Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 1 © BahamasUncensored.Com
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The 42nd President of the United States William Jefferson Clinton aka Bill Clinton visited The Bahamas for one day from Friday 4th April to 5th April. He was here as part of the start of a campaign in the Caribbean to further the cause of the Clinton Foundation’s work in fighting the scourge of HIV infection. His foundation raised one million dollars for the cause in The Bahamas. The former President was greeted by enthusiastic crowds wherever he went. This was quite a study in contrasts to the response to the United States Ambassador over the last year who has caused some resentment in US/Bahamian relations because of the manner and tone of the carrying out of his work. Someone said as Mr. Clinton spoke you could feel the two nations were one. Mr. Clinton is shown with Prime Minister Perry Christie, AIDS administrator Dr. Perry Gomez, Anglican Archbishop Drexel Gomez and Bahamian children in this Peter Ramsay photo taken at the public meeting at the Sir Kendal Isaacs gym on Friday 4th April. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
A STUDY ON CONTRASTS
Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States was in The
Bahamas for two days. His cause was fighting the HIV virus that has
infected and affected some 6000 people in The Bahamas today. That
makes it about six percent of our population which is the second highest
in the region behind Haiti. Mr. Clinton pointed out that while we
can talk about the war in Iraq and the cost in human lives and the damage
and destruction it is causing, that is nothing compared to the catastrophe
that HIV is causing for societies around the globe. He gave a studied
message against ignorance and short-sightedness. His real worry beyond
the Caribbean and Africa is that the leaders of India, China and Russia
are hiding their heads in the sand as HIV spreads alarmingly in their countries,
and this can have devastating consequences for the world economy.
Mr. Clinton called AIDS the most serious public health problem since the Black Plague killed one third of the population of Europe in the 14th century.
But Mr. Clinton’s visit was a study in contrasts to the present administration and its representatives abroad. During the visit, it was clear that there was an obvious affection for the former President. Large crowds greeted him everywhere in The Bahamas and many, many people were concerned that they did not get a chance to see him. He promised that he would return.
The contrast is to the work of the present US administration that is responsible for the protection of the democratic world and for the peace, good order and security of this region. The present administration is simply frightening everyone out of their wits with all the military action around the world. They say they are doing it in the name of freedom but what we have is a demonstration of a power that is so overwhelming that what is going on Iraq can be described as nothing more than a slaughter of a people who are fighting for their own survival.
The present Mr. George Bush’s father stopped the destruction of the Saddam Government in 1992 because he and his advisors realized that you cannot destabilize Iraq without destabilizing the whole region. And as much as we do not like this man Saddam, the fact is he brought stability to the region by containing armed opposing forces within his country. When the US becomes an occupying power in Iraq, they risk becoming like Israel a country that will be shot at, picked off one by one by one as the various factions turn their attention from Saddam to the United States.
The campaign in Iraq is not well thought out, and the consequences for the world are not thought out. And each country in the world wonders who is next, both friend and foe alike. If the US administration does not like who you are, or what you say, there is then a pretext for them to invade your country and remove the Government. The Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados Billie Miller spoke for many when she reacted furiously to the words of an envoy visiting the Caribbean that there would be consequences for Caribbean countries if they spoke out against the US war in Iraq. So much for freedom and democracy.
Right now all Caribbean countries have their heads down, with the exception of Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados. Even Canada is being blackmailed into submission with threats of economic boycotts. They are all frightened out of their wits to say anything that would be remotely considered anti-American or anti-British for fear that this would cause some adverse reaction to their economies. And so the forefathers of the independence movements in these countries must be turning over in their graves.
But in the defence of the present, it is clear their Governments argue that their societies have to survive and there is no point in picking a fight with the US that cannot be won. And so the societies must simply stay out of the war debate, move forward and look to another less oppressive day and administration. Those are the facts as many see it.
The Clinton visit was then an interesting interlude in the midst of all the war talk. It shows that there is still some humanity and decency left in world leadership, and people long for the day when there will be a return to that kind of leadership at the very top of the world’s richest and most successful country.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 5th April at midnight: 21,409.
Number of hits for the month of March up to Monday 31st March 2003: 115,906.
Number of hits for the month of April up to Saturday 5th March 2003 at midnight: 10,580.
Number of hits for the year 2003 up to Saturday 5th April at midnight:
330,493.
A
WEEK OF TALK ON TRAFFIC FATALITIES
Justin Scott (shown at right) the 24 year old son of Michael Scott and
his former wife Ann Bease nee Isaacs is dead. He died in a traffic
accident on Saturday 29th March in the early hours of the morning while
returning from a social function. His picture made the front page,
another promising young man dead and gone in what seemed a senseless traffic
accident. It was timely then that Pierre Dupuch, the Member of Parliament
for the St. Margaret’s constituency brought a request for a Select Committee
to the floor of the Assembly on Wednesday 2nd April when the Government
set aside the entire day to deal with Opposition business. The request
was to look into ways that the traffic fatalities on the roads of New Providence
can be alleviated, and what legal measures need to be taken to stop the
carnage on the streets.
The fact is that there is too much speed on the
streets of New Providence. There is also too little enforcement of
existing laws. Drunk driving laws are routinely ignored and speeding
laws are only sporadically enforced. Existing laws on faulty mufflers,
smoky exhaust systems, and loud noisy music coming from cars are all ignored.
But Bahamians have a great tendency to flap their gums about on problems
that have obvious solutions about which they love to talk but about which
they intend to do nothing. Mr.
Dupuch (pictured at left) tabled his resolution last year shortly after
Vanessa Fox, a young woman, got killed in a traffic accident one night
after coming from a party, and the car over crowded with people, took the
curve too suddenly and the SUV in which she was driving overturned.
There again, overcrowding of vehicles is an offence but one bets she passed
a police officer who saw it and did nothing to enforce it. Red lights
are routinely run in The Bahamas without any enforcement. There is
a virtual revolt against the enforcement of seat belt laws in The Bahamas.
Justin Scott, a bright young man, on his way to
a Hollywood film career, made the 11th traffic fatality for the year. Since
that there was another one, this time a young motorcycle driver on Friday
4th April, one of many who routinely ignore the helmet laws, remove the
mufflers from their bikes and prance on the back wheel. He met his
death and was shown in the press covered like a dead puppy dog in a sheet
on the side of the road, waiting for the mortician to come and pick him
up. But as we said, we will continue to talk about it and the carnage
will no doubt continue and we will do nothing. We have no hope or
expectation that the select committee approved during the debate will do
anything to stop the carnage. It seems we are just a society full
of impotent rage on this and many other questions.
