bahamasuncensored.com
SEPTEMBER 2006
Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every
Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 4 © BahamasUncensored.Com 2006
While material on this web site can be used freely by other sections of
the press, as a courtesy, journalists are asked to attribute the source
of their material from this web site.
10th September, 2006
17th September, 2006
24th September, 2006
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|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - No
one saw the deed done. It was however the flavour of the week in
all of the newspapers. We do not believe that it deserves the notoriety
that it got. However, this column is really a reflection of what
the public sources of news found of most interest to them and their readers
during the week. Unfortunately, they found the extradition on Monday
28th August of Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles after six years on remand and fighting
extradition to the United States to be of most interest. Everyday,
the newspapers were filled with detailed and explicit coverage of the drug
criminal who many police claim has ordered the murder of those who opposed
him. His legal minders also spilled their spleens in public accusing
the Government of every description of misdeed when in fact they dropped
the ball. Perhaps their fear is that Mr. Knowles will now find that
he did not get his money’s worth from them and will seek revenge on them.
Nevertheless, Mr. Knowles is now in Miami, Florida to face drug charges.
The first appearance took place on Friday 1st August. Let justice
prevail. And so we think that it is entirely wrong but the photo
of the week is one of those file photos of the convicted drug criminal
Samuel Knowles as he was led in or out of the courts in Nassau. Nassau
Guardian file photo. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE SAGA OF NINETY KNOWLES
It
appears that some time on the morning of Monday 28th August, 2006 an order
was signed and delivered at Her Majesty's Prison by the Minister of Foreign
Affairs Fred Mitchell, who is also the Minister responsible for Extraditions.
The Prison no doubt did what it had to do, and that particular order it
appears led to the transport of Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles out of The Bahamas
to face trial on charges related to the importation of drugs into the United
States. Mr. Knowles had earlier been convicted in The Bahamas of
a drug offence for which he was sentenced and served 18 months. His
extradition to the United States is in our view justice at its best.
Last week, Progressive Liberal Party members led by Prime Minister
Perry Christie stood on the public grounds in the nation’s capital to reaffirm
with the Christian community that they believed in family values.
There were thousands of people gathered there who signed a petition to
cause parliament they say to pass a constitutional amendment to define
marriage as the union of a man with a woman. Notwithstanding the
fact that there is no pressing public policy issue with regard to that,
thousands turned out.
What is of pressing public policy concern is the report that there
has been a 20 percent increase in the abuse of children in The Bahamas
within the past year. We also know that alcoholism, spousal abuse,
domestic violence, (fully half the homicides are from domestic arguments);
drug abuse and drug sale and transportation through The Bahamas continue
to be serious problems. We know that there is corruption that is
associated with human smuggling and drug trafficking through this country.
One would have thought that the country would have galvanized its
voice to say well done then to the Government for striking a blow for the
good guys in extraditing a notorious drug lord and ridding this country
of that scourge.
One would have thought that the newspapers who are so high and mighty
about how we must rid ourselves of corruption, who claimed not two weeks
ago that The Bahamas Government and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in
particular was in the employ of the Cuban Government would in fact now
recognize that the Government of The Bahamas and the Minister are in no
one’s employ. The Government and the Minister simply act in what
is in the best interests of The Bahamas. The Minister has been right
in every public act that he has taken on behalf of this country.
Yet the nay saying continues.
Instead of kudos, however, what we got in the newspapers was sensational
headlines, and accusations by lawyers who were embarrassed that they did
not in fact do their jobs. What we got was rabble rousing by going
into the constituency of Alfred Sears, the Minister of Education in whose
constituency Mr. Knowles resided, inciting the residents there to talk
about what a good man he was because he gave away free gifts at Christmas
time. They even spoke to his mother and she said that he was not
given time to tidy up his affairs. One press report said that his
wife was visiting at the prison at the time that he was taken away and
that she was left in tears.
There were no tears left for those who died from the drugs he sold.
There were no tears for those whose lives were snuffed out by his
activities. There was no time for them to tidy up their affairs.
There should be no tears left for Ninety Knowles.
It is an entirely false argument to seek to blame the Government
for carrying out the law and the requirements of the Extradition treaty.
One of his lawyers was quoted in press as saying that he was served
with a copy of the order at around midday, and that he prepared an affidavit
to move the court and went up to the prison but when he got there at 2:
30 p.m. preparations were being made to take Mr. Knowles away and he was
unable to get access to him. That is strange because any lawyer worth
his salt would know that you do not need any process to move a court on
an emergency basis. All you need to do is to move the Judge.
A judge carries his jurisdiction with him anywhere and if an application
is of sufficient urgency, you simply head straight to courts, without papers
and move the court. There was no report of any attempt to move the
court; there was no report of any attempt to contact the attorney general’s
office to indicate that one was contemplated.
While high paid lawyers have the luxury of waiting, hoping that the
delay can be to their client’s advantage, the Government it would seem
to us has a public interest in ensuring that the law is carried out.
The newspaper reports say that Mr. Knowles departed the country at 4 p.m.
on Monday. If the time line then of the lawyers is accepted, they
had from 12 noon until 4 p.m. to do something about the matter and they
did nothing. What they now do in retrospect is blame the Government
for their own negligence.
The press has been full of foolish comment about the Minister of
Foreign Affairs not commenting on these matters. Again, the ignorance
of the press is appalling. For the information of the Nassau Guardian’s
editorial writer on Friday 1st September, their own newspaper quoted extensively
from police Superintendent Hulan Hanna on the matter in their edition of
Tuesday 29th August. The press presumably had access to the police
spokesman for the entire week. Again what the press wants to do is
to get the Minister involved in a public tit for tat to sell more newspapers
with the only benefit being not to justice or the public interest but simply
to the bottom line and the profits of their shareholders.
The press is unethical in the extreme. Their writers write
as if this is a play of some kind with one set of stupid ideas being spun
out after another. For example, there has been printed in the press
that there is some kind of dispute between the Attorney General Allyson
Gibson and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell. There is
no evidence of such a thing. Yet after appearing in the down market
Punch, it now appears in the mainstream press as if it is fact. This
is a sad state of affairs indeed.
Another reporter does not even understand that it is unethical for
him to be writing any stories connected with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
having regard to his recent antecedents.
No one from the Christian Council, not one of those preachers gathered
there last week to protect family values were in evidence to say, we (the
society) have done the right thing. Instead the voices of evil and
their lawyers were busy at it in the press, seeking to sully the name of
the government and its agents.
Surely, if this kind of week kneed supplication in the face of criminal
conduct is continued, we, The Bahamas, will reap a whirlwind!
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 2nd September 2006 at
midnight: 83,363.
Number of hits for the month of August up to Thursday 31st August
2006 at midnight: 296,115.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 2nd September 2006
at midnight: 3,257,610.
Stan Burnside's
'Sideburns' from The Nassau Guardian 30th August, 2006
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
THE
CONSTITUENCIES COMMISSION
The Constituencies Commission has been established
pursuant to Article 70 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
The Commission has as its Chair the Speaker of the House of Assembly Oswald
Ingraham, the Minister of Works Bradley Roberts and Philip Davis representing
the Progressive Liberal Party (Government), the Free National Movement
(Opposition) is represented by its Deputy Leader Brent Symonette; the Supreme
Court Justice on the Commission is Stephen Isaacs.
