Letters to The Editor

FREEPORT RISING

October 20, 2019

On Friday 18 October 2019, the Port Lucaya Market Place opened again for business. Friday morning some businesses were still closed. Many have decided that they will take the insurance money and run. Throughout Freeport, there is this melancholy pall: are we going or are we staying. The city is replete with stories of those who are cutting and running and those who have decided to stay. One thing for sure, the land prices will plummet and so those who want a good deal and have cash would do well in Freeport. Breakfast in Zorba’s didn’t seem unusual. The waiters

LETTER FROM KELLY BURROWS ON BENNETT MINNIS

August 4, 2019

I am perplexed that after 2 weeks the phobic remarks of Mr. Bennett Minnis, a long serving MCM of the FNM, havn’t been condemned by the party’s leaders and the lost Chairma Mr. Carl Culmer, who has a voice in everything beyond his pay grade. He has not addressed the racist mesogenic comments of Mr. Minnis, who has been the Chairman of Mount Moriah from the inception of that constituency, and also serves as a Director of the Water and Sewerage Corporation. Why wasn’t he asked to resign or do the honourable thing in tendering his resignation as honourable men

PIERRE DUPUCH SLAMS THE LOUSY COWARDLY LETTER WRITER THE GRADUATE

April 28, 2019

Editor’s note: We agree with former MP Pierre Dupuch that the person who writes behind the cognomen The Graduate is off base. We go further and say that person is a coward. The press is complicit in this by allowing this coward to engage in as hominem attacks on people without identifying the critic. This is another example of unethical press behavior. By Pierre V. L. Dupuch April 23, 2019 Former M.P. Pierre Dupuch comments on Junior Roberts VS the Graduate. The “Graduate” never ceases to amaze me. After saying all the good things Rupert Roberts has done in his

BRIAN SEYMOUR WRITES : THE FOOLS HAVE GONE TOO FAR

April 28, 2019

On Thursday evening, the Puppet Master, Brent Symonette, demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt who was indeed the leader of this country; he was aided, and abetted by the jelly back, impertinent Minister, Darren Henfield. The duo led the debate in the House of Assembly, regarding the amendment to the Immigration Act. An ill-conceived, anti- Bahamian, and unpatriotic piece of legislation. This amendment, when passed into law will set the country back 50 years. This ill-conceived, loophole riddled piece of legislation will open the floodgates. Those, who enter and work in the Bahamas at two weeks intervals will reduce

LGBT’S ERIN GREEN IN HER OWN WORDS (AS TOLD TO TRIBUNE) 22 January 2019

January 27, 2019

LGBT Activist Erin Greene told The Tribune in her own words what she has faced since her saying that Buju Banton, the Jamaican reggae artists should not be allowed to perform his violence promotion song Boom Boom Bye Bye in Nassau as told to Rashad Rolle: “Every time there is an increase in visibility there is an increase in hostility. “People feel powerless in their ordinary lives. They feel like politicians are taking advantage of them and people in positions of authority are repressing them and so when a gay person who is supposed to be lower than them in

JEFF LLOYD MUST EXPLAIN ON COLLECTION OF SCHOOL LOANS

January 27, 2019

The Free National Movement has brass balls. They must. Last week, the Minister for Education Jeffery Lloyd who is now enjoying a holiday in London was in the press to say that the 100 million dollars or so that is owed by Bahamians who got loan scholarships from the Government should pay up. He said that in pursuance of collecting the government’s money, he was going to go to a private collections firm. This is typical FNM rewriting history and seeking to change the narrative. The facts are when the FNM came to power, they met a reconstituted Education Laon

Kelly Burrows is pretty peeved about how MPs dress in the House of Assembly

June 24, 2018

Dear Editor. “A letter to the speaker!!!” Sir. I find it incumbent to appeal to you to please bring back some decorum of respect to the Honourable House Of Assembly. Observing what is happening today is unheard of in past years under former Speakers. The standards as we once knew It to be have been thrown out the door. The dress attire is number 1, that need to be addressed, you Sir, is in charge of that August body, and some propriety of appropriateness needs to be brought back. How is It that on the 18th/06/2018 the member for

