Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 3 © BahamasUncensored.Com
THE SCENES IN NEW ORLEANS
Katrina,
the hurricane, was formed in The Bahamas. You may click
here for last week’s story. But the storm after passing through
Florida roared up the Gulf of Mexico and landed on the southern coast of
the United States of America devastating the Gulf Coast states of Mississippi,
Alabama and most of all Louisiana. The scenes were like a war zone.
In the early days, the crisis seemed even beyond the ability of the United
States to cope. It is an incredible scene of devastation and destruction
and it appears human incompetence and inhumanity.
George W. Bush, the President of the United States did not touch down in New Orleans, the city where most of the devastation took place. There was good reason for doing so; his security could not be assured. And yet, it sent out another political signal which emanated throughout the politics of the United States, and was first embraced publicly in the statement of the Black Congressional Caucus on the matter. The feeling is that if New Orleans had not been a city of black people the relief would have come faster, quicker and the lines of communication would have been clearer. So there it was that the big United States, bombing people back into the stone age in Iraq but unable to mobilize troops to help those in need as a result of a natural disaster in their own backyard.
You
look at the pictures and all you see is black people walking into stores
and taking away goods. It is the black people looting. Take
a look at the white people, they have the goods too but they are simply
lucky enough to get some food for their families. You ask yourself:
what is wrong with this picture? Certainly their being black does not cause
them to loot but where there is poverty and desperation in a city that
is 60 percent black, there will be black looters. Interpretation
of what we see however is coloured through our cultural biases and those
who present on TV. And in George Bush’s America that is the way it
often appears to be.
The U.S. President himself was livid when he was faced by the news camera and accused of using the resources of the United States in Iraq and not having sufficient to help the people if the Gulf Coast. He said they had resources to do both. But the question most people asked was why weren’t they then in place?
The Prime Minister of The Bahamas Perry Christie extended condolences to the Government and people of the United States of America. The Foreign Ministry sent a note of condolences to the State Department. The government plans to give $50,000 in cash as a donation to the American Red Cross to help with the hurricane relief effort. It is the right thing to do.
The people of Grand Bahama and Abaco must be reliving the horror moments of hurricanes Jeanne and Francis. How did they survive one wonders as you see this unfold before your eyes in the United States? There is no water. There is no food. There does not appear to any help on the way. This all happening in the land of plenty. At least in Grand Bahama and Abaco, there were no dead bodies to be found. The government of The Bahamas was able to get water and food there quickly and in a fairly well organized fashion. But we are sure that people just looking from our northern islands are reliving the trauma.
There are lessons to be learned in this. The United States will no doubt have to examine what went wrong after this present crisis has passed. And part of it will have to be the legacy of racism in the United States. Black people ended up bearing the brunt of the suffering, and there is an argument that it is not because they are black but because they are poor that they suffer. But after all these years isn’t it fascinating that the poor people in the United States just happen to be black, 140 years after slavery was abolished in the United States?
But as we look at the crippling effect that this has all had on the United States and its capacity, one is sobered by an even more daunting thought. Part of why countries like The Bahamas feel so comforted by the ability of our country to bounce back quickly from a natural disaster has to do with the capacity of the United States to assist. What happens if another storm of the dimensions of an Ivan, Jeanne, Frances or Katrina hits this country or the United States again, within weeks of this present tragedy? What capacity is there left to cope with such a disaster?
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 3rd September 2005 at midnight: 67,756.
Number of hits for the month of August up to Wednesday 31st August 2005 at midnight: 339,209.
Number of hits for the year 2005 up to Saturday 3rd September at midnight: 2,533,964.
In the two photos above, culled from the wide coverage of Hurricane Katrina's hit on the Gulf Coast, a young black man is described as "looting a grocery store" while in the second two whites are described as "finding bread and water" at a local grocery store.
THE
HAITIAN BIRTHS CONTROVERSY
The Minister of Health Dr, Marcus Bethel was understandably upset this
week when on a story appeared on Wednesday 31st September with this headline:
HAITIAN BIRTH RATE FEARS – DOCTOR CLAIMS 90 PER CENT OF PMH BIRTHS TO NON
BAHAMIAN PARENTS. The thrust of the story was that a doctor at the
public hospital claimed that of the 96 live births at the PMH in August
of this year only 3 of them were Bahamian. That was clearly a lie
and there was no reference to any contact with the Ministry of Health.
Later in the week, the Minister of Health Marcus
Bethel pointed out that not only was it a lie but also that the actual
rate of Bahamian births in August was just over 73 per cent. The
Tribune printed the Ministry of Health's statement buried deep on the back
pages, using instead a rebuttal by an activist lawyer as the counterpoint
to the ridiculous story of 90 per cent. More fundamentally though,
the Minister of Health felt moved in a later press conference to attack
The Tribune’s reporter Rupert Missick for writing a story without any reference
to the Ministry of Health. Mr. Missick was able to point out in his
story of Saturday 4th September that he had tried extensively to contact
a representative of the Government hospital on the matter but to no avail
up to his deadline and beyond.
The story is illustrative of all Ministries of the
Bahamian government. They never seem to be able to find answers to
press enquiries on a timely basis and seem always to think that the press
must wait while they take their slow time getting back to them. Then
the story comes out against them, and they rise contemptuously to say they
have not been consulted. Rupert Missick is one of the country’s finest
reporters, so it would have been unusual for him not to have checked despite
the bad political practices and motives of his employers at The Tribune.
We say again, the Government needs a better and more aggressive public
relations strategy.
Meanwhile the anti immigration crowd are busy at
it again. Loftus Roker, the former Minister of Immigration, was featured
on the front page of the Nassau Guardian on Thursday 1st September, saying
that the present Government is doing nothing to address the immigration
crisis. That again is not true. He defended his own role at
the time he was Minister of Immigration when the country’s human rights
records was smashed by inhumane round ups of migrants. He lost the
support of the then Government because of it. But Mr. Roker developed
a reputation for decisiveness which is the stick that is being used against
the Government today by Mr. Roker and other critics.
A
YOUNG WOMAN STUNS THE BAHAMAS
Gari McDonald was chosen as Miss Teen Bahamas. She is a stunningly
beautiful woman. You can then imagine the shock of the country when
they woke up to their morning newspaper to read that the winner of last
year’s innocuous Miss Bahamas Teen contest was threatening to step down
as a pageant winner with a few months to go in her reign because she was
a lesbian. Ms. McDonald said “Yes I am a lesbian”.
Followed close on this announcement was the Rainbow
Alliance, the Lesbian and Gay support group in The Bahamas,
announcing their support for Ms. McDonald , accusing the pageant committee
of discrimination and also that they have new headquarters building
from which to operate. The Committee Chair is Chakita Bonimy. Helen
Klonaris is the president of the Alliance. In the world of today’s
Bahamas it did not seem to make much of a wave. The Pageant Committee
came back and said they had not asked her to step down because she was
lesbian. But they indicated that on the basis of conduct they could
ask her to step down since being lesbian was not consistent with the values
of the pageant. Ms. McDonald had a rather more narrow demand.
She claimed that the Pageant Committee has not come through with prizes
that she was offered and demanded that she get them. No doubt this
was a great source of titillation for many in the country.
We think that Ms. McDonald was extraordinarily
brave. But we also wonder if her announcement was ill advised.
The question is why would she open herself up to derision and exclusion
over an issue that required no explanation and for which there was no demand?
As a young woman, she has made an interesting choice to make an announcement
that we hope she will not regret. One hopes also that this is not
driven by the Alliance looking for a poster child to support. We
hope that they are in a position to defend and support and not abandon
her when the going gets tough as it must. Ms. McDonald spoke again
to the media reported in the Nassau Guardian of Saturday 3rd September.
She told the Guardian how difficult it was to be a lesbian, the loneliness
and the fact that there was no one that she could share her situation with.
She said that she hoped that her example of forthrightness would help other
young people who were in a similar situation and had no way out. Miss
Teen Bahamas Gari McDonald, standing above in front of a gay pride flag
- Bahama Journal photo
RODNEY
SMITH - WHAT WAS HE THINKING?
For those who thought that the controversy was all over, it was certainly
a surprise that Dr. Rodney Smith, the College of The Bahamas President
who resigned under the cloud of an allegation of plagiarism was back on
the scene. The newspapers of the country reported that on Monday
29th August, he asked the College Council to say farewell to the faculty
and staff of the College. He was granted that limited permission
but he used it to blast the College Council and three of its members including
the Chairman Franklyn Wilson in a ten page statement.
According to Dr Smith, he was ordered to resign
or be fired. He felt he had no alternative in the circumstances but
to resign. He clearly now has decided that he is not going to go
quietly. He described how he returned to The Bahamas still feeling
ill from bacterial pneumonia on 30th July and went to the home of the Chairman
of the Council on the 31st where two other Board members Simon Wilson (Ministry
of Finance) and Earl Cash (Partner law firm Higgs and Johnson) were present.
According to Dr. Smith, Mr. Wilson told him that as a result of the report
of the special advisory panel headed by Supreme Court Justice Joseph Strachan,
he was being invited to resign and if he didn’t he would be dismissed.
Dr. Smith said he was not allowed to see the report
on which the decision was based. His request was reportedly refused.
Dr. Smith said that the Chair finally settled at a payment of $296,000
in cash plus a payment of $5,600 for his insurance premium for one year.
He accepted this and resigned. The announcement was made on 2nd August.
The whole matter of course arose over the question
of whether or not the former College President plagiarized material that
he used in a speech at a convocation of honours students at COB in May.
Dr. Smith said that he used the speech without attribution but as he was
preparing to release a public statement on the matter as advised by the
Council, which would include an apology, he received a note from the original
author of the text Dr. John Sexton, New York University President, who
wrote: “There is no need to apologize [for using the text not attributed].
I consider my ideas as the property of the educational community generally
and you have my full permission to have used them.” Dr. Smith said
the matter came to his attention on 1st June 2005 when he got a call from
one of the Vice Presidents of the College who had received an e mail from
Audrey Ingraham Roberts who accused the President of violating intellectual
property rights by using the Sexton address without acknowledgement.
Dr Smith’s explanation is that he got permission
after the fact from the author himself. Further, he claimed that
what he did was simply an error that came as a result of a very stressful
period and his writing that speech at 4 a.m. on the morning it was delivered.
If that is the full explanation, then what it reveals is a serious error
not only in writing the text without acknowledgement but the conduct of
the entire affair including this latest public account suggests a more
serious flaw in judgment about how matters ought to be handled.
Many of the commentators of the day in The Bahamas
wondered what was actually accomplished by the public statement contained
in a ten page address to the College faculty. Where does it get someone
to say that I was ordered to resign or be fired? What does it gain
in the long run except the burning of bridges? What is also interesting
is the faculty reportedly welcoming Dr. Smith as a hero when he returned
to the campus before packing his bags. This is the place and these
are the people from which the soon University of The Bahamas will evolve.
An academic institution has to have the very highest standards, bar none.
Imagine if he stayed, what do we tell Johnny who gets caught cheating on
his exams at the University of The Bahamas? The president did it
so it is okay to do it.
THE
COLLEGE COUNCIL RESPONDS
The College Council’s President Franklyn Wilson responded the next day
Tuesday 30th August to the remarks of Dr. Rodney Smith about how he was
treated at the College of The Bahamas and the events leading to his dismissal.
He told the Bahama Journal that he found the former President’s remarks
“shocking”. The report of the special panel on the conduct of Dr.
Smith was later released to the public in part. This seems to be
a complete answer to the allegations made by Dr. Smith. The report
confirms that the advice of the panel was that he should be asked to resign
or if he refused to take steps to dismiss him for cause. It also
suggested a way toward establishing a separation package for him.
Later in the week, Acting Vice President of the
College Rhonda Chipman said that the College was not in crisis over the
dismissal. There was a promise from another quarter that a new President
of the College would be chosen in two weeks. There was a promise
that the University of The Bahamas was still on track for 2007.
Nevertheless, all the controversy has left a pall over the College’s reputation.