Under the constitution, the Commission is established
to review the number of constituencies in The Bahamas for the purposes
of holding elections every five years. The Commission is to review
the number of voters and be guided by the general consideration that the
constituencies are more or less equal. This is to ensure that each
voter in each constituency carries the same weight as another voter in
another constituency. The Commission is also to take into account
the special considerations such as the needs of sparsely populated areas,
practicability of elected members maintaining contact with electors in
such areas, size, physical features, natural boundaries and geographical
isolation.
The Constitution says that there is to be a minimum
of 38 constituencies in the country. At present there are 40 seats.
Some believe that this should be increased or decreased to an odd number
to avoid a problem for the Governor General if there is a tie at an election.
The registration of voters is going on now for the new register which will
come into force in December of this year. The next election will
be fought on the new register.
The question always is do you divide the constituencies
on the basis of those who are registered to vote or those who are entitled
to vote; that is all persons over 18. When the PLP led the protests
that led to the throwing of the Mace out of the window of the House of
Assembly on Black Tuesday 27th Aril 1965, they made the point that it should
be based on the total number of eligible voters. It is not known
what the party’s position is today.
The constituencies in New Providence are more or
less 3500 voters. With the increase in the total number of electors
over 18, this could probably safely go up to 6000 as it is in Grand Bahama.
All other constituencies in the Family Islands are likely to remain the
same with the possible exception of Abaco where some of the islands that
are equidistant between Abaco and Grand Bahama may now be attached to Grand
Bahama. Further, the constituency of MICAL, the Mayaguana, Inagua,
Acklins, Crooked Island and Long Cay seat may be broken up having regard
to the previous objections of the PLP to the geography of this constituency
as it relates to a single representative.
Substantial changes are expected in New Providence
particularly as it relates to constituencies in the western end of the
island where there has been significant growth in the population outwards
from the city areas. The thinking may be also that the St. Margaret’s
Constituency will disappear since it was an unnatural creation by Hubert
Ingraham's administration to cause former Deputy Prime Minister and now
Governor General Arthur Hanna to lose his seat. The country awaits
the Commission’s deliberations.
IN PASSING
West Andros Nature Preserve
The Nature Conservancy wants the western side of Andros, the country’s
largest island that is in fact larger than the island of Trinidad to become
a reservation for the protection of its flora and fauna. We support
the idea. The way of life in The Bahamas is today supported by what
is produced from Andros, its water, the crabs just to name a few.
At present there are just about 10,000 people who live on the island but
each year development is coming that is already affecting the returns on
crabs for example. The Government should act today.
The Minister of Works
There isn’t a week that goes by when some new public works project
is being announced, whether the construction of a seawall in the islands
and in New Providence, public docks, roads and repairs to schools, airports
and bridges. We say there has not been such an aggressive public
works programme in the history of country as now under the leadership of
Bradley Roberts.
BTC and Privatization
The private sector telephone company Indigo is attacking the publicly
owned telephone company BTC for refusing to provide the international connection
for its service out of and into Abaco. BTC has responded that the
connection is not economically feasible. Indigo says that the Public
Utilities Commission is taking a hands off attitude and therefore is making
the telecommunications sector anti competitive. BTC has introduced
a number of new services over the past three months including Blackberry
Service, and soon will introduce its own form of Voice Over Internet Protocol
called VIBE to compete with Vonage and other services that have eroded
into its base. It has announced that the GSM cellular service will
be the only service available after 2008. The company is expected
to make a profit of 34 million dollars this year. Some argue that
this is a case against privatization. The case for privatization
continues to exist. There needs to be more competition and the Bahamian
public should share in the ownership of the company. The quality
of the service at BTC still leaves much to be desired.
Prison Overcrowding
Prison Superintendent Elliston Rahming told an international conference
in The Bahamas on crime being held during the past week that there are
still too many people in prison that should not be there. He argued
again for reducing the number of people on remand and using creative sentencing
to reduce the prison population.
Opening Of Schools
Tomorrow most public schools in the country will be open for business
following an eight week summer break. The Minister of Education Alfred
Sears has done a yeoman’s job in seeking to make sure things start on time
and that the school properties are in reasonable shape. He announced
last week that some 20 million dollars has been spent in school repairs
to get the schools ready for this year.
Philip Poitier Dies
Well known basketball player Philip ‘Cabbage’ Poitier was buried yesterday
in the Western Cemetery following a funeral service at St. Francis Catholic
Cathedral in Nassau. He was 55 years old at the time of his death.
Mr. Poitier was a graduate of the class of 1967 of St. Augustine’s College
and played with the leading basketball team of his era the Kentucky Colonels.
He is survived by a wife and two sons, his parents Mr. and Mrs. Reginald
Poitier. Reginald Poitier is the only surviving brother of film legend
Sir Sidney Poitier, who flew from Los Angeles to attend the funeral.
GALANIS
ANSWERS WILCHCOMBE
Senator Philip Galanis (PLP) has taken issue with comments reported in
the press and attributed to the Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe about
the ongoing dispute in Freeport about the new Chairman of the Grand Bahama
Port Authority Hannes Babak. Senator Galanis (pictured) has consistently
opposed the appointment since it was announced and has repeatedly asked
for the Government to consider some form of intervention in Freeport.
In this he is supported by the vast majority of the licensees of the Port.
The licensees who support Senator Galanis' position
argue that Mr. Babak is in a position of conflict of interest since he
owns businesses that are also licensees of the Grand Bahama Port Authority
that is itself the licensing Authority for Grand Bahama. The Minister
has disagreed saying that the Grand Bahama Port Authority is a private
company.
Senator Galanis has pointed out that the Port is
in fact governed by the Hawksbill Creek Agreement and therefore is subject
to public law. Its decisions are reviewable under public law principles.
The Minister also said that when he was asked by the late Chairman Edward
St. George about which Bahamian could serve on the Board of the Grand Bahama
Port Authority this presented a problem for him. The backlash to
the comments was fierce. Senator Galanis immediately responded.
Some are now wondering whether this is good for the PLP.
Here is what Senator Galanis said in his own words:
[Minister Wilchcombe compared the Port Authority’s relationship with
the Government as similar to that of Kerzner international, which runs
Atlantis at Paradise Island]
“As far as I am aware, Mr. Kerzner is not empowered by any agreement
with government to grant licenses for businesses to operate on Paradise
Island or New Providence as the Grand Bahama Port Authority is in Freeport.
Comparing these two investments is patently like comparing apples and oranges...
“While I agree with the minister that training the future workforce
is important, I find it most puzzling that Mr. Wilchcombe could find it
difficult to think of any Grand Bahamians today who could do a stellar
job at the GBPA, especially in view of the fact that there were three Grand
Bahamian professionals who were on the panel at the town meeting last Tuesday
and many more business and professional persons in the audience who are
adequately qualified.
“Does he have such little faith in the capabilities of our people?
If so, I would like to suggest he look a bit more closely at the talented
and skilful men and women in our Bahamas.”
FNMS
WEIGH IN ON GRAND BAHAMA
The Free National Movement agents had their say
about the comments of Minister Obie Wilchcombe with regard to Grand Bahama.
Among the comments is one from Zhivargo Laing, who has abandoned his pretence
at being a born again Christian, devoted only to the Lord (we said at the
time that we didn’t believe it for one moment) and is now back into politics
full time. We knew that as soon as his political daddy Hubert Ingraham
came back, he would be back into the arena. This time he has been
promised the Marco City nomination by Mr. Ingraham to go up against Pleasant
Bridgewater, the PLP incumbent.
