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LET’S ALL GAMBLE: it was a remarkable demonstration of people power, you think, on the day the House of Assembly met on Wednesday 1st May in Rawson Square organized by Darold Miller, the talk show host to oppose what he said was a discriminatory policy of allowing work permit holders and permanent residents to gamble but not Bahamian residents. Scores turned out to listen. The Prime Minister Perry Christie and his MPs showed up and talked and listened as well. Only problem is the government has made no such decision. They say it all the time, never let the truth interfere with a good story. That is our photo of the week though, the picture of the hordes listening to speakers talk about gambling on 1st May in Rawson Square in front of Sir Milo Butler’s statue. The same crew in many cases who voted against gambling not even six months ago were there. The photo comes from Facebook.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
PANIC AND FEAR UNNECESSARY
There is a silly story making the rounds that a political official connected with the PLP who attended the conclave held by the financial services sector last weekend to review amongst other things the government’s work permit policy as it applies to the financial services sector, said that it did not matter whether all the banks closed down in The Bahamas, it would not make a difference.
The man who reportedly made the comment could not have done so and would not have done so. However whatever was said was wildly misinterpreted by the sector to mean that the government of The Bahamas somehow had a new policy toward the financial services sector to its detriment.
The result some have advised us is that the e mail traffic back home to the headquarters of these banks has been in overdrive. The Leader of the Opposition Hubert Minnis speaking in the House of Assembly on 1st May gave vent to these concerns when he said that he had spoken to some bankers and their home offices were wondering whether or not they should remain in The Bahamas given the fact of the new immigration policies.
The Minister of Immigration Fred Mitchell responded by saying that Mr. Minnis should not be complicit in spreading fear and loathing.
We smell a rat here. What we think is going on is a couple of things. First, you have Eileen Carron of The Tribune who for her own self-serving reasons is seeking to portray her personal issue with a work permit request as a giant national problem. In that process, she will burn the house down to make the point. A point which of course is entirely self-serving.
The pieces in The Tribune and The Nassau Guardian get into the Google alert machine and people sitting in home offices see the lies told in The Tribune about gestapo like tactics by immigration; the portrayal of the sensible and rational polices of the government on immigration as some unreasoned, irrational policy. Then you have the local managers of these facilities who tend to hang with the FNM types and Tribune types and engage in the local gossip resulting in a mish mash of misinformation which spreads unnecessary fear and panic.
The fact is from day one, the policy had a clear exception for the work of the financial services sector. Secondly, there was no thought of revoking anyone’s work permit and throwing them out of the country. The government said that the principle that would apply is that where a Bahamian is available for the job, then no work permit will be issued.
It has been done by John Issa at Breezes and it has been done by numerous banks in the off shore sector.
The banks cannot now play fast and loose with the truth. The banks, particularly the Swiss banks, have a particular problem at home which is causing them for various other reasons to think of other jurisdictions beside The Bahamas. This has nothing to do with The Bahamas as a safe regulated jurisdiction with fair rational and certain policies. If they are moving to Panama or wherever, then they should say the reasons they are doing so and not dress things up behind an immigration policy that has no bearing or adverse effect on what they do in The Bahamas.
The late Cleveland Eneas said that if you want to hide something from a Bahamian, then put it in writing. Perhaps we should amend that and say if you want to hide something from your offshore banker, you need to put it in writing. You ask yourself how are these folk able to be so successful making money if they can’t distinguish between propaganda and guff and the truth. Jeez.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 4th May 2013 up to midnight: 114,199
Number of hits for the month of April up to Tuesday 30th April 2013 up to midnight: 598,077
Number of hits for the year 2013 up to Saturday 30th April 2013 up to midnight:2,551,030
Last week the news was dominated by the march on Bay Street into Rawson Square which was organized by Darold Miller, the radio talk show host. Depending on whom you talked to the numbers varied from 200 to 600. Whatever, it was an impressive crowd. Left to their own devices, you would have thought that everyone who showed up at on that march had gambling and the Bahamianization of gambling as their primary objective.
The reality is a little more complex.
The march was organized when a leaked version of a draft bill on modernizing gambling made it into the public domain. The Bill is not a bill which is approved or adopted by the Cabinet. Yet it has taken on a life of its own with the government’s critics. The Bill provides for the repeal of the laws which would prohibit permit holders and permanent residents from gambling in the casinos but would maintain the ban on Bahamians who are resident in The Bahamas.
The irony and quirkiness of these facts is this: Bahamian citizens who live abroad, that is, not ordinarily resident in The Bahamas, can gamble in the casinos without breaking the law. The question then becomes why maintain the ban on residents at all, if the matter is going to end up with the Haitian gardener being able to gamble and the Bahamian cannot.
We used Haitian deliberately because that is the way the critics put it. They put it that way because of the prejudice which it excites in the country. All you have to do is say that Haitians can do something which Bahamians cannot do and then we rush off to the races.
The principle though is unassailable. The ban on Bahamians gambling should be removed. The government should get the balls to do it and simply remove all restrictions from anyone of full age in this country coming to gamble if they wish. That would also mean reversing the foolish decision to try and close down and prohibit the web shop gaming which goes on in the country.
That much is crystal clear and the sooner you get to that point the better.
That theme of gambling was the pretext of the march though. Who actually turned up though were the usual protestors, including of course the peripatetic Rodney Moncur who with others had denunciations of all sorts to make of a number of causes, all of them opposed to the government of the Progressive Liberal Party, and with special venom reserved for Perry Christie. Some said they were there about oil drilling; others on unemployment; others started to chant that Perry Christie should go in thirty days.
The bottom line though is this: four years to go before the next general election. These causes today no one will remember in 2017. The days are hot and unemployment is high. That causes the protests and in any case protests are part and parcel of the democracy as well; this anti PLP crew should simply chill. In the end, we are confident that the PLP will do the right thing and remove all bans from gambling for Bahamians and will licence web shop gaming. About time, the moral police are put in their place.
THE MAJORITY RULE DEBATE
If Parliament as expected passes the bill now before it into law, Majority Rule Day will be celebrated as a holiday on 10th January 2014. This will add one more to the ten holidays which The Bahamas now marks. The Opposition said that they support the holiday but they want one holiday taken out and 10th January substituted. Peter Turnquest, MP for East Grand Bahama, said that Whit Monday should be removed and 10th January put in its place. Not likely. The Opposition says that this additional holiday is going to cost business money. Fred Mitchell MP speaking for the majority in the House said this: “ I do not find the arguments of the business community compelling and I am unsympathetic. I would advise them to reach deep into their patriotism, stiffen their spines and support this legislation. I appeal to them to act for queen and country in this matter.” The video of the address by Mr. Mitchell was captured on 1st May by C Allen Johnson.
Former U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas Nicole Avant was back in Nassau last week and she took time out to join the Prime Minister Perry Christie at a dinner in her honour at Matisse in downtown Nassau on Wednesday 1st May. The Prime Minister was also joined by his colleague Fred Mitchell, the Foreign Minister and Bahamian American entrepreneur Andy Ingraham with from Radio one and Rev.
.
The photo is by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
THE EXUMA REGATTA
Well the 60th version of the Family Island Regatta is now history. The planning starts immediately for the next annual race in the Elizabeth Harbour at Georgetown, Exuma. Commodore of the race Danny Strachan pronounced himself well pleased with the event. The races ended on Saturday 27th April with the winners being presented their prizes by the Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes. On hand were the Minister for Local Government Alfred Gray, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell and the Minister for Sports Danny Johnson.
His Excellency Sir Arthur Foulkes Governor General presentation to
Brooks Miller skipper of the Tida Wave winners of the Prime Minister
Cup during the 60th National Family Island Regatta Saturday April 28,
during the closing ceremony George Town Exuma.
The photo shows the winner of the Prime Minister’s cup Miller receiving his prize from the Governor General.
The photo is by Patrick Hanna of the Bahamas Information Services.
THE PICTECT 35 YEAR OCCASION
Yves Lourdin, is the CEO of Pictect Bank, the Swiss bank that decided 35 years ago to move to The Bahamas. It seems a picture perfect model of a private bank with a good image, a belief in The Bahamas, a fine Bahamian staff, excellent management and a mix of the European formal ambiance with the informality of The Bahamas. To celebrate those 35 years, there was a dinner and the bank played host to the Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes, the Prime Minister Perry Christie, Ministers Fred Mitchel, Allyson Gibson, Shane Gibson, Ryan Pinder, Michael Halkitis, Khaalis Rolle and Central Bank Governor Wendy Craigg.
The photos of the event which took place on Thursday 2nd May are by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
14 MILLION DOLLAR NEW RADAR FOR THE LPIA
The Government of Perry Christie is cleaning up the act of the last FNM administration at the Lynden Pindling Airport. Last time when the PLP was in power, the PLP had to fix the runway. Now they have to spend 14 million dollars on a new radar system. The signing by Glenys Hanna Martin, the Transport Minister on Friday 3rd May with the Prime Minister Perry Christie present.
The photo is by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
BRIAN SEYMOUR DEFENDS BAHAMIAN FIRST
WHAT IS “BAHAMIANS” FIRST
Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, has taken up the battle standard of “Bahamians” first. This is the reincarnation of an A.D. Hanna initiative that was called “Bahamianization. A policy that simply says if there is a job where there is a qualified Bahamian, then that job must go to a Bahamian; and, a work permit for the foreigner would be rejected. This is a rational position. At the outset of this policy shift, the Minister clearly stated that no one’s business would be disrupted or closed down. He further stated that the Department of Immigration was not about to engage in mass apprehensions, and, if you had compelling reasons for the granting of work permits those permits would be granted. Nevertheless, as anticipated, the business community has gone into overdrive condemning this policy change.
In the extreme case you have misguided Bahamians that believe that if you are a large employer the size of Atlantis or a Baha Mar that that employer ought to be exempt from the department of Immigration’s scrutiny or enforcement. That is to say, if a complaint is made of a breach of the law the department should turn a blind eye. That is the thinking of a slave. As we approach the 40th year of Independence, the fact that we are engaged in this debate of Bahamians being first shows how far we have gone off course. The policy of appeasing foreign investors began shortly after 1992 election when the FNM was first elected. It was believed that if you grew the economy speedily then good paying jobs will trickle down to the mainstream. Sadly, in the main, this did not happen. This appeasement policy failed just like another Prime Minister of Great Britain, Neville Chamberlain, who wrongly believed that Britain was a special case and promised his people “Peace in Our Time”. The following day Hitler attacked his neighbors.
The subject of Bahamians first has proven to be an inconvenient political tall grass subject for some PLP MPs. They wrongly believe that this is not the way to move our country forward. To these MPs, I say, this is not only a good political policy decision for the government, but, also for the business community. It will be a fool hardy proposition to ignore large numbers of young people that are unemployed. These young people will not be ignored. To the business community, to ignore large numbers of these persons is to threaten the viability of your business or project. It is cheaper it would seem to invest in education and training than to invest in high walls, burglar bars, moats, and security systems. OUR YOUNG PEOPLE WILL NOT BE IGNORED.
To Minister Mitchell, your initiatives in Grand Bahama, especially in the industrial park is already bearing fruit. Please stay the course. To those MPs for whom this subject of Bahamians first is inconvenient, I suggest you make your way to the political tall grass and hide yourself, and above all, keep your mouths shut for this subject the PLP must not waiver. Press on Minister.
BRIAN SEYMOUR STALWART COUNCILOR
PLP MARKS ONE YEAR ONWARDS
On Sunday 5th May, the PLP gathered with its Leader Prime Minister Perry Christie at the Faith Mission United Church and its pastor Rev. Dr. William Thompson to mark one year since the general election brought them back to power last year on 7th May.
The photo is by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes from Freeport in the second of two parts on the development of the Mayguana project of the I Group and how the FNM revisited the PLP negotiated project and one of the results of that delay was that the airport was not completed and there was an accident at the airport that led to the death of three members of the family of former FNM MP Sidney Collie. This is last part of the series.
Yes they reduced the amount of crown land involved from Christie’s 10,000 acres to some 6000 but simultaneously removing government as a fifty per cent partner in the venture; no sane person would agree that that was a good move; they were simply hell bent on trying to re-brand the project and take credit for it; same thing they did with Bah Mar and a number of other PLP approved projects. Plainly and simply it was a dumb-ass move not worthy of a government which claims to avail itself with the use of common sense. So now instead of the government putting the 10,000 acres in the pot and becoming a fifty per cent shareholder (where we would have gotten $50 out of every $100 earned in profits) Ingraham and the boys (including Sidney Collie) changed the deal where the Group was given 6000 acres with no strings attached to the government; was that a prudent decision I ask you? Hell no and besides they caused the delay of the completion of the project, in the process, by some four years and so I say again that if there is blame to be put for the tragedy, where Mr. Sidney Collie’s family was tragically killed, its to be put at the feet of Hubert Ingraham, Hubert Minnis, Neko Grant, Zhivargo Laing, the rest in the FNM government and (yes) Mr. Sidney Collie himself.
The little twit (Darron Cash) would not leave well enough alone; he should not have opened this can of worms but now that he has we (I am) are obliged to put this whole business about blame in its right perspective. As if to cast blame on the PLP, Darron Cash was quoted, from his press release, as saying that; “The Christie Administration had nearly a year in office since the 2012 election to ensure that the airport in Mayaguana was equipped with the lighting and other materials it needs. It is clear that the safety of the people in Mayaguana and elsewhere was simply not a priority for them. Every dollar spent on foreign consultants, clearing bushes and creating jobs for retirees who did not need them, could have been diverted to implementing emergency procedures at airports that needed them. Putting proper emergency lighting at the Mayaguana airport would have been considerably cheaper than the $1 million squandered on the referendum and the $15 million that vanished from the Urban Renewal Slush Fund;” unquote. This whole statement, of Cash’s, constitutes nothing more than Ingraham’s big mouth (one) full of Horse crap; Darron Cash should be ashamed to talk about the urgency with which governments should go about lighting family Island airports when in fact his government did nothing of the sort during their entire fifteen-year, of the last 20 years, tenure. Darron’s FNM party occupied the seat of power for fifteen of the past twenty-one years and the record will show that his government, during those fifteen years, didn’t lift one finger to ensure that one airport, in the family islands, was provided with lights-not one. Besides screwing up Mayaguana, when they delayed the I-Group’s project for four years, his government failed even to continue the airport lighting program which the PLP had started in 2006 and continued until it left office in 2007. The Hon. Minister, in parliament the other day, alluded to the number of airports which were provided with lighting; she also made note of the fact that the only reason Mayaguana’s airport wasn’t done by the PLP by the time we demitted office was because it was a part of what the I-Group
was mandated to do in the Heads of Agreement. The PLP’s proactive record, in this regard, is clear; the FNM’s record of do-nothingness, in this regard, is just as clear.
The I-Group Mayaguana project was approved by the PLP government during its term in office 2002-2007. Their mandate was to develop the area, putting in the entire infrastructure and a state-of-the-art airport to booth. The PLP’s agreement with them was that the government would own fifty-per cent of the project; the 50% deal though required government (and rightfully so) to chip in with some 10,000 acres of crown land. Lots were to be sold to investors, from wherever, but no titles were to be given to lot owners until the land was properly developed in accordance with the purpose for which it was bought and sold in the first place. When the government would have been satisfied that the requirements were met fully then (and only then) would good titles be sanctioned, in effect transferring the land to the purchaser, and not before; in this way there could be no room for land speculation by anybody-local or foreign. If Sidney Collie’s FNM, had left the I-Group’s project alone the airport, and runway, would have been completed by now and it is conceivable (reasonable to assume) that the tragic accident would not have happened. Yes we are all very saddened by Mr. Sidney Collie’s loss-the accident was certainly tragic-but when the FNM, of all people, start attaching blame to the PLP we must defend our party’s government against these false and vicious attacks; I, for one, will not allow ignorant people like Darron Cash to get away with this cat and mouse political game he wishes to play. As well any lecture about this not being the time for petty politics will go through one of my ears and exit the other so tell Darron Cash and Hubert Minnis (then) to shut up.