The quicker this is put behind it, the better. We provide some relevant
bits from the report for your edification:
“While we are aware of some emerging thoughts
on plagiarism which appear to be less demanding, a comparison of the Sexton
text and the Smith text, using any widely accepted authoritative definition
of plagiarism, leads easily to the conclusion that his omissions amounted
to plagiarism. Nothing that was said to us by President Smith erases
that.
“…the contract calls for termination without
cause or with cause provided the stipulations in his favour are met… termination
regrettable as it is satisfies the test of reasonableness, for which the
President contracted. Hence we do not see… how he would have cause
to complain or feel aggrieved. Accordingly we recommend termination
for cause.
“…So assuming that the council is minded to terminate
his contract for cause, a simplified route may be that the council meets
with him, inform him of its intention to terminate him for cause and invites
his response.
“Should the council’s intention after hearing
his response remain unchanged, then he may be given the option of resigning
forthwith, that is to say, within a specified time; upon the timely receipt
of his resignation, the council would fix a date for it to take effect;
should he fail to resign within the specified time, the council would have
no option but to terminate him…”
The majority report was signed by four commissioners
with retired Justice Joseph Strachan writing for the majority. The
minority report was signed by Professor Rex Nettleford of the University
of the West Indies, Jamaica. He reportedly argued in favour of a
strong reprimand. You may click
here for previous comments on this matter.
BAHAMAS
TO ASSIST WITH HURRICANE RELIEF
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced for public information that The
Bahamas is to donate $50 thousand to the hurricane relief effort for victims
in the U.S. States of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The Government also announced that emergency aid
is to be made available for Bahamians who are in distress as a result of
the effects of Hurricane Katrina in those southern states.
The Government will make the emergency aid available
through the Consulate General in Miami or The Bahamas Embassy in Washington,
or The Bahamas Tourist Office in Houston, Texas, to assist stranded Bahamians
in making their way home and to supply their immediate short term needs.
Persons are asked to contact the following places
to provide or obtain information: Washington D.C., 202-319-3660, Ext 613;
Miami Consulate, 305-373-6295; Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Houston, 281-275-4242;
the Red Cross 1(800) 229-8191 or www.redcross.org;
FEMA Louisiana www.lsp.org/emergency
or Mississippi (www.msema.org.) Bahamas
Information Services photo of Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell
addressing the media on Hurricane Katrina provisions by Raymond Bethel
BAHAMIAN
HURRICANE VICTIM IS SAFE
The Bahamas Government announced on Thursday 1st
September that it will donate $50,000 to the American Red Cross as a donation
to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Government will also
seek to mobilize CARILEC the regional electricity response mechanism which
can get power workers to a hurricane affected area to help put the power
back on in hurricane damaged areas.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that to its
knowledge, there was only one Bahamian stranded in the city of New Orleans
and that person has been rescued. She was evacuated by bus from the
Superdome in New Orleans to the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, where she
was met by her father and mother. The student is Briquel Sherman.
She is the daughter of Brentley and Hollis Roberts Sherman.
THE
NASSAU GUARDIAN FLUBS IT
On Monday 29th August there was a startling headline in the Nassau Guardian
‘FEARS OVER PM’S HEALTH’. No doubt the alarm bells went off.
The sub head was: ‘PLP CHAIRMAN IS CONCERNED ABOUT CHRISTIE’. So
the uninitiated who don’t bother to read stories would have thought that
the PLP’s Chairman Raynard Rigby has a fear for the health of the Prime
Minister, along with the other rumour mongers in the country who are predicting
that the Prime Minister is gravely ill and will not be able to lead the
party into the next election.
No one can predict anything about death but all
things being equal, Mr. Christie is clearly is good health and is in control
of the Government. What also became clear is that the story writer
Mindell Small took a piece of what Mr. Rigby said on a radio talk show
last week this time in which he said that a Prime Minister’s health is
always a matter of concern, with which we all agree, and that was turned
into “fears for the PM’s health”. Mr. Rigby said no such thing.
Once you read the thing in its entire context, you saw quite clearly that
he was predicting that the PM would lead the party into the next election.
Such is the down market trend in the press in The Bahamas, everyone is
competing with the smut guys at The Punch, that one lie after another gets
told.
The PLP hardly knows how and when to respond.
The actual proof of course will be in the pudding when the PM appears at
the convention. He is due to return full time to work during this
month, his doctors having ordered him to be on a reduced schedule for a
number of months. Raynard Rigby was of course furious and issued
a scathing statement on the lousy journalism. And it is clear that
it wasn’t the writer of the story. It was the headline writer.
Nowhere in the story was there anything about fears expressed by Mr. Rigby
that was all the figment of the headline writer's imagination. The
Guardian after having to pay substantial damages to the Prime Minister
over a law suit before should really be more careful.
A further point is that at the Stalwart Councillors
banquet on Saturday 3rd September the Prime Minister derided his critics
of his health. He told the crowd to great cheers to take a look at
him. He said that he was fit, health and was ready to do battle.
Peter Ramsay photo.
THE
PETROCARIBE INITIATIVE
A delegation of Ministers of the Government is to
travel to Montego Bay, Jamaica to witness the signing of the implementation
agreements for the Petrocaribe Initiative. This is an initiative
which was started by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as part of the alternative
to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas process. The idea is
to provide petroleum from Venezuela’s vast oil reserves at concessionary
rates. The only thing is that it is not at concessionary rates.
What happens is that you get the oil if it is over
$40 per barrel sold to you at the market rate but the Venezuelans will
finance over 25 years a credit equivalent to 40 per cent of the amount
over 40 dollars per barrel, and if it is over $50 per barrel they will
give you a financed credit equivalent to 50 per cent of the price over
the fifty dollars. To take advantage of this, you have to sign a
bilateral agreement with the Venezuelans. The agreement requires
that a government agency should be established which will be responsible
for lifting the fuel from Venezuela in Venezuelan boats. This will
cut out the middlemen of the distributors in Nassau and the ships they
use. The proponents of this say that this will effect substantial
savings for Bahamian consumers.
The question we ask is why is the Government concerned
about the price of gasoline when there is no evidence that the economy
is not itself adjusting to the changes in prices? What it should
be concerned about is conservation and shifting to more environmentally
friendly sources of energy, teaching Bahamians conservation. Then
of course there is the geopolitics. The United States appears hostile
to the initiative. But we have said before that if the deal can give
us cheaper gas within a heartbeat then we should sign, but if it can’t
and all we are signing onto is a financing arrangement then that’s a whole
other matter again. The delegation left for Jamaica today.
It is headed by Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell, who is accompanied by Trade
Minister Leslie Miller and Works Minister Bradley Roberts. There
is a technical team going with them. They return to The Bahamas on
Wednesday 7th September.
BAHAMAS
SUPERMARKETS FOR SALE
The Tribune’s business section of Friday 2nd September
reported that Bahamas Supermarkets which is the owner of the City Markets
food store chain in The Bahamas has put the supermarkets into play in the
liquidation of Winn Dixie, the parent company in the United States of America.
The stores are quite profitable. Seventy five percent of the shares
of the company are owned by Winn Dixie. There was no comment from
the local manager Bruce Souder.
If this is so, this will be the second major company,
owned by a foreign entity that has Bahamian assets up for sale. Shell
Bahamas is said to be actively negotiating the sale of its retail distribution
business in The Bahamas. Texaco is said to have the same idea.
Rupert Roberts, the owner of Supervalue, the store which is City Market’s
main competitor is said to be in hospital in the United States having suffered
chest pain last week.
COLINA
BATTLE CONTINUES
James Campbell continues his battle with the company
that he helped to found and set up and his former partners: Emmanuel Alexiou
and Anthony Ferguson. The Tribune’s Business Section of Friday 2nd
September says that Mr. Campbell despite having received an initial payout
of $3.5 million is continuing with his law suit in the Supreme Court for
wrongful dismissal as the Managing Director of the company.
FOX
HILL MP CONGRATULATES NEW STALWARTS
Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell had a busy day as
the representative of Fox Hill on Saturday 3rd September. He first
hosted a children’s party to distribute many hundreds of books for back
to school on Monday 5th September. Then he appeared at the Stalwart
Councillor Banquet to congratulate the three nominees from the Fox Hill
constituency. He is shown at top with the new Stalwart Councillors,
from left are Charles Johnson, Mrs. Essie Ferguson, accepting for her husband
Samuel Ferguson; Minister Mitchell and Sidney Young. Above MP Mitchell
is shown helping to hand out light refreshment to children and their parents
who attended the back-to-school book fair. Photos: Friends of
Fox Hill
PM
WITH FOREIGN MINISTER
It was an unusual kind of moment; Party Leader with
his Foreign Minister together sharing a laugh at the Stalwart Councillor’s
banquet. The two are Valley Boys. What with everyone watching
and analysing every picture and every moment, the Prime Minister and Foreign
Minister simply shared a laugh at the banquet particularly as Bahamians
from the Valley, the noteworthy neighbourhood in New Providence from which
many of today’s leaders hail, received some of the awards. The Valley
is now incorporated into the St. Thomas More constituency and there were
a number of Stalwarts from the PM’s old Centreville constituency, the Valley,
who received awards. It was a matter for which any Valley Boy would
feel pleased. The photo was taken on 3rd September at the Crystal
Palace and is by Peter Ramsay.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
The Killing of the Innocent
Brazilian in London
I am, of course, the “correspondent” to whom
you refer, who, some weeks ago, “took you to task” over your reporting
on the killing of the Brazilian the day following the second attack on
the residents of London.... so I felt I should respond.
At the time, I had read pretty much every report
in all the major British papers, which I read online, as well as watching
extensive coverage on BBC World. The same reports were given on our
local media here too, if I remember correctly. These reports at the
time, both from the police and people who witnessed the shooting, all spoke
of the heavy jacket, running from the police, the jumping over the turnstile
and so on. It just goes to show how we are at the mercy of the press,
other media and the man in the street for our information. This of
course applies here too, where different newspapers give us different information
leaving us to wonder sometimes what the truth is. However, we can
only go on what we hear, unless we are actually a bystander.
The truth has now come out and it is horrendous.
There certainly should be resignations and consequences to this incident.
The facts have generated horror in the minds of most people and the perplexity
as to how such misinformation could have been given out. I can see
why the police would have wanted to cover it up… but why would bystanders
have related such similarities in the information given?
I make no apology for my previous comments, based,
as I say, on information I gleaned from what are supposed to be reliable
sources, both here and abroad. If I was misinformed, as were millions
of other people, maybe I just need to be more careful as to how much I
believe in anything I read or look at on television. Maybe I should emulate
my son, who refuses to watch the news at all!
Keep up the good work. I am sure we can
rely on you to ensure that all the information you publish is correct.
Alison
We thought that this would have been your position. This site is often accused of being too harsh but it is so easy in the present circumstances to be suspicious of nations and their governments upon whom you would have implicitly relied to stand up for moral order. The British government and the U.S. government have let the world down in the matter of the war with Iraq. What is really heartbreaking is to see the scores of young American and British men and women who are innocently in Iraq for something that was based entirely on a lie. The British Opposition Leader Kenneth Clarke has now attacked directly the Government of Tony Blair as being wrong to join the Iraq campaign and for making Britain more unsafe because of it. So there is some hope. Thanks for reading. - Editor
The Bahamian Blogger
I was intrigued by last week's letter to the editor
and followed the link to the site
provided with a great deal of skepticism. But as the lady predicted,
I was amazed by the quality and quantity of the articles on that site.
What do you know about ALH Ipinions? Is he really a Bahamian?
Alan Pearson
He asserts that he is and has a Bahamian sounding name – Editor
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Prime Minister Perry Christie energetically addressed
hundreds of Progressive Liberal Party supporters Saturday 3 September,
at a black tie banquet for the investiture of new Stalwart Councillors
for the party. The mood in the room seemed to reflect a well-dressed
rally as Mr. Christie told the gathering, "put yourselves in fighting form
so that when the bell is rung and the call is sounded, we shall be ready
once again to march in triumph and in victory into another glorious chapter
in our party’s long and wonderful history of service to the Bahamian people."
Please click here for the Prime
Minister's full remarks.
