Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames... Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 9 © BahamasUncensored.com 2011
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LABOUR DAY WITH THE PLP—the late Sir Randol Fawkes known in the country as the father of labour moved a resolution in the House of Assembly in May of 1960 to call for a day to be set aside called Labour Day. Two years later on 1st June 1962, the day was celebrated as a national holiday. It has been marked every year since on the first Friday in June. The reason the 1st June was chosen was because that was the day of the Burma Road riots when working men clashed with the officials of the day over the wages being paid at the construction site of the now Lynden Pindling International Airport, then called Windsor Field or the Satellite Field. The PLP brought out its supporters in full force this year on Friday 3rd June. The estimate was in the thousands. The FNM gave a poor showing. The photo of PLPs on parade is our photo of the week. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
INGRAHAM’S TREACHERY
We provide in the part of this site called In Passing a number of links to the serialization that the Nassau Guardian has been doing over the past two weeks of the views of U.S. diplomats about the conduct of the country’s foreign affairs.
In a most remarkable set of articles, the Nassau Guardian gave an entire section of their newspaper to Fred Mitchell the former foreign minister on Monday 30th May. In his own address to the House of the subject on 31st May, Mr. Mitchell said that it was simply incredible to him that having no power, no authority, no official status, a newspaper could devote an entire section to him.
The newspaper claimed that the U.S. said that there were two Fred Mitchells.
They used words like intelligent, ambitious and uncooperative and closed mouth.
This led one former colleague of Mr. Mitchell to thank him for standing up for the country. We repeat Mr. Mitchell's full response below.
Later the Nassau Guardian said that Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister had called the judges of the country incompetent. This added to the words he said about the Christie cabinet as incompetent. It is obviously a favourite word of his. It added to the words that he said about his now Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette as needing a lesson in politics that would shatter all his illusions that he could be leader of the FNM.
The PLP has made its position clear on these so called U.S. cables. They have said that the cables are not confirmed as authentic by the U.S. Further, they have dismissed them as hearsay, untested gossipy cables which really prove nothing.
Not so the FNM. The FNM has simply been silent like a deer with its eyes in the headlights. So we take it that what has been said must be true.
If that is the case, then it proves what we have said all along. Hubert Ingraham is contemptuous of the people he leads. He is like the Emperor Jones, who is once revered by his people but rewards their reverence with his contempt. He abuses his people. The public record on this is now there for all to see on Mr. Ingraham.
This is treachery of the first order.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 4th June 2011 up to midnight: 168,143
Number of hits for the month of May up to Tuesday 31st May up to midnight: 804,355
Number of hits for the year 2011 up to Saturday 4th June 2011 up to midnight: 3,919,008
MITCHELL SCORCHES THE FNM
The cry Bahamians First and PLP All The Way could be heard in the House of Assembly as Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill (PLP) led the chant in the House on Tuesday 31st May. He was speaking on the country’s annual budget for the year 2011-2012. Mr. Mitchell said that the PLP would always put Bahamians first. The Prime Minister sought to laugh at the idea and so a chant began Bahamians First. Other PLP MPs joined in and soon it was like a rally chant. The video is courtesy of the Parliamentary Channel and the photos are by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services. You may click here for Mr. Mitchell’s full statement to the House.
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The video conversion is by C. Allen Johnson |
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MEMORIAL DAY FOR THE U.S. IN THE BAHAMAS
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It was on 7th May 1954 that ten U.S. airmen lost their lives in a plane crash off the south coast of New Providence after taking off from Windsor Field, now the site of the Lynden Pindling International Airport. A monument was placed there on the coast off the South West Road to the lost airmen. The memorial was rehabilitated in 2005. Since that time, the Memorial Day observances by the U.S. Embassy in The Bahamas have taken place at that monument. This year the observances were led by U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas Nicole Avant. Ms. Avant was joined by Bahamian Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes and Lady Foulkes. Charles Maynard represented the Government. He is the Minister of Culture. Fred Mitchell MP represented the PLP. The photos show the Royal Bahamas Defence Force firing a volley in salute of the fallen including Bahamian Norman Darling who died in Iraq and the Ambassador with her official guests.
THE PLP’S SPEAKERS IN THE HOUSE
The country’s annual budget debate took began in the House of Assembly on Monday 30th May. The PLP’s speakers began with Glenys Hanna Martin. Ms. Martin made an impassioned plea for a government to help the inner city which she represents. We present below the links to the speeches of Ms. Hanna Martin MP Englerston, Melanie Griffin MP Yamacraw; Picewell Forbes MP South Andros; Ryan Pinder MP Elizabeth.
PLP CALLS FOR REGINALD FERGUSON TO RESIGN
Former Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson reportedly told the American diplomats in The Bahamas that he had recommended to Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham that all of his assistant commissioners of police should be fired. He included in that the now Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade because reportedly Mr. Greenslade was a PLP. The Progressive Liberal Party issued the following press release in response to the Nassau Guardian’s report:
PROGRESSIVE LIBERAL PARTY
Wikileak
1 JUNE 2011
For Immediate Release
The Progressive Liberal Party has noted with dismay the content in the recently published secret diplomatic cables concerning apparent infighting at the leadership level in the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
The former police commissioner, Mr. Reginald Ferguson, has had a questionable tenure at the Royal Bahamas Police Force, and it is an open secret that he was only appointed because of his allegiance to Mr. Hubert Ingraham and the Free National Movement.
From the confidential cables, it was clear that Mr. Ferguson did not enjoy the full support of the senior command of the police force and used his relationship with the current Prime Minister to rid the police force of officers he did not wish to be around.
Needless to say the Prime Minister was complicit with the former commissioner and his decision to confirm Mr. Ferguson as commissioner not only raises serious questions about the judgment of the Prime Minister for the following reasons:
The Supreme Court of the Bahamas found that Reginald Ferguson had submitted false evidence in a murder trial, and despite the Prime Minister’s assertion that the ruling would be challenged and appealed, such appeal was never lodged, apparently it was swept under the carpet and Mr. Ferguson was quietly retired.
Mr. Ferguson was condemned by the Lorequin Commission of Inquiry for his handling of the operation of a drug bust by and subsequent detention of the HMBS Inagua at or around the 20th June 1992.
To add insult to injury, the Prime Minister then appointed him to the sensitive position which he now holds. No wonder things in this country are rolling downhill.
Mr. Ferguson has not disputed the content of this morning’s publication, and only offered up a feeble “no comment”.
Well we say that it was a violation of Bahamian national security interests for Mr. Ferguson to toddle over to his de- facto bosses at the U.S. embassy to talk our nation’s secrets.
It is of little wonder then that we recall the outrageous collusion by local officials in the entrapment of Bahamians. Mr. Ferguson was instrumental in the arrest of baggage handlers and their incarceration in the United States on drug related charges. The FNM at the time condemned this operation, but duplicitously rewarded Mr. Ferguson with a promotion to Commissioner of Police.
Is Mr. Ferguson continuing his “double-gaited” walk on two sides of the street? Was he inserted in the sensitive agency to aid his party leader’s improper relationship with foreign interests?
The Progressive Liberal Party demands the dismissal of Mr. Ferguson immediately in the interests of our nation’s security.
Could you imagine the head of the FBI or CIA running to Bahamian diplomats to “talk secrets?”
The Government of The Bahamas must address this breach of our nation’s security now.
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HAPPY LABOUR DAY FROM FRED MITCHELL
Peter Ramsay, the nation’s chronicling photographer was there for Nassau’s Labour Day Parade on Friday 3rd June. The report is that the PLPs numbers were in the thousands. The FNMs in the hundreds. Traditionally, Labour Day is a test of wills and power by the major parties. The PLPs won the day led by Perry Christie, the PLP’s Leader. All its MPs showed up. The FNM did not seem to take the parade with the same seriousness. A sample of the Ramsay photos.
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LABOUR DAY MARCH FREEPORT
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill did what he always does every year and that is join the PLPs representatives in Freeport for their annual Labour Day march on Friday 3rd June. The march began from the parking lot of the City Market store in Seahorse and then proceeded to Taino Beach where the leaders of labour addressed the crowd assembled. In addition to the Labour Leaders, Obie Wilchcombe MP for West End and Bimini spoke on behalf of the PLP and Zhivargo Laing MP for Marco City spoke on behalf of the Free National Movement. Ken Russell, the Minister of Housing spoke on behalf of the Minister of Labour. The photos are by Allison Smith. PLP Candidates Julian Russell (Eight Mile Rock); Tanisha Tynes( Lucaya); Senator Michael Darville (Pineridge); Greg Moss ( Marco City) were present for the march.
AN ANALYSIS ON WIKILEAKS AND INGRAHAM
One of the most useful aspects and perhaps unintended aspects of the whole Wikileaks cable business is the fact that it has opened up a window into the mind and psychology of the Prime Minister. It has given the public an opportunity to understand the mind of Hubert Ingraham. There are four points to raise in connection with this.
First, Mr. Ingraham’s own take on the difference between himself and former Prime Minister Perry Christie is that Mr. Christie is focused on doing the best thing for people whereas Mr. Ingraham is concentrating on doing things. In this we discover a view of what the ultimate function of government is. Doing something is not development. Development must be people focused in order to be sustainable. Development on things is not transformative. Mr. Christie therefore comes out on top because he has stayed true to the PLP’s philosophy which is that people come first and matter more than things.
Secondly what comes across is that Hubert Ingraham does not believe that there is anyone else in the country that has any sense but him. No one else has any degree of competence, popularity or ability. In these cables he denigrates his Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Christie, the Christie cabinet, his own cabinet colleague Tommy Turnquest and the judges of the Supreme Court. In other words no other person than Hubert Ingraham according to him has any degree of competence.
Thirdly, Mr. Ingraham is a fellow who projects himself as decisive and visionary. Yet he says that the justices are appointed to the court who are incompetent and only appointed because of politics. Now the fact is he has appointed more judges than anyone else in the country. Four of the 11 judges cannot hear cases today because they are conflicted because of associations with the Prime Minister or his Cabinet. Justices Bernard Turner, Rhonda Bain, Michael Barnett and Claire Hepburn. No wonder the courts are at a full stop. When one considers that the others are consumed by criminal, the commercial sector must be at a standstill.
Fourthly, this so called decisive visionary leader appointed a Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson who was a political operative. He was a Commissioner of Police who concocted a scheme to deny his fellow officers promotions and to pack the force with political operatives for the FNM.
The bottom line is where is the evidence of strong, decisive visionary leadership.
: LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes this week about the decision of the Our Lucaya resort in Grand Bahama to charge non Our Lucaya guests 30 dollars to use the beach facilities. He says that this will further damage tourism in Freeport:
How is it that the management team, at the “Our Lucaya Resort” here in Freeport Grand Bahama, could feel so much at ease and comfortable imposing a penalty of $30 per person on individuals wanting to access OUR beach at that resort? How is it that the Chinese operators of the hotel feel so confident that they can impose this penalty without first consulting the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and getting their concurrence? And how is it, they feel, they can take all these counter-productive measures, to the potential detriment of our tourism industry, without expecting to receive re-percussions from the government of the Bahamas? What or who gives them such tremendous comfort?
We were stunned to hear what happened when loads of tourists, who came to Freeport aboard the M/V Discovery from Ft. Lauderdale for the purpose of spending a few hours of relaxation on our beautiful beaches, were carried to the usual entrance point of access to the beach at the “Our Lucaya Resort.” They found however, to their surprise and amazement, the gate locked and a security officer standing guard who told the would-be beach goers that there was a new policy, at the resort, which now required all persons to pay a toll of $30 to gain access to the beach. The taxi drivers were naturally stunned to hear what they were being told and couldn’t believe it. Tourism officials couldn’t believe the news either as they were not briefed in advance by the hotel property management. The reaction from the public was immediate condemnation; of course, as we are acutely aware of the predicament we are suffering here as a result of the small numbers of tourist who do come to our island these days. We could not believe what we were hearing; it couldn’t be true, I thought. I couldn’t believe that Hubert Ingraham could sink so low in Chinese Doo-Doo that he could now allow this resort property (and others I suppose) the liberty of claiming our beaches, as their very own; and to sanction their actions of charging a levy, if they wish, to persons other than their resort guests, wanting to access the beach. What further amazed and baffled me was the fact that neither the FNM government nor any one of the eight FNM government parliamentarians, located on this island, had anything to say about the matter; not a damn word.
This is not the first time, however, that Ingraham has allowed a private concern to block the pass, to a Grand Bahama beach, and to disallow residents, and visitors alike, access. He did it once before when he gave Princess Realty, the former owners of the man-made peninsular known as “Princess Isle,” permission to dredge a channel, across the land, effectively cutting off the stretch of land (peninsular) from the mainland on the eastern side of Princess Isle. Because the land was being developed as an upscale exclusive area for the rich and famous, Princess Realty (its developers) wanted the beach, as well, to be exclusively for use by those buyers. It was a must that the NATIVES be kept out and not allowed on that beach. The old SNORTTY-NOSED, UNCLE TOM, TWIST MOUTH of course, granted the developers their request and they quickly went about dredging into the seabed. The affect, if allowed to happen, would have been that no one would have been able to get to the beach from the land side. Would-be beach goers, at that location, would only have been able to access the site by swimming or by boat from the northern canal side or from the southern side via the Atlantic Ocean. The Hon. Fred Mitchell, thank God; after discovering what tricks the suckers were up to, came to Freeport and convened a press conference at the site at which time he gave the developers an ultimatum; they stop the work and desist in what they intended and refill the gorge that they had already opened up or he would pay for a fleet of dump trucks, loaded with fill and rocks, and have it all dumped in the gorge. The Hon. Foreign minister, supported by a number of us activists here in Freeport, was able to put a stop to their plans and the suckers brought the rocks and sand themselves and refilled the area. I suspect that the PISS-HEAD (I mean Ingraham-of course) recanted the approvals.
Ingraham, we were told, gave permission, on behalf of his government, to the developers of this upscale gated housing resort (Princess Realty Ltd) to cut into the seabed and prevent access to that beach. Ingraham agreed for them to keep the Negroes out of the area, as we were advised, at the time. I personally inquired and was told by an English lady, who was employed with the company then, who had great sympathy for the cause Mitchell was fighting, that Hubert Ingraham personally gave the approval for Princess Realty to go ahead and dissect the land at the juncture where the man-made peninsular connected the mainland. She told me, further, that she had personal knowledge of Ingraham’s approval having seen the letter which she said was signed by the pin-head. She is now deceased, Hubert Ingraham, so don’t make any plans to persecute her yet, you piss-head. Besides, who else is authorized, under law, to give such permissions other than the very highest authority in the government?
I have heard from ministry of tourism officials, concerning the prognosis expected of our tourism product since the public disclosure of this new policy at the “Our Lucaya” hotel resort. Their opinion is, and they said as much to me, that tourism in the whole Bahamas will be adversely affected by this stupid decision. They anticipate a huge negative fall out from the news, but they say the government seems not to care and that the minister, himself, seems reluctant to address the situation. The PISS-HEADS, in the government, who represent constituencies on Grand Bahama, are, as usual, very quiet. I wonder often who they represent. This is the first time, in living memory that I can recall that a private concern has been allowed to exploit a situation such as this and get away with it. Ingraham usually, in situations like these, goes berserk on the offenders, so I ask; what is the real deal here?
Beaches are not private in the Bahamas; i.e. to the high water mark; and although persons may purchase land, which might be on the water front, it never includes exclusivity to the beach. That area, where the normal tides come ashore, is considered the HIGH WATER MARK and as such is reserved, by the crown, for all the public’s use. Anyone purchasing water front property is obliged, by law, to make adequate, unencumbered provisions for persons (residents, citizens and or tourist alike) to access the beach. To do otherwise would be in breach of the laws of the commonwealth. The next PLP government (2012-2017) must, as a priority matter, include in its platform, for achievement in this coming term, the necessary amendments to those laws which would define precisely beach access rights for the general public. Land owners, who purchase water frontage, must be made to understand that while their property might be near the water, they do not own that portion that runs along the shore up to the high water mark. They should also know, and their lawyers should explain to them fully and empathically, that they cannot legally fence off their property in such a way that it would prevent access to the beach area. How owners of beach front footage fence or wall off their property to maintain their privacy rights is their business, so long as they do not at the same time infringe the rights of beach goers. We are not begging for any favors here, but on the contrary it’s a matter of law and these are our basic rights we are talking about.
Thank you.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
5th June 2011.
IN PASSING
Shaking Down A PLP Candidate
At the start of the last week Monday 30th May, the Bahama Journal and The Punch ran stories on their front pages alleging that a candidate for office had been questioned for inappropriate conduct with a male minor. The rumour mill immediately started putting a name to the speculation. The PLP issued a statement in which it denied that any candidate of the PLP was involved in any such thing. It is really a pity that the police did not immediately deny such a thing themselves. It turned out that this was a rumour that was started simply to shake down a PLP candidate because that candidate refused to buy ads in The Punch to keep his name out of the newspaper. So this is where things have gotten in this country. Someone should call the police for them.
How Branville Gets To Speak In The House
There are two sides in the House of Assembly: the government side and the opposition side. That was the point that the Speaker of the House made to Branville McCartney when he made his first attempt to speak in the House on the BTC debate back in March. The government and the opposition PLP speak one for one. The question is where will Mr. McCartney speak? The Speaker of the House informed him that he would have to come to some agreement with the PLP. He finally got a chance to say what he wanted. Now the problem is when will he speak in the budget debate. The government says again he has to find a place with the PLP. Mr. McCartney is taking the position that he must speak just before PLP leader Perry Christie, because he is the leader of a party. Hmmm! He has a long hot summer ahead of him.
What Ingraham Said About The Judges |
Published: Jun 02, 2011 During a final courtesy call with then U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas John Rood days before the 2007 general election, Free National Movement (FNM) leader Hubert Ingraham remarked that many of the judges in The Bahamas were “simply not competent, having been appointed for political reasons,” a U.S. diplomat claimed in one of the cables in the batch of diplomatic documents obtained exclusively by The Nassau Guardian through WikiLeaks. |
What U.S. Said About Fred Mitchell
The Nassau Guardian said that the name Fred Mitchell appeared move often than any other name in the Cables that they are serializing in their paper. The series began on Monday 23rd May. On Monday 30th May, the Guardian ran an entire section on Fred Mitchell. You may click here for what they said about him.
What Cassius Stuart Said About Ingraham
Cassius Stuart is the former Leader of the now dissolved Bahamian Democratic Movement (BDM). In the Wikileaks cables being serialized in the Nassau Guardian here is what he had to say about Hubert Ingraham who is now his leader in the Free National Movement.
CANDIA DAMES
NG News Editor
candia@nasguard.com
Published: May 25, 2011
When Cassius Stuart met with a U.S. Embassy official before the Elizabeth by-election last year, he claimed he had been approached by Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) leader Perry Christie “who said he was looking for someone to mold to eventually take over the leadership of the PLP.” Stuart also likened Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham to Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, according to one of the diplomatic cables The Nassau Guardian obtained through the whistle-blowing non-profit organization WikiLeaks.
Now a member of the Free National Movement (FNM), Stuart was leader of the Bahamas Democratic Movement (BDM) at the time.
The cable said Stuart also likened Ingraham to former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and said the PM was “letting the country go to hell and allowing it to be bought by China”.