Mr. Laing has low credibility because of his flip
flop between religion and politics but in his column this week, he addressed
the issue of what the Minister had said. Here is what he said in
his own words. They were published in his column in The Tribune on
Thursday 31st August. Mr. Laing lost his job as consultant for the
Port Authority at the princely sum of $10,000 per month:
“Senator Philip Galanis was absolutely correct to chastise Minister
Obie Wilchcombe for his comments that criticizing recent management decisions
at the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) might be sending the wrong message
to foreign investors…
“No foreign investor in The Bahamas has this kind of power and control
over any territory in The Bahamas. In fact, it was the existence
of such sweeping powers over Freeport that led the Royal Commission upon
review of the operations of the GBPA to conclude that it was not strictly
a private entity but in fact was I many ways a quasi government entity…
“Something is going on here, my friend, and it is time to find out
what! Why are the legitimate concerns of Bahamians being minimized
by their representative in favour of the mysterious behavior of the Grand
Bahama Port Authority?...
“It is just incredible that Minister Wilchcombe confessed having
difficulty naming for the late Edward St. George Grand Bahamians to sit
on the Port Authority’s Board…”
ARTHUR
FOULKES ON GBPA
The flavour of the week for the commentators seemed to be the words of
Minister Obie Wilchcombe on the Grand Bahama Port Authority. The
Tribune columnist Sir Arthur Foulkes weighed in as well with his ten cents
on the comments of Minister Wilchcombe reported above. Here is what
he had to say in his own words. They were published in his column
in The Tribune of Tuesday 29th August 2006:
“What an extraordinary thing for a minister of the Government to
say! After all, the Port Authority is a great deal more than just another
private company.
“It is an entity that shares in the governing of the nationals of
the second city that affects the interests of thousands of Bahamian licensees
and workers in Freeport and the lives of many more Bahamians living in
Grand Bahama and throughout the country…
“Mr. Wilchcombe was even more revealing when he recalled a conversation
he had with the late Edward St. George. He said he had asked Mr.
St. George why Grand Bahamians could not play a role on the Board.
“When Mr. St. George asked him to name one, “it created a problem
for me, to tell you the truth.” The people of Grand Bahama and Bimini
and the rest of The Bahamas will no doubt remember that when they go to
the polls to vote in the next election”
(Editor’s Note: We believe in its proper context the problem for
the Minister was only which Grand Bahamian he should name without causing
a political problem for himself and the Government.)
FORMER
US AMBASSADOR INTERFERES
If The Bahamas Government has not already done so, it should do so and
quickly. It needs to clarify from the Government of the United States
whether or not Richard Blankenship speaks for it in The Bahamas.
In the last week, Mr. Blankenship made some rather unfortunate interventions
into the internal politics of The Bahamas, and had he been a diplomat he
would have been chucked out.
The Bahamas should now consider whether or not in
the circumstances of Mr. Blankenship's continued interference in the internal
affairs of The Bahamas he ought to be allowed to return to The Bahamas
and should not be declared persona non grata and put on the stop list.
The first recent intervention was some stupid statement that The Tribune
used to suggest that pressure was being put on The Bahamas by the United
States government in the extradition of Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles.
Then when the extradition took place he is quoted in the Tribune again
saying how the U.S. thanked Allyson Maynard Gibson for putting pressure
on the Government to extradite Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles.
Richard Blankenship also said that Mrs. Maynard
Gibson’s stock had risen to such an extent that she was a future Deputy
Prime Minister or Prime Minister. The fact that Mrs. Maynard Gibson
was that in any event and that he was in fact endangering rather than enhancing
her chances by his inappropriate comments never occurred to this man who
must be considered a political malaprop. The Bahamas must therefore
determine from the U.S. who exactly does he speak for.
We expect nothing out of The Tribune but an attempt
to slander the PLP and malign Black people and The Bahamas. Their
use of Richard Blankenship to this end is consistent with their programme.
We do not think that the U.S Government should however be unwittingly used
as a part of that scheme.
Stan Burnside's 'Sideburns': Nassau Guardian 2nd Sept. 2006
US
AMBASSADOR SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT
United States Ambassador John Rood spoke with the press of The Bahamas
with regard to the case of Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles. His remarks were
published in The Nassau Guardian of Saturday 2nd September 2006.
Here is what had to say in his own words:
“Since I have been here there has been no pressure from the United
States on The Bahamas relating to this extradition. We respect the
Bahamian judicial system, we respect its ability to go through the process
with respect to our request for extradition and we are obviously pleased
that after six years, the process has been completed and the individual
who was requested has been extradited and that he was sent to the United
States to face trial.”
THINGS
THAT MAKE YOU GO, HMMM
We have it on good authority that a senior diplomat
and senior opposition figure recently flew together up to Abaco together.
A tradition of Bahamian public affairs has always been that politics stops
at the border. One wonders. Things that make you go, hmmm…
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Museums & Antiquities
Among the Prime Minister's engagements this past
week was a regular meeting with the Government's Museums & Antiquities
Board. Among those pictured with Mr. Christie are from Director of
Culture Dr. Nicollette Bethel (partially hidden at left) Owen Bethel and
Director General of Tourism Vernice Walkine.
Farm Tour
Prime Minister and Mrs. Christie this past week toured the operations
of Goodfellow Farms with the proprietors. Mr. and Mrs. Christie and
their daughter Alex are shown checking out the produce in the farm's 'country
kitchen'. From left are Ian and Karin Goodfellow; Alex, Mrs. and Mr. Christie
and Orjan Lindroth.
Bahamas Information Services photos by Peter Ramsay
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to the top of the page.
|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - Wealthy
Gomez was the mother of the Archbishop Drexel Gomez, the first Bahamian
Anglican archbishop in the history of the Anglican Church in The Bahamas.
She died last week and was buried at St. Agnes Anglican Church on Wednesday
6th September. Mrs. Gomez was a personality in her own right.
She was a leader of the Elks and a well known contributor to that cause
and to the cause of Anglicanism in The Bahamas. What with a
son who is the leading Doctor in HIV/AIDS in the Caricom region Dr. Perry
Gomez and an Archbishop as another son, another son the Chief Magistrate
Roger Gomez, a grandson a Senator Damien Gomez, you can imagine all the
mucks who showed up to the funeral service, led by the Governor General
Arthur Hanna, the Prime Minister and the Members of his cabinet.
Peter Ramsay was there and the marching mourners is our photo of the week. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Imagine you are a PLP supporter. You are aware that the PLP
was out of office for ten lonely years prior to 2002. You know also
that the economy of The Bahamas has performed better than it ever has since
you came back to power. You know that the polls reveal that there
is strong support for the PLP, and there is a problem with the new and
at the same time old leader of the Opposition Free National Movement, and
yet the PLP appears in these best of times by its silence to be on the
defensive.
Defensive over what? On Monday 28th August, a convicted drug
trafficker in The Bahamas Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles was surrendered to be
extradited to the United States of America. The press in The Bahamas
reported that he landed in the United States some time that evening or
in the early hours of the next morning. The press and his lawyers
have been whipping up a barrage of propaganda, one of them saying that
the Minister of Foreign Affairs is in contempt of court and that the Court
is to be put in the awkward position of sending the Minister to jail.
Until a brief statement reported in the Bahama Journal by the Prime
Minister in which he said that he had no concern over the political fallout
on the matter, no government spokesman had a word to say about the matter.