Kelly Burrows Writes From Freeport On Public Attire

April 15, 2018

Dear. Editor! Firstly, I’m not professing to be an authority on proper attire and when? but, my Hospitality training over the last 50 years still holds firm today, and having been told on many occasions with the numerous amount of seminars, courses, I have attended throughout the United States, becoming a Certified Hospitality Trainer from the American Hotel Motel Association, I believe I’m qualified to speak on proper attire. Etiquette, table manners, and proper grooming, and Standards that never changes!!! I have suppressed myself over the last several months in commenting on the way our so-called leaders deport themselves in

The Peanut Gallery

April 8, 2018

DO WE FEEL SORRY? NO. IS IT WRONG? NO. Omar Archer got punched in the face while being restrained by a phalanx of police officers in and out of uniform. There is a video of it that shows the self proclaimed activist being shoved into a wall then seconds later, being sucker punched in the face by a person we assume is a police officer wearing blue fatigues. A moment after the first punch, the video shows Archer being punched again in the head. Archer has said and done a lot of things that defy any notion that he is

The Peanut Gallery

April 1, 2018

It’s Easter Weekend so that can only mean one thing. Everything takes longer, everything get’s done slower but as sure as Night follows Day, The Peanut Gallery will produce. CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR Social media has a way of reminding us who is supposed to be fighting what in this country, even when the fighters themselves seem unsure or unwilling. That is even more the case now that the PLP is out of power. Flash back to 12 months ago and you would remember the country was in the countdown to an elections and everywhere you looked, there was some

SOMETHING DIFFERENT By The Peanut Gallery

March 25, 2018

Last week when this column debuted, we neglected to point out the fact that these are observations based on the chatter on social media from a younger perspective. Good. We told you. Now, for this week’s edition, we figured we’d do something different. With everything going on in the five ring circus that is the FNM Misadministration, rather than post on five points as per our format, we’ll write a letter to our PM and see if he gets the point. Since everyone else is writing him, here goes. Dear the Honorable Dr. Hubert Minnis Prime Minister of The Bahamas

The Hero Syndrome By Delroy Meadows

January 28, 2018

The Hero Syndrome By Delroy Meadows 10th May 2017 has taught many of us that you can never truly predict the future. Dr. Hubert Minnis is now Prime Minister of The Bahamas. For a man who just six months prior to the election had been voted out as Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament on a vote of no confidence by seven of his own party colleagues, you would have thought that was the end of his ambition. The move, however, proved fruitless and short-lived as Dr. Minnis continued on, apparently unfazed by the band of seven who all eventually were removed

ABIGAIL CARTWRIGHT TELLS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HOW THE FNM TREATS FORMER MINISTERS AND HOW THE U S TREATED GENERAL FLYNN

December 3, 2017

She writes from Freeport: I watched with interest the morning’s headlines on Friday, December 1st. from the United States , as General Michael Flynn made his court appearance to face charges of giving false evidence to the FBI, earlier this year. General Flynn walked into the courthouse with his hands swinging (as we would say in the Bahamas); no handcuffs and no shackles on his feet. In other words, there was no public slave shaming. Why? General Flynn was a not security risk. He was not accused of a violent crime, and he was not a flight risk. Further, the

A Comment On The Electricity Bills And The Special List

September 24, 2017

Last week when we wrote about the FNM and its Minister of Works, we spoke about how you simply could not trust the word of the Minister of Works or the FNM when they said that they did not know who was on this list of people that BEC/BPL had that put them in a special position where their electricity could not be cut off no matter the size of the bills. At the same time that the Minister of Works was denying that he knew who was on the list, the names on the list ended up in The

COMRADE CHAIRMAN OBIE WILCHCOMBE – Brian Seymour Writes From Freeport

August 27, 2017

In October, 1998, the PLP held its national convention at the Cable Beach convention center. The highlight of this convention was the second leadership race between former Prime Minister, Perry Christie, and the late, Dr. Bernard Nottage. When the ballots were counted that fateful Thursday, Christie had, once again, won the leadership of the PLP. Dr. Nottage took the hand of the leader and hoisted it in the air and pledged his full support to the leader and party. All was thought to be well that fateful night. We, in the Nottage wing, foolishly and honestly believed, and accepted the