NEW
P.S. AT FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Prime Minister Perry Christie announced on Monday
31st March that A. Missouri Sherman Peter is to leave the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in The Bahamas on secondment to the Government of St. Lucia to
serve as the Chef d’Cabinet (Chief of Staff) of the incoming President
of the General Assembly of the United Nations at its 38th Session.
St. Lucia’s Minister of External Affairs Julian Hunte is expected to be
chosen as the new President. The Prime Minister said that the request
was made by the Prime Minister of St. Lucia to the Government of The Bahamas.
Mr. Christie said that The Bahamas ought to be proud of the accomplishments
of Mrs. Sherman-Peter. He said that the service at the UN was a proud
honour for the people of The Bahamas.
The Government of St. Lucia saw the position of
President of the General Assembly as a Caribbean wide honour and asked
for the support of the region in manning Mr. Hunte’s Cabinet for the year.
The Government of The Bahamas will pay the salary and allowances of the
Permanent Secretary while she is on leave. There was a reception
by the staff as the Minister of Foreign Affairs made the announcement to
the staff following the Prime Minister’s announcement. There had
been speculation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for months that the
Permanent Secretary would be leaving. There was an article in the
weekly rag in The Bahamas called The Punch that there were disagreements
between the Minister and the Permanent Secretary on operational matters
and that the matters had been resolved in favour of the Minister.
But none of that was present at the announcement; the two could not have
looked more pleased. Guardian photo.
PERMANENT
SECRETARIES REDEPLOYED
The Cabinet Office this past week released the following
statement:
Consequent upon the secondment of Her Excellency
Mrs. A. Missouri Sherman Peter, formerly Permanent Secretary in the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs to the Government of St. Lucia, the Cabinet office announced
for public information today that the Prime Minister has redeployed three
Permanent Secretaries to new Ministries with effect from Monday, 7" April,
2003.
Dr. Patricia Rodgers, now the Permanent Secretary
to the Ministry of Tourism is to move to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Colin Higgs, now the Permanent Secretary
to the Ministry of Financial Services and Investment is to move to the
Ministry of Tourism.
Ms. Sheila Carey, now the Acting Permanent Secretary
to the Ministry of Youth, Sports & Culture is to move to the Ministry
of Financial Services and Investment.
Mr. Harrison Thompson, now the Under Secretary
in the Office ofthe Attorney General will be transferred to the Ministry
of Youth, Sports 62 Culture and will act as Permanent Secretary until further
notice.
A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said that there
would be a more comprehensive review of the deployment of senior officers
in the Civil Service in the not too distant future.
PLP
KICKS OFF 50 YEARS
The Progressive Liberal Party is the oldest political party in the country,
having been founded on 24th November 1953. The Party began as an
idea in the minds of three mulatto politicians in The Bahamas. They
saw themselves as the champions of black men and women who were dispossessed
in the country. The idea was crystallized by a journey to Jamaica
following a visit to London by the founders to witness the coronation.
H. M. Taylor, the late Governor General and the first Leader and Chairman
of the Party, said that the party was formed to help to create public opinion
in The Bahamas so as to remove injustice.
The Progressive Liberal Party was soon embraced
by the Black masses and ten years later it had transformed itself into
a mass party, having won in the 1962 election more votes than the United
Bahamian Party, the White oligarchy that ran the country. They lost
in the seat count in 1962 because the Out islands as the Family Islands
were then called had more representatives in the House than New Providence
where the majority of people resided. That was resolved in 1967 and
14 years after it was founded, the party was elected to the Government
of The Bahamas. Since that time, the country was led into independence
in 1973; the party lost office after 25 consecutive years in office and
regained the Government under the leader Perry Christie in 2002.
The party began its 50 years celebration with a
church service at Golden Gates Assembly on Carmichael Road. Party
Chairman Raynard Rigby traced the party’s existence to the African struggle
for freedom in The Bahamas dating back to emancipation in 1834. Party
Leader Perry Christie
spoke of the devotion to duty of the many stalwarts who held the PLP dear
to their hearts through thick and thin. The Hon. A. D. Hanna, former
Deputy Prime Minister in the first PLP administration spoke to the times
that went before as the party grew to become the Government. Today,
there are second generation PLP leaders in the party’s leadership.
They include: Glenys Hanna Martin, daughter of the Hon. A. D. Hanna and
Allyson Maynard Gibson the daughter of another former Deputy Prime Minister
Sir Clement Maynard. Mr. Hanna is shown being greeted by Prime
Minister Perry Christie at the Golden Gates Assemby service in this Guardian
photo by Donald Knowles.
THERE
IS A LEADERSHIP RACE IN THE FNM
Zendal Forbes has had a curious career in politics.
People would have sworn that he was about to be if not outright a member
of the Progressive Liberal Party, largely because of his association with
Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell. He began his political career by
resigning as a lecturer at the College of The Bahamas and daring to run
in 1992 against the late Sir Lynden Pindling in Andros from which he hails.
He was defeated but even though the FNM won, they did not make him feel
welcome because he was disliked by Hubert Ingraham the new Prime Minister.
He may as well as have been a PLP for all he got from Hubert Ingraham’s
FNM.
As the 2002 General Election drew near, it was felt
by some that Mr. Forbes should have got the PLP's nomination for the South
Andros seat. Instead it was given to Vince Symonette who lost to
Whitney Bastian. Prior to 2002 and following the 1992 General Elections,
he had gone back to his job at the College of The Bahamas where he became
President of the Union and led the lecturers on a confrontational path
for better working conditions, paying for the successful prosecution of
the College for union busting tactics. He has been quiet since that
time but now he is back in the spotlight.
Mr. Forbes has announced that he is running for
the office of Leader of the FNM against Tommy Turnquest, the now Leader.
The Tribune seemed racist, describing him as a “dark horse”. No doubt
the play on words because he is darker complexioned as opposed to Tommy
Turnquest who is brown skinned and Brent Symonette, the other putative
candidate who is white. But we have to give Mr. Forbes a plaudit
for his courage, and we wish him well. It appears that Brent Symonette
has shall we say been persuaded to bow out gracefully and let Tommy Turnquest
have a free reign. Now with Mr. Forbes in the race, we shall have
a contest. The only other declared candidate is former Senator Sidney
Collie who intends to run for Deputy Leader of the Party.
