and Sir Cecil Wallace Whitfield. He said a party that
is cut off from its roots and its history cannot survive. It was
a damming indictment. Mr. Allen said that Prime Minister Perry Christie
has a heart of gold.
You know of the difficulties Mr. Ingraham has had
simply to name candidates. He has a party in full revolt after making
sure that no one who was loyal to former leader Tommy Turnquest could get
a place on the FNM’s ticket. We reported
the dissent. Now the situation has become public with Mr. Ingraham
calling for party unity, saying at the service for the meritorious councillor
that the FNM can only prevail if there is unity. Duh! He called it
“urgent and compelling”. Ah well! A little too late, we would
say. Mr. Ingraham's comments were made on Friday 7th July at FNM
Party Headquarters marking the passing of MC Christopher Roberts.
The comments were reported in the Nassau Guardian on Saturday 8th July.
Mr. Allen’s comments were made on Tuesday 4th July and were reported in
the Nassau Guardian on Wednesday 5th July.
THE
FAKER OF FOX HILL
There is a woman who is going around the Fox Hill
constituency who says that she is the FNM nominee for the Fox Hill constituency.
She is not. The FNM has no nominee in Fox Hill.
She says that she brought Sidney Poitier and the
UNESCO Secretary General to Fox Hill. She did not. She says
that her husband built the Roman Catholic Church in Fox Hill for free.
He did not.
She says that she has 2000 signatures in Fox Hill
of support. She does not.
She says that she has the support of the former
generals of the PLP in Fox Hill. She does not.
She says that she is providing jobs for the young
men of Fox Hill. She does not.
She says that she is so rich she can buy what she
wants including the support of the people of Fox Hill. She cannot.
In fact, so desperate is she for attention that
she had to be led into the Jungle Club Bar to be introduced to the people
of Fox Hill. Even though she claims that she is a Fox Hillian and every
one knows her. They do not. She is using a campaign of deceit
and fakery to try to win love and affection. It cannot work.
The people of Fox Hill are far more sophisticated than she gives credit
to them.
She is now known as the faker of Fox Hill.
Anyone who has to use the word doctor in every second line in a sentence,
to remind people that she has earned a Ph D has a serious problem with
self esteem. What she has to explain is how she is going to carry
all that African pride she claims to have into a party like the FNM that
despises Africans, black people and everything to do with them. Her
situation is certainly quite sad.
CARICOM
MEETING
Prime Minister Perry Christie joined his fellow
Caricom Heads of Government at the semi annual conference held this time
in St. Kitts and Nevis in the southern Caribbean from Monday 3rd July to
Wednesday 5th July. He was joined there with all the Caribbean heads
including new Heads of Government from Jamaica, Haiti and Montserrat.
The high point of the meeting for The Bahamas, a
country that is standing apart from the general trend in the region to
become a single market and economy, was the meeting between the new President
of Haiti Rene Preval and the Prime Minister of The Bahamas. The Bahamian
public learned about it second hand because of the lousy press coverage
by the Bahamian press of the events from Caricom. On the day that
the meeting took place, the news personnel from The Bahamas missed the
story, and the country therefore had to be content with second hand information
about the meeting, and had no opportunity to interview the new President
and give him a chance to discuss with them thoughts about Haitian/Bahamian
relations. The meeting took place on the evening of Tuesday 4th July.
The President of Haiti has been invited by the Prime
Minister to make a working visit to The Bahamas.
Prime Minister Christie and his party returned to
The Bahamas late Wednesday 5th July. They arrived just about midnight,
returning in time for the renaming of the Nassau International Airport
to Lynden Pindling International the next day.
The Nassau Guardian chose instead of highlighting
the grand, beautiful and moving ceremony at the airport; to lead with the
headline that the Prime Minister had been in an airplane emergency.
The story was simply that the hydraulic fluid had been lost from the aircraft,
meaning that the wheels had to be put down by hand, and the plane had only
manual brakes when it landed. The fire engines were there for emergency
purposes on the runway, adding to the drama. But to the Nassau Guardian
a totally inconsequential event suddenly became the main news on the day
when the renaming of the airport was clearly the main news. It reinforces
the point that we have made in this column before, the press in The Bahamas
is not up to snuff. They wouldn’t know the news if it stared them
right in the face. Two examples in this piece today should go a long
way toward proving the point.