The Prime Minister’s comment was right on target and it settled the troops.
This is what we argue all the time. The PLP has to say something
because it gives the ammunition to the troops and arms them with the arguments
when they are defending the party and its actions.
It is probably not to be expected that the Minister himself would
defend himself but it appears that this is the politics of The Bahamas.
The presumption it appears is that the Minister somehow did something wrong,
and so no voice will come forward from his own side and simply say that
in extraditing Samuel Knowles to the United States, it was the right thing
and it sent a message to this community that drugs will not pay.
Instead, we seemed mired down in the minutia of whether or not the
Minister was right. There have also been the most vicious attacks
on the attorney general. No one, not one soul has come to defend
her position either. Instead, we hear silence. In the face
of that what are PLPs to think? Maybe, just maybe there must be something
to this din going on in the public. The FNM are just a set of carpetbaggers,
trying to grab a hold of the issue from any side they can. This time,
they argued that the Attorney General should not have published her advice
to the Minister in the press and then they turned that into Ministers disagreeing
with one another in public. First, the AG did not publish her advice
in the press and secondly, there was no fight that there was any evidence
of anyway in public. All propaganda and nonsense. Yet not one
word from the PLP in defence of its own side.
In fact, we make one exception that we would not normally pay any
attention and that is the former attorney Ortland Bodie who wrote in the
Nassau Guardian, the only defence of the position, and this time he has
gotten it right. The fact is that the Privy Council ruled that Mr.
Knowles had reached the last mile of the way, and in the absence of a stay
in the matter, the Minister was bound in law to act. It is as simple
as that it would seem to us.
What comes next after the minister acts is a matter for the attorneys
of Mr. Knowles acting as they should have to defend his position.
Instead, we have one excuse after another by the lawyers of Mr. Knowles
about why they didn’t get done what they no doubt promised Mr. Knowles.
They ought to have headed to court and filed an action to stop the warrant
of surrender from taking effect. In fact, they did nothing.
They did not even call or contact the Attorney General's office to insist
that they withhold their hand until such time as a formal action could
be filed. Ninety Knowles’ lawyers did nothing. Now they are
all in the press making the most outrageous noises about contempt hearings
and threatening law abiding public officials with jail because they (the
lawyers) simply failed to do their work. In some professions that
is called negligence.
It is also interesting that these same lawyers who have such vast
legal knowledge say that they have a matter before the courts on this issue,
yet despite the sub judice rule, which prohibits the discussion of matters
before the court in the public domain, the lawyers are busy poisoning the
well by prejudging what a judge is going to do in a matter that they hope
to raise on the very case before the judge. We trust that when it
comes to a defence of the Minister that the office of the Attorney General
will remember that fact.
But this is yet another example of the complaint that we have made
in this column over and over again about the PLP and how it goes about
defending itself. It appears that it has lost its political voice.
No one, it appears, is willing simply to fight back. It is very often
left to the individual ministers to fight their own way through a thicket
of what is largely a political attack. The attacks in this matter
are all the more vicious when it comes from people who are PLPs.
One lawyer is the son of a PLP stalwart, the other lawyer is a PLP Senator
and yet that has not restrained them one bit from making statements that
surely damage a larger cause and do not serve well the interests of the
party.
The press itself must come in for some special condemnation.
We believe it was the Minister of Foreign Affairs who made the comment
while speaking in Fox Hill last Sunday that this matter is being covered
by them as if this is some kind of soap opera. On Thursday 7th September,
the Nassau Guardian reported that Attorney General Allyson Gibson had accepted
close protection from the Bahamas Government because of a threat against
her life. The Guardian tried to get the spokesman for the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs to comment about similar reports on the Minister of
Foreign Affairs. It seems clear to us that the more this matter is
played up and discussed in the public domain, the more the press itself
makes these two public officials targets for some crazy to come and do
something foolish.
The headline that we used today is taken from the movie of the same
name. They say that lambs when they are going to the slaughter do
not resist, do not protest, they simply are silent. If the PLP does
not wake up soon and get a grip of itself, PLPs may well find themselves
silent for the last time.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 9th September 2006 at
midnight: 73,237.
Number of hits for the month of September up to Saturday 9th September
2006 at midnight: 90,970.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 9th September 2006
at midnight: 3,330,847.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
COVERAGE
OF THE SCHOOL OPENING
There is a certain sickness of mind that has infected the Bahamian media,
particularly now that the election season is upon us. Let’s concentrate
on the negative. Let’s ignore the positive. The old adage good
news is not news is certainly at the front and centre of the policies of
the newspapers of The Bahamas. The newspapers in The Bahamas of course
have a political agenda so it is not surprising what they print.
The Tribune on Monday 4th September claimed that this was the worst school
opening in years. They were following the debunked leader of the
FNM the hopeless Tommy Turnquest around the schools with that line.
There was no evidence to support Mr. Turnquest’s wrong information.
What is really surprising is ZNS and the kind of
negativism that infects them as well. Nothing demonstrated this more
during the past week than the coverage of the opening of the school year
by the media in The Bahamas and in particular ZNS radio and TV. Let
us be clear, we believe that the Minister of Education Alfred Sears has
done a good job in getting the schools ready for the new year. In
this, he has had able assistance from Bradley Roberts, the Minister of
Works. Mr. Roberts announced just this week the finishing touches
left undone by the FNM on the Dame Doris Johnson School. You may
click
here for his remarks on that occasion.
Mr. Sears was on ZNS radio and TV and on the scene
at the schools personally looking after and trying to make sure that things
went right. The Ministry’s statistics show that 98.7 per cent of
the schools were ready on time something like 152 schools out of the 155
schools that the Ministry had to repair throughout the system. Of
course, even ZNS chose to look at the negative. It is amazing in
a country that has the sloppiest values throughout both public and private
sector in terms of time and the dispatch and efficiency with which it does
anything could possibly complain about the Minister and the schools not
opening on time. This society is simply slow and inefficient.
It is in the culture. Yet we must try to defeat this.
Mr. Sears got call after call from Bahamians listening
to him on ZNS radio’s Steve McKinney talk show on Monday 4th September.
He got high praise. But that was not good enough for the quarrelsome
Ida Poitier, one of the sister ugly act views that run the Bahamas Union
of Teachers. Then there was the headmistress of C. R. Walker who
all she could do was complain about the fact that there looked to be overcrowding
because people did not register their children in time.
Shenique Miller, the ZNS News Anchor, started off
her newscast by saying that despite what the Minister said, the reaction
to the opening of the school year was mixed and then proceeded with one
negative report after the next. Vonique Toote in her report negatively
portraying the opening of the schools said that the Ministry officials
were not available to comment. Amazing, the Minister of Education
himself was actually in the ZNS studio from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the same
day of her report so we wonder what Ministry official was not available
for comment since the main Ministry official was on the radio in her own
radio studio on that same day answering questions about the schools.
Ms. Toote could easily have gone into the studio and asked the Minister
the question herself.
We say again, the PLP must find a solution to all
of his negativism. One solution is to simply ignore this crew and
develop your own ability to get directly to the people. We’ll see
but something must be done. Once again congratulations to Alfred
Sears, the Minister of Education for a job well done.
Minister of Works Bradley Roberts discusses school opening with
ex-FNM leader Tommy Turnquest in this Nassau Guardian photo by Donald Knowles.