Have you noticed that Hubert Ingraham has had nothing to say so far except to quietly send condolences? He knows better than to go into the kind of nonsensical “charade of details” that Darron Cash ran on with in his press statement. I am quite sure that Ingraham and his FNM team are now grief stricken, with remorse, knowing that if they hadn’t stop the I-Group, and prevented them from proceeding for four years, the airport and facilities would have been completed thus preventing that terrible accident. You wish to blame someone, Mr. Darron Cash? Your party’s government, with its bully prime minister, is to be blamed; not the PLP.
Permit me to relate some other facts to which Darron Cash would not have been privy. Before the PLP ventured to approve the plans which the I-Group had proposed; Prime Minister Perry Christie (the decent individual that he is) called for a meeting, with the stakeholders from Mayaguana, for the express purpose of seeking their input before making any further moves with the project. Mayguanians from Freeport, Nassau and the island of Mayaguana (allegedly including Mr. Sidney Collie) attended. At the initial meeting Christie is said to have outlined the I-Group’s proposals and made his government’s commitment that no further discussions would be had, at the time, with the I-Group until and unless Mayaguanians agree to his government’s approval of the same. One person, in attendance, spoke up and requested the Prime Minister give them a couple days to discuss the matter among themselves and they promised they would get back to him after they would have met and voted on the idea. Within a couple days, as promised, the same spokesperson, allegedly, advised the PM that the group had agreed the proposals and the rest is history. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Mr. Sidney Collie, FNM MP for Blue Hills constituency at the time, was allegedly a prominent member of the group agreeing the project, yet he went to parliament and sided with his party when they declared that it was a bad deal which should not have been permitted to happen in the form that it did. Sidney Collie flipped and flopped when he allegedly agreed the approval and then agreed with his party for its stoppage; unfortunately the I-Group and Mayaguana’s welfare got caught up in their partisan political shenanigans; it is conceivable then (and reasonable to assume) that had they not halt the development plans and forward momentum, of the project, the airport (by now) would have been completed and the terrible accident would not have happened; this is a very reasonable assumption, on my part, notwithstanding. Therefore I say again that if anybody is to be saddled with blame for the very tragic accident it should be Hubert Ingraham, his cabinet and ironically the son, the sibling and the brother-in-law, of the three victims, Mr. Sidney Collie himself; they were all in total, unanimous agreement on the stoppage of the project.
Darron Cash would be well advised to pick his fights better than he has been doing; this is not a fight he wants to engage the PLP on-believe me. For the nincompoop’s (Darron Cash’s) benefit I wish to quote from Theodore Roosevelt’s sayings; “A muttonhead, after an education at West Point or Harvard, is still a muttonhead;” unquote; get my drift Mr. FNM Chairman?
Thank you
Forrester J Carroll J.P Freeport, Grand Bahama April 2013.
IN PASSING
Roy Davis Is Buried He was known as Mr. Kiwanis. He was a leader in the Boy Scout Movement. He was never a political leader but influenced the course of the lives of many young people who came up through the Kiwanis Clubs in The Bahamas. Roy Davis died on 20th April and was eulogized in a funeral service on Saturday 4th May and a memorial service on Thursday 2nd May both at the Church of the Holy Trinity. Fred Mitchell MP spoke for the government on 2nd May saying that Roy Davis had done things in his life time that made for peace and built up the common life.
The Speaker Does Not Apologise
Last week we reported with kudos to the Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald for his apology to the students of the College of The Bahamas for their being blocked from entry into the House of Assembly the week before on the grounds that the police believed them to be a security risk. The Minister spoke for the Prime Minister, himself and the government. No such luck for the students with the Speaker of the House Kendal Major. Dr. Major said that while what happened was unfortunate, he believed he acted properly and in the best interests of the House.
U S Gives Equipment To The RBDF
General Jacoby, the head of the Northern Command of the United States military , stationed in Colorado, one of the states of the United States of America was in town to give 900,000 dollars’ worth of parts and spares to the Royal Bahamas Defence Force to get their fleet up to par. The General is pictured with Minister Bernard Nottage and State Minister Keith Bell as he made the presentation at the Coral Harbour base on Wednesday 1st May.
Moody’s On Immigration Policies
Moody’s the rating agency that reviews the sovereign credit rating of The Bahamas and now has us next to junk bond status in the credit department with a negative rating for the future, was pronouncing on the government’s immigration policy. In a piece published in the Nassau Guardian, Moody’s spokesman claimed that they were watching the recently announced changes in immigration policy to see if this would affect the financial rating of the country by creating a skills shortage which would damage the country’s ability to recover. These folk can really get up in things that don’t concern them and end up being part of the anti PLP propaganda machine which is a figment of the imagination of the newspapers.
Rector At St. Agnes Reportedly Suspended
Reports are circulating, uncontroverted by the Anglican diocese that the Rector of St. Agnes Church in Nassau I Ranfurly Brown has been stripped of his rank as Archdeacon and been suspended for thirty days from his job as Rector of St. Agnes. It appears to stem from a direction given by the Bishop with which the Rector disagreed.
Michael Darville Honors His Stalwart Councilors Michael Darville, the Minister for Grand Bahama, honoured his stalwart councilors for their work in the constituency at a special dinner on Friday night 3rd May at China Beach Restaurant in the Grand Lucayan Hotel in Freeport, Grand Bahama. Minister for Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell attended the function as well.
Death Threats Lead To Minister Keith Bell
The police have reportedly arrested activist Omar Archer for publishing a death threat on the web. Mr. Archer appears to go and come mentally and so one wonders what could have been in his mind with regard to the post which was simply antsy and vicious and now may even be criminal. As at this upload, Mr. Archer was assisting the police with their inquiries.
Cancelling Jack Hayward High’s Graduation
Students and parents at the Jack Hayward School in Freeport are up in arms because the principal there has reportedly canceled graduation for this year. The cancellation came because students from the class published certain scandalous and obscene material on Facebook pages. Not sure the punishment fit the crime. Ministers Michael Darville and Fred Mitchell promised the parents that they would meet with Education minister Jerome Fitzgerald to check the facts. They met the parents downstairs in the C A Smith Building in Freeport on Friday 3rd May.
Gold a tribute to the Golden Knights
Ian Strachan And Portnoy Have The Same Complaint?
Well in the book Portnoy’s Complaint, the complaint was the cause of the sensation about it. You should go check the subject matter if you don’t know. Many people complain that that complaint is that the activity is a complete and unsatisfying self-waste of time. You have to wonder about the intellectuals in this country who seem to spend their time in endless denunciations of their society and leaders with no end in sight. Thus we say Ian Strachan, the College Professor, may be having Portnoy’s complaint with his latest rant published on Facebook:
In the 25 years I've been observing our politics this is the most directionless, most flat and uninspired moment I've witnessed. I'm not sure if any of our 38 elected members can really speak to the people with any force or credibility at this moment. How did we get here? And how do we get out? Media histrionics is all we can muster? Third rate demagoguery? I'd laugh but it hurts to do even that.
Basil Albury’s Sister The Nun Dies
Sister Josephine, the nun from the Bahamian order of St. Marin De Pores was buried following at service at St. Joseph’s Church in Nassau on Thursday 2nd May . She is the sister of former Tourism official Basil Albury.
NIB Actuary Leaves
He told the press that he did not leave because of the current swirl of charges and counter charges about what happened at the National Insurance Board during the directorship of Algernon Cargill. He said that he had been there for 18 years and it was time to move on. He was not fired and was not forced to resign. He resigned of his own free will. Thus said Derek Osborne, son of a former Premier of Montserrat, has he said goodbye to the National Insurance Board. He leaves in his wake, an agency whose public image of propriety has been shattered.
Congratulations to John Rood Former Ambassador To The Bahamas
The wedding took place at St. Christopher’s in Lyford Cay by Archdeacon Keith Cartwright. Former Ambassador to The Bahamas for the United States John Rood and his wife Jamie tied the knot on Saturday 27th April. Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis and Mrs. Dais with Attorney General Allyson Gibson and her husband Max Gibson attended the service and reception afterward at the Albany Resort. Congratulations. Love is a many splendoured thing.
11th May , 2013 Welcome
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THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY MEETS:The Honourable Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration and representatives from the nation’s major private sector organizations met recently to agree to establish an ongoing public-private sector effort to undertake positive and constructive activities to address both the Government’s and the private sector’s needs related to work permits. Joining the Minister was Minister Ryan Pinder, Minister of Financial Services; Minister Khaalis Rolle, Minister of State for Investments; Immigration Director William Pratt; Chester Cooper and Edison Sumner from the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers’ Confederation; Stuart Bowe and Frank Comito with the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association; Robert Sands representing the Bahamas Hotel Employers Association; and Aliya Allen with the Bahamas Financial Services Board.
The parties agreed to work together to: undertake a skills needs assessment to help guide training; improve the current work permit review and approval process; strengthen communication between the Department and companies; and improve company awareness regarding procedures required to apply for short-term or long-term work permits, an appeals process, resources for training and sourcing potential Bahamian applicants.
That is our photo of the week taken on Monday 6th May at the headquarters of the Department of Immigration..
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH DIONYSIO D’AGUILAR?
The Freeport News reported that the former Head of the Chamber of Commerce of The Bahamas said these words when he spoke to the Grand Bahama Chamber on Thursday 9th May in Freeport: “ Everyone knows that there is an enormous skills gap in our workforce, and such things as work ethic, productivity, timeliness and honesty are traits that The Bahamas scores very unfavourably in comparison to other jurisdictions.”
Let us translate that for you. What he was saying is that Bahamians are lazy, indolent, thieves who have no skills and are "untrainable". That is a helluva thing for a former Chamber President to say. This is a man whose main business interests are washing clothes and selling food. The people who go to wash the clothes live in the bottom, over the hill, they aren’t the rich people that he loves so much but the ordinary people who come from the labouring classes. Presumably these same lazy, indolent, thieves who have no skills are good enough to wash their clothes in his laundry and good enough to buy food from his food stores.
In this regard, Mr. D’Aguilar now seems to have joined Eileen Carron and her racist rhetoric about the lower classes in The Bahamas. Everything is wrong with them except their ability to buy her newspaper. Mr. D’Aguilar is now saying everything is wrong with the Bahamian worker except their ability to buy food and wash clothes.
Unlike Mrs. Carron, we do not believe that Mr. D’Aguilar is a racist. We think that he needs to learn a lesson in how at his age to be more judicious in his speech. You can have report after report that describes a situation or a condition but one is ill advised to adopt some things publicly as your own without screening out things that are generalization and extrapolations which even if correct do not fix the condition which you are trying to fix.
Our advice again is for Mr. D’Aguilar to simply think first and speak later. He is not a candidate for office and he must be careful that those of his friends who invite him to these fora are not using him to do their dirty work in their campaign to unseat the PLP while they hide behind his coattails.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 11th May 2013 up to midnight: 119,747
Number of hits for the month of May up to Saturday 11th May 2013 up to midnight: 172,375
Number of hits for the year 2013 up to Saturday 11th May 2013 up to midnight: 2,681,257
Presents Credentials
From left to right: Elliston Rahming, Permanent Representative of The Bahamas to the OAS José Miguel Insulza, OAS Secretary General Arturo Vallarino, Chair of the OAS Permanent Council and Permanent Representative of Panama to the OAS.
May 6, 2013
The new Permanent Representative of The Bahamas to the Organisation of American States (OAS), Elliston Rahming, 6thMay presented to the Secretary General of the institution, José Miguel Insulza, the credentials that accredit him to the hemispheric institution.
During the ceremony, held in the Hall of Heroes at the OAS headquarters in Washington, DC, Ambassador Rahming said that, although he is just beginning as his country’s representative to the organisation, he is already aware of the benefits brought by the institution. “Last year, in my former position as Superintendent of Her Majesty’s prison, I had the opportunity to participate in the Third Meeting of Authorities Responsible for Penitentiary and Prison policies of the Americas, which gave me firsthand knowledge of the work of this organisation and the many hemispheric issues that it addresses,” said Ambassador Rahming.
“When we joined the OAS in 1982,” said the Bahamian diplomat, “we made a commitment to the democratic ideals which are the foundation of this most important regional body. I wish to reconfirm my support and the support of the government of The Bahamas to the organisation, to the Secretary General, and to the OAS Secretariat, to strengthen The Bahamas’ engagement within the OAS,” he concluded.
For his part, Secretary General Insulza welcomed the new Permanent Representative of The Bahamas and highlighted the economic successes of the country, in terms of per capita income and income distribution. “We appreciate the fact that your country, as an independent nation, has demonstrated how it is possible to prosper and develop and face economic and social problems with a very progressive view,” said the Secretary General.
“In economic terms, in social terms, in the way you deal with issues of immigration, also in matters of political democracy, in matters of security we have a lot to learn from you, and will be very proud to cooperate with you,” said the leader of the hemispheric organisation upon receiving the credentials of Ambassador Rahming.
Several representatives of the Member States attended the ceremony for the presentation of credentials, as well as Permanent Observers to the OAS and senior authorities from the General Secretariat of the organisation.
OSWALD INGRAHAM DEPUTY TO THE G G
Oswald Ingraham, the former Speaker of the House, was sworn in on 9thMay as Deputy to the Governor General. He will act as Governor General while Sir Arthur Foulkes is out of town on a visit to Japan. While in Japan until 23rd May, Sir Arthur will accompany his wife Lady Foulkes who is launching a ship in her honour owned by Campbell Shipping. The swearing-in was administered by the Chief Justice Sir Michael Barnett as family and friends looked on. Two photos of the swearing-in are by Derek Smith of the Bahamas Information Services and the departure of Sir Arthur and Lady Foulkes is by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
ELEVATOR TRAINING BY BAIC
Public Private Partnership between Bahamas Agricultural Industrial Corporation (BAIC) (Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) and Bahamas Elevator Systerms (BES) held a press Conference on Wednesday May 8, 2013, in the Board Room of BAIC. Left to right Mr. Ben Rahaming, Dr. Dahl, Chairman Arnold Forbes, Owner/General Manager of Bahamas Elevator Systerms (BES) Mr. Richard Tighe and Don Major. (BIS Photo/ Derek Smith)
May 8, 2013
Nassau, The Bahamas -- There should be a minimum of 50 qualified elevator technicians and inspectors as a result of a new training initiative at the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute, it was stated at a press conference, May 8.
Executive Chairman of the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC), Arnold Forbes, formally announced the Public Private Partnership sponsoring the programme as BAIC, BTVI and Bahamas Elevator Systems (BES).
Mr Forbes said it has always been the belief of BAIC that a strong and thriving small business community can be the catalyst for a strong and vibrant economy, employing thousands and economically empowering the people of The Bahamas.
"Today, the public private partnership that BAIC is fostering, is another step in the development of programmes involving government and the business community," said Mr Forbes.
He said that six months ago BES general manager/owner Richard Tighe met with Don Major, BAIC's deputy general manager and found it challenging to find qualified trained elevator technicians to meet the demands of projects, like Baha Mar, which offer an abundance of jobs where Bahamians can and should be employed.
