bahamasuncensored.com
JUNE 2008
Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every
Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 6 © BahamasUncensored.Com 2008
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the press, as a courtesy, journalists are asked to attribute the source
of their material from this web site.
8th June, 2008
15th June, 2008
22nd June, 2008
29th June, 2008
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| AMERICANS IN NASSAU MARK MEMORIAL
DAY: Memorial Day is an American holiday, celebrated on the last
Monday in the month of May. This year as they did beginning two years
ago, the American government through its embassy in Nassau held a special
Memorial Day tribute at a monument on the South West Road of New Providence.
It marks near the spot in the water where on 7th July 1954, ten American
airmen who had taken off from the then Windsor Field, now the Lynden Pindling
Airport, lost their lives early one morning. They were all young
airmen in training. Their families came back to Nassau for the special
service. Governor General Arthur D Hanna joined American Head of
Mission pro tempore David Elmo in marking the occasion. Kendal Wright
MP of the FNM and Fred Mitchell, Opposition spokesman for Foreign Affairs
were there for the occasion as well. The photo also includes former
Senator Alexander Maillis at the far right. Mr. Maillis formed a
rescue effort following the crash in the waters off the coast in 1954.
Alas, everyone was lost. Our photo of the week shows the family members
with Governor General Arthur Hanna and David Elmo Charge d’Affaires U.S.
Embassy on Monday 26th May, US Memorial Day. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
A BUM BUDGET
The Prime Minister presented the national budget to the country
on Wednesday 28th May. The budget, which will spend some $1.6 billion
on the recurrent side and $250 million on the capital side, is a bum budget.
The PLP had plenty of harsh words for it. Former Prime Minister Perry
Christie said that the budget was a day late and a dollar short.
He talked about the FNM’s ability to cause confusion, then pull back and
then announce without batting an eyelid that it was renewing that which
it had cancelled. They announce it with such flourish, if you did
not know any better you would be duped into thinking that they thought
this up all by themselves.
Nowhere is this climb down in the budget so obvious as with the bill
that the FNM has brought to Parliament to allow the exemption of new homeowners
from stamp tax. This was to correct the blunder and ruinous policy
they followed last year when they allowed the exemption to expire without
thinking of the consequences of their actions. Their action was classically
penny wise and pound foolish. The result of their action was to dry
up demand for housing in an already depressed housing market in Grand Bahama
and in New Providence. This hit their supporters in their pockets
and the FNM supporters were amongst the main grumblers. Now it is
being corrected, with much thumping on the desk but without apology to
the thousands of people they hurt in the process and without attribution
that this was a PLP idea.
Sitting in the gallery of the House of Assembly that morning when
the budget statement was delivered was Mark Sawyer, a taxi driver whose
association has been lobbying for a return of the exemption on cars for
taxi drivers. He and his group came to the House because they were
told that there would be something in it for them. This was a programme
of the PLP that allowed taxi drivers to upgrade their cars once every five
years duty free. The FNM stopped it. The taxi drivers like
Mark Sawyer who helped to hound the PLP out of office are crying now.
Then there was the announcement of the government building projects.
They are coming fast and furious. There is going to be a new government
complex in New Providence. There is going to be a new one in Grand
Bahama. The Office of the Registrar is going to move to a refurbished
building that used to be City Markets on Market Street north. The
Magistrates Court Complex is going to be completed. The list seemed
endless. There is going to be a 75 million dollar bond issue for
housing. All fine, well and good. But this did not have to
be because the PLP left this all in place. It was the government
of stop, review and cancel that caused the country to slow down to a crawl
so that the people who voted the PLP out and the FNM in are now crying.
Then there is the so called help for the poor. There would
be not a need for this kind of direct help, if the FNM had simply kept
the economy humming along at the pace that the PLP left it. No the
stop, review and cancel government came in and stopped the straw market
contract, stopped the road contract at Acklins and the building of the
schools in Grand Bahama and Acklins. They took 90 million dollars
out of the economy and boasted about it. Now that poverty has increased
what do they do? They announce with much flourish and table thumping
that they are giving money to the poor.
Mind you this is the same government that came in and started to
fire people on 200 dollar a week jobs on the ground that the PLP loaded
the public service with their supporters. Is it better to have people
doing productive work at $200 per week or to give them a handout of food
stamps and rent assistance? This is a strange group of people indeed.
In the scheme of things, we hope that what they do gets the country
off the ground. There is no reason for us to be here. You all
remember how the Prime Minister bad mouthed the Bahamar deal to the point
where one of the major partners simply pulled out of the deal, jeopardizing
thousands of jobs by his ill timed remarks in the House of Assembly.
Now there is talk that Sol Kerzner who is getting a big tax break from
the government through their new act to revitalize the city of Nassau which
includes Paradise Island is about to dump his interest in Atlantis
to an institutional investor. Here we go again. Inquiring minds
want to know what did Mr. Kerzner know and when did he know about it?
Is that the real reason behind slowing down the Hurricane Hole project,
a little birdie told them a tax break was coming? Isn’t that nice
that Paradise Island is given a boost, while the Prime Minister wrecks
Cable Beach. Things that make you go: Hmmm!
What will this all mean for the sector that even the Prime Minister
had to admit was under stress? There is a decline in visitors.
The stock of rooms in the country is deteriorating in quality and declining
in numbers. While he did have some hopeful news on visitor expenditure,
that does not make up for the dismal performance of the tourism sector.
Further, the Budget of the Ministry of Tourism has been cut this year,
signalling that the county is in some deep problems that all the desk thumping
and boasting will not change.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 31st May 2008 up to midnight:
239,470.
Number of hit for the month of May up to Saturday 31st May 2008 up
to midnight: 1,219,179.
Number of hits for the year 2008 up to Saturday 31st May 2008 up
to midnight: 5,978,721.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
PLP
RESPONDS TO THE BUDGET
PLP Leader Perry Christie described Hubert Ingraham’s
Budget Statement as a “day late and a dollar short”. He described
it at another time as “warmed up peas soup”. Since the statement
was delivered the PLP has picked holes in the Budget calling it the wholesale
lifting of PLP ideas without attribution. Mr. Christie said that
he would resist the temptation to say “I told you so”. The Party’s
leader responded in a press conference called on Thursday 29th May.
You may click
here for the full text and video clips from the conference.
Photo: Dennis Fountain
BAPTIST
CHIEF GETS IT RIGHT
Dr. William Thompson (pictured) is in the last of his three-year terms
as head of the Bahamas Baptist Missionary and Education Convention.
He demits office in 2010 and the speculation is that Rev. Philip McPhee
of Mt. Calvary Church wants to succeed him. At one time, the Convention
was a major force because it represented all Baptists in the country, by
far the largest denomination although each church is independent of the
other. The clout seems to have changed since Bishop Neil Ellis started
his Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship. Nevertheless, Dr. Thompson who
succeeded the powerful Dr. Charles Saunders, is a powerful and important
voice in The Bahamas.
Dr. Thompson gave his charge to the Assembly of
Baptists who gathered in their 73rd Convention on Tuesday 27th May.
In the face of Tommy Turnquest, the Minister of National Security, he scorched
the government for firing public officers, for not doing anything about
crime. He said that crime had gotten worse since they came to power
in direct contradiction to what they promised when they were campaigning
to get to office. He complained about the stopping of projects and
said that people cannot depend on the word of the Government if that is
what a government does to another government’s projects. He called
for the work of the Constitutional Commission to continue. The Commission,
headed by Paul Adderley, the former Attorney General and Harvey Tynes Q.C.
completed its public hearings and presented a preliminary report in 2006.
The FNM abandoned the process when they came to office last year.
He asked for more public information on the Economic Partnership Agreements.
PLP Members of Parliament turned up to the service
in force. They were headed by former Prime Minister Perry Christie,
MPs Fred Mitchell, Philip Davis, Picewell Forbes, Vincent Peet, Melanie
Griffin and Senator Michael Halkitis. It was a hot night for Tommy
who did not look pleased. Governor General Arthur Hanna also attended.
DID
SIR JACK BREAK THE LAW?
The attorneys for the Edward St. George Estate have
reportedly obtained leave to bring an action in contempt against Sir Jack
Hayward (pictured at left in this file photo with Hannes Babak) for his
role in allegedly breaching an injunction of the court not to sell his
shares in the Grand Bahama Port Authority to any other party. This
dispute has been going on since Edward St. George died at Christmas 2006.
It gets nastier and nastier in the court. Most people thought that
since the receivers were discharged by the courts and Sir Jack is back
in the Port’s offices that maybe the matter was coming to a close.
But the St. Georges are alleging that Sir Jack in breach of a court order
sought to sell his shares to the Fleming group. The St. Georges don’t
want to sell to the Fleming Group out of the United Kingdom because they
believe that Hannes Babak, whom they intensely dislike, is behind that
bid, notwithstanding the protestations of the Fleming Group.
EPA
PROTESTORS ARE MISGUIDED
On Wednesday 28th May, a small group of noisy protestors greeted the Prime
Minister and his colleagues as they crossed the square, grinning from ear
to ear, Zhivargo Laing carrying the PM’s bag, to deliver the budget statement.
The protestors organized by PLPs Paul Moss and Fayne Thompson were shouting
“No E.P.A! No E.P.A.” They were voicing their opposition to
the Economic Partnership Agreement that is to be signed between the European
Union (EU) and the Cariforum countries on 23rd July in Barbados.
The agreement is a successor to the Lomé
Agreement and its successor the Cotonou Agreement between the African Caribbean
and Pacific (ACP) countries and the EU. The new agreement must be
World Trade Organization (WTO) compliant in that all one-way preferences
for access to markets in goods and services must now become reciprocal.
The Bahamas initialled the deal with other Cariforum countries (Caricom
plus the Dominican Republic) in early December. The Bahamas, along
with Haiti, has six months to educate the public on the offer in services
it plans to make. Essentially, the idea is to offer a package of
services that The Bahamas will allow competition in, and those that will
not allow foreign competition and those with limited competition and over
what time period.
Paul Moss told the protestors who don’t understand
what in the world they are talking about that the EPA means that foreigners
will be able to set up in the straw market and compete with them.
The irony of this is that foreigners are now in the market competing with
them, Jamaicans and Haitians, working for other Bahamian stallholders.
Under the Bahamian proposal, the retail and distributive trades will be
unbound which means that the status quo now will prevail where there no
competition will be allowed except under the existing policies. It
is the kind of silliness that was used to great effect against the last
government’s proposals on joining the Caricom Single Market and Economy
(CSME).
The FNM reneged on its pledge to remain at one with
the PLP on the issue of CSME but is now looking for comfort and succour
from the PLP with regard to the EPA, which is even more intrusive and will
have a greater impact than the CSME could ever have. We think that
signing the EPA is in the best interest of The Bahamas. The protests
are misguided but the government contrary to what Hubert Ingraham said
in his budget statement has not carried out an effective programme of public
education. Notably silent are the many white Bahamians who opposed
the CSME like tricky Ricky Lowe and Brian Moree, the perennial gadflies
who oppose anything black oriented. This involves Europe so of course
there is silence. A superior product you see!
Internet photo: Torrell Glinton
SPECTRE
OF SERIAL GAY MURDERER
Wellington Adderley (pictured), a 51-year-old AIDS
activist, in fact he worked as the head of the project to assist those
living with HIV/AIDS, is dead at the hands of a murderer. He was
single at the time of his death and died alone, reportedly slashed across
the throat with a knife. The press has widely reported that he was
a gay man. Not that he made any such declaration in his lifetime.
This joins The Tribune who claimed to know that Harl Taylor, the handbag
maker was gay and that Thaddeus McDonald, the professor at COB, was gay.
The Tribune went further last week to say that the two were lovers.
All of this stuff would have been libellous if the men were alive.
Never mind that. Erin Greene, the head of
the Gay and Transgender Advocacy group in The Bahamas has now added another
dimension to it. She claims that the murders are similar: gay men,
brutally killed in their homes by someone they knew and who possibly knew
each other and may have socialized together. Hmmm! The police
say they see no evidence of it. But what Ms. Greene says is that
the profile is so similar that one has to look at it that way: that there
is
someone there killing gay men of a particular profile.
Nassau Guardian photo
NOTTAGE
ET AL FILE THEIR DEFENCE
Zhivargo Laing made a big mistake when he filed
a writ against John Rolle, Frank Smith MP and Bernard Nottage MP (pictured)
because he alleges they accused him of improper behaviour as a Minister
when he assisted his sister-in-law to have the duty lowered on the drink
Mona Vie being imported into Freeport. The defendants in the action
have filed a defence of justification, which means that they assert that
the allegations that they made are true and correct. You may click
here for the defence of Dr. Nottage.
IN PASSING
Fox Hill Community Calming Down?
The funeral of 16-year-old Khodee Davis following his murder on Whit
Monday 2008 has left the Fox Hill community in a state of emotional exhaustion.
The community is still trying to catch its breath and come to grips with
the trauma and determine where it goes from there. We wish his mother
Sonia Dill and father Derek Davis and his extended Fox Hill family well.
Everista Mitchell Turns 60
She made it. The mother of Adrian, Ari, Audra, Anwar and Andrea
Mitchell is 60 years young. She had a big birthday bash for friends
and family at her San Souci home on Friday 30th May. Happy birthday!
Richard Cooper Is Buried
Richard Cooper, Attorney at Law and artist, was an iconoclast to the
end. He had taken on the look of an aged professor, morphed from
the handsome piercing young brain trust that he was by the time he died
at the premature age of 63, gone home to join his late father Rev. R.E.
Cooper, who was President of the Bahamas Christian Council at the time
of independence in 1973. By all accounts, nothing of his sagacity
was lost in age. The late Mr. Cooper was eulogized in an affectionate
tribute by Chester Cooper, the Chief Executive at British American.
The late Mr. Cooper was among the first generation of post independence
young Bahamians to take advantage of the faculty at the University of the
West Indies. His contemporaries turned out in their numbers, amongst
them a Member of Parliament and lawyers as far as the eye could see.
The service was conducted by his brother R.E. Cooper Jr. and his sister
former Member of Parliament Ruby Ann Darling had her usual place at the
organ. The service took place at their father’s Hay Street Mission
Baptist Church on Wednesday 28th May. Not a seat to be found.
Fox Hill PLP Honours Parents
The Fox Hill Branch of the PLP held its annual parents day on Sunday
25th May at the Fox Hill Community Centre. The event was well attended
by families from Fox Hill who received prizes for their role in parenting
and grand parenting the young of the country. Amongst those attending
was Mildred Dillette, the widow of the late Robert Dillette, and a retired
public school teacher. Mrs. Dillette taught many of the now parents
and grandparents of Fox Hill in the Sandilands Primary School.