THE PLP VIS-A-VIS THE FNM ADMINISTRATIONS AT 100 DAYS IN OFFICE

August 20, 2017

COMMENTARY BY BAHAMAS SCOOP THE PLP VIS-A-VIS THE FNM ADMINISTRATIONS AT 100 DAYS IN OFFICE At their 100-day mark in office after much electoral pomp, pageantry and fanfare, many Bahamians are finding it near impossible to identify one substantive policy or legislative success story by the Minnis administration that can be used to shape the vision and policy direction of The Bahamas; this is disgraceful after promising change, prosperity, good governance and repeatedly pronouncing the PLP government an abject failure. The FNM did succeed in bringing four former PLP Parliamentarians before the courts on charges of bribery and extortion. The

RATING THE FNM’s FIRST 100 DAYS IN OFFICE

August 13, 2017

COMMENTARY BY BAHAMAS SCOOP RATING THE FNM’s FIRST 100 DAYS IN OFFICE According to Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis from his campaign rhetoric and the speech from the throne, the signature promise made by the FNM was not to grow the economy, create jobs, protect the environment against the threat of global warming, energy sector reform, protect our borders or make The Bahamas safer with an aggressive anti-crime strategy – the FNM promised to fight and eliminate corruption. With Thursday marking the government’s first 100 days in office, Bahamas Scoop wishes to assess the government’s performance to date on this

Lester Mortimer Questions The Legality Of FNM Government’s Actions

August 6, 2017

Are we no longer governed by the rule of law? Dear Editor, 1. How is it that we permit the police to invite suspected persons to their office on the pretext of questioning them about a matter, only to detain the person all day and then make them languish one night in a police cell? In the morning they then transport the accused to court in a humiliating fashion, notwithstanding the fact that the person is not charged with a violent crime nor is he a flight risk? Maybe the law has changed, but I do not recall when it

Sir Burton Is Horrified By ZNS Reporting

July 30, 2017

As I am not part of any form of “social media”, which I am given to understand is the means of communication engaged in by a substantial proportion of the population, I would be grateful if you could circulate the following comment as I have been unable to contact any responsible person at ZNS between last evening and this morning to voice my complaint. Yesterday, Friday 28 July, having been invited to do so, I addressed a group of public officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the Attorney General and other invited persons on

THE FNM FIDDLES WHILE THE BAHAMAS BURNS

July 23, 2017

COMMENTARY BY BAHAMAS SCOOP I note that six people have been murdered in the past seven days with the victim of a seventh shooting clinging to life in hospital; he was shot multiple time with a high-powered rifle. As The Bahamas burns, the FNM government is totally consumed with political retribution. I also note that hundreds of workers in the public service have been summarily dismissed; contract workers in the foreign service have been recalled with no money to bring them home and over five thousand students who graduated last month are in the labour market in search of jobs.

FNM POLITICAL PERSECUTION CONTINUES

July 16, 2017

COMMENTARY BY BAHAMAS SCOOP With the tepid announcement last week that the police found no evidence of wrongdoing in what was widely described as a corrupt and an abuse of state power by the newly elected FNM government in the arrest and detention of over eight BAIC employees including its chairman, there are talks that the commissioner did not authorize the arrests – that the order of intimidation came from the political directorate. This is odd because there was no Minister of National Security on the 11th May 2017 so who in the FNM was giving orders and who on

MOODY’S NOTIFICATION OF DOWNGRADE

July 9, 2017

COMMENTARY BY BAHAMAS SCOOP On the 6th July 2017, Moody’s Investment Services placed the Bahamas’ Baa3 ratings on review for downgrade. They claimed that their decision was “prompted by official statements that the Bahamas’ fiscal position was weaker than previously estimated and that the government’s debt ratios will continue to worsen over the coming years.” Translation? Well, all of that drunken firewater infused talk about the need to borrow almost $1 billion ($722 million actually) as a matter of emergency; talk of “the cupboard is bare” and talk of the country being “insolvent” – all lies by the way –