"Therefore, recognising this ever-widening abyss within this industry sector, Mr. Don Major of BAIC, Mr. Richard Tighe of BES and his consultant, birthed this partnership and enlisted BTVI's participation as a vital part of the collaboration," he said.
The Executive Chairman said generations of Bahamians will benefit vocationally and economically and that the programme in its completed phase will qualify a minimum of 50 elevator technicians and inspectors.
For Richard Tighe, launching of the programme is a dream being fulfilled, a dream to see qualified young Bahamians, learning and executing a profession that continues to look to the outside for trained technicians to service the elevator industry in The Bahamas.
He related how he was asked by a family member to come home from Canada and help another ageing family member to save the business.
"I should point out that it was a decaying business and needed trained and experienced human capital," he said, stating that the consultant arranged for him to meet with BAIC's Dr Major for guidance and direction on the way forward.
Mr. Tighe said that after much discussion they met with Dr. Iva Dahl and her team from BTVI, introduced a Technical/Training Institute as a partner to provide BTVI with the initial resource personnel required to conduct the programme as well as develop BTVI's capacity to sustain it.
"I cannot stress enough the importance of this union, a collaborative effort from all parties. With this kind of partnership, the end result is, a win-win situation," said Dr. Dahl.
The BTVI manager called the partnership encouraging and said it will have the impact of stimulating a little-known industry that is predominantly staffed by non-Bahamians, "Because the local Bahamian does not carry internationally recognised certification."
She said, however, that the programme would help to expand BTVI's curriculum offerings and also offer International Certification.
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BRADLEY ROBERTS MARKS THE FIRST YEAR
Making the talk show rounds to celebrate the PLP government's first
year in office was the PLP's National Chairman Bradley Roberts,
pictured far left . Next to Roberts is show
host Shenique Miller and
her co-hosts Michael Turnquest and Kedar Clarke.
GEORGE SMITH RECOUNTS THE HISTORY OF BLACK REVOLT
The country moves inexorably toward the celebration of its 40th birthday. The House of Assembly concluded a debate on making 10th January, a national holiday, making it 11 holidays per year in addition to Sundays being public holidays. Former Minister and MP George Smith was the Parliamentary Secretary in charge of organizing the celebrations for the first independence in 1973. You can link here to his full address on the issue of how independence came and the link to the fight by our African ancestors for freedom. The address was given to the Delta Lambda Boule Dinner at the Balmoral Club on 9th May.
INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC EXECUTIVE - Bahamas Olympic Committee President Wellington Miller has introduced newly elected Vice Presidents of The Bahamas Olympic Committee Derron Donaldson and Cora Hepburn to the president of the International Olympic Committee, Dr. Jaques Rogge. The group was in Lima, Peru 24-27 April for the International Olympic Committee’s ‘World Sport For All’ conference, focused on the principle that the practice of sport is a human right that should be available for everyone, everywhere, without discrimination. Cora Hepburn, a former president of the Volleyball Federation is the first female president of an Olympic sport federation and the first ever female Vice President of The Bahamas Olympic Committee. Derron Donaldson is the youngest ever Vice President of The Bahamas Olympic Committee. Pictured from left at the start of the IOC’s ‘Sport For All’ 3 mile Walkathon, which climaxed the conference are Donaldson, Hepburn, Dr. Jaques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee and Wellington Miller, President of The Bahamas Olympic Committee.
Meanwhile in Nassau, another of the volunteer athletic associations the Bahamas Association of Amateur Athletics was in the mood for bloodletting. It goes something like this. Last year a younger team was elected to head the organization with men like Iram Lewis the former Olympian, Carl Oliver and Harrison Petty elected to office. The only one of the old team that survived was Mike Sands, himself a former Olympian. Mr. Sands moved against the three elected last year by arranginga vote of no confidence two weeks ago. The legality of that is to be questioned in a court but in the past week it has been all over the press. It is particularly troublesome given the fact that Iram Lewis was also elected to be the BAAA’s representative on the Bahamas Olympic Association’s Board. It looks like the Olympic Association may have to step in to solve the crisis.
NEW FRENCH AMBASSADOR PRESENT CREDENTIALS
Her Excellency Ambassador of Republic of France to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas (Right) presented her letters of credence to Governor-General His Excellency Sir. Arthur Foulkes (left) in ceremony at Government House on Thursday May 9, 2013, in the Drawing Room of Government House. (BIS Photo Derek Smith)
MITCHELL ON MORNING BLEND
Mitchell on the Morning Blend
Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell appeared on the morning blend
last monday to discuss the PLP's first year anniversary in government
which was celebrated last Tuesday. His overall assessment was that
given the fiscal challenges and available resources, the government
performed fine. He told the country that he had no regrets over the
gambling referendum as all three political parties, the PLP, FNM and
DNA promised a referendum on web shop gaming if elected and the PLP
fulfilled their election promise.
When asked if the PLP over promised, Mitchell pointed out that a
general election is essentially a bidding war where parties market
themselves and their vision and the most attractive party with the
most attractive message wins.
This is an interesting question that kept coming up during the week.
Bahamians and many in the media have clearly forgotten that just five
short years ago Hubert Ingraham promised to turn the economy of Grand
Bahama and establish a Ministry of Grand Bahama and failed. He also
promised to resume capital punishment and failed as well.
He said that
if after 5 years he could not cause to come to trial hundreds of
persons after spending two years on remand for murder, he would call
himself a failure and tell the Bahamian people "I have failed thee"
and that being voted out of office would not be sufficient punishment
for him. He said he would deserve much worse punishment than that.
He
said it was unthinkable and unbelievable.
We all now know that he was a dismal failure on that and he made that
brazen pronouncement while in government.
Clearly politicians make promises while in opposition and believe that
they can make good on those promises at that time but circumstances
sometimes change or they are exposed to the true and full state of
affairs of the government after the general elections and must shift
priorities to proper manage existing realities.
Generally it appeared that the critics of the PLP tried to hold them
accountable after one year for promises the party made as part of a
five year plan. Ah well, that's how it is in The Bahamas for the PLP
when those who control the communications machinery are not with the
government.
Our picture then is that of Minister Fred Mitchell (center) with hosts
of the Morning Blend, Farrell Goff left and Dwight Strachan, right.
(BIS Photos/ElcottColeby)
PLP MARKS ONE YEAR IN PHOTOS
One year ago on 7th May 2012, the PLP swept back into power with 29 seats out of 38 seat assembly. Within a year they mad made it 30 seats with the bye-election victory in North Abaco. The year has been a difficult one with the opposition press mobilized to ensure that the bitter messages of opposition triumphed over the sound policies and reasonable nature of a PLP administration facing an economy in worse shape than anyone ever imagined. The PLP met at the church of Rev. Dr. William Thompson of Faith United Baptist Church last Sunday to mark the occasion. The faithful gathered with their elected and appointed representatives. The photos are by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
E GOVERNMENT PORTAL IN THE FAMILY ISLANDS
Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson, right, watches as a vital document is produced in the Administrator's Office in Harbour Island. The exercise was also carried out in North, Central and South Eleuthera. Also pictured: Archie Nairn, Permanent Secretary, second from left; Damian Gomez, State Minister for Legal Affairs; and Clay Sweeting, a candidate in the 2012 general election. (BIS Photo/Gena Gibbs)
Eleuthera, The Bahamas -- Mobilising the Registrar General's services to the E-government portals will provide Family Island Local Government Administrators to facilitate basic Justice of the Peace (JP) powers to confirm births, deaths, and marriages.
Attorney General, Senator the Hon. Allyson Maynard Gibson, State Minister for Legal Affairs, the Hon. Damian Gomez, and Permanent Secretary Archie Nairn, along with IT specialists from the Registrar General's Office in New Providence visited the Local Government Administrator Offices in Harbour Island, North Eleuthera, Central And South Eleuthera May 9 to install and briefly train staff to access the database and print out certificates for the Administrator to authenticate on site. The cost of documents are about $10 each, which is the same as if paying for it in Nassau.
"This entire project is really the mandate of our prime minister, who is adamant that we will be seen truly as one nation. We are an island-nation and people who live in the far flung islands should feel that their government cares about them, and that they are entitled to the same kinds of services that exist in Nassau," said AG Maynard Gibson.
The Attorney General referred to an incident involving a Bahamian woman who needed to have copies of vital documents such as birth certificates and passports. She said the Eleuthera resident explained that the only way to get the services was to plan a $500 trip to New Providence and pay for accommodations, transportation, meals, just to get a birth certificate or passport in Nassau.
Senator Gibson is also concerned about easing the cost and convenience of doing business in the Family Islands. She wants the nation to raise its current international profile of being rated the 77th most convenient country to operate international business.
"I texted the Minister for Foreign Affairs and I told him that 'Look, certified copies of birth certificates are needed and we can get them right here in our own community. Let's bring the mobile unit for E-Passports to North Eleuthera and to South Eleuthera as well, that way people can get their birth certificates, and also their passports right at home'. So, rather than spending $500 for you getting a service you can get in your own community, let's provide our people, as the Prime Minister has dictated, services in their own community. Well that's convenience for our people," said the Attorney General.
"The Minister also spoke about the ease of doing business. You'll know that The Bahamas is rated number 77 in terms of 'ease of doing business' and people see us doing this kind of thing. They recognise that the Government is very serious, whether you are a Bahamian or a non-Bahamian investor, about making it easy to do business in our country. These are all things that, one by one, two by two, add up and our Prime Minister is working hard and is insidious; he works tirelessly to make sure that our people feel the impact of Government, a supportive Government and that the world sees The Bahamas is a world class place in which to do business."
Attorney General Gibson stated that all of the Registrar General's services can and will be provided by Family Island Administrators. She said they want to be sure that the step by step process is followed, that it is working effectively, and that proper training and technical support for the Internet services are provided for the Local Government Administrators as well. Eventually, she said the Registrar General's project is expected to evolve into offering documentation services for conveyances and mortgages, so more lawyers and attorneys can provide services in the Family Islands.
"All I do want to say that the Minister responsible has been made aware. He does recognise that it is important and that the possibility of it, so I'm quite confident that right now as we speak, he's investigating what would it take to bring it down; how long would we have to keep it here in Eleuthera to provide for those children who want to travel with their parents and that kind of thing," said AG Gibson.
"I'm quite sure that he recognises as well that once you bring it to Eleuthera now, the other Family Islanders are going to say 'we want you to bring it here, too'. So, I'm sure he is embarking on that whole investigative exercise and I feel fairly confident that it will in short order happen in place where you can get your certified copies of birth certificates because that's a key part of getting a passport."
Permanent Secretary Archie Nairn added that this is the time of year when there is a great demand for passports and for people travelling, as it relates to vacation time.
"How convenient is this? Isn't it wonderful that people right here in Governor's Harbour would be able to come in to the Administrator's Office, who now has the authority to certify these documents in law and receive that document, which is a requisite for the package that you submit to the passport office. It's a wonderful thing and we are on a good path," said PS Nairn.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes this week from Freeport defending the government’s immigration policies and taking apart the attacks by the Opposition on the policy of Bahamians First.
St. Anne’s FNM Member of Parliament termed the government’s new work permit policy (i.e. that none will be issued where qualified Bahamians are found capable and available) as “excessively aggressive;” former FNM state minister for immigration Mr. Branville McCartney (now leader of the DNA) described it as “extreme; Robert “Sandy” Sands, of Baha Mar, called for more clarity; Ortland H Bodie Jr. submitted that the policy will be ineffective given that Bahamians (in effect) frown at domestic chores; (as well) he claimed, in effect in a recent letter published, that too many of us in high places are quite comfortable with the status quo given that many of us depend on foreign domestic labour to keep our households cleaned; young Dionisio D’Aguilar expressed his usual negative sentiments saying that “it has put a dagger in the heart of creating an environment where it is time to go to the bank and expand your business. The message sent to the domestic investor is if you need foreign talent; don’t bother because you won’t get a permit. For foreign investors, it sends the message that it is such a bumpy road to get a work permit that maybe you should take your business elsewhere,” unquote. Winston Rolle, a former CEO at the chamber of commerce, has also had his say when he opined that “The image being portrayed by the Christie Administration, to the outside world, is “scary;” and now we have the government of the Philippines, energized by the publicly expressed sentiments of frontline Bahamians such as those I cited above, injecting itself into our country’s internal affairs (as well) with its comments, delivered through the press recently from its embassy in Washington D.C., asking that the Christie Administration re-consider its policy of “putting Bahamians first?” Can any sane person, here on God’s green earth, fathom the boldness of such a request, by one sovereign state, of another? I know there is a language barrier, we speak English and they speak whatever, but do they know what it is that they are asking of us? Are they cognizant that they are asking the Christie government not to put “Bahamians first” but to continue allowing their fourteen hundred Filipino citizens, who are said to be here on work permits, to continue uninterrupted on those work permits (indefinitely); whether Bahamians are found qualified and available for those jobs or not? Are they serious?
While I can understand the concerns of the government of the Philippines, having to cope with another 1400 or so unemployed citizens (at this crucial time) returning home to the Philippines to become a burden on its public social services system (such that it may be), I must ask, however, well what the hell of our citizens? Shouldn’t we be totally selfish in this regard? Shouldn’t our total, and unequivocal, interest be that of our “Bahamians first” and not concern ourselves with any others? Indeed so and no question about it; but how do you like what we are hearing from our own frontline citizens who are running about for cover while voicing those venomous scary utterances? It seems to me that the ploy is to appeal to what they think would motivate the government to retreat from their apparent hard line stance on the issuance of work permits. They feel that the PLP’s interest in maintaining voter support would be so keen that its government would retract from their hard line position, but nothing of the sort; I say to the government be encouraged because there are certainly more who are with us on this issue than those who are against, so stand your ground Mr. Prime Minister. Mr. D’Aguilar (and I am very surprised of him) is too damn smart, and intelligent, a businessman to be engaging in such a trivial ongoing negative dialogue designed (I suspect) to deprive Bahamians? This young astute Bahamian, who served as a chamber of commerce president, of all people (I would have thought) would be backing such a policy; he knows that the PLP government is not the reckless sort that the FNM, led by Hubert Ingraham, was; he knows that the PLP has always been “business friendly” and while the government takes its bounden duty of putting “Bahamians first” very seriously, where cases of genuine need for foreign labour arises he, and all the others, knows that permits would be granted albeit with a very stringent set of restrictions attached. Yes I agree with both him and Winston Rolle that a clear policy must be put (so the public can know) but I disagree with them that that has not been done to date; the policy is as clear as day; it needs no more defining; it needs no more clarity; you have a vacancy at Solomon’s or cost right or Super wash, you genuinely search for a Bahamian to take the job; if genuinely a Bahamian cannot be found and you make a genuine case for the talent needed, which must be imported, a permit would be granted but with certain restrictive conditions and provisos.
The Hon. Minister (for immigration) was quick to set the record straight in response to the Philippines government: “This is a rational policy by a rational government, which is acting reasonably in defense of its own people; this is the commonwealth of the Bahamas and there is no apology that has to be made for a policy of Bahamians first;” unquote; amen, so let it be. It bothers me that our own Bahamian spokespersons have shown little interest in promoting the interest of Bahamians in this regard. We seem to get nothing from them but excuses as to why a policy of “Bahamians first” cannot co-exist successfully in the workplace; rather we are told that it is scary; that it needs more clarity; that it sends a bad image to the international community. Robert “Sandy” Sands” wants more clarity he said; what more clarity does he want? The new policy is simply this: if a job becomes available at Baha Mar they are to make every effort to find a Bahamian citizen to fill the post; if a Bahamian cannot be found (honestly) then consideration will be given to allowing a non-citizen import, however a Bahamian under study trainee would be required to be employed, as well, to fill the position at the expiration of the time given on the work permit. What is there, in this stated policy, that needs “more clarity” I ask you Mr. Robert “Sandy” Sands?