Finco Complains About Bad Loans
Finco, the nation’s largest private sector lender of money for home
building, reports that in their first quarter they have seen a rise in
non-accrual loans. This means at the half-year fiscal mark for Finco
of 30th April, there has been a 37 per cent decline in the profit, some
$3.6 million compared to a $6.15 million profit in the same period over
the previous year. The shareholder return on equity is now 13.42
per cent compared to 25 per cent over the same period last year.
Managing Director Tanya McCartney put this down to the softening economy.
Sir Durward Knowles On Race Again
Brent
Symonette, the Deputy Prime Minister who went to a racially segregated
high school, refuses to apologize to blacks in The Bahamas for the misdeeds
of the generation to which he belongs, but Sir Durward Knowles 90 years
old (pictured) who is the country’s first Olympic medallist (1964 Sailing
- Tokyo) has apologized. He did so in pursuance of a crusade for
One Bahamas, the FNM’s invention as an antidote to majority rule day celebrated
by the PLP. Rather than simply accept that Majority Rule is a legitimate
holiday and a cause for celebration for everyone's freedom, they decided
to invent something else so that the blacks in the FNM could have suitable
cover not to be called Uncle Toms and UBPs. Sir Durward said that
he believes in One Bahamas with all his heart, and speaking on Friday 30th
May according to the Nassau Guardian he was speaking about race again.
Here is what he had to say in his own words:
“I believe in [One Bahamas] 100 percent.
I preach it, I live it and I know that when the white people ruled it was
[not popular] with the black people.
“The same with the white people, when black people
ruled, some white people felt it was bad, but today [political parties]
cannot win an election based on race, and this is a great improvement over
the years that we've been here.
“The words ‘Nassau Yacht Club’ meant years ago
that black people were not invited to come here. But that was a wrong
perception. Sir Roland Symonette, who formed this yacht club, was
never a man who was about black and white. He treated the black people
[much like] he treated the white, but the black people were not comfortable
coming to the yacht club, therefore they never came. We had one or
two people who would visit us every now and again.
“We could never get a group of black people to
join the yacht club, so consequently the stigma was there that we did not
want the black people... today I will say that things have improved.
We have come further since we've started this. If we haven’t, then
I might as well just leave this earth now.
“I really feel that [today] we’ve done a good
job and we are breaking the barriers down. Racial unity in the country
is one thing I hope to see before I die. I really hope that the blacks
and the whites join together, show their appreciation and show that they
really believe in One Bahamas”
One More Malaria Case In Exuma
The Nassau Guardian reports that one more case of malaria has been
reported and is being treated in Nassau. The case is a resident of
Exuma where earlier three more cases were reported. The illegal Haitian
immigrant community is blamed for the outbreak.
Ninety Knowles Gets 35 Years
On Friday 30th May, Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles, the Bahamian who was extradited
to the US for smuggling drugs into the US was sentenced to 35 years in
prison with 5 years probation after the prison time. Mr. Knowles
is 49 years old. He will actually serve 27 years, because the time in prison
while awaiting extradition is to be deducted from the time.
Going Down Burma Road
Today Sunday 1st June is the anniversary of the Burma Road Riots of
1942. The riots are generally acknowledged as the start of the modern
political era in The Bahamas, leading to the fundamental changes in the
country that saw majority rule in 1967 and independence in 1973.
The riots started as a result of the dissatisfaction of the workers at
the site of the construction of Windsor Field, now the Lynden Pindling
International Airport with the disparity in wages between foreign workers
and Bahamians. The word went around that the local elites, all white,
did not support equal pay for Bahamian blacks. The riot lasted two
days. Labour Day, which is now celebrated on the first Friday in
June, was chosen at this time to coincide with the anniversary of the riots.
Labour Day this week is celebrated on Friday 6th June
The Chinese Announce It
Can you imagine this? No announcement from the Minister of Foreign
Affairs about it but a Chinese Embassy official in The Bahamas Jian Tan
told the Nassau Guardian last week that “The Bahamas government will begin
processing the visas directly at the end of the year.” According
the Guardian, the British will end the processing of the applications,
which has been a sore point for both Chinese and Bahamians, at the end
of the year and our embassy will start to process them.
Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Johnson
He is a Chef at Mesa Grill, Atlantis, Paradise Island; she is a receptionist
for a construction firm, but together they made music and history when
they exchanged vows at Born Again Deliverance Ministry, Reverend Kelson
Miller Presiding. Their parliamentary representative showed up for
the wedding and the reception held the old way at the home of the groom
on Saturday 31st May. A grand time was had by all. Congratulations
to Anthony Ronald Johnson Jr. aka Tony and Calvinique Sopatria Saunders
aka Mrs. Johnson. The photo is by Derek Smith.
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OBAMAS 'FIST BUMP': The
Bahamian public has been absolutely riveted to the campaign for the presidency
of the United States of America. Barack Obama, who is African American,
captured the number of delegates required to become the nominee for his
party. He is the first black man to be named the presidential nominee
for a major political party in the United States. His ancestors were
never slaves but certainly the fact that a man of mixed race, equally white
and equally black, is called black in the United States makes clear the
legacy and the historic significance of his nomination. A representative
then of the descendants of the African slaves, the great shame of the United
States, now has the opportunity to lead the nation. The Bible is
full of examples, the most noted being Joseph who was a Jew but who was
sold into slavery by his brother and then rose up to become the Prime Minister
of Egypt. We are still not there yet. Hillary Clinton, the
former first lady, took a long time to concede and in the failure to concede
some saw the roots of racism but all that is past now and the two have
to work together if their party will win when the November elections come
around. Now though we simply record the accomplishment. Bahamians
were overjoyed as they watched our photo of the week, Barack Obama and
his wife Michelle with what is now called the “fist bump” as they marked
the victory in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Tuesday 3rd June. Photo:
Getty Images |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
OBAMA UBER ALLIS
They are selling T-shirts in Nassau saying “Bahamians For Obama”.
They are of course talking about the American presidential race.
Barack Obama has won the number of delegates to get the nomination for
the Democratic Party and the convention will confirm it when it meets this
year on 25th August in Denver, Colorado.
The media in The Bahamas were taken with the moment. They were
all standing outside the House of Assembly waiting to ambush Members of
Parliament as they entered and left the House on Wednesday 4th June.
No, they did not want a comment on the Budget, but what did the MPs think
about the victory of Barack Obama? Many MPs had something to say.
All of it was positive. Public remarks on the point came from the
Opposition’s spokesman on Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell in his intervention
on the budget. He repeated the assertion made by him at his party’s
convention that the world was watching to see what would happen in the
United States, to see in the words of Martin Luther King whether or not
the country would live out the true meaning of its creed that all men are
created equal and that people would be judged on the content of their character
and not on the colour of their skin. Loretta Butler Turner from the
FNM side noted the importance and pride of the moment.
No word from the Prime Minister though. Some are saying that
they overheard him grumbling in the precincts of the House that Bahamians
were really getting carried away; that it was not possible for a black
man to be elected president of the United States just as it was not possible
for a white man to become Prime Minister of The Bahamas. This if
true was no doubt a message to his Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette
that the man in the FNM future is not Mr. Symonette but Tommy Turnquest,
the Minister of National Security and the man who once was king.
Brent Symonette has every reason to hope that if a minority can get elected
in the United States the same argument can be counted on here in The Bahamas.
But unfortunately for him, Mr. Ingraham has already reportedly sided with
the Republicans in the United States, having introduced Mr. Turnquest to
John McCain during a fundraiser of Mr. McCain’s in South Florida as his
successor in The Bahamas.
The feeding frenzy of Bahamian interest in the presidential election
shows how much The Bahamas is a sub culture of the United States.
The culture of the United States and what happens there infuses all that
we do. We are fanatic followers of the basketball contests in the
United States. Bahamians have played for the Los Angeles Lakers and
this has converted many into LA fans including former Prime Minister Perry
Christie. The games are followed with such passion that many public
events and meetings are planned around the fact that the basketball playoffs
in the U.S. are taking place. The same goes for American football
and for baseball. In the latter sports many Bahamians converted to
being Dodger fans by reason of their grandparents before them who embraced
the fact that it was the Dodgers then of Brooklyn who first allowed black
players to be a part of the team.
So even though most Bahamians, apart from the dual nationals, do
not have a vote, Bahamians in the main are supporting Barack Obama.
Opposition Spokesman Fred Mitchell told the House how he had visited Washington
earlier in the week and how the sounds of change are everywhere in Washington.
Certainly, if Mr. Obama wins there will be a significant change.
Some in our country are frightened for Mr. Obama. Some cannot believe
that the U.S. will allow it to happen. There is a creepy feeling;
that someone will try to kill him to stop him from becoming the President.
Many people believe that the United States just will not allow a black
man and his black wife and black children to occupy the White House.
Mr. Obama is a talented and well trained man. He has done all
the right things to prepare himself for the job he is seeking. There
is no reason why he should not win. The Republicans seem mired in
the past. They have no new policies and the man whom they have chosen
optically looks like a man of the past. Mr. Obama is backed by a
cadre of well trained specialists who have plotted the victory so far.
It is up to them and the U.S. government to keep Mr. Obama and his family
safe and to allow the election to go forward in conditions that would allow
a free and fair contest to take place.
It is said that the blacks in the United States became permanently
Republican following the end of the civil war when during it slavery was
abolished by Abraham Lincoln, the then President. That “permanency”
was shifted to a new “permanency” for the Democratic Party in the United
States when Franklin D. Roosevelt became President of the United States
and the new deal helped so many blacks out of poverty. No doubt the
nomination of Barack Obama will further cement that “permanency” in favour
of the Democratic Party. The blacks in The Bahamas will follow we
are sure.
Some naysayers have been saying that Mr. Obama will be bad for the
financial services sector of The Bahamas because he has sponsored a bill
to shut down tax havens. There are times when no one listens to messages
of rationality. The history of the moment is too important to be
bothered by other truths. Right now Bahamians are for Obama and that
is that.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 7th June 2008 at midnight:
194,941.
Number of hits for the month of June up to Saturday 7th June 2008
at midnight: 194,941.
Number of hits for the year 2008 up to Saturday 7th June 2008 up
to midnight: 6,173,662.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
THE
BUDGET DEBATE BEGINS
Hubert Ingraham is bold and brassy. He has adopted uncritically and
without attribution the policies of the PLP. He is so pleased with
himself that he began the Budget Debate in the House of Assembly on Wednesday
5th June declaring that the policies of the budget would help the poor.
In his original presentation on Budget Day, he even boasted that the poor
have no better friend than him. He said that he was of the poor.
That is a total laugh. Since heading the FNM, all that he has looked
out for is the rich. Let us take one example of his help for the
poor. He has removed the duties left on food items, some 2 percent.
The removal of that two percent means ten cents on an item costing five
dollars. That is help for the poor.
Now, let’s look at the help for the rich.
Sitting in the Cabinet is the Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette, most
recent known net worth 58 million dollars. Mr. Symonette has been
heading a Committee of the business community to decide where the container
port should go if it leaves Nassau. Mr. Symonette by his own admission
is a landowner in the Port of Nassau and the value of his land can rise
or fall depending on the decisions made. Mr. Symonette now sits in
a cabinet that agreed to a bill to revitalize the city of Nassau.
This means that he will benefit from tax breaks for investments in the
city. Mr. Ingraham also announced that when the harbour is dredged,
there will be a boardwalk built along the foreshore. This boardwalk
will be directly behind the Symonette property on Bay Street. It
is clear that Mr. Ingraham and Mr. Symonette sat and made a Cabinet decision
that directly benefits positively the land values of Mr. Symonette.
This is no ten cents on a five dollar purchase.
Mr. Ingraham was so embarrassed by his gift to Sol
Kerzner of Paradise Island; someone must have whispered in his ear that
the potential gift to Mr. Kerzner was obscene. The act to revitalize
the city of Nassau had a definition that would have given the tax breaks
to Paradise Island defined as a part of the city of Nassau. Mr. Ingraham
said that this will not stand and that the definition is to be changed
to exclude Paradise Island. Yet this is another example of his rich
first mentality.
Frank Smith, the MP for St. Thomas More and the
lead speaker for the PLP on the debate called the budget a disaster.
He said that Mr. Ingraham who in addition to the change to the bill to
revitalize the city of Nassau, came with other changes that appeared to
nullify his first budget presentation and substitute a new budget.
We agree. Rich people first; the poor take the hind most. You
may click here for the full text of Mr.
Smith’s remarks.
BIS photo: Peter Ramsay
SEARS
ACCUSES INGRAHAM ON THE PORT
During Hubert Ingraham’s intervention to start the Budget Debate on Wednesday
4th June, he made a startling statement. He said that the government
of The Bahamas could no longer wait for the owners of the Grand Bahama
Port Authority to settle the shareholder’s dispute. He seemed to
blame what is in fact his government’s own inaction for the economic death
knell of Freeport. In fact, the Port has been making decisions about
investments. It is just that Mr. Ingraham’s stall, delay, review
and cancel government has sent out the wrong signals, in the midst of an
increasingly bad U.S. and world economy. Now Mr. Ingraham is blaming
the shareholder’s dispute.
Mr. Ingraham said that he told Sir Jack Hayward
and the St. George Estate that if they don’t settle the dispute, the Government
will move in and buy the Port shares. Alfred Sears MP (pictured),
who represents Sir Jack Hayward’s interest in the Courts, called this a
threat of expropriation in his own intervention in the House on Thursday
5th June. Mr. Sears said that Mr. Ingraham had made a calculated
decision to interfere with a case that was active before the courts to
settle the issue, and he seemed to suggest that Mr. Ingraham’s motives
were not pure. He asked Mr. Ingraham to fully disclose where he got
his funding from during the last election. That would presumably
gives us a clue as to why Mr. Ingraham made the statement that he did.
The state of play is reportedly as follows.
The St. Georges will sell their shares to their now fifty percent partner
in the other Port businesses Hutchison Whampoa. Sir Jack says that
he cannot sell his shares because he has agreed to sell the shares to the
Fleming group. The St. Georges say they will not sell their shares
to the Fleming Group because they believe that Hannes Babak, the ousted
Port Chairman installed by Sir Jack is behind the purchase. The British
group says it has no connection to Mr. Babak who the St. Georges see as
odious. The Hutchison Whampoa Group has said they do not want anything
to do with Mr. Babak either, nor with Sir Jack or the Fleming group.
There is the problem. Add to it the further complication that Sir
Jack is now before the courts on a contempt hearing because it is alleged
he signed an agreement to sell his shares in breach of a court order.
Mr. Ingraham has other reasons for wanting to get
his grimy political mitts on the Port. The Port is the regulator
of Freeport. It grants the licences and sets the fees. It does
not have any firm assets beside the power of licensing so it would be quite
cheap relatively speaking to nationalize the Port. He wants to reinstall
Julian Francis as Chairman of the Port Authority and use Mr. Francis to
exercise even further control over the people of Freeport and their lives.
