Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 4 © BahamasUncensored.Com 2006
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
CONFUSION ON THE LABOUR SCENE
The
elections for the nation’s largest union are over but the result is confusion.
All of the positions on the executive have been filled save that of the
President. The incumbent President Pat Bain of the Rainbow Team is
locked in a tie with the head of the insurgent Ifa Justice Team headed
by Roy Colebrook. The two are locked at 1045 votes each.
Last week when we were uploading, the initial shocking results had come in. It was clear that there was a major shift taking place in the hotel union. The preliminary result showed that Pat Bain was leading by a mere 20 votes. All of his team had gone down in flames except Leo Douglas, his fiery Secretary General who had won by a mere four votes. By the time the vote was recounted, and officially certified by the Ministry of Labour, the lead of Mr. Bain had dwindled to the tie we now report and Mr. Douglas had held his majority.
The question everyone asked is how could Mr. Bain get himself into the position that he did? Mr. Bain had built up a reputation as fighter from his time in Freeport. When he ousted the longstanding Tom Bastian as President, he was able to build on his work in Freeport, together with the weariness of members in Nassau with Mr. Bastian to defeat him. Mr. Bain it seems may not have remembered the path that he took to victory.
The
voters in Freeport were most unhappy about the Union’s response to the
hurricane plight of members in Grand Bahama. The voters at the Atlantis
property at Paradise Island voted heavily against him. The combination
of those two sealed his fate.
Then there was the assault by Thomas Bastian now teamed up with the archrival Obie Ferguson of the Trade Union Congress (TUC). Mr. Bastian has been trying to make a comeback to run himself for President of the Union again. He got no traction in the Union. In fact he was prevented from resuming his lapsed membership by a hostile Executive Board of the Union so he could not run. However, Mr. Bastian led the fight against Mr. Bain seeking an explanation for a five million dollar loan that the union took out to cover a deficit in its expenses. Mr. Bastian teamed up with some of the members of the executive who were dissatisfied with Mr. Bain's explanations and the word got around that five million dollars had been improperly obtained, improperly spent, and that monies were somehow misallocated. The fact that none of it was true did not stop the rot. Mr. Bain and his team were never effective in combating the message. The longstanding Treasurer of the Union Arimentha Butler also went down in flames. This is a particularly sobering result.
That
is democracy though. The PLP was watching with interest because it
too as an incumbent faces an election within nine months. The last
thing the party wants to do is to get complacent. The PLP does not
want to have what we call here the Indian problem. The government
of India before the present one lost office even though the economy was
doing super well. They believed that the economy was doing so well
that their victory was assured. But the people at the bottom were
not feeling the good times, they felt left out of the equation and as a
result the incumbent Government lost and the Congress Party is now back
in the Government.
The Minister of Labour Shane Gibson who is off to the annual International Labour Organization (ILO) Conference in Geneva has a task on his hands to plot through the unusual situation which now faces the Union. The law and the Union’s constitution is silent on the question. It would appear that unless a fix can be brokered, the elections will have to be run again with Mr. Bain and Mr. Colebrook. The result would seem to be a foregone conclusion with the swing so strongly against Mr. Bain. It is not clear whether Mr. Douglas should continue in the face of such an overwhelming swing either, notwithstanding his win. The problem always is that people in our jurisdiction often can’t take a hint about when it is time to leave. If Mr. Douglas alone survived he would face unremitting hostility in the executive group in a Union that requires a vote from the Executive Board for almost every action including the issuing of cheques.
Mr.
Bain's situation is complicated by the fact that he is still recovering
from a bout with cancer. It may be that the Minister of Labour ought
to seek a compromise situation where all the incoming team agree to a proper
severance package for the outgoing longstanding executive. That’s
another thing that we like to do in this jurisdiction is to help to kill
our longstanding leaders dead once they are done.
So change has come to The Bahamas Hotel Catering Allied Workers Union again. The incoming team will be heavily dominated by the forces at Atlantis. This demonstrates how strong the Kerzner product now is in the industry, what with Grand Bahama decimated, Cable Beach much reduced and Kerzner growing from strength to strength. The workers at Atlantis will bring a new work ethic to the Union. The old style leadership which was characterized by the angry harangues in which the incumbent Secretary General often engaged would seem now to be clearly thing of the past, and a new type of leadership in hotel trade unionism is ushered in. Let us hope that the new leadership is PLP friendly and also has the same kind of broad sweeping vision that men like David Knowles, Thomas Bastian and Pat Bain had for the Union.
We think that Mr. Bain was a good leader but in democracies very often good leaders also lose.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 4th June 2006 at midnight: 90,763.
Number of hits for the month of May up to Wednesday 31st May 2006 at midnight: 457,418.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 4th June 2006 at midnight: 2,140,973.
Hubert Ingraham The Master Triple Dipper of The Bahamas |
PRIME
MINISTER PRESENTS HIS BUDGET
The country’s annual Budget Day came on Wednesday
31st May. It set out the spending priorities for the next year, the
year of the General Election. The macro economic news is good, with
the GFS deficit back on manageable track. The International Monetary
Fund (IMF) is predicting great growth over the next three years for the
economy. The Prime Minister said that there would be no new taxes
in this year’s budget. You may click
here for the full budget presentation.
The Prime Minister was able to boast that the country
benefited from a 67 million dollar windfall in revenue. The windfall
came through tighter fiscal legislation and growth over what was expected
in customs duty revenue. Recurrent revenues will amount to $1.2 billion
dollars this fiscal year that ends on 30th June. This is an increase
of over 15 percent more than the previous year and 67 million more than
was projected for this year.
Prime Minister Perry Christie and Ministers of Government take the
traditional walk from the Cabinet Office to the House of Assembly on Budget
Day. BIS photo: Peter Ramsay
THE
NEW FACE OF THE NASSAU GUARDIAN
The Nassau Guardian has tried or is trying something
new with the face of its newspaper. On the day after the Prime Minister
presented his Budget to the House, instead of using a photograph to show
the Prime Minister at work in the House, the newspaper chose to commission
a drawing or illustration for its front page. We show the drawing
to you.
In some quarters the use of the drawing did not
go over well. Telephone calls were being made back and forth about
how insulting it was to the Prime Minister, what was the Nassau Guardian
trying to prove. Many people thought it was a caricature in
the sense that it was making fun of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet.
