Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames... Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 8 © BahamasUncensored.com 2010
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
GOOD BYE MR. INGRAHAM
It was the start of Fred Mitchell’s contribution to the debate on
the country’s budget on Wednesday 2nd June. Usually, the Prime Minister
is missing in action when Mr. Mitchell speaks or when Alfred Sears PLP
MP for Ft. Charlotte speaks. But for some reason, he happened to
come into the Chamber of the House, probably to mark himself present and
then leave. He happened to come in at a time when Mr. Mitchell was
asking questions of the public service minister. Mr. Ingraham is
the minister responsible for the public service.
Mr. Mitchell contradicted Mr. Ingraham’s assertion the day before that the public sector unions had agreed to accept the pay freeze and the freeze in promotions to help Mr. Ingraham’s budget work. Mr. Mitchell and he had a back and forth on that point; Mr. Mitchell saying that the Unions would be presenting a counter proposal to the government. In fact, later in the week, the President of the Bahamas Public Services Union John Pinder made the point that if the government did not ultimately pay the increases, they would be taken to court. Mr. Pinder seemed to accept that there might have to be some compromise, but he did not seem willing to give up entirely on the matter.
That exchange over and in Mr. Mitchell’s favour, Mr. Ingraham then gathered up his marbles and left the game, grumbling under his breath to the Leader of government business in the House Tommy Turnquest that he was not staying and would leave him to defend the position. Whereupon, Bain and Grants Town MP Bernard Nottage said from his seat about the PM to Mr. Mitchell: “look he’s running away… you got him running.”
That did not go down well with Mr. Ingraham who stood at the Bar of the House and said the following: “At least I stay here for part what he says. He does not stay for anything I say. As soon as I get up, he walks out of the chamber. At least I am man enough to stay and listen to what he has to say.”
Mr. Mitchell looked up from his notes and waved good bye to the PM. “Bye! Bye! ” he said “Bye! Bye! You can run but you can’t hide”
Great! We love it. We support it. Bye! Bye! Mr. Ingraham. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday the 5th June 2010 up to midnight: 139,434.
Number of hits for the year 2010 up to Saturday 5th June 2010 up to midnight: 4,020,938.
DEBATE
ON THE COUNTRY’S FINANCES
Frank Smith MP PLP for St. Thomas More gave an excellent
statement to the House on the policies of the FNM administration and all
the attendant problems. But the Speaker of the House foolishly expunged
from the record of the House proceedings the comments made by Mr. Smith
by which Mr. Smith accused Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister of feathering
his nest. Mr. Smith said that Mr. Ingraham had his own law firm,
so any sacrifice that he made in terms of proposed cuts in salaries would
mean nothing because he continues to benefit from this law firm.
That was expunged from the record but not from this record. You may click
here for that and the statements of Ryan
Pinder MP and Shane
Gibson MP.
FRED
MITCHELL SPEAKS ON THE BUDGET
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill spoke on the Budget
of the country as proposed by the Finance Minister and Prime Minister Hubert
Ingraham. Mr. Mitchell said
that he did not support the budget. On the specific points, he
called it a no growth, tax and pain budget.
Don’t Touch My Money Without My Consent
On the Prime Minister’s proposal to cut the salaries
of Members of Parliament, Mr. Mitchell said, “if you put your hand in my
pocket without my consent, I am entitled to cut your hand off. “
Legalize The Numbers Business
The Prime Minister said that he was going to have
a referendum when he is re-elected to determine whether or not there should
be gambling for Bahamians in the country. Mr. Mitchell said that
he was for legalizing the numbers business and could not understand why
the business of a referendum, but he said whenever and if such a referendum
were held that he would be voting yes. He said that this was so particularly
since the leaders of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches have conceded
that there is no moral evil associated with gambling.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Mitchell brought a smile to the faces of MPs
as he showed them that if you clicked on to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
website, you would find that there is still a picture and biography of
Fred Mitchell as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Mitchell has
been complaining about the lack of attention to the Ministry’s website
for years. When the Foreign Minister Brent Symonette spoke, he said
that the problem was that the man who had the codes for the website retired
from the Ministry and did not leave the codes with the Ministry.
Peter Ramsay photos
ZNS
3 TO CLOSE DOWN
The Bahamas Government in the Budget of 2010/2011
proposes to cut the subsidy to the Broadcasting Corporation by a whopping
50 percent from just over eight million dollars per year to just over four
million dollars per year. The Corporation cannot survive without
that four million dollars in its present form. The FNM has formed
the view that the northern service of ZNS which covers Freeport, Grand
Bahama, the Abacos and Bimini does not need to exist and should be shut
down and the staff let go. The Prime Minister made the comment about
ZNS in such a casual manner on Wednesday 3rd June as he spoke on the Budget
that he forgot again that real people’s lives are influenced by these events.
Our reports says that it was like a wake in ZNS Freeport on Wednesday 2nd
June. Perhaps some of the people who were doubting Thomases in Freeport
and attacked the PLP now understand what it is they are dealing with.
AN
ARTICLE ON MAURICE GLINTON ESQ.
Maurice Glinton, the Attorney who is one of the
country’s foremost legal advocates for human rights who has been denied
the right of being a Queen’s Counsel because of his political views
was the subject of a laudatory essay in the Freeport News of Thursday 3rd
June. Mr. Glinton is challenging the Queen’s Counsel decision in
the courts. We thought we would share the Freeport News article with you.
Please click here.
LABOUR
DAY PHOTOS
Labour Day was Friday 4th June. The PLP took
to the streets led by its Leader Perry Christie and its Members of Parliament.
Happy Labour Day!
Peter Ramsay photos
SAC
CLASS OF 1970 REUNION MORE PHOTOS
The 40th year since graduation from St. Augustine’s
College. That was the occasion for a mass of thanksgiving at St.
Francis Xavier’s Roman Catholic Cathedral on Sunday 30th May. The
class, which includes Sir Michael Barnett, Chief Justice, Fred Mitchell
MP for Fox Hill, Sonia Knowles, Principal of Saint Augustine’s College
and Maria Teresa Butler, the Advisor to the Prime Minister had a great
time at mass and then at brunch at the home of the Chief Justice.
Our main photo shows the three of them on the steps of St. Francis.
At right, the class receives a blessing from Rev. Fr. Glen Nixon.
Peter Ramsay photos
DARRON
CASH ATTACKS INGRAHAM ON BAHAMIANIZATION
Former Senator and now Chairman of the Bahamas Development Bank Darron
B Cash, appointee of Hubert Ingraham and the FNM has lashed out at against
the FNM’s practices when it comes to foreign experts. Mr. Cash in
a signed article in the Nassau Guardian on Thursday 3rd June said the following:
“As a former senator, I am greatly concerned
about successive governments' apparent default position of looking to and
relying upon perceived foreign expertise at the expense of Bahamian talent.
Put another way, I am concerned - and to an increasing degree troubled
by the extent to which successive governments appear to look to foreign
nationals to solve every major national problem we face.
“Bahamians can't run the airport - bring in the
foreign reserves
“Bahamians can't run the city dump - bring in
the foreign reserves
“Bahamians can't run BEC - bring in the foreign
reserves
“Bahamians can't run BTC - bring in the foreign
reserves
“Bahamians can't run COB - bring in the foreign
reserves
“Bahamians can't build roads - bring in the foreign
reserves
“I am concerned that by its actions the government
is not only failing to encourage or inspire Bahamians to take greater ownership
and control of their economy, but the government may be unknowingly DISCOURAGING
and demotivating them from doing so…”
This sort of comment is vintage Darron Cash.
He has a streak of independence from his days as the president of the College
of The Bahamas Union of Students. He attacked the then PLP government
in 1986 at the Young Liberals convention for its immigration policy that
stripped the College of its foreign lecturers. He also in 2002 as
an FNM senator joined the PLP in voting for a Select Committee which the
FNM opposed.
People are waiting now to see what Mr. Ingraham’s
next move will be. One thing we say is that in terms of political
calculation, Mr. Cash has not been wrong. He always seems to know
which way the cat is going to jump. It is yet another sign of the
cracks behind the façade of FNM unity. You may click
here for the full essay by Mr. Cash.
BAHAMIAN
SENTENCED IN FLORIDA OVER LOBSTERS
The report is in about a Bahamian who was caught
by the US Coastguard and charged with bringing in crawfish from The Bahamas
for sale without a licence. He and an accomplice in the United States
were both convicted. The accomplice who got the crawfish and was
the distributor in Florida was fined $75,000 and his boat and the proceeds
confiscated. Robbie Franklin Smith, 45 years old from Bimini got
one year in jail for his troubles. The reason was that they claim
he had no assets to pay a criminal fine. After that year in jail,
he will have to serve three years probation. Something seems wrong
with this, but the US claims that this is part of the worldwide effort
to preserve endangered species. You may click
here for the full story as reported by The Nassau Guardian.
LADY
FAWKES LABOUR DAY BOOK SIGNING
Contributed - On Wednesday June 3, 2010 Erin A. Ferguson (above,
centre), Host and Executive Producer of Citizens' Review Television Show
(JCN 14), accompanied by Demathio Forbes (above, right), CARICOM
Youth Ambassador, were invited to "La Campanella" the home of Lady Jacqueline
Fawkes and the late Sir Randol Fawkes to receive signed copies of Sir Randol
Fawkes' books namely "Labour Unite or Perish", "You Should Know your Government",
"The Bahamas Government", and the most Famous original "The Faith that
Moved the Mountain".
Ferguson and Forbes visited with Lady Fawkes and
her daughter Rosalie Fawkes and discussed the Labour Movement and its importance
to the country; they also discussed the life of "The Father of Labour"
and the man who provided for Majority Rule, the Late Sir Randol Fawkes.
Lady Fawkes gave Mr. Ferguson one of the very few remaining copies of the
book "The Faith that Moved the Mountain" with Sir Randol Fawkes original
signature. Lady Fawkes comments, "Sir Randol's Legacy will always live
on and Erin is the first person I have seen in all my years, who has that
bold spirit of Sir Randol in him. I am proud to see two strong young
men who want to see this country move forward and I encourage them to keep
pressing on."
Mr. Ferguson commented, "This is the best gift to
have received for Labour Day and I am honoured that the woman who made
it possible for Sir Randol to be the man that he was, thinks of my efforts
well enough to give me one of the few copies of the originally signed book
that she has left, and I thank her graciously." Forbes pointed out that
that "Sir Randol along with a few very prominent Caribbean leaders like
Norman Manley of Jamaica, who published a book about Labour called "We
Must Unite", stood up for the rights of Labourers in very trying times,
and must be recognized for there service to their respective countries
but also the CARICOM Region"
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Injustice at a Private School in Grand Bahama
My daughter is a 12th grade student at a private
school on Grand Bahama. I am writing this letter because of an incident
that occurred between my daughter and the Vice Principal at that school
on Thursday January 7th 2010. The Vice Principal asked my daughter
what she intended to do with her life after she graduated. My daughter
went on to explain what her intentions were, after which the Vice Principal
told my daughter that she never joined any of the clubs provided at the
school and when she graduates, she would have nothing on her transcript
which is essential and it plays a major role for employment or college.
My daughter began to give her reasons for not
joining any of the clubs, when the Vice Principal told her; she never joined
nothing, she never donates to nothing, she never takes part in nothing
so she might as well call her nothing because she don’t do nothing.
My daughter said that this was said to her in front of the entire commerce
class and the teacher that was conducting the class.
My daughter came home on numerous occasions complaining
about the Vice Principal’s treatment of her and I would always tell her
she will be out of there soon and she must grin and bear it until such
time as she graduates, but this time the Vice Principal was way out of
line.
I was going to let it go but it kept bothering
me then I made an appointment to see the Principal at 10.30 am on Monday
February 8th 2010, which was exactly one month since the incident happened.
During the appointment, l explained the behaviour of the Vice Principal
toward my daughter to the Principal who sent for the Vice Principal who
swore she never told my daughter she would be nothing; she said she told
my daughter she would have nothing on her transcript. At that point,
I told the Principal there is no way the Vice Principal could have said
she would have nothing on her transcript and my daughter would interpret
it as her saying she would be nothing; and my daughter said it was the
class topic for days after it happened.
After the Principal’s disappointing response
to the matter, I told both the Principal and the Vice Principal; this was
not the end and even though my daughter was taken out of class in the middle
of her math period both the Principal and the Vice Principal kept my daughter
through out the entire history period that followed drilling her to change
her story but she stuck to it because she knew what was said to her. The
Principal called me on Wednesday February 10th 2010 to say she was satisfied
after talking with the teacher and the students that my daughter had misinterpreted
what the Vice Principal had said. I told her in spite of the teacher
and the students not backing my daughter’s accusation, which I knew was
due to the fear of retaliation from the Vice Principal, there was no way
my daughter could have misinterpreted what the Vice Principal had said
and she was not foolish enough to tell an outright lie on the Vice Principal.
I told the Principal I was not pleased with the
outcome and I knew for a fact the Vice Principal tends to favour the boys
over the girls whenever there is conflict between students and she has
been mistreating students for years and there are former students who can
prove she did and she continues to get away with it because no one was
prepared to take the stand I am taking.
This unfair treatment toward the students has
to stop. I wrote a letter to the School Administrator on Monday February
15th 2010 complaining about the situation and after waiting for a reply
for over a month, another letter was written to the administrator threatening
to go to the media after which a meeting was set for Thursday May 13th
2010 at 7 p.m. at his office. At the meeting, the Vice Principal
continued denying the fact that she said my daughter would be nothing,
she refused to apologize, and she said she never would. The administrator,
who in my opinion knew she was guilty and was doing a balancing act, told
the Vice Principal she did not have to apologize if she knew she didn’t
say it but he would like her to apologize for being misunderstood.
She told him she is not afraid of me and there was no way she would apologize
in any way.
I brought this injustice to the attention of
the public because a Vice Principal is one who should build the esteem
of the students not break it down.
Derek B. Russell Sr.
Freeport Grand Bahama
[Humiliation should not be a part of education. It is unfortunate that you did not share the name of the school, so that a spotlight could be directly shone on this kind of thing. Regardless of quibbling over the language that she used, there is no doubt that the Vice Principal bullied your child in front on the class and she herself should be sent for re-education. This kind of thing is operating in the Dark Ages, which often has disastrous consequences for the individual child.
Bravo to you for supporting your daughter in this. More parents should realise that they are paying money for a service and these are young people who are sent to be moulded, groomed and trained for the future, not humiliated and bullied. Your daughter should not have to grin and bear it. She deserves more.
These days, yes, extracurricular activities - clubs, donations, community service and so forth - do count for quite a bit in terms of university applications, but a properly organised school tracks this kind of thing long before 12th grade, so that conversation similar to the one that you report do not take place.
If the goal is to create enlightened, aware and functioning individuals in our society though the training of our young people, then this Vice Principal did a disservice to her school, to our country and most importantly to your child and she should be held to account. In fact, there are private schools in the country that have let teachers go and not renewed their contracts for just this kind of treatment of students.
We recommend to you and to the Principal and Vice Principal of your
daughter’s school a recent newspaper article by Professor Ian Strachan
on ‘teaching the teachers’ which deals with this and related subjects.
- Ed.]