And what about the FNM’s shadow minister for immigration, Mr. Hubert Chipman, the MP for St. Anne’s who branded the policy “excessively aggressive?” Is he serious? What does this sensible man mean when he says that the PLP is being “excessively aggressive?” Is he saying that we shouldn’t aggressively protect Bahamians? If not aggressively can Mr. Chipman tell the government how else it can protect Bahamians apart from being (as he labeled it) “excessively aggressive?” If by ensuring that when jobs become available (anywhere in the country) the government sees to it that all its energies come to bear on ensuring that Bahamians fill those posts he calls it “excessively aggressive” then the policy deserves the branding and, I can assure FNM MP Hubert Chipman, that this government would be very pleased (and proud) to wear the label. To make sure he gets in his two cents, Branville McCartney expressed that he thinks the policy to be “extreme;” what exactly could Branville be thinking about when he said, in a press statement, that the PLP was being “extreme’ on this issue? Is the former FNM junior immigration minister saying that the PLP government shouldn’t put Bahamians first? For in putting Bahamians first would be too “extreme” and “extreme” is no good? By saying that the policy is “extreme” (may I ask) is McCartney saying that the government shouldn’t desist (then) from the former FNM government’s very liberal policy of issuing work permits on request, willy-nilly, in preference to a more conservative policy ensuring, at all times, that Bahamian nationals take center stage in the Bahamian workplace? If this is NOT what Mr. McCartney is saying then tell me please, exactly, what is it that concerns this DNA leader, who wants one day to lead we Bahamians, with the PLP advocating a “Bahamians first” policy? Usually I pay very little attention to Ortland Bodie and what he may have to say on any subject; whether on his talk show or in his “letters to the editor.” I took note, however, of one of his letters published recently and saw where he wrote calling the government’s new work permit policy (in effect) a useless exercise when it adopted the recent policy of “no more work permits to be issued, come next year, for domestic workers.” I deduced, from his letter, that he thinks this effort, on the part of the government, to protect domestic jobs for Bahamians will fail (he claimed) for at least two reasons; (1) that Bahamians are not minded to perform domestic chores, especially that the wages tend to be too low and the work too hard and (2) that too many persons in high places have gotten too accustomed to having (and are too comfortable and dependent on) foreign domestic workers to do their gardening and clean their households. While I understand the argument Bodie made, I do not accept that Mr. Bodie nor Mr. Sands nor Mr. D’Aguilar nor Hubert Chipman nor Branville McCartney should throw the baby out with the bath water in this regard; I submit, instead, that these spokespersons (against the effort) should be encouraging the move by the government so that eventually this prevailing (sometimes mythical) mindset of Bahamians at large could begin to change for how they view jobs in the domestic field.
As for the stance of the Philippine government, and what they had to say on the subject, the Hon. Minister wasted no time, as I said earlier, in letting them know that quote, “This is the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and there is no apology that has to be made for a policy of Bahamians first;” unquote.
Would like to ask Mr. Winston Rolle if he really wants to know what “SCARY” is? I’ll tell him what is “SCARY;” it is scary when in this country a foreigner, who is residing and working here, can put an AD in the Freeport News, here in Freeport Grand Bahama Bahamas, for a maid making it clear; stating emphatically that Bahamians need not apply; that Filipino or Peruvian nationality would be preferred; now that is scary Sir. This damn thing is out of hand now and must be corrected.
The policy is sound and prudent; the government is not ruling out being pragmatic; it is however making its position abundantly clear that any benefits-be they jobs, business opportunities and any other-accruing from economic activity in this Bahamas will accrue to “Bahamians first” under this PLP Administration. Gone are the days of FNM MISRULE when Bahamians were marginalized in favour of foreigners in the workplace; work permits will be issued when and if no Bahamian can be found, but even then with a set of stringent provisos for the simultaneous employment of Bahamian under studies; this to ensure that by the time the permits expire there should be Bahamians trained to replace the foreigner in future, that’s all; its as simple as that and so I say let it all hang out Mr. Immigration Minister.
I am reminded of a quotation I was once told but the author escapes me at the moment; I quote it here for the benefit of the slaved minds who think like those whose sentiments I quoted in this article above: “In the eyes of a SLAVE another SLAVE is never ever qualified” unquote. Thank you
Forrester J Carroll J.P Freeport, Grand Bahama May 2013.
IN PASSING
Omar Archer Charged
Omar Archer, the political activist, who published an intentionally libelous statement about Keith Bell, the Minister and who also posted a death threat, all allegedly on his Facebook page, has been hauled before the courts and charged with a criminal libel and with threats of death. He denied the charges when he was arraigned on 7th May. He was granted $15,000 bail over the objections of the Crown.
High Commissioner Calsey Johnson At Home In Canada
The High Commissioner for The Bahamas Calsey Johnson and wife are shown in this picture from the Facebook page of Foreign Service Officer Mikhail Bullard who visited with the High Commissioner on his recent vacation in Canada. The pictured appeared on 5thMay.
PM In New York
Prime Minister the Right Honourable Perry G. Christie traveled to New York City and along with the Premier of Bermuda spoke on Wednesday 8th May at the christening of Norwegian Cruise Lines new cruise ship“Breakaway”. The new ultra-modern “Breakaway” will be the largest shipto homeport in New York and will reopen the more affluent NewYork/Nassau cruise market, giving a further economic boost to thelocal economy.
While in New York the Prime Minister will discuss with Mr. K.T. Lim,
Chairman Genting/Resorts World and 50% shareholders in Norwegian
Cruise Lines, the conglomerate’s growing investments in The Bahamas.
He will also hold meetings with other investors including multiple
international partners in a proposed major development for East Grand
Bahama.
Accompanying the Prime Minister were The Right Honourable Obie
Wilchcombe, Minister of Tourism, Sir Baltron Bethel, Senior Policy
Advisor and Mrs. Joy Jibrilu, Director of Investments.
The Prime Minister returned to Nassau on Thursday 9th May.
Mitchell In Los Angeles
Fred Mitchell, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, travelled to los Angeles, California for the launch of Sidney Poitier’s new novel Montaro Caine. The book is Mr. Poitier’s first novel. He is a Bahamian American academy award winning actor, producer writer and director. The launch took place at the Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills and was jointly sponsored by talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Beverly Hills politician Lili Bosse on Wednesday 8th May. Mr. Poitier brought the audience to tears as he spoke about how he was motivated to succeed by the example of his parents simple Cat Island farmers. Amongstthe guests from The Bahamas Scott Godet and Deidre Fountain, Rick Fox and his sister Jeanene. Mr. Poitier's friends Bernie Casey, Quincy Jones, Lionel Ritchie, Blair Underwood, Latoya Jackson, Chris Tucker and Berry Gordy were among the other guests. The photos shows the cover of the new book part of which is set in The Bahamas.
Unlawful Killing Verdict
The police force’s reputation took another direct hit with the finding of a coroner’s court jury of an unlawful killing in custody of AaronRolle who died from blunt force trauma while in police custody on 9thFebruary. Both the Minister of National Security Bernard Nottage and the Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade have reportedly said that the chips will fall where they may. The public will now look to see whether police officers are to be prosecuted for the killing.
Loftus Roker Gets Mixed Up
In a remarkable cock up toward a man who is perhaps the closest friend in politics he has Loftus Roker attacked Fred Mitchell in the press or so it appears. The headline said on Thursday 9th May that Mr. Mitchell deserveswhat he gets and that he Mr. Roker has no sympathy for Mr. Mitchell in the currentimmigration issue. Clearly, Mr. Roker is either misquoted or has misspoken. It was not possible for Mr. Mitchell to have been involved in any demonstration for or against Haitians because most of the operative period that Mr. Roker was Minister of National Security, he was in law school in the U.K. When he did return to the Bahamas, he livedin Freeport up to the general election of 1987 when Mr. Roker demitted office. Further, Mr. Mitchell was for the period Mr. Roker's speech writer and therefore would not have been involved in any statements public or otherwiseagainstLoftus Roker. The Tribuneought to be careful what they print.
The Eastern Region Fair
Ryan Pinder, the MP for Elizabeth, is shown visiting with the folk at the Eastern Region Fair, established by MP Melanie Griffin, to forge a community spirit amongst her constituents. The fair took place in Saturday 4th May.
NIB Report Leaked: Moss Says He’s Vindicated
So much for the legal niceties. Someone obviously did not like the fact that the government decided not to release the report on the National Insurance Board commissioned of Grant Thornton to look into the conduct and allegations made by PLP MP Greg Moss and the then NIB Board about the behavior of its Managing Director Algernon Cargill. The report was leaked to the NassauGuardian and other press . It showed that bonuseswere paid without the authorityof theMinister. It also showed that Mr. Cargill was a director of a company owned by his brother that rented accommodation to the board. The government did not release the report to the House because it said that it wanted the adverse findings in the report to be presented to Mr. Cargill before the findings were published. Mr. Cargill has been given until 21st May to respond to a directive with regard to responding to the report. The issue is becoming acrimonious and personal with Mr. Gibson attacked by the sister of Mr. Cargill on a radio show accusing him of grandstanding and be smirching her brother’sreputation. Mr. Gibson said that he intends to recover the bonuses in total some 700,000 dollars that were not paid according to law. We continue to say that this needs to get off the front pages of the paper.
Georgette Rolle Bahamian In LPGA
Bahamian Georgette Rolle will make her LPGA debut 23 May in The Bahamas. Ms. Rolle, who resides in Houston, received an LPGA exception and will play in the Pure Silk-Bahamas Classic on the Ocean Club Golf Course.
The Sinking Of Flamingo
Commander Anthony Allens, oneof the heroes of the HMBS Flamingo, sunk by Cuban Migs off the coast of Ragged Island on 10th May 1980 remembers those of his comrades who paid the ultimate sacrifice:
Today marks yet another anniversary of the sinking of the HMBS Flamingo, which occurred on 10th May 1980. I remember Able Seaman Seaman Fenrick Sturrup, Marine Seaman David Tucker, Marine Seaman Austin Smith and Marine Seaman Edward Williams, those four brave souls that gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
There is no doubt that this is the singular most significant incident in the history of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force that should be highlighted and remembered nationally, not merely to highlight the aggression of the Cubans on that day, but rather to allow Bahamians to find some common thread in which to give God thanks.
To the family of those brave sailors I say I shared your pain then as I do now, I pray you find solace in the fact that they are remembered as heroes by their beloved country. To the surviving crew members, let us never forget, and as we reflect on the incident remember but for the Grace of God there go I.
Englerston Donates Computers To Primary
Englerston’s energetic MP Glenys Hanna Martin was captured in this photo on her Facebook page showing her making a donation to the school in her area of a gift of computers to Ridgeland Primary. The gift was presented on 20th April.
Rev Charles W. Saunders To Retire
Rev. Charles W. Saunders, the Baptist preacher, who has dominated Baptist politics in The Bahamas for a generation and Salem Baptist Union Churches as their Superintendent for just as long is set to step down at the end of August of this year as pastor and Superintendent. Rev. Saunders will be succeeded as the pastor at Salem by his nephew Rev. Hewter Rolle.
Rodney Moncur’s House On Fire
There was a house fire which consumed the home of the “peripatetic political jack-in-the-box” Rodney Moncur last week. Mr. Moncur called the press after the fire to show them what happened. He and his wife did not spend the night there for some odd reason, claimed Mr. Moncur. He wept on the screen and posed for pictures which he posted all over Facebook. The sarcasm and jokes about him were legion all over the web. No one believes a word he says about the incident. The fire took place on 8th May. The photo appeared on his Facebook page. Mr. Moncur appeared in court on Friday 10th May to answer charges of gross indecency. He was threatened with expulsion from the court because of his antics. The crown has decided that there will be a preliminary inquiry. Another Magistrate is to hear the case not Carolita Bethel who was originally scheduled to hear it. Mr. Moncur objected to Mrs. Bethel and objected to the Preliminary Inquiry. He also wants to be released from the $7500 bond with two sureties saying that he is being held captive by two nice females ( his sureties). The newspapers will have to invent this character when he is gone.
Richard Lightbourne Missing From The House
The debate to make Majority Rule Day 10th January an annual public holiday, marking the political ascendency of the African majority in the country was too much for Richard Lightbourne, the white member of the Free National Movement. He did not show up for a single hour of the two day debate and the record will show that when the time came he did not vote for it. Speaks volumes.
Charles Ramsey To The Rescue In Cleveland
Comment says black people are proud of him for the rescue of the three women who were held in captivity in Cleveland, Ohio in the Unietd States for ten years.
19th May , 2013 Welcome
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THE CALL ON THE PRESIDENT: Fred Mitchell, the Foreign Minister, paid a courtesy call on the President of our sister Caricom country Trinidad and Tobago at the presidential office in Port of Spain on Thursday 16th May. Mr. Mitchell was in Port of Spain to attend the Council of Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) meeting of Caricom. See the full report below. The President who was elected last year for a five year termis Anthony Carmona and is a former Judge of the Criminal Court in the Hague and is a former University of the West Indies (UWI) student who lived on Chancellor Hall on the second floor, the same floor and hall as the now High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago Picewell Forbes MP. Mr. Forbes accompanied the Minister on the visit as did Dr. Monica Davis, the Honorary Consul of The Bahamas to Trinidad and Tobago. The photo of the week then is that of the Minister for Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell paying a call on the President of Trinidad and Tobago and the photo shows from left Dr. Davis, the Minister, the President and the High Commissioner.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
IMMIGRATION FOLLOWS UP
During the past week, the Department of Immigration dispatched its consultant to Freeport to visit each of the establishments in Freeport to ensure that they understand what the present policy of the government is with regard to immigration matters.
Last week, the Minister for Immigration Fred Mitchell held a press conference to announce that there had been an immigration check in Freeport of a business establishment and there were some irregularities. It appears that people were being landed in The Bahamas without work permits actually being issued and the result was that the government’s money was not being collected and people were working on the jobs without the permits. The Minister indicated that there would be steps taken to stop the practice.
The press conference was rather wide ranging and a full report appears below. What is clear though is that companies will have to comply with the rules of immigration and immigration will have to get its act together in terms of the timely issue of work permits.
Many of the issues that come up about immigration are not about policy but rather about process and the minister has pledged that some relief is on the way with regard to relieving the backlog of some seven months from the time someone applies for a work permit until the person gets the work permit. We think that it is scandalous that this happens.
It appears that notwithstanding the howls of discomfort from people like former Chamber head Dionysio D’Aguilar, the companies are getting the point. They have to conform with the new regime of a strict adherence to the rules and the regulations.
The FNM has been unable to assail the policy because their people in Freeport support what the Minister is doing. Their only comment is that it is too aggressive. Some of them on their Facebook pages have been trying to change the conversation by saying that the Minister is doing nothing about shanty towns. Only thing is the Minister for Immigration has no jurisdiction over shanty towns. That is a town planning issue.
In the meantime, employers would be well advised to get their houses in order and not under any circumstances have people working on the jobs without a work permit. If they do not , then the consequences will be serious.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 18th May 2013 up to midnight:130,756
Number of hits for the month of May up to Saturday 18th May 2013 up to midnight:315,277
Number of hits for the year 2013 up to Saturday 2013 up to midnight:2,824,159
At a press conference at the Foreign Affairs Ministry this past
Sunday, Minister Mitchell updated the media on the ongoing work of the
Immigration Department to effect stricter enforcement of existing
immigration laws and to expedite the processing of requested services.