We do not think so. We think it was an attempt to give the paper
a different look. We think that it was meant to emphasize the high
drama of the Budget presentation. But the comments showed us that
this place is really quite a conservative little place. Though it
has aspirations for greatest, change comes slowly on even the littlest
things.
EILEEN
GOES INTO OVERDRIVE FOR THE US
Perhaps Eileen Carron should be appointed the Ambassador to The Bahamas
for the United States of America. After her anti Bahamian performance
this week in The Tribune, the Bahamian people could be forgiven for wondering
whether or not she is ready to give up her Bahamian citizenship.
Of course, the things that she has written in the past in her editorials
showed that she wears Bahamian citizenship like a light garment. You get
the impression that she would give it up in a moment to go back to being
a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies and certainly would give it
up for being a citizen of the United States. Being Bahamian seems
to mean little to her; anything for the bigger bosses.
Still smarting from the cut behind Hubert Ingraham
was given in the House of Assembly by Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell on
Wednesday 17th May when he clarified how The Bahamas voted on Cuba’s membership
of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (you
may click here for the full statement), Mrs. Carron has spent the past
week in her newspaper trying to pick the statement of the Foreign Minister
apart. Her last tack being that the Foreign Minister should apologize
to the United States for saying the following with regard to Cuba: “No
country, unsolicited, has given the level of assistance to The Bahamas,
without that assistance being of direct benefit to the country itself.”
Mrs. Carron, talking just as though she were the American Ambassador, gave
chapter and verse of what she believed were the contributions of the American
government to The Bahamas and how Cuba is against personal freedom and
how the Bahamian people ought to be grateful. The fact that each
contribution named was of direct benefit to the U.S. did not escape keen
eyes.
We hope she gets no apology. Further, we hope
that what she gets is her comeuppance for such silly statements and further
for her inability to support her country. Anything not to support
The Bahamas; any anti Black cause, any anti Bahamian cause, she and her
fellow travellers at The Tribune are busy supporting the other side.
We have said this many times before and its bears repeating, Mrs. Carron
and her family ought to be grateful to God for all the money he has allowed
her to make off the backs of the Bahamian people. But instead of
being grateful, she constantly shows ingratitude. Perhaps she should
now stay home and continue to take care of mama, this time full time.
It is not a good thing for Bahamian young people to see this naked lack
of patriotism towards this country.
GORDON
LOWE DIES
Gordon Lowe, a veteran announcer at the Broadcasting Corporation of The
Bahamas has died suddenly.
Mr. Lowe, who spent some 30 years with the Broadcasting
Corporation, and had risen to the post of Director of Radio Production,
was at a fast food restaurant in Nassau's Mall at Marathon around midday
Saturday when he collapsed. All attempts to resuscitate him failed.
The 58-year old Mr. Lowe was a regular voice over
ZNS Radio before he took on managerial responsibilities. To many of his
fans he was known as “G-Low.”
For the past several years, he was a member of the
Disaster Preparedness Team at the Corporation and spent long hours on air
providing hurricane information when parts of the country were faced with
Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004 and Hurricane Wilma last year.
BCB Chairman Calsey Johnson hailed Mr. Lowe as a
“professional” and a loyal and dedicated broadcaster.
Mr. Lowe’s survivors include his wife Donna of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and five children.
Story from a report by ZNS' Clunis Devaney at www.znsbahamas.comPhoto:Derek
Smith
KAYLA
EDWARDS BURIED
Cultural icon Kayla Lockhart Edwards was cremated on Saturday 4th June.
She was 60 years old. Mrs. Edwards is survived by her husband Desmond
and her children Keisha and Desmond Jr. The funeral service took
place at the Bahamas Faith Mission’s diplomat centre in New Providence
with Rev. Myles Munroe presiding. The service was attended by the Bahamian
cultural community: singers, musicians. She was a beloved figure
who was known for her signature tune “Alla we is one family!”
Despite Mrs. Edwards being a well known FNM activist,
the Prime Minister Perry Christie attended the funeral and brought remarks.
The funeral was also attended by Governor General Arthur Hanna, former
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and Sir Arthur Foulkes. We extend
condolences to her husband, her family and the community of artists.
You may click here for the Prime Minister’s
full remarks. The photos are by Peter Ramsay of Bahamas Information
Services.
BRIAN
MOREE PLAYS TO TYPE
The problem with some pundits is they have an overblown sense of their
importance. This is certainly the problem with many of the commentators
on the American channels like Fox News and CNN. There is this feeling
that they are so important to the course of public policy that what they
say goes. It was therefore quite amusing to hear Brian Moree, the
attorney and commentator and know it all on every subject, take credit
for killing the debate last year on The Bahamas joining the Caribbean Single
Market and Economy. He made his remarks on the radio programme Jones
and Co on Love 97 FM last Sunday. In fact, he had nothing to do with
it. But it’s typical of him to claim credit where no credit is due.
Certainly, Brian Moree was one of the strident,
discordant, racist, xenophobic voices engaged in trying to derail public
opinion. He has yet to answer for example how he could on the one
hand support an immigration report which he authored to ask for the liberalization
of the immigration laws with regard to the banking sector but not support
the same thing in the Caricom treaty. The only difference is that
he supported white people to come into the banking sector but did not want
black people to come from the Caribbean.
Brian Moree claims now that he is going to make
the CSME the acid test for re election to office of the next Government.
Both Craig Butler, the other guest and Wendall Jones, the host of last
Sunday’s radio programme wished him luck but promised him that he would
not get a soul to respond to it. We think they are probably right.
But of course he won’t listen he is too smart for his own good. He
tried to suggest that the debate should be kept at a certain level and
that critics should not be demonized as racist or xenophobic because they
press their opinions. His critics could call his views worse things
like lies or stupid, deliberately misleading but we won’t and leave it
there for the time being. He reminds us of the kind of fellow who
goes home pulls out a plum and says what a good fellow am I.
WATER
GOES TO ROLLEVILLE
Bradley Roberts, the Minister for Public Works was
in Exuma on Friday 2nd June for the launching of the new pipeline to Rolleville
in Exuma. The people of western Exuma have been suffering because
of the lack of potable water. Now the pipes are being extended from
the Emerald Bay project to take the water all the way into Rolleville.
It is soon also to go into Williamstown and eventually into the eastern
most reaches of Great Exuma. We congratulate Anthony Moss, the Member
of Parliament for the area for steadfast dedication to his job and for
bringing the water in. You may click
here for the full remarks of the Minister.