But a lot has changed since the by-election and Stuart’s meetings with the American diplomats.
He joined the FNM in April this year, acknowledging at the time that the move was a good one for the members of the BDM because the FNM’s ideals matched theirs.
“My message over the past decade has been adding value to the lives of every Bahamian,” Stuart
Pintard Trying To Find A Seat
Poor Michael Pintard. He now sits in the Senate on the false grounds that he is not subject to the FNM’s whip so he was able to get one of these appointments that reflects the balance of the House of Assembly. The problem is he is an FNM looking for a seat. The last time he ran was in 2002 when he was defeated by Perry Christie, the Leader of the PLP. He had a no win situation. But he thinks that he has paid his dues and should be given something winnable. The Leader of the FNM has reportedly offered him Blue Hills (mind you there is an FNM incumbent there already). He didn’t relish the prospect of going up against Leslie Miller. He was next reportedly offered Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador against the PLP’s Deputy Leader Philip Davis. That’s what you call from the frying pan into the fire. Who knows maybe if he doesn’t accept that, Mr. Ingraham will have him run against Perry Christie again?
Changes In The Police Force
The government has announced that there is a new Deputy Commissioner of Police. He is Quinn McCartney, previously Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Grand Bahama. Mr. McCartney succeeds Marvin Dames in that job. Mr. Dames left on 31st May to take up a job as the Director of Security at Bahamar the Cable Beach development in New Providence. In Freeport, Acting Assitant Commissioner of Police Emerick Seymour is to succeed Mr. McCartney.
Rev Deion Gibson Marks Anniversary
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill was a guest at the third anniversary service of the Rev. Deion Gibson as pastor o the Assemblies of God Church in Marsh Harbour, Abaco. The photo shows the Pastor and his wife at the service. Renardo Curry, the PLP’s candidate for the North Abaco constituency also attended the service.
Stalwart Councilor Chery Is Buried
Jean Muller Chery aka Shorty was buried in the Pinder’s Point cemetery on Saturday 4th June. He was originally from Haiti but came to The Bahamas via Jamaica. He was introduced to the late Lofton Cooper and former FNM MP J.M. Pinder then PLP activists in Grand Bahama. He set up a mechanic shop and raised a family. He was the centre of Haitian life in the community. He was a stalwart councilor of the PLP dedicating his life to the PLP cause. Stalwart Councilors of the PLP attended the funeral at Mary Star of the Sea church in Freeport including Fred Mitchell MP Fox Hill and Forrester Carroll, the Vice Chairman of the PLP.
The Murder Count
Up to press time there are 275 murders for the year 2011 and 275 murders since Tommy Turnquest became the Minister of National Security.
Clarence Moss Dies
Stalwart Councilor Clarence Moss of Fox Hill died at the Princess Margaret Hospital on Thursday 2nd June. He had been ailing from cancer.
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In the bit in this column today called In Passing, we recall the words of the hallucinating Chairman of the Free National Movement Carl Bethel as he spoke in the House of Assembly on Monday 6th June to say that the FNM eclipsed the PLP on the Labour Day Parade of 3rd June. Mr. Bethel was clearly seeing double. Of course, this country’s elites are living in a world of unreality where they see and hear no evil. Thus you have The Nassau Guardian using photos of the march on Labour Day with not one photo of the PLP and the massive crowd that showed up to support the party. They had a photo of the FNM. The Tribune carried no photo at all. ZNS made no reference to it. But the fact is there was a huge crowd on the march of PLP supporters. The PLP is ready to take the country back. So just for the hallucinating Chairman of the FNM our photo of the week is that of the PLP on the Labour Day parade of 3rd June. The numbers were inestimable. The photo is by Andrew Burrows. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
INGRAHAM’S STUPID PERFORMANCE
The last speaker in the House of Assembly’s debate on the annual budget of the country came in the mid morning hours of Thursday 9th June. It was a performance that turned the stomach. We had to sit the afternoon before on 8th June through Zhivargo Laing, the Minister of State, with his rude boy persona in full flight. No new ground covered there, just hysteria and histrionics. Then we had his puppet master Hubert Ingraham start and he ran on for hours on end from one thing to the next. It was a painfully silly performance.
We would like to highlight some of the nonsense he said and debunk it.
First, he gave an account of a story of what allegedly happened when he was down in Cat Island over the Labour Day holiday weekend in which he claimed that Philip Davis, the PLP’s Deputy leader and MP for the island said that Perry Christie was not his leader and that Ryan Pinder MP Elizabeth who was with him said that Mr. Davis was his daddy. Mr. Davis issued a statement in response to it which we report below. The story is stupid and not funny at all. If Mr. Ingraham is not careful one day, he is going to force someone to take him on for talking fool. Talking fool is a very serious thing.
Some people, some reputable doctors included, think that Hubert Ingraham is bi-polar. We don’t know. We think whatever it is, he has a psychological problem. Part of that problem is an absolute fixation with Perry Christie. He cannot resist hurling personal insults at the Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie. The latest is to say to Mr. Christie that he is not a leader. Try as he might Hubert Ingraham cannot choose the leader of the PLP. Mr. Christie's success speaks for itself. He is the Leader of the PLP and Mr. Ingraham should get used to it. We say again, one day Hubert Ingraham is going to go too far and it is going to force someone to take him on for talking fool. Talking fool is a very serious thing.
The final bit of nonsense in which he engaged was to take out of context a statement by the Leader of the Opposition in his debate in the House on 8th June that if the Dominican fishermen do not stop poaching our waters and after diplomatic measures are exhausted, then extremely aggressive measures have to be taken and if necessary blow the boats out of the water Mr. Ingraham said that this was irresponsible and that Mr. Christie was advocating violence. Foolishness again. The Spanish Wells fishermen were cheering from the rafters.
Right now the Royal Bahamas Defence Force has a set of protocols in stopping vessels at sea. It starts from hailing out to you to stop, to firing a shot across the bow, to disabling the engine with the use of fire power and ultimately if there is aggressive action against the RBDF they can blow the ship out of the water. Duh!
We say again one day Hubert Ingraham is going to go too far and it is going to force someone to take him on for talking fool. Talking fool is a very serious thing.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 11th June 2011 up to midnight: 139,921
Number of hits for the month of June up to Saturday 11th June up to midnight: 209,194
Number of hits for the year 2011 up to Saturday 11th June up to midnight: 4,093,968
CHRISTIE ON THE BUDGET
Perry Christie, the Leader of the PLP put the finishing touches on Wednesday 8th June to a wowing performance by PLP MPs during the week in response to the budget statement by the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. God willing this will be the last budget presentation by Hubert Ingraham and we will be rid of him. A correspondent wrote the following statement about the week’s debate and the PLP:
Congratulations team on a job well done! Without being overly redundant, the PLP caucus has far superior debaters than the FNM. Our team performed well again. There was much congratulatory chatter on Facebook about the leader's speech, so I am not alone.
FNM's were upset that some PLP members left the House when Laing got up to speak.
A few comments about the leader's contribution: the leader was composed, confident, passionate, but not overly dramatic. He was reflective at the end when he spoke extemporaneously and from the heart. The theme came through clearly as was the case throughout the debate: People above bricks and mortar and Bahamians first. The leader was eloquent and convincing as he defended the PLP's record under his leadership and he, like his colleagues, offered alternative solutions in addition to their chidings. He could have jeered and hammered the FNM on their crime record, but he was gracious and polite (as usual).
These sentiments are shared by our resident and most ardent critic, Alfred Jarret.
The leader did throw a stone in the FNM pack by mentioning the timing of the change in the calculation method for the GDP. The guilty party, the PM (who else) jumped up and started hollering without being accused of anything. The PM quickly passed the buck and threw Mrs. Dorsett clean under the bus. Now this PM interferes with the Police, the Judiciary, the Parliamentary Commission, URCA and the Central Bank, but could not tell the Dept. of Statistics (DOS) what to do. THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMM. According to him, the DOS changed the calculation method against the government's advice and protestation. WOW, SIMPLY INCREDIBLE. There is no lie Hubert would not tell and no low to which he will not stoop. This denial was a new low.
Again, congratulations and good job guys
You may click here for the full statement by Mr. Christie. The photos is by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
THE PLP LABOUR DAY RALLY
On Wednesday 1st June the Progressive Liberal Party held a rally at its headquarters in Farrington Road to mark the occasion of Labour Day. We present the video of scenes from that rally and a photo of Fred Mitchell MP as he spoke from the podium that evening.
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| The video and the photograph is by Andrew Burrows |
PLP ON INGRAHAM AND JUDGES
Last week IN PASSING, we reported the comments of the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham as he spoke about the judges appointed to the Supreme Court Bench of The Bahamas to the American diplomats stationed in The Bahamas. He said that the judges were incompetent and that they had been appointed for political reasons. This is an incredible statement since he was the responsible for the appointment of more judges than any other Prime Minister alive in the country today. Just think of the FNMs he has appointed: Claire Hepburn from his cabinet to the Court; Sir Michael Barnett from his Cabinet to the Court; Rhonda Bain, his former law partner to the Court. He was speaking in 2007 and at that time he had appointed Dame Joan Sawyer President of the Court of Appeal and Sir Burton hall, Chief Justice. Incompetent? Political? Hmmm! |
This man is losing his marbles surely. The PLP issued its formal response to the statement which we repeat below:
Press Statement
By
The Progressive Liberal Party
June 5th 2011
Subject: Prime Minister’s remarks about judges hypocritical.
The Member of Parliament of Englerston, the Hon. Glenys Hanna Martin, last week in her contribution to the 2011-2012 Budget reminded the public of the words of PM Hubert Ingraham when in 2007 in the House of Assembly; He said,
“I would hold my head down in shame. If at the end of my 5 year term there are 100 plus persons charged with murder who I could not cause to be tried within 2 years."
Mr. Speaker that in those circumstances “ I would be ashamed of myself. I would say to the Bahamian people I am a failure. And my punishment of being voted out of office is minor – I should get more major punishment than that” Mrs. Hanna Martin continued, “All I will say Mr. Speaker, between the steady rise in bloody violence, unabated and the weekly escalating homicide rate, the nolle prosequis from the Attorney General’s Office, the failed prosecutions and the apparent inability to obtain a conviction in numerous cases as we have all witnessed over the last few months many must be wondering what is happening here. But even more serious is the growing feeling of people that they are unable to get justice. This is serious Mr. Speaker.”The PLP agrees with the argument and reasoning of the PM. With the amount of murders fast approaching 400 since May of 2007; with the apparent inability of the AG’s office to secure convictions in many murder cases and with the amount of murderers out on bail under the FNM’s watch, the Prime Minister should hang his head in shame and should be voted out of office. We say to the Prime Minister, “Physician, heal thyself.”Last week, the Nassau Guardian released comments about the Bahamian Judiciary from Wikileaks alleged to have been made by Hubert A Ingraham and the truth of which has not been denied by Hubert A Ingraham.
Hubert A Ingraham said that all the judges of the Supreme Court prior to 2007 were incompetent and were appointed for political reasons. Hubert A Ingraham politicized the Bench. Look what he did since May of 2007? Claire Hepburn who was the attorney that handled all of the litigation for the United States Government, as a partner in Graham Thompson & Co was appointed an FNM Senator and Attorney General in May 2007. Her failures as Attorney General speak for themselves. She resigned from the Senate and as Attorney General as was made a Justice of the Supreme Court. This was the first time in Bahamian history that an Attorney General went directly to the Bench.
Michael Barnett, the defeated FMN candidate in Fort Charlotte was appointed Attorney General and then Chief Justice. This was the first time in Bahamian history that an Attorney General went directly to Chief Justice. No one will forget that then Senior Justice Anita Allen, who was acclaimed by all as a no-nonsense and very experienced and very competent Senior Judge, was overlooked by Hubert Ingraham in favour of a political appointee Michael Barnett. Ronda Bain who, was appointed Director of Legal Affairs by Hubert Ingraham, resigned as Director of Legal Affairs, later joined Hubert Ingraham and Co (Hubert Ingraham’s law firm) and from there was appointed Justice of The Supreme Court. These three FNM ideologues are political appointments made by Hubert Ingraham.
The PLP agrees with Hubert Ingraham, he should hang his head in shame. He is “wutless”. He has made a mockery of the Judiciary by making obvious political appointments.
In playing politics while crime is increasing and the failures of the judicial system are laid bare, Hubert Ingraham did not put the interests of Bahamians First. He also did not put Bahamians first when he appointed a non-Bahamian Director of Public Prosecutions and arranged for her to be paid more than some Judges. We repeat and adopt his words about himself: “I am a failure. And my punishment of being voted out of office is minor – I should get more major punishment than that”.
Hubert Ingraham and his failed team of Tommy Turnquest and John Delaney should all accept Hubert Ingraham’s words about themselves. They all should resign NOW.
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Shane Gibson, is the PLP’s Spokesman on Labour and Immigration matters. He issued the following press statement following Labour Day in answer to the comments made by the Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes that the government was responding to the labour issues in the country.
Press Statement
Hon. Shane Gibson MP - Opposition spokesman on Labour related issues
Outstanding National Industrial Relations Issues
5th June 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
I sat in total disbelief as the Minister of Labor, Hon. Dion Foulkes was recently seen the media attempting to mislead the Bahamian public by creating the impression that all is well on the Labor front.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Listed below are some concerns of some workers in The Bahamas at this time.
1. The failure of the Government of The Bahamas to bring into force the regulations to strengthen the Health & Safety at Work Act. These regulations have been approved by the Working Committee for some time. Note: After a recent meeting with Minister Foulkes, on May 21, 2011 the NCTUB was advised that the matter had to be sent back to the committee but to date no meeting has been called despite the fact that the NCTUB has reappointed representatives to the Working Committee.
2. The failure of the Government of the Bahamas to bring to Parliament the recommendations of the TRIFOR Group regarding the amendments to the Employment Act. These recommendations have been vetted by AG’s Office and were to Cabinet over three years ago.
3. The granting of over twenty (20) work permits to First Caribbean International Bank one week after the bank made eight (8) Bahamians redundant.
4. The granting of numerous works permits for non-Bahamians to work at BTC/CWC when the company is in the process of terminating over three hundred (300) Bahamians via a VSEP.
5. The government’s failure to act in a dispute between the Freeport Flight Services Company Limited and the Grand Bahama Airport Company which will result in over fifty (50) Bahamians losing their jobs by August 25, 2011.
6. The Failure of the Government to ensure that the management of the College of the Bahamas comply with the current Industrial Agreement which has resulted in numerous trade disputes being filed with the Department of Labour.
7. The failure of the Government of the Bahamas to cause the Management of BEC to negotiate in good faith to sign an industrial agreement with Managers at BTC.
8. The failure of the Government of the Bahamas to cause the Management of URCA to enter into negotiations with the BCPOU for a new collective bargaining agreement for employees of that Company.
9. Failure of the Government of the Bahamas to amend the Industrial Relations to: (i) compel employers to come to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith; (ii) Put a time limit on the Minister to respond to an application for recognition; (iii) Create a smoother transition process from an expired industrial agreement to a new industrial agreement; (iv) remove the obligation of the Bahamas Industrial Tribunal to register industrial agreements and move it to the Office of Registrar of Trade Unions; (v) remove the provision in the Act whereby an Employer can request the revocation of the recognition of a trade union.
10. Failure of the Government of the Bahamas to act to address abuse of the Industrial Agreement by the Management of the Central Bank of the Bahamas regarding the pension rights of its employees.
11. Failure of the Government of the Bahamas to come to the Bargaining table with the Bahamas Union of Teachers for a new industrial agreement which has been expired for some time.
12. Failure of the Government of the Bahamas to address outstanding issues regarding Health & Safety, industrial relations and consultative matters for the Bahamas Prison Officers Staff Associations.
13. Failure of the Government of the Bahamas to abide by the ruling regarding the reinstatement of Customs Officers that were illegally transferred to other Government Departments.
14. A general lack of respect for trade union leaders by Ministers of the Government as well as executives responsible for various government agencies. The congress had to write to the Prime Minister to facilitate a meeting with a member of the Cabinet who out rightly refused to meet with NCTUB representatives. Further, the Governor of the Central Bank has refused to meet with NCTUB Executives in matters of national importance.
15. A general failure of the Government of the Bahamas to enter into regular social dialogue with trade union leaders on matters of national importance in violations of ILO Conventions.
For the above reasons and contrary to Mr. Foulkes, the government has not constructively engaged the trade unions and labour relations with the government for the most part are not good. Over the ensuing week, I will be releasing additional information about outstanding issues facing workers in The Bahamas.
In the meantime I call on the Minister of Labor to immediately do what is necessary to cause these concerns to be addressed and dealt with and simultaneously apologize to The Bahamian public for his misleading remarks.
CENTRAL BANK CAPITULATES ON PRIME RATE
It was Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill who proposed a resolution last year to the House of Assembly to lower the prime rate for borrowers in the country. The United States and Great Britain have prime rates that are near to zero and yet The Bahamas had a prime rate that was over five per cent. The cost of money was simply too high. It was and is having a crippling effect on the cost of living, on the cost of doing business in The Bahamas. The bank finally capitulated last week when it announced on 6th June that it was lowering the prime rate, the rate it charges banks to borrow money from it by .75 bases points so that the new rate will now be 4.75 per cent instead of 5.5 per cent. This should result in lower rates for mortgages for immediate effect. The main beneficiary of this will be the government whose interest charges will be reduced by 23 million dollars. The Prime Minister remarked in the House that had he known this he would have made some additional plans for spending an additional 23 million dollars. It seems incredible that this man would not have known this and acted to persuade the Central Bank sooner on the point. Then he added that as it stands, the 23 million savings almost approximates the 25 million he will have to brow for his election jobs programme. The Central Bank’s action does not go far enough. In fact the rate should have been reduced by two per cent. One of the main protagonists of this measure Alfred Jarret, the former RBC banker , welcomed the news as do we. Former Prime Minister Perry Christie had called for the lowering of the rate in his response to the Budget Statement. The Progressive Liberal party issued the following statement upon hearing the news:
PRESS STATEMENT
PROGRESSIVE LIBERAL PARTY
PLP WELCOMES REDUCTION IN PRIME RATE
6 JUNE 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Progressive Liberal Party welcomes the policy decision of the Central Bank today to reduce the Prime Rate by 0.75%.
This reduction is overdue and it does not go far enough however, as a full percentage point would have provided more relief to the operations of the government, financial institutions, the private sector and consumers, especially homeowners.
We estimate that this reduction would generate $65million to $70 million per annum in interest savings in both the public and private sectors. We note that this change will reduce the cost of government borrowing at a time when payments on government debt is the largest expense line item in the current budget. This is significant and the PLP is pleased with the activist role it played in bringing about this policy change.
During our time in office, the prime rate was reduced by one half percentage point and the effects of this were positive and pervasive throughout the economy. Further, in our response to the Prime Minister’s budget communication, we again called for this rate reduction.
The PLP remains committed to fighting for policies and programs that best represent the interests of all Bahamians. Our people deserve no less.