On the agenda was an immigration inspection that was carried out at a
business premises in Freeport on Friday, 10th May 2013 to ensure the
business was in compliance with all applicable immigration rules. The
check was carried out within an hour. Businesses are reminded that
employees who come to The Bahamas from abroad must have permission to
live and work in The Bahamas before they land and evidence of that
permission must be within reasonable access to their person at all
times.
Mitchell revealed that within the week, a special representative from
the Immigration Department would seek to follow up with all businesses
in Freeport to determine whether there is a full understanding and
appreciation of the regulations as it applies to immigration.
The Immigration Minister was again adamant that the government would
not step back from this stricter enforcement regime regardless of
public criticism coming from some quarters.
“The people who are engaged in this public criticism of this policy
are the same suspects who have opposed everything that this government
has done from the time we were in power in 1967 to the present” said
Mitchell at a press conference on Sunday at the Ministry’s
headquarters. He went on to say that had the government listened to
these voices in this government’s formative years, the country would
not have progressed to this point.
The Minister urged civic leaders to be judicious in their public
comments and “instead of trying to nitpick and attack what is a
reasonable and rational policy that they join us in an effort in
trying to uplift the Bahamian work force.”
He also revealed that he held discussions with members of the Chamber
of Commerce/Employers Confederation last week at the Department of
Immigration and took them into what he called the “bowels” of the
Department to make the point that the challenges within immigration
are not policies but rather processing in nature.
“Our computers have had major overhauls within the last week (and)
within the coming weeks we will be talking with the private sector on
how we could improve equipment, training and manpower to try and deal
with the issues.”
As for manpower, the Minister revealed that the department is wrapping
up a recruitment exercise that will bolster the current complement of
231 Immigration Officers.
On the issue of training, Mitchell said that Parliament would conclude
debate on legislation to establish the National Training Agency on
Wednesday of this week with a targeted implementation date of June 1st
for the national training program.
U.S. ADVISORY
Here we go again. There was the murder of a US Citizen, a young man who at the bottom of the Paradise Island Bridge on Mackey Street was reportedly trying to stop a robbery and ended up being killed. The attackers are said to have fled to the Okra Hill area. The government must be apoplectic that the police and their saturation patrols just don’t seem to be working. The police have since said they have caught the perpetrators,all four of them. At their arraignment on Friday 17th May, they claimed that they were beaten in police custody. One of the man’s family members told the press that he does not blame The Bahamas for the death. That’s fine as a sentiment but the country is simply horrified that this has happened. Predictably the US government’s representatives in The Bahamas posted a public notice saying in effect that The Bahamas was a dangerous place for Americans to visit. This is not unusual given the litigious nature of the US and the fact that if they don’t issue the appropriate warnings they might be sued by their citizens. Some of it seems a bit excessive but then that’s the U.S. Also predictably, the Bahamians will probably get their noses out of joint because the US has issued this new advisory. Chances are most American people won’t read it and won’t pay attention to it so we don’t think there is a need to worry about it. Much more seriously is a US Senator Bill Nelson is saying that The Bahamas government is involved in some kind of shakedown exercise by charging Americans with bullets in their luggage as they leave. This is complete nonsense but again that’s the U.S. Then too we must also remember that The Bahamas issues its own warnings about the US. For example at Christmas time, Bahamans are warned that they ought to be careful in Miami because they are the target of robbers who single them out for attacks. On reflection it appears that the press of Senator Nelson got the Turks and Caicos Islands mixed up with The Bahamas.
The kings and queens of conflict of interest were at it again in the last session of the House of Assembly when on Wednesday 15th May, they accused the government of conflict of interest. Loretta Butler Turner, the queen of accusations and idle rumblings talked about “ friends, family and PLPs.” This is really a case of the pot calling the kettle black.” The Prime Minister responded to them like this:
You are all intelligent men in the opposition, two of you actually sat in the Cabinet of the Bahamas where you had to make a decision to give people associated with one company over 150 million dollars-worth of work. The question of morality, the question of ethics, the question of choice of judgment. Where are you going to get the moral authority from to come to me and say I am renting a place from somebody’s brother or cousin? This is fair rent, you don’t question the rent but you had many choices and judgment as well? Where do you get this incredible ability from to fix your faces to tell us anything? How do you do it? What are you expecting young people in this country to think?
“You accuse me of making money unlawfully when I was a lawyer and not in government but the FNM Minister of Tourism who had to design the 2,500 acres given to the I group, is their consultant. You want to dirty me up, when you can actually be a minister in an FNM government, make a decision to give somebody 2,500 acres of land and then become their consultant and nothing wrong with that? But there is something wrong with me while I am in opposition? You have got to be joking.”The kings and queens of conflict of interest were at it again in the last session of the House of Assembly when on Wednesday 15th May, they accused the government of conflict of interest. Loretta Butler Turner, the queen of accusations and idle rumblings talked about “ friends, family and PLPs.” This is really a case of the pot calling the kettle black.” The Prime Minister responded to them like this:
“You are all intelligent men in the opposition, two of you actually sat in the Cabinet of the Bahamas where you had to make a decision to give people associated with one company over 150 million dollars-worth of work. The question of morality, the question of ethics, the question of choice of judgment. Where are you going to get the moral authority from to come to me and say I am renting a place from somebody’s brother or cousin? This is fair rent, you don’t question the rent but you had many choices and judgment as well? Where do you get this incredible ability from to fix your faces to tell us anything? How do you do it? What are you expecting young people in this country to think?
“You accuse me of making money unlawfully when I was a lawyer and not in government but the FNM Minister of Tourism who had to design the 2,500 acres given to the I group, is their consultant. You want to dirty me up, when you can actually be a minister in an FNM government, make a decision to give somebody 2,500 acres of land and then become their consultant and nothing wrong with that? But there is something wrong with me while I am in opposition? You have got to be joking.”
MITCHELL IN TRINDAD
Fred Mitchell, the Foreign Minister, travelled this week to Trinidad for the Council of Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) Meeting in that island from 14 to 15th May. That is the meeting of all the Foreign Ministers of Caricom. The meeting the next day on 16th May was that of the Community Council which prepared the agenda for the Heads of Government meeting which takes place in Trinidad on 4th July. The meeting of the Heads of Government of Caricom comes on the 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Chaguramus which created Caricom and was signed on the 4th July 1973. Mr. Mitchell then travels to Doha for a meeting on Middle East Economies before returning home. While in Trinidad he met with the Bahamian students in Port of Spain and with Patrick Manning, the former Prime Minister and he was assisted ably by the Honorary Consul of The Bahamas Dr. Monica Davis. The photos show Mr. Mitchell with the students, with former PM Manning with his wife Hazel at his sister’s home in Port of Spain and with Dr. Davis at the Picaro International Airport in Port of Spain.
CANADIAN MINISTER OF STATE VISITS
The photo shows Fred Mitchell MP, Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas welcoming Canadian Minister of State Diane Ablonczy,to the Ministry’s headquarters in Nassau. The photo is by Elcott Coleby of the Bahamas Information Services. The statement of the Minister follows:
Statement by Fred Mitchell MP Minister of Foreign Affairs Welcoming Canadian Minister of State To The Bahamas 12th May 2013
On behalf of the government and people of The Bahamas, I want to be amongst the first to welcome you formally to The Bahamas. I think that this is a significant visit, and from what I can see of your itinerary it is a work-filled agenda, including stops at the Deputy Prime Minister to discuss matters in Exuma; the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture. We are fellow Commonwealth countries and have been working in a spirit of friendly cooperation since The Bahamas attained its independence almost forty years ago. The common themes are democracy, the rule of law, respect for the rights of the individual including the right to privacy and the security of the citizens, their persons and property. We exchanged views on these issues today, particularly in light of the upcoming Heads of Government conference in Sri Lanka in the fall.
In terms of our bi-lateral and regional relations, Canada is a regional player and has been a great investor in The Bahamas and in Bahamians. Bahamian young people buy services from Canada in education mainly. I discussed this matter extensively with the Minister and how we can improve the processes of Bahamian students entering Canada. Canadian visitors buy services in The Bahamas mainly in tourism. The Canadian banks are investors in our country and hire significant numbers of our citizens. Canadian airlines fly into The Bahamas and we have concluded up to the point of signature a Canadian Air Services Agreement which I hope can soon be signed. This agreement will bring relations in this area into the modern era. I believe that this visit can signal greater opportunities for trade and investment expanding our bi-lateral and regional ties.
I have had a personal history of good relations with Canadian foreign ministers and I am happy therefore to make this acquaintance with you and your team. I hope that you enjoy your visit with us and that you find the meetings productive.
Once again welcome to The Bahamas.
NIB STORY CONTINUES ON THE FRONT PAGES
You will see a point by point rebuttal by the Progressive Liberal Party’s Chairman Bradley Roberts in response to the report by the accounting firm Grant Thornton into the allegations made by Greg Moss of the PLP about the conduct of Algernon Cargill as the Director of National Insurance. The report which is said to have cost nearly one million dollars reviewed a series of peccadilloes alleged of Mr. Cargill while he was Director by Mr. Moss when he was Chair of the National Insurance Board. Mr. Moss has since been relieved of his duties for publicly contradicting the Prime Minister in connection with the NIB investigation but he believes that the report now vindicates him. The report has finally been put in the public domain by being tabled in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 15th May. The release of the report beginning with when it was leaked two weeks ago has led to charge and counter charge between the PLP and the FNM about what the report means. The FNM says it means nothing and that this is a pure political witch hunt. The PLP says it confirms that Mr. Cargill’s behavior was corrupt. Mr. Cargill has reportedly been dismissed and according to the press dismissed for breaching the confidentiality rules of the Board by putting into the public domain the information contained in an affidavit in a law suit he filed against the Board. Mr. Cargill’s lawyer immediately went to court to challenge the report so there is another round of litigation. It appears that the dismissal was summary and so there is likely to be litigation over that as well. The FNM has taken several lines to discredit the report. We have given one already that there was nothing of substance in it. They then questioned the competence of the accountants. John Pinder a former Board member and FNM supporter said that the choice of an accountant should have gone out to tender. There was also the complaint that it was the most expensive witch hunt in the history of the country. They forget of course the witch hunt of the Commission of Inquiry into the Pindling administration which found exactly nothing but on which millions of dollars were spent to seek to discredit the former Prime Minister. It appears that the public is with the PLP on this one. What appears to have sunk the FNM on this was the unsanctioned payment of nearly one million dollars of bonuses to the collective executive committee of the Board under and including Mr. Cargill.
KEN DORSETT IN BVI FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Hon. Kerned Dorsett represented the Bahamas at the Political and Business Leaders meeting of the Caribbean Challenge Initiative held in the British Virgin Islands this week. The minister made a presentation at the event. You can read what the minister said in its entirety below.
MINISTER KENRED DORSETT’S PRESENTATION
A pleasant Good Morning to all.
Master of Ceremonies, permit me to extend a warm thanks to the Government and people of the British Virgin Islands. I would especially like to thank you Premier, for the courtesies extended to my delegation.
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the Honorable Perry Gladstone Christie, offers his apologies for not being able to participate in this Summit. He however sends his warm greetings and his continuing commitment to this Imitative which we launched together with Grenada in 2008.
I also would like to take this opportunity to thank The Government of Grenada for co-hosting the Summit and to thank the Governments of Puerto Rico and Jamaica for hosting the first and third senior officials meeting, and the Ministerial meeting in San Juan in March.
Sir Richard, We are indeed pleased that you have opened your home to us on Necker Island. This island reminds us of our own Paradise of Islands which are similarly kissed by the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Bahamas in a speech given at Rio + 20 described our home and its people’s as;
“inextricably linked to our environment, our shallow blue seas and our way of life. The environment sustains our lives and livelihoods. The environment is the very foundation of our economic activity.” It is
our Government’s recognition of these simple truths, which motivates the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to support the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI) and to work assiduously to bring it into being.
The Bahamas remains committed to continue efforts to partner with all Caribbean governments, Territories, the UN and CARICOM institutions as well as regional financial institutions, and the NGO community to realize the goals of the Caribbean Challenge Initiative.
It is a shared marine heritage that none of us alone can act to protect without involving our neighbors. The Caribbean Sea is our shared marine environment, our common heritage and the gift we pass to generations to come.
The Bahamas is also supportive of initiatives to engage the private sector across the Caribbean. I am particularly pleased to be able to participate in this historic Caribbean Political and Business Leaders Summit, which brings government and corporate entities together in partnership in a way that has never been done before across our region.
The signing of the Leaders Declaration is our indication of not just governments but other key stakeholders interest in and commitment to protecting our shared marine environment, which by in large provides the cultural, social, and economic backbone of our region. It sustains our lives and our economies.
The Caribbean Challenge is an initiative that the Bahamas and Grenada launched in 2008 at the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity (UNCBD) 9th Conference of the Parties meeting in Bonn, Germany.
Minister Dorsett speaking at the CCI Political and Business Leaders Meeting
Today’s Summit represents the launch of the second phase of The Challenge. As such the Government of the Bahamas is proud to take a leadership role once again and to demonstrate our continued commitment to the Caribbean Challenge.
Not only will The Bahamas sign the Leaders Declaration, my Government also plans to complete several other strategic activities that will bring The Bahamas closer to achieving the goal of protecting 20% of its marine environment by 2020, based on the programme of work on protected areas under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
I am pleased to advise that The Government of The Bahamas has approved the finalization of legislation related to the Bahamas Protected Area Fund (BPAF) and it will be presented to Parliament for debate shortly. BPAF is a model piece of legislation developed with wide stakeholder consultation and input as a sustainable finance mechanism to support protected areas management in The Bahamas. The Bahamas is again proud to be one of the first CCI participating countries to advance its protected area fund.
In addition to the establishment of the BPAF, the government of the Bahamas is committed to provide nationally to its sustainable financing. In the 2013-14 fiscal year funds will set aside nationally to capitalize it.
The Government of the Bahamas notes that the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) was legally incorporated in late 2012. The CBF is another important sustainable finance mechanism that has been developed to support the goals of the CCI. Along with the Government of the Bahamas’ financial commitment, the CBF will also provide funding to the BPAF.
Since the launch of the CCI in 2008 The Bahamas has declared six additional marine protected areas. While we are proud of the increased protection provided, there are more areas in need of protection. The Government of the Bahamas intends to further extend its national parks and protected areas system by including in the existing network additional marine and coastal areas.
Mr. Chairman, we have not acted alone and our success cannot only be measured by one countries actions we need all hands on deck and we will continue to work to bring all on board. We committed ourselves to this process in 2008 and it is still a work in progress.
A key player in our national and regional efforts has been the efforts of the Nature Conservancy, we again offer our thanks and look forward as we also do, to the corporate partnerships being developed.
Our vision is to protect our marine resources as we hold them in trust. The protection of the environment is in our view directly linked to managing marine areas for the benefit of generations yet born and to ensure that local communities who have used such areas as traditional fishing grounds are integrated into the process and become key stakeholders in the evolution of our initiatives.
To achieve these goals, We need all hands on deck if, given the continued economic challenges we all face, we are to realize our goal of protecting our shared marine resources on which all economic activity in our region is based.
We remain a people inexplicably linked to our environment!
Thank you!
KMAD
THE FACE THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND SHIPS
Lady Joan Foulkes was in Japan and launched a new ship as part of the Campbell Shipping Fleet. She was accompanied by Her Husband Sir Arthur and Campbell Shipping’s President Lowell Mortimer The launch took place on Wednesday 15th May.