THE
PLP MEETS IN SPECIAL SESSION
The Progressive Liberal Party held a special conclave at the South Ocean
Beach Hotel and resort on Southwest Road in New Providence. The conclave
was attended by all Members of Parliament and the Senate and the party's
officers. The idea was to get all persons on the same page and to
talk about the future for the leadership of the party. The Prime
Minister gave the principal address about how the party could move forward
in organizing its public relations, the communications internally between
back bench and Cabinet and between the party rank and file and the Parliamentary
group. The conclave was well attended and Raynard Rigby, the Chairman
of the Party (pictured) ought to be congratulated for having taking the
effort to organize it.
In a news release, Mr. Rigby said that during the
conclave the party reaffirmed its commitment to its eight core pledges
to:
Rescue the economy;
Create a safer society;
Tackle poverty, ill health and ignorance;
Make freedom real;
Celebrate our heritage;
Embrace our youth;
Lift standards in all aspects of our national
life; and
Put Bahamians first.
The statement said that Party Leader and
Prime Minister Perry Christie gave a "spirited address" challenging the
group to remain committed to good governance. "The hosting of this
conclave within less that one year of... government", said the release,
"is... a recognition of our commitment to the Bahamian people."
SARS ALERT
The Ministry of Health in The Bahamas has issued
an alert for all ports of entry in The Bahamas with regard to the new respiratory
disease that evidences itself mainly in Asia called Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS). The Ministry said that the World Health Organization
(WHO) had issued an alert that said that people who planned to travel to
Hong Kong and Guangdong Province in China should avoid that travel for
the time being.
The SARS crisis has already had one casualty.
Members of the House of Assembly’s Select Committee on Foreign Affairs
have postponed their visit to Beijing as a result of the crisis brought
on by SARS. The Ministry said that there was no need for alarm in
The Bahamas. It listed the symptoms that one must look for in the
disease – temperature over 100.4 degrees, and some respiratory distress
including coughing, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, hypoxia
(low oxygen in the blood) and x ray findings of pneumonia and respiratory
distress.
A card is to be filled out by all passengers arriving
from the suspected areas into The Bahamas for use by the Ministry of Health.
No cases of SARS have been reported in The Bahamas.
COMPLAINT
FROM THE STRAW VENDORS
Ignorance is a hell of a thing. Paper will
sit still for any foolishness to be written on it. Such is the reaction
one gets from the comment made in the press on Thursday 3rd April from
a spokesman for the Straw Vendors one Celestine Innis that the straw vendors
were not consulted on the design of the straw market. This is what
she was quoted as saying: “I was disappointed that we did not have an input
in the drawing of the market. When the final design was announced
they said that they would come and get input from us. All the years
the straw market always knew first hand what was going on, and then it
was brought to the public.”
The fact is that a straw vendor was on the board
that chose the final design architect. The fact is that the design
is not final final, and that the architect has been chosen. It is
his job now to come up with the final, final design, which will require
input from all the other designs, and Ms. Innis can still have her input.
But the fact is some people prefer to complain than have solutions to complaints.
NEW
OPPOSITION LEADERS
The announcement came on Monday morning last that Brent Symonette was to
be the new Leader of Opposition business in the House. It was a most
curious announcement. Tommy Turnquest, the FNM Leader (pictured top
centre) who does not sit in the House and who is a senator, said that he
had advised the Leader of the Opposition who is in the House that he should
make Brent Symonette, the Leader of the Opposition business in the House.
Further, he advised Alvin Smith (top right) the Leader of the Opposition
to appoint Brent Symonette the whip for the Opposition, relieving former
Parliamentary Secretary Lindy Russell of the job. This all seemed
to have stemmed from the disastrous decision the week before by the Opposition
Leader without consultation and in the absence of Mr. Symonette from the
House chamber to walk out of the debate that the Opposition had scheduled
to condemn the Government on Junkanoo. Mr. Symonette was said to
be going around privately saying that he did not agree with what Mr. Smith
had done. He issued his speech that he intended to give for publication
in The Tribune.
It is no secret also that Mr. Symonette has been
saying that it was 99.9 percent certain that he would run for the office
of Leader. This threatened the fragile peace between Alvin Smith
and Tommy Turnquest. It is said that Hubert Ingraham, the former
Prime Minister, went to Mr. Symonette and told him that he should not run
against Mr. Turnquest. He threatened to campaign against him, which
would have ruined Mr. Symonette's chances. In exchange Mr. Ingraham
offered Mr. Symonette, the posts of Leader of Opposition Business in the
House and Opposition whip, which carries for multi millionaire Brent an
additional 14,000 dollars per year.
Brent Symonette (pictured at right) was smiling from ear to ear as the
Leader of the Opposition claimed in his communication to Parliament that
he had appointed Mr. Symonette to the new posts. The PLP asked him,
which Leader did the appointing in fact, he or Tommy Turnquest who made
the original announcement. And if there were any doubt that Hubert
Ingraham was still in charge, Mr. Ingraham got up to explain even after
Mr. Smith sat down, more fully what had happened complete with a history
of why the Public Accounts Committee changes the Opposition requested had
a precedent.
Mr. Smith also announced that Brent Symonette would
now replace Mr. Smith on the Public Accounts Committee, and that Mr. Symonette
should be the Chair. This now reverses the position of the FNM that
they would not participate in the Committee since there was an Independent
on the Committee with whom they did not agree. Mr. Symonette should
be careful however and know that the Public Accounts Committee has the
jurisdiction only to review historical data, not current data. If
he starts wandering into the present accounts of the Government he will
run into serious trouble.
Of all the curious things of the week, the Leader
of the Opposition Alvin Smith having to go to the press to explain that
despite what they thought and expressed in their headlines of Monday 31st
March that he had been demoted, he was not in fact demoted. That
was like the late US President Richard Nixon’s famous line: “I am not a
crook”.