COMMENTARY BY BAHAMAS SCOOP

July 2, 2017

COMMENTARY BY BAHAMAS SCOOP SOME UNSOLITICTED ADVICE FOR PM MINNIS: THE NEW POLICE ANTI-CORRUPTION UNIT I thought the Royal Bahamas Police Force already had an anti-corruption squad that investigated what is commonly referred to as ‘white collar crime’ but Prime Minister Minnis ordered the establishment of another unit to investigate fraud and corruption. Let us see how their mandate and investigative work manifest itself in the months and years to come. There is an inside joke among certain PLP’s that this is new unit is nothing more than the PLP PERSECUTION UNIT (PLPPU) – an act by the political directorate

A TRIBUTE TO HIS FRIEND BERNARD NOTTAGE BY BRIAN SEYMOUR

July 2, 2017

Bernard Jonathan Nottage, affectionately known as Doc, on Tuesday past quietly slipped from time to eternity. Doc can best be described as a realistic and a pragmatic policy maker of his generation. His driving instinct was to move and develop the Commonwealth of the Bahamas forward. He understood that the Bahamas was more than just New Providence and Grand Bahama. Doc knew in order to grow and develop this country, it would take government intervention through public investment to lead and develop the family islands coupled with foreign direct investment. If we are to maintain our independence then Bahamians would

COMMENTARY BY EDITOR, THE BAHAMAS SCOOP

June 25, 2017

I watched with keen interest the debate of the Attorney General the Hon. Carl Bethel and several assertions he made were both questionable and materially inaccurate. The AG said that the PLP government went on a spending spree and spent $722 million in excess of the budget during the 2016/2017 fiscal year. This is materially inaccurate and patently false as the FNM’s own House resolution disagrees with Mr. Bethel. The resolution calls for $400 million in loan to defray government expenses for the 2016/2017. Whatever expenditure the FNM government approves to finance its operations in the 2017/2018 fiscal year is

Marvin Wright writes defending Michelle Reckly

March 26, 2017

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Marvin Wright writes defending Michelle Reckly from an attack in the press by the Whistle Blower: Dear Editor, Please allow me space in your daily to respond to a letter that was published in the Tribune newspaper on Tuesday, March 21, 2017, titled “Grand Bahamians are fed up with Michelle Reckley & her PLP antics” written by “The Whistle Blower”. This letter, in an attempt to defame the Progressive Liberal Party by aligning this progressive organization with the perceived antics of one person, stated some grave untruths, which my letter seeks to address. First and foremost

LETTER TO THE EDITOR FROM KELLY BURROWS

March 26, 2017

Kelly Burrows writes about the fight of his life having been diagnosed with multiple myeloma “My Battle To Stay Alive” Address to the BMT Tenth Annual Reunion FEBRUARY 4 2017 “I’ll begin today and throw away the past. And the future I build will be something that will last. I will take the time I have left to live, and I will give it all I have left to give……… And I will thank the lord and remember when, I was able to begin again!!!” In the seasons of life I have had more than my share of summers. A

LETTER TO THE EDITOR ABOUT BRENT SYMONETTE— HE IS STUNNINGLY STUPID

February 19, 2017

(Editor’s note: Brent Symonette told the press last week that he would have voted for Donald Trump had he been a position to do so. This is a former foreign minister of The Bahamas getting involved in the internal politics of the United States. He just confirmed how stunningly stupid he is. He is unfit for public office, the words of a jackass of the first order. This is the same man who when he won in 2007 said that the relations between The Bahamas would improve because he and the then Charge of the U S Mission in The

KELLY BURROWS WRITES ON FAT POLITICIANS

December 11, 2016

Dear. Editor Watching this evening’s 7.00 pm newscast on ZNS. 07/11/2016. It mystified me to see the obesity that exist of so called leaders in our country who want to lead us. When they themselves don’t contribute to a healthy life style from their appearance, including some Government officials, who won’t be around, if they don’t take themselves in hand quickly, and do something with their present condition. What example are you setting to attract persons to you, when you’re a candidate for all the symptoms that come with old age and yes, obesity contribute to strokes, high blood