FREAK
STORM IN WEST END
Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt, West End representative
Obie Wilchcombe, who is also the Minister of Tourism; and Dr. Bernard Nottage,
the Minister of Health together with the people of West End, had a real
scare on Friday 7th July.
The Deputy Prime Minister told the press that as
she had finished speaking on the occasion of receiving the gift of a fire
engine for the people of West End of a fire engine, a great storm descended
on the area where they were, tornado force winds whipped the scene, throwing
bodies around like paper. She said that she and the other two Ministers
were unscathed. However, several people including executives of the
Ginn Group developing a resort at West End received lacerations and bruises,
and one person had to be airlifted in serious condition to Miami’s Jackson
Memorial Hospital.
The DPM said that she was most impressed by the
fast work of the police who moved to protect her in the face of the storm.
No official word on what the weather phenomenon was. It frightened
the daylights out of the persons there assembled. Thankfully there
was no loss of life.
BRADLEY
ROBERTS BRINGS GOOD NEWS TO NORTH ABACO
In a visit to North Abaco on Friday 7th July, Minister
of Works Bradley Roberts signed contracts for the repair of the Government
docks at Coopers Town, Treasure Cay, Mount Hope and Crown Haven.
The Minister noted that he is developing a reputation as the 'good news'
Minister. The docks, which were damaged in the recent hurricanes,
will be reconstructed using hurricane resistant methods known as 'blow
away', wherein only the more easily replaceable elements of the dock blow
away under wind stress, making for easier, quicker and more inexpensive
repair.
Later Friday evening Mr. Roberts addressed a PLP
meeting of the constituency at which he encouraged a "fresh start by soundly
rejecting Hubert Ingraham, who has become arrogant, dictatorial and places
his personal interest and ambitions above the interest and well being of
the people of North Abaco". Please click
here for the full address of Mr. Roberts at the PLP meeting.
BERRY
FEST IN ANDROS
Last weekend, North Andros MP and Minister of Financial
Services & Investment Vincent Peet was in his constituency. The
Minister is shown above with Mrs. Marrieth Rolle cutting the ribbon at
the grand opening of her niece Lorene Rolle’s restaurant ‘Cafe Lorene’,
on 1 July, 2006, in Nicholl's Town, Andros. At left is Ms. Lorene
Rolle’s father John Rolle, Ms. Lorene Rolle and Ms. Clara Evans.
Below, Terez Hepburn sings for the crowd at the
2nd Annual Berry Fest, in Bullock's Harbour, the Berry Islands, on June
30, 2006. As many as 400 people attended the three-day event, at
its new site on Government Dock. Minister Peet is shown among those
enjoying the evening BIS photos: Eric Rose.
ATTORNEY
GENERAL TALKS LEGAL AID & SWIFT JUSTICE
Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson this past
week addressed a trade and legal aid conference hosted by the Eugene Dupuch
Law School. Mrs. Gibson said that perhaps it is time to expand the
system of legal aid in serious matters, so that the state "itself having
an interest in swift justice", would enable the accused to be properly
defended while acknowledging the right of victims and other law abiding
citizens to have these matters swiftly tried. The Minister also gave
an update on her programme of 'Swift Justice', which, she said statistics
show is working. Please click
here for the Minister's full address.
TURKS
CHIEF MINISTER AND WIFE VISIT
Michael Misick and his movie star wife Lisa Raye
McCoy Misick are in The Bahamas on a private visit. The Misicks were
married earlier this year in a spectacular ceremony in Providenciales attended
by Prime Minister Perry Christie, Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell and Minister
of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe who was the best man. The Misicks arrived
on Friday 7th July and will depart Nassau on Monday 10th July.
FRED
MITCHELL AT THE RENAMING
Peter Ramsay, the BIS photographer took this picture
of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell at the naming of the airport
in honour of the late Sir Lynden O. Pindling. In the commemorative
booklet for the naming, Mr. Mitchell recalled how he first met Sir Lynden
in 1969 as a high school student, how he as hosted to a visit to the House
of Assembly and later to lunch at the British Colonial Hotel by Sir Lynden.