PLP
CHAIRMAN ON THE FNM LEADERSHIP
The Chairman of the PLP Raynard Rigby has commented on the announcement
by Senator Tommy Turnquest, the FNM’s leader that Alvin Smith, Leader of
the Opposition had been directed to make changes in the Leadership of the
FNM in the House of Assembly. Mr. Rigby said that the FNM’s leadership
is on the verge of political collapse. Mr. Rigby said that the FNM
has devalued the constitutional role of Opposition leader Alvin Smith by
appointing Brent Symonette MP to control the business of the Opposition
in the House of Assembly. Here is what Mr. Rigby said in his own
words:
“Alvin Smith is the constitutionally appointed
leader of the official opposition. Tommy Turnquest is a member of
the Senate and therefore Tommy Turnquest cannot be Leader of the Opposition…
“The provisions of the Constitution are clear
and it appears that Tommy Turnquest is bent on wielding the constitutional
power of Office of Leader of the Opposition without being a member of the
House. This is [runs] afoul of the constitution. His [Senator
Turnquest’s] actions are unconstitutional. The PLP invites the FNM
to show respect for the Constitution and decide once and for all who it
wishes to lead them in their days in the political wilderness.”
BAIL
FOR MURDER ACCUSEDS
According to a report in The Tribune, the bail applications
over the years 2000-2002 show that some 36 persons charged with murder
were let out on bail. This usually happens when it takes too long
for a person's case to come to court. The Supreme Court has taken
the view that rather than dismiss the case, they ought to let the person
out on bail because the trial has not taken place within a reasonable time
and is therefore in danger of crossing over the line of the constitution
that says the trial is supposed to take place within a reasonable time.
The criminal law attorney Wayne Munroe had something to say to The Tribune
about the matter. Here is what he had to say in his own words:
“What happens is that you charge someone with
murder, it’s set down for hearing and witnesses or people making the complaint,
don’t show up to court. So it’s adjourned and courts are slow to throw
a matter out because of what people might say about it.
“In Canada, they would dismiss the case after
six months regardless of what the charge is, but here the press would scream
bloody murder, they throwin' out a bunch of murder a cases and the rest
of that. There is no backlog it’s just something politicians say”
Things that make you go hmmm!
WHO
IS THE HEAD OF THE JUDICIARY?
There is a strange new development in the Judiciary
that needs to be investigated and a fast stop put to the trend. Notwithstanding
the fact that the nomenclature is anomalous when one considers the functions
of the Court, the Chief Justice as the Chairman of the Judicial and Legal
Services Commission is in fact the head of the Judiciary. The problem
is that the constitution has him sitting as a judge of the Supreme Court
and only ex officio at the invitation of the President of the Court of
Appeal as an appellate judge. And so the Supreme Court is not really the
Supreme Court at all in the sense that Americans would understand the Supreme
Court as the highest court in the country. That has led to an unfortunate
practice where the Court of Appeal’s now President has been having a separate
opening of the legal year, tending to treat the Court as a separate section
of the Judiciary. In fact when the Chief Justice opens the legal
year, he is opening it as head of the Judiciary and there should be no
other opening at all. Someone needs to step in and make this fact
known so that we don’t have this proliferation of opening ceremonies when
in fact all we need is one and get on with the business at hand.
DION
FOULKES TRIES TO DEFEND HIMSELF
The outgoing Deputy Leader of the FNM Dion Foulkes (pictured) was on the
radio on Thursday 3rd April. He was there to urge students who are now
being charged the full 8 per cent for their loans instead of the four per
cent they thought they would pay to sue the Government. He also defended
the FNM against the charge that they left the country broke saying that
the PLP would not have found 1.2 million dollars to rent bleachers if the
country was broke. He also accused the PLP of hiring some 20 consultants
over the last ten months, claiming that one of them was being paid over
$60,000. Ho! Hum!
What Mr. Foulkes needs to explain to the Bahamian
people is how he as a Minister presided over a scheme for school loans
in the Ministry of Education that almost bankrupted The Bahamas, and was
so disorganized that it had no control over the disbursement of Governments
funds. Mr. Foulkes also needs to explain all those political contracts
that he gave out in order to get himself elected Deputy Leader of the FNM.
When and only when he begins to explain those things will the people of
The Bahamas have some time to listen to him and his advice on what and
what not to do.
ALGERNON
ALLEN MUST BE CAREFUL
The former Member of Parliament for Marathon in
the FNM Algernon Allen gave an interview in The Tribune last week.
In it, he defended the right of Brent Symonette to be the leader of the
FNM notwithstanding the fact that he is white. Since no one said
that he could not become leader of the FNM, it is quite interesting that
the subject would be brought up by Mr. Allen. Is there some faction
within the FNM that says because Mr. Symonette is white he can’t be Leader
of the FNM or Leader of The Bahamas? We did not know that racism
exists in the FNM. Mr. Allen must be careful what he says or it might
appear that he is singing for his supper.
THE
CLINTON VISIT
The visit of former US President Bill Clinton to
The Bahamas has energized the people and the Government of The Bahamas
in the fight against AIDS. It has given a boost to the activists
who have been fighting the valiant battle. It has supplied new monies
from old sources who went for his celebrity appeal. But what is clear
is that we all now recognize afresh the role we have to play in making
sure that the ignorance that has led to this scourge is eliminated from
our country. The fact is that it continues to affect as many people
as it does; it threatens to wipe out so many of our young people in their
productive years. It is already the leading cause of death in The
Bahamas for people between the ages of 15- 44. We must continue to
work to save our young people. We present photos of the range of
things that the former President did here during the short stay, and we
think that he did wonders to improve the relationship between the American
people and The Bahamas that has taken such a bruising over the past year.
Mr. Clinton is shown at left sharing an observation with Prime Minister
Christie during his public appearance at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs gymnasium
Friday 4th April; on his way to meet Cabinet members accompanied by the
Prime Minister; being greeted by Minister of Financial Services Allyson
Maynard Gibson and other Cabinet members and finally speaking about the
International Aids Foundation at the Kendal Isaacs gym.
VINCENT
PEET ENDS WATER WORKERS' SIT-IN
Industrial unrest which had been fomenting at the
Water & Sewerage Corporation for years was brought to a swift end by
Minister of Labour and Immigration Vincent Peet this past week. Minister
Peet intervened in a long standing dispute that had developed between the
union and the former FNM administration since the 1990s over contract negotiations.
The intervention, which imposed a compromise solution, left the president
of the water workers' union Huedley Moss singing the Government's praises
in the press and wondering why the former administration had not provided
the leadership necessary to solve the matter. Mr. Moss (left) and
Minister Peet (centre) are pictured in this Tribune photo by Omar Barr.
ST.
ANSELM’S NEW CHURCH IN PICTURES
We present a picture of the dedication of the new
St. Anselm’s Church in Fox Hill. The Catholic Church in Fox Hill
was consecrated Sunday 23rd March by Archbishop Lawrence Burke. The
photo is by Peter Ramsay.