PHOTOS by Peter Ramsay
IS IT BECAUSE THEY’RE BLACK?
We
were really happy to see the former Secretary of State Colin Powell weigh
into the debate about the response to the hurricane in the United States.
Mr. Powell said that the response of the government at the level of federal,
state and local was inadequate. The United States Homeland Security
Department has now moved to remove Michael Brown the head of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) who is widely blamed for the cock-up
that led to the death and destruction in New Orleans. Mr. Powell
is one of the black voices associated with the Republican Party so it would
not be easy for The U.S. President who is ultimately to blame for this
to dismiss what he says.
But Colin Powell does not agree with the sentiment expressed in this column last week that the relief effort went as badly as it did because the victims were mainly black. Mr. Powell’s argument is that the victims of Katrina in New Orleans were victims because they could not evacuate from the city when the mandatory order was given. The same happened to a white neighbourhood nearby, whites of poor background. That was also the situation in some of the neighbourhoods of Mississippi. His thesis then was that it was because these people were poor that they got left behind, and not the fact that they were black. The problem as we pointed out last week is that 140 years after the abolition of slavery in the United States, the blacks just happen to be the poor.
Nancy Pelosi who is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives gave an interesting account of what the meeting was like with U.S. President Bush when she and other leaders met with him. She called for the dismissal of Michael Brown, the FEMA Director, to whom we referred earlier in this piece. She said the President asked her, why would he do that? She replied that it should be done because of all of the things that went wrong during the storm. His reply: “What went wrong?” Her conclusion; that the U.S. President was clueless as to what was going on.
Frank
Rich, the Op Ed columnist, made the comparison in the New York Times last
Sunday with the Mr. Bush’s conduct after the events of the 11th September
in New York. In both cases of these national crises, Mr. Rich argues
the President instead of going to the scene of the trouble and taking charge,
tended to run in the next the direction. In 2001 after the New York
event, he took to his flying chariot Air Force 1 and repaired to an underground
bunker to address his country, not head straight to Washington where the
action was. No one knew where he was for hours. In the days
of the Roman Empire, the Emperor would have gotten on his chariot to lead
the troops into battle, not run away from the battle. Mr. Rich argues
that the U.S. Head of State and Government instead of heading to Washington
immediately, stayed on vacation while the storm bore down on New Orleans
and as the tragedy unfolded continued to stay, leaving some two days before
his vacation was up to condescend to fly low over New Orleans in his flying
chariot again, safe and secure.
Mr. Bush’s wife took exception to the comments of American commentators that her husband is clueless and is insensitive to human suffering. She told the press that she knows her husband and the kind of man he is and that he cares for people. No doubt that is true. Herbert Hoover, another U.S. president before him no doubt cared for the victims of the 1929 stock market crash as well. The problem is not whether you care personally for people, it is how you respond personally as a national leader to a disaster. It is the symbolism of what you do; how you rally the nation round the issues.
But the point of all of this exposition has little to do really with the situation in the United States. Our point is: what are the lessons that can be learned for The Bahamas, with a public administration that is broke and incompetent? What lessons is the National Emergency Management Agency learning from this? Where is the legislation that was promised to put NEMA on a legal footing, promised after last year’s ruinous storms? What happens if a category five storm hits New Providence? Does The Bahamas have the ability to evacuate its population from New Providence to some other safe haven in a short time? Can we make such arrangements with the United States? With some other neighbour? Will it be necessary ever to move all of our people out, just like the city of New Orleans? We say again, it is a sobering thought, what with the capacity of the United States now stretched to its limits.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 10th September 2005 at midnight: 78,309.
Number of hits for the month of September up to Saturday 10th September at midnight: 102,475.
Number of hits for the year 2005 up to Saturday 10th September at midnight: 2,612,273.
TOP RIGHT - A mother and her daughter, who survived Hurricane Katrina, cry at the New Orleans Convention Centre September 2, 2005. REUTERS/Jason Reed ABOVE LEFT - A covered corpse lies in the street as evacuees remain stranded outside the Convention Centre in New Orleans September 3, 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
THE
GAY GIRL GETS A KICK IN THE BUTT
It is official; Gari McDonald is no longer Miss Teen Bahamas. She
is gay, self-declared and so she is not only out of the closet but out
of the title. Richa Sands, a former Miss Bahamas and no stranger
to controversy herself though of a different kind, delivered the official
kick in the butt. She said that it was on the basis of conduct that
the young woman lost her title. The bad news was communicated to
the press on Wednesday 7th September.
Ms. Sands who said that she is a Christian struggled
with the decision but in the end that was the right decision and she felt
the Committee needed to move on. It appears that the Committee believes
that the lady’s life is incompatible with what is expected of a teen beauty
queen. Ms. Sands went further and asserted that the real problem
was not the fact of being a lesbian, or even the announcement but that
Ms. McDonald was aware that there were complaints to the committee that
she had been involved in the harassment of another woman. Hmmm!
As for Ms. McDonald’s part, she and her supporters
at the Rainbow Alliance are fixing for a fight. Ms. McDonald says
that she is contemplating a lawsuit. She wants the prizes that she
was supposed to have gotten for substantially performing her duties in
the post. Stay tuned for part II.
Meanwhile on the southern end of the island of New
Providence, The Tribune reported that some 50 young women were made to
stand in the hot sun for hours as punishment for wearing what were described
as
“gay shoes”. An unnamed source said that the shoes are Clarke’s brand
that are actually unisex but the dominant culture identifies this with
butch women, and being lesbian. Punishment ensued reportedly.
No word on whether it is true or not. Certainly the Ministry of Education
should investigate such a report. Not only would the idea of identifying
shoes as gay be over the top but what about making children stand in the
hot sun for punishment. The report appeared on Friday 9th September.
MILLER
MAD ABOUT OIL DEAL
Leslie Miller, the Minister of Trade is as irrepressible as ever with regard
to the PetroCaribe initiative. This is an oil deal put together by
Venezuela; a financing arrangement to ease the cash flow of Caribbean countries
that are in shock as a result of the increase in oil prices. You
get a loan equivalent to 40 per cent of the normal OPEC price, repayable
over 25 years at one per cent interest. The deal requires the formation
of a National Energy Corporation which will joint venture with a Venezuelan
state company to superintend with a third joint venture company how the
monies saved from the gasoline sales by not paying the full price can be
used for social projects.
Mr. Miller is convinced that this is good for The
Bahamas. He has allies in Vincent Coleby, a former Shell executive
and Pierre Dupuch, a Member of Parliament. They have no fears about
being entrapped in the ideological web of Hugo Chavez and his patron Fidel
Castro. Perhaps they shouldn’t either since the U.S. does business
with Venezuela. Two oil refineries in the US are actually owned by
Venezuela and Venezuela is at present selling them oil at less than market
prices. Let’s put aside the rule that all are equal but some are
more equal than others. If it can lower the price of gasoline and
electricity, more power to Mr. Miller. Unfortunately, it has a scant
promise of that.
PetroCaribe may have some strategic importance to
protect the supply of oil to The Bahamas if we have a problem of balance
of payments in the future. The problem is Mr. Miller’s single-mindedness
on this issue has rattled the public and the private sector, and will probably
sink any chance of any signing any time soon. His conduct also obscures
another issue and that is the Government needs a national energy policy.
We don’t have one, and the Ministry of Trade should be leading the way
in the development of such a policy rather than concentrating on PetroCaribe
to the exclusion of a policy. Stan Burnside had a view in his cartoon
in The Nassau Guardian of Friday 9th September.
ANNIE
SAWYER (NEE KNOWLES)
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell spoke
at the funeral of Andrea Brenda Knowles Sawyer. She used to baby-sit him
as a child when they grew up in Centreville, a black middle class neighbourhood
of the 1950s in New Providence. She is the mother of Jerome Sawyer,
the Director of News at Cable 12 and Island FM radio. The address
was a walk down memory lane. You may click
here for the remarks. The funeral was held at St. Agnes Anglican
Church in Grant's Town and she was buried in Lakeview Cemetery. She
was 61 years old at the time of the death. She was buried on Saturday
10th September. Among the national leaders attending the service
were also Minister of Financial Services and Investment Allyson Maynard
Gibson and Minster of Youth, Sports and Culture Neville Wisdom.
THE
STATE OF LABOUR RELATIONS
Almost every day last week, there was a report of some work stoppage or
other. The week before there was a similar story. National
Insurance employees didn’t like what the NIB was saying so they walked
out. The BEC managers didn’t like what BEC was saying so they walked
out. This week BaTelCo workers didn’t like what their Board was saying
so they walked out. Then the Hotel Workers union didn’t like how
the operation at SunSpree was operating so they had a demonstration.
The coup de grace; the teachers didn’t like the fact that some of the schools
were not ready so they sat out. It appears that this is the only
way things get done in The Bahamas.
You have a system of public administration that
is so broke that the only time it acts is when there is a crisis.
There is no forward planning. Ministers have to do the work of Permanent
Secretaries. Imagine a Minister of Education having to actually see
to working with contractors and helping to move desks and chairs.
The answer to every request, demand or programme of a Minister is a no
from the government officials, one thousand reasons why it can’t be done.
Forgive us then if in the face of all of this, a stranger looking from
afar would not think that The Bahamas is about to collapse.
The Bahamas is not about to collapse of course,
but the people who lead these organizations must be able to settle matters
without resort to walking out. At some point it is going to get so
ridiculous that there will emerge a Margaret Thatcher like character who
will say to hell with it and just get rid of the whole gang until there
is some order restored to our work places and public policy. The
president of The Bahamas Communications and Public Managers Union Claude
Hanna leads a lunchtime sit-out at BTC on Thursday in this Bahama Journal
photo by Stephen Gay.
THE
SCHOOLS OPEN ON TIME
Of the 140 schools in the country, only four of
them did not open on time on Monday 5th September. It is true there
should be none out of service but the fact is that 136 schools opened,
with only four others with major issues to resolve. But if you read
the newspaper, you would think that the bottom had dropped out of the education
system of The Bahamas. MPs had their back to school parties on the
Saturday before the school opened, and then school opened. We congratulate
the Minister of Education on the work that he has done. Minister
of Education Alfred Sears personally examines a hole in the ceiling at
a New Providence high school in this Nassau Guardian photo by Donald Knowles.
NO
CLEARING HOUSE SYSTEM
It may have been reported on this site before but
if we didn’t then here it is for the first time. The Central Bank
of The Bahamas announced last year with a great deal of flourish that it
was starting an electronic clearinghouse system. This meant that
instead of the manual clearing of cheques across the banking system, that
the cheques would instantly clear above $10,000 because the system would
become electronic. We thought that it was all done. But you
know public administration in The Bahamas is so broke, nothing is ever
finished.
The Tribune reports in its business section of Wednesday
7th September that the initial target of having an electronic banking platform
for an Automatic Clearing House (ACH) for the second quarter of 2005 has
been missed. And that it appears that it will be impossible for it
to be done before the end of the year. Right now if you put an overseas
cheque in the bank it routinely takes you six weeks to clear. A local
cheque anywhere from four to seven days. Ridiculous!
The Trib. claims that the new system would net tens
of millions of dollars for The Bahamas by eliminating inefficient banking
practices. One thing that it may also mean is that the number of
branches in the country may not be necessary so that means laying off people
no doubt. Hmmm!
THE
POWER GOES OFF
The island of New Providence was plunged into darkness
for several hours on the evening of Saturday 9th September. There
was a fierce electrical storm and within minutes of the start of the storm,
the whole system appears to have gone dark. There was no point in
calling the emergency numbers of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation.
They were all busy for the entire time that the outage occurred.
No doubt, there will be an apology for the outage.
But the question is why in the state of Florida which has the worst electrical
storms in the world, the power never goes out during an electrical storm?
In The Bahamas, the first thunder clap goes out and within minutes the
place falls into darkness. Meanwhile, the customers of BEC can look
over at Paradise Island and the lights continue to burn 24 hours, rain
or sunshine.