KELLY BURROWS SAYS ANGLICAN CHURCH IS DYING

December 4, 2016

Dear. Editor. Today, Sunday 27/11/2016 is the first Sunday in Advent/ Commitment Sunday, that begins a new year in the Anglican Lectionary cycle, launching a new year for us Anglicans. Here in the Northern Bahamas Archdeaconry comprising all Parishes in Abaco, Bimini & Grand Bahama. An act ofRecommitment service was held this afternoon at 5.00, PM at the Pro Cathedral of Christ the King. The Reverend DeAngelo Bowe a very energetic young man – Rector Parish of St John, St Peter and St Anne, North Abaco, who brought the sermon taking his text from 1 Peter 4: 7. “The end of

BRIAN SEYMOUR WRITES FROM FREEPORT ABOUT THE PLP

October 30, 2016

“WHAT HAS THE PLP BECOME” “Cut your coat according to your cloth” is a proverb associated with a book called A Student’s Companion which most students used in the late 60’s and early 70’s. This expression seems very applicable to the present state the Christie administration finds itself in. Just months prior to a general election having to be called no later than May 2017 when the present five-year mandate comes to an end. Unfortunately for the government having to deal with the aftermath of a category 4 hurricane (Matthew) striking its two major population centers, viagra buy New Providence

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: POWER SUPPLY CONFUSION IN GRAND BAHAMA

October 23, 2016

Miguel Taylor writes, best cialis Dear editor, tadalafil last week my letter spoke to several post hurricane issues, particularly as it related to price gouging, and the exigency order that the government implemented. This week rather, if you would permit, I would to express some views on power restoration, particularly on the island of Grand Bahama. In a 2014 article by Robert Brenner, published by the website “Survival Life,” it stated in part that “there is a psychological effect on people that often occurs during extended power outages. As time passes without electricity, people who depend on their ability to

A PLEA FROM GRAND BAHAMA ( LETTER TO THE EDITOR)

October 16, 2016

Miguel Taylor Writes Dear editor, cialis buy I would be most grateful if you would afford me some of your valuable space on your website, at the time of your next update session. If memory serves correct, a few times I would have written under the caption “I Guess We’ve always done it this way,” which for the most part, spoke to practices with particular regards to executing policies, or just going about daily activities. It still baffles me how we as a people are not that receptive to change. Archaic methods, be whatever they may be, are still the

BRIAN SEYMOUR WRITES FROM FREEPORT

September 25, 2016

ACHAN IN THE CAMP Three weeks ago I posed a simple question, viagra sales “Are the core values of the PLP still relevant, viagra sales or have they been cast aside in favor of foreign direct investment”? This is the instrument being used to help develop and modernize our country. This week the answer came back loud and clear from the Attorney General, Allyson Maynard Gibson who before had come to prominence in the Pleasant Bridgewater saga. She used the power of her good office to signal to the business community that the policy had tilted in favor of big

WHEN MONEY BECOMES YOUR GOD

September 18, 2016

WHEN MONEY BECOMES YOUR GOD The Bahamas is a stable country. Like clock-work, generic viagra every five years, our people wake up and go to a polling station between the hours of 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., and vote in large numbers. It is estimated that about ninety percent (90%) of the people registered to vote cast their ballots on the day of general elections for the party or person of their choice. This has always been our strong tradition. At the voting station, there is order. There is never misbehaviour at these sights, just a sense of solemnity. That

A LETTER TO THE EDITOR ON ANDROSIA

September 18, 2016

The founders of Androsia the late Dick Birch at far left and at far right Rosi Birch now Lovdal at Small Hope Bay in Central Andros. (The Founder of Androsia decries the fake Androsia in the stores in Nassau.) When I founded Androsia in 1970 there was such an optimistic sense of “we” in the air. Lyndon Pindling had come home from his law studies in London with a mission in his mind and a fire in his heart. He was leading us into independence. “We” were going to become an independent nation. “We” could do it! He captured the

THE PLP AND ITS CORE VALUES / FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

September 11, 2016

The PLP is on a collision course with itself. Are the core values of the party still relevant; or, viagra sales have they been cast aside? On the other side, foreign direct investment that all important instrument being used to help develop and modernize the country. These two competing interests stand in the balance, and if not dealt with, and managed skillfully will surely end in disaster next year at the polls for the PLP. The PLP at its core from 1956 has always been the political party that championed the cause and concerns of the ordinary man. It has