Forrester Carroll - Ingraham Is No Robin Hood…
“Reckless endangerment of the welfare of the Bahamian people”
and “Breach of Trust” ought to be the charges brought against Hubert Ingraham,
and his band of nincompoops, for destroying the lives of the citizens of
this once envious nation.
Ingraham ought to be arrested and led away in
handcuffs for “Breach of Trust” in that this is the second time he has
led this nation to the brink of total economic collapse. Despite
being warned, months ago, about this potential economic tsunami coming
our way, his government failed to take the necessary steps to cushion the
anticipated fallout and now, in his proposed budget for fiscal period-2010/2011-
he and his government are proposing to literally break the backs of us
all when, in fact, he and his cabinet ministers ought to be the only ones
who should suffer and be made to pay the penalty of their goof-ups.
He should be relieved of the governance of this country forthwith.
For about two years, the PLP has been sounding
the warning bell but they would not listen. As a matter of fact they
kept assuring us that it wasn’t as bad as the PLP kept saying it was or
that it would come to be. In their mid-year budget debate, recently,
they told us, as well, that things were getting better. Laing said
that the recession had stalled; that it had bottomed out and that things
could only improve. But on Wednesday last, when the budget for fiscal
period 2010/2011 was delivered to parliament, the die was cast; a reality
check appeared to have been taken and Ingraham had no choice but to tell
the truth, for once. He dropped the bombshell; a budget of despair;
a budget of hopelessness; a budget of misery and pain. I might as
well admit to you, my people, I am angry as hell; why am I angry as hell
you ask? Because we didn’t have to come to this, if Ingraham had
only listened and use common sense in exploring the possibilities of what
the PLP had advised him.
This mess is primarily of Ingraham’s making and
now he comes, veiled behind the office of the country’s finance ministry,
to gouge the very ones who can ill-afford to be gouged. He is no
Robin Hood that is for sure.
Forrester J Carroll J.P.
Freeport, Grand Bahama
6th June, 2010
[You may click
here for Mr. Carroll's full letter. - Ed.]
IN PASSING
COB Mediation Panel Appointed
Archdeacon James Palacious, Secretary General Robert Farquharson of
the NCTU and Attorney Earl Cash were appointed last week to go over the
contract line by line and recommend a settlement in the dispute between
the Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas and their employer the College
of The Bahamas. There is no contract after two years of discussions
and disputes. There was even a strike earlier this year and despite
a promise by the administration to conclude an agreement, they have been
stalling delaying and deferring. Panel Chair Archdeacon Palacious
called it disgraceful.
Island Bookstore Closes
One of the nation’s oldest stores and bookstores on Bay Street has
closed its doors. The Island Shop & the Island Bookstore.
The Store was there for over 40 years in the downtown area. There
has been no reason given for the closure. This week the building
was being painted and remodelled, perhaps for new occupants. Something
must be done with the amount of stores closing on Bay Street in recent
years.
Bishop William Johnson Dies
Bishop Dr. William Michael Johnson, JP, OM, OBE died at the Princess
Margaret Hospital on Monday evening. Bishop Johnson was the first
national Overseer of the Church of God in The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos
Islands, having served for 26 consecutive years. He was one of two
remaining heads of churches who in July 1973 participated in the Independence
ecumenical service and walked onto the dais with then Premier Sir Lynden
Pindling. Bishop Michael Eldon is now the only surviving participant
in that service. Bishop Johnson was elected president of the Bahamas
Christian Council in 1983 and served with distinction for three years.
He is survived by his wife, Vernica ‘Nickie’ Ferguson, one daughter, one
son, three grandchildren, and one sister.
Trib Reports An Argument Between PM and Minister of Health
The Tribune reported in its edition of 1st June what it called a particularly
contentious exchange between the Prime Minister and his Minister of Health
Hubert Minnis. Mr. Minnis was said by the paper to be so offended
by it that he was on the verge of resigning. Knowing the FNM, they
would have issued a statement denying it by now. There was silence
from that quarter. The people watchers have been looking for weeks
at the body language between the PM and a man who most people thought was
his close friend Hubert Minnis. Mr. Minnis has been looking particularly
unhappy in the camp. The rumour that Dr. Duane Sands who ran in the
Elizabeth bye-election was being brought in to replace him as Minister
of Health surely did not help the matter either. Dr Minnis was silent
throughout the days of the Budget debate. The Tribune said that the
Prime Minister's view is that there are no friends in politics.
Report On Wellington Stuart?
A report in the New York press claims that a Bahamian who was born
Wellington Stuart had a sex change operation and now is a female under
the name Alexis Stuart. The report, complete with photo, said the
person is the son of famed Bahamian singer Wendell Stuart.
Prison Overcrowding Says Superintendent
The Tribune reported on Thursday 3rd June that there is still overcrowding
in the Maximum Security part of the prison which was built for 300 people
but currently has 600 people. The high levels of crime are causing
more and more people to move into maximum security and this results in
overcrowding. Dr Elliston Rahming, Prison Superintendent, held a
press conference on Tuesday 31st May in which he revealed his concerns.
He said, “One of our greatest challenges is a growing spiral of crime,
so there is a concomitant level of overcrowding within our institutions.
(Our challenge is) how to handle the growing population in a climate of
budget constraints while adhering to international standards.” Of
the five prisons operated by the Prison Department - medium, minimum and
maximum security, the female prison and the annex - maximum security is
the only overcrowded facility. The others are under populated.
Maximum security is generally reserved for high-risk offenders; convicts
deemed an escape risk, extradition cases and foreign nationals. Due
to the high number of remands currently sent to the prison, maximum security
is also used to house remanded prisoners. He said "Prisoners on remand
far outweigh those that are sentenced. In April, 70 percent of the
people admitted were remanded. Many of them only spend a short time
before they receive bail." Of the approximate 1,300 inmates at Her
Majesty's Prison, about 600 are remanded. The remand facility was
built to house 300 inmates, so the overflow ends up in maximum security.
PM On UWI
The Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham says that he thinks that the government
may be giving too much to the University of the West Indies and this may
have to be reviewed in favour of greater subsides to the College of the
Bahamas. Fred Mitchell MP PLP for Fox Hill called this foolish and
shortsighted. Mr. Ingraham made his comments on Wednesday 2nd June
in the House of Assembly.
Finco Has Returned To Profitability
The Tribune of 1st June reports that despite a return to profitability,
Finco, the largest mortgagee in The Bahamas is not going to start paying
dividends again, but will keep the profits as retained earnings, a cushion
against the exigencies in the market. Finance Corporation of the
Bahamas (FINCO) will not pay a dividend to investors for the third consecutive
quarter, despite generating a healthy $3.366 million in 2010 second quarter
profit, its managing director Tanya McCartney said on 1st June because
it was "too soon" to determine if this was a "trend". Tanya McCartney
said the BISX-listed mortgage wanted to be "prudent and conservative",
and retain as much capital on its books as possible to guard against unexpected
downside risks, even though it more than reversed the $450,967 loss suffered
during the 2010 first quarter via its performance in the three months ending
April 2010.
Manufacturers Complain Of Tax Increase
The Manufacturers at the Industrial Park and others who benefit from
the Industries Encouragement Act are in shock as the government has decided
in this year's budget exercise to end the tax concessions to them that
are older than five years. They point out that this effectively means
an increase in cost of 45 percent to their bottom line overnight.
Aquapure, the water company, one of the beneficiaries of the scheme which
allows in empty bottles, caps and machinery duty free said that this would
mean that they would become uncompetitive and have to go out of business.
Ingraham Relents On Cars
A Bit
The Prime Minister is being widely ridiculed for backing off his 85
per cent tax slapped on all cars over 2000 cc. He heard from the
industry and has since adjusted that to cars over 2500 cc. This will
put some of the more popular cars into that tax bracket. But the
bottom line is that the pre-existing tax level of 53 per cent is now changed
to 65 per cent for all cars up to that 2000 cc and from that to 2500 cc
it will go up to 75 percent and then to 85 percent. Crazy in a bad
economy to tax people more. Hybrids will have a tax of 25 percent.
Only thing is you can't get any hybrid fuel here.
Andrew Rodgers Baseball Tournament
Some 800 youngsters, in 37 teams gathered in Freeport, Grand Bahama
for the Andre Rodgers Baseball Tournament, a nationwide effort with teams
from Inagua and from Bimini and across The Bahamas. This appears
to be a real revival of baseball. Clement Kemp, the President of
the league thanked MPs Obie Wilchcombe and Fred Mitchell for attending
the opening function. He said that it was a first and that he has
been unable to get a Minister of Sports to attend his programmes.
We say 800 young men in a disciplined programme of sports and training
for life is a remarkable effort.
The Dr. Jacinta Inspired Piece
We reported last week that Antonius Roberts was inspired by the Senator
the Hon. Dr. Jacinta Higgs hat worn to the consternation of many and the
praise of some at the opening of Parliament in April. Now we have
a photo of the Antonius Roberts piece which we hope is now in Senator Higgs'
collection.
Photo by Peter Ramsay
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
INGRAHAM BORDERING ON MADNESS?
Not only one woman born a crazy child…
If you could play crazy, I could play crazy too
--- The late George
Mackey, MP for Fox Hill 1987 to 1997
We have written about the psychological problems and profile of the Prime Minister before. His actions remind us of Henry VIII, the one with eight wives, two of whom he beheaded. The series is running on Showtime right now. He was perfectly mad, not just bordering on madness. He was arbitrary. He was capricious and paranoid.
You can imagine Henry VIII, calling in one of his lowly servants, with some imaginary sin in mind and telling him, “If you mess with me, I will bloody your nose. You need to sit down in a corner, be quiet and do as I tell you. There nothing for you now, but if you go away and be quiet and behave yourself, in six months, I will see what I can do for you.
“I understand that you have been talking to others, I am not scared of them. I don’t care if you take me to court. I understand that you might win, but if you win, I will not follow the court order. I will abolish your post and retire you in the public interest.”
Perhaps you can imagine such actions in medieval times, but you can also imagine this man we have in charge of us today saying the same thing to a civil servant, so spiteful and vindictive are his actions. His actions are those of a bully; a coward. And yet he is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You could have someone like Pauline Davis Thompson, the athlete recently honoured with a gold medal for the 2000 Olympics, suckered into thinking that he is such a great guy and showering accolades on him, even giving him her gold medal although if we read rightly the saving grace is that it was given in trust for the Bahamian people. Translation, we don't want to see Pauline Davis Thompson’s medal in Mr. Ingraham's house. It should be in the public gallery.
The last public display we had of his behaviour was his move to stop the PLP from asking questions in the House of Assembly during the debate on the budget on Thursday 11th June. Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill moved for an amendment to the budget to add 1.3 million dollars to the budget to pay for funerals for people who cannot afford to pay for them. He based it on the fact that in his constituency in the last month, he has been asked to pay for four funerals by families who could not afford to pay. The FNM rejected the amendment.
But what was fascinating was watching the FNM MPs who at first, with Mr. Ingraham out of the House, were denying Mr. Mitchell his opportunity on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. Only the Cabinet or a Minister can introduce a bill that has money implications. The presiding officer is the final decider on the point, says the constitution, on whether or not it is a money bill. They were right.
At first, the presiding officer Deputy Speaker Kwasi Thompson stood his ground and was refusing to let Mr. Mitchell proceed. But in came biggety Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister, and said ‘let him put the amendment forward’. And you should have watched them all clam up; the Deputy Speaker simply folded, claiming that because the other side, the FNM, did not object; he would allow it. The vote took place; the FNM voted it down with their numbers. Then after the fact wanted to claim that it was unconstitutional. They of course participated in the unconstitutionality if indeed it were so.
Next, Mr. Ingraham said we are going to close this debate down. Put the vote. Dutifully the Deputy Speaker, who again has the right in law to determine whether there has been ample debate on the question before the House, complied in violation of the rules.
The PLP walked out.
We are proud of the PLP for doing this. Great job! Keep it up.
Mr. Ingraham is fond of quoting poems in his budget addresses since 2007. We don’t believe he has read them, or even understands them, but we provide some poetry for him to consider:
You never give me your money
You only give me your funny paper
And in the middle of negotiation
You break down
--- Lennon/McCartney
We love the madness of the King. He should keep it up. We have said it before there is a special place saved in hell for him.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 13th June up to midnight: 166,400.
Number of hits for the month of June up to Saturday 13th June 2010 up to midnight: 275,125.
Number of hits for the year 2010 up to Saturday 13th June 2010 up to midnight: 4,226,085.
THE
PLP’S PRESS STATEMENT ON THE WALKOUT
As we reported in our COMMENT OF THE WEEK, the Leader
of the Progressive Liberal Party led the party in a walkout from the House
of Assembly following the arbitrary decision of the Prime Minister to shut
down the debate on the budget on Thursday 11th June. Mr. Christie
held a news conference with his Members of Parliament to explain the move.
He defended his actions, saying that the Prime Minister’s actions were
undemocratic. You may click here
for the full statement at the news conference on Friday 12th June at the
Leader of the Opposition’s office.
THE
LEADER’S ADDRESS
Perry Christie, Leader of the PLP, used the time
on the public stage for the Budget debate on Thursday 11th June to defend
his legacy as Prime Minister and to say that if he came back to power,
he would re-implement the Urban Renewal programme as he left it.
Mr. Christie said that he was concerned that the crime fighting strategy
of the FNM government was a failure. In his address he also
offered to take another 5 percent off the salaries of PLP MPs to assist
in the national effort in times of austerity. This was immediately
rejected by the Prime Minister. The former Prime Minister spoke on
Thursday 10th June. You may click here
for the full address.
PLPS
ON THE BUDGET
Philip 'Brave' Davis
Deputy Leader of the PLP Philip ‘Brave’ Davis, who is the MP for Cat
Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador, cut into the Hubert Ingraham budget in
his address in the House on Wednesday 10th June. He said, “This budget
is an admission that the government failed and failed miserably and now
the Bahamian people must suffer for their grave errors. It does not
address the real challenges facing the country… For the last two years,
the government has been in denial. The economy is in bad shape and
poor and middle-class people are struggling to live a life of dignity…
It has substantially increased taxes; introduced new taxes; removed concessions
for Bahamian industry; foreshadowed massive public sector layoffs; slashed
funding to social programs, corporations and essential services and announced
retirements and frozen salaries.” You may click
here for the full address.
Alfred Sears
Alfred Sears, the MP for Ft. Charlotte for the PLP, predicted that
the Prime Minister would not meet his budgeted targets for the year 2010/2011.
He was speaking in the House of Assembly on the National Budget on 3rd
June. Mr. Sears was disappointed in the allocations for education,
the Ministry that he had when he served from 2002 to 2007. You may
click
here for his full address.
Bernard J. Nottage
Bain and Grants Town MP Dr. Bernard Nottage speaking in the House of
Assembly on Wednesday 9th June said that the poor were being made to bear
the burdens of the budget. He represents an area of poor people.
He said: “Obviously the government expects the sacrifice to be borne by
those least able to bear it. The government has attempted to deflect
criticism by making increases to certain line items such as the National
Lunch Programme and the Food Assistance Programme for which I commend it.
While civil servants are being forced to sacrifice by having their increments
halted, promotions stopped and salaries frozen, others, including the Prime
Minister’s consultant, are getting a $5,000 increase, and yet others (including
a new Director of Public Works) are being brought in at an $18,000 increase
in emoluments to head a position that Bahamians have held and are quite
capable of holding.” You may click
here for the full address.