THE
BDM CARPETBAGGERS ARE BACK
Their internal dissension having been cured, the
Bahamas Democratic Movement, headed by the mercurial Cassius Stuart is
back in the news. This should be no surprise. Friday 9th September
was a slow news day, and the party knows how to hit a headline. The
BDM, all four of them, claimed in a press conference that the Minister
of Education Alfred Sears should be fired because of the state of the schools
at opening day. You may click for
the story up above.
The whole business of the schools is an orchestrated
exaggeration by the press that looks for the headline every year that the
schools did not open on time. The fact is of the 140 schools in the
country, only four had major problems that resulted in a delay in the school
opening. All other schools opened on time. Never mind the facts
though.
The point we make about the BDM is that the peripatetic
political jack in the boxes that they are, they are guilty of the same
thing that they accuse the Minister of Education of doing. They have
waited until the school year opened before they raised the alarm of schools.
So they don’t fool us, they are part of the same broke problem and culture
of The Bahamas; you wait until the last minute for everything. But
they should really pay attention to the facts before they speak.
FOODSTORE
DENIES CLAIM OF A SALE
We reported last week on this site that the Bahamas
Supermarkets owned chain City Market was up for play in the liquidation
of the Winn Dixie chain in Florida, where the company has filed for bankruptcy.
This week came back the report: no dice. But the actual quote in
the Bahama Journal Wednesday 7th September from General Manager Bruce Souder
the local manger is this: “As far as I know, and we know here locally,
the company is not for sale. The fact that some people here may be
interested in purchasing could very well be true but as far as I know from
our standpoint the company is not for sale.” Okay?
SIMON
BOLIVAR LOVE FEST IN JAMAICA
Simon Bolivar is the great hero of Hugo Chavez, the President of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela. That is quite a mouthful. Simon Bolivar
is considered the man who liberated the Spanish speaking regions of this
hemisphere from the colonial domination of Spain. A little known
fact is that he spent just about one year in exile in Kingston, Jamaica
and before he set off on his final conquest of the region, he got money
to carry out his revolution from the Haitian General Petion.
The recent PetroCaribe Conference in Montego Bay,
Jamaica where the leaders of the hemisphere gathered (PM Christie was represented
by Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell) was held on Tuesday 6th September because
that was the anniversary date of a letter sent by Simon Bolivar to a Gentleman
of Jamaica in 1815. The Cuban Leader, Fidel Castro showed up and
the delegates had to endure long speeches about the glories of the revolution,
thick with rhetoric. Chavez proclaimed: “Socialism or death!”
As for Mr. Castro, he must think in these days of
his old age he has died and gone to heaven: to have a pupil like Mr. Chavez,
sophisticated, handsome, rich and who worships the ground that Mr. Castro
walks on.
$50,000
FROM THE BAHAMAS WITH LOVE
Last week, we reported on this site that The Bahamas
Government had decided to donate the sum of $50,000 to the hurricane relief
effort of the United States as a token of support. This week the
Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Vincent Peet made good the promise and
presented the cheque to Brent Hardt, the deputy Chief of Mission at the
U.S. Embassy in Nassau. The representation took place on Wednesday
7th September. Bahamas Information Services photo: Derek Smith
POETRY FEATURE
A special guest in the Poetry Feature this week.
Karen Moss-Timothy, a Bahamian in New York,
is nearing the final stages for publication of two of her three books
of poetry- ‘Love's Gift: From the heart of an expecting mother to her child’
and ‘IAMNESS: Conversations from the Chamber’.
Please click here for 'The
Bridegroom Cometh', one of the poems from Karen’s book, ‘IAMNESS’.
She can be reached at iamness@gmail.com. Karen's photo by Yusuf Hassan.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Isle Of Capri, Antiquities Committee, Solar Power, Beach Erosion
& More
I just came out of a meeting with the Management
of the Isle of Capri and they fell a tad short of stating that if they
do not receive tax concessions from the Government of the Commonwealth
of the Bahamas, they will have to lay off additional staff or perhaps close
down operations here in Grand Bahama.
We were ‘armed’ with the realities of doing business
in the Bahamas and Grand Bahama in particular. It was insinuated, heck
stated, that we should lobby our representatives and basically plead for
concessions to be granted (I think it is like $4 million per year).
I don’t know the process of how concessions are
granted however; I and all of the other staff at the Isle of Capri in Lucaya
do not wish to be jobless.
While I have your attention, I would like to
know what can be done to reduce the taxes associated with the Grand Bahama
Airport and Grand Bahama Harbour? If the landing fees were comparable
with New Providence, perhaps major jet airliners would be willing to do
business in the second city.
Despite the positive outlook for Grand Bahama,
things are moving too slow. The PLP, through no fault of theirs, can barely
win an election here if one was called today. People are hurting. The only
thing that can save the PLP in Grand Bahama is the lack of FNM leadership
at this time. Grand Bahama is slipping away!!!!
Also, where is the Antiquities Committee as far
as preserving landmarks here in Grand Bahama? Our history is not
as rich as New Providence, but there are sites such as the Church on the
Grand Bahama Highway, Pineridge, the Discovery Museum and even the railroad
track in Eight Mile Rock that can be a part of the island tour and island
experience.
Digressing a bit, a memorial near the crash site
of Aliayah should be installed in Abaco.
I am sure the Ministry of Tourism knows the implication
of Spring Break 2006 with all the damage done in New Orleans. Even though
it is not proper to say so at this time, the Bahamas, with proper marketing
and expert planning could increase market share. Spring Breakers are our
future clients five to seven years from now. Let’s hook them while they
are young!!!
Digressing once again, I feel the quality of
life can be improved here for the long term if persons were educated and
encouraged to use solar powered devices to reduce electrical cost. I feel
that solar powered devices, power inverters, solar cells should be duty
free items. Imagine the implications. We get on average, 8 - 12 hours
of full sunlight a day in the summertime. We should have been solar energy
a long time ago.
This is the 21 century, we should act like it.
Please, let’s do our part to save Mother Earth and the Bahamas.
Thanks for your time and attention. I would appreciate
if you would forward my comments to the necessary authorities.
J. Smith
P.S.
When are we going to sound the battle cry and
do something about the beach erosion going on in this country the southern
cost of Grand Bahama is in grave jeopardy !!! Just take a drive along Williams
Town. We need to install some sand dunes and plant some sea grass along
our coast in order to save what little beaches we have.
The public in Grand Bahama will soon have very
little access to the beaches in the 'Port Areas’; we need more right of
way for Bahamians to get to the beaches. If persons continue to fence off
their properties how are we going to get to the high tide mark in the first
place?
Thanks for your kind attention.
This is quite a list but thank you for your comments - Editor
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Speaking on the anniversary of the impact of last
year's hurricanes on the island of Grand Bahama, Prime Minister Perry Christie
enthusiastically hosted an announcement by Danish investor Erik Christiansen
of about $250 million dollars in construction in the Lucaya area of Freeport.
The money is to be spent in second homes aimed at Europeans and a condominium
hotel. In welcoming the new investment, Mr. Christie said the Government
would be concentrating on the re-opening of the old Princess Properties
which was "of paramount importance to the economy of the island".
The Prime Minister hinted that the property was of such an importance that
Government might consider partnering with an investor at the outset of
the project. Minister of Tourism and West End MP Obie Wilchcombe
lauded the investor for his confidence and understanding: "...he recognizes
that Lucaya and Grand Bahama need additional economic activity. He also
appreciates that tourism in Grand Bahama can be even more successful."
Her Excellency Shashi Uban Tripathi, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry
of External Affairs of the Republic of India is shown during a courtesy
call on Prime Minister Perry Christie on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 at
the Office of the Prime Minister.
Bahamas Information Services PHOTOS by Peter Ramsay
NASSAU INSTITUTE FINALLY SHOWS ITS FACE
Thursday
15th September the Nassau Institute finally showed its public face to The
Bahamas. Before that the organization was this faceless cowardly
group hiding behind the anonymity of their tendentious letters to the editor.
Now their right wing ideology can have a public face. It is really
the face of two ideologues who support the Free National Movement, and
all that entails; the history of a party, of a movement that is anti nationalist,
anti Black and anti Bahamian. Always percolating just under the surface
is an incipient racism. It infuses everything that they say.
Their ideology is a mish mash of ideas. It is economic advice and
policy in disguise. What they would really like is for the PLP to
lose the next election. Missing from the public picture is their
Lyford Cay aide. No doubt, he will remain in hiding.
Rick Lowe, we know him from the FNM and the Dupuch campaign, and Joan Thompson described by the Bahama Journal merely as a businesswoman, appeared on the radio on Thursday 15th September. They said some pretty incredible things in the course of trying to stop the forward movement of The Bahamas on the PetroCaribe Initiative, the umbrella agreement which was signed by The Bahamas government in Venezuela in July of this year. You may click here for previous stories on the Nassau Institute.
Readers of this column know that we have serious doubts about the PetroCaribe Initiative. The Bahamas has not signed the bilateral agreement that is needed to activate the initiative. Our doubts, however, begin to fade (not seriously) when these right wing ideologues start getting into it and asserting information which is either irrelevant or untrue. They pretend to be for a free market but no doubt Mr. Lowe, who is a car salesman, did not object to the monopoly which he and his company had with the Government of The Bahamas to sell cars to the Government for its officers. No, he had no problem with that.
Mr. Lowe claimed that Leslie Miller, the Minister of Trade had demonized the oil industry in The Bahamas that is very important and hires “lots of people”. He claimed that Mr. Miller had attacked the fundamental economic structure of pricing in the country. How so? What evidence is there of that? Mr. Miller’s point is that the charges which oil companies add to the bottom line are inflated by the unnecessary commissions they charge when their middlemen import oil into The Bahamas. How is that a fundamental attack on the pricing structure around the world?
Then Joan Thompson, the president of the Institute joined him to make the astounding assertion “Government can’t lower prices”. That on the face of it is foolish, since $1.06 in each gallon, plus seven per cent stamp tax is the Government’s tax. The Government also has price control legislation. On both scores the Government can then lower the price of gasoline this day by edict: either by lowering the tax or cutting back on the margins allowed.
It gets worse. Mr. Lowe said that PetroCaribe is “a backdoor deal signed with a dictator in a foreign country who is a communist.” This is quite incredible. What backdoor deal? If it is a backdoor deal, why is there so much open public discussion about it? Further, the United States the champion of free enterprise around the world is buying millions of gallons of oil per day from Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela (See story below). He is not a communist. He is not a dictator. Mr. Lowe means simply to pollute the argument.
Then this was added: “We don’t mind doing business with China, because China is very far away. China and the U.S. are the major powers in the world… Hugo Chavez is a little man who happens to have taken control of his country’s oil business.” This is Joan Thompson talking. Talk about speaking out two sides of your mouth. Since she has to justify doing business with a communist country, and having demonized Mr. Chavez for being a communist, she now has to excuse our relationship with China by saying that’s okay because they are so big. What was that about principle not putting bread on the table? The truth about Mr. Chavez is that he won elections free and fair. He was also subjected to a recall election and beat his opponents hands down. How does that make him a dictator? The business of “little man” is again a personalized attack which is unbecoming and inconsistent with intelligent commentary.
Finally said Mr. Lowe: “Where I have a serious difficulty is with the Government of The Bahamas entering into agreements, where they don’t wish to go into the details, and tell the Bahamian public about them. If an individual or a company wishes to risk their capital and go into business with anybody anywhere in the world that is their sovereign right. It is not the right of any government to risk taxpayer’s dollars without some degree of accountability and telling the people the facts and not distorting the facts.”
This all sounds intelligent, but you know even the devil can quote scripture. What taxpayer’s dollars are involved in this? PetroCaribe has nothing to do with taxpayer’s money. These arguments are simply foolish, and will probably cause the Bahamian people to move toward acceptance of this deal which we think is not a good one for The Bahamas, just because this Nassau Institute is against it. The thought will be that it must be good if they are against it. It’s like The Tribune being against something.
