A Prison Officer Speaks Out As of Monday, 12 April 2021 EDITOR, I am a corrections officer at the Bahamas Department of Corrections (BDOCS), and feel that it is my duty as a public servant to speak out about what I am seeing take place at the institution. I must say that the statement given by Commissioner Murphy to the media regarding inmate unrest at BDOCS was in my opinion untrue. Mr Murphy said that the sale of cigarettes was stopped within the Maximum Security facility due to the smoke damaging the air conditioning units. On Tuesday, April 6th, word

Dear Editor, I was very sad to hear the news of Basil Albury’s transition. I first met him during my late father, Sir Clement Maynard’s, tenure as minister of tourism. It was a golden era for tourism in The Bahamas. Smart and enthusiastic young Bahamians held the key positions in tourism, the main engine of our economy. The leadership team comprised Permanent Secretary Ellison Thompson and Director General Baltron Bethel (now Sir Baltron). Basil Albury was a senior member of the team. They were supported by scores of brilliant and enthusiastic young Bahamians, two of whom became director general of

Grand Bahama has five FNM members of Parliament . It has a Minister specifically for the Island, Sen. Kwasi Thompson, and three other Ministers that sit around the cabinet table weekly. So, this Island should lack nothing. It is the nation’s second (2nd) City; and the industrial capital of the Bahamas. Grand Bahama also has a tourism based economy. If only for this reason, a fully functional Rand Memorial Hospital should be priority number one. Since the passage of hurricane Dorian in September 2019, the Island does not have a fully functional hospital. Today, various aspects of health care services

( The letter first appeared in The Nassau Guardian on 26 March 2021) Dear Editor, The leaders of this country are heading in a very dangerous direction. Before World War II, Germany had a weak leadership and Hitler was able to take control. What followed ended with worldwide destruction.  In The Bahamas, our democratic system is coming under great pressure and unless we are careful, it would be replaced by a dictatorship. Our laws are obeyed only when it is in our interest to do so. I will give you a couple of examples: 1) The Public Disclosure Act was

( Originally published in The Nassau Guardian) 16 March 2021 Dear Editor, One of the principles of the Westminster system is that civil servants should remain anonymous. This anonymity is necessary to protect public officers from public ridicule and abuse when acting on behalf of the government. Cabinet ministers are supposed to defend and shield public officers by accepting responsibility for their action or inaction. That is why I was shocked when I read the press statement issued on Friday by the attorney general, and government leader in the Senate, the Hon. Carl Bethel. In the press statement Senator Bethel,

Inigio Zenicazelaya is a comic, he claims, although he has never said anything funny in this life, except his last name, and he works for The Tribune. He hates Fred Mitchell or seems to have an obsession with him, to the point where he tells lies and makes up stories. This is all perhaps motivated by the fact that he came to the PLP and wanted an extortionate amount of money to perform his comedy work and he was turned down, so like all political prostitutes, they turn to the FNM. So the latest in is anti-Fred Mitchell crusade was

This letter first appeared in The Nassau Guardian on 10 February 2021 Dear Editor, Since the resignation of Speaker Halson Moultrie on February 4, I have received numerous calls and messages from members of the press, friends and other persons asking for my views on the resignation. So here goes. Firstly, the constitution is silent on the question of the removal of the speaker of the House. The constitution intended that once a speaker was elected, that person would serve in office for the entirety of the parliamentary term. I doubt that the framers of the constitution could have ever

Below is part of a statement from a letter to the Editor of the Tribune on February 24, 2016 regarding Mr. Michael Scott, the learned QC, who negotiated the Lucayan sale with Royal Caribbean, who now says it’s a bad deal, in contradiction to the Minister. The Honourable. Dionisio D’Aguilar who stated that it’s a good deal, who are we to believe? Mr. Scott’s scurrilous attack on The Honourable. Prime Minister as noted below, causes you to wonder what is his agenda? He’s a loose cannon! In the meantime, he was rewarded by being appointed Chairman of The Hotel Corporation.

By Pierre V. L. Dupuch 31 October 2020 I have watched the Free Press die. Michelle Malcolm, a dedicated, honest, and conscientious journalist, was fired and her very popular show cancelled, and not a word of support from her fellow journalists!!! What a shame. A citizen of The Bahamas asked to be on her show to discuss the rather questionable goings-on in Andros. She consented. The guest was Mr. Lincoln Bain. He spoke of the Symonettes and the aragonite being mined in Andros. Apparently, he made some serious claims. He said he had documents to prove his allegations. As a

( Dr. Jean Turnquest is the youngest sister of the former Governor General Sir Orville Turnquest. She is a psychologist by profession. She is a resident of Grand Bahama. She wrote this open letter to the press telling of her experience of contracting Covid 19 and the treatment she received.) My name is Dr. Jean Turnquest. I am 75 years old and a retired Psychiatrist who has lived and worked in Freeport since 1982. I live alone and I am very involved in my Grand Bahama community.  I have two daughters Kimberley and Vanessa who live in Nassau. In 2011, 

EDITOR, Ordinarily the movement by a politician like Vaughn Miller from the FNM to the PLP would not warrant my attention, but I was forced to note his words ‘‘it is time for me to do what is best for me’’. This made me think of the lack of altruism in politics. In the sixties we were moved by the words of the late US President John F Kennedy when he said at his inauguration ‘‘ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.’’ Mr Miller has turned it upside down by

EDITOR, Any doubt that the present crew governing this country have lost all contact with sense and sanity should have been dispelled for anyone listening to Financial Services Minister Ellsworth Johnson expounding the benefits of opening wide our country for anyone wishing to come here and work, study or just hang out like they’re back home. That most of the entrants attracted by this “extended stay visa” will simply busy themselves doing what too many have been doing for years (that is, competing with Bahamians for a piece of our own economic pie) seems to elude the minister. It also

EDITOR THE country’s broke. The Bahamas Minister of Finance says there’s lots of money. Some say that there will be a devaluation. Others say they’ll guarantee there will be no devaluation. Many say they’re taking a page about lying out of Trump’s playbook. You be the judge. For those who are encouraging devaluation I hope they know what they are talking about. Talk is cheap. It looks as though facts these days are taking a back seat. There are two types of economies, one made up of tangible assets and the other of intangible assets. Tangible assets, like bauxite, are

By Mark KevinsonDundas TownAbaco In his political life, he has developed a bit of a reputation as a troublesome fellow, who is always on the wrong side of a cause or right, nipping at the heels of a lost cause, charging at windmills and raging against the wind. By simply behaving and being quiet he might well have been a parliamentarian next time. Alas by his own hand, he has slayed himself. His timing is so impeccably bad that he always ends up losing but thinks he is winning.  He has been PLP at least through the Christie era.  Last