NEW $20
BILL
The Central Bank of The Bahamas has announced that a new $20 bill is to
be introduced. The bill will take on slight new features and will
include new security measures to prevent the bills from being counterfeited.
A facsimile of the bill is shown. According to the Bank, this is
the second denomination of notes released into circulation by the Central
Bank of The Bahamas under the Counterfeit Resistant Integrated Security
Product (CRISP).
Mrs. Wendy Craigg, Governor of the Central Bank
told the press: “The decision to eventually replace the old banknotes with
new ones is part of an ongoing exercise to enhance security features of
the banknotes, thereby providing greater protection against counterfeiting.”
The new 20 dollar bill will have a new watermark
of Sir Milo Butler and the numeral 20 on the front and left hand side of
the bill. The windowed thread that runs the length of the front side
of the note near the centre is wider, and weaves in and out of the bill.
The thread changes colour when the note is tilted. On the front left
side and back right side of the note there is a new see through feature
showing a partial picture of a sand dollar. A complete image of the
sand dollar can be seen when the bill is held under a light source.
The bill also has optically variable ink with colour shifts that show varying
images of the numeral 20 and the sand dollar in different colours if the
bill is titled back and forth.
The ten dollar bill, the first new bill released
in the CRISP series was released by the Central Bank in August 2005.
NEWS
FROM BARBADOS ON WINN DIXIE
The Nation newspaper of Barbados reported in its
Thursday 7th September edition that Barbados Shipping and Trading (BS&T)
Ltd. has expanded its reach to The Bahamas, joining a team of Bahamian
investors to purchase a majority interest in a chain of 12 supermarkets
owned by the Winn Dixie Company in Florida.
The article said that as a result of the US56 million
dollars transaction, the new holding company BSL Holdings Ltd has replaced
Winn Dixie as the major shareholder. The article said that BS&Ts
investment in the new holding company was awaiting submission of an application
to The Bahamas Government for approval to secure a 40 per cent shareholding
in that company.
The article went on to say that BS&T has been
awarded a management oversight contract for the supermarket chain of 12
stores. Nine of those stores trade as City Markets in New Providence
and three others as Winn Dixie on Grand Bahama. According to the
article Anthony King and Frere Delmas of BS&T will represent the Barbadian
conglomerate on the boards of BSL Holdings and Bahamas Supermarkets Ltd.
TRIB
TALKS NONSENSE AS USUAL
John Marquis is still here, hiding his light behind
the bushel of the INSIGHT Staff reporters. There are no such creatures.
Mr. Marquis is the author and the finisher of the nonsense that is spun
every week in The Tribune that tries to pass for analysis. This time
though he has gone too far. We have to ask the Minister of Immigration,
what the heck is this man still doing here? He should be on the next
plane smoking.
Mr. Marquis on Monday 4th September wrote that
“At least five full time Cuban agents all of them working undercover in
the Nassau business community, are feeding information about the Bahamas
back to their communist masters in Havana.” The article produces
no evidence. Just the usual unnamed sources, a lot of speculation,
fantasy mixed with fact, and opinion. Vintage John Marquis nonsense.
What we think is that the Royal Bahamas Police Force
Security and Intelligence branch ought to pay a visit to the Mr. Marquis
and seek to find out why a law abiding citizen like himself, with racist
views and all, does not do his duty and report what he knows about Cuban
intelligence agents being in The Bahamas? We would suspect that he
is probably the only agent working in The Bahamas. He works as an
agent for an even larger kingdom; that of Satan in the garden of evil.
COMMENTS
ON J. RICHARD BLANKENSHIP
Blankenship
Doesn’t Get It as Usual
Last week, we wrote about the interference of the
former U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas in the internal affairs of The Bahamas.
It was a problem that he had when he was Ambassador and it may have been
responsible for his leaving the country before his usual term was up.
No Ambassador in the history of The Bahamas and U.S. relations has done
more to be more offensive than J. Richard Blankenship.
J. Richard Blankenship is no longer Ambassador but
continues to try to interfere and ruin relations between the two countries.
In this he has the racist allies at The Tribune to aid and abet him in
his cause. True to form and instead of being quiet about it and simply
go away, this column got a response and we
publish that response in 'Letters to the Editor', below.
The cartoonist Stan Burnside had his say as well
(See 'Sideburns') on Tuesday 5th August and Wednesday 6th August in the
Nassau Guardian. You may click
here for what we wrote last week.
Philip Galanis’ Comment on Blankenship
If you thought for some reason this column was alone
and did not represent a broad cross section of public opinion in The Bahamas
on the matter of J. Richard Blankenship and his interference in the internal
affairs of The Bahamas, Senator Philip Galanis (PLP) also felt moved to
write. Here is what
he said in his own words:
Arthur Foulkes’ Comment Blankenship
Sir Arthur Foulkes is no friend of the PLP.
He is one of the main instruments of FNM propaganda and opinion making.
Even he had something to say in his column of Tuesday 5th September about
the interference of J. Richard Blankenship in the internal affairs of The
Bahamas. Here is what he said in his own words:
“The bumptious Mr. Blankenship seems never to
miss an opportunity to do just that [be meddlesome and offensive], so it
was not surprising that he has once again succumbed to the temptation to
make a public spectacle of himself by planting both his feet into an endlessly
accommodating mouth.
“During this posting here Mr. Blankenship frequently
spoke out of turn and succeeded in annoying more Bahamians than all his
predecessors put together, going back to days when the US was represented
by consuls general. To the relief of many Bahamians, his accreditation
as Ambassador to The Bahamas was abruptly terminated.”
MITCHELL
SPEAKS AGAINST PROMOTING CRIMINALITY
The promotion of criminality has “cost us our freedom
in the past” said Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell, Sunday 3rd September.
The Minister was speaking during the celebration of the 150th anniversary
of St. Mark’s Baptist Church in his historic Fox Hill constituency. “Surely
it is unacceptable and wrong for anyone in this society to promote criminality,
whether inadvertently or not…
“One wonders whether some people have taken leave
of their senses…
“It seems all too easy in this present dispensation
for criminals to get on the front pages of newspapers and thereby find
fame in the simple act of committing a crime. It seems to give off
a message that crime pays because it brings infamy and a picture on a front
page.”
Mitchell recalled the erosion of the county’s moral
fibre by the drug trade and the criminality connected with it during the
1980s, saying many have still not recovered.
“Today, government policy cannot be determined
by someone who has the potential to bribe public opinion and pay high priced
advocates to make idle public noises.
“In the face of all of these social problems,
the role of those who dispense public information should be clear, not
to promote criminals and their activities but to accentuate the positive
and to preach reform, not to stir up strife as if life in The Bahamas and
its public policy is some silly soap opera when this is real life we are
playing with.”
Please click
here for the full address of the Minister.
ABOUT
NAT BENEBY
On Wednesday 6th August, a brief note of important
weight appeared in The Tribune’s Business Section. It said that Nathaniel
Beneby up to now the Managing Director of FINCO, the mortgage arm of the
Royal Bank of Canada in The Bahamas would be leaving the bank for a new
position that of Country Manager and Vice President for RBC for The Bahamas
with effect on 1st November 2006. This is an important milestone
in the history of 100 years of the Royal Bank of Canada.
Most Bahamians were pleased by the development.
Ross McDonald the President for RBC in the Caribbean made the announcement.
