Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 2 © BahamasUncensored.Com
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| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell made what is the third of the annual addresses to the United Nations since he became Minister on 10th May 2002. The address is the annual occasion for the country to say what its views are of world affairs. The highlights of the address were the country’s view of the situation in Haiti, a call for the “polluting countries” to shift gears if small states are not to be further hampered by climate change and weather, a call for a level playing field in international matters, and the call for a sense of balance between the fight against terrorism and the civil rights of the individual. The Minister speaking at the United Nations on Thursday 29th September is our photo of the week. You may click here for the address. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK
The
new PLPs got their wish and probably breathed a sigh of relief. With
the appointment of Caleb Outten as Senator, a just thirty something political
activist, and the insurgent candidate in the 2002 general election for
the PLP in the Eight Mile Rock constituency, it appears that at least one
of them can say their time has come. There was a nascent sense of
exasperation in the air because the appointment was too long in coming.
The Prime Minister in an aside to the Bahama Journal dismissed the complaint
that he had taken too long. He said that he had thoroughly checked
out the young man and was confirmed in his view, particularly after seeing
how well received he was by the Eight Mile Rock community in the post hurricane
tours.
It
has been ten months since one of the men from the PLP's first age of power
resigned in a huff from the Senate and the PLP, in the process openly repudiating
all that he had worked for during 30 years as a PLP. Edison Key is
now consigned fully to history, although no doubt if the wounds are not
healed before the election, he will try to make life as miserable as possible
or the next PLP candidate in Abaco. This seems even more potent a
threat now that the trash press is speculating that Tommy Turnquest does
not want to go to another FNM convention without being in the House of
Assembly. Despite apparent denials, Hubert Ingraham, the former PM
is trying to broker a deal to get Robert Sweeting the Marsh Harbour MP
to step down, cause a bye election for Tommy to win the seat. If
Tommy falls for that ruse, he is not as smart as we think.
Senator Outten could not be a better candidate for the job. He came within 25 votes of winning the seat from Pastor Lindy Russell, the FNM incumbent in 2002, who it is now rumoured will be moving on to the church full time after the next election. Senator Outten was a community activist, head of an organization called P.U.M.P. He fought for the reconstruction of the Fishing Hole Road in Freeport where numbers of persons perished in storms and floods. He has railed against the injustices of the Grand Bahama Port Authority on Freeport's satellite community Eight Mile Rock. He has Turks and Caicos Island ancestry and so is very much part of the heart of the Rock. He is the son of a preacher man.
The
Nassau Guardian in an editorial questioned whether or not the new Senator
Outten would continue to work for the things that he struggled for as an
activist. The answer is yes and no.
Senator Outten was sworn in on the 29th September 2004, 275 years after the first Parliament met in Nassau. He joined the first ever joint session of the parliament that was convened without a dissolution of a prorogation having been proclaimed. His appointment was welcomed by the FNM’s Leader Tommy Turnquest and by Government Leader in the Senate Marcus Bethel.
Will he be able to continue to struggle for what he fought for as an activist? It’s a tangle frankly. First, he is no longer an activist. He is part of the establishment. He therefore takes on a different role, and the battles are now different. He will soon discover that even colleagues with whom he would have thought there is a natural affinity and alliance will have to be convinced that what he fought for and wants for his community is actually desirable. He will find that fully one half of the new PLP is often embarrassed by public demonstrations and activism, and direct and adversarial confrontation, and would rather not be publicly embarrassed by that sort of stuff. They believe that is old school. So everything that he now does has to be tempered by knowing what kind of organization he is part of and how to balance all the factors to get the desirable result. We think that he is up to the task. He should not forget how he got to where he is now, and remember that he has got to win those votes in Eight Mile Rock so that when the election is called in 2007, he will win the seat and join colleagues in the House of Assembly. If activism will do that, then be active.
The appointment should give some hope to all those young types and tykes who in their minds’ eyes keep seeing appointments made and largesse created for the senior members of the tribe, and do not feel aligned to what they saw happening politically, even though they feel that their image was used to help the PLP get elected. The young PLP businessmen feel that they need to get theirs. The young politicians feel that they need a chance to influence and win friends, and make some money from their new PLP. They are champing at the bit to get started but are miffed that their help does not seem to be wanted. Older ones are miffed that jobs for their children are not as forthcoming as they should be. The story is work, work, work. Job, Jobs, Jobs and more Jobs.
So one must cheer the appointment as a good one. Let us hope that the country sees with this appointment that the PLP means to make a proper transition from its pre 1992 incarnation to the true new PLP. This is the party that won the country by acting from the centre and the interests of the centre. This is the party that said that it believed that its supporters and its allies would have no fear for the patrimony of the country. This is the nationalist party. This is the party that said that the poor and dispossessed would find a voice. This is the party that said that the civil service would be set right, that would not be stymied by the civil service. This is the party that we support.
Caleb Outten and his contemporaries then have a hell of a job to do. Good Luck!
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 2nd October 2004 at midnight: 52,716.
Number of hits for the month of September up to Thursday 30th September 2004 at midnight: 225,557.
Number of hits for the month of October up to Saturday 2nd October 2004 at midnight: 9,121.
Number of hits for the year 2004 up to Saturday 2nd October 2004 at midnight: 1,980,152.
275
GLORIOUS YEARS OF PARLIAMENT
The Prime Minister Perry Christie, the Leader of
the Opposition in the House (Alvin Smith) and the Senate (Tommy Turnquest),
the Leader of government business in the House (Vincent Peet) and in the
Senate (Marcus Bethel) all spoke to the occasion.
Perhaps it was the Prime Minister who rose to the
occasion by a tour de force of the Parliamentary history of The Bahamas.
Woodes Rodgers, the first of the Royal Governors, convened an Assembly
pursuant to Letters Patent on 29th September 1729. The Assembly has
met continuously since then. In order to mark the occasion, the House
of Assembly and the Senate passed separate resolutions authorizing a joint
sitting of the Parliament. This was the first time that the Parliament
met in living memory in a joint session when there was not a prorogation
or dissolution.
The Parliament was elected first by white men only.
Then it was all men of property. This was expanded in 1962 to include
women, and finally 18 year olders were admitted to the voting roles in
1969.