END
PLPS ADDRESS PARLIAMENT ON THE BUDGET
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BRAVE DAVIS ANSWERS INGRAHAM AND THE TRIB
Published: Friday June 10th, 2011
STATEMENT BY
HON. PHILIP “BRAVE” DAVIS
IN RESPONSE TO ARTICLE IN THE TRIBUNE DATED 10th JUNE 2011
It is unfortunate that the Tribune a newspaper of record in The Bahamas would run such an irresponsible story this morning based on the reckless, unsubstantiated and hearsay comments of the Prime Minister in Parliament. Mr. Ingraham is politically desperate. He can see the writing on the wall. It is sad that of all the serious matters facing our country and the important matters discussed and debated in Parliament over the past few days that such utterances could find a place of prominence in the news cycle.
Mr. Ingraham’s statements yesterday were political mischief of the highest order, and should not be taken seriously be the press. Why would I be engaged in such foolish discussions with members and supporters of the FNM? Anyone who knows me knows better than that!
The FNM has tried everything in the book to change the national focus from the problems of crime and unemployment. They have begun to regurgitate the old and tired propaganda of 2007. Now the Prime Minister is attempting to create some false impression of infighting in the PLP.
What is factual and supported by evidence though is that Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette does not have the support of his leader, Hubert Ingraham.
I am committed to ensuring that Perry Gladstone Christie is the next Prime Minister of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas and that the PLP is returned to power.
No political mischief, false accusations, fabricated stories or propaganda will change the widely held public view that Hubert Ingraham must go and must go now.
Our country deserves better than Hubert Ingraham and the FNM and their lame attempts to distract from their failures in every major area of governance.
SUMMER SCHOOL AT ATLANTIC COLLEGE
: LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes this week about the boast of Hubert Ingraham that he is more decisive than Perry Christie and what that actually means for The Bahamas:
Hubert Ingraham likes to compare his style of leadership with Christie’s. His objective for doing so is purely political. He says that Christie is indecisive while he is decisive; that Christie is weak while he is strong; that Christie is slow to act while he acts quickly. Who, may I ask, endowed Ingraham with the sole authority to be judge and jury on these matters? Who is he to decide who is strong and who is weak; who is decisive and who is indecisive; who is fast and who is slow? I’d rather examine the records of the performance of each one (when they were in office) for myself; compare the one with the other and then decide who best governed in the country’s interest. For my part, I am not at all impressed with the “Bull in a China Shop” methodology of governance, which Ingraham and the FNM have termed “Decisive, Strong and Quick” but which, according to the loads of undeniable facts, has been the road to our disastrous downfall during the 14 years, to date, of FNM governance. Being all the things Ingraham says he is (and Christie is not) and brags about it, has gotten us into the mess we are in today. If we were to take the time to grade the performance of both these leaders, from their records during their times in office, and be honest in our assessment; laying aside all our partisan political nonsense; the only conclusion we can come to is that Perry Christie’s five-year term in office, on every aspect of governance, was better by far; more productive and more economically sound, for the country, than Ingraham’s 14 years all put together. So I ask; what does style of leadership have to do with anything so long as, at the end of the day, we receive good and prudent governance?
The question still begs an answer; what does Hubert Ingraham mean when he says that Christie is weak, slow and indecisive but he is quite the opposite? Does he mean that Christie takes too long to make final decisions or that he never makes decisions at all? But it can’t be true that he means that Christie never makes any decisions and if he means that Christie takes too long to make final decisions then I ask; by whose judgment he takes too long? For my money I’d rather Christie take a longer time to make the right decision than Ingraham who makes up his mind quickly (like a bull in a china shop) and ends up making the wrong decision every time; wouldn’t you? According to the record, Christie’s five-year term was saturated with prudent decisions taken by the former prime minister. As a matter of fact Christie has distinguished himself, on the record, as being the country’s prime minister who is credited as the first to sign “Heads of Agreements” worth in the billions of dollars. By whose standards, then, is Ingraham judging Christie; by his (Ingraham) own? And who made Ingraham, I ask again, the only judge in this matter? Sensible Bahamians must accept all the criticisms, by Ingraham and his FNM colleagues, of Christie and the PLP as pure, partisan political garbage. I wouldn’t trust such judgment matters to Ingraham anyway because in my view if you transplant his (Ingraham’s) Brain into a bird, the poor thing would fly backwards so who, in their right minds, would leave judging such matters to him?
Wasn’t Christie the one, though, who made the decision to institute the “Venture Capital Fund” which helped a number of poor Bahamians (who had nothing but a good idea but no funding and no one to help them get funding) go into business? And wasn’t it Christie’s decision to upgrade the Nassau International Airport and bring its operations (under private leadership) into the twenty-first century? And wasn’t it Christie who made the decision to accept, from the Chinese government, the gift of the National Stadium because he saw the need for a twenty-first century effort in helping our youth to compete, effectively, in the new global environment? And wasn’t it Christie’s decision to exempt Bahamians, who were first time home buyers, from the payment of government stamp tax on amounts up to $250,000.00? And wasn’t it Christie who promised that if the PLP had won the 2007 general elections that his government was prepared to increase that ceiling to $500,000.00 and to include the purchase of Condo units as well? Wasn’t it Hubert Ingraham, the decisive one on the other hand, who cancelled that EXEMPTION, for first home buyers when he took office in 2007? Or am I mistaken about that?
Christie is slow to act, you said, Hubert Ingraham? What do you mean when you accuse him of being slow to act? Did you mean that Christie takes too much time-(too long)-to consult? Well what amount of time, do you suppose, is too much and who should be the judge of that? Should you, Hubert Ingraham, be judge as to the amount of time Christie should take to consult with stakeholders to get it right or should Christie be his own judge? I ask you, Hubert Ingraham; did one worthwhile project leave the Bahamas, while Christie was in power, because he took too long to conclude negotiations? And you often accuse Christie of being weak; was he weak in the face of the aftermath of those devastating hurricanes, in 2004 and 2005, that did so much damage to Grand Bahama? Did Christie not take the bull by the horn, in Grand Bahama especially where we were hardest hit, and moved quickly to cause immediate and effective relief to be brought to those adversely affected?
I would agree that Christie’s regime was, in fact, very much indecisive when it came to borrowing money recklessly, like you Hubert Ingraham, which would have negatively impacted the country’s national debt. Christie’s regime, I would agree, was slow-very damn slow-to exercise its option to impose (indiscriminately like yours did, Hubert Ingraham) drastic, increased rates of customs duties and other taxes, on imported goods, on the backs of poor struggling Bahamians. Christie displayed great weakness (I would agree) when he said “YES” to National Health Insurance for all Bahamians while you, Hubert Alexander Ingraham, acted very DECISIVELY and with the STRENGTH and QUICKNESS of a deer; said “NO” to the plan. In those examples (I perfectly agree with you) Christie was INDICISIVE, SLOW and WEAK, while you, (Hubert Ingraham), and were DECISIVE, QUICK and STRONG to the detriment of the health and welfare of poor uninsured Bahamians. I say again that if you were to transplant Hubert Ingraham’s tiny little brain into a bird, the poor thing would fly backwards. You can give me Christie any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
I shall give you a couple more examples of what Ingraham terms Christie’s indecisiveness; wasn’t it Christie’s decision to institute “Tourism Policing” and the “Beach Warden” programs, in an effort to protect our tourist in downtown Nassau and while they were enjoying our Nassau beaches? And wasn’t it that strong, fast, decisive leader, Hubert Alexander Ingraham, who stopped both these programs and, in fact, dismantled them? Talk about being strong and decisive; this Negro (Hubert Ingraham) can’t even collect the garbage, effectively, that has been piling up for weeks, uncollected, in Nassau. He (Ingraham) is strong and decisive but can’t keep the eighteen garbage collection trucks, in Nassau, repaired and on the road? This surely never happened on, “weak and indecisive,” Perry Christie’s watch. And what about the “at risk” (my term) program for boys, which was located on Andros Island, away from the distracting activity of the city, which Hubert Ingraham stopped, and then cancelled, saying it was too expensive an exercise; was that not a Christie decision? And wasn’t the program having a tremendous, positive effect on the rehabilitation of many of the boys who were at risk of going astray? Who would you say is the decisive and strong one here; Christie or Ingraham?
In determining the decisiveness, strengths and or weaknesses of the two, consider the following please; whose decision was it to relocate (to Clifton) the port of Nassau and simultaneously take on the redevelopment of downtown Nassau, along the waterfront, with the view to making it a Mecca for tourism; Wasn’t it Christie’s? And what about the Urban Renewal project which was designed to change the police’s method of fighting crime and criminals from a re-active to a pro-active stance; wasn’t that groundbreaking decision, as well, Christie’s?
Get ready for it; the FNM’s entire campaign, in this election as it was in the last, will be once again (because they have nothing else) that Christie can’t make decisions, but Ingraham can; well was it not Christie’s decision to dedicate a whole agency of the government (Financial services and investments) to focus on the attraction of investment-(huge investment) - projects to the country? Didn’t GINN SUR MER with their $5 billion investment, in hand, come to West Grand Bahama (the first and only project in the last 19 years) on Christie’s approval? What about the I-Group’s $1.5 billion to Mayaguana? And what about The Albany, Bah Mar, Nassau Airport (all billion dollar investments) and a number of other projects to Nassau; weren’t they all approved by Perry Christie? Please let me not forget the Bakers Bay billions to Abaco; the Rum Cay billion dollar project and the projects to Eleuthera and Exuma; all together totaling some $15 billion? Wasn’t it the decision of the strong one (Hubert Ingraham) to stop and cancel many of these same good projects, which had a devastating economic affect on our financial interest? Who would you determine and conclude, then, to be the strong and wise decision-maker; Ingraham or Perry Christie?
In the excerpts from a report, appearing in “story form” in the Nassau Guardian (Monday 23rd May 2011) purportedly extracted from the Wikileaks Cables; Hubert Ingraham is reported as admitting (he thought privately and confidentially) that Perry Christie is quote, “A good man;” “that Perry had the appeal to attract swing voters;” that Christie is “trustworthy and solid.” Ingraham said further about Christie that “even FNMs don’t fear for the country with Christie in charge, as they know that he is unlikely to do anything foolish (rash).” The FNM’s leader is quoted as saying further that he believes that Christie is a good man and well-intentioned. This I believe says it all; Hubert admitted, to the American Embassy Official when he thought that what he was saying, he would never hear again or that it would never be exposed to the public, that Perry Christie is a good and sober leader. For political reasons though (publicly) he calls Christie all sorts of ill-names and that’s his kind of nasty politics. They say that it’s nothing personal; it’s “POLITICS;” I say it’s damn “DISHONESTY.”
We in the PLP recognize exactly what Hubert Ingraham recognizes in Perry Christie; that he is a good man and that we have nothing to fear with him, at the helm of the country, as prime minister. We are confident that he would do nothing rash, foolish or stupid like Hubert Ingraham has been doing. That is why he is our leader and not because we think he is perfect, for no man on earth is perfect.
Thank You.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
12th June 2011
Kelly Burrows is not content to leave well enough alone on the question of the FNM’s accusing Perry Christie of being late again.
Dear Editor;
I would appreciate if you would publish my response to Forrester Carroll’s
Letter in Monday the 30th of May Edition of the Freeport News, entitled (Get the Facts First)
I never thought I would see the day that Mr. Carroll would do a Peter on me,
by referring to me as one (Kelly Burrows) Politics make strange bed fellows.
I in no way tried to (denigrate) oh sorry Mr. Carroll, denigrate The Leader of the Opposition, The fact of the matter, Mr. Carroll he was late; there is no defense for that, if as you say, Mr. Obie Wilchcombe a trusted Lieutenant was asked to extend the Leaders Apologies to the family, that should have sufficed, or is it that the Leader lack full confidence in Wilchcombe extending an apology? He had to show up late, as is his custom, to an unscheduled event as you say?
His behavior should, as leader of the official opposition, he should be seen as to be Prime Minister like and as such, if the PM could not make a function he would send a representative from his party.
If he was passing and saw that the interment was not yet finished with many persons milling about, it would not have been a proper time for him to stop and he should have gone to the residence of the family to give his personal condolences. His stopping reeks of grand standing or election fever Photo op and does not show genuine care particularly as he has a proclivity for always being tardy. True, the public does not know where he had been earlier in the day nor do they need to know, he just needs to set a good example by either being on time or sending his personal or political rep to stand for him. While Bahamians tend to criticize, we must not forget the fact that correct protocol should be expected from all of our leaders as this often sets the tone for the country as a whole as we never like to be criticized as being third world.
It would have been better if he did not show up, then, there would have been no discussion on (LATE AGAIN) Mr. Carroll, you need to recognize the fact in regards to your Leader being late again, and stop living in a state of denial in respect to your Leader, the perception in the public’s domain is being proven to be true every time by your Leader and his tardiness in being on time, and disrespecting others time.
It would be interesting to know if he was on time for the funeral in Nassau?
Mr. Carroll, continue to defend the defenseless.
The End.
Kelly D. Burrows
Freeport Grand Bahama
( We repeat that Mr. Christie’s appearance was not late. He was asked by the family to stop by and did so. Editor)
Andrew Allen praises the Guardian on Wikileaks:
Dear Sir: Well done Guardian |
( We disagree that Hubert Ingraham came out unscathed in these alleged cables by the United States. This cannot be the case for someone who called the judges of the country incompetent and appointed for political reasons and who called his colleague and now Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette unfit for the office of leader of his party and who called the members of the Cabinet of the opposite party incompetent again to American officials. Left to him he is the only competent Bahamian in the country. It seems to us that he is the Emperor Jones. Editor)
A letter writer signing himself Tom asks a question which we always ask and can get no answer except that it is coming with a new site:
Dear Sir:
Why is it that the OFFICIAL government (www.bahamas.gov.bs) website is perpetually down? Do we need a foreign consultant to fix this vexing perennial problem?
Tom
IN PASSING
Carl Hallucinates On FNM Numbers Labour Day Parade
Speaking in the House of Assembly on Monday 6th June, Carl Bethel, the FNM MP for Sea Breeze and the Chairman of the FNM told the House that the FNM had eclipsed the PLP on the Labour Day Parade held the weekend before on 3rd June. Clearly, Mr. Bethel was hallucinating. It is part of an FNM pattern to simply declare that which they want to be true and think that it is so. You simply have to look at today’s photo of the week above to show that this was a mathematical impossibility. Mr. Bethel and his party marched with the National Congress of Trade Unions. The PLP marched with both. Unfortunately, he did not see the PLP’s crowd and if he did he would not have made such a silly and idle boast. What it also shows is how out of touch with reality Mr. Bethel and his party are.
Jamal Rolle Texting In The House
There is someone calling himself Apostle Jamal Rolle who is a regular on Facebook. Some people identified him as sitting in the gallery of the House of Assembly during the contribution of the Leader of the PLP and texting derogatory messages for his Facebook page while Mr. Christie was speaking on the Budget Debate on Wednesday 8th June. Apart from this being unlawful since he does not have a press pass for the House of Assembly, the question that arises is whether or not he is an apostle of God or of the devil. His specialty along with others like Peter Carey is to write nasty messages on the web about PLPs. These people are called FNM trolls in web language.
Zhivargo Laing Two Hours Of Unadulterated Rubbish
In a democracy, you have to listen to all kinds of things and put up with all sorts of nonsense. Such is life. Into that category fit the contribution of Zhivargo Laing, the Minister of State for Finance who was simply hysterical in his contribution to the budget debate on Wednesday 8th June. First of all, he should not be speaking after the Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie. Secondly, he should simply calm himself down. His single biggest downfall is his perceived arrogance, and the fact that people do not believe that he lives the born again life which he professes. He comes off as a nasty partisan who takes no prisoners. So against that background one was not surprised at the screaming and shouting and ill manners of this fellow in the House of Assembly on that day. Perry Christie ought to remind him that they are not company and should simply go sit down and behave himself and not smell his top lip.
Important Chinese Big Wigs Visit
A group of Chinese big wigs are in town for a look see at The Bahamas.The delegation is led by Wang Lequan, the Deputy Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Communist Party of China ( see Nassau Guardian photo with Bahamas Chief of Protocol). " It appears that The Bahamas has spared no effort in making a good impression. The leader of the Chinese delegation was treated to one meeting after the next with the Governor General, Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. The most curious visit however was that with the Chairman of the FNM. No such visit was arranged with the Chairman of the PLP. A formal protest will be made to the government about this A dinner on board a fancy yacht moored at Paradise Island was held in the honour of the Chinese. Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill, Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs attended representing the Leader of the Opposition. The Chinese have put the money behind the Bahamar project on Cable Beach and they are major investors in the Container Port in Grand Bahama. They are also contributors to a 30 million dollar national stadium in Nassau.
City Markets Does Its Bit For Registration
REALLY READY - The Management of Bahamas Supermarkets Limited – the parent company of the City Market Food Store Chain, assisted in preparing employees for the upcoming General Elections by having the Parliamentary Department register employees at their headquarters on the East-West Highway this past week. The Parliamentary Registry representatives were on premises for three days to register employees who were excited about the opportunity and convenience the opportunity to register presented.
Our photo shows the Chairman of Bahamas Supermarkets Limited, Mr. Mark Finlayson registering for the upcoming General Elections.
Photos of Jean Cherry Funeral
We reported last week on the funeral of Jean Chery a Haitian émigré to The Bahamas in the Pindling era who later became a Bahamian citizen and was a leading PLP in Grand Bahama and a stalwart councilor. The photos from the funeral which took place on Saturday 4th June.
Sandals Employment Problems
The Sandals Hotel in Exuma continues to have problems with its employee relations. The hotel is reportedly paying under market wages and is bringing in Jamaicans for jobs that Bahamians can do. Further, it appears that there is a cultural clash with the Bahamians on the job site being abused verbally by the Jamaicans. Look for problems on that site in Exuma during the week.
Shane Gibson Puts Charles Maynard In His Place
Hubert Ingraham uses three MPs to do his nasty work for him. Ken Russell the MP for High Rock attacked Cynthia Pratt during his contribution to the budget debate accusing her of a gun crime She quickly set him straight and he hung his head down in shame for the rest of the debate. Then there is Brensil Rolle who made an allegation that he was forced to withdraw. Then there is Charles Maynard who with a sneer made the comment about Shane Gibson that he ( Charles Maynard) had never been a joneser. Mr. Gibson replied that he had never run a whore house. Further he told Mr. Maynard that Kojak, the drug trafficker from the 1984 Commission of Inquiry, was still looking for his fifty thousand dollars. This was a reference to a report in that inquiry report that Mr. Maynard’s father was involved in a $50,000 payment by Kojak. Mr. Gibson said that Mr. Maynard had threatened to “eff him” up for some statements he had made in the House earlier about Mr. Maynard. It was a testy time for the House on Tuesday 7th June.
The Future Of Bahamas Issues
Delroy Meadows, the founder and web master of Bahamas Issues website has announced that he may be hanging up his hat on that site because of the press of his campaign to become the MP for Ft. Charlotte. It appears that he is looking around for someone to take it over so that it does not die. He has told the faithful to stand by.
Police Need To Be In The Schools
Over the past two days (prior to 10th June), at least 17 students were involved in major fights and five students had to be taken to PMH. This is unfortunate. These incidents would not have happened had the FNM not cancelled the school based policing in 2007. Since then, at least three students have been murdered and countless others hacked. Even administrators have been attacked. The whole school environment is in fear and the media is no longer focusing on these incidents. The last reported incident involved two students of the Doris Johnson Senior High School on Thursday 9th June.