It is the highest that any Bahamian has ever been in the Royal Bank of
Canada. Before that Anthony Allen, the brother of Sir William Allen,
former Finance Minister was the Country Manager of Scotia Bank in The Bahamas.
Mr. Beneby is 53 years old and is married with four children.
There are those of us who remember that within our
lifetimes, Sir Milo Butler, the nation’s first Bahamian Governor General
and former civil rights leader took Sir Lynden Pindling, the country’s
first Prime Minister, to visit the Royal Bank of Canada’s Main Branch on
Bay Street to protest the fact that people of dark skin could not work
in the bank as anything other than as messengers and cleaners.
The desegregation of the bank took place over time,
and now today someone who could fifty years ago only have been a messenger
is the leader of the Bank in The Bahamas. Al Jarrett, formerly head
of the RBC Main Branch and of FINCO; Harold Longley, the first Bahamian
to head the Main Branch of RBC, are two pioneers who went before him, who
all fought for this day. We are certain that they and others are
extremely proud of what has been accomplished. We know that there
are many out there praying for Mr. Beneby and who will work to help him
succeed. Congratulations!
Mr. Beneby is pictured at second from right in
this file photo from the June opening of a new RBC FINCO Mortgage Centre
at the Prince Charles Shopping Centre in New Providence. From left
are RBC Senior Vice President Ross McDonald, Fox Hill MP & Public Service
Minister Fred Mitchell; Prime Minister Perry Christie; Mr. Beneby and RBC
Finco Senior Account Officer Ritchie.
THE MIAMI
HERALD
We always suspected that there was just something
a little strange about the zeal with which The Miami Herald would attack
The Bahamas and The Bahamas Government over Cuban issues.
You remember during the first two months of the
year, the Miami Herald that is printed daily with The Tribune in Nassau
and has a base of Bahamian readers, savaged The Bahamas when the Cuban
community rose up because of the two Cuban dentists who should have been
returned to their home country Cuba. (You may click
here an editorial at the time of the story of the Cuban dentists.)
Eventually, The Bahamas government was forced by
the political pressure and nastiness in Florida to surrender the dentists
to the United States. But the memories of bitterness linger on and
the Miami Herald was front and centre with the effort to defame The Bahamas.
Now comes a report from the Herald management itself
that some ten reporters stand accused of being on the payroll of the U.S.
Government, thereby jeopardizing the independence. Three of them
were immediately fired. We wonder if there is more on the way.
We also wonder if Guardian publisher Charles Carter will now recognize
what the dangers are of conflicts of interest on his staff. We give
up on The Tribune of course.
HONORARY
CONSUL IN GEORGIA
The Bahamas has appointed its first Honorary Consul
to the United States of America in the State of Georgia. The Minister
of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell presented letters of appointment to Mr.
Michael Munroe Young on Wednesday 6th September, 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Please click
here for the full Ministry of Foreign Affairs release. RECEPTION
- Some of the group gathered for a reception in honour of the appointment
of Honorary Consul Michael Munroe Young in Atlanta, Georgia: From left
are Eugene Torchon Newry, Chargé d'Affaires, Washington; Ed Bethel,
Consul General, New York; former US Ambassador Andrew Young; Hon. Fred
Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs; HCC Young; Alma Adams, Consul General
southeast US; Andy Ingraham, Miami businessman; and Mrs. Michael Munroe
Young. Please click here for the Minister's
remarks.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Observation - Minister Wilchcombe/Phillip
Galanis
I would just like to state there is absolutely
nothing wrong if there is a difference of opinion on this case as it relates
to the Grand Bahama Port Authority matter. I believe it shows maturity
within the ranks of the PLP to put different view points on matters forward
as shown between Minister Wilchcombe and Senator Galanis. They are
having as far as I am a concerned an intelligent difference of opinion.
If Minister Wilchcombe or any other Minister
within the PLP government is putting forth a wrong position on a particular
matter then they are to be told. To me it is better to be told from
within my ranks rather than have an outsider correct me. There is
nothing wrong with this situation.
I also believe that there is nothing with criticizing
what you believe in. Why can't you?
Calvin Greene
We agree. – Editor
------------
The Constituencies Commission
I must correct you on the following statement:
“The
thinking may be also that the St. Margaret's Constituency will disappear
since it was an unnatural creation by Hubert Ingraham’s administration
to cause former Deputy Prime Minister and now Governor General Arthur Hanna
to lose his seat.”
The process to cause the Hon. A.D. Hanna to lose
his seat was begun prior to the Hubert Ingraham administration when the
outgoing Pindling administration changed the traditional boundaries of
the old St. Ann’s constituency to include polling divisions from the old
Marathon constituency in the run up to the 1992 general elections.
Mr. Hanna lost his seat to Mrs. Sylvia Scriven in those elections.
At the time the constituency was still called Ann’s Town but it was not
Mr. Hanna’s Ann’s Town.
St. Margaret’s was not created until the 1997
elections when the boundaries were shifted to the east.
Vaughn Scriven
We stand corrected. – Editor
------------
Your Foreign Policy Experience?
I was forever puzzled by the diplomatic phrase,
"the smaller the country, the larger its ego." But I think after six years
of reading the political blogs of the Drudge Report and The Bahamas Uncensored,
I understand it thoroughly.
You would be all the wiser to listen when the
US Ambassador says the extradition of Samuel Knowles was not a big deal
in the USA. If 1% of the population of Miami-Dade County (where Mr. Knowles
will likely stand trial) has ever heard his name, I would be genuinely
surprised. He is just one, on a list of the many corrupt individuals, who
attempt to break the laws of the US with impunity. But will face the same
fate.
I hope you will see fit to personally purchase
the real estate I own in the Bahamas if as you suggest I not be allowed
to used my property, otherwise that would seem to me as seizure of one's
property without compensation which I know you would oppose. I read your
ramblings from the historically laden city of Florence, Italy, where you
might choose to visit someday, broadening your perspective on the significance
of world affairs.
Ambassador J. Richard Blankenship
Yada! Yada! Yada! – Editor (Yes, he really, actually signed it ‘Ambassador’!)
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Back to School
The Prime Minister was fully into his role as the
Member of Parliament for the Farm Rd. Constituency this past week as he
hosted school age children of the area to a back to school party.
Assisted by Senator Traver Whylly (at right in leisure suit) Mr. Christie
is pictured with two of the youngsters who received classroom supplies
and other back to school necessities.
Dignity Gardens
Minister of Housing Neville Wisdom (partially hidden
at left rear) joins Prime Minister Christie in a smile with these proud
new occupants of a home in Dignity Gardens. The Ministry of Housing's
new Dignity Gardens subdivision was officially opened by Mr. Christie during
the week and continues the Government's programme of building thousands
of working income houses in New Providence and around The Bahamas.
Wealthy Gomez Funeral
Prime Minister and Mrs. Christie were among the
many mourners at the St. Agnes funeral of Mrs. Wealth Gomez. Mr.
Christie is shown at the graveside offering condolences to the family.
Bahamas Information Services photos by Peter Ramsay
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return
to the top of the page.
|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - On
Monday 11th September, the United States marked the fifth anniversary of
the downing of the World Trade Centre in New York. Several hijackers
of Middle Eastern appearance are said to have overcome four planes in the
U.S skies and ended up flying two of them into the World Trade Centre buildings
in New York, then the highest buildings in the city. Another plane
flew into the Pentagon Building in Washington D.C., the headquarters of
the Department of Defence of the United States. A fourth plane was
prevented from doing its damage when the passengers overcame the hijackers
and the plane was crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The world
of security changed as a result of it. The scars have not healed
for the many thousands of families around the world affected by those actions.