The photo of the occasion was taken by Peter Ramsay
of the Bahamas Information Services. Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell
joined the Parliament for the occasion, leaving his work at the United
Nations to mark the historical occasion.
PRIME
MINISTER IN MIAMI
Prime Minister Perry Christie was a guest of the Miami Herald at the Americas
conference. He was given the topic: the United States: Friend or
Foe, Can relations between the United States and the Caribbean be repaired?
The Prime Minister accepted the fact that there were differences on Haiti
and Cuba. But he said that those differences did not change the fundamental
relationship. You may click here for the
address made by the Prime Minister.
Later the Prime Minister hosted a meeting organized
by the Miami Herald to speak with Bahamians in the South Florida area,
donors and the business community with an interest in The Bahamas about
the impacts of the two hurricanes on The Bahamas. The meeting raised
an additional twenty thousand dollars for hurricane relief and pledges
of further support.
The photo with the Miami Herald’s Publisher is by
BIS / Peter Ramsay.
FOREIGN
MINISTER BACK FROM THE UN
The annual address at the United Nations was delivered
by the Minister of Foreign Affairs on Thursday 30th September. The
speech was delivered in the presence of a number of Bahamians who flew
up to New York for the delivery of the statement. Joining the Minister
for the occasion were Henry Dean and Ethan Adderley of the Lunch Bunch;
Henry and Judy Wemyss. Mr. Wemyss is the Chief Executive of Wemco
Securities. Also there were Stan and Denny Burnside and their daughter
Brook. Miss Burnside won the Zonta essay competition, the prize for
which is the trip to see the delivery of the address. Also in New
York were the winners of the Mini United Nations programme sponsored by
the Rotary Clubs. The winners of the contest held every spring were
students from the two high schools in Long Island and their Chaperone.
You may click here for the full address.
FOREIGN
MINISTER MEETS HAITIAN INTERIM LEADER
From New York, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell flew to Miami
to join the Prime Minister for his address to the Miami Conference on the
Americas (See story above). The
Prime Minister spoke before a full audience of public officials and businessmen
and women from South Florida. Later he joined the Publisher of the
Miami Herald at lunch to hear an address by former U.S. Secretary of State
Madeline Albright. The interim Prime Minister of Haiti Gerard LaTortue
spoke at the same conference. The Caricom nations have not yet agreed
to allow the recognition of the interim administration. The two Prime
Ministers did not meet. Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell, however,
met with the interim Prime Minister to express concern over the deaths
in Haiti from Hurricane Jeanne, and to get an update on the plans for the
elections in Haiti to restore the country to full democracy. The
two are pictured on Friday 1st October at the Biltmore Hotel. BIS
/ Peter Ramsay
MITCHELL
SPEAKS TO BANKERS
The Institute of Financial Services, which used
to be called the Institute of Bankers, held their 28th annual awards presentation
on Saturday 2nd October at the Sandals Resort in Nassau. The guest
speaker was Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell said that
the Government was pledged to protect the sector, because it provided a
good living for scores of Bahamians. He said that the Government
would stand up for the interests of Bahamians. He explained in detail,
his proposal to solve the problem of lack of access to Schengen visas for
Bahamians to get access to Europe. You may click
here for the full address.
STATE
DEPARTMENT ADVISORY WRONG
Writers to this column pointed out that an advisory
was seen on some U.S. television stations, which indicated that the U.S.
State Department was warning persons not to travel to The Bahamas because
the conditions as to power and water did not support travel to the country.
It turns out that the State Department had issued no such warning.
We provide the link here to the site of the public announcement by the
State Department: http://travel.state.gov/travel/bahamas_announce.html
GRAND
BAHAMA RESTORATION UPDATE
The Grand Bahama Island Promotion Board has issued
an update on how the island's tourism infrastructure is rebounding from
Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne. Good progress is being made.
Please click here for the update.
ANGELO
MUNNINGS DIES
Another of those well known Valley Boy personalities
has passed away. This time it is Angelo Michael Munnings. Mr.
Munnings died after slipping into a diabetic coma. He was buried
following funerals services at the Chapel of Love, Kemp’s Funeral Home
on Thursday September 30th. May he rest in peace.
LESLIE
MILLER’S ACCUSATIONS OF NEGLIGENCE
The Minister of Trade & Industry Leslie Miller
is just back from a meeting of the African Caribbean and Pacific country
ministers with the European Union. Mr. Miller in a statement to the
press accused the FNM administration of being negligent in not accessing
funds that have been made available in the past for The Bahamas.
He said that millions of dollars would have been available to The Bahamas
but The Bahamas never accessed the funds. He said that the result
of this would be that The Bahamas may have lost its opportunity to get
funds that might help with hurricane relief. He specifically blamed
the civil servants over the past 25 years for causing The Bahamas to lose
the money that it could have gotten. Before his departure to the
meeting, Mr. Miller said that he was going to use the opportunity of his
visit to seek additional funding from the European Union to help with the
relief effort.
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY CHINA
The Peoples Republic of China celebrated its official
birthday on 30th September in The Bahamas with a reception. The reception
was attended by the Governor General Dame Ivy Dumont, the Prime Minister
Perry Christie and the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Vincent Peet.
This is quite a prize for the Chinese this year on their 55th anniversary.
The Prime Minister obviously wanted to thank the Chinese for the tremendous
gift that China has offered to The Bahamas of a 30 million dollar stadium.
The official party toasted to the friendship between The Bahamas and China.
Meanwhile a group of Bahamians have formed themselves
into a China Bahamian Friendship Association. The aim is to promote
good relations between the two countries. The effort is headed up
by former Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Joseph Curry. The
official liaison with the group is Philip Miller, Under Secretary at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Former Ambassador to China Sir Arthur
Foulkes is also a part of the association. The Association’s governing
board is pictured.
DWAYNE
HANNA CALLED TO THE BAR
In the run up to the General Election of 2002 and
especially following the defeat of the PLP in 1997, Dwayne Hanna was one
of the best promoters of the PLP. He never stopped believing and
helped to keep hope alive with his incisive letters to the editor.
He was trying to study law here in The Bahamas but it became too much and
he finally pulled up stakes and went to the University of Buckingham in
the United Kingdom to try to finish it. Well, he is now finished and a
full member of the Bahamas Bar. On Friday 24th September the Chief
Justice Sir Burton Hall witnessed the taking of the oath and the signing
of the rolls by Mr. Hanna, as he became a member of the Bar. We congratulate
him on having accomplished this step.