THE
FUTURE OF THE FNM
When the Labour Day march ended, the pundits were
busy trying to read what it all meant for the political parties.
It is clear that the Free National Movement saw it as some kind of political
contest for the attention of the voters of New Providence. They turned
up in their numbers with bright red T-shirts and their message written
in white. The Leader of the Opposition himself deigned to march along
with the mercurial Carl Bethel. Prime Minister Perry Christie led
the PLP and they were there in their scores.
One thousand T-shirts were given out by the PLP,
adorned with the message: “So said, so done”, the theme of the mini convention.
All along the street the PLP and its leader were greeted with wild enthusiasm.
Some of the FNM marchers dropped out of their group and stayed back to
see what the reaction to the PLP was. Try as they might to bring
jeers and make sarcastic remarks they were drowned out when the cry went
up for PLPs to make some noise. What is clear though is that following
on the rally on the Tuesday before Labour Day, the FNM somehow seems energized
and they turned out with a valiant effort on Labour Day.
The FNM had hoped to have a perception that they
are back and in charge. In that they failed. They were even
trying to provoke a confrontation in the COB yard where the march ended.
The PLPs leader wisely told their marchers to continue on to Gambier House,
the PLP's headquarters so that there would be no fights or confrontation
with angry FNM supporters in the COB yard. The future of the FNM
is this: they will get their share in the next General Election but they
will end up being the minority party again.
THE
BAHAMAS IN MARITIME AFFAIRS
Dwayne Hutchison is one of the few Bahamians who
work for the Bahamas Maritime Authority in a responsible position.
There is always a rumour of one kind or another about the powers in the
Authority dominated by retired English professionals; about wanting to
push the Bahamians out of any influence or presence in the Authority and
to relegate them to second class citizens. There have even been credible
reports of those same foreign professionals showing utter disrespect to
the Minister of Government responsible for maritime affairs.
One Bahamian after the other is forced out at the
Bahamas Maritime Authority. Sometimes the Bahamian High Commissioner
is reportedly ignored when it comes to work at the International Maritime
Organization. It is possible reportedly for actions to take place
by the Authority without any regard for the Bahamians who work in the sector.
That is why it was interesting to see Mr. Hutchison’s comments made in
the Nassau Guardian on Saturday 3rd June. The Guardian’s usual poor
writing does not tell us where the statement was made and when but it is
important nonetheless to see what he said in his own words. One day
it will be possible to thoroughly Bahamianize the Bahamas Maritime Authority
but until then we live in hope:
“The Bahamas government should invest in turning The Bahamas into a major
maritime centre, modeling itself after some of the world’s most profitable
shipping centres.
“That is something we need to exploit and explore
a bit more. How do we make The Bahamas more of a maritime centre,
not just registration, but also tapping into the financial markets?
I think the key thing is if we bring more shipping elements here, we will
have a lot more people saying, ‘I want to get into shipping’. Right
now everybody wants to be a lawyer, doctor but the potential in the shipping
sector is huge. That’s something that will be a concentrated effort.
“The outer islands are being developed and most
all of them are getting their goods by ship. Shipping plays a key
part in The Bahamas as an island nation and in the whole global development.
We need to look at how we bring all of these groups together to create
a maritime practice that moves beyond shipping. They need to look
at all of the other subsidiary businesses associated with shipping, and
that’s one of the challenges we’re facing…
“If you ask the average Bahamian what they know
about shipping, it is not known, the important role shipping plays in the
whole maritime sector.”
JULIAN
FRANCIS REPLACED AS GB PORT CHAIR
The Grand Bahama Port Authority’s principals seem
to have cut Julian Francis (pictured) off at the knees with the announcement
that Hannes Babak has been appointed the new Chairman of the GBPA.
There was no announcement from the Port, no word of thanks; nothing. Julian
Francis just seems to have disappeared. As we go to upload, there seems
to have been an announcement thanking Mr. Francis for his service.
We hope that we stand corrected and if so, we will bring you the text of
the announcement in our next upload. However, the press did say that
they understood that Mr. Francis had resigned following a three day meeting
with the principals and that there was some disagreement with the shareholders
about how the management of the company was proceeding. Mr. Francis’
departure is a setback for Bahamians.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
POET'S OUTRAGE AT 'On The Run' TREATMENT
My letting fall upon the counter in disgust,
a package of 10 Peppermint tea bags, which in a few weeks, jumped from
$1 to $1.75, even with some gook having dripped upon the packet, warranted
my being threatened with violent eviction from On The Run on East Bay St.
and Fowler St. The manager, Miller, thought it unacceptable that
I let drop upon the counter, this filthy packet of tea bags; but thought
it acceptable, appropriate for me to be thrown out disrespectfully after
having returned money to me, thrown to me, thrown at me, for another item
I did desire to purchase.
Thought it appropriate to evict me with his security
assistant, who had been busy, with gloves on, preparing and serving up
sandwiches and whatever else in the deli. Thought it acceptable, appropriate
to throw my manuscripts and me outside if I didn’t vacate as readily -
as quickly as he wished.
I am left to wonder about his sense of value
– sense of worth: a customer with a large family and many friends who frequent
this establishment, weighed against a soiled packet of tea bags – the price
upon which leapt from $1 to $1.75 within a few weeks. All I’d done was
to let it fall upon the counter from the bullet-proof glass I’d held it
up to for scanning.
I write because I’m mystified by this response
– by this reaction. I was humiliated. I am deeply offended. I am confused
by this manager’s implication of impropriety on my part and yet on his
own part, it was not unacceptable that my money was flung back to me –
not inappropriate that I be picked up and thrown out. He threatened to
do as much. Not inappropriate that my writing, my work, most precious to
me, be flung outside. This he threatened also with his security officer
removing his plastic gloves to assist in evicting who strives always to
be the embodiment of peace.
The only sword I ever have or ever carry, besides
prayer, is my pen which, oftentimes, these same persons managing this establishment,
relieve me of,
oftentimes in the middle of inspiration – in the middle of writing
– needing to sign when some delivery or other is made in the middle of
the night.
“Something is rotten in Denmark!” said Hamlet.
I say the same of this establishment and what is rotten is not I who was
threatened, asked offensively to leave, as if this deli were the White
House and I some rodent. Something in there is rotten still and needs investigating
by the appropriate authority.
I thought they loved, appreciated and respected
me. I’d not patronize them as I do, as I have were I aware it was otherwise.