OUR
TAKE ON THE QUEEN’S HONOURS
Government House announced on Friday 11th June that the Queen had bestowed
honours on various people on the advice of Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.
We sum up our comment in this way. There are some very deserving
choices, but others are questionable.
Leading in the questionable category is that to
Sol Kerzner (pictured, left) who gets an honorary knighthood for bringing
his Atlantis to The Bahamas. We suppose, but it was all business.
We think about the scandals in the last Labour administration in the United
Kingdom and those in an earlier Liberal Administration in that country
where seats in the House of Lords were being sold to the greatest party
contributors. Mr. Ingraham ought to be very careful and he and his
friends in the FNM ought to tell us what the quid pro quo for this knighthood
is.
Then there are some that go in the fixing up FNMs
category: Assistant Commissioner Marvin Dames, Assistant Commissioner
Quinn McCartney fall into that category with their Queen’s Police Medal
and of course Alphonso ‘Bugaloo’ Elliott, who is Mr. Ingraham's chief
benefactor of money and largesse but, yes, a successful businessman in
his own right and Erma Williams. Mr. Elliott gets a Commander of
the British Empire (CBE) and Mrs. Williams a British Empire Medal (BEM).
We say well deserved to Monsignor Preston Moss (above,
centre), pastor of St. Anselm’s Roman Catholic Church, Fox Hill, Commander
of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG); Warren Levarity (above,
right), the former MP and Minister (CMG); well deserved to Rev. Kenris
Carey of the Methodists and Bishop Wenith Davis of the Baptists and
Rev. Vernon Moses of the Assemblies of God, Officers of the British Empire
(OBE); well deserved to A. Bismark Coakley, the retired businessman, Member
of the British Empire (MBE); Marvin Bethel of J.S. Johnson (MBE) and especially
to Elaine Williams Pinder, the owner of Bamboo Shack and La Rose, now hers
is a remarkable story (MBE).
Well deserved British Empire Medals (BEM) to Brenda
Archer, an FNM women’s activist, sister of athlete Thomas A. Robinson and
organist at St. Georges Anglican Church got a BEM, together with Olivia
Turnquest who heads the Red Cross and Arlene Nash Ferguson, the former
teacher and Junkanoo activist and Hilda Antonio for work with Catholic
Charities and James “Jay” Dean of Sandy Point, Abaco for his contribution
to the fishing business and community leadership in Abaco.
It is the Prime Minister’s right to bestow these
honours. We think congratulations are in order to everyone, notwithstanding
our little disagreements. But we say again that the government ought
to bring into force the legislation for Bahamian honours, which sits idly
on the books, unenforced.
WHAT’S
WITH THIS MINISTER OF EDUCATION?
Desmond Bannister, the FNM’s Minister of Education, is generally regarded
as a sober individual who tries to stay above the rabid FNM politics that
has infected the country. However, questions are being raised about
his defence of the education budget that has been decimated by the Prime
Minister and his Ministry of Finance team.
In his address to the House on the Budget on Monday
7th June, the Minister defended dropping the payments made to independent
schools that will adversely affect the ability of many parents to afford
to keep their kids in school and put pressure on the already overburdened
public system. In doing so, he rescued from obscurity a little known
regulation called the Education (Grant in Aid) Regulations of 1980.
Under that regulation, Mr. Bannister said there is a limit of 5 million
dollars to be given to independent schools and the aid is only to be given
in areas where the public school system is unable to provide public schools.
He said that the aid is now up to 11 million dollars in contravention of
the regulation on both the dollar amount and also the fact that there are
public schools in the areas that can provide schooling for the kids.
Someone ought to tell the Minister that this comes off as FNM propaganda.
What you do is not defend the arcane regulation
but fix the problem by either scrapping the regulation or upping the amount,
or changing the regulation to conform to the facts on the ground.
Alfred Sears, the PLP’s spokesman on education has pointed out that for
the aid they give to private schools, they reap much more than a mere dollar
for dollar comparison that the Minister tried to suggest by comparing what
is given to the private schools versus that is given to the Public School
Boards.
The coup de grace, though, must be the decision
to scrap the national grade average. This troublesome stat used be
published by the Ministry for a decade or more telling us that the national
grade average is D. That has embarrassed the Minister and his staff
enough it seems, so he is now doing what the typical FNM response would
be to a political problem: just say it aint so. He says that he is
scrapping the whole national grade average thing because it is unscientific.
So while he is in the scrapping mood, just scrap the regulation about which
we just commented.
Desmond Bannister/file photo
SELLING
BTC; UNIONS SAY NO TO C & W
The Nassau Guardian reported on Monday 7th June that Bernard Evans,
the leader of the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU),
has found his voice and has said no to Cable and Wireless. His view
was quite categorical.
What we find astonishing is how the FNM can fix
their mouths to say they want to sell Bahamas Telecommunications Company
(BTC) to Cable and Wireless. First, when the whole idea of BTC’s
sale came about, the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said that under no
circumstances would he sell to Cable and Wireless. Now, of course,
having stupidly rejected the bid by Blue Water left in place by the PLP
for 260 million dollars for 49 percent of BTC, he has to sell at a fire
sale to any bidder.
The other issue here is that the whole process is
corrupt because Cable and Wireless was reportedly not one of the companies
that made the cut when Mr. Ingraham's second stab at privatization began
last year. Cable and Wireless did not even bid for the company.
How did they get to be part of the process now? The whole thing is
shrouded in secrecy because Mr. Ingraham is embarrassed that he made a
colossal mistake and is about to sell a crown jewel of the Bahamian people’s
assets for a song.
Mr. Evans and his union should find their voice
on this and on the Broadcasting Corporation where the FNM intends to layoff
80 people and close down the northern service of ZNS. How long Lord?
How long?
A
NEW DPP - GRANT IS DENIED THE POST
We last visited this issue when it was just at the stage of a rumour, that
Cheryl Grant Bethel was going to be denied the job of Director of Prosecutions.
We also pointed out last week that a new Director of Public Prosecutions
would be coming in from Jamaica. Her name is Vinette Graham Allen.
She brings with her the supposed expertise to get rid of the backlog of
criminal cases, having been supposedly successful in Bermuda at removing
the backlog. Only trouble is that she had problems in Bermuda with
her management style. She also comes from a country where the backlog
of cases is hundreds of thousands and no end in sight.
Cheryl Grant Bethel and her predecessor Bernard
Turner, now a Judge are being trashed publicly by the Prime Minister Hubert
Ingraham (see In Passing and Comment of The Week) and blamed for the backlog
that exists. But the truth is that Mr. Ingraham is to blame.
The Prime Minister was particularly nasty in his remarks in the House of
Assembly on Thursday 10th June in response to incisive questioning by Dr.
Bernard Nottage (PLP) and Philip ‘Brave’ Davis (PLP) about the people who
run the office of the AG. Having regard to the fact of Mr. Ingraham’s
reportedly promising Cheryl Grant Bethel the job, look to see some legal
fireworks sooner rather than later.
We have no dog in the hunt, but say again that with
1000 Bahamian lawyers at the Bar, one of them must be qualified for this
job. Further, this is yet another example of double standards from
the Hubert Ingraham FNM where they oppose the Caricom Single Market and
Economy, which would allow the free movement of labour for professionals
across the region and then use Caribbean labour when it suits their purpose.
Is a Director of Public Prosecutions is being sought who can be told what
to do and in particular, to politically victimize PLP MPs before the next
general election takes place? We fear that is what the new DPP’s
mandate will be. Mark our words on this!
PHOTOS
OF THE LABOUR MARCH IN FREEPORT
Both Nassau and Freeport have a tradition of a Labour
Day parade. In both these cities, workers had to organize in order
to obtain their rights. No other island, town or settlement has those
traditions. Last week, we showed photos from the Labour Day parade
in Nassau where the PLP turned out in masses. This week, we show
scenes from the Labour Day parade in Freeport and the PLP’s participation.
There was one united march in Freeport. Fred Mitchell Fox Hill MP
represented the leadership of the PLP in Freeport along with Senator Michael
Darville. Please check back for more photos in our second edition.
YOUNG
LIBERALS AT PLAY
The Progressive Liberals are the youth arm of the
PLP. The light of the lives of PLPs. Like most youngsters,
younger PLPs like to have fun. We share this picture of Young PLPs
at their general meeting held at Gambier House on Sunday 5th June.
That’s one reason to have younger people around; they lighten up the atmosphere
and bring new life to tired old bones.
MILO’S
GRANDDAUGHTER THREATENS BAY STREET BOYS?
She was speaking and in full flight during the aborted
Q & A in the House of Assembly on Thursday 10th June. She was
responding to questions asked by Shadow Minister of Social Services Melanie
Griffin about whether or not the government is current with its payments
to private vendors who take government food stamps. Answer was they
are, but she said that they had one incident with Solomon’s who refused
to take the government vouchers for the poor because the government owed
them some $5000. She said that has since been settled but then warned
that they were reviewing the programme to see whether or not certain vendors
should continue, having regard to what Solomon’s had done. Most people
took that to mean that the government would stop doing business with Solomon’s.
Ahh, said Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell: “Your granddaddy Sir Milo would be
proud. His granddaughter threatening Bay Street.” Solomon’s
was established by the late Roy Solomon, a part of the old Bay Street Boys
merchant clique. It will, of course, never happen in a Hubert Ingraham,
FNM administration. It will remain a threat.
TRANSITION
IN THE BAPTIST ESTABLISHMENT
Anthony Carroll is the new President of the Bahamas
Baptist Missionary and Education Convention, succeeding Rev. Dr. William
Thompson who retired after 12 years of service to the Convention on Sunday
30th May. The service of transition took place at St. John’s Native
Baptist Church on Meeting Street, the burial place of Prince Williams who
established the Baptist Faith in The Bahamas. Fred Mitchell MP for
Fox Hill represented the Leader of the Opposition at the ceremony and is
pictured shaking hands with the new President.
BIS photo/Patrick Hanna
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Last week, we noted that the Prime Minister faced ridicule for his
poor judgement and then inadequate flip flop on car duties: (see Ingraham
Relents On Cars A Bit)
A Note On Hybrid Cars
Most hybrids use regular old gasoline.
Ethanol fuel is still not that widely available even in the United States.
Now what actually does make having a hybrid in
The Bahamas nonsensical is the fact that no dealer here knows how to service
one, as that requires specially trained technicians and equipment.
But again, hybrid cars - for the most part -
run on gas.
Bucky Stewart
[We agree. -- Editor]
Forrester Carroll - 5000 Chinese Work Permits…
Stop the Press! Stop the Press!
Mr. Editor, Hubert Ingraham has just revealed
something in parliament, during his wrap-up of the budget debate that has
p…ed me off. He told the parliament that BahaMar’s application to
the government for work permits for 5000 or more Chinese will have to be
approved by parliament because, as he said, “I am not going to carry this
load by myself,” unquote. The audacities of this dictator; did he
not carry the load alone when he took it upon himself to reduce the salaries
of opposition members, in the House of Assembly, without the courtesy of
their prior approval?
Ingraham, do you think that Christie and the
PLP are so stupid and brain dead that they are not able to see what you
are up to, you dictator? Who do you think you are, you coward?
The PLP, I can assure you, will not be a part of your parliamentary shenanigans.
This is a policy decision for the FNM government to make and the PLP will
not take part in your nonsense. Besides, when since matters such
as work permit approvals and or refusals come to be a parliamentary process
matter for debate? When, Hubert Ingraham, when? As you take
pleasure in always saying, this is your watch and it is your government’s
decision to make, no one else’s; the PLP has no say in the matter, as we
have had no say in how you govern period. You have, certainly, on more
than one occasion reminded the PLP of that fact, even during this recent
budget debate.
Forrester J Carroll J.P.
Freeport, Grand Bahama
13th June, 2010
[You may click here
for Mr. Carroll's full letter. - Ed.]
IN PASSING
Peter Ramsay Ailing
BIS photographer Peter Ramsay has to lay off taking pictures and using
his finger for a while. He damaged his finger in an accident.
It was not broken, but severely bruised and so has been put in a cast.
So, no pictures from Mr. Ramsay for a while. He is pictured in his
cast. Get well soon!
Western Air Into Montego Bay
Western Air is expanding by leaps and bounds. Friends of Rex
Rolle, the owner, say his wife Shandrise who ran against the PLP’s Vincent
Peet and lost in the 2007 general election is pregnant and another Rolle
is on the way. But the commercial news is that the airline is starting
a daily flight to Montego Bay at an introductory round trip of $320.
They are also getting an upgraded version of the Saabs they now fly to
allow for higher cruising altitude and more baggage. They are continuing
with the construction of the four million dollar hub facility in Freeport,
Grand Bahama.
SIB Outside Christie’s Office
The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues are now being ‘shepherded’
again by the Security and Intelligence Branch (SIB) of the Royal Bahamas
Police Force. As PLP MPs arrived for their news conference on Friday
11th June following their walkout from the House, police officers in plainclothes
were downstairs in front of the office. Wonder what they want to
know, since the lines are all tapped anyway.
Layoffs In The Country Continue
22 people were laid off from Kentucky Fried Chicken last week.
There is another rumour going around that Atlantis will lay off 1500 in
the coming months as a result of the closure of several of its restaurants.
Blame Ingraham! Also, at Albany, the project part owned by Tiger
Woods on south New Providence, laid off six Bahaman managers during the
past week. Among them retired police detective Stanley Toote who
was lured from the security department at Paradise Island to come and work
for Albany and now has no job. Expatriates are still working.
Blame Ingraham!
Handcuff Shortage At Central Police Station
The laugh of the week has to be that someone in the Royal Bahamas Police
Force forgot to order the handcuffs. The Nassau Guardian reported
that there is a shortage of handcuffs at the Central Police station, which
serves as the day lock up for prisoners awaiting trial in town. It
is said that this has slowed down the transportation of prisoners back
to the prison in the evenings because they can only move a limited number
of prisoners from the prison to the bus.
Tommy On The Toilets At The Prison
Tommy Turnquest, the Minister of National Security, responded to Fred
Mitchell MP for Fox Hill on the question of toilets in the maximum-security
prison. Mr. Turnquest, speaking on Thursday 11th June agreed that
the toilets were not working properly. He said that these compost
toilets were being further worked on by the manufacturers to get it right.
He said that water closets were not practical in the maximum-security unit
because of the thickness of the prison walls. This means that the
prisoners have to continue for a while to suffer in the s… until the government
gets it right.
Commonwealth Bank Celebrates 50 Years
Tim Donaldson, the Chairman of Commonwealth Bank presided over the
50th anniversary celebrations of the Bank at a reception on Monday 7th
June. Mr. Donaldson said that the bank was doing well and was well
poised to succeed into the future despite the issues with the economy.
Cheryl Grant Bethel Devastated
Friends of Cheryl Grant Bethel say that she is devastated by the double
cross of the Prime Minister, who they say promised her the job of Director
of Public Prosecutions. Her friends say that when Mrs. Grant Bethel
saw the Prime Minister on television putting the failure of the office
of prosecutions down to the work that she and Bernard Turner, the previous
DPP now a Judge did, she could not understand it, particularly after it
was the Prime Minister who called her and promised her the job in December
of last year. Mr. Ingraham claimed in the House that she is to go
to the law reform commission, but her friends say that they have no idea
what he is talking about.