THE
FALLOUT FROM HURRICANE JEANNE
Hurricane Jeanne has left utter destruction and
devastation throughout The Bahamas when it hit on 24th September.
The country is still counting the full cost. We know that the Government
had an estimate of 125 million dollars on the relief effort for Hurricane
Frances. But Frances now seems a distant memory compared to the damage
that Hurricane Jeanne left in Abaco. The second city Freeport was
smashed by Frances. West End in Grand Bahama was particularly hard
hit as we have reported, with every home in that settlement being damaged.
Now the Prime Minister reports that the Eastern End of Grand Bahama was
just as severely damaged by Hurricane Jeanne as the West was by Frances.
But Jeanne went further and damaged the third largest economic centre in
the country Marsh Harbour. The docks and marina infrastructure in
Marsh Harbour are destroyed. It will take tens of millions to climb
out from under it. Grand Cay, an island off the Abaco mainland is
particularly hard hit, with reports of destruction similar to that found
in West End. The newspapers throughout the week showed the scenes
of the utter destruction and despair. Prime Minister Christie visited
with officials from Nassau to see for himself the full extent of the damage.
BIS
photo / Peter Ramsay
RICK FOX
RETIRES
Rick Fox, the Bahamian who is the son of Ulric Fox, owner of Holiday Ice,
has announced his retirement from the National Basketball Association in
the United States. Mr. Fox ended his career in Boston where it began.
He had won three rings as an NBA champion team member in Los Angeles.
He was seen as a team leader throughout his tenure there, keeping the peace
between the two major stars on the team. He received a serious injury
within the last year and was off the court. He will now never return.
Mr. Fox raised Bahamians’ spirits knowing that one
of their own was an NBA player, the second one following Michael Thompson's
success on the same Los Angeles Lakers team in the 1980s. No word
on what he will do now. The report is that he has also filed for
divorce from his wife Vanessa Williams, the movie actress. There is always
the fear after retirement: what does a young man do in that position to
forge another career and did he save his money? He had been trying
for a career in the movies. We wish him well, and thanks for all
the memories.
ATHLETES
HONOURED
Three outstanding Bahamian athletes received a signal
honour during the joint session of Parliament called to celebrate its 275th
anniversary. Two time 'Grand Slam' lawn tennis winner Mark Knowles,
Athens Olympic Gold medallist Tonique Williams Darling and Athens Bronze
medallist and 'Golden Girl' Debbie Ferguson all received House of Assembly
proclamations in their honour. BIS photos / Peter Ramsay
WHATEVER
WAS FRED SMITH THINKING?
If there is ever any bad news to tell, you can count
on Fred Smith to be the bearer of the bad news. According to a press
release by Mr. Smith, things are going from bad to worse in Grand Bahama.
He accused the Government of neglecting Grand Bahama and not delivering
what the people there need to get their lives back to normal. This
is potent stuff.
There are legitimate complaints of disorganization
in the hurricane relief effort, but trust Mr. Smith to go overboard with
the ridiculous suggestion that the Government ought to resign as a result
of that. There is where he lost us. Mr. Smith said that Grand
Bahama does not need to see foreign dignitaries and government ministers
coming to tour the damage.
The Minister of Works Bradley Roberts was particularly
incensed by Mr. Smith’s inane comment. He answered him and you may
click
here for the full response. You want to say to Mr., Smith: “You
are getting too old for this”.
KING
ERIC CELEBRATES A BIRTHDAY 24/09
The Prime Minister joined the veteran entertainer
and sailing enthusiast King Eric Gibson for a gift of celebration to mark
the 70th birthday of the King. Mr. Gibson's son Shane Gibson is the
Minister of Housing. From the looks of the picture, the party must
have been a humdinger. There were smiles all around. Congratulations to
the king! Nassau Guardian photo / Patrick Hanna
DAWN
DAVIES' ART COLLECTION OPENS
Local collector Dawn Davies has been avidly building
her outstanding collection of Bahamian art for twenty years. It is
acknowledged as perhaps the most vast and varied of its kind. Director
General of the Archives, Dr. Gail Saunders has opened an exhibition of
Ms. Davies' collection at the National Art Gallery that highlights some
of its oldest pieces, along with the works of some of The Bahamas’ more
contemporary artists. In an impromptu review, photographer Peter
Ramsay notes “the exhibition contrasts the work of Bahamian artists today
against the country’s early journeymen… it all makes for a compelling visual
tableau about Bahamian culture”. From left to right: Ms. Davies,
Dr. Gail Saunders and Marguerite, the Lady Pindling. BIS PHOTO
PETER RAMSAY. THE EXHIBITION IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Fred Smith, Esq.
Will you be giving coverage to Fred Smith's opinion?
His observation that Grand Bahama and Grand Bahamians are being completely
ignored does look valid.
Name withheld
No doubt he is saying things that people are thinking and can’t voice for themselves but when Fred Smith says something one always looks for motive unfortunately. The Minister of Works has answered him and we think that is sufficient. Work needs to be done. We listen but we must move on. Ed
American Elections
It's too bad you feel that John Kerry can't win
in the American presidential election in November. [See ‘PREPARING
FOR THE WORST IN US ELECTIONS’ – Ed.] I felt the same
way too as a Howard Dean supporter just before Kerry blew Dean out of the
water in Iowa in January this year. I’m sure that William Weld’s
supporters felt the same way just before Kerry beat Weld in Kerry's last
US Senate race. After almost 45 years of active participation in
American presidential politics, I must agree with former US Senator William
Fulbright, who after his defeat ending an extremely brilliant political
career said, “He who builds his future in politics, builds it of sticks
and on sand.” A word to George W. Bush and a reminder to former Bahamian
PMs and their parties might be in order also.
America also should take note of who [China and
Caricom neighbors] is giving real rather than token financial support to
the Bahamas in their hurricane distress. It might indicate who really
might be going to lead the world in the future, while America joins Britain
on the verandah to reminisce about their ‘Empires’.