The PLP should be on their guard about this matter. They ought to
take up the call for full disclosure of the political donations made to
Mr. Ingraham during the last campaign. Ken Russell, the Minister
of Housing, said at the Labour Day rally in Freeport that the Port has
until the end of the month to resolve the shareholder dispute.
BIS photo: Peter Ramsay
MITCHELL
SPEAKS ON THE BUDGET
The Opposition Spokesman on Foreign Affairs and
the Member of Parliament for Fox Hill Fred Mitchell spoke in the House
on Wednesday 5th June. His main theme was that the government needed
to spend more money on youth development and develop a more targeted approach
to education spending. He was speaking against the backdrop of the
murder of two teenagers in similar circumstances where they were killed
by other young people as a result of an altercation and by stabbing with
a knife. One of the young men was a Fox Hill constituent Khodee Davis.
Mr. Davis was slain on Whit Monday at Paradise Island. Paradise Island’s
owners have since announced new measures to control traffic and crowds
at the island during public holidays.
Mr. Mitchell recalled a speech made by then UN chief
Kofi Annan at an EU/LAC summit in Vienna in 2006 where he called for specific
set asides for youth employment when governments make investment decisions.
Mr. Mitchell called for those set asides in The Bahamas. You may
click
here for the full address that also touched on Foreign Affairs and on the
Public Service.
BIS photo: Peter Ramsay
THE
LABOUR DAY PARADES
The Labour Movement is in a state of decline.
A minority of workers are Union members. In the past year, the once
powerful Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union dissolved into
bickering over who is to sign a cheque and who is not to sign a cheque.
The movement could not even manage one Labour Day parade in Nassau, with
Obie Ferguson leading his Trade Union Congress (TUC) in one direction on
Labour Day while the National Congress of Trade Unions (NCTU) headed by
John Pinder of the Bahamas Public Services Union went off in another direction.
The PLP, headed by Party Leader Perry Christie,
joined the NCTU parade. The parade was named in honour of the first
NCTU President Leroy ‘Duke’ Hanna of the Bahamas Musicians and Entertainers
Union. There was a grand turnout of yellow T shirts, part of which
is caught by these photos above. Please click
here for a photo essay by Ralph Hanna. Please click
here for a full video feature of the event from the official website of
the Progressive Liberal Party.
In Freeport, Fred Mitchell, Obie Wilchcombe PLP
MPs and Senator Pleasant Bridgewater joined party officers Melissa Sears
and Forrester Carroll on the Grand Bahama Labour Day parade. Vandyke
Hepburn of The Bahamas Information Services took the photos of the Officers
Carroll, Sears and MP Mitchell on parade; of Senator Bridgewater (background),
Mr. Mitchell, Ms. Sears and MP Wilchcombe; of FNM MP Vernae Grant with
Mr. Mitchell and of supporters on the PLP truck in Freeport. Please
click
here for more photos from Grand Bahama by Allison Smith.
NEW
NIGERIAN AMBASSADOR
Senator Segun Bamigbetan Baju, the new High Commissioner
to The Bahamas for Nigeria presented his letters of commission to the Governor
General the Hon. Arthur D. Hanna at Government House on Thursday 5th June.
He was accompanied by his wife. The High Commissioner is resident
in Havana, Cuba. Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services
took the photo of the presentation of a gift to the Governor General by
the High Commissioner and his wife. Later the Governor General hosted
a lunch, which Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell attended.
THE
SO CALLED GAY MURDERS
There have been 31 murders this year so far in The
Bahamas. They preoccupy the country. In New Providence, many
people are scared out of their wits. They don’t go out at night.
Four of those murders were single men. Last week we reported that
the gay community in Nassau believes and the street talkers also seem to
believe, led by the trashy paper headlines that there is a gay serial killer
on the loose. No amount of logic appeals to disabusing people of
this notion. The police say there is no evidence of any such killer
or connection between the murders, save precisely the fact that the victims
were single men, who were killed in bloody and brutal circumstances in
their apartments, and the speculation is that they are homosexual.
That is enough to drive the nation into overdrive.
The last murder reported was that of Marvin Wilson
who lived in an apartment in the ne’er do well area of Collins Avenue across
the street from the Broadcasting Corporation. He was stabbed in the
chest and died on the scene. He was alive when he was found but apparently
was unable to say who did it. There was no forced entry and no robbery
from what the police can discover. The police have again appealed
to the public to come forward with any information to assist them in their
inquiries. While, this is all riveting, the frightening thing is
that the police cannot find out who did four murders. That is enough
for any community to feel unsafe. The three other unsolved murders
are that of Wellington Adderley, Thaddeus McDonald and Harl Taylor.
'MOTHER'
PRATT HOSPITALISED
Cynthia 'Mother' Pratt, Deputy Leader of the Progressive
Liberal Party and former Deputy Prime Minister is reportedly resting in
"stable" condition at Doctors Hospital. Mother Pratt
is said to have complained after Friday's Labour Day march in record heat
and was taken to hospital where she is resting comfortably. Our best
wishes and those of her many supporters and well-wishers to Mother for
a swift recovery.
IN PASSING
BUT Elections
Ida Poitier, the incumbent President of the heretofore rowdy Bahamas
Union of Teachers, will face elections on Tuesday 10th June. Some
4000 teachers are set to go to the polls to elect a new set of leaders
for the next three years. The Union has become a paper tiger under
Ms. Poitier. She has acquiesced to every policy of the FNM, even
going to the point of sanctioning Union executives who have spoken out
against the FNM’s policy of removing the police from the schools.
Ms. Poitier uncritically supports everything that the FNM does. When
the PLP was in office, she threatened mass disruption in the schools and
was a constant critic in the press of everything that the PLP did.
No more! She is silent as the Bahamian schools slip into chaos.
Mrs. Poitier will face Belinda Wilson who came to office with her as Secretary
General. The two have had a falling out. Also running is Francis
Friend from Grand Bahama and Byron Small. In the face of a split
vote, it looks like unfortunately Ms. Poitier will win again. We
are supporting Belinda Wilson and urge all teachers to vote for her.
PLP On Local Govt. Elections
PLPs are incensed over the shenanigans of Local Government Minister
Sidney Collie. Nomination Day for Local Government elections was
Tuesday 3rd June. PLPs turned up to nominate only to find that the
government had changed districts, polling divisions and the number of places
to be elected without notice. Glenys Hanna Martin, the Party chairman
issued
a statement announcing the party’s concern. She denounced the
action and said that the PLP would
challenge the decision in court if necessary.
Conrad Knowles Gravely Ill
Conrad Knowles, a former police officer and immigration officer, former
Chairman of the Licensing Authority and a former Deputy to the Governor
General is gravely ill in hospital reportedly following a serious and debilitating
stroke that followed upon a successful angioplasty for a heart blockage.
We wish him and his family well. Mr. Knowles is the father of Dr.
Ronald Knowles, former Minister of Health. He has three other children
Joan Albury, the CEO of the PR firm The Counsellors, a son Paul and a daughter
Sonia.
Call For Zimbabwe
Fred Mitchell, Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs, made a call
for the government of Zimbabwe to protect the rights of the Opposition
in Zimbabwe to run in general elections there and for there to free and
fair elections. Mr. Mitchell criticized President Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe for interfering with the right of the Opposition in Zimbabwe to
run a campaign in the election. Elections are due on 27th June.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the Opposition leader, has been arrested twice since
it was announced that a runoff would have to take place against Mr. Mugabe.
It appears that his government has determined that it will prohibit the
Opposition from freely competing in the elections by attacking their supporters,
killing and jailing them. Mr. Mitchell made his remarks at the Labour
Day rally in Freeport, Grand Bahama.
No Not One
Ken Russell, the Housing Minister, has until 30th June to start at
least one house in his government’s low cost housing programme. If
he does not we will be singing the lines from that oft repeated hymn “No
not one! No not one!” to mark Mr. Russell’s abysmal record in housing under
the FNM.
Fred Smith On Xenophobia
Can you imagine the cojones that Fred Smith has to get up in a public
place and lecture Bahamians on xenophobia? Mr. Smith claims that
Bahamians are xenophobic and that he believes that because we do not have
the labour in the country to carry out all our tasks we ought to invite
people to come in and within five years grant them citizenship. This
is the same Fred Smith who paid for an ad in the press during the debate
on the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) that suggested that if
we signed the agreement that Haitians would swamp The Bahamas. Mind
you, he is Haitian in ancestry himself and was born in Haiti. The
CSME would have allowed just what he is now advocating. But like
all of his ilk, let’s not let the truth stand in the way of a good story.
The report of his address appeared in the Freeport News on Saturday 7th
June.
Absent From Parliament
Fred Mitchell MP Fox Hill described a story in the Nassau Guardian
about members of parliament being absent from the House as inane and silly.
He said the story was foolish and read like an FNM propaganda piece.
Mr. Mitchell explained that MPs in The Bahamas are not full time and have
no obligation to attend the House save once in 90 days. In any event,
he argued that the Leaders of the House determine whether a Member needs
to be present or not. He said that what was particularly foolish
about the article was that Hubert Ingraham whom the Guardian said had a
perfect record would during the last term come to the House for ten minutes
and leave. All he wanted to do was be marked present but he treated
the House with utter contempt. Also taking issue with the story was
Loretta Butler Turner MP for Montagu who said that the time she was absent
her father was gravely ill in hospital in the U.S.
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return
to the top of the page.
|
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| PLPs AT WORK IN THE HOUSE OF
ASSEMBLY: There was a busy week in the House of Assembly over the
past week. The Budget debate finished in the wee hours of the morning
of Friday 13th June. The Budget for the country is just about 1.5
billion dollars. Some found the debate tiresome, others found it
enlightening. The PLP MPs took on the FNM with a vengeance.
The most anticipated address was that of Shane Gibson who had threatened
a name and shame list. He held back the list, but attacked the housing
record of the government. They managed to not build a single house
in their first year in office. Melanie Griffin (click
here for her address) was the surprise of the week when she accused
the Government of the FNM of plagiarizing a PLP programme for the unemployed
that was started by George Mackey and calling it an FNM programme.
Loretta Butler Turner, the FNM Minister responsible was shocked into silence.
We show photos of the presentations made by PLPs over the week including
a photo of MP Fred Mitchell and Obie Wilchcombe at the door of the Assembly,
perhaps a dream team. The photos are of Shane Gibson, Obie Wilchcombe,
Vincent Peet and PLP Chair Glenys Hanna Martin. BIS Photos: Peter
Ramsay |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
INGRAHAM’S NASTINESS
From the Smoking Room of the House of Assembly, you could hear the
raucous laughter coming out on to the floor on Thursday 12th June.
This was supposed to be the last day of the Budget debate, a serious venture
on the policy and spending of the government over the next year.
Instead, it was part of the same old gotcha politics of the FNM that got
them elected by trickery and sleight of hand in 2007. One year later,
they have still not learned to govern. They are still busy blaming
the PLP for everything that they, the FNM, did not do.
Former Prime Minister Perry Christie perhaps described it best when
he told Phenton Neymour, the rookie Member of Parliament for South Beach,
that he was narcissistic. That means someone who likes looking at
himself and thinking what a beautiful guy am I. It was arguing by
analogy, the whole government of the FNM can pride itself on its ability
to preen its feathers, and congratulate itself on what a good job it is
doing. Reality is another thing. You simply have to look at
the country, and all around you, there is collapse and degradation.
The FNM when it is finished will have presided over the largest increase
in poverty, dirt and crime in the history of the country.
The Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham claimed in his summation that
the PLP during its time in office over the past five years borrowed 391
million dollars and that there is nothing to show for it. That is
a complete falsehood or a lie as Mr. Ingraham likes to shout across the
floor. He has taken to sitting down in his seat and shouting that
this is a lie or that is a lie and calling people liars. It takes
a lair to know one.
When he got to his feet, Mr. Ingraham in the face of withering PLP
criticism said that he will implement National Catastrophic Health Insurance.
That is a lie. He made it up on his feet. It is the first time
the Cabinet ever heard about it. He was simply embarrassed that yet
again his government is caught trying to develop a policy that cannot help
the Bahamian people, a national free drug policy, which means that you
have to get sick before you can get assistance from the government.
He simply made up the story about National Catastrophic Health Insurance
only to try to trump the PLP.
It is the same for the story about using the money from the sale
of the telephone company to build a national hospital. When the PLP
left office, the plans for a new hospital to replace the aging Princess
Margaret Hospital called for an expenditure of 200 million dollars.
That was during the PLP’s time. The PLP agreed to sell just before
it left office the telephone company for 220 million dollars. Given
inflation, it will not be possible to build a brand new hospital for 200
million dollars. It will be even more impossible when you add the
fact that a new hospital is also needed in Grand Bahama, where the Rand
is a completely inadequate facility. Some 80 million dollars will
be needed to build that hospital. Our point is that the announcement
Mr. Ingraham made was a lie. His Cabinet no doubt heard it for the
first time on that day.
No member of Mr. Ingraham’s Cabinet is man or woman enough to contradict
him. He himself said one day that the group that forms his Cabinet
is so happy that they have won and have political power that they will
take no risks. That is why the rumours abound that when the Cabinet
reallocations take place on 1st July, Loretta Butler Turner is to lose
her job as Minister for Social Services, Brent Symonette is to become Minister
of National Security and Tommy Turnquest is to take over Tourism and Foreign
Affairs. Carl Bethel is to lose Culture, Youth and Sports and be
stuck with the pure drudgery of Education. There will be no fight
about it, just the silence of the lambs.
A third lie told by the FNM is that there was no master plan for
the development of the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre Complex. Former
Prime Minister Perry Christie when he spoke showed the master plan to the
House. Mr. Ingraham claimed that there was nothing there for the
FNM to go by and so that was reason that the
Chinese sports stadium project was delayed.
Given the propensity to simply lie in the face of PLPs truths, the
question is, what does the PLP do to put a stop to it? Clearly, the
PLP must continue to put these truths in front of the Bahamian public.
Hubert Ingraham cannot help himself. He has nastiness in his
blood. He sits down in the House with his mind clicking over to see
what nastiness he can shoot across the bow of the PLP and its members.
Then he goes into the Smoking Room and performs much like a drunken sailor
with loud and boisterous laughter, while his Ministers seek to plough through
defending his fiscal perfidy. We say sing your song music man but
the PLP will continue to have its way if you’re nasty.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 14th June 2008 up to
midnight: 232,864.
Number of hits for the month of June up to Saturday 14th June 2008
at midnight: 438,779.
Number of hits for the year 2008 up to Saturday 14th June 2008 at
midnight: 6,406,526.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
BELINDA
IS THE WINNER
Belinda Wilson is the new President of the Bahamas
Union of Teachers (BUT). The result was declared in the early hours
of the morning of 11th June. Ms. Wilson who was elected three years
ago as the Secretary General of the Union as part of a team with Ida Turnquest
Poitier as President, separated from Mrs. Poitier soon after the general
election, when Mrs. Poitier turned out to be more of an FNM ideologue and
stooge than a union leader.