Linda Virgill Given No Work
The Nassau Guardian reports that in the middle of the crisis in the
courts on fighting crime, a Magistrate Linda Virgill has nothing to do.
She is literally collecting a pay cheque with no work being assigned to
her. It is alleged that the Magistrate has a reputation for being
mercurial and saying odd things. In one outburst for which she was
reprimanded by the Chief Justice Sir Michael Barnett, she accused the prosecution
of conspiring against her.
Numbers Business Suffers A Decline
The people who run the numbers business are reportedly complaining
of being double-crossed by the Hubert Ingraham government. In a story
run in the Nassau Guardian on Monday 7th June, they said that they were
surprised that Mr. Ingraham decided not to go ahead and legalize the business.
They said they co-operated with the Minister of Finance and his officials,
including opening their books to them to show them how the operation works
and what their likely turnover is. So sure were they that legalization
was coming. Now, they say, there is no legalization coming and as
a result of the Prime Minister double banking them, there has been a fall
off in business. Well, Ingraham said in 2007 it was a matter of trust.
This is clearly the trust agenda at work.
Gomez At Customs Orders Apology To His Wife
The Nassau Guardian reported on Tuesday 8th June that Glen Gomez, the
Comptroller of Customs does not know what a conflict of interest is.
A customs officer under the command and supervision of his wife (also a
customs officer) was involved in a verbal fracas with his wife. An
investigation was ordered by the Comptroller and in the result, he ordered
the subordinate officer to apologize to his wife. Mr. Gomez says
that he sees nothing wrong with this. In fact, once Mr. Gomez became
Comptroller his wife should have left the employ of the Customs Department
to avoid this from happening. It is not good enough for him to say
that if my wife has to be disciplined she will be disciplined like any
other officer. This is clearly a violation of the rule of law on
bias.
Exchange Between Mitchell and Butler-Turner
There is a contest raging in the House of Assembly on the question
of trash talking, between Loretta Butler Turner, the Minister of State
for Social Services and Zhivargo Laing, the Minister of State for Finance.
Mrs. Butler Turner is constantly shouting out barbs and criticisms throughout
any PLP’s address in the House. There is nothing that she will not
answer. In one shout from the floor, Fred Mitchell MP from Fox Hill
shouted out “That’s one rough gal!” Not to be outdone, Mrs. Butler
Turner responded in a sultry voice: “You should know!” Really.
Laing Says They Might Lose Because Of The Budget
They are really something. The masters at creating a mess and
then congratulating themselves on what a job they are doing to clean up
that same mess. Hubert Ingraham’s protégé Zhivargo
Laing has learned the art of sleight of hand. Having savaged the
Bahamian people in their Budget plans for 2010/2011, Mr. Laing has now
sought to cast himself and the worthless FNM government as something between
a hero and a martyr. Here is the latest piece from the master of
trash talking in the House “If sometimes you have to spell your political
death, then march toward it. The truth is that this nation's best
interest is worth our political life”. This grandiloquence is laughable.
Thinks too highly of himself.
Pauline Davis Thompson’s Incredible Act…Unbelievable In Fact
Ten years after disgraced American star Marion Jones obtained her medal
by cheating using drugs, Bahamian Pauline Davis Thompson received her gold
medal for the Olympics in Sydney in the 200-metre race. The presentation
was made at Government House in front of family, friends, and the representatives
of the local sporting community including Sports Minister Charles Maynard
on Thursday 10th June. Mrs. Davis Thompson then promptly went to
the House of Assembly where, in the absence of the Opposition who had walked
out in protest against the budget cuts and taxes, she presented the medal
to the Prime Minister saying that he was responsible for saving her career.
We find this incredible, really. Where was Neville Wisdom, the former
Minister of Sports, who helped to get her career off the ground?
Where was the mention of the late Sir Lynden Pindling who nurtured her
early career? Instead, it appears that Hubert Ingraham called her
after she was dismissed from the Ministry of Tourism when the FNM came
to office and 1992 and he was able to rescue her from that ignominy.
The only problem is; he was the author of that destruction and it was the
PLP who fought publicly to get it reversed. And now, as he always
does, he comes to the rescue as a supposed hero in the very situation that
he created. Mrs. Davis Thompson has, we fear, been (unwittingly we
hope) part of a big FNM public relations scam. Incredible is the
only word for it.
The 5000 Chinese Workers
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham in his wrap up to the debate on the
annual Budget on Thursday 10th June said that he will bring the issue to
Parliament of whether or not the country ought to accept 5000 Chinese workers
at the Bahamar project slated to begin later this year at Cable Beach.
The PLP’s Leader Perry Christie was asked about this at his post Budget
Day press conference. He said that the FNM’s leader would have to
make that decision on his own. He added since he is so decisive then
let him decide that. We agree. This is not a decision for the
PLP, but for Hubert Ingraham and his government. Remember that this
is a man who says: “I do not listen to anything that the PLP has to say.”
Victoria Beneby Is Buried
The widow of the late Church of God of Prophecy Bishop Nathaniel Beneby
died on 4th June and was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery following a service
of thanksgiving at the Church of God of Prophecy on East Street, where
her husband pastored. Mrs. Beneby was the quiet, but powerful partner
of the late Bishop. She was the mother of ten children, 9 boys and
1 girl. There were scores of grandchildren at the service as well.
Perry Christie, Leader of the Opposition, together with Earl Deveaux Minister
of Environment, Dr. Hubert Minnis, Minister of Health, Fred Mitchell MP
Fox Hill, Vincent Peet MP North Andros and Philip Davis MP Cat Island,
Rum Cay and San Salvador; attended the service. Royal Bank of Canada
country head Nathaniel Beneby Jr. is among the children and survivors,
along with his brother Sheldon who is a Deputy Permanent Secretary in the
public service.
Rhonda Chipman Johnson
Leaves COB
The College of the Bahamas community is reeling with the appointment
of Earla Carey Baines as the new President of the College. With Janyne
Hodder leaving this past week and the search committee not completed with
its search for a new President, Dr. Baines has been appointed “interim”
president. This post does not exist in law, but the College Council’s
Chair Tim Donaldson told the other members of the Board that he had the
support of the Prime Minister to appoint her as President, so the law that
when there is a vacancy in the post the executive Vice President will act
does not apply, since there is no vacancy. That means that Dr. Carey
Baines is now the President and will serve until there is a new President
appointed. Dr. Chipman Johnson, who is the Executive Vice President,
had expected to act and has been passed over for President many times in
the past, apparently had enough and quit. Apparently, no tears are
being shed for her from the FNM government that she supports. Them’s
the times, we guess.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
INGRAHAM TRASHES CHERYL GRANT
We have been leading the way on the web with the commentary on the
fate of Cheryl Grant Bethell, the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions
who lost the opportunity to get the job as Director of Public Prosecutions.
We led the way with a comment two weeks ago and then again last week and
a story about what has transpired.
This week, as the British would say, the story ‘hotted’ up when Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill spoke in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 16th June about the plight of Mrs. Grant Bethell. Mrs. Grant Bethell is the widow of former Minister of Sports and Deputy Leader of the PLP Peter Bethell. The Guardian believes that this is the reason that we have been supporting her. Short sighted and stupid on their part because the simple issue is as put by Mr. Mitchell: with more than 1000 Bahamians at the Bar, the Judicial and Legal Services Commission must be able to find one Bahamian to take the job.
On one level, any employer has the right to say who they want to work on the job, so Mrs. Grant Bethell has no automatic entitlement to the job. But if you are going to be rejected, and rejected so publicly by no less a person than the Prime Minister of the country, you would think that there would be good and cogent reasons for doing so.
No reasons have been put in the public domain. What has been done is that a series of rumours have been put out by FNM operatives close to the Prime Minister, with the warning that Mrs. Grant Bethell should back off or be destroyed. The view is that there is sympathy for her because she is a “smart girl” but if necessary, she will be destroyed.
Left to the FNM, the means of her destruction are not to be put to her in a formal way. Indeed, the family of Mrs. Grant Bethell who were described by PLP MP Fred Mitchell as mortified by the comments of the Prime Minister about their daughter have said that they do not know what the Prime Minister is talking about. Nothing about what the problems are has been put to her. We have been able to ferret out what they are saying behind her back. These matters are likely to lead to lawsuits. According to The Tribune, she has contracted former Bar President Wayne Munroe to take on her case. He told the Nassau Guardian on Friday 18th June that he is awaiting instructions. (On Saturday 19th June, The Tribune reported that he expected to file an action by Wednesday of this week) See below for a transcript of what he had to say on the matter.
The scuttlebutt is this: there is allegedly a report to the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) that got to the Prime Minister, that allegedly accuses Mrs. Grant Bethell of using her office to interfere with the arrest of an alleged drug dealer at one of the police stations in New Providence, which alleged drug dealer they allege was related to a colleague and friend of hers. Further, that this alleged drug dealer whom the police allege is a banker for drug dealers is allegedly supplying her with money to support her lifestyle, a lifestyle for which the alleged Security & Intelligence Branch (SIB) report claims she does not have the visible means of support.
This is flatly denied as patently false by friends of Mrs. Grant Bethell, a plain out and out lie, the invention of a fertile mind. Mrs. Grant Bethell was left more than comfortable by her late husband, the former Minister of Government Peter Bethell. These assertions are like stuff from the downmarket rag called The Punch, where they say things that have some distant elements of truth but at the end of the day, it is not the whole truth. Suffice it to say, if they seek to put that to Mrs. Grant Bethell formally, we believe they will be shown to be liars of the first order and will have to pay significant damages.
There is a problem with SIB reports. They are inherently unreliable. They are meant to be administrative tools, not to be wholly accepted or rejected by the authority to whom the report is given. By the very nature of an intelligence report, there is a lot of gossip and hearsay around which it is based. A Prime Minister has to be sensible when receiving such a report and not believe nonsense or illegally obtained information about individuals and then use it against them. Something is clearly wrong with that and yet time after time they are used to destroy people. In fact, a wicked Commissioner of Police with his own agenda can wreak havoc in the willing ear of an unprincipled Prime Minister.
What it shows is that these allegations are pure bull and the point is; if Mrs. Grant Bethell were so sullied by these so-called allegations, why would the government offer to keep her in the office of the Attorney General? She is said to have been told that she will be laterally moved to the post of Deputy Law Reform Commissioner. If she is to move, she should move to be Law Reform Commissioner. If what appear to be Mr. Ingraham’s charges are to be believed, then she should not be there at all. So the charges are clearly hogwash.
The Prime Minister misled the House of Assembly on Wednesday 16th July when in answering Mr. Mitchell’s charges, he said that he told Mrs. Grant Bethell why he had changed his mind in supporting her for the job. Mrs. Grant Bethell’s family says that he never did any such thing. See below for a transcript of what the Prime Minister had to say.
If that is the case, then Mr. Ingraham is guilty of a most egregious attack on Mrs. Grant Bethell’s character, built up over 20 years of service to the country without a blemish on her record. Mr. Mitchell and her attorney both regard the remarks, had they been spoken outside of the House of Assembly, to be defamatory and an actionable libel.
The FNM then went about telling the press privately what we have published today and they were said to have been indignantly putting the question to Mr. Mitchell. One reporter is said to have insisted that the Prime Minister had told the PLP what it was they were holding against Mrs. Grant Bethell.
But we should not be surprised at Hubert Ingraham. Mr. Mitchell described him in the House of Assembly as being like the Emperor Jones, contemptuous of the people he leads. It is as if he hates Bahamians. And one wonders, why? It is obviously a self-hatred and there is not one person on the Prime Minister’s political side who is willing to stand up to him and say enough is enough. He did it to Ashley Glinton who got the straw market contract under the PLP, only to have it cancelled and for the Prime Minister to describe a man, who is perhaps the highest qualified and trained Bahamian in the construction industry, as unqualified. Later, he gave the same ‘unqualified’ man the job of building the new government complex in Abaco and the airport in Nassau.
What he expects is that Mrs. Grant Bethell, having been warned that he will destroy her, should sit quietly in a hole and be a good girl for six months, and then he will see what he can do for her.
We think that the issue has been publicly joined and there is no turning back on this one. We hope that Mrs. Grant Bethell does not turn out to be a wallflower, but does indeed fight to maintain her reputation and her professional integrity. Fight the good fight, with all her might.
The Attorneys have been saying that there are serious procedural flaws why the JLSC should not, as it was and is presently constituted, have heard this matter, including some allegations of a very personal nature against an individual in authority, which could make the process of publicly trashing Mrs. Grant Bethell quite nasty, unseemly and not in the Government’s, the JCLC’s or the Prime Minister’s best interest. Just as the Prime Minister warned the Opposition not to go there, the warning should go back to him: don’t go there. He ought to find a way to settle this matter and settle it quickly to the satisfaction of all of the parties.
We are given to believe that if he does not settle this matter within weeks as opposed to months, his failure to do so will be at great peril to his political office. The Prime Minister’s conduct has been reprehensible in this matter and he stands condemned for it.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 19th June 2010 up to midnight: 148,670.
Number of hits for the month of June up to Saturday 19th June 2010 up to midnight: 423,795.
Number of hits for the year 2010 up to Saturday 19th June 2010 up to midnight: 4,374,755.
PLP
ANNOUNCES CANDIDATES FOR GRAND BAHAMA
The Progressive Liberal Party has announced the
choice of two men as the nominees for the party in the next general election
for two seats in Grand Bahama. They are PLP Senator Dr. Michael Darville
and Greg Moss, a past President of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce.
Both men gave moving addresses about their being impressed as young people
by the work of the PLP, coming from struggling parents and having to work
their way up. They both pledged that one day they would give back
to the society and believe that in running for office they will be able
to fulfil that pledge. The nominations were affirmed by the National
General Council of the PLP on Thursday 16th June.
From left: Party Chairman Bradley Roberts, Senator Darville, Mr.
Moss and Party Leader Perry Christie. Photo/Athama Bowe
A
NEW THEME PARK IN FT. LAUDERDALE
The city of Ft. Lauderdale has announced that it has signed a contract
with a developer to build a water theme park, which will rival that at
Atlantis on Paradise Island in The Bahamas. It was interesting that
the Bahamian press reported this news. The news comes as the Prime
Minister of The Bahamas is busy talking down the Bahamar project for Cable
Beach in New Providence. Perry Christie, the Leader of the PLP, in
a statement in response to the Prime Minister, which Mr. Christie issued
on Monday 14th June (see below), listed the reasons for the PLP’s approval
of the Bahamar project. They were to help find the jobs that are
needed in the economy, a counterbalance to the Kerzner investment on Paradise
Island, and the renewal of the tourism product on Cable Beach in New Providence.
The FNM has no answer to that.
The fact that a theme park is now being developed
in Ft. Lauderdale to rival Atlantis shows the importance of what the PLP
decided and the urgency for the Prime Minister and his colleagues to reverse
course on this matter. Recently, the Bahamas government under Mr.
Ingraham honoured Sol Kerzner, the principal owner of Atlantis with a knighthood.
The view in some quarters is that this is a payback by Mr. Ingraham for
what Mr. Kerzner has done for The Bahamas, but also a sweetener for personal
donations to his re-election campaign and perhaps a sweetener also to get
a fourth phase of Atlantis going.
Mr. Ingraham has said that you can’t have two major
projects both the fourth phase of Atlantis and Bahamar going at the same
time. We do not agree. All should be allowed to come.