I bring poetry down by
taking it there. I thought with my presence and with my art, I raised
them up to poetry. I know now it is not respected nor appreciated.
To find appropriate, all-night spots to hang
out at – to create in, I suppose I must return to Paris of be off again
to Montreal or Stockholm or
Oslo – back to New York or Budapest. I write about Bahamians. I
wanted to be home. I thought I was. There are elements among us though
from elsewhere, wanting to dictate to who is native.
Who I thought were our guests, suggest that who
is Bahamian is here or there or elsewhere in this land only if they say
we are welcome. Who are our guests have turned the table and can decide
upon a whim that I, that we are unwanted.
I might as well be elsewhere. Home is not home
– is not mine – is not ours. I throw my hands up. I rest my case.
Obediah Michael Smith
4:58 a.m. May 27, 2006
http://bestwordsmith.blogspot.com/
--------------------
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
On the march
The streets were filled with the golden shirts of
Progressive Liberal Party members Friday 2nd June as the Party took to
the streets to support workers in the country. Later, on television,
Prime Minister Perry Christie said that it was a unique way of showing
his support and that of the Government for the country's labour movement.
Senator Traver Whylly is pictured at left, sharing a thought with the PM;
Public Service Minister Fred Mitchell is at right. [Photo courtesy PLP]
Mrs. Christie on parade
Mrs. Bernadette Christie, wife of Prime Minister
Perry Christie is shown on this year's Labour Day parade. Mrs. Christie
danced and marched along with the Prime Minister over the four mile route.
US Senator Visits
From Left: Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Public
Service Fred Mitchell, US Senator Tom Harking Prime Minister Perry Christie
and US Ambassador John Rood during a courtesy call by Senator Harkin on
the Prime Minister during the week. Senator Harkin is a winter resident
of The Bahamas and a key member of the US Senate.
Funeral for Kayla Lockhart Edwards
Prime Minister Christie giving
remarks at the funeral of Bahamian cultural standout Kayla Lockhart
Edwards. Just weeks earlier, Mr. Christie made an appearance at a
function to honour and celebrate the contribution of Mrs. Edwards to Bahamian
culture. At that time, he presented her with a framed, formal message
of congratulations.
 |
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - Prime Minister Perry Christie is at his best in the cut and thrust of debate in the House of Assembly. No one can top him in the exercise; a former debating champion from his University in Britain. When the House met on Wednesday 8th June, the Prime Minister led the debate on the appropriations bills that follow the traditional Budget communication that comes just before the start of the country’s fiscal year on 1st July. The PM promoted the Budget that he superintends as Minister of Finance, repeating the themes of fiscal prudence from the Communication which have allowed him to run the country for four years without having to raise taxes and at the same time pay for the social programmes that are so badly needed to reform the country’s social life and relieve poverty. This week’s photo of the week is by Peter Ramsay of BIS showing the Prime Minister in a meaningful pause during his presentation in the House of Assembly with Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell at his right and the Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt at his left. You may click here for the Prime Minister’s full address to the House and here for the Communication of last week. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE FUTURE OF FREEPORT
Last
week there was a cryptic announcement reported on this site that Julian
Francis, the successor to Edward St. George as Co-Chair and CEO of the
Grand Bahama Port Authority had resigned after one year in office.
It is clear that things did not go well, in what we predicted at the time
would be a difficult job and a hard act to follow. One has a company
that is steeped in traditions that are arcane and almost colonial, certainly
run pre Julian Francis in a paternalistic manner under a bright but often
mercurial man. In Mr. Francis, it was to be taken over by a person
who had always worked for someone else, was not an entrepreneur and capital
risk taker himself or in his past; was a bureaucrat who seemed as Port
Chair more concerned about pronouncements on political, socio-economic
matters than with getting business for the company and cash for his shareholders.
The Chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority has to be all things to all men. He cannot afford to be perceived as anti government nor anti opposition. He has to have the ability to call both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, speak with trust to both and with ease to both. The quintessential performer in that arena was Sir Albert Miller who retired last year after filling in for Edward St. George while the search was on for a successor. Now Sir Albert has been forced out of retirement again to hold on until they can find someone to take over the company as the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Port Authority.
The announcement made by the Port's shareholders Henrietta St. George and Jack Hayward thanked Mr. Francis for his work and wished him well in his endeavours. All very civilized. Their choice for a successor however was a curious curve ball: Hannes Babak (pictured), the head of a number of shops in Freeport was chosen to become the Co-chairman of the Port Authority. Mr. Babak is little known outside of Freeport. He started Freeport Concrete in Grand Bahama, but his only venture that is known outside of Grand Bahama is the foray into the purchase of Robin Hood, the purveyors of used electronic goods in Nassau. The Bahamian business element, especially the white Bahamian business element in Freeport is said to be in free fall and up in arms and near revolt.
The view expressed by many and largely whispered around the Freeport corridors is that Mr. Babak is associated with shop keeping that has pushed many Bahamian Freeport businesses to the mat, designed to put them so, and the fear is that in his position as Chair of the Port Authority that holds so much sway over the life and death of Freeport businesses will be to further hold sway over their futures. They are not therefore happy campers.
It is a curious choice from another direction. Why not a Bahamian? In one breath people want to blame Julian Francis for crashing and burning within one year of taking on such a valuable job. But in another sense one must still ask the shareholders why in all of the circumstances another Bahamian could not be found who could take over the company.
The answer is that many of the talented Bahamians have siphoned off their energy in the arguably less productive; some would say less useful and more petty political arena which gives them intellectual challenges but no money. It would probably be a good idea for the shareholders to pull one of these politicians off the line and cause them to head the Port and rescue the reputations of Bahamians.
There is a further issue: does the Grand Bahama Port Authority really have a future in a situation where some argue that there is a need to expend and invest vast new sums in the Port area and there does not appear to be the stomach or capacity from the principals to go any further in that direction? A number of Bahamians are said to be putting together various groups to try and buy the Port from the principals but the response many of them say is that there is a NOT FOR SALE sign on the Port’s door. And some go further and say the answer is for the Government to buy the Grand Bahama Port Authority, end the anomaly of the legal situation there in terms of regulation, leaving the tax preferences and sell shares in the Port to the Bahamian public, finding a reliable development partner in Hutchison Whampoa, the Chinese group that has put up lots of money and is apparently willing and able to put up more to develop Grand Bahama.