The United States government marked the occasion in The Bahamas with the
planting of a Royal Poinciana Tree at the home of the United States Ambassador
in Nassau on Monday 11th September. Joining the Ambassador John Rood
were the Governor General Arthur Hanna, the Prime Minister Perry Christie
and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell. The Bahamas Information
Services photo by Peter Ramsay is our photo of the week. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
FROM NINETY TO ANNA NICOLE
SMITH
If you examined this column over the last two weeks, you could be
forgiven for thinking that a special kind of madness had overtaken The
Bahamas what with all the public hand wringing going on by people who ought
to know better on whether or not a convicted drug criminal was properly
extradited to the United States or not. The fact is whether or not
it was properly done, it is done and the country should move on.
If there are legal questions to be answered, then let the lawyers take
their issues to court and stop seeking to poison the well by appealing
instead to the court of public opinion.
There was no more egregiously stupid set of remarks over the past
week on the issue than that of the President of the Bar Council Wayne Munroe.
He is hiding his FNM light under a bushel. This is a man who found
his voice under the Progressive Liberal Party. During the time that
the PLP was in Opposition and others were fighting for the upgrade of the
courts, he was silent. Not a word to say. Today, he can issue
public statements calling for the resignation of Ministers and it is clear
that he simply does not have a clue what he is talking about. It
appears that he has not even read the Judgment of the Privy Council on
the matter of the extradition of Mr. Knowles or studied carefully the law
on extradition. You may click here
for those who wish to bother to read the Judgment. The fact is
there was no stay in place to stop the law from taking its course.
They can talk until the cows come home, that is the true fact. Fact
is stubborn. We do a longer exposé on Wayne Munroe’s comments
below.
We say again, the lawyers of Mr. Knowles dropped the ball.
They did not do what they were supposed to do, and are now seeking to blame
the Government instead.
Each day, the newspapers over the past two weeks were filled with
story after story about this convicted drug criminal. One set of
stories was written by a Nassau Guardian reporter. The publishers
of the Nassau Guardian ought to examine their journalistic ethics as they
allow the stories to be continued in this matter. Then there are
the comments of the paid hirelings of Mr. Knowles. Then there is
the FNM leaning Bar Council President. What begins to emerge is a
pattern of conduct that is entirely self serving from the critics of the
Government’s actions. Each has an axe to grind, and none has declared
their interest.
Through the daily ramblings of the dishonest Nassau Guardian stories
on the matter, we have found out that Mr. Knowles has to find 10 million
dollars to make bail. It should have been fifty million. We
also know that he must use money that is not drug tainted and he has to
prove that he came by it honestly. He is also seeking to find an
attorney to represent him in the United States. According to U.S.
law, he must get approval to use a particular attorney. He is to
be arraigned formally on the 19th September.
From what we can see The Bahamas’ Government acted properly. They
acted according to law. They did the right thing for the country.
They did the right thing for the children of the country. There need
be no more discussion about it.
Another high profile event though was taking over the daily discussion
after nine days. The circus of the extradition of Ninety Knowles
having exhausted their political agenda will no doubt now turn to the courts,
so we await that stage. Why a man who is having problems finding
bail money and finding money to pay lawyers in the United States where
he is in real trouble would want to engage in a law suit against The Bahamas
Government that could tie him up further for years is another matter but
it’s his money, we guess. He ought to be careful what advice he takes
from his lawyers since they are the ones who have him in the present stew
that he is in.
As we said there is another nine day wonder developing in The Bahamas.
Anna Nicole Smith, who was only recently granted Permanent Residence of
The Bahamas, had a baby in the Doctor’s Hospital in Nassau, the private
facility. In her room were three people following the birth of the
baby by Caesarian section. One morning on Sunday 10th September,
she woke up to find her 20 year old son, one of the three people including
Ms. Smith spending the night in the room, dead. The news cameras
and reporters of the U.S. stations descended on The Bahamas with daily
bulletins. Our coroner Linda Virgil had her fifteen minutes of fame.
Then there was the FNM candidate for Delaporte Dr. Hubert Minnis
starring on Larry King Live, and there was the giddy headed Nassau Guardian
journalist who may herself be sued by the Doctors Hospital and have her
company in big trouble for spinning a web of nonsense on the television
about the alleged involvement of Doctors Hospital in the matter.
A coroner’s inquest will begin on 23rd October. We can imagine
what a circus that will be in Nassau. But what is clear is that eventually
as with all these matters another set of gossip and nonsense over takes
the society. So within the past week we have gone from Ninety Knowles
to Anna Nicole Smith and talk of her dead son. No doubt something
else will come along to displace that.
Our word again to the PLP is – stop the bloody messing about and
let’s move on to support what was obviously the right decision.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 16th September at midnight:
93,535.
Number of hits for the month of September up to Saturday 16th September
at midnight: 184,505.
Number of hits for the year 2006 up to Saturday 16th September at
midnight: 3,424,382.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
THE
IMPLOSION IN GRAND BAHAMA
The conventional wisdom in The Bahamas is that while
black people might bring their business out in the streets, white people
don’t bring their business in the street but handle its discreetly.
That all went out of the window this past week, when Carolyn St. George,
daughter of the late Edward St. George, went public to deal with the newspaper
reports about the disposition of her father’s estate. This has been
simmering for months since Mr. St. George died suddenly in December 2004.
There appears to be quite a messy situation.
The result of what was published only lends to the
voices of those led by Senator Philip Galanis for reform of the Port Authority
and for the Government to step in and bring some direction to Freeport.
For those who do not know, the Grand Bahama Port Authority is a limited
company owned by the Estate of Edward St. George and by the very much alive
Sir Jack Hayward. Mr. St. George, a former Magistrate and Solicitor
General, who emigrated to The Bahamas in the 1950s was the genius behind
the current success of Freeport. When he died, a light went out and
the whole vision behind the place disappeared. For months there was
talk of disquiet amongst the family members over his fifty per cent.
The Grand Bahama Port Authority is responsible for
licensing the businesses in Freeport and therefore has a quasi government
role. Sir Jack Hayward largely kept out of the day to day running
of the Port when Mr. St. George was alive. Now he and the widow of
Mr. St Gorge Lady Henrietta have gotten together and hired Hanes Babak,
an Austrian émigré to The Bahamas who appears to be reviled
by the business community in Grand Bahama. Charges of conflict of
interest have been flying fast and furious.
Senator Philip Galanis (PLP) has called for the
Government to intervene. He appears to be supported by the majority
of Freeporters. The Government has responded through the Minister
of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe who argues that the Grand Bahama Port Authority
is a private company. The licensees and Mr. Galanis have been arguing
that the company is visionless and is in major drift. The expose
in the press over the past week would only lend to that view.
Here is what Carolyn St. George had to say in the
words of her Attorney PLP Senator Damien Gomez. This was reported
in the Nassau Guardian of Monday 11th September. It is against the
background of a story run the week before in The Tribune in which the ex
wife Mary (the second wife; he left a widow and a first wife died) of her
father is claiming that she had a divorce settlement that entitles her
to fifty per cent of Mr. George’s estate:
“The story that ran in The Tribune made no distinction
between the separate interest of my client and the late Edward St. George
and for that reason she (Carolyn St. George) saw it necessary to set the
record straight
“She (the ex wife) is claiming that any agreement
between the Port Authority and other persons may be set aside or questioned
by her should she succeed in her claim in New York. We say that that
is utter rubbish and that she must first of all determine that that is
an asset that falls within the estate of the late Edward St. George.