The Institute said that its support in the country is growing and so they want to hire an executive director to push the cause on a full time basis. We now have to start to ask, where are they getting all this money to push their right wing causes? We also remember they once had an executive director but as soon as he started to oppose the referendum that the Free National Movement wanted to push down the throats of the people in the 2002 election, he was booted out with trumped up excuses. Such is the life of the Nassau Institute. We said it before; theirs is the philosophy of nincompoops.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 17th September at midnight: 81,666.
Number of hits for the month of September ending Saturday 17th September at midnight: 184,141.
Number of hits for the year 2005 up to Saturday 17th September 2005 at midnight: 2,693,939.
BRENT
SYMONETTE MAY RUN FOR DEPUTY
The son of the United Bahamian Party’s first and only Premier, Brent Symonette
(pictured) is back in the news again. The banner headline in The
Tribune of Thursday 15th September said SYMONETTE: I MAY RUN. This
is the same Brent Symonette (click
here for the previous story) who did not have the courage to run for
the office of leader of his party. He denied that it was because
he was white that he was afraid to run. But in fairness to him, he
did say at the time that he might be available to run for another office.
So here it is, Deputy! Hmmm!
The Tribune said that the talk around the town is
that Hubert Ingraham, the former Prime Minister, is busy priming the pump
for a return to the fray. He has gotten the agreement of his wife
to get back in. He is still trying to broker a deal where he comes
back without a fight. The idea is to get Tommy Turnquest, the now
Leader to step down for the good of the party, and then when Dion Foulkes
who is running against Mr. Turnquest, sees the handwriting on the wall,
he will drop out and Mr. Ingraham will come back in. Mr. Ingraham
has the ego for it, but there is a saying in The Bahamas: “He may be crazy
but he aint fool”.
By the way, there is another song by a Bahamian
artist who is singing to a girl and the singer says to the girl: “Don’t
start me up!” Mr. Symonette may have cried wolf too many times to
have any credibility on this. Photo: Peter Ramsay
PLP
CHAIR DEFENDS THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION
For one solid week, the press had been after Alfred
Sears, the Minister of Education. All the talk every year is about
how the school can’t open on time. But as
we said here last week, the vast majority of the schools in the country
opened on time. No one seemed to come to Mr. Sears’ defence.
That is until the Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party Raynard Rigby
came forward with a ringing defence, giving the facts on the schools, and
dismissing much of what had been written over the past week as propaganda.
Joining the anti Sears show was of course the nation’s
finest carpetbaggers, the Bahamas Democratic Movement. We think that
Mr. Rigby’s statement is well worth the read and you may click
here for the full statement.
SOUTH
AFRICAN FOREIGN MINISTER IS COMING
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell in
a briefing about his visit to New York at the 60th Anniversary Summit and
the 60th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, told the country
that the South African Foreign Minister Nkosasana Zuma will be coming to
Freeport for a meeting of the bilateral commission between The Bahamas
and South Africa. The commission came about as a result of the state
visit to The Bahamas on New Year’s Eve 2003 by the President of South Africa
Thabo Mbeki. The Commission covers education, culture, sports, health
and foreign affairs.
The Bahamas is supporting South Africa’s bid to
become a member of the Security Council of the United Nations. The
Foreign Minister will visit The Bahamas from Friday 23rd September to Monday
26th September. She will meet with the business community of Freeport
and will tour the city and its port. She will also plant a tree to replace
the one planted by the President when he came to Freeport in 2003.
It was destroyed by hurricanes Frances and Jeanne last year. The
Minister said that he was pleased to be welcoming the South African Minister
once again to the country. Foreign Ministers Mitchell and Zuma are
shown signing the bilateral agreement in this file photo taken in Pretoria
in April of 2004.
MITCHELL
AT THE UN
Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell delivered the country’s address on behalf
of the Prime Minister at the United Nations 60th anniversary summit.
The summit called all world leaders together to discuss the progress of
the Millennium development goals. These were goals set in the year
2000 by the world leaders when they met at the start of the millennium.
There are eight goals, and each country is to report on how they are doing
accomplishing those goals. Of course many of the goals had long ago
been achieved by The Bahamas.
The Minister told the country before he left that
The Bahamas should work toward becoming a developed country by the year
2020. Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados have already embraced that
as public policy. The eight goals are: Eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger; Achieve universal primary education; Promote gender equality
and empower women; Reduce child mortality; Improve maternal health care;
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; Ensure environmental sustainability;
Develop a global partnership for Development.
In his address to the General Assembly, the Minister
said that The Bahamas supported the goals and called for member states
that do so to cease the transhipment of nuclear waste through the Caribbean
region. You may click here for the full
address. The photograph was taken as the Minister spoke on Friday
16th September at the U.N. rostrum.
U.S.
COMMENTS ON OIL DEAL
The propaganda artists like the Nassau Institute
are hard at work telling everyone that the United States has a problem
with the PetroCaribe deal and so The Bahamas must not sign on to the deal.
Never mind that there might be some good in the thing for The Bahamas,
like the prices may come down for gasoline or the fact that we might wish
to sign for strategic reasons. The Bahamas’ interest in PetroCaribe
can only be economic. We have no interest in the political histrionics
of Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez.
Interestingly, now The Tribune sought to get an
answer from the U.S. on this matter and they got an answer. According
to The Tribune of Wednesday 14th September, they have “no position” on
the PetroCaribe Accord. The comment came from Mike Taylor, an officer
at the United States Embassy, in Nassau. Mr. Taylor said that whether
or not The Bahamas signs the deal with Venezuela is a matter for Bahamians
to decide. He continued: “Since it doesn’t involve us we are not
going to take a public position on it. Each country has to make a
decision for themselves if they are going to participate.
Of note is that Pierre Dupuch, the Member of Parliament
is a member of the committee appointed by Minister Leslie Miller to advise
the Government on this initiative. He is now out on the stump urging
the Government to sign. This puts him at odds with Rick Lowe, the
man who runs the Nassau Institute (see story above), and who was his campaign
manager in the last general election. Mr. Dupuch said: “How can someone
say to you that if we do business with Chavez that America would be mad
with us, when they are also doing business with him? Wasn’t this
man democratically elected? Let me put it this way… and I am not
a communist: capitalism is not capitalism, not in America, unless there
is competition in America. It is all big business. The strength
of any democracy is competition, and that’s what PetroCaribe is – competition.”
DEFENDING
RON PINDER
The anti Haitian debate continues apace in The Bahamas. Each week,
the debate gets more and more hysterical and more and more ludicrous.
The press helps to feed it. The Tribune has been running a series
of stories from anonymous doctors that say that 90 percent of the births
in the hospital are by Haitian women. There is no proof. The
facts show otherwise. But no matter what the official statistics
show, when you listen to the radio and see the follow up stories, they
tell you ten thousand reasons why the statistics aren’t true. And
woe to anyone who gets in the way of a story with the facts. Ron
Pinder, the Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Health (pictured)
found his way into such a battle this past week.
The Tribune ran a story in which it said that a
Bahamian family living near a neighbourhood off Joe Farrington Road in
Nassau, close to what they describe as a Haitian village claimed that they
could smell the bodies of Haitians being burned in an area near where they
live. Mr. Pinder asserted that this was nonsense, and that it was
irresponsible for that kind of information to be spread around.
The family came back and accused Mr. Pinder of making
stupid statements because he dared to suggest that the smell may have simply
come from burning charcoal and or something other than flesh. The
Tribune stoked the fires (the pun is intended) and had the people accuse
Mr. Pinder of making “stupid statements”. The family spokesman said
that Mr. Pinder was insulting them if they could not tell the difference
between burning human flesh and garbage, sewerage or charcoal.
These days in The Bahamas you wonder why anyone
bothers to respond with the truth, given the low level of some public debate.
Suffice it to say, we support Mr. Pinder entirely. The only person
making a stupid statement is the family member off Joe Farrington Road.
The only one printing a stupid statement is The Tribune.
WRIGHT
FIRST CUBA AMBASSADOR
CARLTON WRIGHT APPOINTED FIRST BAHAMAS AMBASSADOR TO CUBA -
Her Excellency Dame Ivy Dumont, Governor-General, presents Carlton Leroy
Wright with his Letters of Appointment as Bahamian Ambassador Designate
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Cuba during a courtesy
call at Government House on Wednesday, September 14, 2005. Observing are,
from right, his son, Carlton Wright Jr., his wife, Mrs. Audrey Dean-Wright
and Andrew McKinney, Chief of Protocol (Acting), Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
(BIS Photo: Raymond A. Bethel)
THE
DEFENCE FORCE
The Ministry of National Security responded this
week on Wednesday 14th September that the fears of Defence Force officers
about the future of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force are unfounded.
The officers were reportedly fed up with the Government’s lack of attention
to the Force and the newspapers reported that morale was at an all time
low. We believe that is correct. The RBDF officers voted in
droves for the PLP, largely because of the perception that the Free National
Movement ignored the Defence Force and gave all the plaudits to the Police
Force. If the PLP does not act soon, it is in grave danger of losing
the support that it got.
The members of the Defence Force are fed up, and
want the PLP to act and act soon. The Ministry’s report that a review
of the Force is going on does not satisfy that complaint. The Force
has seen enough reports and what the people who write us say is that they
need to see action. The Force’s equipment does not work. Relations
between senior officers and the junior ranks are not good. In fact
junior ranks do not have a voice to air complaints, and the complaints
that do come forward are often stymied by a culture of victimization by
senior officers. The Force itself seems to have lost its sense of
mission.
The Ministry has announced that a Canadian security
advisor is in The Bahamas conducting a review arising out of the report
by the Commission of Inquiry into the Lorequin incident of June 1992.
You may click
here for a story on that report. When the review is finished,
it is hoped that the whole command structure of the Force will be changed.
THE
GAY SHOES DEBATE
The Tribune of Thursday 15th September has again reported that two young
women at the C.V. Bethel School in Nassau were punished by their teachers
for wearing shoes that were thought to be “gay shoes”. You may click
here for the previous story. Notwithstanding the outrageous nature
of this report, the Ministry of Education has said nothing about it.
The newspaper says that some 50 girls from the school ranging from grades
ten to twelve were made to stand outside in the sun for several hours as
punishment for wearing the so called gay shoes. A parent was quoted
anonymously as being incensed. The Rainbow Alliance, the gay and
lesbian support group in Nassau said that they would lead their own investigation
into the matter and called for an end to discrimination.
Of course The Bahamas and its homophobia and hysteria
are at it again. It is clear from science that no matter what happens,
the level of homosexuality in any given population does not rise above
a certain level. Now you have the Chair of the Youth Advisory Panel
weighing in saying that there is a rise in immorality in the country because
of these incidents: first the Miss Teen Bahamas declaring she is gay and
then the incident of the gay shoes. We pray for them all. Photo
of youth demonstrating against homosexuality from The Nassau Guardian by
Letisha Henderson
FRANK
DOES A WALKABOUT
Member of Parliament Frank Smith was seen on the
front page of The Tribune of Thursday 15th September from a walkabout the
previous day with the Urban Renewal Team of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
The team is headed by Sgt. 1554 Mather. Ms. Mather seems to be a
no nonsense woman and has been credited with helping eliminate graffiti
from the neighbourhood of Kemp Road, and says that she will set about prosecuting
parents who don’t have their children in school. No doubt the MP
was pleased that the project is beginning to work in his neighbourhood.
We thought that the photo by Mario Duncanson was so engaging that it ought
to be shared with the wider public.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Why I support Franklyn Wilson
Please allow me a space in your editorial column
to add my comments to the recent debate around the College of The Bahamas
(COB), my Alma Mater. The debacle surrounding COB is now over.
Let’s hope we can get on with building the institution, going to University
status in accordance with our strategic and national plan. As was
noted previously in the press, Dr. Rodney Smith is a great man; the college,
I submit, is a great college and it will make it with or without Dr. Smith.
The college is an institution that is greater than any one person, no matter
how qualified and how effective as that one person is, COB will go on and
will succeed.
It was regrettable that Dr. Smith attempted
to bring disrespect to the man who supported him most, Mr. Franklyn Wilson.