Turn down neither. But if Mr. Kerzner gets the go ahead with a phase
four and Cable Beach does not get off the ground, The Bahamas will be more
dependent upon and dominated by Mr. Kerzner. That will not be good
for The Bahamas, with one employer hiring some 20,000 people. Mr.
Kerzner of course hates the PLP and will not do anything to help the PLP.
Mr. Ingraham is supposed to go to South Africa with Minister of National
Security Tommy Turnquest sometime in July of this year. They closed
down the House of Assembly to facilitate the Prime Minister’s absence to
go partying in South Africa. The story is the deal for phase four
is to be cut while there.
CHRISTIE
RESPONDS TO INGRAHAM
Progressive Liberal Party Leader Perry Christie
issued a stinging response to the frantic statement issued by the Prime
Minister Hubert Ingraham Sunday 13th June. Mr. Ingraham hastily called
a press conference last Sunday to denounce the actions of the PLP in walking
out on the national budget vote after the Prime Minister and his FNMs voted
against a PLP amendment to increase burial assistance for the poor.
He incredibly claimed the amendment and the vote were unconstitutional,
even though he agreed to allow the vote to take place.
Mr. Christie told Mr. Ingraham that the issue was
not Perry Christie, the issue was what was he going to do to create the
30,000 jobs that would be needed in the economy to put people to work.
Mr. Christie promised that if the PLP were returned to office that would
be job number one for the PLP. You may click
here for the full statement.
THE
ACADEMICS RESPOND ON COB SEARCH
Every week, Ian Strachan, who is an associate professor
at the College of the Bahamas, has a column in the newspaper in which he
has an opinion on everything in the universe. We meant to congratulate
him and two other colleagues at the College on the wonderful paper that
they did through a survey of the transportation issues facing New Providence.
They called for a public transit system and told us how much the country
would save if we had one for the island where the capital city sits which
was safe and reliable. That’s fine and good.
The problem is that there is raging at the College
of The Bahamas a controversy over the appointment of the new President
of the College. Some have asked the PLP to get into the controversy,
which has one senior executive being bypassed in one of Mr. Ingraham’s
sleight of hand moves. Click
here for last week’s story on COB. But while the PLP should and
does have a position, the question must be asked; what of the staff of
COB and its students? And we mention Ian Strachan in particular because
a man who usually has an opinion on everything has so far nothing to say
on this.
Felix Bethel, another lecturer at COB, who has a
column in the Bahama Journal, wrote a piece in which he supported Rhonda
Chipman Johnson, the ousted executive. The COB union did also express
come concern. This week, just before this piece appeared, we were
gratified to see that the faculty union UTEB called on two members of the
search committee for the new President to step down, including Chairman
T. Baswell Donaldson, on the grounds that they are biased.
We can’t help but say that if this were the PLP
in power, there would be people out in the streets saying how the PLP was
mistreating the College, but here it is the FNM is in power, Mr. Ingraham
is abusing them and not a peep from the main constituency that is being
abused including the students, but coming to the PLP in the dead of night
like Nicodemus to say please speak for us.
MITCHELL
ON COURT FEES AND CHERYL GRANT
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill spoke
in the House on Wednesday 16th June about the huge rise in Court fees
that the Supreme Court is seeking to start on 1st July. Mr. Mitchell
said that the rise in fees is anti poor and anti middle class. He
said that to start an action would now jump from 9 dollars to 300 dollars.
He added that the procedures that will be required for poor people to get
the fees waived are so cumbersome that they need a lawyer to make the application,
which defeats the purpose.
Mr. Mitchell also took the opportunity to raise
the matter of the hiring of the Director of Public Prosecutions (see last
week’s story). Later in the week, following the response from the
Prime Minister in the House to what he had to say, Mr. Mitchell called
a
press conference to say that Cheryl Grant Bethell’s parents were mortified
by the comments of the Prime Minister, given all that she had done to raise
herself up and be successful. You may click here for the
statement on the fee rise at the press conference on Thursday 17th
June at the House of Assembly.
CARL
BETHEL ATTACKS MITCHELL ON CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
Carl Bethel, the Chairman of the FNM, has this ingenuous
way of taking the smallest little molehill and making it a mountain.
That was the way that Fred Mitchell MP described what Mr. Bethel had to
say about his reference to civil disobedience in his remarks at the PLP’s
rally. The more important points in Mr. Mitchell’s address were missed
and that is the call for full time Members of Parliament and the support
in salary and allowances for them to properly do their work.
All these FNMs who keep calling for the PLP to present an alternative budget
should know that there are no resources available for the PLP to represent
an alternative budget. Mr. Mitchell called for the state funding
of the work of the political parties. No word on that but of course
the bit about civil disobedience gets the play. No problem.
So in The Tribune there was a back and forth on that with Mr. Bethel claiming
that it was irresponsible for a person of Mr. Mitchell’s seniority in Parliament
to make such a call because unlike 50 years ago there are no institutional
or legal bars which prevent the democratic will from being expressed.
Mr. Mitchell told The Tribune that he had a good
laugh at what Carl Bethel had to say. He said that Mr. Bethel had
to make that argument because if he conceded on the point, he would condemn
himself and his government. Mr Mitchell told The Tribune that the
measures he is advocating in The Bahamas are quite tame and what the FNM
really wants the PLP to do is to lie down and play dead but that would
not do for him. He said that what the FNM did in closing the debate
was undemocratic and so the walkout was an act of justified civil disobedience.
The Tribune published a further response by the FNM on Saturday 19th June
in which they accused Mr. Mitchell of masterminding a programme of disruption.
Has Carl Bethel really nothing better to do with his time? These
are the actions of a twit, not an educated man.
EILEEN
CARRON ATTACKS FRED MITCHELL
It is always interesting what the take of the FNM’s
Chief propagandist Eileen Carron is on what the PLP is doing.
Suffice it to say, the PLP can do nothing right. We provide her take
on what the PLP did when they walked out of the House following the undemocratic
closure of the debate. Here is what she had to say in her editorial
of Thursday 17th June.
“Does Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell really believe
that his party's walk-out of parliament during the Budget debate is the
only way to draw attention to important issues, or, like his annual ‘under
the fig tree’ pronouncements of yesteryear, just a mechanism to snatch
headlines for himself in his oft expressed desire to one day be prime minister
of this country?
“At a time like this when it is important that
the whole nation -- including government and opposition -- work together
to revitalise the nation's economy, for an Opposition party to suggest
‘civil disobedience’ is the height of irresponsibility. Really the only
persons who would suffer under such a plan would be the very persons that
Mr. Mitchell sanctimoniously claims his party wants to help.
“During the committal stage of the Budget debate
last Thursday, when each item was being dealt with separately, Mr. Mitchell
moved an amendment for funeral payments to be raised from the present $650
to $1,300 per person for at least 1000 persons. His motion was defeated.
Shortly afterwards the Opposition gathered their belongings and walked
out of the chamber. There was general comment that Opposition leader Perry
Christie did not lead the walk-out, but was one of the last to go, suggesting
that he had not been forewarned of his party's intentions. Since then Mr.
Mitchell seems to be carrying the ball.
“Mr. Mitchell told a PLP rally Tuesday night
that he "intends to push the envelope even further." He saw the House walk-out
as "democracy in its finest form." Now instead of fighting to revitalise
the economy so that unemployed Bahamians can get back to work, he has been
asked by his leader to see how the "structure might be changed now or in
a PLP administration to strengthen parliament vis-à-vis the executive."
If this is to be done by his suggested "civil disobedience" it will certainly
get headlines, but it will not put food on any poor man's table.
“Prime Minister Ingraham later pointed out that
constitutionally the Opposition could not amend a money bill. "No amendment
to a Money Bill, which has the effect of imposing any change upon the Public
Treasury, can be moved by anyone other than a Government Minister on the
recommendation of the Cabinet," says the Constitution.
“What Mr. Mitchell obviously forgot is that he
is no longer a government minister, and he certainly had no cabinet recommendation
for what he was trying to do.
“Mr. Ingraham said that if the PLP had done their
homework, "they would have realised that the budget head about which they
were concerned includes assistance for several categories of individuals
and families in need, not only funeral expenses. "From July 2009 to date,"
said the prime minister, "the Government has provided funeral assistance
in the amount of $67,650. Indeed, it has honoured most of the requests
for assistance it has received. It will continue to do so if there is a
demonstrated need."
“So why all the fuss? Was it just to get the
attention of the press, and rev up supporters for possible "civil disobedience"?
“Mr. Ingraham also pointed out that while the
PLP was in power from 2002 to 2007, it never increased funeral assistance
for the poor. It is only now that they are in opposition and desperately
need to make the headlines -- big and bold -- that they seem to have discovered
that poor people are dying and need financial help with their funerals.
Why are they just waking up to doing something now, but never had the bright
idea to do something about it when they had the power? It all seems politically
contrived.
“And in our opinion the whole episode in the
House was childish.”
Photo: Fred Mitchell addressing the PLP's 'Mini Rally' at Gambier
House Tuesday 15 June / Joette Penn
ZNS
CENSORSHIP AND DOWNSIZING
The Broadcasting Corporation came under fire for
pulling the show Press Pass that was to have returned to the air with host
Shenique Miller two weeks ago. It was not to be. It turns out
that the guests on the show were too controversial about the national budget
and in particular about their own corporation. The employees of the
Corporation who appeared on the show said that the corporation should cut
the top-heavy managerial staff before cutting the line staff in response
to the government’s cut to the budget of the corporation of half the public
subsidy. That did not go down well with management and without explanation
to any of the parties including the host and guests the show never appeared.
This is censorship, pure and simple.
The guests on the show were Paul Turnquest, a Tribune
reporter; Clint Watson and Altovise Munnings both ZNS reporters; Kevin
Harris, from one of the private radio stations who is an FNM ideologue.
The show was taped on 3rd June (the day that Billie Joe McAlister jumped
off the Tallahatchie bridge) and was to have aired the following Monday.
Nothing. No apology. Ever the sleuth, Paul Turnquest from The
Trib called them up and asked what happened. He got a supercilious
answer from Kayleasa Moss Deveaux Isaacs who as the Manager in charge of
the programme, said that the subjects that were supposed to be covered
in the agreed list before the programme went on were not covered.
In other words, Shenique Miller and her guests strayed from the topic so
her bosses pulled the programme. Disingenuous at best. Dishonest
is more like it.
It was simply that ZNS did not like the opinions
expressed so they pulled the programme. That is censorship.
When will we get it in this country? Strange as it seems, the only
ones who get it seem to be The Tribune. There is a difference between
your editorial opinion and what someone else’s opinion is. Their
opinion is their opinion and they have a right to have it and express it.
My word!
But it gets worse. Not only was the ZNS manager
giving a silly answer, but then you have the higher ups engaging in silliness
as well. Michael Moss, the Chairman of the Board, claimed he had
nothing to do with it and he agreed with the sentiments expressed about
the management staff having to go. That was his first take.
Eddie Lightbourne the GM simply hid from view. Mr. Moss soon got
a hold of himself and his senses and put on his FNM true cloth and character
by engaging in a masterful letter, which can only be seen as one of the
best examples of revisionism in the world. Mr. Moss claimed that
this was not censorship at all but Mrs. Deveaux Isaacs exercising her independence
and so in fact it showed that the government was not a bad guy after all.
These arguments just leave you breathless, especially from intelligent
people who simply ought to know better than to peddle such utter foolishness.
You may click
here for the letter of Mr. Moss and you may click
here for Paul Turnquest’s report of the matter from The Tribune.
WHAT
MRS. BETHELL’S LAWYER HAD TO SAY
Wayne Munroe, former President of the Bahamas Bar
Association spoke to the Nassau Guardian. He has been retained by
Cheryl Grant Bethell as her attorney. Here is what he said to them
on Friday 18th May:
“It would appear that the prime minister was
admitting to meddling in the work of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission.
The Commission, which is chaired by the chief justice, has five members.
Under the Constitution of The Bahamas, it has the power to recommend to
the governor general the appointment of public officers within the judicial
system and to also make recommendations with respect to the removal of
and disciplinary action against such officers. I know of no provision for
the Prime Minister to have a say (in the work of the Commission).
This Prime Minister, to my knowledge, has no intimate or working knowledge
of criminal prosecution. He never practiced extensively there, so he would
be ignorant as to what it takes for criminal prosecutions. There’s nothing
wrong with ignorance. There are a lot of things that people don’t know.
I’m ignorant as to diesel mechanics, and so you wouldn’t see me expressing
an opinion about diesel mechanics because then that would be a stupid thing
for me to do. So it’s stupid to express an opinion in areas where you’re
ignorant… If the Prime Minister in fact interfered in choosing a Director
of Public Prosecutions he has bastardized the system. What he appears
to be saying is everything depends on him. It’s his sand box to play in…
If he supports you, you get it. If he doesn’t, you don’t. That’s just plain
wrong… It is very probable that Mrs. Grant-Bethell will be taking
some sort of legal action…Being the DPP of Bermuda is equivalent to being
the DPP of Andros, in terms of the crimes that occur there and their prosecution.
It remains a mystery what the information is that came to the prime minister’s
attention as it regards Mrs. Grant-Bethell. .. If that is so (that the
Prime Minister has certain information) he again admits to bastardizing
the process because in this jurisdiction and every civilized jurisdiction,
you’re supposed to be able to confront accusers. She should have had an
opportunity to respond. Certainly in my conversation with Mrs. Bethell,
nothing was put to her.”
WHAT
THE PRIME MINISTER HAD TO SAY
The Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said this to
the House of Assembly on Wednesday 16th June about the appointment of Cheryl
Grant Bethell for the post of Director of Public Prosecutions. He
was speaking during the summing up of the debate and responding to issues
raised by Fred Mitchell MP about the appointment:
“After advising her that she had my support,
information came to my attention subsequent to that and I also told her
that I was withdrawing my support, that I could not and would not as Prime
Minister of The Bahamas support her appointment, and I do not support her
appointment and I do so for good and valid reasons…I met with her on a
number of occasions, the most recent of which was on Labour Day at my office
on Cable Beach. She called me at my house. She has spoken to me. She knows
my position. I don’t need to tell anyone why I changed my mind other than
to say I have good, sound reasons for changing my mind. There’s nothing
personal about it. Nothing whatsoever. And I think that no good will come
by members opposite seeking to make it into something else… I would pay
even more to get somebody to run that department (of public prosecutions).
I’d pay $150,000 per year, $200,000; it is worth it for The Bahamas. It
is worth it for The Bahamas, no question about it. Somebody who could run
that department, who could cause cases to be heard and determined, who
could manage the department, and who could cause The Bahamas to have a
judicial system that I am not ashamed of in any way, shape or form.”
RALLYING
AT GAMBIER HOUSE
The Progressive Liberal Party called its folk together
and hired the radio stations to broadcast their meeting on Tuesday 15th
June at its party headquarters Gambier House. The faithful in their
numbers gathered to hear the Members of Parliament speak to the issues
of the day, in particular to explain and defend the decisions of the PLP
on the Budget and to attack the work of the FNM and the problems that they
have created for the country. MPs Philip
'Brave' Davis, Fred Mitchell,
Melanie
Griffin, Frank Smith, Obie Wilchcombe, Bernard Nottage, Picewell Forbes,
Ryan
Pinder, Senator Jerome Fitzgerald
were all there to have their say. We provide click-ons to the remarks,
where available.