THE HOLIDAY PETER TURNQUEST WANTS TO ELIMINATE
The FNM’s position is that the holiday known as Whit Monday should be eliminated once 10th January becomes a public holiday. It was the one suggested by Peter Turnquest the FNM’s representative for East Grand Bahama. Well Branville McCartney, the DNA leader, who has been celebrating this past week the third anniversary of their party posted this note and picture on Facebook about the holiday which comes up tomorrow on Monday 20th May.
ne of the holidays celebrated in our country is Whit Monday, also known as Pentecost. It stems from our celebration of Whit Sunday which falls 50 days after Easter. This is a religious holiday celebrating the birth of the Christian Church dating back to Pentecost when the Holy Spirit, who empowers us, descended upon those present as the Apostle Peter gave his great sermon and 3,000 persons were added to the church. It was called “Whit” which is an abbreviation of the word “white” the colour that women wore in those days.
Whit Monday is celebrated this year on 20th May, 2013 and every benefit that is conducive to love joy and peace has already been provided for us. Accept God’s, grace, mercies and. Let us pray for each other. EXPECT THE BEST AND BE BLESSED.
BTC UPGRADE
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FRESH START IN GRAND BAHAMA
FREEPORT, Grand Bahama -- Minister for Grand Bahama the Hon. Michael Darville visits the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute's Grand Bahama campus where he congratulates the 70 young applicants on being selected for training in the Government's Fresh Start Programme.
Each student will receive a certificate at the end of the course. (BIS Photo/Vandyke Hepburn).
Statement from the Honourable. Dr. Michael Darville Fresh Start Program BTVI Campus
Thursday, May 9, 2013
The Fresh Start Program is a youth employment skills training program that provides job search skills and training to youth between the ages of 16 to 25. It is an 11 week program aimed at exposing the participants to relevant workplace experiences and instructions through a structured training and placement curriculum. The program covers a variety of personal development and job search topics, geared to afford young prospective professionals, with the resources, information and tools needed for successful employment and job retention. Upon successful completion of this program, the graduates will receive a certificate.
This program, although implemented under the previous administration, has been revamped to improve the quality of output. It is a fully funded program that gives young people a second chance to educate, excel and empower themselves to become employed or entrepreneurs. I urge the seventy (70) young persons who were selected from hundreds of applicants to take full advantage of this opportunity. Also, I would like call upon the private-public sectors to partner with the government to accommodate these young persons’ for their practical experience and welcome them with open arms.
"It takes a village to raise a child" therefore I encourage the family members and community at large to assist with giving these young persons’ a second chance and hope for the future.
I would like to commend the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, the Honourable Dr. Daniel Johnson and the Director of Youth, Mr. K. Darron Turnquest and their ministry’s efforts with the implementation of this program.
Thank you!
BRADLEY ROBERTS RESPONDS TO FNM
The following is a statement issued by the Progressive Liberal Party. Its Chairman Bradley Roberts is responding to the attacks by the Free National Movement’s leader Dr. Hubert Minnis MP and its Chair Darron Cash on the National Insurance Board report.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
16th May 2013
NIB audit findings just another FNM mess to be cleaned up by the PLP Bradley B. Roberts
National Chairman, Progressive Liberal Party
Dr. Minnis and Darron Cash can prance up and down and deflect all they want. The former Prime Minister can hide from the media all he wants,
but the simple fact is that the findings of the NIB Forensic Audit exposed just another FNM mess that the PLP is tasked to clean up.
Further, the FNM is culpable and must accept responsibility and be held accountable for this mess.
The audit findings and more importantly, the incoherent ramblings from the culpable leadership of the FNM underscore their duplicity,
complicity and leadership deficit on issues on integrity in government, accountability and stewardship – all of which strike at
the foundation of our democracy. There is no acceptance of responsibility or accountability; no public apology or gesture of
atonement on the part of the FNM leadership, only distractions and deflections away from this major failure in governance.
It was none other than Hubert Ingraham who gloated to a Nassau Guardian reporter that the NIB scandal was the making of the PLP and
washed his hands when he boasted: “I hired Cargill. I thought he did a wonderful job at NIB….We left the place [NIB] in good shape.” The jury
is now in, Mr. Ingraham and his cabinet’s stewardship of the people’s
monies were weighed in the balance and he and his cabinet were found
to be woefully wanting.
Equally embarrassing is current leader Dr. Hubert Minnis who initially stated that the board had good reasons for approving the illegal
bonuses. When the audit findings were published in the Nassau Guardian, Dr. Minnis opined to Darrold Miller that the Guardian
reporter could have erred in her story and he could find the error that would change the entire character of the report (and exonerate
the FNM). After the report was tabled in Parliament, the hapless and spineless opposition leader was again in the press crying about not
receiving a personal copy of the report. At all material times, the facts on the NIB matter remained constant but Dr. Minnis managed to
change his position three times without accepting responsibility. I have some unsolicited advice for Dr. Minnis: DO NOT CALL A CONVENTION ANY TIME SOON.
The fact is, Dr. Minnis sat around the cabinet table when the National Insurance Act was violated by the board and Director of NIB and based
on the Westminster principle of collectively responsibility, Dr. Minnis is culpable and must account to the Bahamian people.
As for Darron Cash, most Bahamians by now have dismissed him as lacking credibility. It is inexcusable and unbelievable that a
purported professional accountant would see nothing wrong with the obvious lack of corporate governance and wanton disregard for standard
accounting practices as reported in the NIB audit.
The FNM and their apologists have no moral authority to criticize the PLP over costs because it was none other than Hubert Ingraham who in
his infinite wisdom used the public treasury to finance not one but two commissions of inquiry where the FNM brought in foreign
commissioners to the tune of millions of dollars.
The PLP supports the Prime Minister’s decision to engage an independent auditor to review NIB accounts, as the process was
transparent and free of political interference, giving the process and results greater credibility.
We remain confident that under the leadership of both the Hon. Shane Gibson and Fr. James Moultrie, the appropriate measures will be put in
place to safeguard the assets of NIB and restore public trust and confidence in one of our most important institutions.
STAMPS FOR THE BAND
The Royal Bahamas Police Force Band is celebrating 120 years of existence. As part of the celebrations, there is a special stamp issue from the Post Office to commemorate the event. The unveiling of the stamps was done by the Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade and the Minister responsible for Posts Glenys Hanna Martin on Thursday 16th May. The photo is from the Facebook page of the Minister.
POET SULI BREAKS
The young British poet Suli Breaks is catching the attention of the teenagers. Perhaps it’s worth a listen in these video poetry presentations.
Girls are like Crepes
80s 90s baby
YEAR IN REVIEW FOR ELIZABETH
Ryan Pinder, the MP for Elizabeth reports on the year just gone.
TRIBUTE TO PERCY FRANCIS
A tribute in pictures and song to Percy “Vola” Francis, the legendary leader of the Saxon Superstars Junkanoo group.
MITCHELL PAYS CALL ON LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN BARBADOS
Fred Mitchell, Foreign Minister, renewed acquaintances with the Leader of the Opposition in Barbados Mia Mottley at the
House of Assembly in Bridgetown on Saturday 18th May.
CONSTANZA ADDERLEY MARRIES DON BOURNE
The wedding of Constanza Adderley and Don Bourne took place at the Christ Church Cathedral on Saturday 1st April. She is a PLP Vice Chair and a political activist in her own right, the great granddaughter of former Senator Dame Albertha Isaacs.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writing from Freeport uses a quote this week popularized by Debbie Seymour in Freeport that in the eyes of a slave another slave is never qualified. It comes at the end of an article this week in response to Rick Lowe who is a critic of the government irrationally so and who without knowing the facts attacked the government’s immigration procedures.
I know Rick Lowe must play his role, in Bahamian political society, and maintain his image as an ardent critic of the PLP but must he do so at the expense of any integrity he may have?
The Freeport News published a letter, with the bold headline “DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION EMBARRASSING US AGAIN?” Rick Lowe’s name was written at the end, indicating that it was authored by him, so for the purposes of this short article I will give him credit for its contents. “Here we go again” is how Rick started his writing, giving the immediate impression (to someone who doesn’t know any better, especially outsiders) that all immigration officers do bad things all the time which embarrasses the nation. As it turned out his topic was about the department going out to a jobsite, on Paradise Island, in response to a tip called into them and questioning a female foreigner found gainfully employed (in the country) as to her immigration status. Nothing (I submit) would have been wrong with this action, taken by the immigration department, as far as “Rick Lowe” and his kind were concerned, had she not been a foreigner hailing from our neightbour to the north. I would venture to say, and daringly so, that had the person been an African female (say from Haiti for instance) Rick Lowe would have been giving the immigration department high fives for their vigilance but, because the lady was who she was, immigration’s actions within the law (I might add), as far as Rick Lowe is concerned, was an embarrassment? We, in the public, are always being called upon to assist law enforcement agencies, in the execution of their duties, by reporting irregularities if we spot them; immigration officers were responding to one such tip and from the details I’ve seen printed in the newspapers, and from eyewitness reports, the officers conducted themselves, for the most part, within the usual perimeters set by the department; they approached and found the lady in the middle of a tour and, contrary to the accusations against them, they in fact stood around and waited, I am told, until the tour was complete before questioning her. She had no work permit; wasn’t a Bahamian national and couldn’t account for her working status; she admitted, I am told, to not having a work permit so, consequently, the officers did what they are obliged to do; they took her into custody for further investigation. After discovering that her permit had been denied but was under appeal they released her; what’s wrong with those series of events Mr. Rick Lowe? This is what immigration departments, all over the world, do; This is the same treatment you- Rick Lowe-would get if you were to be found working in Florida without the proper approvals; you would immediately be taken to the Chrome Detention Center for processing and then deported and never be able to set your feet on American soil again; the two countries are on the same page here.
But I ask, how were we embarrassed Rick Lowe? Are we not obliged, by law, to apprehend illegal immigrants where ever they are found working here illegally-even if it’s at Atlantis-or for simply overstaying the time given them for visits by the department of immigration? Let’s call a spade a spade here; I am convinced that Rick Lowe would not have had a problem had the apprehended been, as I said earlier, an “African” or even an “African American” instead of who she was; this, I submit, is the slide rule by which these racists measure their criticisms of “majority-rule” governments in the Bahamas.
The lady had no excuse for not carrying her immigration work permit (whether it was valid or had expired); she should have explained, to the officers, that her work permit was being processed under appeal; at least her honest explanation would have given the immigration team, on the scene, a clearer understanding of her status; the matter, am sure, would have been handled quite differently.
There is no embarrassment here of the sort that Rick Lowe has suggested; I feel he doesn’t think much of these COLOURED civil servants but he should, sometimes, give them the benefit of the doubt and be a little more respectful of these officers and give them some credit for using common sense while executing their duties. “A modicum of respect”, he said, was due Atlantis because Atlantis is not known for having a reputation for breaking the law; I would ask Rick only this: “what does “not having a reputation for breaking the law” have to do with this situation?”
I am highly curious about something however; the Hon. Minister (when standing on a point of order in the Hon. House of Assembly on May 1st with respect to something the idiot FNM leader said in his contribution to the debate on the making of January 10th a holiday) said that if a person leaves the country while their permit was under appeal then returns, claiming on arrival to be a VISITOR, what (he asked Minnis) was immigration to do if the person was found working afterwards? I certainly gathered from the Minister’s statement, and his pointed question to Dr. Minnis, that the lady in question-yeah the same incident that Rick Lowe says was an embarrassment to us-in fact left the country in the meantime while her appeal was in progress then returned, sometime later, and lied to the immigration officers saying that she was a visitor. If she did in fact stop working and return to her native country that would have constituted the end to that particular work permit cycle. Now when she would have decided to return to Nassau, what status would she have returned as? A visitor or as an employee of Atlantis? If she returned as a VISITOR her passport would have been stamped as such and she should not have gone to work. When her appeal would have been concluded and if she were given permission to go to work she would have been required to return to her country to undo the visitor status and then return as a legitimate employee of Atlantis. She cannot come to this country as a VISITOR and then go to work; what immigration should have done was to deport her behind for breaking the law while working without permission; these people take too much for granted and they think they can blackmail us into submission; we all know the blackmailing tricks they use so I need not spell them out for you do I? There are always two sides to every story, Rick Lowe, and in many cases there are three.
The minister, cognizant of all the facts am sure, released a statement in which he praised and encouraged the officers; Rick Lowe read it, I am sure, and would have noted where the Hon. Minister pointed out that certain of them (businessmen) admitted to not knowing the facts of the incident yet they proceeded, post haste, to berate and ridicule the officers. If they (the officers) hadn’t responded to the tip, called into them, there would have been more others who would now be complaining about their non-action and so they are dammed for doing their job and would have been dammed if didn’t.
I would urge immigration, as well as all other law enforcement officers, to remember that when they go out on these investigative details they should always bear in mind that they represent the government and peoples of our country; this we hope would motivate them to do their very best to conduct themselves in a manner becoming a country which recognizes the right of the individual to all freedoms under our constitution. We do not encourage, nor do we condone the use of brute force nor should we tolerate threats and intimidation on their part; we are indeed a democracy of laws, where the rule of law reigns supreme.
Please ponder this quotation and think where your mindset may fit in its meaning, Rick Lowe: “In the eyes of a SLAVE another SLAVE is never ever qualified” unquote (author unknown at this time).
Thank you Forrester J Carroll J.P Freeport, Grand Bahama May2013.
IN PASSING
Another of Sir Milo’s Sons Dies
Basil Butler, one of the sons of Sir Milo Butler, has reportedly died in Nassau on Saturday 18th May. His niece Loretta is the MP for Long Island and the former Minister of State in the Social Services Ministry.
The Film Industry In GBI
(This note was posted on Facebook by the Bahamas Film Commission on Thursday 16th May)
The film industry has become the area of focus as aspiring film producer/actor Nathaniel Lewis introduced his upcoming moving to Grand Bahama.
Frapper Avec Amour, the film created and produced by Lewis, is said to have been inspired by true-life events. READ MORE: http://tinyurl.com/cja2ay9
Fisheries Talks In The D.R.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led a delegation to the Dominican Republic to continue talks on technical cooperation and fishing on May. The talks are near completion and should help significantly to protect our fishing grounds.
Four New Canons In The Anglican Church
The Anglican Bishop Laish Boyd appeared at St. Agnes Church in Grants Town, New Providence last Sunday to speak to the congregation about the suspension of its rector. The suspension was reported two weeks ago on this site. He said that the matter should remain within the church and that members should not discuss it. The Bishop has also reportedly announced that four new Canons of the Cathedral have been appointed; they are Rev. Fr. Crosley Walkine, Rector of St, Matthew’s; Rev. Sebastian Campbell, Rector of St. Gregory’s; Rev. Peter Scott, Rector of Holy Spirit; and Rev Fr. Norman Lightbourne, Rector of Holy Cross.
Caribbean PMs To Meet Biden And Chinese President
Prime Minister Perry Christie of The Bahamas will join his fellow Heads of Government in Port Of Spain Trinidad for a meeting with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on 28th May. He will return to Trinidad for a meeting with the Chines President Xi on 2nd June.
Farreno Ferguson Makes Fun Of Us
Interesting the talents Bahamians display. He is a Bishop’s son and photographer but also a great comedian as it turns out.
Chris Brown Sings
He is an absolute and incorrigible reprobate and a thug to boot but he sings well.