J. Reynolds
Harbour Island
You are an American voter and so we stand be to be guided. - Editor
FRED
MITCHELL TURNS 51
Minister of Foreign Affairs & The Public Service,
the Honourable Fred Mitchell is to celebrate his fifty first birthday on
Tuesday. The Minister is caught chuckling during an informal moment
in this recent photo by Peter Ramsay. There are hints of celebrations
being planned by supporters in the Minister's Fox Hill constituency, for
he's a jolly good fellow! Happy Birthday, Minister.
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Prime Minister Perry Christie is shown at during a trip to Miami with a
group of South Florida boaters who mounted a private flotilla to The Bahamas
to provide hurricane relief. Mr. Christie used the opportunity of
his trip to the Miami Herald Americas Conference to meet with the Bahamian
community and friends of The Bahamas in South Florida. In an impromptu
outpouring of support, the group presented donations to the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA) totalling $20,000.
At right, the Prime Minister is shown with publisher
Wendall Jones receiving the first copy of an historic book, documenting
275 years of Parliament in The Bahamas, entitled 'The Bahamian Parliament
1729-2004. BIS photos by Peter Ramsay.
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| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - It looked like the effort to report to the country on the ill affects of the hurricane was a jinxed one. The Prime Minister’s report had been postponed twice before and it looked like it was going to be postponed again on Wednesday 6th October when the million dollar sound system that had just been installed over the summer break malfunctioned. It later turned out that the malfunction had to do not with the system itself but with the television link between the Assembly and ZNS TV. So with no broadcast, the House after suspending without doing business that morning continued in the afternoon of Wednesday 6th October and the communication was read. In the mean time, the Nassau Guardian’s photographer captured this photo of the Prime Minister Perry Christie and the Leader of The Opposition Alvin Smith speaking in the foyer of the Assembly. The Prime Minister reported some 200 million dollars in damage to bricks and mortar. No estimate of the economic loss occasioned by the storms as yet. The photo appeared on Thursday 7th October and is by Donald Knowles. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE LINES ARE BEING DRAWN
Last
week was public service week. The Public Service falls within the
ministerial portfolio of Fred Mitchell, who is also the Minister of Foreign
Affairs. It does not seem to have the same cache as the Ministry
of Foreign of Affairs but in our view it is certainly no less important.
In fact, what Mr. Mitchell is able to accomplish in the public service
may be a more enduring legacy. It is clear that much of what is behind
the difficulties of the PLP at the present time is the inability of the
politicians of the PLP to get control of the public service. It appears
that the PLP has lost its way, is afraid of its own shadow and is afraid
to become the political master of the service. The constitution says
that they are so long as they are the elected heads of the government.
The Prime Minister opened a seminar on the future of the public service with the public sector unions and the heads of staff associations all gathered on Friday 8th October. Present were the representatives from the Bahamas Public Service Union, the Bahamas Union of Teachers, the Prison Staff Association, the Doctor's Staff Association, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the Royal Bahamas Police Force Staff Associations and the Nurses Union. All of them were there to discuss where to go with the public service. Representatives of the Inter American Development Bank were also there. You may click here for the full address of the Prime Minister.
The Minister in his address spoke of the need for fundamental change of the service. The Prime Minister spoke of the internal resistance to change that seems built into the system. But for all the sophistication of the remarks of the two gentlemen, what the public sees is a group of people in the public service who now seem to have drawn a line in the sand with regard to the PLP. They are determined not to carry out the instructions of the PLP and they are determined to ensure that any policy initiatives are stalled and delayed out of existence. The PLP rank and file argue that this is a consequence of a policy which has reached out a hand of friendship to FNMs on the grounds that we want to show that people should not be victimized because they served the previous administration. That does not wash with the rank and file. What they see is that those who supported the last regime in the public service believe that the reaching out the hand of friendship is a sign of weakness and impotence on the part of the PLP and are busy sabotaging the policies of the government, chopping off the hand of friendship at every turn. You may click here for the full address of the Minister.
When one looks at the experience of delays and snafus in hurricane relief, the vicious attacks that have occurred from leaked sources in ministries as diverse as the Ministry of Sports, the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it certainly looks like a concerted effort by persons unknown to be sure that the initiatives of the Government are sabotaged.
The Minister made the point of referring in his address to a criticism of a comment that he made when he first became a minister. The criticism came from newspaper columnist and former Ambassador Sir Arthur Foulkes. Sir Arthur thought that it was a trite point to make that the Minister did not know the staff who surrounded him, stripped as he was of the staff that he was used to in his political office. The Minister said Sir Arthur missed the point. The point is that there is clear need in all of the systems of the English speaking Caribbean to borrow from the U.S. system where elected officials bring the people that they need to execute their programme with them when they come, who then leave when they leave. That is one way to make things move quickly.
The Minister told the public servants later in the day that he wanted to forge an alliance with the public sector unions and staff associations to force changes in the system. The system just would not move, and those who manage the system are quite content with it the way that it is. He told them how the request for the human resources career path which would solve many of the human resources problems in the public service, is being blocked at a high institutional level, and that there is a need to create public pressure for the changes to be made.
In his address, he said that if we commit to change, then we must change, not choke when we are faced with the necessity to change. Change means change and agreeing to change when you have to change. The systems that we now employ in the public service are archaic, with its dependence on paper files, and scribbling on pieces of paper, with files tied together some times with purple string, other times with a simple piece of white string. Needless to say, the numbers of files that go missing are legion. Making it easier to be able to sabotage the policies of a political party for what appears to be a reasonable explanation. The file went missing.
The PLP needs to take stock of where it is. There are only 28 months left before elections are staring the PLP in the face. The party has simply waited too long to put its imprint on the Government. Its supporters are in a state of apoplexy about this, and the fact that they appear not to be able in the words of many to ‘get anything from the Government I voted for’. One has to be careful with this of course because one of the reasons the PLP won was because it played to the middle, but the other side of the story is that if your base stays at home when election comes you lose anyway. The centre is not enough to get you elected on their own.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 9th October at midnight: 64,149
Number of hits for the month of September up to Saturday 9th October 2004 at midnight: 73,270.
Number of hits for the year 2004 up to Saturday 9th October 2004 at midnight: 2,044,302.
PRIME
MINISTER’S HURRICANE REPORT
Prime Minister Perry Christie reported to the House of Assembly the status
of hurricane damage throughout The Bahamas as a result of Hurricane Frances
that struck the country on 3rd September. The report was
delivered on Wednesday 6th October 2004. He estimated the damage
at close to 200 million dollars. There was a breakdown for each island.