The Murder Count
There are now 277 murders since Tommy Turnquest became Minister of National Security. There are 59 murders for the year.
Fred Mitchell Speaking On The Budget
The video conversion is by C. Allen Johnson
The Latest Political Comedy In The United States
Well now a U.S. Congressman with the last name Weiner ( Alan is the first name), apparently showed his weenie to some women on the web. He is a married man, when asked about it. He told the press that it was not him. Then he confessed, well it was. Big row. Ethics investigation. Wife is pregnant and works for Hilary Clinton. They can compare notes. He said he’s not going tore sign. Plenty of huffing and puffing and tut tutting. Much ado about nothing. Latest’s is he is going to ask for a leave of absence to go get professional held ala Tiger Woods? This is simply laughable!
Hubert Ingraham And His Words
“I would hold my head down in shame. If at the end of my 5 year term there are 100 plus persons charged with murder who I could not cause to be tried within 2 years." Mr. Speaker that in those circumstances “ I would be ashamed of myself. I would say to the Bahamian people I am a failure. And my punishment of being voted out of office is minor – I should get more major punishment than that” So that is why he is holding his head down in shame. Getting ready, the term is coming to an end and the total is already more than 100.
Ingraham Attacks Branville McCartney
Fire Destroys AID
The store where you can get all your car and hardware needs and supplies in Nassau burnt to the ground at its home shop on Wulff Road in New Providence. The fire loomed large over Nassau and the whole building was burned flat to the ground. Streets were closed and the nearby Shell Gas station shut down and evacuated. No word on the cause. Harold Watson, the President of the company, said that it will take baout two years to rebuild the store. The fire took place on Thursday 9th June.
Clarence E.Moss SC.,Memorial.
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Stalwart Councilor Clarence Moss was laid out at Gambier House the PLP headquarters on Firday 10th June. Mr. Moss who hailed from Fox Hill ws 70 years old when he died and gave a lifetime of tribute to the Fox Hill PLP. The photos are by Athama Bowe.
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PAUL MOSS UNDER ARREST: He has been within the last five years in every political party and it seems every political activity there is in Nassau. Clearly this is an active mind that never stops clicking. But the police now allege that he did not renew his shotgun licence. He is also a businessman and it appears that he was stopped in a roadblock on 14th June with the shotgun in evidence but no licence on him. He was released and the shotgun held pending his bringing the licence. After that the details get a bit fuzzy. The talk in town is that he paid the fee to the police for the shotgun licence, some two years overdue and then went to retrieve the weapon, whereupon he was arrested and paraded like a common criminal to the Magistrate's Court. The Magistrate made matters more interesting by setting bail not on his own recognizance but that he ought to report to the police every Saturday. The whole thing came off as political. Another example of Hubert Ingraham, his police and his prosecutors piling it on for political reasons. Mr. Moss seemed sanguine about the whole thing saying that this was an experience that young black Bahamian men go through everyday so it was a learning time. Our photo of the week is the photo of the disgraceful conduct of the police in parading Paul Moss in handcuffs to the Magistrate's Court on 14th June. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
DRUNKEN TALK ABOUT BOUNDARIES
You’re drunk again
Every week end
You’re drunk again
Geno D.
Sitting at the high table at Government House last week on Tuesday 14th June, the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and his minions were filled with the spirit and the talk was fast and furious and loose as a gray goose. The subject was the constituency boundaries and what he proposes to do with them. Mind you in law, he has nothing to do with it but we know that the men that he proposes to appoint to the constitutional commission that has the nominal and de jure job will simply do as they are told. In reality, Hubert Ingraham alone will draw the boundaries.
We have reported before in this column how every week, the Prime Minister is driving around in his car looking at how he can cut boundary lines.
He has said in the past that he will target Ryan Pinder, Fred Mitchell and Melanie Griffin in the east of New Providence, all PLPs. He has as special hate for Fred Mitchell and the people of Fox Hill of African descent.
Now with that spirited Government House conversation there is new intelligence on the subject. His minions says that they will be surprised if Branville McCartney wins his deposit when he is finished with the Bamboo Town boundaries. His minions say that he plans to make sure that the
PLP is balkanized into enclaves that only they can win but their broad based representation will be finished.
With that he pronounced at table that 1997 was the finest boundary selection ever which ended up with the PLP winning 6 seats and the FNM holding the vast majority of the 41 seats.
He wants to be sure that Perry Christie, the PLP Leader has to move from the seat that he now has in order to survive the election. He wants to be sure that the PLP has to go back to the drawing board after choosing its candidates and have to put people in new places. This is the mind of evil.
His minions say that when registration reaches 100,000, and it is now 80,000, he plans to appoint the Constituencies Commission. He plans to appoint Tommy Turnquest and Charles Maynard, two of the most partisan people on the Commission to represent him. The Speaker chairs the commission. He too is partisan for the FNM and an Ingraham man. Philip Davis PLP and a Judge of the court now unknown will complete the commission’s appointments. This should all take place just after the old register dies on 14th July.
The Prime Minister plans to have a fairly long summer break after tabling the election law changes. He will repair the House of Assembly like the building over on the other side of the public square before the House resumes. The PLP’s recommendations were delivered to him on Friday 10th June. He is already indicating that he will not have time to put in place the changes that the PLP wants, which means that he will ignore what the PLP asks and do what he wants anyway.
There is an expression: when you did on grave, dig two. One of them is for you.
A word to the wise is sufficient.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 18th June 2011 up to midnight: 167,944
Number of hits for the month of June up to Saturday 18th June 2011 up to midnight: 387,287
Number of hits for the year 2011 up to Saturday 18th June 2011 up to midnight: 4,272,061
A VISIT TO THE CRABFEST
The PLP’s leaders visited the site of the Andros Crabfest on Saturday 11th June. Perry Christie, Party leader, led the way with Deputy Leader Philip Davis and party candidates Dion Smith (Kennedy); Dr. Kendal Major (Garden Hills). Party Chairman Bradley Roberts and Vice Chair Randy Rolle were also there. The photos are by Andrew Burrows.
SENATOR FITZGERALD ON AID FIRE
Senator Jerome K. Fitzgerald PLP Candidate for Marathon issued on 14th June the following press release about the affects of the recent fire and explosion at the hardware store AID:
I find it necessary, after having had a chance to speak to and visit a number of persons and households in the Marathon constituency, and noting the effects of smoke inhalation, to enquire of the government and executives of AID as to the steps taken to investigate the environmental and health impact of last week’s fire. Without pushing the panic button, I find it most interesting that there has been no announced public response, in light of the reports of nausea and vomiting by persons in the surrounding fire zone area. At the very least, reports should have emanated from the Ministries of Environment and Health. This comes sixteen (16) months after the latest explosion at the Water and Sewerage Corporation that left an employee injured, and speaks to the need for established national standards for industrial operations. In light of the above, on behalf of the constituents of Marathon and neighboring constituencies, I am calling upon the government and executives of AID to inform the public of steps to be taken to evaluate the effect of the fire and explosions on persons in the immediate area. In addition, the public will also need a listing of the chemicals that were in inventory and the prescribed treatment in the event that they are still suffering from any ill effects of the fire.
( The Department of Environmental Health has since visited the site of the fire and the environment and pronounced it safe. Hmmm! Editor)
PLP ON SCHOOL POLICING
The following statement was issued by the Progressive Liberal Party calling for a return of police in the schools:
PROGRESSIVE LIBERAL PARTY
PLP CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOL BASED POLICING IN FACE OF ESCALATING SCHOOL VIOLENCE
13 June 2011
For immediate release
The Progressive Liberal Party calls for the immediate re-establishment of School Based Policing in light of escalating school violence.
Over the past two days alone, at least two major fights occurred involving at least seventeen (17) high school students and at least five (5) students had to be taken to the Princess Margaret Hospital suffering from serious stab wounds. It is our understanding that more fights and altercations occurred over the last two weeks at a number of schools. However, the FNM Government is sweeping these incidents ‘under the carpet’ because they are too embarrassed to face the reality that the PLP’s School Based Policing served a meaningful purpose. Further, these matters no longer capture media attention to bring the gravity of the situation to the general public. The negligent act of the FNM government not to take immediate and appropriate action places the entire school environment including those involved in these incidents at grave risk.
In 2003, the PLP Christie administration realized that The Bahamas, like its Caribbean counterparts, was experiencing serious problems in its school system and was headed for an explosion in school violence. In response, the PLP initiated research to identify the extent of the problem and possible challenges. This was a collaborative effort between all the respective agencies including the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of National Security (more particularly, the Royal Bahamas Police Force). An impressive eighty-three (83) page working document was produced to address the challenges associated with safety in our schools.
It was and still is the position of the PLP that making our schools safer requires a comprehensive strategy that includes the following elements:
Opportunities to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to maintain a school environment in which conflict and differences can be addressed in a manner characterized by respect and civility; Intervention and support for those who are at risk of, or already engaged in, violent or antisocial behavior contrary to Ministry of Education standards and in violation of the laws of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas; A pro-active approach in identifying and preventing (where possible) random or planned acts of violence in schools; and An effective response to incidents when they occur – one that respects the rights of victims and witnesses, as well as those of the alleged perpetrators in accordance with the laws of The Bahamas.
Due to the nature and extent of the problem, the Christie administration formed the School Based Policing Unit that was headed by the Police and strategically placed them in our school environment. School violence dropped as the Police, in collaboration with school Principals, administrative bodies, the Ministry’s security teams and the wider Public Service prevented, intercepted and detected more incidents that breached school safety. All forms of weapons were confiscated before students could use such weapons to commit acts of violence.
Unfortunately in 2007, when the FNM came to office, they stopped and cancelled the School Based Policing Programme. From 2007 to the present, at least three (3) students were murdered and countless others have sustained life-threatening injuries. Additionally, students have attacked school administrators.
In light of the escalating violence in schools, the PLP admonishes the FNM that it is generally accepted that schools must be safe places for learning and teaching. A safe school environment promotes respect, responsibility, and civility. Providing the best possible education for students in a safe school community is a shared responsibility, and it requires a commitment to collaboration, cooperation, and effective communication, not only among parents and teachers, or the Ministry of Education, but among all entities charged with the education and protection of the citizens of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The Government itself must take charge and lead accordingly; return the School Based Policing Programme so that teachers feel safe enough to teach and students feel safe enough to learn.
We also remind the Government that there are approximately sixty-five thousand (65,000) persons in our educational system. Given this large figure, the issues of crime, anti-social behavior and violence that affect the educational system, combined with truancy and abuse must be given top priority by the Government. Implementation of the School Based Policing Initiative can be the catalyst that restores the element of safety to schools and permit students to focus on attaining their educational goals unimpeded by fear.
ALLYSON GIBSON HONOURS BERMUDA’S LOIS BROWNE
She was a colleague and friend of the late Sir Lynden Pindling. They went to law school together in London. So in a way it was no surprise that when they chose as people of African descent to found a political party to represent the majority in Bermuda, she was one of the co-founders of the movement and the party’s first leader. The name of the party the Progressive Labour Party (PLP). Co-incidence? Their cry: “PLP- All the way!” Dame Lois Browne Evans did not see government until 1998 under the Leadership of Dame Jennifer Smith and in a PLP government went on to be that country’s first female Attorney General. She was a great leader for civil rights in Bermuda. Senator Allyson Gibson went to Bermuda to honour her and spoke at the unveiling of a bust in her honour and the naming of a public building for the late Dame Lois on 11th June. The photo shows Senator Gibson in Bermuda at the ceremony. Photo taken on 11th June 2011 on the occasion of the Official Opening of the Dame Lois Browne Evans Building and the unveiling of her statue created by world famous sculptor Zenos Frudakis whose works include a 16 foot statute of Dr. Martin Luther King. In the photo from L-R are Rodineyka Browne Evans (Granddaughter of Dame Lois); Nadine Browne Evans (Daughter of Dame Lois); Zenos Frudakis (sculptor of the statue); Tine Evans Caines (Daughter of Dame Lois); Allyson Maynard Gibson (family friend); the Hon. Paula Cox (Premier of Bermuda). Sitting are 2 of Dame Lois’ Grandsons.
You may click here for the full remarks of Senator Gibson.
SANDALS STRIKES BACK AT A NON EXISTENT DEMO
You must click here and read this statement issued by Sandals’ Consultant Everette Hart about a supposed planned demonstration against Sandals in Exuma. The only thing is: no demonstration took place in Exuma last week. The only thing that was said was a simple report on this site last week as follows: The Sandals Hotel in Exuma continues to have problems with its employee relations. The hotel is reportedly paying under market wages and is bringing in Jamaicans for jobs that Bahamians can do. Further, it appears that there is a cultural clash with the Bahamians on the job site being abused verbally by the Jamaicans. Look for problems on that site in Exuma during the week.
Following that statement, Mr. Hart, the Sandal’s consultant issued the most venomous statement in which he lashed out at Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill for that statement on this website and the MP for Exuma Anthony Moss accusing them of trying to threaten the jobs of Exumians at Sandals. It is really quite amusing in one way but too serious to take as a joke. The statement by Mr. Hart is complete overkill and it shows that people who smile in your face can harbour the most hostile views about an individual even as they smile and shake your hand. A bit about Mr. Hart. Mr. Hart is a former administrator for the island of Exuma. He ended his career in 2007 as a Senior Administrator with a great deal of bitterness toward the MP Mr. Moss and the PLP for some imagined sins, one of which was that when he retired he was not allowed to stay in the house owned by the government until his personal house was built. The PLP transferred Mr. Hart back to Exuma in 2002 because they believed that he was a progressive sympathizer of mature experience in the public service; he would bring some order to Exuma's wild economic growth and while not being partisan would be a stable influence on the situation in Exuma. What it turned out was that during the time that Hubert Ingraham was in power from 1992 to 2002, Mr. Hart had become a victim of the Patty Hearst Syndrome. He became a sympathizer of his captors and flipped to the other side. He started to work against Mr. Moss and the PLP and in Rolleville in the 2007 general election to the consternation of PLP generals ate into the PLP's support base in Exuma. For an Exumian of African descent to write the piece that he has is condescending, insulting and shameful. Pompey, the 19th century African slave who led the revolt for Freedom in Exuma would be embarrassed that an Exumian would write such a thing and would be ashamed. This is not what we expect. But no problem. The fact is no matter what Mr. Hart says: there is a community relations problem in Exuma with Sandals. No one is threatening Sandals. What we say to Sandals is that employees complain that they are over worked and under paid; that they are insulted by the staff brought in from abroad in the way they speak to Bahamians; that the property is not equitable in its treatment of Exumians in the local economy. Whether perceived or real, the fact is those are the complaints. Now the consultants who are Exumian have a responsibility to try to solve the problem, not let their FNM politics cloud their judgment and attack imaginary ghosts as enemies. As for the charge that under the PLP the white expatriates talked badly to the staff and the PLP did nothing, Mr. Hart has to examine his own conscience if that were the case. We do not believe it is true. It is racist in any way to make such a charge. But we remind Mr. Hart that he was responsible for Exuma and the issues of governance in Exuma during those years. Anthony Moss is a good Member of Parliament for Exuma and no matter what Mr. Hart tries to do, we believe that the PLP will prevail in Exuma in 2012. We think that he ought to usefully use his time to give Sandals real advice and not threaten people. You see in the back of everyone’s mind is that in 2007 Butch Stewart, the owner of Sandals reportedly had a row with then Prime Minister of St. Lucia Kenny Anthony and in the middle of the campaign in St. Lucia’s elections, Sandals fired scores of staff from his Sandals’ property with blame going to the government there. The result for that and other reasons, Kenny Anthony lost the election. Now could it be said that with Mr. Hart threatening the jobs of Bahamians in Exuma, the same thing is in the cards using of course the twisted logic that it’s the PLP who cost the jobs. Mr. Hart and his employers ought to be very careful with this. Click here.
GUARDIAN THINKS TOO MUCH OF ITSELF
In an editorial published on 15th June The Nassau Guardian wrote these words defending its publication of the Wikileaks cables which are said to be reports sent from U.S. diplomats to their home base in Washington from Nassau during the period 2002 to 2010:
[Fred] Mitchell was too excited when the cables were first published. Most Bahamians we have encountered are curious about the views of the Americans. And they certainly realize that what is written in the cables is written by the Americans and not The Nassau Guardian.
Though Mitchell still seems to think this newspaper has waged war against the PLP, maybe he is warming to the position espoused by Christie.
In that same budget contribution, he said, “Our public officials, including myself, can learn the cautionary tale of being careful with your mouths, not to let these positions cause you to show off.”
This, really, is one of the main lessons of the cables. Christie is right on and Mitchell seems to be getting on the right track. We hope Mitchell calms down and abandons his view that the publishing of these cables is a part of a vast anti-PLP conspiracy by this newspaper.
No doubt this article although anonymous was written by Candia Dames, who has been dubbed the personal amanuensis of the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. In other words, we think that she is up in the armpit of the Prime Minister and he can do no wrong. She is an Ingrahamite. That is the first thing that should disqualify her for being a reporter with The Nassau Guardian not to speak of her being an editor. No PLP can get a fair shake with her working there.
We advised the former Prime Minister Perry Christie to stop speaking to this lady because she means him no good and can mean him no good. Every step she takes, every move she makes is designed to seduce him into long interviews only to sucker punch him when the material is presented in the newspaper. Nothing that has happened in the past two weeks with regard to Mr. Christie and The Guardian changes that opinion in this column.
We say that this reporter, editor has an ethical problem. There are at least four instances of troubling decisions which should give any employer pause about her performance.
As a reporter for Jones Communications, she wrote a story about her bother Marvin Dames’ complaints that he was being abused by the PLP as an Assistant Commissioner of Police.
She is suspected of being the means by which the FNM got confidential information attached inadvertently to a press release that was sent on the web to the Nassau Guardian.
She wrote a story about her former live in lover which attacked his fitness to be a nominee for the PLP in office.
Under her leadership, press statements from the PLP are deep sixed and the FNM given the opportunity to respond before the PLP’s statement has been issued.
Now you have this stupid editorial in which she ( and we used the word advisedly) having seduced the Leader of the Opposition into speaking to her in a story published on 14th July implying that she will give him a fair shake but the paper ends up trying to use the editorial to make a separation between his Foreign Affairs spokesman and himself. It is symptomatic of the wickedness which she practices.
So the Guardian lacks credibility as a newspaper of record until it deals with these serious ethical breaches.
On 15th June, prosecutors under the direction of the new Jamaican hot shot prosecutor Vinnette Graham Allen walked into court and they after three and a half years were not ready to present the case of alleged fraud against two public servants Joseph Ferguson and Patrick Evans. The cases were brought right after the general election in 2007. These two were PLPs. The idea was to try and embarrass the PLP and it was an attempt to get at Shane Gibson, the former Housing Minister under the PLP. They came to court last week with a document that was not the original. They could not get it admitted under the rules of evidence. The maker of the statement was not in town and no prospect of him returning to town to help them. They could not get an adjournment. They then came in and entered a writ of nolle prosequi, which means they dropped the case. There is another one outstanding against Mr. Evans and we await the outcome in that within about ten days. Mr. Evans' case is particularly egregious. This was Mr. Ingraham's friend and supporter. He helped Mr Ingraham throughout his political career as Prime Minister and as Leader of the Opposition. Yet Mr. Ingraham turned his prosecutorial dogs on him to get at the PLP. We reported a few weeks ago on the case of Terry Bain who was locked up for political reasons in Farmer's Cay after criticizing the Minister of the Environment. Then there is the photo of the week showing the arrest of political activist Paul Moss. Now the case against Mr. Evans is dropped showing that the whole thing was political in the first place and a crock of lies. Hubert Ingraham deserves a special place in hell. The report from The Nassau Guardian follows:
Prosecutors formally dropped charges yesterday against two civil servants accused of defrauding the government after a judge refused an adjournment.