FRED
MITCHELL COMMENTS ON THE CHURCH
The Minister of Foreign Affairs & the Public Service is also the Member
of Parliament for Fox Hill where St. Anselm’s is located. Mr. Mitchell
is shown with Roman Catholic Archbishop Lawrence Burke at the dedication
service for St. Anselm's in this Peter Ramsay photo. He wrote this
letter to the press about the new church:
"I wish to say that one of the proudest moments
of my short life as the represenative for the Fox Hill constituency came
during the dedication and consecreation of the new St. Anselm’s Church
in Fox Hill on Sunday, March 23. It is a reaffirmation for a community
that has taken much battering over the last year.
"The building of the church is a tribute to the
leadership of Archbishop Lawrence Burke whom I have known from my days
as an activist. It is also a tribute to the fine leadership of Monsignor
Preston Moss, the rector of the parish.
"I said to Monsignor Moss that someone ought
to write volume two of the history of the Catholic Church in The Bahamas.
In my view, that era would begin with the coming of Lawrence Burke and
all the new construction that has come under his leadership and of course
the establishment of the Archbishopric. The Catholic Church’s early
tradition was to invest in spare buildings for worship with the greater
investment in schools, education and community outreach.
"The new construction in Long Island, St. Joseph’s
in Nassau. The new Cathedral at St. Francis, St. Anselm’s and a new parish
church in Andros are a testament to a new thrust where the church clearly
sees itself as a growing and established institution in The Bahamas as
opposed to a pioneering or mission church.
"It is great to witness this time in their history
and says something also about the state of development in the country and
the confidence of our people in the future of their church and their country.
The people of Fox Hill are proud of that church building. The parish
members, many of them Fox Hillians, contributed sweat equity. It
was simply a wonderful example of community outreach and self help.
"I was doubly proud to see Deacon Leviticus Adderley
out that day. It was another one of those Dickensian moments that
I have described in another forum. I started out as one of his students
back in 1965.
"Finally, I pay tribute to the Catholic Church
itself. Though not a member, its young clergy embraced my coming
to St. Augustine’s from public school in 1965, provided a scholarship for
an experience that I could never have afforded and the rest for good or
ill as they say is history.
"Congratulations to the people of St. Anselm’s."
Fred Mitchell MP
BAHAMAS
B2B NEWSLETTER
In a startling display of bad and yellow journalism,
the 1st April edition of the Bahamas B2B newsletter online devoted its
entire issue to lying, salacious and inane attacks on various personalities
within the PLP and its Government, as well as business and cultural leaders.
While unsuspecting loyal readers were left to ponder the sudden and inappropriate
material from a site that usually deals with news of community interest,
the site announced in its next edition that it was all “an April Fools
joke…”
The newsletter was no joke at all. The joke,
if there is one to be found in this sordid mess, is on the editors of the
site for such an asinine idea. It has discredited any respect and
reliability, which the newsletter may have built up under its former editor.
People block the site form their e-mail addresses to avoid this kind of
insulting material again.
MAILBOX
Another interesting grab-bag this week, which seems to show that our
readers are getting the point, for the most part.
From: 'A Bahamian Activist' - I agree with your statement of Bahamians reflecting our slave heritage as it relates to our attitude to the war… America is a bully, and for too long they have been going in and causing more harm than help to many of these struggling countries. I think that these countries should be allowed to handle their own affairs and if that fails, the United Nations should be the only body that steps in and make any decisions that would affect the country… The point of the matter is, which is sad, is that America has a handle on too many countries in the world (including ours). Continue doing such a great job with the website.
From 'Bahamian student in Minnesota': Thank you so much for finally explicit[ly] expressing some critique on the war. I would be interested to also see a discussion on your website of the implications of the 'failure' of the United Nations for small nations like us. Keep up the good work… It may not be worth [it] to alienate people over party politics when it comes to discussing something of such global impact as this unjust war.
From R. Troy Albury: It's good to see that this site
is still carrying-on! I have been a supporter of this site from day
1 and I want to encourage you guys to continue to be provocative and show
the PLP point of view. There's nothing wrong with that at all and the naysayers
have to truly understand this thing called Democracy and Freedom of Speech.
As if that implies you must always be neutral.
Everyday, Rush Limbaugh's radio show puts
forward, very aggressively, the Conservative Right Wing point of view and
his strong support of President Bush's programs. And if you don't
like his show, then you listen to Neil Rodgers’ extreme liberalism or you
watch MTV… People have to understand your site is a PLP site and
has always been one. If they have a different point of view then
go to a ‘FNM site’, it's as simple as that… aaaaaaaaahhhh, the beauty of
the right to choose!
From 'Piece Out': The Bahamas will celebrate its 30th
year of independence this year. This is a milestone and I feel it
is incumbent upon every individual to show pride and patriotism during
this year especially for the month of July.
I feel one of the ways the P.L.P. can stay in
touch with the common man is to have an interactive site not only promoting
the party but be a place for people to express their views on any and everything
that is affecting them. In order for the P.L.P. to stay on top, they
need to always keep in touch with the 'common man'. Please let Mr.
Raynard Rigby know this.
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Cocaine On Bahamasair
Yesterday, Saturday 5th April, 2 kilos of cocaine
was discovered in the bathroom waste disposal of a Bahamasair plane scheduled
to fly from Freeport to Miami. The flight was delayed while a new
crew was flown in from Nassau to man the flight while the rostered crew
was assisting police in their investigations. Reports say that crew
is still being questioned in connection with the find. Authorities
are now wondering why the sudden spate of attempts to use the national
flag carrier in drug smuggling. In the last month or two, several
arrests have been made of people attempting to use Bahamasair to spirit
illegal drugs into the United States. All that we know of have been
caught, but what is going on?
Brent Symonette’s FNM Leadership Bid
He is a nice guy and should be allowed to run for
the leadership of his party. In fact anyone who wants to run for
the leader’s position in the FNM ought to be able to do so in an open and
democratic institution. Ha! That is the official line, but
behind the scenes there is a ‘let’s keep Brent out’ movement at the highest
levels of the party. “A campaign is being waged”, one FNM insider
told News From Grand Bahama, “we are certain that Brent could win the leadership
of the FNM, but if he does we know he wouldn’t step down in two years to
give way to black leadership.” His words, not ours. Another
said, “If The Bahamas has an 85 percent black population, how are we going
to tell the world that we can’t find one black man to lead us.”