This is only the estimate for bricks and mortar and not the estimate for
the economic and private losses that have been occasioned as a result of
the storm. A report is to come on the damage as a result of Hurricane
Jeanne.
The Government has been running ads in the newspapers about a Loan Guarantee Scheme, a voucher system for building supplies and for food and water. The reports continue to come in that the relief effort is not going as effectively as it should. Two civil servants who ran the programmes of the hurricanes earlier in the decade have been brought in to deal with the emergency: Jack Thompson has been called in from Canada to run the programme in Abaco and Melvin Seymour has been called in from the Ministry of Housing to deal with the rebuilding of Grand Bahama. The usual suspects have been voicing the public discomfort. Cay Russell, Chief Councillor in southern Abaco, was on the radio saying that no relief was getting to the people there. That is simply not true. Fred Smith was making similar comments in Grand Bahama, despite being slapped down by Bradley Roberts for his overstating the case.
We will publish the full official report of the Prime Minister to Parliament
in our next edition.
ANSWERING ZHIVARGO LAING AND OTHERS
In
this column we have constantly expressed our grave disappointment with
Zhivargo Laing, the former Minister for Economic Development in the Ingraham
administration. Mr. Laing has repaired to Grand Bahama, where he
is nursing the seat of Ann Percentie (PLP Pineridge), hoping to get elected
from Grand Bahama in the next general election. He has a good profile
but some strange quirks of logic that would seem not to recommend him to
constituents in Grand Bahama.
Mr. Laing’s criticism of the hurricane effort that appeared in The Tribune of Thursday 7th October is the latest case in point of a somewhat mixed up man or someone who is unable or unwilling to process clear information before his very eyes and interpret it properly. He wrote this: “In fact residents of Eight Mile Rock were especially peeved that the PM and his large entourage chose merely to stop in the middle of their street, holding up traffic, to conduct a press conference but never really toured that part of the island”
That is a gross distortion of the facts. The facts are that the Prime Minister toured that part of the island extensively. He was taken door to door by Senator Caleb Outten (PLP) and was finishing the tour when the motorcade of Dr. Bernard Nottage and Minister Leslie Miller passed on its way to West End.
The Prime Minister, Dr. Nottage and Mr. Miller exchanged greetings. The Press, who were up against deadline, asked for an interview which was conducted safely on the side of the road. Any delay in traffic was simply people rubber necking to see what was going on. There was no stop in the flow, and people were hailing the PM loudly on the side of the road, blowing their horns. They were happy to see him.
One of the persons who also stopped was the same Zhiavrgo Laing. He walked up to the Prime Minister and must have spoken to him for at least 15 minutes. And so if any traffic jam was caused, Mr. Laing was in part responsible for it, and those people who were peeved would also be peeved at him.
Mr. Laing also wrote: “Indeed airport personnel were appalled by the fact that the PM was insensitively rushed through to his waiting aircraft rather than taking time to greet them as people also affected by the hurricane; some contrasted this with the very personal touch shown by former Prime Minister Ingraham who visited the island after Mr. Christie.”
There is no way in hell that Hubert Ingraham could be more personable and people friendly than Perry Christie. Point number two - the facts. On the day in question, the same day that Mr. Laing helped to stop traffic in Eight Mile Rock, the Prime Minister was being whisked to his plane because there were no lights on the Freeport runway and the Bahamasair jet, not his personal plane, a scheduled flight, had to take off on time or otherwise it could not leave. This criticism by Mr. Laing is petty and below the belt.
Mr. Laing must know that as politicians it is not possible to hail everyone and to stop every time, sometimes you have got to go. It is criticisms like this by Mr. Laing that makes him look irresponsible.
Meanwhile on another page of The Tribune, you had Eileen Carron with her twisted logic flailing away at the Government and the PLP about hurricane relief. Her newspaper could not simply agree that she told a lie on the Government when she indicated that hurricane supplies were left abandoned by the Government at the ports without being collected in Freeport.
It turns out the stuff belonged to the Red Cross. So she then switches her tack and says well if you can’t control the Red Cross, how come you are telling other people what they can bring in and what they can't. This time it is a reference to another lie that she told that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had prevented a plane with Hubert Ingraham and some goods from outside the country to land and offload its cargo. But never one to be held down because of a lie, she simply makes up another one in response.
Such
is the state of hurricane relief in The Bahamas. Zhivargo Laing
is shown conversing with Prime Minister Christie in Grand Bahama during
a tour of hurricane damaged areas. BIS photo - Peter Ramsay
Every once in a while Andrew Allen seems to get it right. Mr. Allen is the son of one of the knights of Mr. Ingraham's round table who (the knight) served as Minister of Finance. He (the son) is a good writer but often has the views of a right wing ideologue. We agreed with him last week on Monday 4th October 2004, as he wrote under the headline: 'TIME TO LEAVE THE LEAGUE OF BEGGARS'.
Mr. Allen’s central thrust is that he is embarrassed by the comments of Ministers of the Government who keep saying how we ought to be going out to get money from the European Union and others to help us with the hurricane effort. You will know from the sentiments expressed here that we believe that this country has an economy which is resilient enough to be able to pay for this damage itself, except for the provision of emergency aid.
We
also believe that we ought to be helping other countries like Grenada and
Haiti with some form of assistance. Our problem as with so
many things is that we just won’t get up the political will to properly
organize ourselves as a first rate country. Instead we simply accept
the status quo of slackness and indifference. We don’t hold out much
hope for the day to come when Mr. Allen gets his wish.
NATIONAL HEROES DAY CELEBRATED
There
is a dispute about what 12th October is to be called.
It is still officially listed as Columbus Day or Discovery Day. It
is the day set aside throughout the hemisphere to commemorate the official
landing into the new world by Christopher Columbus. There are full
passions on all sides. Columbus Day really became a day of celebration
once the Roman Catholics came to The Bahamas. Their lobbying helped
to change the name of Watlings Island to San Salvador in 1926. In
that year Cat Island lost the name San Salvador and was renamed CatIsland.
Fr.
Sebastian Campbell heads the National Heroes Day Committee. That
committee which started its work in 1991 under the leadership of Fred Mitchell,
now Minister of Foreign Affairs, has been trying to get it changed.