The fraud trial against Joseph Ferguson of Fresh Creek, Andros, and Patrick Evans of Flax Terrace, Malcolm Allotment, was supposed to begin on Wednesday.
However, AG prosecutor Ambrose Armbrister asked Justice Watkins to adjourn the matter because two prosecution witnesses were not available.
Armbrister presented a document that ended the proceedings when Justice Watkins refused to delay the proceedings. The case against Ferguson and Evans was discharged.
However, new charges can be brought against them.
On Tuesday, Chief Counsel Neil Brathwaite stepped down from the case because he knows one of the defendants personally.
He asked for the matter to be set down until Thursday, but the judge refused.
The men were first arraigned on charges that they defrauded the National Emergency Management Agency in May 2008.
Prosecutors decided to bypass a preliminary inquiry in the magistrate’s court to speed up the trial process.
WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT BRENT SYMONETTE
We present the report from The Nassau Guardian dated 15th June which they say comes from the Wikileaks website and is supposed to be a cable sent by U.S. diplomats back to their home base in Washington D.C from Nassau during the period 2002-2010. The Nassau Guardian has been serializing them on their front page each day for two weeks. The piece which follows is about Brent Symonette the now Bahamian Foreign Minister. It should be a source of great embarrassment for him but he probably thinks that it’s great. What it shows is that the U.S. thought that by getting Mr. Symonette to be Foreign Minister, they had their man in place. In other words, they seemed to think that he was their agent. The U.S. Charge seems also to have been duplicitous in that Brendt Hardt ( then Charge) who was Mr. Symonette's physical neighbour on the Eastern Road, was telling the PLP's Foreign Minister that relations between both countries was good but at the same time wishing and hoping and working for Mr. Symonette to replace Mr. Mitchell as Foreign Minister because it was to him a better fit. This is interesting. The facts show that there was no qualitative difference in the relations between the countries between PLP and FNM. The only difference is that Mr. Mitchell was brooding, sensitive and aloof. Mr. Symonette was more friendly according to Mr. Hardt. Interesting words for a supposed professional diplomat. We think that the only difference is the race of Mr. Mitchell and that of Mr. Symonette were different and that perhaps increased the level of comfort. That is the great unspoken sentiment in these cables. You may click here for the full report.
The Nassau Guardian has been busy doing the devil’s work ( aka the FNM) by savaging the PLP every week with these silly so called cables released from American diplomats who wrote back a whole lot of nonsense allegedly to their home base in Washington. These cables are not professional in their writing at all but the American diplomats have uncritically adopted the propaganda of the Free National Movement about the FNM. The cables have called Perry Christie and the PLP indecisive and late in arriving at meetings. They have no objective evidence to show that this is so, only the exact lines of propaganda by the FNM. Perry Christie spoke to the Nassau Guardian in answer to some of the matters printed by them and here is the link to what the Nassau Guardian published on 14th June:
HANGING BECOMES EVEN MORE DIFFICULT
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| Max Tido, the convicted murderer is pictured. |
Max Tido who killed a 16 year old Donnell Conover that he was sleeping with one night off Cowpen Road in New Providence in 2002 has won his appeal against the sentence of death imposed by the Supreme Court in 2002. Finally, some nine years later, he had his final appeal heard before the Privy Council. This is believed to be the first case reviewed by the Privy Council of a resentencing following their ruling in Bowe and Davis which outlawed the mandatory death penalty in The Bahamas back in 2002. Once that original ruling on the non mandatory nature of the death penalty happened everyone who had been sentenced to death under that mistaken view of the penalty had to be re-sentenced. It’s been a lonely and slow road. The victims’ families have been pained by the exercise with the tribulations and emotions being whipped up all over again. Justice is to be swift sure and certain and rational. It is not in The Bahamas. So Max Tido is not to die The Privy Council overruled the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal here in Nassau and said that despite its brutal nature the murder of the 16 year old did not meet the rarest or the rare or the worst of the worst standard of murder to warrant the death penalty. This standard was set for all Caribbean countries in the case Trimmingham in 2009 reported earlier on this site. In Tido, the Court said that the second limb of the two limbed test is that there must be no prospect of reforming the offender. Only then can you apply the death penalty. That makes it virtually impossible to execute anyone from this day forward. The court also imposed a standard psychological examination as part of the decision that the Judge at first instance has to make. Not to be outdone, political activist and peripatetic gadfly Rodney Moncur was busy organizing another hanging march for 25th June. Mr. Moncur says that the white English people do not have any sympathy for what is happening in The Bahamas and so he now wants the Privy Council to go as the final Court of Appeal for The Bahamas. Tommy Turnquest, the Minister of National Security, says the government does not support that. You can click here for the full judgment of the court.
JARED FITZGERALD’S FAREWELL ADDRESS
We present the farewell address of Jared Fitzgerald, the oldest son of PLP Senator Jerome Fitzgerald and his mother Zarina who is an attorney at Higgs and Johnson. Mr. Fitzgerald, the younger, was the Primary School Student of the Year for 2010. Mr. Fitzgerald , the younger, gave an address beyond his years, speaking before his parents who beamed as he spoke. The parents said that the night of their son’s victory last year was as emotionally tough on them as it was on the son, perhaps even worse. The Senator said he was on edge the whole time and when his son won, he broke down in tears he was so happy. Enjoy. A bright young man with a bright future. His grandmother is freedom fighter Allardyce Scott Fitzgerald and his grandfather is freedom fighter Edward Fitzgerald.
NEW AMBASSADOR FROM NORWAY
The new Ambassador to The Bahamas for Norway is John Petter Opdal. He presented his credentials to the Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes on Thursday16th June at Government House in the presence of Lady Foulkes and Foreign Minister Brent Symonette. Fred Mitchell, Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs, was present for the occasion. The Ambassador will be resident in Havana, Cuba. The photos are by Peter Ramsay.
NEW BAHAMAS CG WELCOMED IN NEW YORK
A reception was held in New York in Harlem to welcome Rhonda Chipman Johnson as the new Consul General for The Bahamas in New York city. Ms. Johnson’s reception was organized by the Bahamas American Cultural Society headed by beryl and Wendel Edgecombe. A strong representative section of the New York area Bahamian Community, legislative leaders, and business sectors turned out to welcome Dr. Rhonda Chipman-Johnson, as the New Bahamas Consul General. This was the first time that such a cross-section gathered to show appreciation and give support to the office representing The Bahamas. The Bahamian American Cultural Society initiated the effort, and gained the support of the Bahamian American Association, the lead sponsorship of State Senator Bill Perkins, and the co-sponsorships of State Assemblyman Carl Heastie and State Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow. Both Assemblymen are Bahamian Americans holding key position in the New York State Legislature
This event was held on May 26, 2011 in the art gallery at the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building in Central Harlem. Re-decorated to reflect the Bahamian Culture – with emblem, art, music, and food – the gallery was a fitting place for Dr. Chipman-Johnson to explain her role as Consul General and to give her vision of closer collaboration between the region and The Bahamas in education, trade, and investment. Dr. Chipman-Johnson received certificates of appreciation from Representative Charles Rangel and New York State Senator Bill Perkins.
The photo shows from left: Beryl Edgecombe President of The Bahamian American Cultural Society, Inc. A Not for Profit 501 (c) 3 Organization. Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, Member of the Assembly of the 87th District, for Mount Vernon, New York, and Yonkers, New York; Dr. Chipman-Johnson Assemblyman Carl E. Heastie, Member of Assembly 83th District Bronx, New York and New York City Democratic District Leader for Bronx, Cordell Cleare, Chief of Staff Senator Bill Perkins 30th District Harlem New York.
NATIONAL CHILDREN’S CHOIR IN NEW YORK
REMEMBERING THE FATHER OF THE NATION ON FATHER'S DAY
Lynden O. Pindling was the father of this nation. The best little nation in the world as Perry Christie likes to say. His widow Dame Marguerite Pindling went to his mausoleum in St. Agnes Cemetery this morning to lay a wreath, remembering the father of the nation on this day Father's Day. To all fathers-- our best on this day. The photo is by Derek Smith Bahamas Information Services.
BEC FAILS IN ABACO UNDER HUBERT INGRAHAM
FNM Ministers Earl Deveaux and Phenton Neymour fail miserably to deliver on strong commitment to the People of Abaco of no BEC blackouts.
Despite very strong assurances given to the people of Abaco by Minister Earl Deveaux and Jr. Minister Phenton Neymour that the required action was taken to insure that the major blackouts of 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 would not occur in 2011; this to the shock and embarrassment of Abaconians has proven to be painful and miserably untrue as major blackouts continue in Abaco during 90 degree plus temperature.
A young resident of Abaco wrote on Face Book last evening. “As Hope Town and most of Abaco is full to capacity with tourist, with BEC spending $100 million. Hope Town Tourist sit tonight without electricity. Who do we hold responsible??”
The installation of Transmission Power lines which should have been installed before the completion of the New Power Plant is currently underway and was not completed in May as promised by Ministers Deveaux and Neymour. Latest information is that same will not be completed before the end of July early August. Whilst qualified Bahamians linesmen are sitting unemployed dozens of Jamaican Nationals have been engaged to install transmission line in Abaco.
Residents are complaining of appliances and other electrical items been damaged or destroyed by the many power surges etc. Abacoians demand to know, when will this madness end? Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and MP for North Abaco has remained silenced since his bombast promised to get to the bottom of why BEC Abaco run out of oil and whilst the people of Abaco suffers and the dog days of summer at our doors.
The very serious incompetent and massive mismanagement of the installation of the New Power Plant is Abaco is another classic example of how Hubert Ingraham and the FNM have been handling the affairs of governance in our Bahama Land.
The PLP believes that a Commission of Inquiry is needed to investigate and provide a report on why a contract to build four new Generators issued in 2006 and a new Power Plant in Abaco is after almost five years and with expenditure of over $100 million is not providing uninterrupted electricity to the people of Abaco and its Cays.
: LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes about the economy this week and how no matter what positive spin Hubert Ingraham and Zhivaro Laing, his Minister of State try to put on it, the economy is on a downward spiral:
The Banking sector, which is the country’s second most important plank in our economy, has taken another bitch blow to the end of April 2011. Loans in arrears, reportedly, topped the $1.174 billion mark with Bank write-offs, for the first four months of this year, totaling around $45 million. This is what’s happening in our economy while Zhivargo Laing goes around the country spewing out his HOGWASH about an economic improving situation. All the talk in town and flowery speeches could never change the facts on the ground and those facts tell us (loud and clear) that the economy of the Bahamas continues on a downward spiral with no indication of relief in sight. Banking activity is almost at a standstill, with few loans being approved and the few which are being granted are being done on a fool-proof, one-hundred per cent guarantee of re-payment with over emphasis placed on the very best of collateral to be posted. The lending institutions (one might say) are operating on a sure thing nowadays (taking no chances) and cannot be faulted for their heightened prudence.
A synopsis of the Central Bank’s report for April reveals that, in addition to the $45 million write-off by the banking system, the “loan loss” provisions totaled some $284.7 million. These two factors alone (in themselves) certainly do not reflect an improving economic situation but rather a worsening one painting a very bleak financial picture, for the country, for the seeable future. It doesn’t matter the positive spin that Laing and Ingraham try to put forward, it remains a fact that the economy of the Bahamas is in SHAMBLES.
Speaking to the overall financial dilemma, with which we are faced, Mr. Paul McWeeney, of the Bank of the Bahamas, warned candidly that the staggering amount of $34.1 million loan default, for the month of April, added to the already accumulated high default amount, bringing the total default, to the end of April, to a whopping $1.174 billion, indicates a disastrous situation for which there is no quick fix, he opined. I am quite sure that Paul McWeeney’s analysis of the country’s financial position is more reliable, and given the fact that he is smarter than both Ingraham and Laing put together (as a matter of fact Ingraham can be left out of that equation as he has ROCKS in that big head of his), I would rather put my money on what he says than on their political rhetoric.
The commercial banks in the country, for the month of April alone, according to the Central Bank’s report, provided $11.3 million for loan losses. This provision increased their “ratio to total credit arrears” to 24.3% and their non-performing loans to 42.1%. Delinquent loans written off during April amounted to $12.7 million and contrary to Laing’s and Ingraham’s assertions, the economy is not improving but rather progressively getting worse. Both Mr. Al Jarrett and Economist James Smith, over time, have been warning these blokes of the dangers to which we’ve been heading. In addition the eminent gentlemen have been aggressively giving them sound advice as to some solutions they can employ (if they would) but Al and James are both PLP supporters and this government would never move on the advice of PLP supporters. That in their view would be tantamount to admitting that their FNM policies (whatever they are) have failed. King Solomon, in his wisdom, said in his Proverbs (the book of Proverbs chapter 14 verse 33-Life Application version) written very early in his reign, as King of Israel, that, “Wisdom is enshrined in the hearts of men of COMMON SENSE, but it (wisdom) must shout loudly before FOOLS will hear it,” unquote. Sounds like some people you know?
Franklin Wilson (another PLP supporter) opined recently that, “Despite the one-off windfalls (one time lump sums of Stamp Duty from the sale of Borco to Vopak to Buckeye and SRP to Statoil) we still have this humungous deficit….this country is in dire, serious need of some serious, objective look at what is happening with the country’s finances.” His operative word here, in my view, is OBJECTIVE and the FNM government ain’t gat none of that. Al Jarrett and James Smith have been warning Ingraham, for about two years now, to adhere to some common sense approach, but he won’t listen; why? Because both these gentlemen are PLP supporters and Ingraham don’t want any good advice from PLPs. Al has been calling for the Central Bank to lower its prime rate for about two solid years, now, but the FNM would not listen until now. I see from the newspaper reports that the Central Bank has finally come around to adhering to Al’s advice; they have now lowered the rate, bringing it down to 4.5%. This should begin the process of lowering the interest rates for businesses borrowing money; notwithstanding the opinion of some experts who are saying it’s “Too little; too late.”
Prudence is lost on this FNM government. What kind of voodoo economics is it to borrow money to fully fund STIMULUS packages, designed supposedly to generate spending within the economy of the country, and award the contracts to foreign contractors who are then allowed to import their own country’s nationals to perform the work? How does that stimulate the Bahamas’ economy when all the money, provided in the contract to fund the imported labor component, is paid in wages to foreign laborers who send it all back to their respective countries? How is our economy to be stimulated if all the money, including the net profits earned by the foreign contractors, leave the Bahamas and the only little bit that remains is the few dollars to pay the few common laborers they employ at minimum wage? Forgive me but I ain’t as smart as the two PISS-HEADS (Ingraham and Zhivargo Laing) so please tell me, how is the Bahamian economy benefitting from the roads being built by the Venezuelans and the Chinese? How are we benefitting if Bahamian heavy equipment operators are left unemployed, standing on the sidelines watching, while work permits are issued, by Brent Symonnette, for foreigners to be brought into the country to operate the heavy equipment at LPIA? Edward Seaga, former prime minister of Jamaica, said in a recent article, he wrote and published about Jamaica’s independence after fifty years that “Independence has not failed Jamaicans; but it is Jamaicans who have failed independence.” I echo the former prime minister’s sentiments in the case of the Bahamas as well; we have failed our independence.
Ingraham’s ferocious appetite for borrowing money and increasing the national debt (so recklessly and willingly) is, for any prudent Economist, a damn nightmare. He has an attitude which ignores common sense practices and the fact that, notwithstanding the attractive interest rates secured; the worsening, mountainous national debt would be left to the poorer 90% of the population to re-pay. For emphasis; what he ignores is that, given the antiquated tax regime we operate under, the middle-class (which has been dwindling by leaps and bounds these past four years of Ingraham’s Administration), the poor and poorer classes will bear the brunt for the re-payment of this escalating national debt. This two-footed animal has, in effect, maxed out the country’s credit card (in only four years) for the seeable future and generations of unborn Bahamians, will be burdened with Ingraham’s and the FNM government’s financial recklessness. It should be noted that the more the Bahamian labor force shrinks the fewer working Bahamians are left to repay a debt which increases, rather than decreases, each year. I am left with one conclusion here and that is that we are being governed by a DAMN FOOL, or some DAMN FOOLS. The JACKASSES don’t seem to know which side of the accounts books favors us and which side doesn’t.
Today, after 38 years of independence, we are a people emasculated, dispirited, dejected and deprived of our birth right. All this done to us by a government hell bent on burdening the struggling poor with a tax regime designed to keep us in constant need of government and other NGO handouts. All the strides we’ve made in our quest towards total independence have been thwarted by a government lead by an individual whose mind remains enslaved to the whims and wishes of the remnant descendents of our old colonial masters. Emancipation has come and gone but this Negro slave (Ingraham) fails to free himself from the shackles of yesteryear’s slavery. He is content to be, and content to remain, the humble obedient servant of his Bay Street Masters and is intent on dragging the rest of us down with him. This chief slave doesn’t want to see any of us succeed; he’d rather have some foreigner come to be lord and master over us for all times. Hence his reasons for replacing all Bahamian heads of departments with foreigners; for giving away BTC to foreigners; for not awarding the original Cable license to a Bahamian but, instead, to foreigners; for awarding road construction projects to foreigners; for proposing to allow foreigners to build the docks in Exuma and Little Abaco; for proposing to award a contract to refurbish the Glass window bridge in Eleuthera to foreigners. These are all very obvious indicators-that the creature’s mind is still enslaved and that he continues to believe that the descendents of slaves are incapable of achieving anything; the man hates his own BLACKNESS, I am convinced.
The good book (the Bible) warns us about “Slaves who become kings ;”( Proverbs 30:22) the inference being implied is that they become more tyrannical than any other; Hubert Ingraham is a tyrant of the highest order; impious and iniquitous.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
3 rd July 2011
Gordon Soles, father of Tagia Soles Armony who was brutally murdered with her child in her arms one night in 2009 has the double shock now of the alleged murderer being given bail. He writes this thoughtful and anguished letter to the Editor:
Dear Editor,
I awoke this morning at 4:00 A.M. and logged on to the internet to read the news of the previous day. I usually log on to the New York Times, Huffington Post, Nassau Guardian, Tribune and Bahamas Press and was greeted by the Bahamas Press headline that the murderer of TaGia Soles-Armony was granted bail by Justice Jon Issacs. This was something I expected as although the accused young man was charged, he has not received a trial within a reasonable time and it would be unjust that he should remain on remand.