Behind the scenes, at the highest levels, we are
told that Brent – if he hasn’t already been told – will be warned that
he should be happy with his new appointment and under no circumstances
should he allow himself to be nominated for the leadership of the FNM.
That must be racist for a party that prides itself on receiving ninety
nine percent support from the white minority. It will be interesting
to see whether Brent Symonette will succumb to the pressure and not run.
We’d like to see how the FNM will get out of this end.
Hope For East Grand Bahama
A new investment this week was announced for east
Grand Bahama. The investment was said to be worth some seventy million
dollars with the potential of hundreds of jobs. All over Grand Bahama
this week, residents were making jokes and were asking the question, how
many times are these politicians going to play the same old joke on the
people of Grand Bahama? In common cause with the Government however,
FNM High Rock MP Ken Russell told News From Grand Bahama that he believes
this is a real investment and this one should bear fruit because he had
the opportunity to be in on part of the negotiations.
Bannister & BAAA Carifta
As we went to press, News From Grand Bahama in an
interview with BAAA’s president Senator Desmond Bannister predicted that
about fifty athletes would be selected for this years Carifta track and
field team to travel to Trinidad over the Easter weekend. He told
us that the selection process should be finished by the end of the day,
Sunday 6th April, and that that team this year will be predominantly made
up of under-17 athletes in an attempt to build a foundation for The Bahamas
to return to its glory years in the sport. He also said that because
of Trinidad’s proximity to other Caribbean islands most of the other Caribbean
countries would be fielding large teams and that The Bahamas should still
see very good results. We wish them well.
This is apparently Senator Bannister’s last year
as BAAA president and we hope that his successor, whoever it is will build
on the strong foundation he leaves. Final Carifta track and
field trials were held Friday and Saturday 4th and 5th April in Nassau
at the Thomas A. Robinson track in Nassau. Noticeably absent were
Ricky Moxey and his crew from Exuma who didn’t show up. We wonder
why?
Commentary on BaTelCo Cellular Service
Five months ago it was an open secret that the cell
system was at its capacity. In fact staff members at the telephone
company had anticipated the system would crash because it was overloaded.
They told us to expect that because of the system reaching its maximum
capacity the level of service would be degraded significantly. Then
came the BaTelCo announcement that they could no longer accept applications
for cell service and that a proposal was to be sent to Cabinet. From
that time to this there has not been any more public statement from the
company, but for sure the cell service has certainly become worse.
We wonder why the company is taking so long to upgrade its system that
is a sure cash cow. It defies logic. Why would the company
allow the system first to collapse, then put new applications on permanent
hold and do nothing? We believe that the Government owes the public
an explanation as to why this state of affairs is allowed to continue.
If it were any other company suffering from cash flow problems then that
might have been a justifiable reason, but BaTelCo certainly does not have
this problem… or is this part of a plan to try and justify the selling
of BaTelCo to foreign interests which we believe based on the geopolitical
realities now is not in the best interests of the Government of The Bahamas
to have the telecommunications system in the hands of foreign entities
for national security reasons.
BS
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK - U. S. Ambassador J. Richard Blankenship was on the front page of the Nassau Guardian on Thursday 10th April, and this time it was the kind of event in which Ambassadors are supposed to be involved. The Ambassador was visiting the AIDS camp at Carmichael Road in New Providence run by Glenroy Nottage, aka Fr. Glenroy Nottage, the brother of former MPs Kendal Nottage and Dr. Bernard Nottage. The story showed the Ambassador with with Jacqueline Moxey, one of the inmates of the camp and seeking to find out what he could do to help. The Rev. Nottage was upset that on Friday 4th April former President Bill Clinton visited The Bahamas to raise awareness about the fight against AIDS but was not brought to the camp (see story on US politics below), one of the only facilities to care for indigent and homeless AIDS patients. The Ambassador said of Rev. Nottage: “God is truly working through him.” The photo is by Donald Knowles. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
A RETURN TO MAYHEM
Now that Bill Clinton has left The Bahamas and the video game war
in Iraq seems to be winding to a close, the attention of the nation seemed
to turn to the usual mayhem that occurs on the streets, in the homes and
most importantly in the schools. Teachers in Grand Bahama walked
out from the St. Georges High School on Thursday 10th April and others
joined them in a protest in Grand Bahama when two unauthorized men came
onto the campus in revenge for something that was alleged to have happened
on the school campus to one of their kin. It seems the student used
his cell phone to call in the enforcers and the security guards did not
stop them. The school’s Vice Principal was assaulted. The teachers
demanded better security. Their union President Kingsley Black said
that the Government should prosecute the parents of the students involved.
Two persons have been charged.
In Nassau, a woman came to The Tribune reported on Thursday 10th April that her daughter had been involved in an attempted rape. The mother blamed the teacher who some students said left them locked and unattended for too long and while the class looked on and cheered, a young man tried to rape the young lady. The mother was distraught.
Jacinta Higgs who is a former teacher of R. M. Bailey tried to explain what the problem is. The most telling point was the fact that there are too many young parents, single mothers in particular who know nothing about raising children. Another commentator made the point about the raging hormones in adolescent boys and the kind of culture that we have that encourages sexual penetration by males.
The President of the Christian Council Bishop Sam Greene said that society was unravelling. He said: “The moral, ethical and spiritual fibre of The Bahamas is beginning to unravel on a daily basis. Our crime rate is forever climbing, violence seems to be the order of the day and now we have violent situations in the schools. It is now crucial that politicians, the church, the home and all citizens of this country become aware of the fact that when discipline goes, the country goes.”
That is well said as far as it goes. But this column has made the point before that The Bahamas is full of impotent rage. The kind of rage that is like the Bahamas Electricity Corporation and the power blackouts. They can always tell you why the power is off but they can’t keep it on.
Then there was the sad picture on the front page of 30-year-old Valachi Theophilus, a flight attendant at Bahamasair. He was handcuffed and his picture spread over the front page of the paper, charged for trying to smuggle dope to Miami on a Freeport to Miami flight last Saturday 4th April. It is again a sad, sad thing for no matter whether he is ultimately exonerated or not, his career is finished and he has a host of troubles to overcome at 30 years old from now on. His story is not likely to be the last one of a young person gone into horrible trouble. One wonders how all of this happens.