Mrs. Poitier took the remarkable position that she
did not support the deployment of police in the schools put there under
the PLP administration and supported by her to protect the school children
and teachers from violence in the schools. The FNM had them removed
and the result was an up tick in violence in the schools. Even in
the face of a riot during the past year at the Donald Davis Junior High
School, when the school had to be locked down to prevent complete disorder,
Mrs. Poitier did not agree that the police were needed. She went
further and said that Belinda Wilson was not the official voice of the
Union when she spoke out on the issue. Mrs. Poitier also sanctioned
a teacher for disagreeing with the Union on the matter. She has now
gotten her comeuppance.
Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister had reportedly
ordered that Mrs. Wilson be defeated at any costs. She is among the
pathological hatreds that he has. Minister of Education Carl Bethel
congratulated Mrs. Wilson on her victory but he must be holding his breath
waiting to see what this will bring. You have in Mrs. Wilson a more
radical approach to Unions in the work place. That is why the teachers
stood with her rather than Mrs. Poitier. They have no doubt that
Belinda Wilson will not sell them out for a mess of political porridge.
Belinda Wilson and her team speak with the media following election
victory - Nassau Guardian photo / Edward Russell III
CHRISTIE
ON BRENT’S CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The Free National Movement is unashamed and insensitive
to charges of conflict of interest. They come by it naturally since
their United Bahamian Party(UBP) progenitors were chucked out of office
for a conflict of interest. Now the son of the one and only UBP premier
is in office as the Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette and he is in
the middle of a great conflict of interest. When Perry Christie,
the former Prime Minister, began his speech, Mr. Symonette ran off the
floor of the House and stayed well out of range until the attack had subsided.
Mr. Christie said that he had warned the Prime Minister
Hubert Ingraham about Mr. Symonette being involved in helping to choose
where the new container port for Nassau was to go. Mr. Symonette
is a landlord in the city of Nassau. He rents out space for containers
to be off loaded and stored. He claims that although he chaired the
advisory committee to the Cabinet on this matter there was no conflict
of interest because he supported the move of the Port which meant that
he would lose revenue as a landlord and how could it be a conflict if he
was acting ostensibly against his interest.
One has only to see that now there is an act to
revitalize the city of Nassau by the same government of which Brent Symonette
is a part. That act offers tax incentives to land owners who will
revitalize their properties within the city of Nassau. Mr. Symonette
has a property within the city of Nassau. So what it means is that
Brent Symonette sat and agreed to the port moving to Arawak Cay.
He then sat in the Cabinet and agreed to an act that will help him raise
his property values. Government has been good for him. It answers
the question of why a man worth 58 million dollars would want to have a
66,000 dollar job. We end with the fact that as soon as Mr. Christie
had stopped in his attack on Mr. Symonette, a smiling Brent Symonette emerged
from the refuge of the Smoking Room back in the chamber.
KEITH
BELL ON THE JUSTICE SYSTEM
We reported on this site that Keith Bell, the boy wonder cop, who got the
first class honours degree from the University of the West Indies, was
drummed out of the Force by a combination of frustration and now we add
politics. Mr. Bell this week went public with his frustration with
the system. The Tribune of Wednesday 11th June reported that Mr.
Bell claimed that the justice system was on the verge of collapse.
It appears that the Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson is simply
not up to the job. We told the public that at the time of the appointment.
The FNM went ahead any way because Mr. Ferguson supports their party.
But the result of displacing Messrs. Ellison Greenslade and Marvin Dames
from the leadership of the Force in a useless and unnecessary course overseas
is that the Force is going steadily down hill.
Mr. Ferguson is in a totally unnecessary row with
the head of the Police Staff Association over the use of policemen on private
time. But it appears that Mr. Ferguson does not understand the nature
of the legal system and how clogged up the system is and what to do to
clean it up. Cases are taken unnecessarily to court. Some are
put before the courts knowing that the evidence is not there and sometimes
knowing that the state can plea bargain the crime and get it out of the
system. It appears that there is a greater need for the Attorney
General to supervise the prosecutions in the Magistrates Court that are
now left to the police.
More trouble is to come. Claire Hepburn, the
Attorney General, has proved to be hopeless in that post. She is
on her way out to the Supreme Court bench and Michael Barnett is on his
way in as of 1st July as the new Attorney General. Let’s hope he
has better luck than his FNM predecessor. Minister of National Security
Tommy Turnquest denied that the system is on the verge of collapse although
he admits that it has many challenges. He chastised the press for
reporting the truth of the allegations saying that they should be careful
because the newspapers are read across the world. What a lot of poppycock.
The truth shall set you free.
Keith Bell is pictured in police uniform in this file photo
DAROLD
MILLER IN HIS OWN WORDS
The sexual harassment case brought against former radio personality Darold
Miller is nearing its conclusion. The Judge said that Mr. Miller
had a case to answer. This apparently incensed Mr. Miller.
He gave a statement from the dock which is unsworn and cannot be challenged
by cross examination. Here is what is reported by the Nassau Guardian
of what Mr. Miller said in Court in his own words. Mr. Miller is
accused of propositioning a reporter under his supervision for sexual favours.
The radio station he worked for called GEMS Radio is owned by Cyprianna
McWeeney and Debbie Bartlett. Mr. Miller is 51, the reporter 31.
The reporter admitted that she used to live with Mr. Miller and also slept
in his bed. The case has been adjourned to 19th June:
“This prosecution is the result of three factors.
First of all, the charges were politically motivated because my show was
pulled off the air 40 days before the May 2007 general election.
Secondly, the station's owners Deborah Bartlett and Cyprianna McWeeney
were part of a conspiracy against me because they wanted to renege on my
$300,000 contract. Finally, the charges were made because of my stand
against ‘sissyism’…
“I once paid Bartlett's dry cleaning bill.”
[At this point, Calvin Seymour, the lead prosecutor intervened: “He
cannot come here now and say all this rubbish from the bar. He has not
taken the stand, so we cannot put his bad character into evidence."]
Mr. Miller then continued:
“My defence team [Willie Moss Jr. and Michael
Kemp] have not followed my instructions. I am disappointed in your
worship. You should not have ruled that I had to defend these allegations.
This case is frivolous and a travesty of justice. This is a waste
of judicial time and this court could have been dealing with more important
matters, like murders.
“477 lies had been told about me during the course
of this trial. I have done nothing wrong. I am the victim of
a conspiracy to defame me and silence me from speaking the truth of what
is wrong in this country. I am a hardworking, consummate professional.
I stoop to the dogmas of no master. The only master I stoop to is
the one above.
“I was not a domineering boss, who restricted
reporters’ movements by locking them in the newsroom. I wouldn't
have locked them in the newsroom. I would've taken them with me.
There is no news in the newsroom.
“My home became a place of refuge for my co-workers
and I took in many of them when they were in need.
“I was never properly paid for my talents during
most of my career. My show was the only money-maker at the station, but
my bosses failed to pay me the money I was entitled to for the show.
“No one had ever made complaints about me before.”
Mr. Miller is shown conferring with his attorneys in this file
photo
IN PASSING
Ruth Millar Out, Colin Higgs In
Hubert Ingraham has announced that Ruth Millar who has served in the
public service almost a dozen years beyond her retirement as the Financial
Secretary is at last leaving the Ministry to actually retire. The
sound of relief in the Ministry is palpable. Even though she is widely
credited for being competent, time passed her by and there was a widely
held view that there was a need for fresh leadership in the Ministry.
The word is that Colin Higgs, the now Permanent Secretary for the Ministry
of Public Works, is to succeed her. He has no known previous experience
in fiscal policy. In this, he oversteps Ehurd Cunningham who has
served for over six years as the Secretary for the Revenue. Mr. Ingraham
has reportedly paid her pension that he took away from her, that the PLP
agreed to restore, that he at first refused to pay last year and now he
has paid it, claiming that he is responsible for doing so and not the PLP.
Paulette Withdraws The Case
We reported earlier on this site that charges were laid against Mr.
Charles Zonicle, husband of former PLP Senator Paulette Zonicle for causing
harm to his wife. Mrs. Zonicle has decided, reportedly for the sake
of her daughter who would have had to testify against her father, to drop
the case.
The Tucker Fykes Wedding
Ken and Judy Tucker of Nassau, The Bahamas are now residents of Washington
D.C. Mr. Tucker runs a consulting firm there. His daughter
Kendra was married to Anthony Fykes of Washington on Sunday 1st June.
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill, who grew up in the Centreville area of New
Providence where Mr. Tucker grew up, attended the wedding. The photo
is by Eli Turner and shows from left to right Mr. and Mrs. Tucker, Mr.
& Mrs. Fykes and MP Fred Mitchell in the Reagan Building on Pennsylvania
Avenue.
Graduation At Sandilands Primary
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill looked down from the makeshift platform
as the children of the Sandilands Primary School marched forward for their
annual prize giving for the sixth grade which signalled their passing out
from primary school to the junior high school. It was a proud moment.
The Fox Hill Community Centre that was built for the Sandilands School
and the Fox Hill community was finally a reality. The building has
been used since February of this year with makeshift electricity.
Now at least one bathroom is finished, the auditorium was filled with students
and parents, proud on the occasion. Mr. Mitchell told the students
that the Centre was his gift as the representative to the children of Sandilands
and the people of the Fox Hill Community. The graduation took place
on Thursday 12th June.
Fox Hill Member of Parliament Fred Mitchell proudly poses with Sandilands
School officials and school board members in congratulating the top prizewinner
in the School's annual prizegiving ceremony held for the first time in
the new, nearly completed Fox Hill Community Centre. Photo: Dennis
Fountain
A Celli Moss Film
It is Father’s Day today and on Friday evening 13th June, viewers of
ZNS were treated to an unexpected film surprise produced and directed by
Celli Moss. Mr. Moss whose day job is that of a cameraman at The
Counsellors, producers of Bahamas At Sunrise, did a creditable job.
The film is about the love and devotion of a father and mother in the face
of distress on all sides: financial pressures on the job, which lead to
him as an employee heading a strike and dealing with contentious support
and a wily boss who is having his own father son problems. Turns
out the boss who is white has a son who is disaffected from him because
of the father’s total devotion to money making and forcing his son into
a prize winning, winner take all attitude toward life. The sons of
the employee and the boss, one black, one white turn out to be the finalists
in a spelling bee. It is interesting and touching. Mr. Moss
sponsors and organizes a Bahamian Film festival every year. The fact
that ZNS played the film gives it wider coverage. The more he gets
exposure no doubt the better the product. A good and enjoyable surprise
in otherwise scrappy fare on ZNS. Bahamians are clearly hungering
to see themselves on TV in ways other than the news. Cleveland Eneas
III is another one of those leading an effort in drama. Congratulations
to Mr. Moss. The film is called MY OLD MAN. It was shot seven
years ago. It was his first film. His latest is Ball’s Alley.
You can buy a copy at Mystical Fitness in the Palmdale Shopping Plaza.
Cuba Finds Oil
Caribbean Net News reports that Cuban oil and gas deposits are so substantial,
they may in fact do what politics and ideology and UN resolutions have
failed to do, break the U.S. embargo that has time and time again been
declared contrary to international law. The site reports that U.S.
technology may be allowed to be used to drill for the deposits that are
some 6 miles below the ocean. The reason, the U.S. is so hungry for
oil, they will do anything to get it.
The Death Of Tim Russert
Tim Russert is dead. He was the host of the NBC programme on
U.S. television on Sunday mornings called MEET THE PRESS. He hosted
the show since 1991. He was considered the political authority in
the United States amongst journalists. We doubt anyone in The Bahamas
knew him but given the steady diet of U.S. television and our keen interest
in U.S. politics, he was a fixture in our homes through television.
He dropped down dead at 58 from a heart attack on Friday 13th June.
The U.S. TV stations have over blown their coverage of his death as if
a Head of State had died, wall-to-wall coverage. He was an important
figure but we think even he would admit that journalists are not the story.
They cover the story.
Zimbabwe From Bad To Worse
It is a pity that an armed force of African troops, perhaps led by
South Africa cannot remove Robert Mugabe from power. It is clear
that there is a need for some extra national force to help end the suffering
in Zimbabwe. The Leader of the Opposition Morgan Tsvangirai defeated
Mr. Mugabe in parliamentary elections and won the first round of elections
but is facing him in a run off on 27th June. He is given little chance
since it appears that the army has decided that it will stop him.
The police and army have been arresting and beating his followers.
Some have died. He himself was arrested for a time. His Deputy
Leader of the Opposition is now facing charges of treason because he dared
to suggest in South Africa that Mr. Mugabe should lose. Mr. Mugabe’s
supporters are saying that they won Zimbabwe by the barrel of a gun so
it should not be taken from them by the ballot box and marking an ‘x’.
Sir Durward Knowles Monopoly
There should be an investigation into whether or not a monopoly exists
at the Prince George Dock with tugboats. The report is that Sir Durward
Knowles after nearly forty years through a company he owns has a monopoly
on services provided at the Prince George Dock to bring in the big ships.
He makes a you know what load of money but if this is true, is it fair?
Customs Job Offered To Senior Assistant Commissioner
The latest report is that the FNM government does not want Senior Assistant
Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade to return to the Force.
Mr. Greenslade has been reportedly offered the permanent position of Comptroller
of Customs. Marvin Dames, the other officer who was shunted off to
a necessary training course in Canada, is to be offered the job of Commissioner
of Police.
Cassius Stuart - A Sterile Platform Of Claptrap
If you flip through your television set in The Bahamas, the Bahamian
television fare is mainly made up of the news and local church services
or those masquerading as religious. One such programme seen was that
of Kingdom Vibe which simply provided a platform for unadulterated Cassius
Stuart. Mr. Stuart is the leader of the Bahamian Democratic Movement
(BDM), eight years old, three electoral tries, no seats. He claims
that the PLP had 14 years to do it and the FNM 23 years to do it, win that
is. One small thing, both parties had seats in the Parliament in
those years. There was hope for him but my word, with the steady
stream of made for television sound bites, unadulterated, sterile aptitudes,
what does he actually offer the Bahamian people? He claimed that
past Ministers of Education are to blame for the state of the uneducated
masses today. He said that he supports the Boston Celtics and when
their coaches fail, they get fired. His host was eager to agree that
in The Bahamas we don’t do things that way. Both are wrong.
It is amazing in the face of the fact that the PLP was just voted out of
office. The PLP was voted out of office twice and the FNM voted out
of office once as a result of their mistakes in the government. Time
to turn the channel. Where do they get these guys?
SUMMER HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN
Yesterday Saturday 21st June was the first day of summer and the longest
day of the year in the northern hemisphere.
The earth is at its northern most tilt and the sun was shining most
directly at the Tropic of Cancer that passes through Exuma in The Bahamas.
It was hot yesterday.