He said he never forgot it. The Minister is pictured at the renaming
with Lady Marguerite Pindling, widow of Sir Lynden; a Pindling granddaughter
and Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt.
INDEPENDENCE
COUTURE EXHIBIT OPENS
An exhibit of the apparel worn to the many historic
and formal occasions of the original Independence Day in 1973 has opened
at the National Art Gallery. At the opening of the exhibit this past
week, Lady Marguerite Pindling and Lady Zoe Maynard were among the distinguished
guests who themselves had donated some of the articles on display.
Ladies Pindling, left, and Maynard, right, are pictured above with Allyson
Maynard Gibson after the opening.
BIS photo: Peter Ramsay
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
It Is Time We Grow Up
In reading the online version of the Bahama Journal
on 7th of July entitled “Pindling’s
Gateway” by Macushla N. Pinder, I was both shocked and disappointed
in the level of politics still evident in our independent Bahamas some
thirty-three years later.
As we celebrate the contributions of the father
of our modern Bahamas, Sir Lynden Pindling, by the renaming of the Nassau
International Airport, the Official Opposition would choose to use this
time for petty political mileage. Their excuse for not attending
this event is that they received their official invitations with only a
day’s notice. WOW! How petty can you go?
See, I am of the opinion, as I am sure most others
are, if any one of them had received an invitation, if only verbal, to
attend any event being hosted by an investor, they would have happily made
all arrangements to attend. Albeit, even standing grinning from ear
to ear for a photo opportunity.
I think that it is high time that we grow up!
We are now thirty-three, not three years old. We celebrate the achievements
of people, not necessarily those of the party – while I realize that this
some times is hard to do. We need to learn to give credit where credit
is due.
I applaud persons and entities that have taken
up the challenge of celebrating our national heroes. While we might
not always agree on everything, there are some things that history proves
that have taken place.
Let us not be quick to erase those footprints
in the sands of time, for it is those grains of sand that come together
to form a rock - a solid foundation – to build upon.
Again, I plead with you politicians – TIME TO
GROW UP!
A Proud Son of the Soil,
Keith S.
Independence Day
In the age of terrorism, injustices, denied liberties
and the likes, we in The Bahamas must give thanks.
Give thanks not only to God, but to those who
have given their lives for our freedoms, our liberties. Though we
are young in “dis ting” Independence, we are strong, we are proud and we
are few, but that ought not let us be given up to those injustices that
are faced by other small nests of the world.
I am proud to be a Bahamian, at least I am free.
I thank those who gave their life for me.
God Bless our land, God Bless the Bahamas.
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE, BAHAMAS.
Icelyn Laverne Butler
A Proud Independent Bahamian.
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
In The Blood
Prime Minister Perry Christie demonstrates the elements
of the famed 'Christie' shuffle to Lady Marguerite Pindling and her grandchildren
during a 'rushout' at the naming of Lynden Pindling International Airport.
Unable to restrain his natural inclinations, the Prime Minister, himself
an historic Valley Boy Junkanoo, joins the rushout.
Independence Beating of the Retreat
Saturday, the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the
Royal Bahamas Defence Force staged the traditional beating of the retreat
in downtown Bay Street. Prime Minister and Mrs. Christie (right)
react with delight at the dancing prowess of a talented Defence Force trumpeter
during the event.
Bahamas Information Services photos by Peter Ramsay
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return
to the top of the page.
|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - In
the week when according to The Tribune’s headlines on Friday 14th July,
the press (whoever that is?) was so helpless that it needed defending,
there was an engaging photo taken at the ceremony to rename Third Terrace
East the road leading to ZNS TV and Radio Rusty Bethel Drive. The
photo taken by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services shows Prime
Minister Perry Christie, the Leader of the PLP and Prime Minister of The
Bahamas deep in conversation with the Publisher and owner of the tribune
Eileen Carron. It does not look from the photograph that the Prime
Minister was attacking her or that she was in need of a defence.
Indeed, there is no evidence in the photo of any animosity at all.
It appears from the photo that she was perfectly able to speak for herself.