Meanwhile, the Port’s economy is suffering. There was good news this week when the PM was able to announce in the House of Assembly that a buyer had been found for the closed Royal Oasis Hotel property but there are other dark clouds on the horizon.
It is a great pity that Mr. Francis has not survived. It behooves the Government now more than ever to concentrate on the future of Freeport. In particular it must think and plot where the Grand Bahama Port Authority is going and who is to own it in the future and what impact that will have on the Bahamian economy. All important questions and issues as Hannes Babak, the new Chair and Sir Albert Miller struggle to make sense of the new game in town.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 11th June 2006 at midnight: 117,485.
Number of hits for the month of June up to Saturday 11th June 2006 at midnight: 147,675.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 11th June 206 at midnight: 2,258,458.
LIVINGSTON
N. COAKLEY DIES
Former Government Minister Livingston N. Coakley has died. Mr. Coakley
was 81. He is said to have suffered a stroke. After two years
of service as Chairman of The Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation, Mr.
Coakley sat in the Cabinet of The Bahamas from 1969 until his retirement
from politics in 1987. Prime Minister Perry Christie has issued the
following statement upon the death of Mr. Coakley:
The death of Livingston N. Coakley CBE has brought
a profound sadness in the knowledge that The Bahamas has lost a founding
father.
I extend the condolences of a grateful nation
to Mr. Coakley’s family on behalf of the Government and people of The Bahamas.
Livingston Coakley will be remembered as one
of the great nation builders of the modern Bahamas, particularly in the
educational development of our young nation. He began as a teacher
at the blackboard in Bahamian education and rose to become one of the most
memorable Ministers of Education. His passion for education and his
appreciation of the unique importance of the teaching profession in our
national development earned him the respect of teachers and school administrators
throughout our country.
During his time in Government, Mr. Coakley served
his country in various posts and in various ways, all of them honourable.
He was also a Minister of Works, Tourism, Health and Labour; Youth, Sports
and Community Affairs. No catalogue of the achievements of Mr. Coakley
can be considered complete without mention of the lengthy and distinguished
service he gave to the people of Exuma in the House of Assembly.
He was a dedicated and reliable representative who never lost the common
touch.
It was a mark of the kind of man that ‘Sir Coaks’
was that during one of the most tempestuous periods of our modern political
history, he maintained his standing as the most beloved politician in the
halls of Parliament. He was held in warm and affectionate regard
even by his political opponents, who recognized that he was an individual
completely without guile or malice towards anyone.
This worthy and distinguished son of The Bahamas
in whose honour the L. N. Coakley High School in Exuma was named will be
sorely missed and always remembered.
BIS file photo: Peter Ramsay
PULL
OUT OF OPBAT HELICOPTERS THREATENED
All of the newspapers led with the alarmist headlines during the week that
the United States government, led by the Department of Defence and its
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had decided that the U.S. Army helicopters based
in Exuma were to be withdrawn from The Bahamas. This was revealed
when the contents of a letter to the Attorney General of the United States
from Mr. Rumsfeld were published in the press on Thursday 8th June.
The Bahamian press, intent as they are on injuring
the PLP, immediately went into overdrive to say that The Bahamas was being
punished because of the vote at the UN on Cuba (click
here for previous story). How does one deal with such utter nonsense?
The fact is OPBAT is not being withdrawn.
OPBAT means Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos Islands. It is a combination
of the British, Bahamian and American governments trying to interdict drugs
being transhipped into the United States before they reach the U.S.
It started in 1982. Of course the main beneficiary of this is the
United States. It would stand to reason that withdrawing OPBAT altogether
would be foolish for them, but of course stranger things have happened.
The U.S. Ambassador John Rood went to the press
to say that the predictions and interpretations of the press were not true.
But the Nassau Guardian's FNM ideologue Oswald Brown blamed Foreign Minister
Fred Mitchell and Prime Minister Perry Christie for the withdrawal of OPBAT.
In writing what he did in his editorial of Friday 9th June 2006, The Guardian's
Oswald Brown obviously failed to speak to his own reporters who would have
told them that the U.S. position is not that. But of course we are
certain that they will simply say: “Oh the U.S. Ambassador is just saying
that to be polite”. Can’t win for losing!
OPBAT photo-graphic from the Nassau Guardian
THE
TRIBUNE TRIES AND TRIES BUT FAILS
On Thursday 8th June 2006, The Tribune editorialist
tried to have a go at Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell, again. It is
the same old theme. This time they were hopping on the fact that
the U.S. Secretary of Defence wants to move helicopters out of Exuma that
belong to the army and redeploy it somewhere else. It has nothing
to do with the domestic or foreign policies of The Bahamas but all to do
with the ruinous war that his country it is fighting in the Middle East
that requires the resources. The Tribune claims otherwise.
They say that the statements by the Bahamian Foreign Minister are the cause
or more correctly will it make it more difficult for the U.S. Ambassador
John Rood to get the matter reversed. They must have some kind of
line to the Ambassador’s brain since he himself is not saying that.
It is a simple proposition to us. If the U.S.
wants to solve the problem they will. The Bahamas has no control
over what assets they deploy and how they deploy them and when they do.
We are only along for the ride. The Tribune ought to realize that
the U.S. acts in its best interest as they perceive it to be and they don’t
give a hoot about anyone else’s interest. So if they think the helicopters
should go, they will go. But what we do say is they can’t go ahead
when the situation turns bad with the drug trade through The Bahamas because
they have moved the helicopters and say that it’s the fault of The Bahamas,
which clearly does not have the resources to deal with the matter.
It could then be said by The Bahamas to the U.S. that they pulled the resources
out and so the result followed as night followed day. Strange that
The Tribune thinks that this is a case that The Bahamas has to make.
But then their logic is so warped, you can expect anything from them.
THE LYING
PUNCH ON THE FOX HILL CONSTITUENCY
It was beat up on Fred Mitchell week in the press.
The favourite target of the anti PLP press in the country was the object
of their ire again this week. This time apart from the usual anti
Fred Mitchell editorials in The Tribune and the Nassau Guardian, there
was the lying Punch at it again. The Punch claimed on Monday 5th
June that Fred Mitchell is ‘running scared’ because of the FNM's nominee
Jacinta Higgs in Fox Hill. They claim that she has 2000 signatures
in her favour. That is an outright lie. It stands to reason
because anything in The Punch is a lie, edited by the self hating Ivan
Johnson.