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return
to the top of the page.
|
 |
| BUDGET GOES TO THE SENATE:
The
Budget of the country having been duly passed by the House of Assembly
went to the Senate for their more mature consideration. For our part,
we liked Senator Hope Strachan's description of the Budget as neither here
nor there. And so we brand the 2008 Budget of Hubert Ingraham as
the “neither here nor there” budget, we pay tribute to the Senators of
the PLP in our photo montage of the week with Senators Allyson
Maynard Gibson, Pleasant Bridgewater and Hope Strachan at top; and
Senators Jerome Fitzgerald, Michael
Halkitis below and Fred Mitchell greeting Allyson Maynard-Gibson in
the Senate foyer, congratulating her for a slamming the FNM. A great
job was done by all. The photos are by Peter Ramsay and Patrick Hanna
of The Bahamas Information Services. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
INGRAHAM: SITTING UGLY AND
FUMING
Fred Mitchell described it as petulance and he told the House that
he had proved his point, showing the country just what kind of man Hubert
Ingraham is. The business of the government was brought to a screeching
halt because one man could not have his way in the face of the rules of
the House. Mr. Ingraham then picked up his marbles and said, in effect,
‘I’m not playing anymore’ and retired to the Smoking Room where he sat
fuming that his programme had been derailed. But if he thought about
it at all, he would have and he should have by now if he has an ounce of
gray matter, realised that the whole thing was derailed by his own behaviour,
his own stupidity, and he has no one else to blame for this but himself.
Here are the facts. The FNM asked the Leader of the Opposition’s
business in the House Dr. Bernard Nottage to agree to the first reading
and passing of three supplementary appropriations bills. The Opposition
agreed. The three bills were asking for supplementary appropriations
for pensions for public officials, equipment for the police and allocations
for The Bahamas Vocational and Technical Institute. In a mumbled
presentation on moving the Bills, he said only that the government did
not want to proceed by way of a contingency warrant and were coming to
the House for permission to spend the additional money. Presumably,
it is important expenditure.
He sat down. Then the motion was seconded. The lead speaker
for the PLP was Fred Mitchell, the spokesman on the public service.
He asked for the lectern and then made the point that under the rules the
clock should be at one hour and not thirty minutes for his statement.
Up jumped Mr. Ingraham, “In that case, I don’t do foolishness,” he said,
“I will withdraw the bills.” And with that, without the leave of
the cabinet, with all of his men and women sitting there, he withdrew the
bills, once leave was obtained from his seconder.
Now it turns out that the bills have been withdrawn so they will
have to be read again for the first time and the whole process starts again.
The rule is still there that the time for the debate is one hour for each
speaker.
Mr. Ingraham is quite frankly an embarrassment to the men and women
he leads. We wonder if they are all simply unable to control him
and his wild outbursts. He strides around like a colossus, a goliath
amongst Davids but he ought to realize that if he is going to be like Goliath.
He will be struck down.
The kind of silly behaviour that was seen in the most recent incident
is symptomatic of his behaviour generally. When he campaigned in
the 2007 election, he said that he was a changed man. He claimed
that since he became a grandfather that he had mellowed. He has not.
He misled the Bahamian people. He cannot help himself. What
the PLP does is simply goad him on to make one stupid mistake after another.
He thinks that the exercise of raw brut power helps his case but it does
not. He is simply exposing himself by acting like an idiot.
Meanwhile, there is serious business to get done. It is unfortunate
that he just can’t stay out of the House of Assembly. As long as
he is not in the House of Assembly, then everything goes smoothly.
The others know how to work with one another to get the business of the
country through. The only difficulty is the toad in the pile who
simply does not know how to behave.
What we must watch though is that the UBP is sitting in the wings
waiting to take over. The country holds its breath every week much
as they want this present fellow to go, hoping that his heart keeps beating
and we do not fall into the grave error of Brent Symonette becoming the
Prime Minister of the country. God help us! The circle will
have been closed and closed tightly.
Just consider that if that happened this year, 41 years after majority
rule, we are back where we started. That would be the equivalent
of
the children of Israel wandering around in the desert for a whole generation
and not getting to the Promised Land. The PLP then has to work extra
hard at two things. It must try to get the government back come what
may. It must seek to embarrass the FNM by pushing the FNM’s leader
to do what he does best and to act his usual boorish self.
He sets the tone for the others in his behaviour. When he is
around, you have a young set of ministers who try to out do him in their
nasty remarks. Brent Symonette his deputy often leads the pack, hiding
behind the fact that he is sitting in his seat. Zhivargo Laing is
not far behind. He offends the House by the self righteousness of
his outbursts, when in fact he is a politician like all the rest of the
members in there and presenting himself as a ‘born again Christian’ does
not change that one bit.
So every week where we can, it is this column’s duty to bring to
the attention of the public that Hubert Ingraham is simply an unstable
partner for the development of this country. He makes up rules at
his whim. He dispenses with rules at his whim. He is not reliable.
You cannot take his word. He tells you one thing today and a few
minutes later, he has a different view as different as Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 21st June 2008 up to
midnight: 202,046.
Number of hits for the month of June up to Saturday 21st June 2008
up to midnight: 652,164.
Number of hits for the year 2008 up to Saturday 21st June 2008: 6,608,572.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
HOW
LARGE IS THE GANG PROBLEM?
There is a concern in the country about young people and their involvement
in anti social activities. Crime amongst young people is a major
concern. However, we were a little surprised by a statement attributed
to social activist Carlos Reid that there are 15,000 gang members in The
Bahamas. He claimed that many of them were in a Haitian gang called
the Zoe Pound gang. That was his statement on Monday 16th June in
the Nassau Guardian.
The next day, Mr. Reid seemed to have had
a talk with Byran Woodside, the Minister of State for Youth who told him
maybe that his figures did not look good. We were then treated in
the Nassau Guardian to what seemed to be a climb down and a lot of stroking
of what the Ministry of Youth was doing to help the situation. In
the process, Mr. Reid praised the Ministry of Youth saying that at least
they were trying to do something to help, unlike the situation before where
the Ministry of Youth and Culture was dragging its feet for years.
That seemed a gratuitous insult to the PLP and to its Ministers of Education,
Youth and Culture. Furtherm it is not true. What was the Urban
Renewal Programme all about that the FNM wrecked when they came to office?
We think that it is important to advise the social
activists that we know they need resources and often these resources have
to come from the government but there is no need to exaggerate, or to overstate
the case to make a point. Sensationalism does not help the case,
just the plain facts will do. Lastly, the gratuitous insults of the
PLP were also not necessary. Pleasing the FNM by attacking the PLP
is not necessary to simply state your case to the public and be done.
It makes it look like, perhaps unintended we admit, that social activism
is politically motivated.
Nassau Guardian photo
JEROME
FITZGERALD AT WORK FOR THE POOR
Hubert Ingraham has a grave credibility problem
when it comes to his help for the poor. That was one of the central
themes of Senator Jerome Fitzgerald as he spoke to the Senate on Friday
20th June. Senator Fitzgerald went to great pains to show that Mr.
Ingraham’s budget was not a budget for the poor at all but he described
it as budget “hatched in desperation”.
Senator Fitzgerald said that it showed the schizophrenic
nature of the FNM. He showed that the PM is not a friend of the poor.
He said, “Ask the people who he fired, construction workers who lost their
jobs.” He pointed out that of the 3 million dollars slated for poverty
alleviation last year only one million was spent. Two million was
left unspent. This year the FNM claims that they have set aside an
additional 7 million dollars to help the poor. Senator Fitzgerald
believes that in the face of their lack of will last year, you cannot trust
them to spend the money this year. You may click
here for the full address.
The photo of Senator Fitzgerald in the Senate on Friday 20th June,
with his mother Allardyce Scott Fitzgerald in the background watching from
the stranger’s gallery was taken by Peter Ramsay of BIS.
MITCHELL’S
PRESS CONFERENCE
Fred Mitchell, the Opposition’s spokesman on Foreign
Affairs held his monthly press conference on foreign affairs matters in
the Opposition Committee room of the House of Assembly on Tuesday 17th
June. He covered a wide range of subjects including what he called
grave errors made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette in
his budget address in the House of Assembly. You may click
here for the full statement of Mr. Mitchell. You may click here
to view the full video of the conference in three parts: Part
1, Part 2,
Part
3.
Fred Mitchell MP points to deficiencies in the website of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs during a news conference in these photos by Dennis Fountain
MALE
AND FEMALE PROSTITUTION
It was quite a week last week in the fight against prostitution.
The ever intrepid Oscar Sands of the Royal Bahamas Police Force has been
put in charge of the moral squad, well not quite, but the police station
near the popular Western Esplanade Beach in the city of Nassau. Mr.
Sands led a raid on the virtually derelict Mayfair Hotel (pictured in this
Nassau Guardian photo) right next door to the police station that netted
several foreign prostitutes. He then claimed that male prostitution
was becoming a feature of the beaches of the Esplanade and that he has
been trying to crack down on that. According to him, males approach
tourist males and sometimes locals.
But the big news of the week was his raid of the
16th June on the Mayfair Hotel on Monday, which looks largely abandoned.
Eight people were arrested, women all, five Jamaicans and three Haitians.
One of them was so skimpily clad according to the Nassau Guardian that
she appeared in a garbage bag to court. Underneath all she had on
was the everlasting arms; in fact the police described it as a backless,
tan, transparent mini dress and not to forget the black boots. Her
story was that she was approached with a curse word from the police to
move from the corner. Her response was that “p... was made to sell.”
The woman was questioned by the magistrate about
why she did not have any proper clothes on fit for court. She said
simply she was naked and that she was in fact dressed sexy for the club
and not for the court. She was taken away in her garbage bag and
her parting words are the quote of the week “If you all don’t use your
p… for profit, that’s your business because I will get profit for mine.”
Hmmm! She has been charged for loitering and was expected to be back
in court on Friday 20th June. Her first appearance was Thursday 19th
June.
SLIMY
PUNCH ATTACKS FORMER PM
The down in the gutter dirt rag, written by a reprobate
with a racist imagination and a poor self image attacked former Prime Minister
Perry Christie in its edition of Thursday 19th June. The paper said
that Mr. Christie had volunteered to help in a murder investigation of
the late Harl Taylor. It is part of the smear campaign being run
by the infidel who owns the paper. Mr. Christie issued the following
statement in response to the paper’s report:
“There is a story in The Punch newspaper of today’s
date with regard to me and purported involvement with a murder investigation
going on in the country. This entire story is a malicious concoction
of lies and falsehoods including in its references to my departed mother.
“I absolutely deny that I am in possession of
any information that could possibly be helpful to the Police in relation
to any murder or other criminal investigation.
“The Punch should be ashamed of itself
for continuing to manufacture wicked and completely false stories in order
to sell newspapers. This kind of muckraking journalism needs to be
roundly condemned and rejected by all responsible elements of our society.”
THE
FUTURE OF THE PLP
Knocking at the door of the new PLP today is another
generation of politicians. One of them described themselves in a
forum as men and women born in the 1960s and beyond. They are black
in the main, monied and they want in. Interested mainly in business
and well connected to international business overseas, allied to local
businesses, they are able to use those contacts to make a way and influence
in the PLP. So there is a cleavage developing in the organization
and about its direction.
With Perry Christie, the now leader, seeking to
manage a transition, to a new dispensation before he leaves the scene,
he is also keeping a keen watch on the new entrants into the party, and
shepherding many of them along the way. In one sense, these new men
and women seem to hark back to a day when Sir Lynden the great nationalist
leader of the PLP was alive and at the height of his powers.
Many of the new men and women look to Sir Lynden's
vision as part of the future of the PLP but in the process those who have
fought the good fight and come up the traditional way through the branches
and in the trenches see themselves as in danger of being displaced.
Times have changed and as the PLP moves forward, we all have to be careful
to be relevant to the times. Mr. Christie’s greatest contribution
as the party moves to its third phase will be to complete a P.J. Patterson
of Jamaica type transition, peaceful honourable and stable. We wish
him well in that job.
HOW
DO FNM MINISTERS MAKE IT ON THIS PAY?
When you look at them seemingly enjoying their new
found positions and fame, you wonder how can they be so blissfully and
seemingly unaware? These are young men in the prime of their income
bearing years. They have young families and yet they have joined
the government of Hubert Ingraham, destined only to last one term and at
salaries that one wonders how they make it. They drive in these big
cars that are not even comfortable and have to pay for their own gas.
Their drivers are no longer permitted to drive them after 5 p.m.
Why for example would a smart lad like Bran McCartney
leave his good practice just getting off the ground to be a Minister of
State under Hubert Ingraham, when he could have accepted a Chairman’s position
at some government corporation and simply worked at his firm and make himself
rich beyond measure using his influence at court with a government friendly
to him in power? It is inexplicable. The same can be said for
Charles Maynard. Why would he want to join a government as a Minister
of State when with his party in power you would think that there are opportunities
abounding?
Anyone who becomes a minister of The Bahamas government
today at the salaries they pay ought to have their heads examined.
But one guesses they will say, it is for the love of the country.
Somehow we doubt that. This is not an acceptable answer particularly
when one of their number is worth 58 million dollars, and is not known
for his disinterested philanthropy. You have to ask yourself why
would a 58 million dollar man take a 66,000 dollar job? There must
be something that he sees that we don’t see.
MITCHELL
VISITS LONG PASSPORT LINES
Brent Symonette, the Foreign Minister, tried his
best to anticipate the difficulty and to block access of Fred Mitchell
the Opposition’s spokesman on Foreign Affairs to the ZNS’ airwaves, but
it did not quite work. ZNS could not and did not show up at Mr. Mitchell's
press conference on Tuesday 17th June. They cryptically reported
that they were unable to make it. They were also unable to make it
Thursday 19th June, when Mr. Mitchell went down to see for himself the
long lines at the Passport Office. Yet on that same day they were
able to get a hold of Brent Symonette to lead their evening news on Thursday
19th June with the story of what Mr. Symonette was doing to ease the long,
outrageous lines of people waiting and demanding passports.
Mr. Mitchell, the Opposition’s spokesman on Foreign
Affairs, demanded that Mr. Symonette come down for himself and see the
horrible conditions people have to endure. One woman said that she
and her children had been waiting since 6 a.m. It was then 11 a.m.
Another was furious because she had been on the line since 4:30 a.m. and
when the doors opened at 8 a.m. to give out the 80 numbers for the day,
bedlam broke out but in the middle of the bedlam a police officer who knew
someone in the office simply pulled up in his car and got a higher number
than she did.
There is no access for people to get water, no access
to bathrooms, no chairs, no shelter, from the sun or the rain. This
is quite a shame. Mr. Mitchell called for steps to alleviate the
problem including temporarily extending expired passports until after the
summer, and also putting in place a booking system. In the short
term he said that simply making the conditions outside more comfortable
would be a step in the right direction. The visit took place on Thursday
19th June.