It is a great pity we cannot know what they were talking about. It
only goes to show that this business of the PLP attacking the press is
a myth, and that the only ones who say that they are under attack are the
press themselves but not because it is true or because they believe it
but because it makes good headlines and will earn a special line in the
annual human rights report of the United States Embassy on The Bahamas.
Our photo of the week is the politician and the press talking to each other.
Perfectly at peace! Hmmm! |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE PRESS AMBUSHES THE PLP
The poor press of The Bahamas. They are so weak, frail and
helpless that apparently they need defending. You know what happened.
Perhaps you may recall. Over the past weeks and month of this year
first the Chairman of the PLP Raynard Rigby, then the Minister of Foreign
Affairs Fred Mitchell, then Senator Philip Galanis and then Minister of
Works Bradley Roberts all pointed out that the press, the institutions
that is, are biased, unfair and down right lousy. Particular fire
was aimed at the importance of reporting the simple facts without editorializing.
Special attention was drawn to the work of John Marquis, the Englishman
abroad, whose views seem to show a hate for Black people and The Bahamas
but who makes all his money here. His work permit is said to be outstanding
and should not be renewed. But we know in the end the PLP will capitulate,
scared we guess of this press that needs so badly to be defended.
The Tribune headline of Friday 14th July read WILCHCOMBE DEFENDS
THE PRESS. The lead paragraph read: “Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe
has stood up defiantly against some PLP colleagues defending the freedom
of the press.”
The story went on to use a number of quotes that clearly were taken
wildly out of context and with a bit of editorializing put two and two
together to make five. The important point though is that the story
about what was said by the Minister proves exactly the point that his other
colleagues made and which when you read the full story, Mr. Wilchcombe
himself also makes. The only problem is the editorializing in the
story put there by The Tribune and not Mr. Wilchcombe is that Mr. Wilchcombe
was attacking his fellow Ministers which he was not. And the juxtaposition
in the story, again editorializing, which gave the impression that Mr.
Wilchcombe, was attacking one colleague in particular.
We think that Messrs. Rigby, Mitchell and Galanis are entirely right
in their criticism of the too often poor writing, the bad journalism, the
tendentious nature of the reporting in The Bahamas, the sleazy political
agenda of the media houses, and the shifting down market to embrace every
salacious and prurient interest that will sell newspapers.
The press needs no defending because the press is not under attack.
What is under attack is the bias and often deceitful behaviour of their
masters, which masquerades as news. In one public piece, the Minister
of Foreign Affairs told the House of Assembly that he wondered why some
of the reporters who work for these newspapers were getting all out of
joint because of the comments about the press. In fact as we have
pointed out in this column, it did not seem to us that anyone was talking
to the reporters. The talk was aimed at their bosses who chop up
their stories, put in misleading headlines and misuse the trust which these
reporters have built up with individuals in the government to obtain information
which they would not normally release.
We think that Senator Philip Galanis who we again report on this
week is spot on as he keeps up his campaign and pressure. It is unfortunate
that when The Tribune was on the ropes for its lack of integrity and the
tendentious nature of its reporting that the words of another PLP colleague
were misused by The Tribune to appear to give them some respite.
But as you can see from the actual words below, all is not what it appears.
In a free society, just as the press is free to attack politicians,
the politicians are free to attack them. The point of concern is
whether politicians exercise political power to prevent access of the press
to public information or prevent them by law or policy from doing their
jobs. None of that exists in The Bahamas, so the notion of having
to defend the press is a figment of someone’s imagination in The Tribune
and The Nassau Guardian; a strategic political decision so they can go
crying that they are under threat.
So much nonsense about the PLP is written in the press and untruthful
nonsense that the PLP must respond to it. The PLP has no voice in
the media giving its point of view. What it must do however is to
ensure that its supporters are armed with as many facts as possible, one
of which is that it is a fact of life that you have a biased press in The
Bahamas and that you should not accept what is written and said in the
press uncritically. Simple as that.
So we consider what was done in The Tribune of Friday 14th July a
political ambush by The Tribune. It proves the very point that was
being made about the ethics of institutions that would do such a thing.
They ambushed the Minister and twisted his words out of their context.