On most occasions when Justice Issacs is noted in the news, it is when he has rendered a ruling which offends the public perception of what should happen to persons accused of a criminal offence. At such times, I find myself admiring his steadfast commitment to the “Rule of Law” and his courage to uphold the Constitution of The Bahamas. However, as he is only a part of the entire “Judicial System”, his actions are ineffectual in maintaining the perception of the “Rule of Law” and we as citizens are faced with the “Rule of the Jungle”.
This saddens me because I wish to continue to believe in a concept of Right and Wrong but find it difficult when faced with increasing examples of the failure of our country to address the root cause of lawlessness that pervades our existence. It is ironic that in the 1980’s Commission of Enquiry report so much focus was devoted to the politicians who may or may not have benefited from the illicit drug trade that we did not address the finding that our society exhibited a pervasive culture of corruption. Even more ironic is the fact that the primary focus of the Commission was the one who recognized that our country was headed in a direction which required a draconian course alteration.
Today we are faced with the “Except for Me” principle which explains why there are so many of us who think it acceptable to purchase our drivers licenses or to run a red light or “borrow” something without permission. The rules apply to everyone else, but I am the exception to the rule. I need not wait my turn to be served as I have an important meeting to attend or my time is too valuable. I can jump the line at BTC, BEC or the movies. I don’t have to worry because I have the “hook up” and I can back door my passport application. The rules apply for everyone else “Except for Me” and we now have a lawless society where only the strong survive and there is no justice for all.
I keep fighting with the question of G-d’s presence in the world and the prohibition against taking a life. I know that in the bible there are many instances where it is commanded that for various transgressions a man shall be put to death. But this does not seem to accord with the commandment “thou shall not kill”. Is there a difference between a person killing and someone being put to death?
While I am driving or at home or when I am praying and my mind dwells on TaGia, there is the urge to obliterate those responsible and those remotely responsible. The many scenarios end with me taking a weapon and driving by the thugs and letting loose with a hail of gunfire. The thugs are no more and I am not satisfied.
Then I think of the young man in prison and why he has not been tried for the offense. I look at TaGia’s pictures and see her smile and curse him for what he has taken from me. I try to understand the reasons for his actions and in my rational mind I understand. But in my emotional being there is the need that is not satisfied by his trail or death. There is a need for an understanding of G-d’s presence in the world and the prohibition against taking a life.
I do not see myself as being more intelligent or spiritual than the next person and as a result, I often think of myself as being out of step with the rest of the world. I ask why is it that we train our young men to take life in preparation for war and yet it is against the law that I should take the life of someone who has taken my life. I look at this world and see the many instances of men taking the life of others. I see the genocide in the Congo and in the Middle East. I see the hypocritical politicians inciting their constituents to hate all those who do not agree with their points of view and I see those same politicians justifying policies which denigrate humanity while preaching that it is in the best interest of all.
All of this leads me to question the validity of a moral system of behaviour. If it is acceptable to take the life of another in war, then is it not also acceptable to take the life of one who has taken my life? If it is acceptable to cut spending on social programs with the knowledge that in so doing many person will die as a result, is it not acceptable to take the life of one who has taken my life? If society is not able to protect me from those who would injure me, then am I not free to protect myself and my family? If society will not prosecute those who commit the most heinous of crimes, then I am not free to take the law into my own hands?
I cannot answer Yea or Nay. It is a matter of faith.
Sincerely,
Gordon Soles
IN PASSING
Peter Maynard To Run For President Of The Bar
Former Bar President Peter Maynard is set to make another run for the post with elections coming up against now Bar President Ruth Bowe Darville. Ryan Pinder, the MP for Elizabeth who is a member of the Bar is rounding up the troops to help him with his run.
BEC Setting A Record For Blackouts
The number of power failures per day and per week has become inestimable. Despite all the rosy promises that they would have enough generating capacity for the summer in New Providence, the power continues to go off up to five times per day in some parts of New Providence for hours at a time. A government that can’t keep the power on and can’t collect the garbage does not deserve to be re-elected.
Bahamas Genealogy
The Bahamian American Cultural Society, Inc, in collaborative sponsorship by New York State Senator Bill Perkins, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Assemblyman Carl Heasite, and Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, presents Bahamas Genealogical and Heritage Seminar and Workshop. The presenters who are experts in Genealogy and are practical minded will appeal to, guide, and respond to the interest of a wide range of individuals and groups, explore direct family linkages, give insights in potential land claims, and provide practical approaches to the experienced and to those who want to get started in their family history and heritage. Admission is FREE. Registration is by mail, fax 212-678-0001, or between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m, July 16, at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd at 135th Street, New York, New York. For confirmation and additional information: call Telephone 212-222-7315, or email bacsorg@earthlink.net.
Fox Hill Branch Meeting
Shane Gibson MP Golden Gates was the speaker at the monthly meeting of the Fox Hill Branch of the PLP on Wednesday 15th June. He spoke about the need for unity in order to win the general election. At the meeting a raffle was held and the prize went to . Charlene Marshal, the Chairman of the Branch presented the prize. Fred Mitchell MP attended the meeting which was held at the Sandilands Primary School on Wednesday 15th June.
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Lies In Wikileaks About Christie Resigning
On Friday 17th June, a story by Candia Dames in the Nassau Guardian proclaimed that Perry Christie contemplated resigning to a U.S. diplomat saying that if he did not win the bye-election cases in 2007 brought by his party members following the general election that he would resign. This is a lie. Ms. Dames and the Nassau Guardian continue to trot out this spurious nonsense week after week. The Wikileaks which supposedly are cables from U.S diplomats in The Bahamas to their home base in Washington between the years 2002 and 2010 have become tiresome. The more of them the Guardian prints, the more the newspaper’s reputation goes to the dogs as a trashy, useless rag. Ms Dames herself has ethical problems which she cannot overcome and which her employers refuse to acknowledge and investigate. It undermines her credibility as a journalist. See the story above. Our sources in the Guardian say that there is a constant battle within the paper about whether this should continue. The source says that it has become embarrassing but “Candia thinks that this will please Hubert so she continues and no one seems to be able to stop her.”
Jobless Recovery In The U.S. and What It Means Here
We don’t know what world Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister and his hapless Minister of State continue to live in. One of them just gave a rosy picture full of lies about the economy in his annual budget statement. The other is back on Facebook with witticisms and motivational expressions which he is better at than at being a minister of the government at which he is an abject failure. The point is all the objective evidence is that The Bahamas is in for a tough ride: unemployment and a cashless society. The poor getting poorer. This is not just a political comment but a plea for a clear change in direction, a structural adjustment which is required for our economy. Click here for a report on the U.S. Economy which is instructive. See the latest from Standard and Pors below.
http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/publications/us_jobs/pdfs/MGI_us_jobs_exec_summary.pdf
Standard and Poors
The following piece was published on Thursday, June 16, 2011 by Neil Harnell, The Tribune Business Editor : A major Wall Street credit rating agency would raise the Bahamas' sovereign credit rating if the Government initiates "a more proactive policy response" to reduce this nation's national debt, noting the economy's "modest growth prospects" and likely "limited" improvement in the fiscal deficit prior to the upcoming general election. Standard & Poor's (S&P), in its latest assessment of the Bahamas' public finances during a round-up of developments in Latin America, hinted strongly that it was not overwhelmed by the Government's fiscal plans and that the Ingraham administration could do more to set the national debt and deficit back on a more sustainable path. The analysis, prepared by Bahamas country analyst Lisa Schineller, said S&P's 'stable' outlook on this nation's sovereign credit rating "reflects our expectation that the Government will gradually reduce its fiscal deficit and will maintain a generally stable external financing profile". On the downside, she said the Bahamas 'BBB+' and 'A2' short and long-term ratings, respectively, " could come under pressure if the Bahamas' fiscal deterioration persists and the economic base erodes more severely". Yet, more interestingly, Ms Schineller wrote: "Conversely, we could raise the ratings if the Government takes a more proactive policy response to reduce debt levels or if the Commonwealth's economic prospects strengthen."For its 2011-2012 Budget, the Ingraham administration is projecting a GFS fiscal deficit of 3 per cent or $248 million. Debt principal repayments of $66 million are stripped out of this measurement, the total deficit forecast to be $314 million.
Speculation About Candidates
The Tribune has been relentless about speculating on the future candidacies of the PLP. In the full glare of its front page, the seats in South Eleuthera, South Andros and Exuma have come under scrutiny. This supposedly shows that the PLP is divided and can’t make up its mind what to do; reinforcing in the minds of some that PLP leader Perry Christie can’t make up his mind. Trouble is this is a natural phenomenon every time you are choosing candidates. The fact is that all PLP incumbents will be re-nominated. The only exception may be one incumbent who has not indicated whether or not he wishes to stand again; although he has said that he is thinking about not running. There is nothing unusual about it. Keod Smith, who is seeking a PLP nomination for South Andros, a nomination which is not available to him, is a card that no one can predict and so not much stock should be put in trying to suppress that. He beats to his own drum. What you don’t see of course is the “fighting” within the FNM. For example we have learned this week that Vernae Grant aka Sarah Palin (FNM MP Eight Mile Rock) is now on Mr. Ingraham's chopping block. In looking for a “safe” seat for his political son Zhivargo Laing, Mr. Ingraham wants Neko Grant his Works Minister to go. He is also pushing Ken Russell, the High Rock MP to leave. Both men are resisting. Up in north Eleuthera, Alvin Smith, the Speaker is being pushed out by two people Theo Neilly and former UBP supporter Richard Lightbourne. In South Beach, Phenton Neymour is being shoved out to Exuma. In Long Island, Brad McPhee is seeking to push out Larry Cartwright, the FNM incumbent and a minister of the government. This is to try and stop a revolt to the green party the DNA which would lead to a PLP victory. But the press has no interest in writing about this. They simply want to make the PLP look bad.
The Chinese Visit Controversy
The Visit of the Chinese big wig to The Bahamas last week Wang Lequan, the Deputy Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Communist Party of China has engendered some controversy. The PLP’s Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs wrote the Foreign Minister Brent Symonette to seek a formal explanation of why the politburo member visited the Chairman of the FNM and not the Chairman of the PLP. No word from The Minister. The letter from Mr. Mitchell is shown.
The Barbadian Prime Minister’s China Visit
Hard on the heels of the adverse credit ratings of Barbados by the international ratings agencies, and with a cash crunch coming that Opposition leader Owen Arthur says may undermine the Barbadian currency, Barbadian Prime Minister Frendle Stuart went to China on a six week tour through that country. China has lots of cash and nothing to do with it so everyone is going now cap in hand.
Weiner Takes His Weenie And Leaves
You try to warn the kids about these Blackberries and other devices which take photos and which can end up with intimate photos on the web, to be careful what they say and do with these instruments. That warning obviously was not heeded by Anthony Weiner who sent naked pictures of himself taken by his phone to women on the web who he did not know. Mr. Wiener is now a former Congressman having resigned from the U.S. legislature on Thursday 16th June. Silly though. The U.S. is a strange pace. Resigning because you as an adult took some naked pictures and sent them to women who did not object and who were adults themselves and where no law was broken. Anyway he is gone. There must a lesson somewhere. Mr. Wiener has taken his weenie and gone. The photo perhaps says it all.
Photo Of Mitchell with little Fox Hill Girl
Fred Mitchell MP was campaigning in Fox Hill and asked this young one: “ who ya voting for? ” No just kidding. Nice!
McCartney Wants Answers On The Chinese And On Funding
The fight between former FNMs continues with Bran McCartney, their former MP and now leader of the DNA, holding a press conference on Sunday past to say that he thought that the Chinese coming to town and calling on the FNM’s Chairman meant that the FNM was getting Chinese money to fund their election campaign. Not so said Carl Bethel, FNM Chair. Mr. Bethel earlier defended his obsequious and slavish remarks to the China Communist Party official as being necessary to say nice things to diplomats and visitors when they visit. You see why we are in trouble. The Chinese Ambassador gave a press conference on Thursday 16th June in which he said that his country has good relations with both the PLP and the FNM. Things that make you go hmmm! The Chinese big wig who came last week did not call on the PLP Chairman.
Photo Of The Tornado
There were two tornado warnings and watches issued for New Providence during the past week. Reports say that on 15th of June one tornado touched down rooting up trees and causing minor damage. The press carried his photo.
Gilbert Kemp Told To Leave Mangrove Cay
Administrator of Local Government Gilbert Kemp has been ordered home after a row with the Senior Administrator in South Andros who supervises his district. There appears to be a bit of professional jealousy. A demonstration was held in Mangrove Cay last week to protest the government’s actions. The people say that ever since Mr. Kemp’s successful crabs for computers money raising effort, and the fact that too many PLPs showed up at the event, he has been having problems with his FNM rulers. Now he has been asked to come home by month’s end.
The Bahamas Supports Gay and Lesbian Rights At The U.N.
This country is amongst the most homophobic in the region but in an unusual move the Foreign Minister Brent Symonette announced on Saturday 28th June that our country supports the recent human rights council resolution at the UN which will monitor abuse of gay and lesbian people around the world. Mr. Symonette says that The Bahamas supports the freedom of expression of people of all persuasions.
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THE CHINESE HANDOVER THE STADIUM KEY: The agreement for the project was signed when the then Prime Minister Perry Christie made his state visit to China in 2004. The design work began under the Chairmanship of the sporting legend Thomas A. Robinson in 2005. The construction started in 2009 and is almost complete but so complete that the Chinese have now held a ceremony to hand over the 49 million dollar gift of a national stadium to The Bahamas. Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and his allies and FNM supporters were there grinning for the cameras on thursday the 23rd of June. The same project that they thought was not fit and proper and which they criticized they were now taking credit. As usual, the Prime Minister simply does not know what to say on these occasions saying that while he thanked former PM Perry Christie and former Sports Minister Neville Wisdom for their foresight on the project, he said that some people reap while others sow, some dream while others build. This is his standard anti Christie line. Someone should have thrown their shoe at him. Our photo of the week was that of the Prime Minister accepting the ceremonial key to the stadium from Ambassador Hu Shan of the Peoples Republic of China. The photo is by Peter Ramsay. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THEY HAVE CAPTURED OUR YOUNG
On Monday 20th June the Nassau Guardian was at it again with its relentless attack on Perry Christie and the PLP with the use of some cables from the Wikileaks website which The Guardian says are U.S diplomatic cables sent from Nassau to the U.S. home base in Washington D.C. The cables have not been authenticated by the U.S. and they are untested hearsay statements. Yet they seem to have been widely accepted as true in The Bahamas, even amongst those who are targets of the statements.
The cables cover the period from 2002 to 2010; so much of it has to do with the administration of the PLP. What is egregious about them is that they repeat verbatim the hearsay, tendentious, prejudicial statements about the PLP; it appears that U.S. diplomats adopted uncritically the propaganda of the Free National Movement on these matters. They use words like the PLP is indecisive, late and disorganized, all of these words and expressions are FNM expressions from their last 2007 campaign.
The cables show that the Charge D'affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission at the time in The Bahamas Brendt Hardt at the time was duplicitous. Dr. Hardt was telling the PLP and its leader in the government one thing but was busy working with the FNM and hoping that they would win because in their view the FNM was better for U.S. interests. One supposes that one should not fault them because after all they have to look out for what they believe is their own best interests.
But what was particularly interesting last week was not the silly cables and their untested hearsay but that of the commentary written in the press in The Nassau Guardian not by Candia Dames, the usual suspect of anti Christie, anti PLP fervor. This time it was by Brent Dean, who has no such anti PLP antecedents, in fact just the opposite, a smart man with progressive roots.
Mr. Dean in his piece repeated much of what the Americans said, faithfully reported. There was no suggestion that what they had said might simply be untrue and he gave his advice on the subject that Mr. Christie could win but he had to do some things to shake off the perception of being indecisive and disorganized.
Well as the kids like to say it is what it is.
The PLP will go into the general election with Mr. Christie as its leader: for better or worse, richer or poorer in sickness and in health. We think that this race will be about how the debate is framed and who will frame it. Mr. Ingraham, the FNM and the Americans want it to be about Mr. Christie and the so called indecision and disorganization. Hmm! Mr. Christie beat Mr. Ingraham one year ago with everything thrown at him : the full cabinet and the kitchen sink in the Elizabeth bye-election. Still people are talking these FNM buzz words and seeming to accept it uncritically.
For the PLP, Mr. Christie and his leadership style is not the issue. The issue is the economy and jobs. If the Bahamian people can remember as so called disorganized and indecisive as he so called was, when he left office, the economy was at levels of full employment, no worries about money in the society and the potential investments were lining up. What is the story now? The so called decisive leadership of Hubert Indgrahm has us in the tank, not one new project in sight and there are thousands of unemployed who have no prospect of work.
Of course, the FNM does not accept that after stop review and cancel and blame the PLP for four years, that they are responsible for anything. But they are. If it was the PLP’s fault in 2007, then it’s the FNM's fault in 2011. It’s as plain and simple as that.
We think that we can change the perceptions of what people think if only the debate is rightly framed. The campaign does have to be organized, disciplined and decisive but to us that is not the critical issue because the campaign is not disorganized. We reported last week of the fights going on within the FNM camp for nominations. But does the press report that. Every week though, there is some report about the PLP and its nominations process. Seems to us that the stories are calculated, just as the Wikileaks are calculated stories to portray the PLP in a certain light.
It is important therefore for sensible reasonable people not to accept uncritically what is being spun.
The critical issue is do we want five more years of living in the poor house under Hubert Ingraham or do we want to take the chance to make a change and get at the wealth which we had four years ago.
Number of hits week ending Saturday 25th June 2011 up to midnight: 149,934
Number of hits for the month of June up to Saturday 25th June 2011 up to midnight: 537,221
Number of hits for the year 2011 up to Saturday 25th June 2011 up to mdnight 4,421,995
BOMBSHELL ALLEGATIONS ON TOMMY TURNQUEST
Retired police superintendent Keith Bell will be a guest on the Jones and Company TV and radio programme today at 5 p.m. on radio and 7:30 .m on TV. Mr. Bell who is now an attorney accuses Tommy Turnquest the Minister of National Security of interfering in a police operation which interference led to two police officers being charged before an internal tribunal which offence was subsequently dropped because there was no case made out against them. Mr. Bell represented the two men who were brought on charges of destroying the property of a relative of Mr. Turnquest while they were executing a search warrant. You may read the full bombshell report by clicking here.
DEATH PENALTY LAW COMING
As the House of Assembly closed for business on its last meeting on Monday 20th June, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced that the government would be bringing a bill to clarify the offences that will bring the death penalty. This is all politics in response to the hue and cry in the country for the death penalty to be carried out. Opposition leader Perry Christie dismissed it as such at his press conference on Wednesday 22nd June. The problem is that nothing that the government can do with the law can make executions easier to carry out given the rulings of the Privy Council. The last person was hanged in 2000 in The Bahamas. The Privy Council outlawed a mandatory death penalty in Trinidad as cruel and inhumane punishment earlier this month. So it will be interesting to see if making the death penalty mandatory in The Bahamas will move the process along. The issue is this: where the death sentence is to be levied by a court it must pass a two pronged test: it must be the worst of the worst or the rarest of the rare murders; then there must be no reasonable prospect of reform of the offender. How you pass that test will be interesting. This seems to mean for all intents and purposes that the death penalty while it will be on the books is dead in the water—pardon the pun. While it is true that this is a standard imposed on sentencing in circumstances where the death penalty is not mandatory, it is difficult to see how the court will agree that the legislature can pass a law which obviates that test of applicability even where you make the penalty mandatory. It is doubtful whether even a mandatory death penalty will pass constitutional muster in this country. What is more useful is for the government to get the population used to the idea that it aint gonna happen. In the mean time, the murder rate is rising and the backlog of cases continues. John Delaney, the Attorney General, however has an answer. He claimed in the Senate last week that they are having a fifty per cent conviction rate in their cases in court. Surely, he jests!