Mr. Wilson went against the FNM Action Group and went against those existing
lecturers at COB who wanted the position, or who simply manifested what
is known as the “black crab syndrome” and just opposed for opposition sake
the aspirations of any individual, especially male, to a high office of
leadership in this country. Mr. Wilson stood by Dr. Smith and defended
him to the very end. When the end was drawing nigh, he offered him
a dignified way out - resign, take your package and leave with a promise
to hold off the findings of the independent commission as much as possible.
Dr. Smith, a very qualified man, could have accepted this, move on and
let the matter die. It was regrettable that he wanted one last swing
to “bite the hand that fed him.” Mr. Franklyn Wilson should have
been the last person attacked by Dr. Smith because he took a lot of criticism
for his support of Dr. Smith before, during and after the incident that
eventually led to his resignation from COB.
I am very happy that Mr. Franklyn Wilson
has taken over as Chairman of this institution. This is just an indication
of how important education is to Mr. Wilson. Anyone who knows Mr.
Wilson will agree that he does not need COB or any other charitable obligations
right now. He is very busy in the private sector, being a mover and
shaker in the economic sphere. Mr. Wilson has been an inspiration
to me and a host of other Bahamian professionals, especially those in the
accounting profession.
John S. Bain
[The letter has been abbreviated for space consideration - please
click here for the full text of the letter.]
We agree with this letter writer. Dr. Smith's response was
inexplicable. You can see
our comments on the point in an earlier column. We also agree
on Franklyn Wilson. He has had an extraordinary career and despite
the bitter break up with Sir Lynden at the end of the Pindling era, today
Mr. Wilson is one of the greatest supporters of the Progressive Liberal
Party. Much is to be said for all that he has done and continues
to do for the party, the country and the Bahamian people. The letter
writer's response is a rare one for a Bahamian. - Editor
We thank you for this thoughtful intervention. Perhaps what
is needed is a consumer action group and legislation to deal with this
issue. – Editor
POETRY FEATURE
This week, Giovanni returns, with: ‘When Mind Thinks
of You’. Please click
here. POET FEATURE, by Bahama recording & literary artist,
Giovanni.Stuart (www.nubah.com).
AND
THE HOLY WATER
Bishop Lawrence Rolle, the so called Singing Prophet,
has now confessed that he made some $50,000 so far on his holy water.
You can click here for the previous
stories but you may remember on this site the story of the Bishop who
claimed to have produced holy water. Actually is it just bottles
of Aquapure and Chelsea’s Choice that he prayed over. The result
is that people flocked to his services in droves with some of them claiming
that there were miracle cures. He quickly backtracked and claimed
no such thing saying that cures were a matter of faith.
The Bishop told The Tribune of Wednesday 14th September
that he had donated all the proceeds to the poor. “I gave it all
to them to pay their mortgage. Every time they came we kept a record.
We paid rent and buy food for them. Not a dime came to me.
If I took anything from the money I had to pay it back. I purchased
my water also for my family.” The Bishop said that the public owes
him an apology for accusing him of selling water for financial gain.
He insisted that he is still selling the water and that miracles are continuing
to happen. Hmmm!
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
PM pleased with $585 million Old Bahama Bay Extension
Bahamas Information Services report by Simon Lewis
WEST END G.B. – Prime Minister Perry Christie participated in groundbreaking
ceremonies for a $585 million residential and resort development at West
End, Grand Bahama on Wednesday 14th September, 2005, challenging residents
to remain confident in the economy of Grand Bahama Island. He also
informed that the Government has completed its environmental studies for
western end of Grand Bahama. Mr. Christie said that he was pleased
to see the developers at Old Bahama Bay Resort and Yacht Harbour move forward
with its multi-million dollar Phase III investment.
The Prime Minister, speaking to a sizeable audience
of business executives and leading citizens assembled at Old Bahama Bay
for the groundbreaking, also hinted at an announcement to come of another
$150 million project for Grand Bahama. However, on Wednesday
it was Old Bahama Bay Resort and Yacht Harbour displaying its faith in
the Bahamian economy, and on hand to express the company’s faith in The
Bahamas was Mr. Allen G. Ten Broek, President and CEO of West End Resort
Limited, the developers of Old Bahama Bay.
The Old Bahama Bay project, which began in 1998
and has already provided almost 150 new jobs, is separate and distinct
from the planned Ginn Company development scheduled for the West End area.
Over the past five years, the growth of Old Bahama
Bay has included the construction of a 150 acre resort and residential
community comprised of 82 home sites, 72 dock slips, a 49-room luxury hotel,
three restaurants, a gift shop, and a beachside infinity pool. Future
plans call for the addition of 78 acres of land, bringing the overall project
size to 228 acres, and a host of new amenities, to include a beachfront
site for a new 150-200-room luxury hotel with lobby and reception areas,
meeting rooms, restaurants and a private pool.
The plans also calls for expanding the main marina
to approximately 180 slips including new mega yacht slips, a new Customs
and Immigration Center, a dive shop, charter fishing center, and related
facilities.
The developers also plan to put in place two beautiful parks that will
include a lighthouse and wedding chapel, and stairways to Settlement Point
snorkeling reefs. The second will be at the north jetty featuring
a jogging trail, exercise stations, fishing platforms and an all-weather
pavilion for group functions.
Additional amenities is the construction of a fully
landscaped putting course, a tennis center, and a bicycle, electric car
and golf cart rental center.
The project, which will span several years, will
additionally see the construction of a variety of multi-family condominiums
totaling as estimated 450 to 500 units adjacent to the main marina along
the new waterway, and facing both the north and south beachfront areas.
While urging the developers to also put on their
agenda the development of a full golf course for their property, the Prime
Minister Christie told the large gathering “clearly to me this is a wonderful
development. An electronic version of the Prime Minister’s remarks
at the opening of Old Bahama Bay is available online at http://www.mackeymedia.com
The Prime Minister was accompanied by Minister of
Tourism Obie Wilchcombe, Member of Parliament for the West End area (pictured
at right) who thanked his Cabinet colleagues “who have worked with me”.
“When I became the Member of Parliament for this
constituency on the second of May, 2002,” Mr. Wilchcombe declared, “I made
it very clear that we had to provide economic assistance for an area that
I said at the time had been neglected for so many years. I believed
we had allowed it to drop behind the rest of this island and we needed
to provide the assistance to lift it up and cause for a better tomorrow.
He continued, “The Prime Minister reminded us along
the campaign that we were to have a country where, throughout, the islands
would have an anchor property, and the anchor property would serve as economic
stimulus and would allow for us to develop the linkages as a result. Well,
Old Bahama Bay has been that for West Grand Bahama, and notwithstanding
our difficulties, it’s been able to sustain us.”
Prime Minister Perry Christie is pictured as he spoke during the
groundbreaking ceremony for Old Bahama Bay Resort and Yacht Harbour.
At left is Allen G. Ten Broek, President and CEO, Old Bahama Bay.
Bahamas Information Services PHOTOS by Vandyke Hepburn
HOW ARTHUR FOULKES SPENT LAST SUNDAY AFTERNOON?
Arthur Foulkes, Sir Arthur to some, was fired by Lynden Pindling in the first PLP Cabinet way back in 1969. The man some never forgave for causing his dismissal was Sir Foley Newns, an English civil servant who served as Secretary to the Cabinet in the first Pindling years. It is said that Sir Foley was responsible for planting the idea that a certain minister was too close to the press, and had too much influence for or against government policy. It brought grief to Sir Arthur and he ended up as part of the dissident eight that formed the Free PLP, then the FNM and ultimately the Official Opposition and the Government. That’s quite a mouthful and quite a history. Arthur Foulkes was a formidable figure in the life of Opposition politics.
Instead of concentrating though on the past history that is of great importance to the country, concentrating on his legacy, Sir Arthur spent his last Sunday afternoon apparently reading this column and plotting and scheming on behalf of his son Dion and the FNM to make sure that the PLP gets out of power. In pursuit of that objective, he wrote some things that are simply risible.
His column in The Tribune of Tuesday 20th September, literally takes apart the comments made in this column about hurricane preparedness. You may click here for what we said. And of course, true to his nature he had to try to plant the idea that Fred Mitchell, the country's Foreign Minister is somehow behind this column. He is up to mischief and seeking to do what it is alleged Sir Foley Newns did to him. But it is time for him to tell the story of that event and give us the straight history on this matter. There is a clear disclaimer clearly written on this column for the avoidance of doubt that the Foreign Minister's views are not reflected in this column. We have no doubt that the Foreign Minister can speak for himself. However we make no bones about our unabashed support for him and for any PLP.
He took issue with what he considered attacks on the Public Service. The column indicated that the public administration is broke (not the people who are civil servants but the system). But it is so obvious that it does not bear saying, except to opportunistic politicians like Sir Arthur. He knows it. He knows that we all know it, so it should be the kind of philosophical issue around which the FNM and the PLP ought to gather. Instead, he wants so badly to defeat the PLP that he suddenly jumps into the fray and makes the self serving suggestion that all is well with the Public Service. He doesn’t believe that any more than he believes there is man in the moon.
It is really unfortunate that a seasoned politician, who should be spending time trying to settle his reputation as a leading statesman can engage in this kind of trifling dialogue.
We mentioned the story of Sir Foley Newns because Sir Arthur should know that he more than anyone else suffered from the kind of praetorian guard that the public administration somehow becomes. The service is neither PLP nor FNM. They are the civil service. They are almost like a third political party, with a mind and set of policies of their own. Damn the politicians that the people elect whether PLP or FNM. Arthur Foulkes knows that and if he does not, just ask his son Dion who suffers today from a series of leaks while he was a minister calculated to defame him.
Arthur Foulkes goes further and said the following which The Tribune used as huge drop line: “Instead of learning how to be ministers, and how to push chairs and desks, Mr. Mitchell and his colleagues have appointed unqualified crony consultants and then they blame the civil servants for their own appalling lack of leadership and incompetence”.
This is errant nonsense. The PLP has not hired any person that Arthur Foulkes can truly claim is unqualified or a crony, even a friend that did not and does not have the ability and the proper qualifications to get the job done that they were supposed to do. No more so than the FNM before them. The PLP’s leader has scrupulously adhered to the rules, otherwise we would not have the volume of complaints which the PLP now has from its supporters that the PLP is not in charge of the Government and that PLPs got nothing for voting PLP.
What is shameful though is that we have to get into this tit for tat, parochial politics with one such as at the level of Arthur Foulkes. We really thought he was beyond this kind of stuff. He does not of course remember how just before the PLP came to office the former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham promoted people into the levels of Under Secretary and other management positions in the Public Service. These are people who Hubert Ingraham now boasts about on the floor of the House of Assembly who cause him to know what is going on in the Government just as the decisions are made. This boast is not taken lightly when the confidential business of the government finds its way into Mr. Ingraham's hands or into the public domain leaked to FNM sources from within the service. The PLP is faced with the idea that there may be those within the ranks who frustrate the public business for political ends. The PLP’s leader did nothing in response that would violate civil service rules and still will do nothing today.
But it is not the political affiliation that concerns anyone. You can be what you like. One simply has to do one’s work. But further, it is not even the individuals that we are concerned about. There is this system of inertia; too much paperwork, the lack of forward planning, the lack of understanding and undertaking the responsibility to carry out government policy, all of which are the primary responsibility of the public administration. But Sir Arthur, knowing that many people believe that it was a civil servant who caused his own downfall, knowing how these things work in practice, would now in a political cause stoop to the kind of arguments that are simply unbecoming of statesman of his calibre. This is really sad.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 24th September 2005 at midnight: 78,904.
Number of hits for the month of September up to Saturday 24th September 2005 at midnight: 263,045.
Number of hits for the year 2005 up to Saturday 24th September 2005 at midnight: 2,772,843.
MITCHELL
ADDRESSES THE UN
The Foreign Minister of The Bahamas Fred Mitchell
has done the country’s annual statement at the United Nations. Mr.
Mitchell has just completed a ten day stint at the U.N. with breaks in
between for two days in Nassau to attend to urgent Government business.
He first delivered the country’s statement on the Millennium Development
goals at the 2005 World Summit on Friday 16th September. You may
click
here for the text of that statement or
visit
the UN website for the video link.