In a column like this, it is easy for us to build up any kind of pattern we wish. We certainly don’t want to scare anyone. But it seems to us a scary kind of time when there does not appear to be the national will or discipline to keep things under control. We are increasingly a society where the young tails are wagging the dog. The Government is busy trying to put out fires everywhere. They too are engaged in impotent rage at a people that are becoming increasingly impatient why more is not done for one thing or the next. Its supporters are grumbling loudly that they have not seen the fruits of their struggle ten months after the great victory even as the Government has more fundamental problems to deal with like providing food for starving children whose parents have no work at all.
But you know, we should be comforted by this fact: those of us who are alive and live in The Bahamas are better off than those poor souls in Iraq, let down by their so called liberators to a life of anarchy, and food shortages, more death and destruction. We at least have within our grasp, the ability to use our full intellectual power to get on top of the problems, which confront us. The Government must simply get on with the business of governing, but it must also pay attention to the disintegrating signs in our culture that threaten to overwhelm us.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 12th April 2003 at midnight: 28,333.
Number of hits for the month of April up to Saturday 12th April 2003 at midnight: 38,871.
Number of hits for the year up to Saturday 12th April 2003: 358,784.
US
POLITICS PLAYED OUT IN THE BAHAMAS?
The photo of the week this week shows a picture of the U.S. Ambassador
to The Bahamas J. Richard Blankenship visiting the AIDS camp in New Providence
that is run by the younger brother of former MPs Kendal and Bernard Nottage.
The man who calls himself, the Rev. Glenroy Nottage was upset that the
former U.S. President William Clinton was not brought to the camp, which
is the only kind of facility of that kind in The Bahamas. Rev. Nottage
has been reviled by many in the Bahamian establishment because of his unorthodox
approach but in every showdown with Bahamian governments, he has managed
to survive largely through the intervention of rich folk who live in exclusive
Lyford Cay and like what he does, and by the fact that if he left the facility,
the people who live there would have no other place to go.
During the visit of the former U.S. President, the
U.S. Ambassador didn’t seem to feature in any of the events. If you
looked through the press, you could not find his picture anywhere with
the former President. The fact is that Mr. Clinton is a Democrat,
and the Ambassador is a Bush Republican. One supposes that despite
the formal availability of the Embassy’s facilities to a former President,
it was not just politically palatable for either to contemplate any connection.
That is just speculation, but the fact is there was no public picture of
them together.
It was interesting then for the Bahamian public
to see the U.S. Ambassador turn up at the AIDS camp to assist Rev. Nottage.
He said that he was moved by the visit. He thought that the Rev.
was doing good work and should be supported. He invoked God’s name.
This was music to Rev. Nottage's ear and gave the facility a high profile
boost, which we hope will help with donations. As we said above this
is the kind of work that an Ambassador should be doing, spreading goodwill
and cheer.
But back to the politics. It was interesting
that both Rev. Nottage and the Ambassador having not been connected to
the official Clinton visit were connected in a story. The thrust of the
story seemed to be that while the former President, a Democrat snubbed
you; your real friends are the ones who are in power now, represented by
the man who actually represents the real President in Nassau. Far
fetched maybe! And some suggest that Americans don’t play their politics
like that. But as they say in Nassau: you stay right there! Nassau
Guardian photo of former US President Bill Clinton waving goodbye to Nassau
by Patrick Hanna.
THE
WAR IN IRAQ THAT YOU DIDN’T SEE
The World Wide Web has hooked people into all sorts
of alternative sources that you can get for news that you will not normally
get. And so someone this week was circulating pictures that they
said you would not normally see on CNN about the war in Iraq. We
show these pictures. There is a belief amongst many that the real
tragedy of this war is that it was an unnecessary show of strength that
has caused tens of thousands of unnecessary civilian casualties and injuries,
caused civil disorder and anarchy and breakdown in what was a stable state,
and has caused economic harm to the world that could have been avoided.
But it is now done and we live with the consequences. The photos
are shown without further comment.
THE
BAHAMAS CABINET WITH BILL
Former President of the United States Bill Clinton,
the 42nd President, paid a visit to the Cabinet Room of The Bahamas on
Friday 3rd April in Nassau. He spent about half an hour speaking
with the Prime Minister accompanied by the Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell
and Health Minster Dr. Marcus Bethel. Then he joined the Cabinet,
sans Minister of Local Government Alfred Gray for a photo by Peter Ramsay.
FOREIGN
MINISTER AND THE CHINESE AGREEMENT
The Bahamas and China signed a Comprehensive Maritime
Agreement on Thursday 10th April. The agreement will be of some benefit
for the ships registered on The Bahamas shipping register. The main
problem that it solves is that ships on the Bahamian register have higher
port charges than other nation’s ships. With the signing of the agreement,
the differential between Bahamian ships and other nation’s ships
that have agreements will disappear. That will mean Most Favoured
Nation status for Bahamian ships. China is the third largest ship
builder in the world. There are also three large Chinese ships on
the Bahamian register with more to come. The agreement was signed
in the presence of Minister of Transport Glenys Hanna Martin who explained
the agreement to the press. Minister Mitchell was on the front pages
toasting to the agreement with the Chinese Vice Minister of Communications.
BIS
photo by Derek Smith.
PANIC
OVER SARS VIRUS IN THE BAHAMAS
There were reports of SARS sightings in The Bahamas
this week. The acronym means Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
The disease, which is causing havoc in Hong Kong and Guangdong Province
in China is said to be spreading to other countries and is causing panic
in The Bahamas. The newspapers reported that some taxi drivers were
wearing surgical masks in their cars and spraying to ensure that they did
not catch the disease.
There was also the report, later proven false, that
there was a case at the hospital because the press said that when they
went to the Princess Margaret Hospital, they saw the security people in
a lockdown with surgical masks. The Ministry of Health was busy trying
to allay fears that there was such an emergency.
SARS is frightening to many Bahamians and when the
Chinese official delegation (see story above) came a calling some people
asked whether or not it was safe to have contact with them. The Ministry
of Health however continues to assure Bahamians that they are being as
vigilant as they can be in the circumstances and that there is no need
for alarm.
A
YOUNG FLIGHT ATTENDANT ARRESTED
Last week, we reported on this site the fact that a Bahamasair plane
had been grounded while waiting for a replacement crew in Freeport on Saturday
4th April. The original crew was taken off to be questioned by the
police because some 4.4 kilograms of cocaine were found in the garbage
of the plane. Later in the week a flight attendant Valachi Theophilus
30 years old of Bethel Avenue was charged with taking preparatory steps
to export cocaine to the United States. This is one of a spate of recent
drug busts on Bahamasair and it has the Government worried that one day
they are going to miss and the drugs are actually found in Miami and then
the airline will be in big trouble.