They got a commitment from the Ingraham administration to pass legislation
to change the law and to implement a system of national honours.
That
commitment has not been followed through by the PLP. Instead, a Commission
was formed that has raised debate in the public that would not be present
if we had simply moved ahead.
There are those who hanker for Columbus and think that to change the day will be to rewrite history. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell who spoke at the observances this year pooh poohed that saying that each generation comes along to mark its own priorities on the society. No one is trying to rewrite history. Fr. Sebastian Campbell said it was simply taking too long for the Government to act. The next day, the forces of retrogression were back in the paper under some religious banner defending Columbus Day. But we come down squarely on the side of those who say the day should be changed. We don’t want to create another holiday and expense for the business community. Columbus has no relevance for us in The Bahamas and what we need is a day to mark the creation of our own state by saluting the heroes of that state like Milo Butler, Dame Doris Johnson and Lynden Pindling. Top: National Heroes Committee Founding Member Fred Mitchell; right - dignitaries at the National Heroes Day Committee service in Rawson Square.
ACCUSED KILLER OF MOTHER AND SON GUILTY
Bradley Ferguson has been sentenced to death for the murder of a mother and her son. Rosemary Bennett-Wright was killed while pregnant and her young son Jakeel was killed during a shoot out in Fox Hill on 6th March 2004. The murder was believed to have been in relation to an earlier shootout between rival gang members or drug dealers in Fox Hill.
Mr. Ferguson says that he is innocent. He accused the jury of convicting an innocent man. He did not put up any defence. He only said that he did not do it. His sister provided an alibi. We will see whether the conviction holds up on appeal. Meanwhile, there is some relief in Fox Hill that justice has been done.
The telephone company that has a monopoly on voice communication in The Bahamas is to implement a price cut. Their prices are exorbitant for long distance calls. Now they say that they are going to reduce the price of calls for a period of 120 days in a special promotion. They say that this will decrease the cost of calls by as much as 70 per cent. The promotion will run until 3rd February.
The announcement was made by BTC’s President Michael Symonette on Thursday 7th October. The rates will apply to calls on all phones: land lines, wireless and pre paid. Calls to the US are down from 99 cents per minute to 51 cents per minute. Calls to Canada that were $1.23 per minute are now 54 cents. For a person calling a Caribbean island except Cuba, the rates are 66 cents per minute down from $2.25 per minute. Cuba’s rates have been slashed from $3.50 per minute to $1.75. All other countries have been reduced from $2.75 per minute to 89 cents per minute. The rates are still too high but it is about time.
THE STATUS OF STUDENTS IN JAMAICA
Demonstrations took place in Jamaica by students of the University of the West Indies at Mona last week. The reason was that the Government of Jamaica slashed the subsidy to the University and this meant that Jamaican students had to make up the shortfall in their tuition by 1st October instead of the usual December deadline.
The students shut down the campus. The police were warned not to be trigger happy but they got out of hand and shot tear gas at the students. It appears that no one was hurt. It appears that no Bahamians were involved in the melee. Just to be sure though, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranged for two officials to travel to Jamaica to check on the students.
Ambassador Leonard Archer, the High Commissioner to Caricom and Reginald Saunders of the Ministry of Education Scholarship Loan Fund travelled to Jamaica over the past weekend to speak with the students, the school and the Government of Jamaica to find out for themselves what the situation is.
The projects appear to have the support of the Minister. They also say that something needs to be done to get some projects going in the economy. They say there is no environmental danger. AES, which is one of the companies, recently held a meeting in Dania, Florida to announce that they are changing the way the pipeline is going to be routed. It will now go under the reef as opposed to over the bottom of the sand.
We are opposed to the project. We are on the environmental and nationalist side. But the pressure is enormous on the Government to approve one of the projects. The three companies have been upping the ante by donating to hurricane relief. Minister of Trade Leslie Miler assured the public in a statement to the Nassau Guardian on Saturday 9th October that this will not sway the government one way or the other.
On Tuesday 5th October a lying FNM writer got to be published in the Nassau Guardian attacking the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell on his recent address to the UN General Assembly. The Guardian never published the UN address. It is clear that this is a very dumb and ignorant man, some Steve Simmons, who didn’t even read the address.
The
next day a letter writer responded and set the record straight on the issues
raised by Mr. Simmons letter. It appears that Mr. Simmons is an FNM
ideologue or a fiction of the FNM since the name regularly crops up on
the FNM’s website. Please click here
for the letter to the Nassau Guardian by Mr. Troy Ward.
NATIONAL
DEBT NOW 2.5 BILLION DOLLARS
The Central Bank is
predicting doom and gloom for the fiscal accounts of the country.
It says that in the next fiscal year there will be a rise in the National
Debt to 2.5 billion dollars. It also says that the deficit is likely
to widen as a result of spending connected with the hurricanes. This
is not good news but one wonders what you can do. Let’s hope that
next year as Kerzner's operations come on stream that the economy will
grow and more than make up the negative impacts of the hurricane.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
We
all owe Tractebel a most gracious "THANK YOU" for their cash donation of
$300,000 to the Red Cross for direct aid to our needy residents of Eight
Mile Rock and East End. May we suggest giving this act of kindness some
extra publicity in your next newsletter to let Tractebel know how much
the gift is appreciated?
WYLTK
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
A CABINET UNDER ATTACK
The fact is that this is very, very far from the truth. But
it is a source of some consternation and also should be a source of inspiration
for PLP supporters, when an entire newspaper corps can find nothing good
to say about the Government that governs the country in which they make
their living. This is a country that has just come through two major
storms that perhaps for the first time in a century devastated the islands
from north to south, traumatizing the population. The country is
still standing. Its productive capacity is still going. The
relief effort is underway. The international lending community again reaffirmed
the A- rating (Moody’s), repeating what was said in this column that the
country has the capacity to heal itself from the trauma of the hurricanes.
The Tribune you can understand. They simply hate the PLP.
While it is acknowledged that they try to have a balanced reporting approach,
they are relentlessly anti-PLP in story placement and editorials.
It is in their nature. They tried during the week to use the name
of Fred Mitchell as aid and comfort to answer Raynard Rigby, the Chairman
of the Progressive Liberal Party when he slammed them for their anti PLP
bias by saying that Mr. Mitchell could attest to the fairness of The Tribune,
relying on his pronouncements from his early years as an activist.