The facts are that Mrs. Higgs has no credibility
in Fox Hill; her biggest problem is to try and explain to the people of
Fox Hill how she turned her back on the PLP after all it has done for her,
especially Mr. Mitchell personally helping her out with the work for her
doctoral thesis. She also has to explain to the FNMs how she double
banked Danny Ferguson who had the FNM nomination all wrapped up, thought
he had her support only to find out that she was bargaining with Hubert
Ingraham on the side.
The question really is, can Jacinta Higgs be trusted?
Can she be relied upon? So far the record suggests it’s an open question.
On Friday 9th June Mrs. Higgs who now refers to herself as Doctor Higgs
at every turn, launched her political career with a grand mass at the Roman
Catholic Church that her supporters are saying was built by her husband
for free. This must be news to the Catholic Church and to the Archbishop
in particular. Every week without fail St. Anselm’s Parish has to
pay the bank.
WHAT
ABOUT THOSE PUBLIC SERVICE JOBS?
When Fred Mitchell speaks in the House of Assembly on Monday 13th June
and when he speaks on the radio at Island FM today, he will no doubt have
a lot to say about many things including the question of the 1200 public
service jobs that has so exercised the wicked ones at The Tribune.
On Thursday 8th June, they had a double pronged editorial: one on the Foreign
Minister qua foreign minister, the other in his capacity as the Minister
for the Public Service. The Tribune’s tack is that the jobs are just
election jobs.
The fact is that there has been a moratorium on
hiring in the public service since 2001. That has resulted in a number
of positions in the service at entry level going wanting. A number
of schools are suffering today because they do not have sufficient janitresses
to clean the schools and can’t get permission to hire them. Then
there is the more general and difficult problem of skills and qualifications.
The people who are available even for entry level jobs have no skills and
few academic qualifications.
The other issue is whether or not from a sociological
point of view we can continue to have large numbers of unskilled young
men and women sitting around in their teens and twenties with nothing to
do and no prospect of anything to do and what is preventing their hire
is their own inability to qualify. You are looking at a time bomb
down the road if there is not one present now. The private sector
is not prepared to help or is unwilling to do so. The public sector
has to step in and provide some semblance of order, purpose and meaning
to the lives of these young people. That is the idea of the public
sector job programme, where first time job entrants will be able to get
a start without the lowest entry qualifications but they have to give an
undertaking to improve their skills within three years of their service.
The Tribune and their fellow travellers are against that.
It is also interesting that the Free National Movement
is against hiring young Bahamians into the public service even though there
is a clear social and economic benefit to the country, and even though
it has no budgetary implications.
Public Service Minister Fred Mitchell is pictured with Prime Minister
Perry Christie in this file photo from the PLP's 1-night convention 2nd
May, 2006 when he announced the 1200 public service jobs. - Photo: Peter
Ramsay
WRONG
DATE FOR ZNS ANNIVERSARY?
Juliet Storr who was herself once a reporter and
then a teacher now has her Doctorate. She has taken issue with the
Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas the owners of ZNS radio for their
assertion that ZNS began 70 years ago on the 26th May 1936. There
is a year long celebration being held to commemorate the event. In
fact one of the last public events which the now late Gordon Lowe (see
story below) attended was a lunch at the Welcome Centre on the Prince
George Dock to commemorate the anniversary.
Dr. Storr says that her research clearly shows that
the station did not come on stream until much later in 1937. She
said that the reference that ZNS uses is from a secondary source, a report
that erroneously stated the date as 26th May 1936. She says that
she wrote the Corporation to point out the error and not only have they
ignored her but they have persisted in memorializing the error.
If Dr. Storr is correct it is illustrative of the
same general difficulty we have with the press in this country. There
are no public ethics and requirements and standards for journalists.
They print anything without an obligation to correct errors and mistakes
or in fact to print the truth. The reporters themselves don’t seem
to know that they have an obligation to tell the truth and their editors
say where you put me. Dr. Storr's letter was published in the Nassau
Guardian on Tuesday 6th June 2006.
DEATHS
ON A LONG ISLAND ROAD
As the long holiday weekend of last weekend ended,
there was tragedy in Long Island. It is typical of what happens these
days in The Bahamas after a long weekend. It appears that after everyone
has had fun, and enjoyed the weekend, people seem to lose their way somehow
and an accident happens. In this case, in the early hours of Tuesday
morning 6th June following the end of the Long Island Regatta at Salt Pond,
a family was on its way home on slick wet, straight roads in Long Island
and two people ended up losing their lives in a traffic accident.
Their names: Brigetta 28 and Santura Adderley 19 of the Burnt Ground settlement.
The Tribune reported also that on Thursday 8th June
there was another road traffic death in Long Island that of 38 year old
David Burrows. With the report of yet another traffic fatality as
we go to upload, this makes 16 road traffic deaths for the whole Bahamas
so far this year. There are too many reports of this kind of thing.
We do not know the causes of these particular accidents but the profile
of the death of the Adderleys is similar to that of another horrible accident
that happened on the slick long roads of Grand Bahama when a young man
with a group of female friends in the car lost control of the car and ended
up killing all of the occupants in the car except himself.
When road accidents happen, the country is shocked;
there is sadness, outrage maybe, but we move on and pretty quickly.
The enforcement of speeding laws is intermittent. The drunk driving
laws seem not to be enforced at all. The seat belt laws do not seem
to be enforced either. In total there appears to be a culture of
non compliance and lack of enforcement of traffic rules and regulations.
The new Road Comptroller Jack Thompson is trying with campaigns and the
police are helping with their speed guns but there clearly are not sufficient
resources being applied to this problem. It came home to us in another
way now that Lord Robertson, the former Chief of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) published on Thursday 8th June the
report of the Commission for Global Road Safety. The report calls
the deaths by road traffic accidents a global epidemic on par with malaria
and tuberculosis.
Coincidentally, just this past week, the press was
exercised about finding one report of malaria in The Bahamas. The
case was reported in Exuma and the Ministry of Health dispatched a team
to Exuma on Thursday 8th June to investigate the matter.
On the traffic deaths worldwide though, Lord Robertson
said: “In 2005, millions of people and the leaders of the G8 responded
to the call to make poverty history, yet many of the gains for development
will be at risk if action is not taken to reverse the growing epidemic
of road traffic deaths and injury with its terrible human and economic
costs.”