Photos/Joette Penn
LEGACY BALL
The annual Legacy ball sponsored by the Pindling
Foundation and under the patronage of the Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes
and the widow of the late Prime Minister Lynden Pindling, Dame Marguerite
Pindling was held at the Crystal Palace Hotel on Saturday 19th June.
A fine time was had by all to raise money for the Foundation and its donations
to the education of Bahamian young people. These are the initial
photos. The honourees for the evening were Dr. Perry Gomez for his
work in fighting HIV/Aids and Mrs. Roseanne Bain for work in the field
with him.
F.R.
WILSON GRADUATE BUSINESS CENTRE FOR COB
Contributed
— A particularly significant day for education in
The Bahamas as Directors of of Eleuthera Properties Ltd were central players
in the strengthening of Education in the Bahamas.
The College of The Bahamas (soon to be the University of The Bahamas)
broke ground on the F. R. Wilson Graduate Business Centre. This facility
will support the Institution’s first Graduate Degree Program, i.e. first
which is not granted in conjunction with any other institution.
Separate from the National Government, funding for
the facility comes from contributions from the family of Mr. Wilson, and
from the Royal Bank of Canada, under the leadership of our Director, Ross
McDonald. Mr. Wilson is also a Past Chairman of The College’s Council.
Speaking directly on behalf of the Prime Minister
of The Bahamas, the Hon. Dion Foulkes expressed appreciation to the corporate
sponsors for making the project a reality to build the life of young people
through education in the country.
Photo - Representatives of COB along with directors of Eleuthera
Properties Ltd. and RBC break ground to the new F. R. Wilson Graduate
Business Centre, which will house graduate studies for students attending
the soon to be named University of The Bahamas.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Picewell Forbes?
Can someone please pull Mr. Forbes aside and
try to educate him on proper decorum in the Honourable House of Assembly,
I had occasion to address this topic in the past on Mr. Forbes after observing
his good Actions.
Mr. Forbes uncouth actions may be fitting for
Mt Tabor, but he must realize that he is in the Honourable House of Assembly,
where he should sit down keep his big mouth shut until it is his time to
speak and learn something, you can hear him in the background (years, years,
years) it makes one wonder if he ever take’s the time out to view the proceedings
and to hear himself, he makes himself a nuisance to the listening public.
He and a few others are an embarrassment and
disgrace to our country, after his debacle at the Convention, one would
have thought this man would have learned a lesson, you can only take the
horse to the well, but you can’t make him drink.
Kelly D. Burrows
[Obviously, you have strong feelings on this point and there is that point of view, but equally as strongly others argue that this is the kind of forum it has become under the Leadership of Hubert Ingraham and so fire must be met with fire. - Editor]
Fred Mitchell !!!
Ok folks --- Those of us out here in ''
cyberspace '' who at one time lived in The Bahamas ,and who read your column
every Monday morning , are a bit '' fed up '' with seeing Fred Mitchell
! I mean , just exactly who is this person and why do you constantly feature
a member of the '' opposition '' -- Sure , we all know
that this site was once Fred Mitchell's site --- And that's fine ---
But enough is enough already --- We all know that you are proud
supporters of the PLP -- Terrific , so you should be !! But
it becomes obvious that Fred Mitchell only wants his photo in every column
that you people put out !!
I mean , just who is Fred Mitchell ???
A nobody that's who !! A member of the opposition !!!
Stop featuring Fred Mitchell !!
And start concentrating on the real issues !!
If I were to guess , I'd suggest that one of the reasons the PLP lost the
last election , was Fred Mitchell and his '' unsationable '' hunger for
publicity !! People ( voters ) aren't dumb !
And I dare you to put this on next week's column
!! See the Immigration dep't cant take away my work permit
anymore !!!
Enough of Fred Mitchell !!!!
Ted Maude
Toronto Canada
[What a big joke, from someone obviously suffering from a lack of self-esteem or some kind of complex. Have a nice life and by the way, go get one. --- Editor]
Forrester Carroll's contributions will return next week. - Ed.
CUSTOMS
OFFICER REINSTATED
Adrian Smith, a customs officer, who was fired by
the Ingraham administration in a so called anti corruption drive has been
ordered to be reinstated. The Public Service Board of Appeal said
that the decision to dismiss Mr. Smith was procedurally flawed. They
said that there was too long a time between the infraction and the disciplinary
action; that in superseding Mr. Smith in promotions that the matter had
been dealt with and that there ought to have been a hearing before the
dismissal took place. Fred Mitchell MP and Opposition Spokesman on
the Public Service issued
this statement.
IN PASSING
Etienne Bowleg Continues His Heresy
We received this notice from a correspondent:
On the First Sunday after Pentecost Caribbean Priest Fr. Etienne
Bowleg was received into the Sacred Order of Priests in the International
Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church. Fr. Bowleg and his
wife Cheryl travelled from the Bahamas together with some 30 members for
the ceremony. Bishop David Simpson received Cheryl as a communicant.
She then, together with Fr. David Paysinger and Fr. Don Hudock, presented
Fr. Bowleg for reception and ordination. We now have a presence in
the Bahamas, and we are hoping the Lord will release things in greater
measure in the future. Bishop David Simpson, Bishop Prakash Yuhanna,
Fr. David Paysinger, Fr. Don Hudock, Fr. John Bower, Deacon Dan Garrison
and Deacon Colin Morris were present, together with a joyful congregation.
The ladies of the church put on a nice reception for all after the service.
(Thus, after resigning from the Anglican Church in The Bahamas and
worldwide communion, the man who lied about his age and got embarrassed
because of his own sin is now carrying on in another dispensation as if
nothing happened. What tangled webs we weave when first we practice
to deceive.—Editor)
A Pompous Idiot
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill spoke in the House of Assembly on Wednesday
16th June on the Amendment to the Supreme Court Act that is to increase
the number of judges from 11 to 13. Mr. Mitchell said in his opening
remarks that he had gotten along with all of the Chief Justices of the
country except one whom he thought was a pompous idiot. He did not
name the individual, but we figure that the discerning can tell exactly
who it was.
More Layoffs
They keep saying the economy is getting better, but if so; why is the
Betty K is laying off staff? The Betty K is the shipping line that
takes freight between Florida and The Bahamas. They announced that
they are laying off 10 staff. ZNS last week announced that 70 staff
would be laid off from the public corporation.
Wrinkle Says Pray For Bahamar
Head of The Bahamas Contractors Association Stephen Wrinkle told the
Bahama Journal last week that we had all better pray that the Bahamar deal
goes ahead and is sealed. We think he is right. The only one
who does not get it is Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister. The economic
situation in our country is dismal and dire and the government shows no
signs of putting the country back to work.
Ingraham Also Against Mayaguana Project
Hubert Ingraham who is the Prime Minister of the country just can’t
seem to stop talking down projects. First, he trashed the Bahamar
project causing the US partners in the casino operation to pull out.
Now he says that he won’t approve the labour component of it that requires
5000 Chinese labourers unless the PLP agrees to it. Then in the same
press conference on Sunday last, he said that he has no faith in the I
Group Project in Mayaguana. Does he have faith in anything but himself?
The PLP keeps reminding him The Bahamas will need 30,000 jobs within the
next five years to keep this place humming. If he talks down every
project, where is he going to find the jobs?
The Emperor Jones
During the Budget Debate Fred Mitchell MP compared Hubert Ingraham,
the Prime Minister to the Emperor Jones, the fictional character from the
Eugene O'Neill play by the same name. The Emperor Jones comes from
New York to a fictional island in the Caribbean and is welcomed as a hero.
Such is the worship of him that every wish is his command. Things
soon turn bitter as he becomes contemptuous of the people he leads and
he is run off by those very same people. Sounds like Mr. Ingraham
to us.
An earier version of this post wrongly attributed the 'Emperor Jones'
to William Faulkner
Rick Lowe At It Again
We dealt with Rick Lowe, one third of a right wing think tank called
the Nassau Institute, who is a perennial writer of letters to the editor,
these days filled with mental angst like Hamlet on the one hand and on
the other hand. To be or not to be that is the question. We
made the comment when he wrote the first of the angst-filled letters that
we do not believe his angst because he cannot rise above his cultural biases
no matter what the PLP does so he should stop offering advice to the PLP.
He is FNM and he cannot change no matter what. But back he came with
angst again on 8th June in The Tribune this time to say in part: “Shouldn't
the country expect a ‘shadow budget’ from the official opposition?”
Yeah right!
Philip Mortimer’s Daughter Marries In Seattle
The campaign co-coordinator for the PLP’s Fox Hill campaign Philip
Mortimer and his wife Pat were the happy hosts at a wedding ceremony for
their daughter Christina Ann at the St. James Catholic Cathedral in Seattle,
Washington in the United States. She married James Padilla there.
The couple will reside in Seattle. A group of Bahamians gathered
in Seattle for the wedding including Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell. Photo
shows, from left: Fred Mitchell MP; Mrs. Philip Mortimer; Mr. Lowell Mortimer;
Mr. and Mrs. James Padilla (the bride and bridegroom) and Mr. Philip Mortimer.
We hope to have more photos of the wedding next week.
Womens Swim Team Get Their Medals
The Bahamas National Womens Swim Team who placed fourth the medley
relay at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2007 are to get bronze
medals for their efforts. The Brazilian team has been disqualified
for taking drugs that were not allowed. The medals for Alana Dillette
(backstroke), Alicia Lightbourne (breaststroke), Arianna Vanderpool Wallace
(butterfly) and now retired Nikia Deveaux (freestyle) are the highest ever
in international swimming competition for The Bahamas. The presentation
is to be made at Government House on Tuesday 22nd June. Congratulations!
The Lakers Win
The Bahamas was agog and awash and delirious as the Los Angeles Lakers
defeated the Boston Celtics in game 7 of the American National Basketball
Championships. Big screen TV sets were set up in Fox Hill on the
parade and even Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell could be seen amongst the crowd
on Thursday 17th June.
You Can Learn A Lot From A Dummy
Charles Maynard, the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, is the
man who the Prime Minister looks to savage the PLP in a comedic fashion
in the House of Assembly. Why a young politician like Mr. Maynard
wants to embrace and take on the role of court jester is unknown but he
stoops each time to the occasion. Last week in the House during the
debate on the Supreme Court, Mr. Maynard claimed that Philip ‘Brave’ Davis
and other practitioners were responsible for manipulating the system to
cause delays in the courts. This is foolishness. In our system
where a man has his profession and is allowed to practice law, he helps
his client the best way that is lawfully possible. But what we found
interesting is his embrace of what he says is the PLP’s propaganda that
he is a dummy. He kept saying “you can learn a lot from a dummy”,
taken from the US ad about crash dummies in test accidents with cars.
Now why would a fellow want to be known as a dummy and give the PLP a licence
to call him one?
Controversy In Trinidad Over Foreign COP
If Bahamians think the problem is confined to The Bahamas, think again.
The Police Service Commission in the sister Caricom country of Trinidad
and Tobago has recommended a Canadian who now serves as Deputy Commissioner
in Antigua and Barbuda to be the Commissioner of Police in Trinidad.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar said that Canadian Neal Parker has
been recommended for the post. The response from one attorney was
as follows: “We will be moving backwards. We will be sending the
wrong signals to the youths and the general population of this country.
What we will be saying is there is no citizen of this country or member
of the Police Service who is capable of handling this position.
“Do not tell me the law does not prohibit a foreigner to hold this
position. Are we so colonised we cannot find a single local person
to fill this important and sensitive position?” Sounds familiar.
ZNS Anchor Is Robbed
Jerome Sawyer the ZNS anchor was robbed on Monday 14th June as he arrived
home at about 2 a.m. He was reportedly gun butted and money was stolen.
He received a cut on his head that required stitches but he was otherwise
unharmed. This is the time in this city. He will return to
work at his anchor desk tomorrow.
Peter Christie aka Shaky Is Also Robbed
Attorney William McPherson “Peter” Christie, head of the H.G. Christie
Real Estate Company that he inherited from his uncle withdrew $3000 in
cash from the bank on 11th June in town near the public library on Shirley
Street. As he was making his way, a man snatched it from him.
Mr. Christie, aka Shaky, fell as he tried to grab his assailant.
No luck. Others gave chase over the hill and eventually caught the
fellow. The man Elshadae Ferguson pleaded guilty and was sentenced
by Magistrate Ancella Evans Williams to two years in jail for his troubles.
Presbyterian Kirk Celebrates Its Independence
The Tribune of Saturday 19th June reported that the Church of Scotland
in The Bahamas has marked its independence day with a service on 6th June.
St Andrew’s Church and the Church in Lucaya officially have made the break
and for the first time in the 200-year history of the church in The Bahamas,
the Bahamian flag now flies atop the church in Nassau instead of the Scottish
flag with the diagonal cross of St. Andrew. The new Minister is Reverend
Bryn McPhail.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
HUBERT IN WONDERLAND
Lewis Carroll and his fictional character Alice would have nothing
on Hubert Ingraham the Prime Minister of The Bahamas. Last week,
we wrote about the continuing saga of the choice of the Director of Public
Prosecutions. You will remember that Cheryl Grant Bethell who served
as Deputy Director in the job and who was recommended by her predecessor
in the job was overlooked for the job and then publicly trashed in the
House of Assembly by the Prime Minister.
Last week we reported how Wayne Munroe her attorney spoke to the issue. The latest is that Mr. Munroe has or will file papers to have the matter of Mrs. Grant Bethell’s case reviewed by the courts. Mr. Munroe called the Prime Minister’s actions cowardly for not saying to Mrs. Grant Bethell why it is he no longer supports her for the job. The Prime Minister would only say that he has good and valid reasons for changing his mind in not supporting her. Then he had his FNM spin machine trashing the woman’s reputation behind closed doors.
The criticism by the public must stick in the craw of the FNM because FNM Chairman Carl Bethel has been on high alert answering and scorching the earth with one press release after the other on the matter. He lately accused the PLP of hiring foreigners when they were in office as if, even if it were true, that justifies what they are now doing to Mrs. Grant Bethell.
Fred Mitchell, the Fox Hill MP, who has been leading the fight on the issue from the political side, issued a statement while out of the country to say that the question is not whether or not the new Director of Public Prosecutions is a foreigner or not. He said the question is whether or not, with 1000 lawyers at the Bar, one Bahaman could not be found by the government, a government whose leader said that he was willing to pay $200,000 for the job. We agree.
The Prime Minister himself was stung by the comments of PLP Leader Perry Christie, who told the press last week that he thought that Mrs. Grant Bethell should take every step possible to support her case in the public law. Mr. Ingraham in response to Mr. Christie’s statement said that he was not surprised that Mr. Christie chose to make his comment after he (the Prime Minister) left the country to go to South Africa.
Mr. Mitchell in his statement said it right. Who cares whether the Prime Minister is in The Bahamas or not? The Prime Minister is so self absorbed that he actually thinks that someone cares whether he is here or not before they make a statement.
What the Prime Minister has to explain is why is he out partying in South Africa while the country is in deep doo doo over crime and the economy. It is a clear case of a man being in wonderland. Indeed, it reminds you of Nero playing his fiddle as Rome burned. Mr. Ingraham partying with Sol in South Africa while we are consumed. Wonderland indeed! Alice would indeed have nothing on Mr. Ingraham.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 26th June 2010 up to midnight: 153,901.