FORMER PLP MP GEORGE SMITH ATTACKS PLP MP
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George Smith, the former M.P. for Exuma attacked one his own in the press last week. He said that he could not support Anthony Moss ,the incumbent MP, because of the “incompetence” of his leadership in Exuma. This brought a furious response from the PLP Branch in Exuma which issued a statement saying that they supported Mr. Moss, that Mr. Smith was out of order. They said that Mr. Smith's time was past and that there well known reasons why Mr. Smith was no longer the MP for Exuma. The report appeared in The Tribune of 20th June. Mr. Smith held his ground and compared himself to Martin Luther King who said that in times of difficulty you should stand your ground. Here is the statement issued by the PLP’s branch:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PLP EXUMA BRANCH SUPPORTS ANTHONY MOSS MP
21st June 2011
We have read the story in The Tribune this morning about a petition to replace the present MP for Exuma with another PLP.
We want the country to know that we support Anthony Moss as the MP. He is a PLP and has done a good job representing the interests of Exuma. While anyone who is PLP has the right to apply for a nomination, we believe that there is a way to go about things.
We do not accept that George Smith, our former representative is right in how he describes Mr. Moss. It is well known that he wants to get the PLP nomination himself and that these stories in the newspaper are placed to try and make that happen. But everyone knows that Mr. Smith's time in Exuma is over. There are well known reasons why he is no longer the PLP standard bearer in Exuma. We do not need to go into them here. We urge Mr. Smith to get behind Anthony Moss as the next PLP representative for Exuma. We are proud of this son of the soil.
MR MOSS IS SUPPORTED BY THE FOLLOWING GENERALS:
RICARDO ROLLE (CHAIRMAN), REV. FRANKLYN MCKENZIE,
RAYMOND LARAMORE, REV.CEDRIC SMITH,
MARJORIE (DOLLY) SAUNDERS, REV.RANDY MUSGROVE,
SIDNEY MCPHEE, LINTON GRAY,
SIDNEY MOON MCPHEE, LIVINGSTONE GRAY,
PENNY NIXON, LESTER MCKENZIE,
ALFRED ROLLE, OLIVER MCPHEE,
NORMAN LlOYD, JULETTA CHARLTON,
FORRESTER ROLLE, KEITH MOSS,
DUDLEY ROLLE, DEON CURRY,
LUTHER ROLLE, ANTHONY FERGUSON,
LESLIE DAMES, CEDRIC FERGUSON,
LEROY T. ROLLE, CLIFFORD ROLLE, DOMINIC ROLLE,
ALSTON ROLLE, IVADELL STUBBS.
BERNARD SWANN(FORMER CHAIRMAN), JANET BETHEL,
LARRY MORLEY, ROBIN THOMPSON ,BRENT STRACHAN,
KENYON MCPHEE, TROY WORRELL, GARY V.LORD ROLLE,
QUINTON CLARKE ,VIVIAN ROLLE, REV.LAWRENCE ADDERLEY,
ANVILLE TAYLOR, TYRONE MCKENZIE, RODNEY ROLLE,
NIGEL GRAY ,QUINTON CLARKE, REYNARD MCPHEE.
Last week, the final story in the In Passing section of this column noted that Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette had issued a statement to The Nassau Guardian in which he supported the resolution at the United Nations which offered some support for anti discrimination measures for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender people around the world. He said in his usual cryptic fashion that The Bahamas supports freedom of expression for people of all persuasions. That is an interesting first step. Homosexual conduct in The Bahamas is not unlawful per se in The Bahamas. The society is horribly homophobic and the usual religious prejudices and denouncements followed in the press and on the web. Some young people headed by Latrae Rahming who was booted out of the Young Liberals's leadership for supporting gay rights issued a statement in support of it. Marlon Johnson, who is a BTC executive, and who has written extensively on the subject in his private capacity, also defended the decision on the web. We present the thread on Facebook to see the range of responses on the subject below. The two hot button issues in The Bahamas remain the death penalty and homosexuality. The interesting thing is: the death penalty is effectively dead and homosexuality is a naturally occurring phenomenon that has been around it appears since the beginning of man but that does not stop the silly commentary about it from all and sundry and the prejudices against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The Bahamas Christian Council issued a sstatement in which it said that while it did not support discrimination against gay people, it hoped or rather it feared that this would lead eventually to same sex marriage to which they were adamantly opposed. The Council believes that marriage is an institution created by God for man and woman. The fact is however that although marriage is an institution which can be religious it is primarily civil in nature and contractual in nature and one wonders why if two adults of full capacity want to arrange their affairs in a particular way why the state would have any interest in opposing that. But it is again a source of huge discussion and punditry.
ERIN GREENE DEFENDS GAYS
Erin Greene is the chief activist for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender people in The Bahamas. She was pleased that The Bahamas supported the resolution passed at the U.N. Human Right Council which The Bahamas supported as an anti-discrimination measure. Here is how The Tribune reported her remarks Saturday 25th June,2011:
THE Bahamas' support of a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution passed last week affirming equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) is a move that has been a long time coming, according to local human and gay rights activist Erin Greene.
The resolution, which was narrowly passed in the council in Geneva, Switzerland, expressed "grave concern" about discrimination against gays throughout the world and affirmed that freedom to choose sexuality is a human right.
"It's been a long time coming for a country that identifies itself as a Christian nation. It's only the beginning and hopefully, soon enough, our Christian beliefs and our humane policies will come together and help us create a country we all want to live in," Ms Greene told the Tribune.
"It's only a resolution, it’s not the be-all-and-end-all. It's just the start of a process of guaranteeing protection and safety of all citizens in a country. Many Bahamians may be upset and appalled but that move is more Christian than any other policy decision."
Twenty-three countries on the human rights council supported the resolution, 19 voted against it and three countries abstained.
The resolution was the first of its kind passed by the council. The United States, France and Thailand were among the countries that supported the bill while Russia, Pakistan and Ghana were among the countries that opposed it.
THE THREAD ABOUT GAYS RIGHTS ON FACEBOOK
Hilton Woodside likes this.
Marlon Johnson I am wholly non-partisan but it is excellent to see our government take a stand in support of basic human decency by supporting this measure.
Despite persons' often hypocritical public posturing and commentary, most Bahamians have gay persons either in their family, workplace or circle of acquaintances and get along quite well with them whether they approve of the lifestyle or not.
So why wouldn't we want to take a stand and protect these persons from discrimination and abuse??See More
Sunday at 8:08am · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading...
Edward Valpole Gittens Yea right. !!!
Sunday at 10:42am · LikeUnlike
Melissa Higgins @ Marlon i have gay friends and i love and appreciate them because i chose not to judge them because i am not always living a life pleasing to GOD and thats between him and them.....but this is the same reason why i say we are a nation of... religion rituals and persons that have perfected going through the motions we are a Blessed nation because God has looked down and still found favour with us...but if we are going to call ourselves a christian nation then our leaders should be making decision on our behalf from a biblical stand pointSee More
Sunday at 11:15am · LikeUnlike · 3 peopleLoading...
Marlon Johnson @ Melissa, no our leaders should not. Simply because our leaders must protect those who are also not Christians or followers of the Bible.
Our laws and constitution protect persons who believe and follow the Bible and those who do not. Tha...t is why we permit Muslims, Athiests and others to marry, to work and to express themselves.
Thus, whether the members of the government agree or not that homosexuality is wrong or a sin is immaterial in the exercise of their public duties. Their duty is to protect the rights and interests of ALL people and this UN resolution supports this reasoning.
M.See More
Sunday at 11:23am · LikeUnlike
Carla Cole So does that means we are heading towards legalizing gay marriage?
Sunday at 11:30am · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading...
Edward Valpole Gittens @ Higgins, I agree with you. They can call me a Hypocrite, we need to pray for sins, and that God will forgive us for all sin. Leviticus 18: 22
Sunday at 11:42am · LikeUnlike
Marlon Johnson Leviticus also advises that we can sell our daughters to pay off a debt. Should our public leaders make that law as well? What about the verse which indicates that a person should be stoned to death for working on the Sabbath? Where is th...at in our statutes?
What about sex outside of the confines of marriage? Should that be outlawed? Should we allow heterosexual couples to live together in sin? Where are the PLP and FNM proposals to put people in jail for that?
The answer obviously is that, NO, we shouldnt outlaw any of these sins. The government is not there to legislate morality, but instead to permit persons to live their lives free of abuse and discrimination. Why treat homosexuality as a "special" sin that we should be particularly concerned about?See More
Sunday at 11:54am · LikeUnlike
Carla Cole People have a choice to live their lives however they want to they have God to explain that to God and in the Bible he spoke against immorality in Sodom and Gomorrah and in Deuteronomy when the Israelites were in the wilderness and sinned a...gainst God. No we cannot judge other men nor should be hypocrites but God has instructed us in his words how to live our lives. You cannot justify sin! If our country is a Christian Nation then lets live by God's rule, not compromise. I am against gay marriage, God clearly states that in Genesis, He made man and woman and blessed the union of marriage. Like I said before, persons who are gay claim their pride and I claim my pride into being what God said we must be. I don’t hate them but God will judge them by their deeds. See More
Sunday at 11:56am · LikeUnlike
Marlon Johnson Carla, simple question: Should we outlaw persons "shacking up" outside of marriage? Isn’t that a sin as well?
Sunday at 12:01pm · LikeUnlike
Carla Cole Leviticus 20:13
Sunday at 12:01pm · LikeUnlike · 1 person Edward Valpole Gittens likes this.
Carla Cole Leviticus 20:15 - lying with a beast
Sunday at 12:02pm · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading...
Carla Cole Marlon that is why Jesus came to change some of the laws Moses wrote. Remember eye for an eye? And that was the old laws. Check out the story Woman at the Well story. Jesus stood for wholesomeness.
Sunday at 12:05pm · LikeUnlike
Carla Cole God sent Jesus to clean up some mess.
Sunday at 12:07pm · LikeUnlike
Carla Cole Some people twist Christianity that why Jesus came to fix some of the mess. Remember Mary Magledene, ye without sin... but he still cast out demons and sent people on their way to sin no more. Remember Samaritans were not supposed to speak t...o Jews, Jesus changed that. Healing on the Sabbath Jesus changed that. Jesus blessed a Gentile woman and went to Zaccheus house but at the end of all these sinful people and their life styles he always said go and sin no more. Yes some of the old laws are still relevant and some are not. We are not supposed to judge but are given a choice in this life and the 10 commandments still stands. Jesus said he came not to condemn but the world through him might be saved. Jesus loves us all but still stood for righteousness. The Bible also teaches us that Heaven and earth will pass but every word of God will always stand and will never change. So be careful! See More
Sunday at 12:18pm · LikeUnlike
Tamikko Bain no morals... where are the morals
Sunday at 12:24pm · LikeUnlike
Marlon Johnson Carla, i missed ur answer to my simple question: should the government also outlaw the sin of sex outside of marriage? Should the government permit me to sell my daughter to pay off my mortgage?
Why do we quote Deuteronomy and Leviticus to comment on homosexuality but ignore the other provisions in those books?
Sunday at 12:32pm · LikeUnlike
Carla Cole Because that is the word of God. I said to you Christ don’t condemn but he tells the sinner to go and sin no more. I did not make up Leviticus and Deuteronomy ask God why did he wrote those words. So Marlon you seem to get offended when we quote from the Bible. Yes fornication is a sin and so is homosexuality.
Sunday at 12:48pm · LikeUnlike
Carla Cole And as far as the daughter selling thing Jesus was sent to change Some of the Laws. He told us to put away your partner in adultery not to stone them as in Moses' days and he never changed anything about Homosexuality.
Sunday at 12:53pm · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading...
Marlon Johnson No. I do not get offended at all. It seems selective though: we accept some as valid for today and not others. There does not seem to be consistency.
My goal is not to try to convince anyone as to what is a sin or what is not - nor as to w...hether one should "accept" homosexuality or not.
My point is simple: Any well meaning government should embrace any opportunity to speak out against discrimination against or abuse toward homosexuals or any other marginalized group in a society. See More
Sunday at 1:19pm · LikeUnlike
Yvonne Lees God don't love the sin but he sure loves the sinner, but wasn't Mr. Laing on the Marco City FNM making sport of what a Father said to a son when he was joining a particular party "he claims the party was gay). Suck Teet!
Sunday at 2:52pm · LikeUnlike
Carla Cole Well I accept people for who they are but don’t support their lifestyle which includes gay, gambling, prostitution and sweet hearting. Yes sin is sin and I am not perfect. If I do wrong I repent and ask God to take it away from me because it’s not of him and I try my best to set myself as an example for my kids and students. Everyone is not alike!
Sunday at 3:49pm · LikeUnlike
Carla Cole I am only disagree with the life style not the person and just how they are proud to be gay I am proud to be straight as God wants us to be.
CHINESE VISIT FORMER PRIME MINISTER
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Ambassador Hu Shan of the Peoples Republic of China to The Bahamas paid a courtesy call on the former Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie on Wednesday 22nd June at the Leader’s office in Parliament Street. The Ambassador thanked the Leader for his contribution in signing the agreement to build the stadium and for the contributions to the design. Mr. Christie said for his part when he envisaged the stadium, he did so for the sole purpose of a gift for the young people of The Bahamas. He said that he hopes that they embrace the gift and that in the remaining years of his public life he will support efforts to make life better for them their children and their children’s children.
You may click here for the full statement by Mr. Christie.
The progressives throughout the country are hailing the results of the local government elections on 23rd June saying that they did well throughout the country. In Grand Bahama, the PLP was able to put two of its supporters on the council despite the work of Zhivargo Laing, the FNM minister, to stop it. Councils in Spanish Wells, Harbour Island, Exuma all had progressives come on board. Click here for The Tribune's report of the results from Grand Bahama dated 25th June:
MCCARTNEY NOT REVOLUTIONARY GAMBLING
We don’t know if the harsh realities of party politics has occurred to Branville McCartney, the DNA MP and former FNM Minister, but we think there is nothing which now indicates that there is a revolution of any kind in the making here in Bahamian politics. Mr. McCartney and his party are providing the usual entertainment for the Bahamian people in the run up to the general election. He is all things to all men and women. Of course, he is for the death penalty. Oh yes! This is a lawyer who can read the law amongst the best and should know that despite the importuning of Bishop Simeon Hall and his supporters the death penalty has been so neutered by the Privy Council that you may as well pronounce it dead in the water. So for a lawyer to go on with this nonsense about the death penalty is to say politely a little disappointing. But the latest little laugh was Mr. McCartney’s support of the gambling in The Bahamas. Now, one would have thought that in his position he can simply be bold like Alfred Sears and Fred Mitchell, the PLP MPs and simply say you support it without restrictions and without more. Both Mr. Sears and Mr. Mitchell have said that there should be no restrictions on Bahamians gambling anywhere in their own country. Not so Mr. McCartney. He said that there is going to be gambling under a DNA government but only after get this a referendum. Now that's a revolutionary idea you think? Not so because that is the same position of the PLP under Perry Christie and the FNM under Huber Ingraham. Mr. McCartney’s remarks on gambling were reported in The Tribune on Tuesday 21st June.
You may click here to read them in full.
DELROY MEADOWS OPPOSES DNA ON GAMBLING
Delroy Meadows is a young man who having left the PLP is seeking to be the M.P. for Ft. Charlotte as an independent. He opposes gambling and here is his statement on the issue:
ADVISORY GROUP ON GAY RIGHTS
Latrae Rahming’s Advisory Youth Group issued the following statement in support of The Bahamas government’s position on gay rights at the United Nations:
Advisory Youth Group Bahamas (AYG)PRESS STATEMENT ON :Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Resolution at UN Human Rights Council
Advisory Youth Council of the Bahamas
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release June 21, 2011
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Resolution at UN Human Rights Council
Friday , June 17th 2011 the United Nations endorsed a resolution to protect the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people around the world, a resolution which the Commonwealth of The Bahamas supported along with 22 membership countries .The resolution addresses the grave concerns of discrimination and abuse against LGBT individuals. The Advisory Youth Council of The Bahamas examined the resolution and concluded that it was a resolution of historic proportions. The declaration was prudently worded, aimed to concentrate solely on protecting lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender from discrimination. The resolution represents an historic step towards human rights around the world and in our country. We condemn any acts of violence, abuse, and discrimination in The Bahamas and around the world , towards individuals because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.
Although the opinions remained divided among the citizens of our country, we believe this resolution is very important and is one that we should embrace. This organization will continue to promote and protect human rights in this country and throughout the region. We believe that this will foster a cessation of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. June 17th marked an historic day in the continuous fight for human rights around the world. The Advisory Youth Council of The Bahamas both commends and supports the Government's decision on the resolution.
This was the first ever Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Resolution at UN Human Rights Council and was recognized internationally around the world. This is most certainly in our view a step forward in building a foundation for human rights in our country and defining a new frontier of protection for everyone. Our organization believes that each citizen in our country deserves equal treatment and ought to be secure from any form of discrimination and violence. The minority is entitled to their equal rights and they must be protected by law. When any citizen of this country's rights are threatened and unjustly denied, it is the responsibility of the government to have those rights restored. When we decide to judge one another, it prevents us from seeing the common good we share as a country.
Lastly, the perennial dictum of society is to spread good will toward all men and so it is with this adage in mind that we take our stance and resolve in full support of the LGBT UN Resolution.
Advisory Youth Council of the Bahamas
President
Latrae Rahming
JOHN DEAN REMEMBERED
The late John Dean used to be known as Fr. Bonaventure Dean and at the age of 31 rose to be the first Bahamian headmaster of St. Augustine’s College and Prior of the Benedictine monastery in Nassau. By 1971 after 8 years in the priesthood, it all imploded. He left the priesthood, married and moved to Canada. He never came back to The Bahamas to live. He died in Canada. There was great sadness at his death on a life well lived but because of a road not travelled. The local community of students led by Class of 1971’s student council president Philip Galanis gathered to remember him with his friends and well wishers, along with his family. There was a memorial service for him at the Emmaus Centre at St. Augustine’s on 21st June and a mass of thanksgiving for his life at St. Anselm’s in Fox Hil on the 22nd of June. Monsignor Preston Moss gave the homily on both occasions. His widow Margaret and daughter Katie attended. His first child Jerusa sent a written tribute which was read by former Foreign Minister of The Bahamas and student of the former Fr. Bonaventure Fred Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell paid a personal tribute along with former students Philip Galanis, Anthony Newbold, friend Brian Christie and former student Branford Christie. The photos are by Peter Ramsay. Former Attorney General Sean McWeeney Q.C. attended both events.You may click here for the tribute to John Dean by Fred Mitchell and by his daughter Jerusa.