We have clear evidence that it is.”
[ Mary and Edward St. George divorced in 1978 in the Dominican Republic
and the question is whether a claimed agreement to fifty per cent of his
estate in that the divorce settlement will be recognized in The Bahamas,
the lex situs (or the law of the place where the assets are located. Mr.
Gomez said that is unlikely).]
“There you see it starts off on an erroneous
foundation, but because of that acknowledgement by the late Edward St.
George, the New York courts (where the matter is being litigated) have
seized jurisdiction of the matter so far as Mary is concerned.
“We are in the process of delicate discussions
with the trustees of the estate, namely Lady Henrietta St. George (the
widow) and Lord Huston who is her brother. Our position is that we have
attempted thus far to hold our tongue and to as far as possible, preserve
the reputations of many wonderful people who worked along with the late
Edward St. George to solidify his dream. In the event that discussions
breakdown, we should be energetically litigating this matter…
“If these negotiations bear fruit, then my client
will be reviewing in full, all of the hiring and firing of the Port in
recent times. She wants people to know that she joins them in questioning
the wisdom of the appointment of Hannes Babak and should she emerge victorious
in these negotiations, she will terminate that contract. It is our
intention at the end of the day to be in control of the Port.
“We are concerned about the firings of persons
of such eminence as the former Governor of the Central Bank Julian Francis,
persons like Willie Moss and Barry Malcolm. It does not augur well
for worker relations throughout the Port group of companies when one sees
this type of treatment of persons who have served the late Edward St. George
well.”
THE
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WEIGHS IN
Amongst those who are concerned about the state
of the Grand Bahama Port Authority is the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce
headed by Dr. Dowdeswell Coakley.
Dr. Coakley issued a statement on behalf of the
chamber following the revelations of Carolyn St. George. Here is what he
had to say in his own words:
“It is with much regret that we note recent headlines
in local newspapers regarding the legal battle over ownership of The Grand
Bahama Port Authority.
“The open legal threat by one of the suitors
to all businesspersons who might have entered into agreements with the
Grand Bahama Port Authority since the late Edward St. George’s death is
equally troubling. The promise of retaliation through the courts
certainly does not help the cause of Freeport’s economic development, nor
does it act as an incentive for prospective investors. It is in fact
a ‘red flag’ and a negative signal to all current and hopeful licensees
to curl in their investment plans until such time as the ownership battle
is settled. We all know this can take years to resolve and prove
painful for all sides, including the licensees.
“The Grand Bahama Port Authority Ltd. is no ordinary
company. It is a company that has quasi-governmental oversight, and
therefore directly impacts the livelihood of all businesses and residents
in the Freeport area. Some will argue that its influence also significantly
impacts Bahamians in other parts of Grand Bahama Island.
“It is also very unfortunate that licensees of
The Grand Bahama Port Authority, being party to the Hawksbill Creek Agreement,
have not been involved in the process as they ought to. With the
second party being cannibalized from within, the government being the third
party to the Agreement must now closely weigh its options.
“Freeport cannot continue to drift on the sea
of nothingness. Government was previously encouraged to take a forensic
look at the workings of The Grand Bahama Port Authority, and circumstances
of the day shows that the suggestion has merit. Now the scene is
being played out openly in the courts of New York and elsewhere.
In the meantime an air of uncertainty permeates over Freeport and Grand
Bahama.
“The big question is: Under the current circumstances,
can the Grand Bahama Port Authority fulfill its mandate as provided for
under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement?
“It would seem that every time Freeport tries
to get up something happens to lull it back to sleep. While every
other part of The Bahamas seem to be well on the development path, Freeport
is languishing in apathy and regression. It is a must that The Hawksbill
Creek Agreement be revisited! And the government must get involved
in what is going on in Freeport before it is too late.”
SIR
JACK BACKS BABAK
Sir Jack Hayward, owner of fifty percent of the
Grand Bahama Port Authority Group reacted Sunday, having “read with
increasing horror the articles which have appeared in the Bahamian press
on behalf of Mary and Caroline St. George about the Port Authority Group
of Companies
“The Hayward family... has no knowledge or involvement
in the above claims. In my opinion it is quite intolerable that Mary
and Caroline St. George or any other persons should seek to damage the
reputation of The Grand Bahama Port Authority by making irresponsible remarks
about its operations.
“I was instrumental in bringing in Mr. Babak
as Chairman of the Port Group and fully endorse everything that he has
done since he was installed as Chairman.
“If these unfounded and unwarranted attacks continue
I shall have to consider seeking substantial compensation for any damage
caused.
“I am also concerned at the insecurity engendered
to our licensees, the staff of the Port Authority and the people of Freeport
generally by these injudicious remarks.”
The Grand Bahama Port Authority released this rare
formal photograph of Sir Jack, standing at left, with Lady Henrietta St.
George, standing centre and Sir Albert Miller at right in obvious support
of recently appointed chairman Hannes Babak, seated.
WAYNE
MUNROE NEEDS TO GET A LIFE
The President of the Bar Council is supposed to
be protecting the livelihood of lawyers, not getting involved in political
battles. He has been criticized in this column before for standing
up in front of Judges berating the lawyers who have elected him while sucking
up to Judges. He has constantly done a disservice to the legal profession.
Now it appears that he is on a political tack, joining the unholy chorus
of individuals who are attacking the Government on the question of the
Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles extradition.
In a story written by a reporter who needs to have
his journalistic ethics questioned, Mr. Munroe was quoted as asking for
the resignation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell and the
Attorney General Allyson Gibson. Here is what Mr. Munroe had to say
in his own words:
“There is nothing more dangerous to the administration
of justice than the government breaking the rule of law. He (Mr.
Knowles) had the habeus corpus set for hearing, if I am not mistaken on
the twenty first and twenty second of this month, which means that everybody
knew that there was another case. And the extradition act says that
you’re not supposed to be surrendered until your challenges are finished
and so that’s very important – that’s vital because that would be akin
to citizen A suing Citizen B in court and before the case is over, the
state stepping in and deciding as the state that Citizen A or B should
get what they are in court for.
“If this is an aberration because somebody made
a cataclysmic mistake, a consequence for that politician is resignation
or removal. No doubt these two ministers being attorneys will search
their consciences once they are in possession of all the facts and they
will realize that if, in fact, this is a mistake then one way to demonstrate
this is a mistake is to admit it. And with something this significant
resignation will necessarily follow.”
(We hope that the two Ministers concerned file a law suit against
the Nassau Guardian and Mr. Munroe for what are clearly defamatory statements.
The public should remember that it was Mr. Munroe who obtained an order
in bankruptcy against PLP MP Sidney Stubbs that was set aside by the Privy
Council. So much for his knowledge of the law. – Editor)
US AMBASSADOR SPEAKS
U.S. Ambassador John Rood as reported in The Tribune
Friday 16th September 2006 in his own words:
“Minister Mitchell called and we discussed a variety of outstanding
issues that we are working on and he did mention that he was heading to
the meeting and wanted us to know what they are going to work on and doing
what they can so that the meeting would be balanced – I think that’s the
word he used – and constructive.