Only HIV and Aids take more lives than these road
traffic accidents in the case of young men. We think that clearly
this is a society that can take that advice and apply it. It is simply
disgraceful how many deaths are caused on the roads that are preventable,
that can be eliminated in the future by more education on the necessity
for safety, by better law enforcement of seat belt laws, the laws on speeding
and on drinking and driving.
GORDON
LOWE TO BE BURIED
Last week, we reported in a late edition that Gordon
Lowe the ZNS broadcaster died suddenly at 58 while at a local Wendy’s restaurant
on Saturday 3rd June 2006. He is survived by his widow Donna and
five children. You may click here
for last week’s announcement. Mr. Lowe’s funeral will take place
in Nassau on Monday 12th June at St. Matthew’s Church at 1 p.m. Photo:
Derek Smith
CDR
TO FOLD ITS TENT
The Tribune of Saturday 10th June reported that
today the last men standing in the Coalition for Democratic Reform, the
vehicle used by Dr. Bernard Nottage, now the PLP’s Minister of Health,
to launch his campaign for Prime Minister are to announce their membership
in the Free National Movement. It is reported that they felt they
couldn’t get guaranteed seats from the PLP. Most folks in the PLP
thought that they brought little to the table. The announcement by
Phenton Neymour and Charles Maynard of the CDR means that effectively the
CDR is gone as a political party. Thus it proves again that a third
party in The Bahamas has no long term future.
TWO
HONOURED AT ANDROS CRABFEST
Organisers of the 9th annual Andros Crab Fest singled
out two Androsians for special honour. Mrs. Joan Hanna connected
to Andros since the early 1960s was named patron of the event. Mrs.
Hanna is the wife of noted Bahamian entertainer, businessman and unionist
Leroy 'Duke' Hanna and mother of environmental activist and college lecturer
Margo Blackwell. Also honoured during the event was popular Bahamian
musician Elon Moxey who also hails from Andros. BIS PHOTOS: Top
- Live crabs were released at the end of the official opening ceremony
to the delight of the crowd and to the apparent consternation of a few
visitors; Left - Joan Hanna with Fresh Creek area Chief Councillor
Clyde Duncombe; Right - Broadcast personality Darrold Miller, who
spoke in tribute to Elon Moxey; Prime Minister Perry Christie, Elon Moxey
and businessman Frank Hanna.
GOOD
NEWS FOR ANDROS
The Minister of Works & Utilities Bradley Roberts
was in Andros over the weekend to attend the annual Andros Crab Fest at
Fresh Creek, where thousands of Bahamians from other islands converge for
a weekend of partying and feasting on the Andros delicacy. While
in Andros, Minister Roberts became aware that the length of the airstrip
at Fresh Creek is about to affect the tourism airlift into the community.
He promised to work to solve the problem in short order. The Minister
also committed to works on the dock and the roads in the area. In
introducing Prime Minister Perry Christie to the crowds at Crab fest, Minister
Roberts called Mr. Christie “a man working overtime” to bring further development
to Andros.
DOCTORS
UNION AGREEMENT
The Bahamas Doctors Union signed an agreement with
the Public Hospitals Authority on Friday, 9th June, 2006 at the Ministry
of Health’s headquarters. Shown from left at the signing ceremony
are, back row, Philip Sealey, Dr. Omala Ablack, Phillip Swan, Sandra
Coleby, Janet Hall, and Dr. Baldwin Carey and front row, Dion Dames, Francis
Williams, Minister of Health and National Insurance Senator Dr. Bernard
J. Nottage and Elma Garraway, Permanent Secretary. BIS Photo: Tim Aylen
REV.
DR. J. CARL RAHMING CELEBRATES 24
Rev. Dr. J. Carl Rahming and Minister Evangeline
Rahming have celebrated 24 years at St. Paul's Baptist Church in Fox Hill.
The day was marked by services of thanksgiving at the church, with Rev.
Michael Ferguson, Bishop Simeon Hall and Rev. Timothy Stewart scheduled
as guest speakers. Also on hand to celebrate the anniversary with
the Church was Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell. We add our own congratulations
to Rev. Dr. Rahming.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Kayla’s Funeral
Where was your attempt at tact when you penned
and posted “Despite Mrs. Edwards being a well known FNM activist, the Prime
Minister Perry Christie attended the funeral and brought remarks”?
Please, please tell me that your intended inference in the statement as
quoted from last week’s ‘Kayla Edwards
Buried’ article was not to imply that it is a stretch of the imagination
(and of respectfulness), that the Prime Minister of The Bahamas (PLP and
FNM alike, I thought) attended the funeral of this Bahamian cultural icon,
in a fitting tribute of the lifelong work BECAUSE she was an FNM supporter.
I fully realize that the opinions of this site are slanted, but “Come on!”
That was the lowest of the low!
I have every confidence that no Bahamian, especially
those among the leadership of the PLP which historically has touted its
authentic “Bahamian-ness”, would intentionally disgrace the Prime Minister’s
appropriate show of respect to this great Bahamian – even if she was a
“well known FNM activist.” Or, did she herself miss the mark when
she remarked “Alla we, is one family. Alla we is one”?
C. A. deGregory
Our point was precisely that the Prime Minister
is indeed the Prime Minister of all Bahamians, without regard to political
antecedents and as such, he was quite properly at the funeral. And
oh, by the way, we make no claim, nor ever have to being part of the leadership
of the PLP.
Thanks for reading and please keep reading –
Editor.
You have to blame us. The photos with last
week's editorial may have given the wrong impression of the march as
far as labour participation was concerned. Photographers tend to take pictures
of politicians. The march was in fact dominated by the labour unions
and not political parties. – Editor.
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Budget Debate Begins
The Prime Minister was in excellent form as he opened
the House of Assembly debate on the 2006/2007 Budget this past week.
Mr. Christie is shown emphasising a point at the lectern in the House as
Ministers Allyson Maynard Gibson, Glenys Hanna Martin (both partially hidden
at left and right rear); Melanie Griffin and Fred Mitchell listen.
Lois Symonette's Funeral
Prime Minister Perry Christie is among the dignitaries
gathered to mourn at the funeral of senior civil servant Lois Symonette.
Mrs. Symonette died unexpectedly while undergoing routine surgery.
She was a former Permanent Secretary of several Ministries and was a sitting
member of the Public Service Commission at the time of her death.