BUDGET ADDRESSES BY PLP SENATORS
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| Click here to read Allyson Maynard's Budget Debate | Click here to read Micheal Halkitis's Budget Debate |
A GREAT STORY ABOUT QUINTON LIGHTBOURNE YOUNG LIBERAL
The follow story appeared in The Tribune of Friday 24th June on PYL Member and officer of the Carmichael Branch of the PLP. We have to see more of this: confident, young PLPs, with a sense of themselves and a positive story to tell.
Published On:Friday, June 24, 2011
AT THE age of 24, most young men are either on a mission to achieve personal goals and set their path in life, or are misguided and "just living". As for the few who are considering serving their country, the majority believe the government - or anyone in power really - is not listening to what they have to say.
But one young man is encouraging his counterparts not to be intimidated by the powers that be, and to seize the opportunity to do something good for the Bahamas.
"I can tell you for a fact there are a lot of young people out there in our country that want to lead and do things, but they feel intimidated to some respect," Quinton Lightbourne said. "They feel as if their voices are not being heard.
"But we cannot sit back and take the mindset 'We are not going to get our time'. We have to take a stand for ourselves."
He is doing this in his own community in the Carmichael area.
Quinton returned home from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania to find that many young Bahamians are striving to succeed but find opportunity hard to come by.
By being a leader, he hopes to change that, and feels he has landed upon the perfect opportunity to do more for the young people in his community.
On May 17, the Carmichael branch of the Progressive Liberal Party voted him in as chairman.
"I offered myself after being urged by a lot of people," he said. "But one of the major reasons is that I have lived in the Carmichael area for the past 14 years. I play basketball, I am out in the community, I interact with a lot of males and females in this constituency and we need a greater younger appearance.
"I think the only way to fully represent a community or area is by being represented or led by a younger person who knows their needs, knows their wants, and knows how to fully get it to them. That's one of the main reasons I decided to offer myself."
But leadership and service are nothing new to Mr Lightbourne. He served as president of the COB student union and has held leadership positions in the Junior Achievement organisation.
He also worked for the government while at Lincoln University, where he obtained a bachelors degree in finance and is proud to note that a number of great Bahamians such as Jackson Burnside also studied there.
"I have a urge in service from my family background as well as the many civic organisations that I am part of," he said.
"I want to give back because to whom much is given, much is required. I have come from a humble background, but I understand the importance of giving back and taking part in the community; being from a family that's all about giving back.
"My mother and father live a community-minded lifestyle and that's how I live my life and how I approach my life daily - with that mindset."
Mr Lightbourne shared his vision for Carmichael: "The vision I have is that I want Carmichael to be a more community-based area; a safe community, a better community where persons are more neighborly and living a lifestyle more conducive to family and community."
This 24-year-old has hit the ground running as branch chairman, having started to plan a basketball tournament to be held on July 29 and 30 at the Golden Gates basketball court.
It will be the second such annual event, as he organised the first while serving as Second Vice-Chair for the branch.
He is not alone in being young and at-the-helm. His second vice-chair this year is Rashad Flowers, who is also in his 20s.
They say the tournament is just the first in a series of events that will be geared towards the young people in the community, including a pageant and after school programmes.
"It is something young persons will be drawn to," said Mr Lightbourne. "The majority of young people are not going to come to a normal branch meeting, sit down and listen to pretty much middle-aged persons talk about issues. You have to take it to the people and turn to young people to make them heavily intrigued and interactive and enthused about being a part. That's the key to success, in my opinion.
"It may be shallow and premature and young in my thinking, but I feel community outreach is going to be important in taking this country to the next level."
: LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes this week that Cassius Stuart is a political let down having been in the wilderness for 11 years with his own party, denouncing Hubert Ingraham and the FNM and now capitulating, joining the FNM and now preaching their gospel:
Cassius Stuart is certainly a confused little fellow isn’t he? I know; I know; I know; I know he is the son-in-law of one of my PLP colleagues (Member of Parliament) and that is why, for my colleague’s sake, I will be as gracious and respectful of him (under the circumstances) as I possibly, under the circumstances, can. I would wish to say that I will not hold back from painting, what I would regard as, a true likeness of this confused little Varmint of a man. If Cassius was my own flesh and blood brother I would not hesitate to call his political honesty (after farting around for eleven years with his BDM parading as if he was some prime minister in waiting) into question.
After a decade (and some) of advocating/espousing a political philosophy, which he said had no kind of relationship/common ground whatsoever with any of the two major political parties (PLP nor FNM), the little man packed it in and abandoned his dreams of ever achieving his goal of becoming a BDM prime minister. The little SNOT has now come to the startling, mind-boggling conclusion that his BDM ideals are really no different than those of the FNM’s and so he decides to throw his lot in with the DEVIL himself; that notorious Dictator, Hubert Alexander Ingraham. Not only that; the little turn-coat has suddenly become the damn dictator’s spokesperson. He is now seen travelling around the country like a useless TOWN-CRIER dressed in a red cap and shirt (looking like PUSS-in-BOOTS) bringing what he says are glad tidings of great joy (from the Dictator himself) to the suffering of the country who have had no relief from the misery brought upon them by the same Dictator, since he and his FNM government took office a little over four years ago.
The message that the little man delivered to us Grand Bahamians (on his official visit as Ingraham’s ambassador) was the great news that Ingraham promises to put Grand Bahama on the top of his list, for urgent economic attention and relief, if we would be kind and stupid enough to give him and his FNM Party another five years to govern. Where have we heard this before? What was interesting, though, was the fact that he did not bring an apology from Ingraham for all the broken promises, from the 2007 election campaign, after four plus years in power. There was no apology, either, for the misery, pain and grief he has caused us here in Grand Bahama. Stuart assured us (as Ingraham’s ambassador) that if we were to be so stupid and give Ingraham another five years to govern, Ingraham promises to make it up to us. This is the message that this stool pigeon is being used to ferry around the country for and on behalf of the damn lying dictator deceiver. Cassius Stuart ought to hang his head in shame for allowing himself to be used, in this way, as a patsy and “turn-coat flunky” for a Tyrant like Hubert Ingraham. This is the same tyrant (you must remember) who heretofore Cassius Stuart despised. The little twit has no SHAME; no PRIDE and he has no TESTICLES.
It was only a little over a year ago that Stuart was cussing Hubert Ingraham and calling him more dirty names than I could ever have conjured up. According to the Nassau Guardian, in its ongoing series of front page articles on the Wikileaks cables, this little “varmint like creature” is quoted, in an expose of conversations he reportedly had with the American embassy official as published in the paper’s 25th May 2011 edition, as likening Hubert Ingraham to Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean dictator, and Jean-Bertrand Aristide the erstwhile Haitian dictator. Stuart minced no words when expressing his views that Ingraham was a damn dictator and that he was taking the country down the garden path to destruction, but now, suddenly, he declares this same dictator as being the best thing since sliced bread? Give me a break, Cassius Stuart; you remind me of spineless tadpoles like Tommy Turnquest who, after allowing a no count JACKASS bully like Hubert Ingraham to take his marbles from him, all he did was to sob like a little baby for awhile and then wiggled his way right back into Ingraham’s arms. I would not be surprised if he apologized, as well, to the dictator for even daring to contest the leadership of the FNM after realizing that he (Ingraham) was still interested in the job. Tommy is an embarrassment to the Turnquest name and family. I can say this because my Grand Mother (my mother’s mother) was a Turnquest and part of the same family and we would never have regarded the likes of a character like Hubert Ingraham to be on par at our level; he attended night school, for Lord’s sake. Tommy is a damn disgrace for allowing this “night-schooled” dictator to ride his back. You don’t need that job, that badly (for God’s sake), do you Tommy? But I am not talking about you (Tommy) today; I am dealing with that little weasel called Cassius Stuart.
The little wimp, in his acceptance speech into the den of thieves (the FNM), told the nation through the press that his move to join up with the FNM was a good one because the IDEALS of the FNM were the same as the BDM’s; this is hogwash, of course. For ten years this little wimp fought the FNM as being at odds with his and the BDM’s ideals and now he is trying to convince us that what he was espousing, for a whole decade and more, was not the truth? Which one of the Cassius Stuarts are we to believe? Will the real Cassius Stuart, stand up, please? I hate political prostitutes and if ever I’ve identified one it’s you, Cassius Stuart.
When confronted with his own words, of more than a year ago, he could not deny them. He did not deny the fact that he told the Embassy official, what was revealed in those cables; that he feared Ingraham’s policy of cozying up to the Chinese and that Ingraham was a dictator. Now suddenly he has a change of mind and realizes that Ingraham’s ideals are really his ideals after all? Well it is clear to all of us now that you lied (Cassius Stuart), but when did you lie? Did you lie a year ago or did you lie a couple weeks ago when you found it convenient to join forces with those FNM DEVILS?
During the Elizabeth campaign, according to the cables, Stuart was highly critical (as he should have been and as we all should be today) of the FNM government’s policies which, in his opinion, were the reasons why the country is in the mess it is today. Well, Cassius Stuart, please tell us what has changed, from a year ago, since you levied these charges against the FNM government? In everybody else’s view, things have gotten progressively worse from a year ago, not better. It is obvious that you lied, but I ask you again; when did you lie? Did you lie to us a year ago or a couple weeks ago when you found it convenient to join forces with those FNM DEVILS?
One year ago as well-just twelve short months ago-you told the US Embassy official, out of your own little “parrot like behind” mouth, that you couldn’t align (the same as JOIN) yourself with the FNM party and or the FNM government because (your words-not mine) “endemic corruption” abounded in both, yet fast forward to twelve months later and their IDEALS suddenly are identical to your own? Give me a break; what kind of damn hypocrite are you boy? Are you too ignorant to know the difference between IDEALS and EXPEDIENCY? I remember, very clearly, when you were approached, by the leadership of the now defunct CDR, for discussions with the view to becoming a part of that Coalition; you were not concerned about IDEALS; you were merely concerned about who would be the leader of the CDR; do you remember? The first thing that came out of your mouth, as I recall, was; “who will be the leader”? You were only interested in who was to become leader, nothing else; no principal; no IDEALS; no nothing except for who would become leader. After realizing, I suppose, that you would not have been the one to lead the CDR, you wanted no part of any merger discussions. You were never interested in the welfare of the Bahamian people, but just becoming leader of any political party that would afford you the opportunity of eventually becoming prime minister. Now that you see your dream fading, into the political sunset, suddenly the FNM and BDM are on the same page in terms of IDEALS. You are just another political prostitute who would give any political party a good time so long as you feel you will achieve your personal goals. I have news for you, though, my friend; that FNM ship is sinking and you don’t even have enough political sense to see what’s happening to them. Ingraham don’t give a damn about you, boy; he is using you like he uses every body else, for his own selfish purposes.
Well, if you thought by joining up with those DEVILS, and selling your political SOUL to them, you would short-circuit your way into parliament, you had better think again, Cassius, because you are sadly mistaken my boy. If the FNM becomes so desperate that they would be obliged to actually nominate a politically washed-up individual like you, for a constituency, well get ready for a good cut behind just like most of the rest of them will get.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
19th June 2011.
IN PASSING
Keod Smith Gives It A Rest
| After pushing the envelope and causing huge problems with the nomination of PLP incumbent Picewell Forbes in South Andros, former PLP MP Keod Smith, who claimed that he was seeking the nomination for South Andros against the incumbent has thrown in the towel. With the Leader of the PLP Perry Christie at his press conference at Gambier House, Mr. Smith announced that he is withdrawing his effort to challenge Mr. Forbes and he is to be a special advisor to the Leader of the Opposition on fly fishing. Thy rod and they staff shall comfort him. |
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Paco Nunez and Stephen Dean Return From U.S.
Tribune Editor Paco Nunez and Superintendent Stephen Dean have both returned to The Bahamas following stints aboard at the expense of the United States government. Mr. Dean who headed the Urban Renewal operation under the PLP and under the FNM is responsible for the antic rime office of the police has the opportunity to interface with other Caribbean and U.S. personnel on neighborhood policing methods. Mr. Nunez got an opportunity to see how U.S. State Department policy was generated and developed. Question: was it appropriate for a Tribune journalists to accept a paid trip by the U. S. government? Journalist hold politicians to a tough standard. Should there not be the same probing questions about the conduct of journalism?
Stephen Wrinkle Charged With Stealing Electricity
Bahamas Contractor’s Association Head Stephen Wrinkle was hauled before the courts last week and charged with stealing electricity. He is out on bail and the case comes up again in November. Some pundits compared Mr. Wrinkle's appearance before the courts swinging his hands with that of the treatment meted out to Paul Moss a few weeks ago when he was brought to court in handcuffs for failing to pay his gun licence fees.
Rogue FNM Policemen Try To Seize Former PM’s Car
Reports are that the Commissioner of Police had to issue a letter of apology for the disrespect shown by an Assistant Superintendent to the former Prime Minister Perry Christie who is issued as a former Prime Minister with a vehicle for his use. The officer in question is an FNM supporter and decided that he would seize the vehicle used by the former Prime Minister despite the fact that both the Prime Minister and the Commissioner of Police signed off on its use.
Buju Banton Boom Boom Good Bye
His real name is Mark Myrie but you know him a Buju Banton, the Jamaican dancehall artist, who came to fame by singing the anti gay song Boom Boom Good Bye, in which he urged people to shoot gay people. He was boycotted around the world for it by the gay lobby but he was recently as February of this year won a Grammy for his work as a singer. All for nothing . He has been convicted as a drug conspirator by a Florida jury, predictably so . Given what he did with that song there is nothing he could do to get away. So what the gay lobby could not do directly, the American police have done. They would say that it was self-inflicted. He is to spend the next ten years in jail as of 23rd June. Well Buju: “ Boom! Boom! Goodbye.”
Jack Warner of T & T Resigns From FIFA
Jack Warner, one of the few Afro Trinidadians in the People’s Partnership government of Kamala Persaud Bicessar of Trinidad and Tobago and a wealthy businessman who is Minister of Works there has resigned his job as Vice President of FIFA and the Caribbean rep on FIFA’s board he did so under a cloud. He had been suspended for a scandal involving allegations of bribes paid to various countries to vote for the World Cup to take place in Qatar. Mr. Warner had earlier been criticized at home for not resigning the Vice Presidency when he became a Minister of the government. He kept the job and now it is causing huge problems at home for a government that came to office saying that they were going to stop corruption unlike the previous Manning government. Mr. Warner denied the charges and quit before the probe into the allegations could complete its works, with his lawyer saying that we was exonerated. That did not last long because FIFA then leaked the report that they had into the matter which concluded that he did in fact seek to bribe several countries with $40,000 packages of cash. One of the delegations that said they were offered the money was The Bahamas. Hmmm!
Landscape Association Complains
Roy Colebrooke is the spokesman for the Bahamas Landscape Association. The Association is made up of all local Bahamian landscape companies. They came together to make one bid for the work which is supposed to be reserved for Bahamians companies at Bahamas, the project at Cable Beach. The landscape contract was given to a company with connections to the Ginn Project in Grand Bahama, an American company which is being headed most say nominally by Joe Thompson, a Bahamian out of Grand Bahama. The landscapers have protested out the government and issued a statement on Friday 24th June. You may click here for the full statement.
Baseball Championships in Freeport
Fred Mitchell MP (Fox Hill) and Obie Wilchcombe MP (West End and Bimini) represented the PLP at the Bahamas Baseball Federation’s National Championship games in Freeport this weekend. The official opening took place on Friday 24th June. Minister of Sports Charles Maynard threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Youngsters up to the age of young adulthood in their hundreds took part in the games with their enthusiastic parents and relatives in tow. It was a great boost for the Grand Bahama economy.
FNM Council Rep Dies
Patricia Johnson was a constant presence in the House of Assembly whenever FNM speakers were to talk. She was part of a regular cheering squad for the party. She died last week. Party supporters on Facebook mourned her passing. She was the rep for the FNM Women’s Association on their Council and also the Trustee for the Elizabeth Branch. The photo shows her with FNM Senator Duane Sands who was defeated in last year’s bye-election by Ryan Pinder of the PLP. Funeral arrangements have not been announced. These salt of the earth types make the parties survive and are just as important if not more than the leaders.
FNM Starts To Draw The Boundaries
The Constituencies Commission is mandated by Article 70 of the constitution to draw up the constituency boundaries for the general election. It is to be done every five years. The Commission is heavily weighted toward the government with two members appointed by the Prime Minister and one by the Leader of the Opposition. The other is the Speaker and the last is a Judge of the Supreme Court. The two members by the PM and the Speaker can always outnumber the others. Charles Maynard and Tommy Turnquest are going to be the FNM members and Philip Davis for the PLP. The point of this is that sources are saying that the Prime Minister’s office has summoned the information on boundary lines for the 1997 general election. At a recent function at Government House, the Prime Minister was boasting that the lines in 1997 were the fairest ever drawn. That was the year he won a landslide victory. The FNM proposes to go back to that year. The idea is to balkanize all PLP votes to make it impossible for the PLP to win any seat except the inner city seats. The talk is that they are going one step further this time in that they are also splitting up polling divisions so that you will not be able to make a comparison between what the vote was the last time with this time because not only will the constituencies not be the same but the polling divisions will also be different.
Protests Continue In Mangrove Cay
Mangrove Cay residents are furious that their administrator Gilbert Kemp has been summarily moved from the district. Demonstrations have been going on against the move and have been reported in the press. The government has not issued a statement. The residents are also concerned that they do not have an autonomous local government district and that they have to report to South Andros.
Bar Council Elections
Ruth Bowe Darville has been re-elected President of the Bar Council defeating Cathy Hassan-Johnson and Peter Maynard. Ellsworth Johnson is the new Vice President uncontested. Clarita Lockhart is the new Treasurer. Attorney Dwayne Gibson did not make it back on the Council. Elections were held on Friday 24th June.
Hot Shot DPP Summoned To Court
The Tribune reported on Saturday 25th June that Vinette Graham Allen who was brought into The Bahamas to solve the backlog of cases must show up in Court tomorrow at 2 p.m. before the Court of Appeal judges to say why she misled them in an appeal before them. Justice of Appeal John said the following:
"The events that occurred after the announcement of our decision and the consequent making of an urgent application to this court for permission to appeal to the Privy Council has caused me some disquiet. It now seems clear to me that the court was misled. There was no basis upon which it could be believed that the appeal had drawn issues of great public importance."
He further stated: "It appears to me that the Director of Public Prosecutions appeared in this court and made an application on a ground on which she had no basis to believe was true. The court had not on that date given its reasons. It is plain from the reasons which have now been given that no issue of great public importance arises."
Prom Night
The web site bahamaspress posted this photo of Bahamians family members, friends and well wishers awaiting the arrival of their kids on prom night. Strikes you as slightly decadent in these days and times.
Maurice Glinton and Paul Moss
The press reported that when the matter of the case against the Government before the Court of Appeal for damaging the businesses at Blue hill Road as a result of the road reconstruction came up, it could not proceed because the lawyers Maurice Glinton and Paul Moss took the position that they will not appear before any foreign judges. Since two of the judges are foreign, one of whom Mr. Glinton is challenging his appointment in the courts, the case was adjourned to that new lawyers could be found.
Happy Birthday Patricia Burrows
Retired Batelco now BTC executive Patricia Rahming Burrows is seventy years old today. To this beautiful Fox Hill gal happy birth day. Many many more to you.