Tottenham Hotspurs Will Play The Reggae Boyz In Nassau
The Thomas A Robinson stadium will be the scene of a top notch soccer match on 23rd May when the Tottenham Hotspurs of the English Premier League will play the Jamaican National Soccer team called the Reggae Boyz. This is part of the effort to promote the country’s sports tourism platform and we are promised that there will be more of this kind of usage of the stadium putting it on the world stage.
Demetra Maynard Graduates Well Mom, Allyson Gibson, the Honourable Senator and Attorney General and Dad, Maxwell, the Businessman, are proud of their daughter as he is now a Harvard Graduate; she is the beautiful young lady in the middle. Congratulations.
Duane Miller new head of the Elks
The Improved Benevolent Order of Elks of The World in The Bahamas has elected a new leader after a generation of leadership by Winston Churchill Rolle. The new leader of the Elks, known as the State President, is Duane Miller, a public servant who works at the BGIS for The Bahamas government. He is also a well known member of the guard room at St. Agnes.
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AN OUTREACH IN THE MIDDLE EAST: Fred Mitchell, the Foreign Minister, was in the capital of Qatar last week from 21stMay to 23rd May. While there he was the guest of the government of Qatar at the annual Doha Forum co-sponsored with the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). The forum discussed trends on enriching the economies of the Middle East but its formulations on entrepreneurship, on youth unemployment, on security, on the digital divide, were all of general application. More importantly it was yet another opportunity sponsored by a Middle Eastern government with friendly relations with the west to sponsor The Bahamas and its own outreach for capital to an area where wealth is vast and some of it looking for a safe harbor. Our photo of the week then is that of the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Doha Forum with the Qatari Ambassador to Washington. The two held talks about Bahamian Qatari relations and promised that diplomatic relations would soon be established between the two countries.
The photo was taken on Tuesday 21st May in Doha.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
The wise man built his house upon the rock… The foolish man built his house upon the sand.. And the rain came tumbling down… So build your house upon the Lord Jesus Christ…
Just before the rush hour traffic was beginning in Nassau, the Met Office, issued a weather alert for the northern Bahamas, covering Abaco, Grand Bahama, New Providence, the Berry’s and Bimini on Tuesday 21st May. There would be severe thunderstorms and lashing rain and it was likely to last until 9 p.m. of so the warning said. The reality was worse than that.
The rain did not stop until the next morning. While there was some rain in parts of those other islands, the thunderstorm, the brunt of the severe weather came in New Providence, where the capital city Nassau is located. It ranged from 16 inches to 8 inches, depending upon who you talked to, and that deluge came down in six hours or so. When one considers that the total annual rainfall for The Bahamas is like 45inches per year, that tells you that a hell of lot of water fell overnight in Nassau. We show some of the pictures of the discomfort, dislocation and damage that the water caused.
The House of Assembly met the next day on Wednesday 22nd May and no doubt there is going to be a full package of rescues designed to help the disadvantaged, many of whom were caught with no insurance and so will have to bear the brunt of replacing furniture, cars, televisions, food, refrigerators, from their own resources already hard pressed by unemployment and low wages.
The floods which left the areas like Pinewood, Yamacraw, Elizabeth Estates, Fox Hill, under three or more feet of water were exacerbated by the fact there was a spring tide and so there was simply no place for the water to go. The water had largely receded by the next day, with the population now to pick up the pieces. The old people in The Bahamas say: “ When it’s not one thing, it’s the next”.
The tendency of the human mind in these conditions is to see the worst and to get extremely overwrought and overwhelmed. Talking to many of the victims, they spoke in apocalyptic terms, like the world was coming to an end. Plenty of talk about these being the last days, and how they had never seen anything like this. Of course, that latter statement is true but what is more likely is that they simply do not remember. Sixteen years ago there was a similar cloudburst in the eastern part of New Providence where 12 inches of rain fell overnight ruining people’s homes. No one seemed to remember. No doubt many will be screaming climate change, and while we agree that climate change is an issue, the fact is floods of this nature happened in The Bahamas before over the past one thousand years. People have simply not been around to see or experience them and there is of course no historical record of it.
One only has to know from our geographical and geological history that in 25,000 b c there was an ice age and The Bahamas was a larger land mass than there is today because the waters were frozen around us.
The other issue is how helpless people suddenly become. They begin to see everything wrong, nothing works. They forget that just a few hours before the rains came, they were in the middle of mental angst over the carnage on the streets during the Whit Monday weekend, when many people were shot and four people died. Some rumour about a gang war amongst the Haitian immigrant’s children. The society forgot that it was ringing its hands over that just before the clouds burst.
Bottom line is that life goes on and there is not much you can do to stop the rain, nor the floods, nor the spring tide, nor the sunshine for that matters. But we can do something to stop the mosquitos that will come after the rains. We can fix the damn drains. We can tidy up the place. Those things we have control over. As for the rest, consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.
Number of hits for the week up to Saturday 25th May 2013 up to midnight: 123,297
Number of hits for the month of May up to Saturday 25th May 2013 up to midnight:452,220
Number of hits for the year 2013 up to Saturday 25th May 2013 up to midnight:2,961,102
These are a sample of the photos shown mainly on Facebook of the effects of the cloud burst over New Providence on the evening of Tuesday 21st May. Some 16 inches of rainfall are said to have fallen overnight in some parts of the island.
DEATH AND DESTRUCTION ON KEMP ROAD
It sounded like everyone knew the story. The video we show below from the newscast certainly reads like a Hollywood novel: bang, bang shoot ‘em up. It was the Whit Monday holiday weekend and it is one of those that the younger ones are not likely to forget. It started out with two dead in Kemp Road and then others shot in Nassau Village. Police men in their dark glasses showed up on the scenes and pronounced for the public what had happened and then said they had gotten their men. The story is going around town that the Zoe Pound Haitian gang is at war with itself. There is no doubt that this is a consequence of the failure of successive Bahamian governments to deal with the issue of immigration. Amongst the issues is the fact that the policy of choice by the Pindling generation of excluding those who were born here from citizenship has left us a disaster in our social life that we at once comprehend but cannot seem to make the leap which is necessary to solve it. Then came the marches in the streets by the village clown Rodney Moncur. His solution is to hang everyone. Never mind the rule of law. One thing about this fellow is that he never lets consistency stand in the way of a political opportunity. So the pictures show him marching in the streets, with the usual irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric. It will accomplish nothing, save an irritant to the authorities. He seesaws so much that you can’t keep up with him. The day before, he took the sensible position that Bahamians were getting far too agitated about the fact that young Haitians in The Bahamas were celebrating their flag day in the country. He did not stay on point for long. Bottom line though is to repeat what we said here in this space last week: the government must be apoplectic over the apparent failure of the saturation patrols which was supposed to damp down the violence of the type which played out on our streets during the Whit Monday weekend. Maybe, given all the carnage now connected with it, the FNM might have its way and have the holiday removed. Don’t be surprised, this country often acts that way, the way Churchill often said the Americans act, by doing all the wrong things first before finally getting it right.
(video from Facebook to be added)
DINNER WITH THE JAPANESE AMBASSADOR
Fred Mitchell MP, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, is shown with the Ambassador to Qatar of Japan at his home. The Minister was hosted to dinner during his recent visit to Qatar on Wednesday 22nd May and on the same day he paid a visit to the TV station Al Jazeera which is owned by the Government of Qatar.
AN UNSEEMLY ATTACK ON LESTER TURNQUEST
At the Doha Forum one of the main items for discussion was how to regulate content on the internet, particularly since there is a propensity for rumours and other destructive chit chat to make its way there with no effective way to shut it down or to demand some accountability. There is no institutional New York Times to go up against and make them fact check or if worse comes to worse to sue. That is what Lester Turnquest, the former Member of Parliament was up against last week, when the brother of his former partner in a financial services company in The Bahamas who was murdered went public with a video posted on YouTube which found its way to Facebook making an accusation of a serious nature against Mr. Turnquest. The man who made the allegation could not do so in The Bahamas where the libel laws are quite strict so he chose to do it in the United States and in a forum where there could be no effective answer. We think that the first thing for Mr. Turnquest to do is to use the mechanisms for controlling abuse on the various pages to have the material taken down. Secondly, it may be wise to make a formal complaint against the individual here in The Bahamas. We have seen how one person has already been charged this year with an intentional libel under the criminal law and this allegation falls into that category. There is a difficulty when a man grieving for his brother goes too far and makes allegations which are unfounded, untrue and smack of being malicious. In fact all the evidence suggests that the deceased while he was alive led an exciting life which may have led to his demise. There was someone tried for the murder and acquitted and at no time was Mr. Turnquest considered even remotely a suspect in the death. To suggest otherwise is simply wicked and malicious. When you go to YouTube, or Facebook it does not stay in the realm of gossip but becomes clothed in legitimacy. It must therefore be stopped dead in its tracks.
RYAN PINDER SPEAKS ABOUT FINANCIAL SERVICES
The apologists at the Chamber of Commerce, had a spokesman from the government that maybe they will listen to. Ryan Pinder, the Minister for Financial Services, spoke to their monthly meeting and used the opportunity to seek the promotion of the expansion of the financial services sector in The Bahamas. Not a moment too soon what with the European Union beginning yet another push to blacklist countries like The Bahamas for being in the financial services business even though the EU’s push is being done with the height of hypocrisy. The British are so hyped about this that their Prime Minister has now ordered all their territories to get with programme or one supposes they will intervene from the imperial parliament to put an end to it. The Bahamas needs to step up to the plate and defend the sector. Tax competition is free trade. People have a right to privacy and the developed world is simply wrong, wrong wrong on this point. Mr. Pinder also took the opportunity to defend the policiesof thegovernment on immigration as progressive. He said that he and the Immigration Ministry were working together to ensure that the policies fit the models that Financial Services as a ministry was seeking to promote.
The photo shows Mr. Pinder on the day he spoke with the Chamber. Chamber president Chester Cooper is shown at fourth from left standing next to the Minister.
OPPOSTION PARTY TAKEN LEAVE OF THEIR SENSES?
Opposition Spokesman Hubert Chipman thinks that he is on a good wicket. He went to the press on Thursday 25th May to demand in his words that the government “come clean” on the appointment of Dr. Elliston Rahming to the post of Ambassador to Washington. The question has to be asked: come clean on what? Dr. Rahming is in his post in Washington as the Head of Mission of The Bahamas and as the Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States. He will head The Bahamas’ delegation to the OAS General Assembly in Guatemala next month. The work of the embassy goes on and there is no evidence to suggest that there is anything untoward going on except the usual bureaucratic delay. The interesting thing is this is the same Opposition spokesman who praised Dr. Rahming from the highest heaven and now is seeking to sully the man’s reputation now that it is politically convenient. It is also interesting to note that the FNM’’s release came on the same day as a really cocked up story of half truths and lies by the down market Punch went to press. So clearly you have The Punch and perhaps some of the Bahamian public officials who may only know half the story feeding a set of self-serving lies to the press so that it was the pretext for their press release. The Opposition should cut it out. There are no legs in this story. Their mantra is as usual: never let the truth interfere with a good story.
BANK LENDING: A WORK IN PROGRESS
The banking sector has taken a drubbing the past few weeks with the pronounced failure of the programme which they designed with the government to help people who were behind in their mortgages. The government set aside some 10 million dollars to make the programme work. They designed it on the say so of the banking sector that approximately 1000 people would be helped. Turned out by the government’s own estimates and mouth the programme failed to help anyone and then the Prime Minister later announced that maybe four or five had been helped. Last week, the banks trotted out their finest spokesman in the person of the country head of the Royal Bank of Canada Nat Beneby to say the real reason the thing failed was become unemployment is high and people simply have no income to pay. That may well be but there is a simpler approach that is awaiting this . That approach would simply allow the courts in equity to re write the contracts and make the payments lower and make it inequitable for someone’s home to be taken away from them. Simple as that, then there will be no need for apologies or explanations at all. Greg Moss, the MP for Marco City, has been hawking this idea but not that he is out one supposes it will get no traction.
RAHMING HEADS OAS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Bahamian Ambassador in Washington, D.C. Dr. Elliston Rahming receives Mexican Ambassador Joel Hernandez (right) during a courtesy call at The Bahamas Embassy in Washington, D.C. on May 23, 2013. Also pictured is Dr. José De Jesus Orozco Henríquez, President and Mexican candidate for re-election to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Among matters discussed were scholarship opportunities for Bahamians at various Mexican universities.
May 24, 2013
Ambassador Dr. Elliston Rahming has been chosen to lead the Bahamian delegation to the Organization of American States’ 43rd annual General Assembly in Antigua, Guatemala, June 3 -7, 2013.
The General Assembly brings together some 500 diplomats and delegates from the 35 countries that constitute the OAS as well as non-member observer delegates.
At this year’s high-powered hemispheric parley some 100 items are on the agenda among them small business development, the elimination of all forms of racism and discrimination, hemispheric safety and security and protection of senior citizens.
The delegation will also include Ms. Kimberley Lam, Alternate Representative of The Bahamas Permanent Mission to the OAS and Mr. Mikhail Bullard, Foreign Affairs Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Also at this year’s summit delegates will vote to fill vacancies on such important organs as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
RHODA JACKSON PRESENTS CREDENTIALS IN GENEVA
SWITZERLAND - Ambassador Rhoda M. Jackson presented her credentials to His Excellency Mr. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Director General of the United Nations Office in Geneva, accrediting her as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva.
In the brief ceremony, the Director General welcomed Ambassador Jackson to Geneva, underscoring that the Geneva post was an extremely active one as critical global issues are addressed by the various Specialized Agencies resident in Geneva. He noted that her past experience at The Bahamas Mission to the United Nations, New York should serve her well in this post.
Ambassador Jackson thanked His Excellency for the warm welcome and noted that the opening of the Bahamas Permanent Mission was not only a milestone for her but also for the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Given the importance of Geneva, particularly with respect to the seat of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Ambassador reiterated the significance of The Bahamas' presence as it seeks to advance The Bahamas' accession to the WTO and follow closely other matters of interest to the Government of The Bahamas.
The Ambassador was accompanied by Third Secretary, Granville Butler. The Bahamas Permanent Mission opened its doors in Geneva on Tuesday 21 May, 2013.
Prior to her appointment to Geneva, Ms. Jackson had been serving as Consul-General of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Miami since 2011. Before that, she was Minister Counsellor at the Bahamas Embassy to the United States and Alternative Representative at the Bahamas Permanent Mission to the Organization of American States from the end of 2007 to 2011. She was Charge d’Affaires at the Bahamas Embassy in Washington DC from February to November 2007.
A career diplomat, Ms. Jackson served as Counsellor at the Bahamas Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 2002 to 2004, and as First Secretary from 2000 to 2001. She served as First Secretary at the Bahamas Embassy in Washington from 1997 to 2000, and concurrently as Alternative Representative at the Bahamas Permanent Mission to the Organization of American States. She was also Second Secretary at the Bahamas High Commission, London from 1993 to 1997.
Ms. Jackson joined the Foreign Service in 1993, after working as a teacher from 1984 to 1988. She has represented the Bahamas in numerous meetings of the Commonwealth, United Nations and other international fora.
Ms. Jackson was born on 5 March, 1960 in Nassau, the Bahamas. She has a B.A. in French from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada (1982). She is single.
TURKISH SCHOLARSHIPS
The Bahamas High Commission in London has posted on its website a scholarship opportunity for a Bahamian to study in Turkey. This is part of the pitch that Turkey has to get the World Exposition in their country in 2020.