Number of hits for the month of June up to midnight on Saturday 26th June 2010: 592,350.
Number of hits for the year 2010 up to midnight on Saturday 26th June 2010: 4,543,310.
ELON
‘SONNY’ MARTIN DIES
Well known political and civic activist, a native of West
End, died at his home in Easter Avenue in Freeport Grand Bahama on Saturday
26th June. He was 70 years old. Mr. Martin was part of a generation
of young Grand Bahamians who embraced the message of the PLP in the 1960s
as they came into their adulthood and worked tirelessly to get the party
into power and keep them in power. When Hubert Ingraham, the now
Prime Minister was expelled from the PLP, Mr. Martin then joined Mr. Ingraham
in his cause eventually following him to support the FNM. But Mr.
Martin never forgot his old friends and did not allow politics to interfere
with his relationships. He was struck down by prostate cancer and
had a difficult time of it. But in all things, give thanks.
He is survived by his wife Sheila and their children Stephanie, April,
Tiffany and a son Ricardo. Rest in peace!
FITZGERALD
& GIBSON IN THE SENATE
Senator Jerome Fitzgerald made a hard hitting address
in the Senate as he debated the Budget address on 21st June. The
PLP Senators attacked the budget. Senator Fitzgerald called the budget
a bad decision by an incompetent government. He said, “I listened
to the Minister of State for Finance state in that other place that this
budget was a reflection of his government’s ability to make tough decisions.
I say no. This budget is just another bad decision by an incompetent
government that has no vision, an incompetent government that refuses to
listen or take advice, an incompetent government that is out of touch and
running out of time. It is what it is.” In leading the PLP's
debate on the Budget in the Senate, Leader Allyson Maynard Gibson in wide-ranging
remarks, warned the Government against playing politics with investment.
You may click here for Senator
Gibson's remarks; and here
for Senator Fitzgerald's intervention.
Senators Fizgerald (left); and Maynard Gibson (right) - file photos
FNM
ON CHERYL GRANT BETHELL
Fred Mitchell blasted the FNM on their treatment
of Cheryl Grant Bethell, the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, who
was overlooked for the job of Director. The FNM has decided to scorch
the earth. Last week, we tried to warn them through the gentle words
of this column that there was a storm a ‘coming and that it was in their
best interest to settle the matter. It was the Nassau Guardian that
described Mr. Mitchell’s statement on Mrs. Grant Bethell last week issued
while he was on assignment abroad as “blasting”. It was equally as
interesting however that The Tribune chose instead to say that Carl Bethel
was blasting Mr. Mitchell. This was done based on Carl Bethel’s statement
run as a letter to the editor in The Guardian, which accused the PLP of
hypocrisy on the issue, saying that Lloyd Barnett, the Q.C., was called
in from Jamaica and paid $180,000 to advise the government on a matter
when the PLP was in office. Of course, this is the typical FNM propaganda
response to serious matters: blame the PLP. They have been in charge
now for three years and still they are blaming the PLP. You may click
here for the Tribune report of Carl Bethel’s statement and here
for the full response of Mr. Mitchell.
Carl Bethel (left) - Tribune photo; Fred Mitchell MP (right) - Nassau
Guardian photo
THE
WEDDING PADILLA/MORTIMER
Last week, we showed a picture from the wedding
of James Padilla and Christina Mortimer in Seattle, Washington, attended
by Bahamians from at home and members of the family. The new Mrs.
Padilla is in fact the granddaughter of the late U.J. Mortimer, founder
and proprietor of the Best Ever Candy Company of East Street and now operated
as Mortimer’s Candy Kitchen.
This week, we present a full spread of pictures
of those who attended including Commonwealth Brewery Chief Leroy Archer,
Attorneys Lowell (uncle of the bride) and Lester Mortimer (cousin of the
bride), Altamese Isaacs of the Fox Hill PLP office, Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell,
Accountant Brian Albury. The photos are courtesy of Lester Mortimer.
The parents of the bride are Mr. and Mrs. Philip Mortimer.
FRANKLIN
WILSON RETROSPECTIVE PERSPECTIVE
One of the most fascinating public figures in the
life of The Bahamas is Franklyn Wilson. He started from humble beginnings
in Ross Corner, a street off Farm Road in New Providence. His is
a story of remarkable social and economic mobility; from sleeping on the
floor off Farm Road to living in a mansion on the Eastern Road. Today,
without doubt, he is at the commanding heights of the Bahamian economy;
a mover and a shaker.
Mr. Wilson comments from time to time on public
affairs. People listen when he speaks. He lives for God and
country. He is a former Member of Parliament and a former Senator.
He was chosen by the late Sir Lynden Pindling to be the MP for Grants Town
in the General Election of 1972, but then they separated in a bitter fight
in 1977. Almost as soon as that was done, however, he became the
architect of a labour concordat that ushered in a period of industrial
peace in the country. He never looked back though, and in his latest
address to the Chamber of Commerce, he provided some interesting insight
into the history of politics in the country; the founding of Unicoll/Unicomm
the student activist group; the need for public service; and questioned
the decision to place the Port at Arawak Cay.
Mr. Wilson said on the decision to put the port
at Arawak Cay, “Each time a Government fails such a basic test of transparency
it does damage to the fabric of the society because at a minimum it helps
to spread cynicism, which in turn undermines the preparedness of many to
remain engaged in public service. Furthermore, when a Government
acts with such obvious lack of transparency, it dramatically increases
the need for the outcome to be such as to eliminate any doubt as to whether
the widest public interests were in fact, protected.”
You may click
here for the text of Mr. Wilson’s remarks. The speech is to be
broadcast in its entirety on Monday evening 28th June at 7:30 p.m. on Jones
Communications Channel 14.
BEC
CAN’T AFFORD TO MAINTAIN ITSELF
Bradley Roberts, the Chairman of the PLP, has issued
a statement about the state of Bahamas Electricity Corporation. The
statement was sobering and it appears that if something is not done soon,
BEC may collapse. Mr. Roberts had earlier warned that BEC would be
load shedding throughout the summer because maintenance was going wanting
on the machines.
The Nassau Guardian ran a story last week in which
it confirmed that this was a problem and that BEC could not afford to maintain
its machines and so load shedding would occur. There are problems
in Nassau, Abaco, Eleuthera and Harbour Island.
Said Mr. Roberts, “The PLP asserts that as a result
of the imposition of failed policies by the FNM Government, BEC faces a
number of challenges:
“BEC finds itself in a very serious financial state
as it struggles to meet employee payroll.
“BEC is also seriously challenged to pay its fuel
supplier and unable to underwrite the cost of timely scheduled maintenance
and is seriously handicapped and unable to purchase critically needed spare
parts.
“BEC’s Accounts Payable is bursting at the seams.
“BEC suppliers, we are advised, are demanding payment
in advance before releasing shipments.
“BEC is utilizing expensive Diesel fuel rather than
the less expensive Bunker C fuel due to the inoperative boiler plant which
is in need of repairs.
“Staff morale is at an all time low.”
You may click
here for the full statement from the PLP.
PLP
ON WATER AND SEWERAGE
PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts was on Minister of
State Phenton Neymour last week about the report into an industrial accident
at the Water and Sewerage Corporation, which led to the injury of a worker
after the explosion of some chlorine canisters. Mr. Roberts argued
that the public funds had been wasted in an investigation into the matter
which did not do anything more than say what the Minister had said at the
beginning, which is that the matter was an accident. Mr. Roberts
indicated his concern that there was not a proper protocol in place for
the storage of chlorine at the Corporation. You may click
here for the full statement from the PLP.
DUANE
SANDS COMMENTS
There was a signed article in the Nassau Guardian
on Thursday 24th June by the FNM’s defeated candidate in the Elizabeth
bye-election, Dr. Duane Sands, who lost to the PLP’s Ryan Pinder.
Dr. Sands was writing on violence and the cost that the society pays for
it. This was Dr. Sands’ first foray into public commentary since
he lost the election. It was important for one main reason and that
is it announced his resolve to stay in the political process even though
he is a public servant once again. He will be walking a thin line
and the PLP is watching. He also announced that he is back in public
surgery. The ideas he announced to deal with the violence were generic.
He sees the violence sapping the nation’s energy and money from where he
sits as a surgeon. Dr. Sands wrote, “Daily PMH (Princess Margaret
Hospital) exposure has once again heightened my resolve to battle this
problem on three fronts - medical, personal and political. It is
a battle that demands the commitment of as many of us as possible.”
You may click here for the full Nassau
Guardian article.
ATTORNEY
GENERAL FORCED TO SPEAK ON DPP
On Tuesday 22nd June in The Tribune, John Delaney, the Attorney General
said,
“Let me say this, I have had several discussions
with her about various matters (but) I certainly have not, in relation
to this, given her any direction that she should not speak to the press.
“But generally speaking, in the AG’s office there
is a policy that individual officers do not speak to the press without
ensuring that it is something that represents the position of the AG's
office.
“If she speaks to the press on this, she would not
be speaking on behalf of the AG’s office, it would be on behalf of her.
I have not issued any gag order.”
Senator Delaney was talking about press reports
that he has sought to intimidate Cheryl Grant Bethell who was overlooked
for the post of Director of Public Prosecutions.
Mr. Delaney explicitly denied that he in any way
intimidated Mrs. Grant Bethell and said that browbeating is not characteristic
of his leadership style, nor that of the Ingraham administration.
Mr. Delaney said, “I don't operate that way.
There is nothing that the government is doing that is intimidating.
I certainly will not intimidate anybody. That's something that’s
out of the blue -- that’s a fabrication.”
GOVERNOR
GENERAL ARTHUR FOULKES ON CATHOLIC HERITAGE
Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes delivered a
lecture on the history of the Roman Catholic Church in The Bahamas at the
Church’s St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral on Friday 25th June. This
was to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Church in
The Bahamas as a diocese. Sir Arthur is shown being greeted by Monsignor
Preston Moss and at the podium.
Photos/Peter Ramsay
PLP
LAUNCHES GRAND BAHAMA CANDIDATES
By all accounts, the candidacies of Greg Moss for
Marco City and Senator Michael Darville for Pineridge had a good launch
in Freeport on Friday night 25th June. Party Chair Bradley Roberts
addressed the crowd to introduce the two men as the PLP’s newest candidates
for the upcoming 2012 General Election. The crowd was there and enthusiastic.
The PLP does not want to get into a situation where
the party is caught flatfooted as the General Election approaches.
Some believe that this was part of the problem why the PLP did not run
an effective campaign in 2007.
Mr. Roberts said, “Dr. Darville and Mr. Moss represent
a cadre of young Bahamians wishing to offer themselves for Public Service.
We believe that they are uniquely suited for the times, with a broad appeal
to the people of the Grand Bahama community. They believe in people
first and their concerns, including expanded economic empowerment of Bahamians
and a commitment to comprehensive national health care for all people,
regardless of their ability to pay. The Progressive Liberal Party
is very confident of the civic, business, and political contributions of
both Dr. Darville and Mr. Moss.” You may click
here for a video of the event.
LEGACY BALL
There have been requests for more photos of the
annual Legacy ball sponsored by the Pindling Foundation and we are happy
to oblige. Above, Governor General Sir Athur Foulkes and Lady Foulkes
pose with Dame Marguerite, Dr. Gail Saunders and Dr. Keva Bethel.
For the pleasure of our readers, we will upload several more photos in
our second edition.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
No Mention Of The World Cup
Your column last week reports hysteria in The
Bahamas about some obscure American sporting event involving tall men and
a bouncy orange ball. Meanwhile, it makes no mention of the world’s
most important and exciting sporting event (the world cup), currently underway.
What makes the world cup and other such events
so good culturally is that just following them brings about an internationalization
of the mind - so important in a small country with an open, service led
economy.
I am in Argentina (which many expect to win the
event) and can only reflect sadly on the comparison of youths here cheering
on Nigerian, French and Korean surnames, while my own countrymen sink ever
further into an insularism that centres not around their own country, but
its neighbor!!!!
It is disappointing when those of us with more
exposure miss an opportunity to remind our countrymen that there is a world
outside our 51 states.
Incidentally, I enjoy reading your column - when
it is not attacking me.
Andrew Allen
[LOL. Good one! Thank you. It is an excellent point. We see where the US has been eleiminated by Ghana and now the Germans and England are going to fight the third world war. -- Editor]
Oswald Brown Writes
In what must be the most remarkable turnaround, Oswald Brown, the
former unremitting critic has turned his guns again on Hubert Ingraham,
the Prime Minister. He writes in this letter to the editor:
It is absolutely appalling that Prime Minister
Hubert Ingraham, at a time when the Bahamian people are suffering from
the cruel pangs of his draconian budget cuts, can travel halfway around
the world to attend a sporting event. It makes no difference whether it’s
a private visit or not, which common sense dictates it should be; it is
the perception that counts. If the trip is at the taxpayers’ expense, then
it is even more deplorable.
If Mr. Ingraham needed an example of how a caring
leader responds in times of crises, United States President Barack Obama
provided him with very good one recently when he canceled a long-arranged
visit to Australia because of the Gulf oil crisis. It was supposed to be
a state visit, but he was taking his children on the trip and he made the
sensible decision that it would not look good back home for him and his
children to be seen sightseeing in Australia while his country was trying
to find a solution to the worst oil spill in America’s history.
The sad thing is that not one member of Mr. Ingraham’s
Cabinet was man, or woman, enough to tell him that he was making a drastic
mistake; holding on to their jobs is their top priority. Has Mr. Ingraham
allowed his arrogance to fool him into believing that the Bahamian people
will accept whatever he does no matter how wrong it is? This is just another
indication of how much of a dictator this man has become.
There is a school of thought that Mr. Ingraham
simply does not care what the Bahamian people think of his dictatorial
decisions because he has already built his retirement home in his native
Abaco and does not mind if the Free National Movement is defeated in the
next election, which at the current time appears to be a certainty. But
while he is relaxing in luxury in Abaco in the twilight of his life—on
a pension in excess of one hundred thousand dollars a year, an overly generous
gift from the hard-working Bahamian people—working-class Bahamians, whose
taxes pay for his retirement, will still be struggling to keep food on
the table for their families and making all sorts of sacrifices to ensure
that their children receive a decent education. And they call this “service
to the people!”
I think it was Dante who said: “The hottest places
in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintained
their neutrality.”
I am currently writing a novel and I had decided
that I would generally remain under the political radar and not comment
on the many questionable decisions the Ingraham government is making until
my book is published, but when I got up this morning, checked by e-mail
and read about Mr. Ingraham’s sporting sojourn to South Africa, I decided
that I could not remain quiet on this most unbelievably stupid decision
and risk making reservation for one of those hottest places in hell.
I am sending this letter to the mainstream media,
but I doubt that the major dailies will publish it because Ingraham seems
to have tremendous influence over what they publish about his government.
But I am also sending it to Bahamas Press, which despite its shortcomings
in terms of grammar, syntax and sentence structure, is the most effective
medium for the dissemination of information in the country today.
Oswald T. Brown
Freeport, Grand Bahama
June 21, 2010
[It is a public shame that after the FNM slashed annual contributions to institutions like the Ranfurly Home for Children, the Bahamas Red Cross Society, private church schools and sporting organizations that the Government can find money to send the Minister of Youth and Sports, Charles Maynard on an apparent pleasure trip to South Africa. Clearly the FNM Government has lost its way. -- Ed.]