Photos: Dennis Fountain
CHRISTIE
AT THE CEO NETWORK CONFERENCE
Former Prime Minister Perry Christie was the guest
speaker at the power lunch of media executive Debbie Bartlett and the CEO
Network. This was her 12th CEO Network Conference. It brings
together people from across the region and the United States to discuss
networking at the executive and business level and to encourage entrepreneurship,
investment and planning. The former Prime Minister is pictured with
Ms. Bartlett and other conference guests following his address on Friday
20th June.
Photo: The Portrait Studio / Neville Bethel
JUSTICE
ALLEN RECUSES HERSELF
Now here we are again in the saga of the case brought
by Fred Smith and the estate of the late Edward St. George against Mr.
St. George’s former partner Sir Jack Hayward in their squabble over who
owns the Grand Bahama Port Authority. The lawyers have been a lawyering.
You know that the receivership imposed by the Courts
ex parte was discharged earlier this year. We agreed with that.
We think that Jack Hayward is not good for Grand Bahama and he supports
the FNM but to take someone’s property out of their hands by an ex parte
order was simply wrong. Sir Jack was a rich man and it took him two
years to get his property back. What do you think about a poor man
who has his property stripped from him by our courts on flimsy evidence
with only one side appearing? The matter was then substantively heard
by Madam Justice Anita Allen. She made the ruling that the parties
should settle it. She also made a ruling that there was fifty fifty
ownership between Jack Hayward and Edward St. George. All of these
rulings are being appealed.
There are a number of other ex parte orders that
were done and the Hayward side has been trying to get them heard for over
a year. Madam Allen has been hearing the election court cases and
has not been able to rule on any of the matters. Another Judge began
to hear some of them, Mr. Justice Neville Adderley. The Court of
Appeal was also brought into the act when the Hayward side claimed they
could not get before Madame Justice Allen.
The Court of Appeal declined to hear the matter
but it made some comments that incensed the Judge. The Judge had
been asked to recuse herself by the Hayward side from hearing any further
cases. She did not like it. She accused the Court of Appeal
of interfering with her judicial independence and said that she was washing
her hands of the whole bloody mess. Our words, not hers. So
now the Haywards have had their way. The matter has to go before
another judge and the litigation continues.
Meanwhile, Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister,
renewed his threat to nationalize the Grand Bahama Port Authority from
his bully pulpit in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 18th June.
But take seriously Madam Justice Allen’s comment about he Court of Appeal.
That we are certain is not the end of the matter.
FNMS
BOMB IN THE SENATE [Excepting 3rd generation Foulkes]
Tanya A Full Fledged FNM
If there was any doubt before now that Hubert Ingraham’s
appointment last year was not designed to put some independents in the
Senate, that doubt is now dispelled. In the heat of the controversy
over her appointment last year and with the PLP just mounting a legal challenge
to it, one that is still going, she chose to remain silent at budget time.
This year, there was no such worry. At one point she reportedly turned
up to Senate in a red blouse. Red is the colour of the FNM and not
an appropriate colour for wearing in the Senate which requires sober colours.
This Tanya Wright, the former Chamber of Commerce
President, and now full fledged FNM Senator launched into a spirited and
uncritical defence of the budget on Friday 20th June. She said that
everywhere she went people were praising the budget. This kind of
selective hearing puts her in the category of Senator Jacinta Higgs and
former pastor Senator Freddie McAlpine. Just one of the numbers;
to raise their hands and say aye. Such a pity for an intelligent
woman.
Jacinta Apologizes For Her Attack On School
System
The lady whom we called in the campaign “doctor
doctor” because of her penchant to remind every one of her PH D in Education
has spoken lots of “beauties” during her time in office as a Senator.
Some of them are real howls and generally the PLPs in the Senate simply
tune out when she starts to speak. This time she apologized, well
sort of, for an ill chosen set of words about the public school system.
She said that while speaking at a graduation at one of the schools
she made a comparison between the public school system and the private
school system and some people we offended by it. But she went on
to stand by her criticism of the public school system, so it was no apology
at all.
We all know what the shortcomings of the system
are but she is now in a policy position as an FNM to do something about
it. The last thing the kids at their graduation need to hear is impotent
descriptions of how bad the public school system is and at the same time
telling them in a subtle way that they got a substandard education by going
to public school, when that is certainly not the case for those graduating.
The proper thing to do is congratulate them for a job well done, sit down
and shut up. The remarks continued what she started in the campaign
against the PLP in Fox Hill when she accused the teachers at Sandilands
Primary School of not being up to the mark.
AG Claire Hepburn Admits Her Hands Are Tied
While some political activists with nothing better
to do with their time are in the streets marching to hang people, the Attorney
General Claire Hepburn again indicated from the Senate during the Budget
debate there on Thursday 19th June that the Government can do nothing to
speed up executions in The Bahamas until the various appeals have worked
their way through the courts.
Perhaps if Claire Hepburn would listen to predecessor
AG Senator Allyson Maynard she might get those cords unbound from her hands.
Daddy Dion, His Son, His Nephew
Well, he took quite a drubbing from the PLP as the
Government’s Leader in the Senate for the budget presented by the FNM but
it was no doubt a pleasure for the son and the nephew to see their father
and uncle at work in the Senate. Nicholas Okpere (right), the nephew
and Malcolm Foulkes (left), the son are pictured in the lobby of the Senate
in front of a royal portrait with Daddy Dion (centre) Foulkes. Perhaps
another generation of Sir Arthur Foulkes’ family, his grandchildren, are
now getting their grounding in politics. The photo of Daddy Dion
at the podium with the kids in the gallery and the other photo in front
of the portrait are by Peter Ramsay BIS and were taken during the budget
debate there in the Senate on Friday 20th June.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
AG Vindicates
PLP Government
I draw reference to the apparent intellectual
dishonesty and hypocrisy of the FNM. For five years the FNM criticized
the PLP Government for failing to execute those on death row. I am not
surprised that as the government, they have made an about turn (some 180
degrees) on the issue of the death penalty. The Attorney General is now
saying that the government has no control over the enforcement of the death
penalty law. Senator Hepburn said the following during her contribution
to the 2008-2009 budget debate: "Contrary to what is being said by
some about this subject, the government does not have any form of stay
or moratorium on the consideration of whether mercy would be extended,
or death warrants recommended, by the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative
of Mercy, established under article 90 of the Constitution."
Senator Hepburn continued that “the simple fact
of the matter is that there are no cases of anybody under sentence of death
in The Bahamas, who does not have some form of judicial appeal or a re-sentencing
exercise to go through." Hepburn, speaking on behalf of the government,
vigorously defended the due process requirement of the law and insisted
that it will be respected by the government.
The irony of this intervention is that the FNM, prior to May 2nd,
2007, pretended not to understand the separation of powers between the
Judiciary and the Executive branches of government and the principle of
due process under the rule of law. I guess the FNM experienced an epiphany
after May 2nd 2007. Suffice it to say, the FNM still comes across as hypocritical,
opportunistic, untrustworthy, and committed to the most politically convenient
route to power.
Notwithstanding the Privy Council 2006 ruling
that the death penalty was “unconstitutional”, the Honorable member for
North Abaco continued to berate the PLP government for failing to legislate
sentencing guidelines in capital cases. I note that it has been thirteen
months since the FNM became the government and these sentencing guidelines
have not materialized. All the PM has done to date was say that the FNM
government would do its “utmost to have these legal obstacles determined"
in the shortest possible time. What ever happened to the “HANG ‘EM HIGH”
rally rhetoric and bravado of the PM?
The PLP stands vindicated and the PM owes the
PLP an apology for the nasty, dishonest and misleading remarks he made
about the PLP government during the general election campaign.
Elcott Coleby
Thank You For
BahamasUncensored.Com
As a former resident of The Bahamas now living
in the US, I always like to keep up with news in the Islands. With
the unfortunate absence of any Bahamian news source in print or on television
or radio I have been left to comb the internet in search of the latest
goings on in my home country. After some tireless Googleing, I found
bahamasuncensored.com about a year ago. Since then, I have been a
fairly regular visitor to the site. Not that my opinion has much
gravity to anyone but myself, but I think that your site is very good.
It provides for me an unbiased, complete overview of Bahamian politics
and news. Previously I had much difficulty finding Bahamian news with the
US media's fragmented and partial depiction of The Bahamas.
Thank you for your weekly contributions. I greatly
appreciate your efforts, and will continue to visit this site, my primary
source for news about The Bahamas by Bahamians.
G. C. Miller
IN PASSING
A Break-in By RBDF Officer
The Tribune reported on Wednesday 19th June that over the last weekend,
a Defence Force officer believed to be the brother of FNM Minister Sidney
Collie was assisting the police in their investigations of a break in at
the Chinese Embassy in Village Road. The Embassy reportedly had a
tape of the incident which they presented to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
for their review and examination. The matter is now in the hands
of the police. Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest said
that the matter is taken seriously and will be investigated. Shadow
Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell for the PLP said that he was
aware of the break in and believed that the government was taking appropriate
steps in the investigation. The irony of this is that the officer
was reportedly the head of the security detail at the Embassy. You
would think that he would know that the Chinese would be taping him and
have surveillance cameras. If this is true there is more than one
reason to throw the book at him. So now, who is going to police the
police?
Sir Clement’s Condition
Sir Clement Maynard, the former Deputy Prime Minister, has been hospitalized
again for observation. Sir Clement suffered a debilitating stroke
earlier this year and has been recovering at home.
Mother Pratt Out Of Hospital
Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt, Deputy Leader of the PLP and former Deputy
Prime Minister, was released from hospital last Sunday 15th June following
a one week stay to deal with an over active thyroid condition. The
doctors treated her with an iodine solution and she is now recovering at
home.
We Agree With Leslie Miller
Leslie Miller, the former Minister for the PLP of Trade and Industry,
has gone public again in an appeal for justice. Mr. Miller’s son
Mario was brutally murdered in June 2002 shortly after the PLP was elected
to office. The alleged killers were arrested and put on trial after
four years but they were released on bail following a mistrial. Friday
21st June made six years since the younger Mr. Miller’s death and the matter
is still not resolved. It is quite simply disgraceful and shows the
full impotence of the Bahamian system of justice.
Sir Durward Apologizes One More Time
If Sir Durward Knowles, the white Bahamian gold Olympic medalist, apologizes
to black people one more time, he risks being put out of his race.
Yes, you remember he first apologized in Freeport in December 2007 as he
re-launched One Bahamas and then apologized at a gathering at the Nassau
Yacht Club in May 2008. This time he apologized to black people at
the CEO Network’s annual conference hosted by Debbie Bartlett on Thursday
19th June. Sir Durward repeated the apology for the way white people
treated black people in this country. It is a one man expiation.
No other white Bahamian of prominence has done so. He said in his
latest statement that at the age of 90 he would spend the rest of the years
of his life making amends and trying to bring black and white into one
Bahamas. Unfortunately “One Bahamas” is a programme that is so associated
with the FNM that Sir Durward’s hope to get PLP leader Perry Christie who
was in his audience to join him in it has little chance of succeeding.
Brent Symonette, the now Foreign Minister, whose father was of mixed ancestry,
and is accepted as white in The Bahamas, was asked whether he would apologize
to blacks for the treatment by whites in this country. He refused,
saying that we ought to move on and concentrate on the future.
Darold Miller Character Witness
Darold Miller appeared in court again this week, this time on Thursday
19th June. He brought a character witness, Judy Terrell the newscaster.
Ms. Terrell said her experience with him was that he was a gentleman and
she told how, unsolicited, he arranged for a raise for her while he worked
with her and also arranged for her to get a job at the Ginn Development.
The defence objected when she was asked in cross-examination whether she
was divorced or not. Mr. Miller reportedly had to be consoled by
his mother when he began to weep during the proceedings. The case
is again adjourned.
Senator Musgrove Speaks Up For Exuma
Senator Anthony Musgrove still seems to be setting his sights on the
FNM’s Exuma nomination, despite talk that he might replace another New
Providence MP in the next election. In a measured address on Thursday
19th June, he spoke up for Exuma asking why the MP for the area had not
spoken up about the subdivision roads. Ah, but the roads were not repaired
during the FNM’s ten years either but never mind a small thing. A
good talk. Photo by Peter Ramsay BIS.
Galanis Earns CVA Designation
Former Senator Philip Galanis has successfully completed the certification
process with the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts (NACVA)
which has earned him the designation of Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA).
The National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts is a global, professional
association that supports the business valuation, litigation support, and
fraud deterrence consulting disciplines within the Chartered Accountants
and professional communities.
The P.L.A.N.
The Progressive Liberal Action Network (PLAN), a PLP affiliated body
in Freeport, will celebrate its 1st anniversary as an organization with
a number of events in Grand Bahama. One of them is a boat cruise
on 28th June. Also planned on 6th July is a Fun Run and pre-independence
Crab Fest at PLP Headquarters in Grand Bahama. All are invited to
join. PLP Leader Perry Christie and Chairman Glenys Hanna Martin
were invited to join in the celebrations. Congratulations to the
PLAN.
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return
to the top of the page.
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BIG GIFT FOR COB: The
gift was so important for the country that it stopped the business of the
country. The Prime Minister was about to move the supplementary appropriations
bills on Wednesday 25th June and mumbled an apology that he would have
to leave and return to the House at a later time because the gift of ten
million dollars was to be given to the College of The Bahamas. That
ended up derailing the whole morning session. In a sudden love fest,
the Prime Minister invited the former Minister of Education Alfred Sears
to join him at the cheque presentations. The gift was from the Freedom
Foundation, founded by George Campbell, a Scot and Canadian who set up
his marine business in The Bahamas. His interest was agriculture
and marine architecture. His company owned ships on the Bahamian
register; his trustee is Lowell Mortimer. Mr. Mortimer presented
the gift to the College, ending years of negotiations that started during
the former PLP administration. The odd thing is that no one seemed
to mention Mr. Mortimer. It was remarkable that the man who engineered
the whole thing, by the Prime Minister’s own admission the largest gift
to the College in its history, was virtually invisible to the media.
The press hardly mentioned the trustee’s name and when they did, they did
not give him sufficient credit for seeing the gift through. If he
had been a white foreign man, the picture would have been bold and big
across the front pages. Our photo of the week then is that of the
gift of ten million dollars to the College of The Bahamas from the Freedom
Foundation led by Lowell Mortimer, Attorney at Law. The photo shows
from left: Minister of Agriculture, Larry Cartwright MP; Dr. Brendamae
Cleare, COB Dean of Pure and Applied Sciences; Minister of Education Carl
Bethel; Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham; COB Council Chairman T. Baswell
Donaldson; COB President Janyne Hodder and Freedom Foundation’s trustee
Lowell Mortimer.
BIS photo: Peter Ramsay |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
AN ANGRY MAN
This is the third in a series of articles that we have done on the
personality of the Prime Minister. In an earlier editorial we pointed
out that he is so predictable that all the PLP has to do is to continue
push buttons and he simply goes berserk. The words were hardly on
the screen properly when the Prime Minister supplied us with another example
of his worthless behaviour. A man with a weak heart should really
govern himself much better.