The bill to make Majority Rule Day a public holiday was passed in the Senate on 15th May. Allyson Maynard Gibson, granddaughter of a suffragette and a freedom fighter for The Bahamas spoke about the importance of the bill. Here is how she began: “This Bill will provide annually a day to be set aside to tell our stories, remind our people who we are and acknowledge our heritage. That Day, Majority Rule Day, will be a national holiday.Like the Randol Fawkes Labour Day, making January 10th a national holiday to celebrate Majority Rule is the right thing to do.The timing is right – last year was the 50th Anniversary of the Suffragette Movement and this year the 40th Anniversary of Independence.Sir Arthur Foulkes, the Governor General, has said that Majority Rule Day this is the most important day since the abolition of slavery in the Colony of The Bahamas on August 1st, 1834 The annual celebration of this day is the opportunity to become “One Bahamas”.
Eherd Cunningham,the former Financial Secretary, has died. He had by-pass surgery earlier in the last week but sadly did not recover from the operation. He died overnight on Saturday 25th May.
BRADLEY ROBERTS ANSWERS FNM ON THE WEATHER
Minnis and FNM all double talk and hypocritical on storm
Bradley Roberts National Chairman
Progressive Liberal Party
It is interesting that Dr. Minnis could fix his mouth to criticize thePrime Minister, the Met Office and NEMA in the wake of the thunderstorm that struck New Providence on Tuesday of this weekresulting in flooding in parts of the Island.
For those with short memories like Dr. Minnis, I remind all and sundrythat it was none others Dr. Hubert Minnis, a cabinet Minister in the FNM government, who knew that the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA)has discontinued weather monitoring in Grand Bahama as early as December 2009, but could not see his way to open a Met Office in GrandBahama to protect the health and safety of residents of the Northern Bahamas. Pleas from the then opposition PLP fell on deaf ears.
This willful negligence contributed to extensive property damage andthe needless loss of life when a Tornado struck Grand Bahama on the
fateful morning of the 29th March 2010 at around 11:20 am. Reports
later revealed that the Container Port received word of the tornado at
around 11:17, just three minutes before the storm made land fall at
around 11:20.
Minnis did not drop the ball in this case, he never accepted responsibility for the safety and welfare of the people of Freeport
and even if he did, he did not find his voice to speak up for the people in Grand Bahama. Minnis was not slow to act on behalf of the people of Grand Bahama, he did not act all to their peril.
To add insult to injury, the FNM left office in May 2012 having failedto correct that situation. It was the incoming PLP government who opened a Met Office in Grand Bahama. Dr. Minnis now finds it politically convenient to open his mouth and cast blame and aspersions
on the government.
With this teriible track record, Dr. Minnis lacks the credibility to
point the finger in this instance as he comes across as a hypocrite.
Dr. Minnis was dead wrong when he suggested that the Met Office and
NEMA dropped the ball because the record clearly showed that both the Met Dept. and NEMA communicated storm warnings to the media in a timely manner and often.
The record will also show that the relevant government agencies were functioning before and immediately after the storm with BEC
reconnecting 99% of affected homes within 24 hours of the storm’s
passing so the government was not slow to act.
It is regrettable however, that some media outlets did not report the weather alerts from the Met Office with the same level of importance
and urgency as they report storm warnings and severe weather systems
during the hurricane season. This, in the view of the PLP, is an improvement opportunity going forward.
CANCER SOCIETY BALL
The Cancer Society held its annual ball on Saturday 25th May at the Sheraton in Cable Beach, New Providence. The photos by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services show Prime Minister Perry Christie and Mrs. Christie enjoying the ball and the sister of Fred Mitchell, the MP, with her husband Carlton.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes from Freeport, excerpting a quote from the Head of the National Rifle Association in The Bahamas and says a word to the wise is sufficient.
I thought it would be useful, this week, to re-print two paragraph excerpts from a newspaper report of a press conference held with the newly elected (or appointed) president of the National Rifle Association (NRA) of America recently. I DO NOT take this decision to stir up any mischief but to simply remind those of you who think (for one minute) that you are SPECIAL NEGROS to think again. Mr. Jim Porter, who replaced Mr. Lapierre as the new President of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), told Reporters, America and the World, when making his acceptance speech on 5th May, the following;
“I am very proud to be taking the lead here at the NRA. We need to really buckle down and strap on our best arguments to defend what is our God-given rights. No more Northern folk trying to take away what is rightfully ours. I will NOT stand by and let some LIBERAL-ELITISTS try to ruin what has made this country (America) great, especially a LIBERAL of (you know) A DIFFERENT BREED.
When asked to explain what he meant by the phase “A DIFFERENT BREED” he opined the following;
“I don’t have to clarify; you know GALL DAM well what I mean; in fact, it’s only a matter of time before we can OWN COLOURED PEOPLE (meaning BLACK PEOPLE) AGAIN. They sure as hell won’t be our leaders. It’s out-right embarrassing. The war of the Northern Aggression made it all possible, and you be best to know it’s all gonna change back. I’ll be on the front lines making sure it happens. I don’t want my grandkids growing up taking orders from a COLOURED (BLACK) MAN. It’s OUR GOD-GIVEN RIGHTS TO KEEP THEM (meaning BLACK PEOPLE)) as PROPERTY and KEEP THEM IN LINE” unquote.
To all of you who think you are SPECIAL NEGROS, as I said in my opening statement; think again. The man’s statement says it all; you don’t need any FOOTNOTES from me about what his statements mean so, as the WORD of GOD says: “SELAH;”- “THINK ON THESE THINGS.”
Thank you. Forrester J Carroll J.P Freeport, Grand Bahama May 2013.
Gary Christie, the brother of the Prime Minister writes to the press and The Tribune in particular, demanding an apology:
The Tribune Limited
c/o letters@tribune.net
sbrown@tribunemedia.net
Dear Tribune Editor:
Your staff reporter Sancheska Brown made an egregious error in her front page story in your May 16 edition, “Christie: FNM has no moral authority to accuse PLP”. She stated that it was “alleged that Minister of National Insurance Shane Gibson awarded contracts to PLP supporters and that he hired a firm, run by Mr. Christie’s brother to conduct the NIB forensic audit”. The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas has three brothers including myself. One brother is deceased, and the other is so far removed from the realm of forensic accounting that your writer could only be pointing at me. I am not an accountant neither do I have any association with a firm engaged in that activity.
Your reporter may have erred in good faith, but my brother Perry is the top public official in the country who guards his integrity carefully. Accordingly, the assertion in your daily that one of his Ministers awarded his (PM) brother with a lucrative contract is scurrilous and untrue.
On behalf of the Prime Minister and his two brothers, I request a front page apology from your newspaper for printing this untruth. I thank you for your attention to this matter.
Yours truly, Gary Christie
IN PASSING
Een Colebrooke’s New Daughter Born
A daughter was born to the wife of Een Colebrooke, the former Bahamar executive, at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau on Tuesday 21st May. The wife Sharice and daughter Iliana Willow are well.
Rev Charles Saunders Retires
Reverend Charles Saunders has retired as Pastor of Salem Baptist Church and leader of the Salem Union of Baptists in The Bahamas after 39 years. His final service took place at Salem in Taylor Street on Sunday 19th May. He is to be succeeded as pastor by his nephew Rev. Hewter Rolle.
Rev. Jason Roberts Is A New Pastor Congratulations
Rev. Jason Roberts, a prominent civic activist from Sandy Point, Abaco. Has a happy day in his history. He was ordained Senior Pastor of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Sandy Point. The ordination took place at St. John’s Native Baptist Church on Friday 24th May by Bishop Michael Symonette, Superintendent of the St. John’s Native Particular Baptist Church.
Primary School Child Of The Year For 2013
Lauryn Rolle (right holding trophy) won the title of the best primary school student in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas at the 17th Primary School Student of the Year Foundation Awards held at the Golden Gates Worldwide Outreach Ministries.
Pictured is L-R (a t back) are: Ms. Collette Knowles, President of the Pan Hellenic Council-Bahamas; Mr. Ricardo P. Deveaux, President, Bahamas Primary School Student of the Year Foundation; Ms. Dominique Thompson, Bank of The Bahamas representative; Jared Fitzgerald, 2010 Winner; The Hon. Jerome Fitzgerald, Minister of Education Science and Technology; Nadja Simon, 2012 Winner; Teneille Curtis, 2003 Winner; George Zonicle, 2006 Winner; Mrs. C.C. Lafleur, Co-Chairman of the Awards Committee and Mr. Vandyke Pratt, Chairman; Bahamas Primary School Student of the Year Foundation
Front row (l-r) are: Khes Adderley, 2009 Winner and LaurynRolle, the 2013 Bahamas Primary School Student of the Year.
Eleven year-old LaurynRolle of St Thomas Moore Primary School, daughter of Pia Glover, was declared the Bahamas Primary School Student of Year Foundation’s ‘2013 Student of the Year’. Lauryn won the award over 122 other outstanding students from primary schools throughout The Bahamas. The prestigious title came with a $5000.00 scholarship donated by Bank of The Bahamas and a computer courtesy Dr. Jonathan Ford.
The dynamic student, who is the great-granddaughter of legendary educator, Theodore Grant Glover, has already achieved many accolades and milestones in her short lifespan. She was overcome with tears as she realized that it was her attributes being described by Mrs. Jacqueline Bethel, Chairman of the Judging Panel.
After composing herself, she stated, “World’s cannot describe how I feel. I have awaited three years for this to happen. This has never happened at my school, we have had a third, and a second, but this is the first time we have won.”
Minister of Education, Science and Technology, The Honorable Jerome Fitzgerald was the keynote speaker at the ceremony and provided a wealth of advice, initially to the parents of the honourees and then to the students. Minister Fitzgerald told parents that their child represented the best and the brightest in The Bahamas and that they are all winners.
“There are approximately 6,000 grade 6 students in the Bahamas. The students on stage represent 2% of that number,” the Minister proclaimed. He encouraged parents to embrace their children whatever the outcome of the competition and not complain.
The Minister told the honourees, that this is only one of many honours and awards they will receive if they stay focused, committed to excellence and worked hard in school, remain humble and most importantly honour God. “He has given you all of these extraordinary talents. Use them to honor him,” he said.
Minister Fitzgerald also took the opportunity to share with the audience a new initiative which he has implemented which is expected to impact education in a significant way.
“You have often heard me quoting words of Prime Minister Christie, when he declared that, “it is education not money that is the cure to poverty and likewise education, not jails, the solution to crime.” I strongly believe this and this is the reason I felt compelled to bring all of the major political parties to the table to collaborate on ‘A Shared Vision for Education 2030’ – a plan that transcends politics and has the Bahamian people’s interest at heart. We expect that at the end of our deliberations around this time next year, this plan will provide almost every child with an education which enables him/her to contribute to the development of The Bahamas.”
The Minister’s announcement was well received by the crowd who showed their approval with a loud applause. He also thanked Mr. Ricardo Deveaux, President and Founder of the awards programme for his vision in establishing the programme in 1996 which has been embraced by many persons who have given it their unwavering support.
Allie Pinder of Spanish Wells All-Age School was the Second Runner-up. She received a $3000.00 scholarship from Purity Bakery Limited and a laptop from Customs Computer.
Vashti Darling of St. John’s College’s won the first Primary School Student of the Year title in 1996. . Since then eight other students from independent schools have won and seven from public schools.
The winners have hailed from New Providence from Abaco, Grand Bahama and Eleuthera.
During the ceremony held on Saturday, 18th May, 2013, a surprise congratulatory video message from Anna Albury, the 2011 Student of the Year and the only blind person to win the award was played. Anna is currently studying at a school for the deaf and Blind in St. Augustine’s, Florida.
Since its inception the awards programme has awarded over $800,000 in scholarships. Fifty-two of the 123 students in 2013 were awarded scholarships.
Aubrey Curling Dies
One of the early pioneers in the telecommunications business in The Bahamas, the General Manager of Batelco which brought long distance dialing to The Bahamas, and expanded the telephone company with Bahamian hands throughout the country, has died. He was 77 years old at the time of his death.
Good News From Bahamar
Maybe the frosty and strained relationship between the Bahamar developers and the Bahamas government will be easing following the announcement in Asia that the developers have found a world class operator for the casino which is supposed to be part of the new Cable Beach development. This has been a sticking point between the government and the developers.
BEC Means “ Bring Enough Candles ”?
As the rains came tumbling down last Tuesday, someone posted this on Facebook which shows the low esteem in which the power company is held. It of course means Bahamas Electricity Corporation but a clever fellow said it actually means “ Bring Enough Candles”.
Congratulations To Jonathan Farquharson
The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced their annual All-Region awards this past week: Congratulations to Jonathan Farquharson who received the most all-region citations with four. 100m; 200; 4 by1 relay and long jump. He is the son of civic and political activist in Grand Bahama Allyson Marie Smith. A proud and hard working mother.
Nicholas And His Boys At Play
Well to be young, gifted, black is a good and joyful thing as this picture of happy young Bahamians shows and that is how it should be, not gunning one another down in the streets but having fun. The photo was displayed on the Facebook page of former Progressive Young Liber Chair Keenan Johnson. The centre of the photo is Nicholas Mitchell, nephew of Fred Mitchell, the Member of Parliament.
McKeeva Bush Did Not Regain The Premiership
The former Premier McKeeva Bush of the Cayman Islands who was ousted last year after the British arrested him on corruption charges is back in the House of Assembly in the Cayman after general elections there on 22nd May. The result was not what he wanted. He is back at the head of his party the United Democratic Party (UDP) but not with the majority. He got only 4 seats. The woman who ousted him in the post of Premier Juliana O’Connor Connolly is back, having lost her party nomination, as an independent. The major share though goes to the Opposition party Peoples Progressive Movement (PPM) headed by Alden McLaughlin with 9 seats out of the 18 member House. The prediction is the opposition will be asked to form the government but will need the support of others to govern. The British are accused throughout their territories of trying to destabilize nationalist parties in those territories.
Short Notes
Franklin Butler Jr., cousin of MP Loretta Butler and grandson of Sir Milo Butler, CEO of Milo Butler and Sons Ltd. married Eugena Burrows at a ceremony at Evangelistic Temple on Collins Avenue on Saturday 25th May. Amongst those attending were President of the Senate Sharon Wilson and Mr. Franklin Wilson; Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Butler Turner and former Deputy Prime Minister Frank Watson..
The funeral for the victims of the plane crash in Mayaguana which saw three people lose their lives took place on Saturday 25th May at the Zion South Beach Church. Prime Minister Perry Christie spoke along with former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and Leader of the Opposition Hubert Minnis. Bishop B Wenith Davis presided.
Kalis Rolle On Tour
Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis, the Minister of Works, joined MP Khaalis Rolle as he toured the storm damage in Pinewood, Mr. Rolle's constituency on Saturday 25th May.
Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell appeared on the morning blend
last monday to discuss the PLP's first year anniversary in government
which was celebrated last Tuesday. His overall assessment was that
given the fiscal challenges and available resources, the government
performed fine. He told the country that he had no regrets over the
gambling referendum as all three political parties, the PLP, FNM and
DNA promised a referendum on web shop gaming if elected and the PLP
fulfilled their election promise.
At a press conference at the Foreign Affairs Ministry this past
Sunday, Minister Mitchell updated the media on the ongoing work of the
The photo shows Fred Mitchell MP, Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas welcoming Canadian Minister of State Diane Ablonczy,to the Ministry’s headquarters in Nassau. The photo is by Elcott Coleby of the Bahamas Information Services. The statement of the Minister follows:
The following is a statement issued by the Progressive Liberal Party. Its Chairman Bradley Roberts is responding to the attacks by the Free National Movement’s leader Dr. Hubert Minnis MP and its Chair Darron Cash on the National Insurance Board report.