Trust Eileen Carron to twist a statement by using crooked logic.
The Tribune’s editorials during the week have been one after the
other on the attack on the hurricane effort. There is nothing it
seems that has gone right, according to them. Yet, the complaints
that she has identified have little to do with the Government. They
all have to do with the failure of individual public servants to effect
policy in a quick manner. Up in one of the islands, for example it
appears that an individual customs officer had his own interpretation of
the customs orders signed by the Government which was simply perverse and
had the effect of slowing down to a crawl the relief effort there.
The fact that this individual was related to a former FNM politician did
not pass unnoticed. The failures are also institutional, an FNM Government
that left no institutional memory, took everything away with it about hurricane
relief in Hubert Ingraham’s head.
Then there was on the front page of The Tribune on Wednesday 13th
October, a lead article with Senator Tommy Turnquest, the Leader of the
FNM outside of the House, calling for the Prime Minister to sack Leslie
Miller for making what Senator Turnquest alleges are misstatements about
the position of the European Union and its aid to The Bahamas. Mr.
Miller himself dismissed the call as complete nonsense. When you
examine what Mr. Turnquest was saying it amounted to the fact that they
were embarrassed by the PLP Minister asserting that the FNM had dropped
the ball in making timely requests for aid from the European Union.
They could make no other claim. That made the matter pure politics.
The other point he made was that he did not like Mr. Miller's frank style
of speaking to people in public.
The Nassau Guardian made it worse, however, when on Tuesday 12th
October they claimed in an editorial that Cabinet ministers in The Bahamas
were above the law. They claimed that allegations of criminal behaviour
were made against Cabinet Ministers and that these matters were not investigated.
What in heaven's name were they talking about? It is certainly clear
that no Cabinet minister is above the law. The Nassau Guardian ought
to say who in the name of heaven they were talking about when it said that
Cabinet Ministers were accused of criminal behaviour that was not investigated.
It is this kind of muck and nonsense that passes for sensible editorial
comment in a mainline newspaper.
The question always: what does the PLP do? What should it do?
We have said in this column that the PLP needs to have the answers right
away in the press when this kind of nonsensical attack is made. It
does not. In our view, it is beyond the simple idea of a press release
by the Party Chair or the Party’s Public Relations arm. One has to
ask oneself: where is the PLP's voice? It seems that its supporters
are simply lost and dead when it comes to providing the answers to this
kind of garbage. The PLP should also have some material that is available
to its supporters on the web, and in their constituency offices which deals
on a regular basis with their programmes. That is a clear failure
that could work to the disadvantage of the party at election time.
Suffice it to say notwithstanding all the noise; the press in this
country has been notorious for not accurately reporting what is actually
going on in The Bahamas. In other words no one can rely on the reports
in the Bahamian press to determine whether a Government is going to win
office in The Bahamas or not. The press in The Bahamas simply does
not represent the truth on this issue.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 16th October 2004 at
midnight: 58,656.
Number of hits for the month of September up to Saturday 16th October
2004 at midnight: 131,926.
Number of hits for the year 2004, up to Saturday 16th October 2004
at midnight: 2,102,958.
TOMMY
ATTACKS LESLIE
DEATH
IN GRAND BAHAMA
UPDATE
ON HURRICANE RELIEF
AIRPORT
ON TRACK
FOOTNOTE
TO HISTORY-- SANDALS
MEANWHILE
THE ANGLICANS SET FOR A FIGHT
Sends Thanks to Tractabel
Prime Minister Perry Christie is shown at during the week in one of the
those ceremonies of which, no matter how numerous, he never tires.
Mr. Christie looks on with the gratitude of the country as Minister of
State for Finance and Chairman of the Hurricane Relief Fund James Smith
accepts chequeson behalf of the fund.
From left is Mr. Martin Chea of donor Homelands Farms, Mr. Godfrey Eneas,
Mrs. Lori Roach of donor Rainbow Farms, Minister Smith and Prime Minister
Christie.
At right, the Prime Minister is shown with three
home schooled students and their tutor, who are all about to be introduced
to Minister of Education Alfred Sears (background). The students
had been hoping to view the session of the House of Assembly as Mr. Christie
delivered his communication on the recent hurricanes. The session
was postponed due to technical difficulties, but this meant the students
got a chance to actually meet the Prime Minister. BIS photos by
Peter Ramsay.
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return
to the top of the page.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The beautiful people gathered
for a showing of the film and a sumptuous repast in the shadow of the Cloisters
on Paradise Island. The movie ‘After the Sunset’ was filmed here
in Nassau last year. It has an extended scene of Fox Hill.
Butch Kerzner, the chief of Atlantis was there. Prime Minister Perry
Christie was there. Ministers Allyson Maynard Gibson, Fred Mitchell,
James Smith and Leslie Miller were also there. The star Pierce Brosnan
was there. Serena Williams, tennis player and girl friend of director
Brett Ratner was also there. It is a pretty good comic thriller,
in the mould of a James Bond movie. It just happens also to feature
the man who plays James Bond. Apart from some Jamaican accents being
used by the persons in the film that were supposed to be Bahamian, it came
off okay. There were beautiful scenes of Atlantis and The Bahamas.
Photographer Tim Aylen was also there and took this shot of Director Brett
Ratner at the centre with his arms around Prime Minister Christie at left
and girlfriend Serena Williams at right. That is the photo of the
week. By the way, the news is confirmed by Pierce Brosnan that he
has been fired as James Bond. He told the press that time in his
career is over. Vision photo - Tim Aylen
Wendall
Jones, the Bahama Journal’s publisher launched a new book this week marking
the 275th Anniversary of the establishment of a Parliament in The Bahamas.
In the book is a picture of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Perry Christie
on the steps of Government House with the Governor General. It was
taken on the day that the majority of ministers were sworn in at Government
House on 10th May 2002. Oh what a happy day! But fast forward
to the year 2004 and is the happy day story a different one? Perhaps
not but if you had read The Tribune, The Nassau Guardian, The Source and
The Punch, all anti PLP newspapers during the last week, you would have
sworn that the world was about to come to an end for the cabinet of Prime
Minister Perry Christie. If you read those rags, they all seemed
to be pronouncing the corpse almost dead.