In the photo caption above, we wrote about the fact that there was
a virtual love fest in the House of Assembly in the morning of Wednesday
25th June. That is the thing about the House of Assembly when Hubert
Ingraham is there. He has this personality that you cannot predict.
That makes the way the House runs predictably unpredictable. One
minute he is acting like a Prime Minister should, the next he is acting
like a wounded animal, striking out in every direction. So on 25th
June, the Prime Minister comes back from lunch, where it appears he may
have had a few glasses of wine and turns from that magnanimous, humorous
individual leading a love fest into a wild and caged animal.
One previous such moment, we described last week, when he said how
he withdrew the bills from the Parliament since he did not want to accept
that the rules said that the debating time for supplementary appropriations
bills is one hour for each speaker and two hours for ministers and the
lead speaker of the Opposition.
He had to come right back last week as we predicted and accept that
this was so.
This Wednesday, he thought that when he presented these supplementary
appropriations bills that everyone would simply accept what he said without
any criticism. But it was clear from the moment Frank Smith MP (PLP)
and Alfred Sears MP (PLP) got to their feet that it was going to be a rough
ride for the Prime Minister.
Frank Smith started out by calling for an investigation by the Attorney
General to see if the Prime Minister broke any laws in his capacity as
Minister of Finance when he presented the budget without disclosing fully
that he was raising taxes on any number of items. Mr. Smith pointed
out that the Prime Minister misled the House by suggesting that the combination,
the total of the stamp duty and the customs duties in the new excise bill
should not amount to more than the amounts when they were applied separately.
Mr. Smith, a Chartered Accountant, was able to show cogently that the Prime
Minister did not disclose the full picture. The fact is the Prime
Minister stealthily raised taxes. He was unmasked and embarrassed
by Mr. Smith.
Alfred Sears accused the Prime Minister of misleading the country
in providing supplementary appropriations bills when he had just the week
before presented a budget and at the time of that presentation, he must
have known that the supplementary expenditure was necessary and therefore
foreseeable.
These arguments did not sit well with Mr. Ingraham and his minions.
First, he got up and asked for it to be withdrawn, charging that Mr. Smith
had accused him of a criminal offence. The Speaker of the House Alvin
Smith ran interference and forced Mr. Smith to withdraw it, but the irrepressible
Mr. Smith came right back over and over again in the face Carl Bethel and
Tommy Turnquest, the right hand lieutenants of Mr. Ingraham popping up
out of their seats like the proverbial jack in the box to defend Mr. Ingraham,
even after he withdrew his own objections. Both men kept looking
as they spoke to see if they got Mr. Ingraham’s approval as they objected.
Throughout the afternoon until the suspension in the evening, Mr.
Ingraham was mumbling, shouting and interrupting the PLP from his seat,
calling the PLP dumb, fools, saying how he was a one man opposition in
his time and took on the whole government. But try as he might, it
did not stop the withering criticism of him from Frank Smith and Alfred
Sears.
Mr. Ingraham said that he withdrew the allegations because he would
then cause PLP members to be investigated and he hoped they would see how
they liked it. Typical again. Threaten. The PLP told
him go right ahead and investigate.
Clearly, Hubert Ingraham is a very angry man.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 28th June 2008 up to
midnight: 228,930.
Number of hits for the month of June up to Saturday 28th June 2008
up to midnight: 893,227.
Number of hits for the year 2008 up to Saturday 28th June 2008: 6,837,502.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
PLP
FORCES COLLIE OUT
Sidney Collie, the Minister of Lands and Local Government (file photo)
resigned from the Cabinet in a statement before the House of Assembly this
morning, Monday 30th June, 2008. Mr. Collie's resignation took place
after the Progressive Liberal Party brought action in the Courts that exposed
grave errors in the process of Local Government elections for which he
had responsibility. (See story below Local
Government Elections A Mess) Just before noon Monday, the
PLP issued the following statement:
“This morning in Parliament the Member for Blue
Hills, tendered his resignation as Minister of Lands and Local Government.
He indicated in his statement to Parliament that it is ‘central to our
system of Cabinet government that Ministers should accept responsibility
for Ministerial action or inaction’. The Prime Minister in reacting
to the resignation admitted that ‘serious mistakes’ had been made.
“We always understood the matter to be
one of fundamental importance touching and concerning principles we cherish
as a people. This resignation proves that we were right and I am
proud that we have stood up for democracy and the rule of law.
“It is therefore with great concern that I note
that the Government has laid in Parliament today which would have the effect
of retroactively regularizing any irregularities and noncompliance with
the Local Government Act relative to elections held on 26th June 2008.
The purported effect of this may be to deprive citizens of their right
of action that might have accrued arising out of noncompliance with the
law. Our lawyers are reviewing this matter to see if the proposed
new legislation meets the test of constitutionality.
“The resignation by Sidney Collie alone is not
good enough. The Government must accept responsibility for these
serious errors.”
THE
STRAW MARKET WALKABOUT
The Bahamas Press website described the response
to former Prime Minister Perry Christie’s visit to the straw market under
the tent on Bay Street on Monday 23rd June as being greeted like a rock
star. He was mobbed by the women, and greeted in the straw market
as the representative of the party that tried to help the straw market.
The press was in tow.
In his remarks Mr. Christie castigated the Ingraham
government for abandoning the straw vendors to the disgrace of a tent that
is full of holes, leaks in the rain and is insufferably hot. There was
a tourist visitor there who joined in saying that she thought that the
government ought to do something to help the women in the market.
She said that she had been coming to The Bahamas for years and that she
was really saddened by what she was seeing in the market. The photos
of the market walkabout are by Dennis Fountain. You may see
the video of the visit by clicking here.
INCITEMENT
DID THE FNM SAY?
One thing you can give Johnley Ferguson, the Senate Vice President and
FNM Chair, is that he is an inventive and brazen fellow. In the face
of Perry Christie’s statement that the FNM will cause the country to divide
on the issue of replacing the straw market and putting the container port
on Arawak Cay, Mr. Ferguson claimed that the PLP’s leader was seeking to
incite the country. Can you imagine this now from the FNM who ran
the most nasty and divisive campaign in the history of the country in 2007?
Again, one thing you have to give him is nerve. Of course, he can't
have more nerve than the PLP's Chair Glenys Hanna Martin (pictured) who
issued her own statement in which she blasted Mr. Ferguson’s comments:
“The Chairman of the Free National Movement,
Mr. Johnley Ferguson, could not have been serious when he in a statement
recently issued referred to the Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party,
Rt Hon Perry Christie as ‘divisive’ and ‘inflammatory’.
“The Chairman of the Free National Movement
must have forgotten that it was no less a person than the Prime Minister
himself who set the standard in divisiveness on a national level and in
the use of inflammatory language in the management of public affairs on
the very first night of his return to office by drawing first blood against
persons he believed to be PLP supporters. It was he who fanned and encouraged
the flames of division when he either led or encouraged firings of persons
in the employ of the Public Service, cancelled millions of dollars in contracts
and presides over an economy that is in the worst state in living memory.
“Surely the Chairman of the Free National
Movement should seek to use his efforts more profitably than to make meaningless,
aimless statements about the conduct of our Leader who has demonstrated
over his long Parliamentary career a ‘gold standard’ when it comes to Leadership,
bar none!
“As a former teacher surely Mr. Ferguson should
turn his attention to addressing the great challenges faced in our public
schools on a daily basis and in particular the problems of sexually inappropriate
behaviour among our children in schools and the problems of violence and
failing grades on campuses all over this country. The failed attempt of
the Chairman to belittle the contributions of our Leader in the House are
nothing but weak and ill-advised attempts to distract from the monumental
legacy of failure of F.N.M. Policies in little over one year in Office.”
INGRAHAM’S
MEETINGS IN NEW YORK
Hubert Ingraham did not meet with the Bahamian community
in New York when he went there on 19th and 20th June to represent the Caricom
heads at the follow up conference on the future of the Caricom region.
Part of the effort was supposed to be an outreach to the Caricom Diaspora
in order to strengthen ties with the Caricom communities abroad.
Fred Mitchell, the former Foreign Minister of The Bahamas urged the Bahamian
community to boycott any meeting with Mr. Ingraham. As it turned
out, the boycott call was not necessary because Mr. Ingraham had no interest
in meeting Bahamians abroad. His intention was simply to sit pretty
for the cameras and speak blandishments. Good thing, because the
Bahamians want to tell him a thing or two about how he failed to support
them
in protecting the Bahamian heritage abroad and what a political faker he
is. But the thought was not Mr. Mitchell’s alone, nor are the Bahamians
alone in feeling abandoned by their governments. Others do was well.
Below is a report from Bevan Springer, a Caricom national living in New
York, on a threatened boycott by Caricom nationals in New York city.
Mr. Springer, a journalist and communications advisor, is the Director
of Counterpart International's Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable
Tourism (CMEx).
NEW YORK -
"Communication is the basis for life. When
communication fails, abnormality sets in.
"This principle was demonstrated this week
in New York with a decision, seemingly influenced by the Caribbean diplomatic
corps, to retain the services of a 'mainstream' public relations firm to
communicate to members of the Diaspora and the Black media.
"The event was the Conference on the Caribbean
which attracted several Caribbean Heads of State and cabinet ministers
who arrived in New York rather surprised to hear that some local media
operatives were considering a boycott of the meetings engineered by the
respected Harlem Congressman Charles Rangel who chairs the powerful Ways
and Means Committee.
"The boycott suggestion attributed to Guyanese
broadcaster Bobby Vieira, general manager of One Caribbean Radio, and supported
by some media colleagues, alarmed several of the visiting Heads who must
have been concerned about a potentially hostile response from the Diaspora
for an important Diaspora-centered event that had been so poorly publicized
throughout the Caribbean-American community.
"Thankfully, all things typically work together
for good and the protests of an outraged broadcaster, published on the
popular internet-based CaribbeanWorldNews.com, may have brought greater
attention to the conference and energized the public relations agency in
question to ramp up their communications activities, judging from the flurry
of 11th hour media advisories that followed this critical article. Notably,
another critical story appeared in the Miami Herald on the conference's
opening day.
"While accompanying a delegate to the meeting
on Thursday, a diplomat expressed a measure of disgust with the Caribbean
World News article. As a champion for reversing the inverted prejudice
from numerous Caribbean government and private sector organizations against
Diaspora professionals, I had to distance myself from the boycott call,
but nevertheless point out that decision makers consistently show contempt
towards Black, Hispanic and Caribbean professionals in the marketplace.
"This is a topic about which I have extensively
written and discussed on air over the years and a subject that was fully
ventilated at last month's Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism
(CMEx), held in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
"Admittedly some progress has been made, but
too little to write about, except to say that the island of Jamaica is
a shining light within CARICOM (Caribbean Community) when it comes to securing
the services of the Diaspora, while still falling short of an acceptable
standard.
"Speaking at a recent Diaspora conference
in Jamaica, Prime Minister Bruce Golding is reported to have said that
often when the country needed an expert to solve a problem the tendency
was to look everywhere except among "our Jamaican people." He said more
needed to be done in order to open a line so that the government can know
who is overseas, and who is "here in Jamaica" that has an interest in helping,
as well as the ability to help. He said the Diaspora has a spirit of goodwill
that is powerful, on which a value could not be placed and was something
that Jamaica should take advantage of.
"My conversation with the New York-based diplomat
surprisingly revealed - or maybe not so surprisingly - that our region's
representatives in Manhattan were unaware of any Caribbean public relations
firms who could communicate to their own people and whose services could
be retained for the Caribbean conference.
"What a shame, I thought; underscoring the
pervasive ignorance across the region and in the marketplace about the
professional skills within our expatriate communities - an ignorance that
perpetuates the barrel mentality - perhaps that's what Caribbean-Americans
are limited to contributing in their eyes.
"Sadly, those leaders and organizations who
are aware of the depth of talent in the Diaspora still remain attracted
to the Madison Avenue mindset which rewards companies, some of which burn
more energy and resources on pitching clients and on overhead expenditure
than they do on meeting client needs once the lucrative contracts have
been inked.
"Will we ever see a change to this affront
to Caribbean identity and independence? My fervent prayer is that we will
sooner than later.
"It starts with communication. Maybe there
is a silver lining in all of this.
"The dialogue will surely continue."
IS
THAT YOU PRIME MINISTER - THE SCRIBE?
Hubey! Hubey! Come out, come out wherever
you are. Don’t hide your light under a bushel. That could well
be the cry to Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham who most people believe is
the mastermind and invisible hand behind the column in The Punch called
‘Off The Political Cuff’ written by ‘The Scribe’. Some say it’s his
friend, the PR man and son of a PLP stalwart councillor who is actually
writing the column for Hubert, but it is not beyond reason to think that
he is doing it himself.
The Prime Minister’s amanuensis is obviously exercised
about Fred Mitchell, spending at least seven eighths of his column of Monday
23rd June attacking Fred Mitchell, describing what he is and is not.
In fact the headline is the most hilarious: ‘FOR HIS SURVIVAL CHRISTIE
NEEDS TO CONTROL MITCHELL’. Mr. Mitchell ought to be terribly flattered
by these comments and revelations which show that there is someone who
is following so closely what he is doing and has been doing. Says
the Scribe:
“From our position as a frontline politician,
we must agree that Mitchell will indeed self-destruct. He will do
so because he is a petty jealous fellow who not only has long proven he
cannot be forever faithful to any political side, but because he has no
respect for others, he seizes every opportunity to try and demean others,
and especially because he insults and tries to demonise the people’s choices
as Head of Government…”
The column then went on to quote from this website
two weeks ago where it described quite adequately and truthfully the Prime
Minister’s personality. Today we present in our comment
of the week another installment of the nasty personality which the
Prime Minister has.
Says the column: “Mitchell is considered by many
to be a bright, well-educated Bahamians who can make a valuable contribution
to the country”.
That much we agree with except that it does not
lie in the mouth of Mr. Ingraham to say so. Not his business and
he is not in a position to judge. What we do know is that he Hubert
Ingraham would not be where he is if it were not for Fred Mitchell’s help.
And after all these years of bashing Fred Mitchell, Hubert Ingraham still
can’t get rid of him. God protects his own.
There is a curious story told in the article about
a conversation that took place in what the PM’s man called “a pre cabinet
session…back in the 1980s”. In this session, he quotes from the late
Livingston Coakley, asking former Prime Minister Lynden Pindling what to
do about Fred Mitchell. This is a dead giveaway to the identity of
the writer. You whistle, we’ll point. The point we make is
that Hubert Ingraham ought to be ashamed to quote from the dead who
cannot defend themselves but further to speak with affection about Mr.