We continue to make the point that the press must be honest.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 15th July 2006 at midnight:
94,698.
Number of hits for the month of July up to Saturday 15th July 2006
at midnight: 200,222.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 15th July 2006 up
to midnight: 2,733,626.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
EMBASSY
TO OPEN IN CUBA
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday
14th July that the Embassy of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas will be officially
opened for business in Havana on Monday 17th July. The Minister of
Foreign Affairs is to lead a delegation to Havana for the opening.
According to the official statement this opening represents the fulfilment
of an undertaking by the PLP administration to provide services for Bahamians
who are in Cuba. When the announcement was made, the local media
immediately started to dredge all the flotsam and jetsam of the political
history to impugn the decision.
When speaking on relations between The Bahamas and
Cuba, the Foreign Minister has always described the relationship between
the two countries as cordial but correct. The Opposition Free National
Movement’s leader Hubert Ingraham insulted the Cuban Government by saying
recently with regard to a vote at the United Nations that the Cubans would
not dare have the gumption to come and ask him to vote for them to be on
the Human Rights Council. He neglected to point however that when
he was Prime Minister, The Bahamas voted for Cuba to become a member of
the old Human Rights Commission.
The FNM seems to think that there is political mileage
to be gained by dissing Cuba, and attempting to make the case that The
Bahamas is anti US under the PLP by establishing an office in Cuba.
They neglect to point out that the United States itself has an office in
Cuba. We congratulate the government of The Bahamas on this correct
decision.
WILCHCOMBE
IN HIS OWN WORDS
On the day that The Bahamas Government chose to rename the street that
leads to ZNS Rusty Bethel Drive, the press chose to ambush the Minister
for Broadcasting, and then quoted words which were designed by them and
used out of context to try to sow the seeds of discord. Of course
the PLP is all together, and the only people who think that they can sow
discord are the wicked mistress and master of The Tribune.
The Tribune headed their pernicious story on Friday
14th July WILCHCOMBE DEFENDS THE PRESS. The Tribune’s characterization
gave the false impression that there was an attack on the press by the
PLP and that the press needed defending. Here is what the Minister
reportedly said in his own words:
“I am a broadcaster, and I believe in integrity.
I hate the insults that are being thrown at the media. It is really
annoying me because politicians love to do it.
“When you work with them, they love you.
When you don’t work with them they hate you. And then they say things
that bring shame and disgrace to me as a broadcaster, and I hate it.
I am politician, but I hate it.
“We [media] are the watchdogs for the state,
so why are we criticizing, the media? Are we criticizing The Tribune?
For what purpose? What are we criticizing the Guardian for?
“I look at what the media does, and I appreciate
that the media, in many circumstances, is privately owned in this country.
They have an editorial opinion, and that’s their right to have an opinion.
If the truth is not being told, you have a way to challenge that.”
The Tribune commented that when the conversation
with Mr. Wilchcombe turned to a recent speech to North Abaco residents
by MP Bradley Roberts, Mr. Wilchcombe said:
“When the politician goes out of line, you have
to bring them back in line. You have to point them out and not be
afraid to point them out because what’s important in leadership?
Character, and what creates character? Integrity.
“If I am going to be lying, what kind of integrity
do I have?
“To hell with the politician. We come and
we go. The broadcaster must recognize that his audience and his public
is who [sic] he reports to.
“We have a free society. I want to see
a better country. I want to see honesty and integrity, and I want
to see the professional broadcaster respected.
“I want to see the media practitioners respected,
and I do not like what we are doing in this country right now. We
pull people down when we think it is to our advantage, particularly the
political advantage.”
BIS photo of a pensive Obie Wilchcombe against the backdrop of
legendary broadcaster H.R. 'Rusty' Bethel by Tim Aylen
WHAT’S
HAPPENING AT THE PORT?
The question in the headline is one that is being asked all over New Providence
and Grand Bahama. The reason is this. Edward St. George, the
visionary and head honcho of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, died suddenly
Christmas 2004. The Port’s management flounders while they try to
pick a successor. Eventually they pick Julian Francis, the retired
Central Bank Governor. He takes up his position on 1st May 2005.