Then, the country’s annual general assembly statement,
delivered on Thursday 22nd September, gave a view of the country’s position
on world affairs, wishing farewell to Prime Minister P.J. Patterson of
Jamaica who is leaving office in April 2006, and pointing out that The
Bahamas does not appreciate the accusations on drug trafficking.
He also called for a binding commitment to stop the illegal flow of arms
into The Bahamas, to end to the transhipment of nuclear waste through the
region, and for the further protection of the environment including attention
being paid to climate change. The Minister also paid tribute to Dr.
Perry Gomez for his leadership in the fight against HIV/AIDS. You
may click here for the statement in text form
or visit the UN website for the video
link. Caricaturist Stanley Burnside had this view (at right) in his
'Sideburns' editorial cartoon from The Nassau Guardian of Monday 19th September.
REGISTRATION
OF VOTERS TO BEGIN
The Parliamentary Commissioner Errol Bethel addressed
the nation on 15th September to announce that registration of voters for
the new voter's register, which will come into force in December 2006,
was to begin on Monday 19th September. They have in fact started.
The Parliamentary Commissioner said that the law
requires that the register be renewed every five years, and during the
process the old register remains current while the new one is being prepared.
Those who are registering for the first time go on the both the old and
the new one. Those who have registered for the 2002 elections will only
go on the new register. No new cards will be issued for the new register
until the old register has expired and the new one comes into force.
To be qualified to vote you need to be 18 years
old, live in your constituency for at least three months, and be of sound
mind and out of jail. You will have to provide proof of identity
and age and they will need either passport or an old voter's card.
Other forms of identification will take a little longer.
For the moment registration will take place at fixed
locations in New Providence at the Mall at Marathon, the General Post Office
and the Parliamentary Commissioner's Office at Farrington Road. In
Grand Bahama at the Parliamentary Commissioner's office in the National
Insurance Building, and in the Family Island at the administrator’s office.
Eventually centres will open in the constituencies. We encourage
all to begin to register. You may click
here for the full address of the Parliamentary Commissioner.
OIL
PRICES AND TING
Leslie Miller, the Minister of Trade and Industry has been on the warpath
against the oil companies. He predicted during the past week that
maybe, just maybe the price of gas which one company Shell tried to sell
at $4.77 per gallon and then had to reduce almost immediately, is going
to go to seven dollars per gallon. It is hard to discern the public
policy here but the feeling from the Ministry of Trade is that by badgering
the consciences of the usually conscienceless oil companies that the price
of gas will be kept to a minimum.
The other public policy issue remains whether or
not The Bahamas will sign on to the PetroCaribe Initiative. This
is the deal offered by the mercurial Hugo Chavez that provides financing
for oil purchases from Venezuela. The Minister of Trade says that
this is the way forward if we want to lower the price. His critics
don’t see it, and the oil companies have been putting their view point
forward on the matter. No word from the Cabinet save and except a
statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which dismissed the idle
demand of FNM Leader out of the House of Assembly Tommy Turnquest that
the Government must declare its position on PetroCaribe. The Ministry
said that the Government's position is clear; it is still studying the
issue.
The U.S. Ambassador unfortunately allowed himself
to be drawn into these shark infested waters, raising hackles in some quarters
and people whispering in the background of days of yore when his predecessor
intervened a little too often. Not to worry, the Ambassador’s comments
seemed to be his personal ruminations but this is a place where one has
to tread carefully in the future. Nassau Guardian photo of Minister
Miller, left, with Vincent Coleby Chairman of the Fuel Usage Committee.
HURRICANE
RITA AND THE BAHAMAS
Hurricane Rita, like Hurricane Katrina before it
formed in The Bahamas then went into the Gulf of Mexico and became a mega
storm. This set off panic by Bahamians who live in Texas as students.
Odd, their calling for help from The Bahamas government when in fact, it
was simple to make a decision to leave and come home. But the interesting
thing is that no damage was done by the storm in its tropical storm version
whilst forming in The Bahamas. On Monday 19th September there were
heavy rains in the southern Bahamas and in New Providence, and high winds
from the storm but no damage.
Many people in their 40s and 50s would remember
Hurricane Betsy. Hurricane Betsy in fact took the same path, in 1965
lashing The Bahamas and then over in the Gulf to Louisiana where it caused
one billion and a half dollars in damage.
FOR
KATRINA’S VICTIMS
Franklyn Wilson, the Chairman of the College of
The Bahamas, is heading a private sector effort to collect monies for the
victims of Hurricane Katrina. There was a church service held to
galvanize support for a telethon and to pray for the victims at Mt. Tabor
Full Baptist Church on Thursday 22nd September. The church has its
headquarters in New Orleans. The telethon will be held at the Radisson
Cable Beach on Friday 30th September. You may contact Arawak Homes in Nassau
at 242 394 0015 for more information about how you can help.
A BLOW
TO BEC
The heavy hand needs to be put upon the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union.
That seems to be the message coming from the Bahamas Electricity Corporation
that has not been able to supply a reliable electricity grid for the past
two weeks because of industrial unrest at the corporation and unrest in
the skies, the so called Acts of God. We reported here two weeks
ago how people are so sick of BEC going down as soon as the first thunder
clap goes off, and so sick of the telephone company that can't keep the
phones on and in working order, that they are almost sick of being sick.
But BEC is the worst case with back and forth on who is right and who is
wrong.
What we do know is that the President of the Union
Dennis Williams (pictured in this Bahama Journal photo) has been called
before into account and found wanting when he threatened mayhem if the
Corporation did not give into his demands. The gamble now is that
the PLP is too close to election to risk a big fight, but the Prime Minister
has said on many occasions to his troops that they should be ready at any
time because there are some things that we will not compromise on.
One of them has to be who is going to run BEC. It surely can't be
the Union leaders who would be silent, almost sanctioning the sabotage
of equipment that has left people without water, and with old, disabled
people suffering in the dark. One has to ask, do these people have
consciences or a sense of public responsibility?
CARL
BETHEL SAYS HE’S RUNNING TOO
The field of those who want to run the Free National Movement is getting
more crowded every day. The latest to enter the race is Carl Bethel
(pictured in this Bahama Journal photo) who is now the Chairman and now
says that he wants to be deputy leader of the Party. So far in that
race is Brent Symonette who is said to be hoping to pair up with Hubert
Ingraham, the former Prime Minister who is now lining his ducks up in a
row to come back. Then there is Sidney Collie who is the existing
deputy. He hasn’t confirmed whether he is going to run but let’s
assume that he is. Then you have Carl Bethel who is setting about
to campaign.
In the leadership position you have Tommy Turnquest,
the Senator and now leader outside the House of Assembly and Dion Foulkes
who has started a website, has his father running his propaganda campaign
for him in The Tribune every week. But the real bugaboo is the fact
that Hubert Ingraham, the former Prime Minister been going around the country
getting his fellows ready.
There is now a nasty campaign of slander, untruths,
innuendo and salacious material that is invented every week. This
is vintage Ingrahamism. The reports from his friends are that he
intends to come back in the House and act as the Leader of the Opposition,
displacing Alvin Smith. He does not want to take the actual job because
he will deprive Mr. Smith of salary, but he will be Leader of the Opposition
in everything but in name. The plan then is that he is going to try
to find nasty material against four PLP Ministers then once he delivers
the knock out blows, he will once again be king. Tommy is then expected
to step down without a fight, and Dion will be forced to fall away.
What an interesting time it will be. Meanwhile
the PLP ship of state just keeps on rolling along.
TIM
McCARTNEY RESIGNS FROM COLINA
The Bahama Journal headline of Thursday 22nd September, 2005 said it all:
DIRECTOR INDICTS COLINA. One does not know how they got it but it
was confirmed in their story that Dr. Timothy McCartney, a well known social
thinker and philosopher in The Bahamas and one of the country's first psychologists,
now a professor in the United States, has stepped down from the Board of
Colina.
So highly regarded is Dr. McCartney in real life
that in one of his major novels the late Arthur Hailey named a character
in ‘The Money Changers’, Dr. Timothy McCartney. What he had to say
was quite scathing about the conduct of the company's business. It
must have sent the policy holders scrambling to cash in their monies.
Here is what he had to say in his own words:
“Members of the Board met with the Governor of
the Central Bank and other Government regulators who voiced the concerns
with what they considered to be a “serious and deteriorating situation
and an impasse between the partners.”
“They urged the Board in no uncertain terms that
the Board must exercise control and try to neutralize the situation.
They advised that losing the president at this time would have serious
implications, especially for the community, for the organization as well.
They suggested that whatever was to be done should be done strategically
in a manner that the Bahamian public and especially the shareholders would
deem to be fair and in order.
“Instead it (the Board) was forced into a marathon
meeting to get rid of Jimmy (James Campbell, the former President), the
very thing that the regulators advised us not to do. I saw a very
dangerous trend developing that I believed to be unhealthy for the Board
and for Colina. I also saw the beginning of polarization which leads
to subjective and emotional thinking, mistrust and suspicion.
“The Board convened a special meeting on the
advice of Dr. Myles Munroe to try to develop a reasonable strategy to resolve
the problem that had developed. We had a positive and objective meeting
with all expressing their willingness to find if possible, a win win situation.
To my horror Board members who attended the meeting received a hostile
letter from you (Mr. Alexiou) indicating that we did not have a quorum
and if we persisted with any more meetings there would be legal implications.
“I then began to realize that the situation was
totally out of hand and those fears that I have already expressed with
regard to mistrusts, game playing and the deterioration of friendships
built up over the many years, were rearing their ugly heads.
“I am not accustomed to having my honesty or
integrity questioned, nor am I trying to exonerate myself for perhaps not
being more assertive against what I perceived to be deteriorating friendships,
an emerging negative organizational culture, job insecurities, low morale
and fear.”
ZNS
EDITOR’S INTERESTING REMARKS
On Tuesday 20th September The Tribune reported that Carlton Smith, Deputy
General Manager of the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas made the
point that so long as the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas is owned
by the Government there will be a problem with the Corporation fulfilling
its role as a watchdog for the society in the era of news. We agree
and thought what a refreshing statement to make.
This column advocates the disestablishment of each
and every Government corporation into the hands of the private sector Bahamians,
not now but yesterday. This is what Mr. Smith had to say in his own
words:
“Like the major newspapers the public has always
linked ZNS News to a political party, more specifically the government
of the day. That in itself has compromised the integrity of the organization
and in certain cases journalists. It makes it very difficult for
the public to believe that the Corporation can be impartial, particularly
on political issues.
“Many felt that with the coming of private broadcasting
breaking the monopoly of the Corporation, it would be forced to change
its operation. More than 12 years later it has not happened.
ZNS remains a state run organization that despite the intention of any
government cannot work in the public interest.
“And even though many of the journalists are
relatively young [in private broadcasting], they appear to be working within
a degree of freedom. And while that may seem like an ideal situation,
I believe there is a need for freedom with responsibility.
“… [Journalists] now need to work to restore
the integrity of the profession. We cannot be in bed with politicians,
corporate business executives and other individuals and get the respect
and confidence of the public who depend on us to provide accurate information
to help in their decision making process.
“We cannot demonstrate partisanship in the execution
of our duties if we are going to help improve democracy in our country.
“Journalists in both the print and electronic
media have historically been very vocal about their support for a particular
party and that has and continues to undermine the integrity of the profession.
[The media] is too vital a sector to continue to be used as a transient
stepping stone for those with personal agendas and other aspirations.
It must be seen as the most important entity promoting democracy while
defending the rights of Bahamians.”
Carlton Smith is pictured in this BIS photo in a pensive mood
during a recent seminar.
MEETINGS
WITH THE SOUTH AFRICANS
The first Joint Bi-Lateral Commission meeting between
the Government of South Africa and the Government of The Bahamas took place
in Freeport on Saturday 24th September. The meeting was officially
opened by the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Vincent Peet and the Minister
of Foreign Affairs of South Africa Dr. Nkosasana Zuma.
Dr. Zuma and Foreign Minister Mitchell held bilateral
private discussions and then there was the report of the working groups.