Coakley when during Mr. Coakley’s lifetime while Mr. Ingraham was in office,
Bahamas Electricity Corporation turned off Mr. Coakley’s electricity and
had the man living in darkness for months and Mr. Ingraham did nothing
about it. Mr. Ingraham ought to be ashamed.
To quote the earlier comment on this website: “We
say sing your song music man but the PLP will continue to have its way
if you’re nasty.”
MR.
KNOWLES THE VALLEY BOY DIES
BIS photographer Peter Ramsay was there to capture the solemnity and the
history of the passing of the man former Prime Minister Perry Christie
described as the patriarch of the Valley, where he grew up. In a
three hour service, including a high mass in the Anglican Cathedral in
Nassau on Tuesday 24th June, Conrad Knowles was lauded by the leaders of
the country including the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and former Prime
Minister Perry Christie. His son Paul, suffering from ALS, gave a
moving tribute to his father.
Mr. Knowles served the country as a police officer.
According to Mr. Christie in their last talk at the hospital, he said that
he was the last surviving police officer from the Bahamian police squad
that served at the time of the Burma Road riots of 1st and 2nd June 1942.
Mr. Knowles then went on to serve as an Immigration Officer, a Deputy Permanent
Secretary, a Deputy Manager at the Freeport Airport, a Human Resources
Manager at the Grand Bahama Port Authority, and ultimately as Chairman
of the Licensing Authority and Deputy to the Governor General. He was given
a semi military funeral. He was also a strong FNM supporter.
What came through in the funeral was that Perry
Christie, the head PLP, was considered with great affection in the Knowles
household in the Valley. While they and so many others in the Valley
were actually UBP and then FNM that did not change the familial relationships
amongst the families. It also showed that in choosing the PLP Mr.
Christie was very much the exception amongst his social group. It
would be interesting to know why they went one way and he another.
What is also interesting is that Mr. Knowles served
in the number two positions in so many posts save that of the Chair of
the Licensing Authority. It shows that the country needs those in
the middle level to be men of strength and integrity; they are the parts
that make the machine work. He was unassuming, engaging, disciplined,
firm but fair. He raised a good family in Dr. Ronnie Knowles, a doctor
and former Minister of Health, Paul, an attorney, Joan, a public relations
specialist and Sonia, a dental hygienist. He had a good life.
He was a decent man and the country is ever the richer for his passing.
People from all walks of life attended the funeral.
Photos: Peter Ramsay
MITCHELL
ON THE PUBLIC SERVICE
Fred Mitchell, the Opposition’s spokesman on the Public Service (shown
in this file photo) spoke in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 25th June
to issues relating to the pubic service pensions. In his statement
he raised the case of twelve retired prison officers whom the government
has not yet paid the back monies owed to them despite the fact that the
last government left in place a Cabinet conclusion giving the men and one
woman their back entitlements.
The government simply sat stony faced and uttered
not one word on the matter. The same heartless and impervious reaction
came from the Minister of Tourism Neko C. Grant I who has allowed
the Ministry of Tourism to let go 19 people who are over the age of 60
with 30 days notice. The workers were being kept on pending the settlement
of a recognition agreement with the Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU).
Now the Ministry takes the position that the Union
does not have the 50 per cent plus one to represent the Ministry’s workers,
one year after entering into negotiations. The Ministry of Tourism
has a retirement age at 60 years, when the rest of the government has 65.
Under the PLP, it was decided to wait until the recognition agreement was
completed and the PLP allowed all over 60 to stay on until such an agreement
was settled. Not so the heartless, impervious, all knowing, uncaring
FNM government.
MAYNARD
GIBSON ON FNM FREEPORT FAILURE
Allyson Maynard Gibson, the PLP’s Leader in the
Senate was brilliant on the attack again; this time in the service of people
suffering under the FNM’s neglect in Grand Bahama. Mrs. Maynard Gibson
lambasted the government for slowing down the Freeport economy and doing
nothing to get it going, particularly in the case of the $3.7 billion Ginn
development initiated by the PLP at West End. Please click
here for her full address.
MORE MURDER
You can expect citizens of The Bahamas to become more exercised about the
issue of murder and crime now that there have been two more bizarre and
inexplicable murders by young men in the country of other men, and for
no apparent reason.
One young man D’Angelo Pratt with the face of an
angel seemed to enjoy the spotlight as he was taken to court in handcuffs
for the murder of a fifty year old chef Charles Robinson in his home in
the presence of his mother. The mother reported that Mr. Robinson
came home and she heard a thump around 2 a.m. She went into see her
50 year old son on his knees, his throat had been slit. The police
were called and they discovered his lifeless body with multiple stab wounds.
What the heck was that about?
Then a popular mortician Dorneille Ferguson from
Butler’s Funeral Home (pictured) was asleep in his home with his wife and
young child, when a 22 year old man came up to the window and sprayed shots
throughout the bedroom killing the mortician and wounding his wife critically.
Again, what the heck was that about?
There is to be another march by a group led by the
national gadfly on Independence Day calling for hanging to be resumed.
In the absence of measures to stop this killing, you will find the calls
becoming shriller every week in that direction.
The House of Assembly is about to finish its
work for the summer and the Prime Minister tabled draft of bills to deal
with amendments to the penal code. One is to allow for monitoring
by electronic means of people on bail. There is also legislation
to allow for formal plea bargaining to settle cases that need not go to
court, if the person charged wants to do so and the crown thinks that it
is in the public interest.
BAAA
OLYMPIC TRIALS
The Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations
(BAAA) held its highly publicised Olympic trials at the Thomas A. Robinson
track over the weekend, in preparation for naming a team to compete in
the Beijing games later this summer. Next door at the Betty Kelly
Kelling Aquatic Centre, The Bahamas Swimming Federation was holding its
National Swim Championships, also preparing to name a team to Beijing.
Both events are reported to have drawn huge crowds, but the BAAA's held
a definite edge insofar as celebrity attendees. Above, Ambassador
Tommy Robinson watches in the stadium named in his honour as an athlete
competes in the long jump and at right, Golden Girl Debbie Ferguson acknowledges
the crowd. Below left, businessman Leslie Miller (straw hat) and
Nevar Smith, brother of 200m Grand Bahama standout Nivea Smith watch from
the VIP stands and at right, former Prime Minister and former international
athlete Perry Christie shares insight with Tommy Robinson.
Photos: Peter Ramsay
LETTER
TO THE EDITOR
In Defence of Marva Moxey - Former Freeport
Chief Councilor
I know this letter will, probably, not be printed
in the Freeport News but I feel obliged to respond to the “partisan political,
editorial diatribe” which appeared in the Freeport News, written by one
Oswald Brown and captioned “A successful tenure.”
The article, by all appearances from its’ by-line,
was meant to, I suppose, sing the praises of City of Freeport Chief Councilor
Anita Doherty. As I read, carefully, each word, phrase, sentence
and each paragraph, I could not help wondering what were the significant
accomplishments of this, less than enthusiastic (and I am being nice to
her) Chief Councilor, that inspired the Editor to write such a gloving
account of her tenure? He failed, indeed, to tell us.
The editorial, with very clear subtle innuendo,
was obviously, a renewed attack on Doherty’s predecessor in office, former
Chief Councilor Ms. Marva Moxey. For some reason Oswald Brown, in all his
writings, never gave Ms. Moxey credit for anything done well during her
tenure notwithstanding; and I have long since concluded that Brown doesn’t
like Moxey for some unknown strange reason.
Ms. Moxey, in my view, was right on all counts
in her principled stance during that turbulent period of her administration,
as Brown would wish to term it. She ought not to be blamed, but admired
for not allowing the Minister for local government at the time, or anybody
else, to thwart the independence of the local council and or dilute the
powers of the Chief Councilor.
If the truth were known, the only reason the
other councilors did not line up behind Ms. Moxey was because most of them
had their own agendas and they didn’t mind prostituting themselves, so
long as they achieve their objectives.
In order to boast of a successful tenure for
Anita Doherty the Editor should have qualified the story with at least
one accomplishment or one policy implemented. We have had three years
of silence, in my view, silence which tells me that all Doherty’s Council
did was to follow the orders from uptown. Nobody moved and nobody got hurt.
The editorial, for the most part, was about Moxey and the remainder was
about the sitting Grand Bahama Members of Parliament.
If we were to lend any credence to the Editor’s
opinion, it would be foolish for anyone to even think about contesting
the parliamentary seats held by the FNM in Grand Bahama, because in the
editor’s view, the FNM cannot lose; but should I remind you, my friend
Oswald, that the larger than life C.A Smith lost to novice Ann Percentie?
David Thompson thought he couldn’t lose either, but he did my friend.
If I were you Brown, I wouldn’t be bragging about Marco City just yet.
Regardless of the outcome of the case before the courts, however, what
has transpired thus far tells us all that something stinks in Laing’s Marco
City Camp so hold your applause.
I accuse you, Mr. Editor, of gross journalistic
bias, which is nothing new for you, of course. Recently the PLP held
a news conference which was carried by the Freeport News on one of its
middle pages; the FNM’s response to the PLP was the lead story, featured
prominently on the front page. I found out after, that we were fortunate,
nonetheless, that our story was carried at all, as I was told that Brown
was away at the time and when he returned to find out that his staff permitted
the PLP’s press conference to be published, they told me that he started
jumping up and down, shouting while doing so, that if he were in place
the story would not have appeared on any page.
Mr. Brown, my friend, you write well, no one
can deny you that, but journalistic integrity? That is whole different
matter altogether. Your “over the hill” mentality still plagues you
and if I were to give an opinion; it would be that you are probably too
old now to shake it. All that talent prostituted and wasted.
Having taken the time to understand the Local
Government Act, I can tell you that history will vindicate Marva Moxey’s
tenure as one where the independence of Local government councils, fragile
as it was at the time, made great strides, nonetheless, so much so that
just ordinary, everyday Bahamians became fully aware of what it’s independence
from Central government meant to their communities. Anybody can just
go along; you don’t need backbone and guts to just tag along, it is when
you, on, matters of principal, are prepared to face the treacherous seas
alone, that is when you know what a person is made from.
The Freeport community knows Marva Moxey; many,
like Mr. Editor, may not like her, particularly, but by damn, they know
what she is made of. We learned more about Local Government during
her tenure than we did since its’ inception in 1996. The other Jokers
who still have not bothered to read the Local Government Act will easily
be forgotten.
Contrary to what the editor would have us believe,
Anita Doherty, I am told, opted not to contest a seat this time because
it is not in her best interest and nothing is wrong with that. She,
I am told, has been offered a post as principal of a high school in the
city and one of the conditions of the board is that she not involve herself
in local government politics. Her decision, Mr. Brown, has nothing
to do with any high principals or ideals on her part particularly as you,
sir, would have us believe. With respect to the Chief Councilor’s
political aspirations or the lack thereof, I wouldn’t have any either,
if I were her.
The real question is why, when so many other
things are happening in general with Local Government and the Country,
is this Editor spending so much time attacking former Chief Councilor Moxey
and whose agenda is he advancing? If you knew the local government
act, Mr. Editor, you would know that the nine elected Councilors will decide
who the Chief Councilor will be no one else. Those are my views.
Forrester J Carroll J P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
13th June 2008
IN PASSING
The Prostitute Is Sentenced
If you read this column last week, you must remember the story about
the alleged male and female prostitutes. One woman was brought before
the courts and told the court as she was being led away dressed in a black
garbage bag: “If you all don’t use your p… for profit, that’s your business
because I will get profit for mine.” The Nassau Guardian reported
this week that the lady in question was brought back to the court on Friday
20th June and sentenced to one week in prison for loitering. No word
on anything she had to say this time.
A Person Of Interest
Troyniko Neil has been named as a person of interest by the police
in their investigation into the murder of Harl Taylor, the ladies bag designer
who was brutally murdered late last year. The man who is wanted had
his picture splashed all over the front page and is described as a high
school drop out with two children. Given all the publicity about
these being gay murders, the euphemism person of interest will certainly
not do anything to enhance this fellow’s reputation. No doubt the
police have thought carefully about this and so have the press that they
can risk defaming someone when it is in the larger public interest to do
so.
Fox Hill Branch In Abaco.
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill joined members of his branch executive
for a three day visit to Abaco from Friday 27th June to Sunday 29th June.
John Martin’s Son Is Buried
We extend our sincerest condolences to John and Deidre Martin and their
daughter Melissa Adderley on the passing of their son and brother Jodi.
Jodi was 27 years old and died in hospital in Ft. Lauderdale on
June after a battle with stomach cancer. It is a sad fact, the death
of this young man. Funeral services were held on Saturday 28th June
in Hunter’s at his home church the Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd
in Grand Bahama where he served as the crucifer. In a sad and moving
service members of the PLP turned out in full force. Amongst those
attending were former Prime Minister and PLP party leader Perry Christie,
life long friend of Mr. Martin Obie Wilchcombe MP West End and Bimini,
Fred Mitchell MP Fox Hill, Shane Gibson MP Golden Gates, Picewell Forbes
MP South Andros and former Minister of Works Bradley Roberts.
Power Failure in New Providence
Just as we predicted in this column several weeks ago, the power failures
have begun in Nassau. There have been short periods of outages throughout
the year and most recently within the last month. However, they are
set to become worse and there was a significant and island wide power cut
in New Providence on Friday 27th June. The cut left parts of the
Lynden Pindling International Airport in darkness. Generators there
were not working to keep the building fully up to power. The airport
was just a small part of the mess. It left traffic snarled throughout
New Providence. The heat became oppressive. In the eastern
part of the island, the power was off for 5 hours or more. The word
is that because of lack of planning and investment and routine maintenance,
there is not sufficient power available to keep the city going. One
small problem and the entire system falls down. The problem as usual
is that public services feel no need to keep the public up to date on what
they are doing and what their problems are.
Local Government Elections
A Mess
As we go to upload this afternoon, the PLP is preparing its response
to the Local Government elections held in Family Islands of The Bahamas
on Thursday 26th June. On Wednesday 25th June, the PLP went to court
led by its Chair Glenys Hanna Martin and attorney Damien Gomez to
stay the elections in three districts: West Grand Bahama, Exuma and the
Bimini district. Other districts were affected by the ruling like
Hope Town in Abaco. Justice Jon Isaacs agreed with the PLP
that the orders of the Minister of Local Government were null and void
having regard to the fact that they were not lawfully gazetted, meaning
published in the official notice paper of the government. That notice
is the signal that an act or order pursuant to law is official. The
PLP believed that the entire election process should be stayed but a truculent
Hubert Ingraham said that most would go ahead and go ahead they did.
However, reports coming to us say that the whole process has been a mess
with procedures not being followed according to law. Some people
who lost are considering taking the matter to court. The PLP’s
statement called it a victory for the people.
Come Again Julian Francis
Leon Williams who helped make a 50 million dollar profit for the lousy
telephone company called BTC in The Bahamas was fired. Politics is
behind it or at least widely suspected. Julian Francis who did the
hatchet job told a radio programme last week that it aint so. Try
another one.