One year later, the cash cow the shareholders had expected was not producing
the milk under Mr. Francis; and with relations between the Government and
Mr. Francis and Mr. Francis and the shareholders becoming testy, Mr. Francis
resigns. The two sides part company with the usual blandishments,
but it sure looks like a dismissal to everyone else.
To everyone’s surprise the shareholders of the Port
then pick a little known Austrian businessman Hannes Babak who is apparently
intensely disliked by the local white Bahamian business community and treated
with suspicion by some Black businessmen in Freeport to lead the Port as
Chairman. The brilliant and adept Sir Albert Miller (pictured), the
former Chair and CEO under Edward St. George, comes back to fill in while
a search for a new CEO takes place.
In the meantime, the rumour mill starts flying in
the company town about a list of people who are to be fired now that Hannes
Babak has his hands on the wheel. The news seems to be confirmed
when Barry Malcolm is let go, but few people shed tears for Barry Malcolm
who is known as a dedicated FNM political ideologue who takes no prisoners
himself.
The rumour mill is further fed when Willie Moss,
the sister of former Foreign Minister under the FNM Janet Bostwick is let
go. Her job is made redundant. It appears that despite the
usual blandishments she is not happy. Days later Sean McWeeney, the
former Attorney General and Senator Sharon Wilson, the wife of the Chairman
of the College of The Bahamas, resign in a very public way saying that
they were not consulted on any of the management changes at the Grand Bahama
Port Authority. That is why the question is being asked.
For our money, it is simply that with the changing
of the guard new people must come in and old ones go. That’s the
way it is and only the PLP in Government post 2002 did not practice that.
The conspiracy theorists say that this is a move to displace Bahamians
at the Port and that more is to come. It appears that there is a
concerted attack on Mr. Babak. Senator Philip Galanis took time out
from his well reasoned assault on the tendentious press of The Bahamas
to make the case that Hannes Babak is not acceptable as the Chairman of
the Port Authority. The jury is still out.
GROUNDBREAKING
FOR THE NEW STADIUM
The Chinese Government is now fulfilling its promise
made to Prime Minister Perry Christie on his state visit to China in 2004.
While in China, the Prime Minister signed an agreement by which the Chinese
agreed to provide a 30 million dollar stadium to The Bahamas for national
Olympic sports and other uses. The design work is now finished and
groundbreaking took place on Monday 10th July in Nassau. The new
stadium is to take its place beside the existing Thomas A. Robinson Stadium
in Nassau. The photo of Prime Minister Christie and Minister of Sports
Neville Wisdom accompanied by Chinese officials and Bahamian sports dignitaries
is by Derek Smith of Bahamas Information Services.
FOULKES
TAKES THE FNM’S SIDE
Sir Arthur Foulkes, the former colleague of Sir
Lynden Pindling both in the Cabinet and in the House, has decided to take
a partisan role in the matter of the naming of the Nassau International
Airport after Sir Lynden. On the radio programme Jones and Company
last Sunday, its host Wendall Jones was incredulous when Sir Arthur maintained
that the airport should not have been named after Sir Lynden because during
the 1980s the country had the reputation for drugs and corruption and that
the international media would see the naming of the airport as a form of
glorifying that era.
Sir Arthur repeated the sentiments in his column
in The Tribune of Tuesday 11th July. He wrote: “Some members of the
media may be tempted to revisit the seventies and the eighties when The
Bahamas was in the throes of a corrupt drug culture that attracted international
attention and will forever be associated with Sir Lynden and his Government.
They will consider why we named an international airport after him.”
Sir Arthur went further to say that the Opposition Leader was right not
to attend the ceremony for the naming of the airport because he got the
invitation late or not at all, and he was not consulted on the naming of
the airport after Sir Lynden and did not have a part in the programme.
With respect, we think that the comments of Sir
Arthur are wrong, misguided and partisan. It reminded us of the FNM’s
position on Independence. We agree with Independence but not at this
time. The question of drugs and corruption in this connection features
only in the minds of the partisan crowd in The Bahamas. What we have
is a situation where Sir Lynden has never been forgiven for beating them
for 25 years. In Sir Arthur’s case, he was dismis