The two later signed a joint declaration in order to advance the objectives
of the two countries in culture, in education, in sports, in health and
in foreign affairs. The photo shows the signing by the two Ministers
in Freeport and is by Derek Carroll.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Isle of Capri
I read with great interest the Mail-Bag regarding
the Isle of Capri Casino in Grand Bahama.
Allow me ma 2 cents.............
It disgusts me to know that a renowned company
such as the Isle of Capri are using their employees as pawns in their chess
game to try to coerce the Government of The Commonwealth of the Bahama
to grant them concessions. What has this nation come to?
Our forefathers fought hard and long to ensure
that Bahamians are treated with dignity and respect from their employers.
I refer to Sir Lynden O. Pindling, in the now famous Bend or Break speech
(regarding Freeport):- “In a city, where regrettably, almost anything goes,
where, promisingly, some economic opportunities have come to Bahamians,
Bahamians are nevertheless still the victims of an unbending social order,
which, if it now refused to bend, must be broken.”
Hear, Hear Sir Lynden… That’s just pathetic
Isle of Capri!
M. Saint
The Nassau Institute
I agree that those Nassau Institute people are
a bunch of yahoos; who told Mr. Lowe that Chavez was a communist?
What the hell is a communist anyway, and what does that have to do with
anything? Word is that Jesus was a communist so it must be a good
thing. Is Mr. Lowe a Christian? I dunno who they are working
for, but I can guess… can't believe they still take us for fools after
all these years. I guess it is because it has only been 38 years
[since Majority Rule]. We must remain vigilant or we will be devoured
by that great serpent.
B. Stephen Saunders
'Gay' Shoes
I am amazed how idle some within our “Christian”
community seems to be, especially considering all the very real and legitimate
problems that we face as a country and as a people. One would think
that they would channel their energy and resources to dealing with many
of the significant social challenges we face.
Where is the dialogue and resolve on matters
such as crime; poverty; child abuse and incest; partner abuse; rampant
corruption at all levels; alcohol and drug abuse and dependency; poor education;
parental neglect; our diminishing Bahamian male; and the list goes on and
on and on. To my mind, these are very real issue that the so-called
Christian community should be marshalling their considerable resources
to combat.
Instead, what do we have over and over again:
A call to wipe out homosexuality every time we are confronted with the
reality (or even the perception) that there are actually homosexual individuals
in our midst! Imagine that: We have gay people in the Bahamas!
Oh, the shock and horror of it all!
Never mind that this is not a new phenomenon
- even the oldest Bahamian could tell you of people they always knew were
gay when they were growing up. Never mind that homosexuality is NOT
a disease that you can catch or that you can infect somebody with.
Never mind that the vast majority of homosexual people (like the vast majority
of heterosexual people) are law-abiding, productive and decent citizens
who are wonderfully and positively engaged with their families, friends,
communities and neighbourhoods. Never mind that even if you personally
think it is wrong, it gives you no right to condemn other persons for their
choices in respect to their intimate affairs – so long as they interact
with other accepting adults. Never mind and homosexuality and pedophilia
are two wholly separate things – of course, to the “crusaders”, every gay
person is waiting in the wings to prey on children.
Despite all this, because we have an admitted
lesbian teen queen and some girls wearing “mannish” shoes, now all of a
sudden we have a crisis of homosexuality in our midst – for which we must
be called to arms to “save our country”. Puhleez!!!!
The only “new” development regarding the issue
of homosexuality in the Bahamas is indeed a welcome one: We have
gay persons who have been brave enough to come forward and to ask only
that our gay community be afforded the right to live without fear of discrimination
or violence directed toward them because of the life choice. And
I believe that our fear as Bahamians is that when we look into the faces
of our gay friends, cousins, uncles, co-workers, teachers, pastors and
politicians, we will find that there is nothing there to demonize.
We will be looking into the faces of people who are all too ordinary -
people just like us and it will force us actually to change our minds and
to deal with reality.
Our country has real problems that do require
our collective response. But as long as we pursue canards and waste
our time on pseudo-issues, we will never be able to have the sensible dialogue
and discussion to address our many concerns.
Marlon S. Johnson
THE COB
DILEMMA
The press has reported that so far only two people
both Bahamians and both present employees of the College of The Bahamas
have applied for the job of President of the College. The Board is
now thought to be considering opening the presidency up to non Bahamians.
We have a suggestion: why not ask Leon Higgs to take the job back, since
it was felt in many, many quarters and high up ones at that, that it was
wrong to let him go in the first place.
FIBRE
OPTIC CABLE FOR BIMINI
Minister of Works & Utilities Bradley Roberts
was in Bimini this past week to herald the beginning of construction for
a six million dollar fibre optic submarine communications cable for the
island. The cable will have the capacity to host tens of thousands
of simultaneous telephone conversations, replacing one which can currently
host only a hundred and twenty conversations. The new system will
also have the capacity for BTC (formerly BaTelCo) to provide GSM cellular
phone service and DSL high speed Internet to Bimini. The Minister
called it a “red letter day”.
From left are Kirk Griffin, BTC Northern Bahamas
senior vice president; Leon Williams, BTC senior vice president and chief
operating officer; Judy Barry, office manager BTC Bimini; Minister Roberts,
Tasha Bullard-Rolle, Bimini’s Chief Councillor; and Robbie Smith, Deputy
Chief Councillor; shown with a cable-laying ship in the background as BTC
executives toured the site on the coastline where the BTC submarine fibre
optic cable makes landfall in Alice Town, Bimini. BIS Photo: Tim
Aylen
A BAHAMIAN
ABROAD
Grand Bahamian Eldin Ferguson III is making a name
in the world of football. The senior receiver for the Jacksonville
Dolphins finished a game yesterday with four catches for 100 yards, including
a program-record three touchdowns, as the Dolphins defeated Butler, 55-21,
Saturday afternoon in the 2005 season opener. Eldin is the elder
son of Eldin and Sharon Ferguson of Fort Lauderdale, Freeport and Fox Hill.
Eldin is pictured, centre, after the game with his
coach Steve Gilbert, centre right, and supporters Keino Cambridge, left
and godfather Stephen Francis, second from left. At right is the
defensive player of yesterday’s game Bernard Opoku. Word is that
young Eldin’s record has caught the attention of scouts in the game.
WILCHCOMBE
AT 'MIDWIFERY TODAY'
Acting Minister of Health and Minister of Tourism the Hon. Obie Wilchcombe
posing,on September 23, with midwifery honorees at the opening ceremony
of the “Midwifery Today” Conference. Also pictured, from left, are
retired Senior Nursing Officer and midwifery educator Rev. Dr. Gloria D.
Ferguson, the first Bahamian midwifery educator Mrs. Esmeralda Rutherford
and retired / re-engaged Trained Clinical Nurse / Midwife Mrs. Frances
Patricia Thurston. The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with
the Public Hospitals Authority, “Midwifery Today” magazine and the Midwives
of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas held the event, under the theme “Honouring
Our Midwifery Heritage.” More than 15 government ministries, departments
and healthcare stakeholder organizations, including the Nurses’ Association
of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, contributed to the hosting of the event.
(BIS photo: Derek Smith.)
CARMICHAEL
KIDS PARTY WITH JOHN CAREY
Member of Parliament for Carmichael Mr. John Carey
recently hosted a party for all the children in the Carmichael Constituency
at the Flamingo Gardens Park. The children were treated to a good
old Bahamian time where they were able to enjoy an afternoon in the park
with their Member of Parliament.
Carey reminisced about his childhood days when he
looked forward to social gatherings and parties which all contributed positively
to his development as a child. “These kinds of social outings are what
brings us closer together as a community and I look forward to doing more
of these activities in the future in Carmichael”, said Carey. The
next major activity planned for the Carmichael Constituency by the Member
of Parliament is the 2nd Annual Carmichael Community Festival which will
be held in November. In this photo MP Carey takes time out for his
own hamburger.
"STAND
UP FOR JESUS" URGES DPM
Anglican Church Women of the Pro-Cathedral Church of Christ The King celebrated
their 35th year on Saturday 17th September with their Ninth Annual Prayer
Breakfast at which Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security,
the Hon. Dr. Cynthia “Mother” Pratt urged the ACW to “Stand up for Jesus”.
Noting that there was special relevance to our times
in the event’s theme, ‘We Have Come This Far By Faith’, the Deputy Prime
Minister said there is “A need to humble ourselves because there was a
problem with humility in the church which was being watched by the ‘sinner
man’ who needed to be brought to Christ. The Deputy Prime Minister
called for interdenominational respect: “whether it be Baptists, Methodists,
Anglicans, Pentecostals, whatever, we have one commonality: Jesus Christ
is Lord, and I want us to respect one another, because we are all people
of God.”
Mrs. Dorothea Gomez is President of the Christ The
King’s Anglican Church Women and her 35th Celebrations Committee are: Betty
Nixon, Chairwoman; Cynthia Cooper, Augusta Webb, Dell Higgs, Florence Deveaux,
Brenda Sands, Valderine Lockhart, Sandra McPhee and Verlene Palacious.
Deputy Prime Minister Pratt, (second from left, is shown as she receives
a gift from ACW members. From left are Mrs. Dorothea Gomez, ACW President,
Mrs. Pratt; Ellen Major, ACW Vice President; and Canon Harry Bain, Rector
of the Pro-Cathedral of Christ The King.
Bahamas Information Services photo: Vandyke Hepburn
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Cafe Martinique Again...
Prime Minister Perry Christie and Mrs. Christie were on Paradise Island
Saturday 24th September for the reopening of the landmark gourmet restaurant
'Cafe Martinique'. The eatery was closed during the Kerzners' redevelopment
of Paradise Island, but is now being brought back. The Christie are
pictured above at the reopening with the Kerzners, proprietors of Kerzner
International and former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and Mrs. Ingraham.
At left, Prime Minister Christie regales the gathering. Photos:
Tim Aylen
Earlier in the week, the Prime Minister, received
a courtesy call from members of the Clifton Heritage Authority, the government
agency charged with the redevelopment of the Clifton Heritage site on the
south-western tip of New Providence. The property, an old Bahamian
plantation which features ruins significant to the history of all ethnic
groups in The Bahamas, was the subject of fierce public debate during the
last election when the former Government proposed to allow its development
as an upscale housing community. It is now to be developed for broad
community use. From left are Pericles Maillis, member, Clifton Heritage
Authority; Dr. James Miller, former chief archaeologist to the State of
Florida and archaeological consultant to the Clifton Heritage Authority;
Mr. Colin Brooker, Historic Architect and Building Conservationist, Brooker
& Associates, South Carolina, consultants to the Clifton Heritage Authority;
Prime Minister Christie; Sean McWeeney, Chairman, Clifton Heritage Authority;
Mr. Ken Dorsett, Deputy Chairman; and Dr. Keith Tinker, Executive Secretary,
Clifton Heritage Authority.
Bahamas Information Services photo: Peter Ramsay
PHOTO
OF THE WEEK - Briquel Sherman is obviously daddy’s girl. She is
now back home in The Bahamas after a frightening ordeal at the New Orleans
Superdome, following Hurricane Katrina. For a long time, she was
thought to be the only victim of the storm that was Bahamian. That turned
out not to be the case, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now said
to have a list of persons who claim to need help. Another victim
identified himself to the public in a press conference held by the Commissioner
of Police on Tuesday 6th September. He is a constable Wellington
Saunders (inset picture) who is studying Computer Information Systems with
networking. He had to paddle his way to safety on a refrigerator
door for two hours. The Government has offered to help those who
are in distress to get back home and some immediate emergency aid.
The United States, however, is so organized that most Bahamians once they
got on terra firma they are able to make their way to The Bahamas without
the aid of the Bahamas Government. The cases then of real distress
should be few and far between. But Ms. Sherman told a frightening
story of the disintegration of the conditions within the Superdome, with
men pulling at her in all directions. Thankfully she is home safe,
and she told her story to the Nassau Guardian. Her father though
was glad to have her back in his arms and that is the photo that the Nassau
Guardian published on Wednesday 7th September by Donald Knowles.
We think that it is the photo of the week.