The funeral service was held at the Anglican Church of the Most Holy Trinity
in Stapeldon Gardens on Wednesday 7th June. Mrs. Symonette is survived
by her husband Mark their son Neil and their daughters Mishka and Kim.
Andros Crab Fest
During one of those 'photo moments', Prime Minister
Christie and others pause with crabs caught during the opening ceremony
of the 9th annual Andros Crab Fest in Fresh Creek. From left are
area MP Whitney Bastian, Ron Pinder, Parliamentary Secretary - Energy &
Environment, Mr. Christie and area Chief Councillor Clyde Duncombe.
BIS photo
Hangin' Out
Prime Minister Christie stayed on for a time after
officially opening the Andros Crab Fest to 'hang out' with the revellers,
thousands of whom came from around The Bahamas to join Androsians in the
celebration. Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe is seen partially
hidden at left rear. - BIS photo
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
MY DEAR MR. MISSICK, THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU
On
Sunday last on Island FM, the Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell appears to
have set off a firestorm of controversy with the narcissistic press of
The Bahamas. The comment was made here last week which we repeat
that the press seems to think that it is so important and above criticism
that it has some special role in the life of a country that has it beyond
the reach of public criticism. The press is full of its own self
importance. Mr. Mitchell scorched them for sloppy work, lack of balance,
lack of ethics and simply not being able to report the news without editorializing
its content. Please click
here for the complete Budget Debate intervention of the Minister.
Suddenly for the twits who run the Nassau Guardian, there was talk of tin pot dictators and seeking to muzzle the press. The cartoonist Stan Burnside got into the mix. It had of course nothing to do with freedom of the press and everything to do with balance fairness and just plain competence. You know that we have argued that the Nassau Guardian is simply hopeless as an editorial product. Its reporters don’t seem to understand what it is they are writing about half the time. They get it wrong half the time. Their editors can’t seem to get the reporters properly assigned to the assignments of real live news on time or at all. They are always picking up after the other press has left.
The Tribune joined the argument later in the week when the Minister in his Budget presentation made the simple point that he had made on the radio last Sunday that the PLP needed to have its own information machinery because clearly the press was not going to allow the PLP or its Ministers to get their message out. They simply would not report the news but were intent on twisting and perverting reports of what was happening as part of some political agenda.
No doubt much of the media response to this criticism was being orchestrated so that when the human rights report of the United States government is released next year, it will say how press freedom is being threatened in The Bahamas. Such is the level of nonsense The Bahamas government has to face. It is simply time for the PLP to get its own paper at least for the election period.
It is not as if the Minister did not have examples of the bad products of the Bahamian press. He pointed out to the reporters how some of them simply did not understand how to write a simple story with the first paragraph having the necessary details of who, what where when and why. You can read a story in the press today of someone making a statement for example and at the end of the story have no idea who the person was, why he made the statement and where he made the statement.
Normally an editor should pick up such fundamentals but obviously the editors either don’t check or don’t know any better. They have their own agenda, influenced by their political opposition to the Government. So you have for example Oswald Brown, a Guardian editor with an irrational hatred of the PLP, who makes the point in an opinion piece that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs were responsible for the withdrawal of OPBAT from The Bahamas. The Minister pointed out that on the same day that he made that assertion, the U.S. Ambassador was saying that this was not so, yet there was no correction or retraction.
There is yet another problem. The Minister pointed out that if you are a newspaper of record, and you take your responsibility to the public seriously then you will be sure that the facts that you report are correct and that there is balance in what you report. Your opinion pieces are quite another matter but they too cannot be so perverse that they defy logic and truth.
Some people were concerned about a strategy of attacking the press. The only people who can make the case out that the press is being attacked however would be the press itself. It is in their interest to do so. But what the Minister is obviously seeking to do is to ensure that PLP supporters know that they should not read what they are reading in the press uncritically. That more often than not the press is influenced by the political agenda of its editors and owners. The Minister’s analysis of the difference between what a writer Paco Nunez wrote about the Budget of the Ministry of Finance and what the headline writer wrote being two different things is but one example.
What is also an interesting fact is that part of the situation in which we find the press today is because it is dominated behind the scenes by faceless Englishmen. The trend started during the Ingraham administration when Englishmen like John Marquis were allowed to come back to The Bahamas with their funny attitudes about life, and they have completely now taken over The Tribune. You can call the newsroom for a reporter at The Tribune and sometimes you will hardly hear a Bahamian voice. The Englishmen there don’t have a clue who they are talking to, could not give a wit, and have a nasty attitude toward The Bahamas and Bahamians. How the reporters put up with it is simply unbelievable.
Rupert Missick Jr., a Bahamian Tribune reporter with a lot of promise, responded to the Minister's statements in a signed piece this past week but seemed to miss the point entirely. The Minister's comments had nothing to do with him or his fellow reporters. They should really stay out of it. This has to do with the press as institutions: their owners and their managers. They have failed the Bahamian people. The reporters should simply stay out of this because the Minister is clearly not talking to them, about them or addressing them. But they can learn from the comments and not get themselves into a situation where they are being used by other people as attack dogs.
Mendel Small seemed to take a similar tack in the Nassau Guardian. Again, the statements would appear to have nothing to do with him.
The Nassau Guardian has hired an Englishman or two of its own.
The Bahama Journal is the only Bahamian newspaper product, and even there we had to point out how there are failures to simply report the facts.
So we support the Minister in his quest to clean up what has become a sloppy institution in The Bahamas, self policing and doing a bad job of it. Bad grammar, bad reporting, bad editing, and opinion; pieces making up the facts. That all has to stop. The PLP must get its own information machinery.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 18th June 2006 up to midnight: 96,791.
Number of hits for the month of June up to Saturday 18th June 2006 at midnight: 244,466.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 18th June 2006 at midnight: 2,355,249.
IT’S
FATHER’S DAY
Mother’s Day gets more play in this country than
Father’s Day. What with how many fathers in The Bahamas behave, acting
as if they have no responsibility at all for the raising of the children.
In recent years, however, that seems to have changed slightly. The
law is about to change to give men who are not married but are fathers
a right of access to the child. This will stop children from being
used as pawns when the relationships between unmarried couples break down.
Throughout The Bahamas this day there are various
celebrations to mark Father’s Day. The No. 1 father is the Prime
Minister Perry Christie and on Friday 17th June at Debbie Bartlett’s CEE
Awards, his daughter Alexandra serenaded him and his wife spoke about him
w