[We repeat the Ted Maude letter below because it was posted late last week and since he has a bee in his bonnet about Fred Mitchell, we thought he might be pleased]:
Fred Mitchell !!!
Ok folks --- Those of us out here in ''
cyberspace '' who at one time lived in The Bahamas ,and who read your column
every Monday morning , are a bit '' fed up '' with seeing Fred Mitchell
! I mean , just exactly who is this person and why do you constantly feature
a member of the '' opposition '' -- Sure , we all know
that this site was once Fred Mitchell's site --- And that's fine ---
But enough is enough already --- We all know that you are proud
supporters of the PLP -- Terrific , so you should be !! But
it becomes obvious that Fred Mitchell only wants his photo in every column
that you people put out !!
I mean , just who is Fred Mitchell ???
A nobody that's who !! A member of the opposition !!!
Stop featuring Fred Mitchell !!
And start concentrating on the real issues !!
If I were to guess , I'd suggest that one of the reasons the PLP lost the
last election , was Fred Mitchell and his '' unsationable '' hunger for
publicity !! People ( voters ) aren't dumb !
And I dare you to put this on next week's column
!! See the Immigration dep't cant take away my work permit
anymore !!!
Enough of Fred Mitchell !!!!
Ted Maude
Toronto Canada
[What a big joke, from someone obviously suffering from a lack of
self-esteem or some kind of complex. Have a nice life and by the
way, go get one. --- Editor]
--------------------------
Forrester Carroll - Observations on Darron Cash's recent intervention…
Like Branville McCartney, former Senator Darron Cash appears to have had
enough of Hubert Ingraham’s bad, regressive polices as well. In opposing
Ingraham’s decision to engage the services of a Canadian energy company
to perform an analysis of BEC’s operations, Senator Cash opined,” it is
somewhat curious, and perhaps even amusing, to suggest that we must use
a foreign entity to facilitate redistribution of equity in a corporation
we already own 100%,” unquote. The ex-senator is clearly taking issue with
his leader for his use of foreigners to do what Bahamians are clearly well
qualified, and are available in the country, to do. I note with much interest
the senator’s collection of words used; which were chosen very carefully
I’m sure; “somewhat curious and perhaps even amusing,” unquote.
Apparently Ingraham has offered the Canadian
energy giant, Emera, an equity stake-in lieu of payment for services rendered
I suppose-in BEC when they would have concluded a 60-day review and recommend
measures to enhance performance at that broke corporation. Mr. Cash said
further that he was concerned by the government’s “default position,” of
relying on foreign expertise at the “expense of Bahamian talent” and that
BEC’s “trial balloon,” as mentioned by Ingraham, is “a good example of
this de-motivating process in the country.”
Mr. Cash, very empathic in his position, has
certainly come around to seeing what we, in the PLP, were saying all along;
that Ingraham obviously prefers the use of foreigners on these consultative
contracts, and pay them huge sums of money, rather than use what I would
characterize as our superior local talent; and besides for much less remuneration.
I would ask, what do you expect Senator, Sir, from an enslaved mind? What
do you expect from a mind that has obviously been screwed up during those
vulnerable adolescent years, growing up in Abaco‘? Without official
credentials to do so, I have psychoanalyzed Hubert Ingraham a long time
ago and concluded that he is a very unique and shameless house Negro, in
that he is possessed with-not one but-two complexes; he has both a superiority
and an inferiority complex. When dealing with Negros his superiority complex
kicks in very angrily, but when dealing with the Caucasian race his inferior
complex takes over and he retreats to being a pussy cat. Ingraham keeps
Brent Symonette around, I suggest as DPM, because it makes him feel powerful
in that he gets to give a white man orders, and that makes him feel as
though he is on top of the world. He certainly had no difficulty firing
the talented Al Jarrett, and unfairly denigrating the man’s talents because
of his aforesaid difficulty in dealing with Negros who are smarter, more
educated and more talented than he is. It is a matter of public record
that Mr. Jarrett performed remarkably, in the few years he spent at BEC,
in getting that public energy corporation to a state where it was beginning
to operate without government’s financial assistance. But for Hubert Ingraham
Al Jarrett was a PLP; and being a smart, educated and talented Negro PLP
supporter qualified him for immediate exclusion from holding any public
sector position under an Ingraham/FNM Administration and it also qualified
him for dismissal. We are told that Ingraham informed Mr. Jarrett that
he was fired while driving pass him in the parking lot at ZNS on the hill.
What awful and disgraceful conduct for a person who is supposed to be managing
the public affairs of the nation; and what a terrible display of
disdain for Bahamian talent by the very one who should be promoting Bahamians
exclusively; not FNM or PLP Bahamians, but just qualified Bahamians period.
Were the roles reversed, in my view, and Brent Symonette were Al Jarrett,
Ingraham would never have treated Brent with such disdain; why, you ask?
I’m glad you did; because his inferiority complex automatically kicks in
when he encounters and has to interact with members of the Caucasian race.
The public should be aware that behind the scenes,
in the Customs Department, Ingraham has engaged and posted two Englishmen
who are essentially managing the day to day operations at the customs department.
These two Englishmen are the very ones who advised the “Uncle Tom” to fire
(force into retirement) all those senior customs officers. They are the
two culprits, as well, who advised Ingraham to cancel the Ten Day Bond
facility; a facility which, heretofore, enabled importers to access their
imported goods immediately upon arrival, as opposed to having to wait for
two weeks, in many cases, before getting the merchandise into their stores
etc. Having spent 15 years in customs, as an Officer myself, I can assure
Ingraham that there was no need for the government of the Bahamas to import
two Englishmen to tell him how to fix the problems that exist at that department.
I, along with the recently retired Comptroller of Customs and a few of
those senior officers who were forced into retirement, could have given
all the advice needed and for a fraction of the cost that tax payers are
being obliged to pay those English blokes. We know what the problems are,
because we’ve worked through them, and we know how to fix them, but we
are just ordinary Bahamians, you see, and Ingraham has no respect for the
qualifications, experience and or the know-how of ordinary Bahamians. He
would rather import stupid advice because he believes, just like a percentage
of other Bahamians do, that foreign is better and white is right.
A foreign engineer has also been brought in for
BEC; we would like to know why? When the Hon. Bradley Roberts ran things,
at the public works department and BEC, he used Bahamian talent, exclusively,
and he certainly got the job done, so what’s the difference now under the
FNM? It cannot be that all the qualified Bahamians to be found, in the
country, are PLP supporters (who Ingraham opposes using unless for his
own sinister reasons) can it? Remember when Minister Roberts disengaged
with that bankrupt English road building firm that Ingraham employed to
build the roads in Nassau sometime during their second term in office?
And do you remember when he replaced them with a consortium of four Bahamian
road building companies? The highway was built on time, without cost overruns
and at highly skilled international standards, so why didn’t Ingraham use
the same four companies instead of the Venezuelans? The answer is simple;
for him foreign is better and white (or bright skin) is right.
A Jamaican lawyer (woman) has now been engaged
to assume-effective August of this year-the post of Director of Public
Prosecutions in the office of the Attorney General; well I’ll be damned.
Why wasn’t the position offered to Mrs. Cheryl Grant –Bethel? Was it offered
her and she refused? Isn’t she qualified for the position? Wasn’t she doing
the best job she could, given the amount of FNM political interference
that exist in the department or is it because she was the wife of Mr. Peter
Bethel (now deceased) former PLP MP and cabinet minister? Why is it that
Ingraham feels that he needs to import another foreigner who, by the way,
will never ever leave the Bahamas again?
Darron Cash must have been pissed off, to no end, when he tongue-lashed
his FNM leader. According to the Tribune’s article appearing in Thursday’s
edition (3rd June) he stressed that “this constant drive to pull foreign
investors into airport management, city dump management, BEC management
and tertiary education executive positions discourages Bahamians who could
do just as good a job, if not better.” He suggested the government “relinquish
total control of BEC and allow an empowered management team, paid like
foreign experts, to act without clearing everything downtown; and hold
them responsible; “set broad government policies, he said, and then back
off.”
I certainly admire the principled stance and
conviction of this young, obviously frustrated, independent thinker. He
seems to have come to the sad conclusion that his FNM government, under
Ingraham’s leadership is-as ex-junior minister Branville McCartney opined
several months ago when he resigned his post-headed in the wrong direction.
McCartney tried to be subtle, in saying what he said, but he couldn’t disguise
the truth, for Cabinet ministers, as we all know very well, don’t just
resign from their cabinet posts for no good reason. Mr. Cash will no doubt
take some political licks for his decision to speak out as he has done
and will, from here on in if he hangs around very long, become “persona
non grata;” just like the former junior minister has become.
However I am very sure that he knew what he was
getting into before taking the plunge and has prepared himself for whatever
political consequences may come as a result.
The two English consultants who are positioned in offices adjacent
to the Comptroller’s, I am told, are put there by Ingraham to give instructions
daily to the comptroller. In other words when the comptroller speaks or
acts, he does so only after getting the “O.K.” from the Englishmen; have
you ever heard of such “uncle tomish” nonsense? The nonsense we’ve been
reading in the newspapers over the past few months, attributed to this
customs comptroller, caused me to conclude, sometime ago, that either the
country has been burdened with a total jackass at the helm of the customs
department or that there were jackasses, lurking in the background, pulling
his strings; actually, now, I’ve decided that it could be a combination
of both.
Change is needed; change must come; change will come. Thank God,
2012 is less than 700 days away.
Thank you
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
13th June 2010
THREE
MORE MURDERS
Three more murders in New Providence last night,
Saturday 26th June, have brought the total murders for the year in The
Bahamas to a staggering 47; and the year is barely half way through.
IN PASSING
Reports On Ingraham
The Bahamas was awash with rumours that its Prime Minister had a health
scare or worse yesterday Saturday 26th June. Some had him having
a heart attack, others said he had died, other said he collapsed while
watching a world cup football. All not true. But such is the
state of Mr. Ingraham’s Bahamas, where rumour passes for fact. Mr.
Ingraham makes up so many stories about people that it is not surprising
that some are making up stories about him. It was the writer Mark
Twain (Samuel Clemens) who said, “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
Caribbean Heads Of Prisons
Congratulations to Dr. Elliston Rahming, the Superintendent of Her
Majesty’s Prison in The Bahamas who hosted all the heads of the Caribbean
Prisons at a conference in Nassau last week. Dr Rahming said in his
remarks that prisons have to be part of the solution to the problems of
the Caribbean region. The photo shows Dr. Rahming with his Deputy,
Charles Rolle (Utah’s father), Bahamas Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade
and the head of the Association of Caribbean Prisons John Rougier.
Photo/National Lead Institute website
NDP Nominates Candidates
The National Democratic Party (NDP) that ran Dr. Andre Rollins as its
candidate in the bye-election held in Elizabeth in 2010, but later lost
him as their Chair as he flirted with the major parties, has announced
that it is fielding at least three candidates in the next General Election.
They are Lavade Darling, a fairly well known social analyst and civic activist
in consumer rights (Garden Hills); Paul Moss, the former PLP NGC member
for St. Cecilia who also ran for leader of the PLP then resigned (St. Cecilia);
and Latore Mackey for Clifton. The party says that it will be making
further announcements and that there is a line of people seeking nominations.
Press Reports On PLP Nominations
The press (the Nassau Guardian) is reporting that PLP candidacies are
in such demand that the Party is calling on some people to withdraw from
contention. Some have argued that there are problems in the background
of some candidates and in some cases there are simply too many people chasing
after too few seats. Some have reportedly been asked to wait for
another time.
More Job Losses In Freeport
Freeport Concrete, the publicly traded company that owns a great big
home centre in Freeport has run out of cash and is now out of business.
Sixty people were laid off last week, which now adds to the economic woes
in Grand Bahama. FNMs beware! Do something.
Carl Treco Dies
The builder, contractor, and prominent member of the Christ Church
Cathedral’s Anglican congregation has died. Mr. Treco hailed from
Long Island, where he was born into poverty. The men and women of
his generation built up enormous respect and wealth by dint of their hard
work and high moral ethics. He will be missed.
‘Dudus’ Captured In Jamaica And Surrenders To US
After all the trouble he caused, and dressed in a woman’s wig, Christopher
‘Dudus’ Coke was arrested by the Jamaican police on Tuesday 22nd June.
He was accompanied by a pastor who had earlier arranged the surrender of
his brother to the police. Mr. Coke later waived his right to fight
extradition to the states and was flown to New York where he was arraigned
in a Manhattan courtroom. In the meantime, the Jamaican government
has extended for a further 30 days the state of emergency in the country
that they implemented in the wake of protests over the decision to extradite
Mr. Coke.
Western Air Starts Flights To Montego Bay
The Bahamian airline Western Air has, true to its promise, extended
the services that it offers to Jamaica, with its first flight last week
to Montego Bay. We reported earlier that the airline has a daily
flight service to Kingston, the capital of Jamaica and planned to expand
to Montego Bay.
New Air Jamaica Owners Rethink
The new owner of Air Jamaica, the Trinidad government’s Caribbean Airlines,
is apparently having a rethink of the decision to stop flying to The Bahamas.
The rumour in the marketplace is that Air Jamaica will be back doing the
Nassau - Kingston run again, starting in July. The Bahamian Western
Air has spent considerable sums working the new route.
Speculation On Clifton MP
The Tribune during the week speculated, quoting unnamed sources, that
FNM Clifton MP Kendal Wright is unlikely to get the nomination again for
the Clifton seat, a constituency in western New Providence. The newspaper
said that Mr. Wright was not a favourite of Mr. Ingraham and the Prime
Minister was trying to find ways either to nominate another person in the
seat or to eliminate the seat altogether.
FNM Conclave In Freeport
The FNM reportedly convened a conclave in Freeport on Saturday 26th
June on the way forward for the FNM in Grand Bahama. The troops are
restless and given the most recent budget by the FNM, where taxes are going
up, the way is rough in Grand Bahama.
Canon Curtis Robinson
There is a new Canon of the Cathedral. He is Fr. Curtis Robinson
who is the last rector of the Anglican Church of St Jude’s in Smith’s Point,
Grand Bahama. Fr. Robinson has a faithful congregation. He
comes from the evangelical and charismatic tradition of the mainly Catholic
Episcopal tradition in The Bahamas. His new job is to be rector of
the Anglican Church of Christ the King in New Providence. Fr. Robinson
will be formally installed as a Canon of the Cathedral tonight.
In an early edition of this website, it was wrongly reported that
Fr. Robinson was to have gone to Holy Trinity Church
Remembering Michael Jackson
Friday 25th June marked one year since the pop icon Michael Jackson
was found in cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles, California.
Government Sends Home Environmental Health Workers
250 workers of the Department of Environmental Health Programme were
sent home for good on Friday 25th June. Minister of the Environment
Earl Deveaux and the Prime Minister could find 20 Million Dollars for 19
wealthy families as they did in the container port scheme, but the poor
and struggling are fired and taxes are imposed upon them. Fred Mitchell
MP, the PLP Spokesman on the Public Service, said that the PLP has been
trying to persuade the government to allow the workers to stay on, but
the FNM’s philosophy does not allow them to do so. He condemned the
government for their actions.