The FNM Leader Tommy Turnquest was obviously a little too quiet over the
past few weeks. His supporters were getting worried that Carl Bethel,
the Party's Chair, was actually beginning to outshine Mr. Turnquest.
Then of course there was that picture of Senator Turnquest waving at the
side of former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham as they were touring the
hurricane damage in Abaco. It did not go well. One correspondent
to this site asked the question: “How could Tommy not see that Mr. Ingraham
is playing him for a fiddle? There is no way in hell he should be
suckered into running in a bye-election in Abaco”. Well that’s the
FNM’s business.
What we do know is that Senator Turnquest should
leave the Minister of Trade and Industry alone. On Tuesday 12th October,
the FNM’s leader out of the House launched a blistering attack on the Minister.
The press called the Minister to respond. The Minister rightly told
them that he was at a Cabinet meeting and could not be bothered with such
trivia.
The upshot of what Mr. Turnquest had to say was
that the Minister embarrassed the FNM because during their term of office,
they were unable to access the funds made available for development by
the European Union to the extent that they should have. Mr. Miller’s
trip to Brussels last month shamefully brought that fact to the fore.
Not so, said Mr. Turnquest. He described it as an unnecessary exaggeration.
Senator Turnquest said: “He [the Minister] is wrong.
He continues to ignore the records available in his own Ministry’s files.
It seems that the Minister is averse to reading. Worse still it appears
that he takes no advice of civil servants, the experts in his ministerial
portfolio. And so, the minister is not surprisingly frequently uninformed
and frequently wrong.” Hmmm! We agree with Minister Miller’s
statement to The Tribune on Wednesday 13th October: “How can a man who
wants to lead the country make such false statements?” Tribune
photo of Senator Tommy Turnquest at FNM HQ news conference by Alan Jones
The headlines were startling. Bahamians woke
up to see the newspapers in their country covered across the front pages
with the news that three young women had died in a tragic traffic accident
on the way back from Pelican Point in Grand Bahama. They can really
be seen as victims of the hurricane.
There is a particularly precarious bend in the road
and trees overturned during the hurricane were apparently blocking the
path. The driver 25 year old Decarlo Elvondo Rolle, a young man who
survived, missed the road and reportedly ran some one hundred feet into
the trees before he was stopped. Three young women, Shantario Bethel
21, Alethera Lightbourne 25 and Brenica Saunders 19 died, two instantly
and another at hospital and two other passengers, 19 year olders Tikaria
Wright and Latoya Perpall are still struggling for their lives.
The Minister of Transport Glenys Hanna Martin flew
directly to Grand Bahama following the tragic news and made the position
forcefully that she was appalled at the carnage on the streets. She
urged drivers to drive with care in these post hurricane times. The
roads are still not back up to scratch. Traffic lights are not all
back in working order. People simply ought to be careful. The
accident happened on Thursday 14th October. Inset to this Freeport
News photo of the crash by Barbara Walkin are from left, Shantario Bethel,
Brinica Saunders and Alethera Lightbourne.
Edward St. George and Jack Hayward have reached into their substantial
pockets and given a one million dollar donation to the Hurricane Disaster
Relief Fund. Sir Sidney Poitier, the Bahamian-American actor, and
his wife Joanna have donated the sum of $25,000 to the Hurricane relief
effort. And so it goes. One after the next people have been
giving sums of money for hurricane relief. The politics of the whole
thing continues as well, with FNMs saying that the PLP is not doing anything.
The PLP has responded that they are doing much better than the FNM did
by this time after the last hurricane under the FNM’s watch. It seems
that the most bloody minded of institutions is the Customs Department that
despite clear instructions to be permissive is still holding things up
at the border.
One of the most immediate needs now is the employment need. Some
4000 jobs have been lost in Grand Bahama alone as result of the hurricane.
Some 1200 of those persons come from the former Princess Hotel, now called
Oasis. The talk around Freeport is that the owners of the resort
who owe almost everybody in town including employees will simply take the
insurance money and walk. The Government ought to take some precautions
against this from happening.
The housing needs are being met for the southern
islands in particular. The situation in San Salvador has eased considerably
with housing repair going apace. The people of Mayaguana got an unexpected
donation from a company that is interested in investing there. It
is all the supplies that are needed to effect repairs as a result of the
hurricane damage.
The US Congress passed a law to give the Bush administration
the authority to advance as much as 100 million dollars for hurricane relief
in the Caribbean. No word on how much is for The Bahamas but the
lion's share is expected to be for Haiti and Grenada. The Minister
of Housing has started his housing effort to replace the damaged housing
in Grand Bahama. But the main worry is jobs. The Prime Minister
wants to get small businesses up and running so that people can get back
to work. Shown at the presentation of the $1 million donation
to the Hurricane Disaster Relief Fund are from left: Sir Jack Hayward,
Chairman, Grand Bahama Development Company; Prime Minister Christie; Minister
of State for Finance James Smith and Mr. Edward St. George, Chairman, Grand
Bahama Port Authority. BIS photo - Peter Ramsay File photo
of Sir Sidney Poitier.
Congratulations to Minister Glenys Hanna Martin
who says that the airport project in its first phase is still on track.
She announced that the airport runway project, the repair and building
of the main runway should be complete by July of next year. A decision
is to be made soon on the new managers for the Nassau International Airport.
The Bahamas Christian Council has not yet weighed
in on the announcement by Sandals that it is removing its ban on same sex
couples at their resorts. They say also that they are removing all
references to heterosexual in their advertising. In a press release
issued world wide on Tuesday 12th October, the company said that all 13
‘couples only’ resorts were now open to any couples without discrimination.
The company said: “This decision is a direct response to emerging commercial
and social laws in some jurisdictions with which we do business, that now
interpret what was traditionally regarded as niche marketing, to be a modern
form of discrimination.”
The Anglican Archbishop of the West Indies left
Nassau for London where a special commission is set to report on what to
do about gay people in their church. The church is badly divided
since the US Church decided to ordain an openly homosexual bishop. The
Archbishop’s tone seemed conciliatory in his statement to the press, he
called on Saturday 16th October in the Nassau Guardian for a time for healing
of the wounds inflicted on both sides of the argument. He said, however
that certain truths could not be compromised.
The British press have already leaked the report
and predicted it would say that the US Church should be disciplined for
breaking with tradition. One supposes schism is on the way.