Bradley Roberts, the Minister for Bahamasair, warned
the airline’s employees and the Bahamian people to cease and desist.
The question one always asks oneself as you see a young man who would have
had a promising career as an attendant and a fairly ordinary life, is why
would someone of that age be involved in something like this? The
unfortunate thing is of course that he may not be guilty at all and we
like others are condemning someone by the mere arrest. It is tragic
all the same. The courts denied him bail, and he has been remanded
in custody until a bail hearing can be held. The Tribune showed his
photo by Omar Barr as he was being taken away from the courts.
UNION
WORKERS ASSAIL THE GOVERNMENT
The headline in the business section of The Tribune on Tuesday 8th April
was startling. It said that the Bahamas Financial Services Union
charged that the Government of The Bahamas had left them high and dry.
The Government was particularly stung and stunned by this statement since
the particular group of workers making the complaint was at the point they
were with their employers as a result of the Government’s intervention.
The workers are the employees of First Caribbean, the merged product of
Barclays Bank and CIBC in the Caribbean.
You may recall that this column opposed to the end
this merger of those two banks as anti-competitive. The Government
was convinced, however, that it was in the best interest of good business
practices and the reputation of the jurisdiction to allow the merger to
go ahead. The Bahamas was the last of the Caribbean countries to
do so. Part of the deal was that the new bank had to conclude an
industrial agreement with the union that represented the workers at the
two banks within 30 days of the merger. The union claims that the
bank has reneged on that promise to the Government and the Government has
been disengaged from the process.
The stuff really hit the fan this week when it emerged
that First Caribbean intends to close its credit card administration centre
in The Bahamas and centre it in Barbados. This is where CIBC
had already headquartered all of its activities in the Caribbean.
The fact is that the whole First Caribbean effort is controlled by CIBC.
The strategy of Barclays and CIBC was that the Caribbean was a low to medium
profit centre with no big potential growth in the foreseeable future.
So they decided to concentrate resources and get whatever business
they can but contain costs. And so the employees of The Bahamas have
become expendable in that larger strategy.
Some workers have chosen to accept lay off packages
and gone their way but the normal attrition rate is not helping the bottom
line. The bank has decided that the credit card centre must go to
cut expenses. This column has been told in the words of our informant
that this is just “the tip of the iceberg”. Some 150 additional workers
are expected to go. The Bank was fooling with just the right one,
of course. Allyson Gibson does not hold her mouth and she called
up the bank asked them in so many words where they were getting off at.
She is quoted in The Tribune saying that she had told the Bank that it
was reneging on its agreement to the Government. The bank held its
action. How long this will work, no one knows. But before learning
of that information, the union’s General Secretary made the comment about
being left “high and dry” by the Government.
The PLP is a labour friendly Government with former
Labour lawyers in the Cabinet and a former Union Leader. Shane Gibson
is the former President of the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers
Union and now Minister of Housing. Alfred Sears was the bank union’s
lawyer and is now Attorney General. Fred Mitchell, a labour law attorney
is now the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Public Service. Perhaps
the union may think again about who its real friends are and rethink the
comment that the Government left them high and dry. The Nassau
Guardian published this file photo from November, 2001 by Donald Knowles
of now Minister Shane Gibson marching with the union in celebration of
their recognition.
WILL
BRENT OR WON’T HE?
An announcement was certainly expected from Brent Symonette this week that
would say that he had decided not to run for the Office of Leader of the
FNM. Running for Leader of the FNM would be the next step to succeeding
his father as the Premier of The Bahamas. Not if Senator Tommy Turnquest,
the now leader of the party can help it, not if former Leader and Prime
Minister Hubert Ingraham can help it. During the past week, the troops
have received a lot of attention from Mr. Ingraham. He has been trying
to keep them in line for Senator Turnquest. But most people within
the FNM are satisfied that Brent Symonette is their best choice because
he is in the House of Assembly, he is a rich man and he is the former Premier's
son. The only problem they think is the colour of his skin.
But Sir Arthur Foulkes, a former FNM MP and former Ambassador wrote a long
column in The Tribune on Tuesday 8th April providing a justification for
Brent Symonette's run, notwithstanding his colour. He joins former
MP Algernon Allen and his son former MP Dion Foulkes in the Brent Symonette
category.
The last public statement on this matter was when
Brent Symonette said two weeks ago that he was 99.9 per cent sure that
he was running. But that was before he became the Opposition whip
and Leader of Opposition business in the House. That came following
a disastrous performance by the now Leader of the Opposition Alvin Smith
when he led his colleagues in a boycott of the Junkanoo debate. And
so this week, the question still is very much will he or won’t he?
The PLP is looking at all scenarios and keeping its powder dry until this
all plays itself out at the FNM convention which begins on 7th May. Late
reports from Freeport say that Brent Symonette and Senator Turnquest were
seen arm in arm in Freeport over the weekend. The bets are that Brent
will not now run. Pity! Tribune photo.
SIR
ALBERT MILLER RETIRES
The best and brightest of the country, the powerful and the up and coming
turned out in full force at the invitation of the Grand Bahama Port Authority
to say a fond farewell to Sir Albert Miller, their President and Co-Chair
for almost three decades at the Our Lucaya Resort on Saturday 12th April.
It was a black tie affair and Sir Albert touched many people as he thanked
God and his older sister Florie for all that was done to raise him and
make him the man he became. Sir Albert told the story of how he and
his mother were caught in the 1926 hurricane when he was some three months
old on his way in a sailing sloop to Nassau. He fell overboard and
a man by the name of Nathaniel Bain dove into the water to rescue him.
He said his mother never recovered and she died some three months later.
It was his older sister Florie now 92 who raised him and sacrificed everything
so that he might make it.
Earlier on another occasion Sir Albert had told
the story of how his sister had received his weekly pay packet when he
first joined the police force. She saved the money and one day he
came home to express an interest in buying a piece of property. He
said his sister told him that he could because she had been saving his
money for him. There is no doubt about Sir Albert Miller as a Bahamian
success story. He is a product of night school, hard work and determination
that he said brought him to a remarkable life's journey that took him from
Millers, Long Island to Buckingham Palace. He was toasted by Edward
St. George, the Chair of the Port Authority and his partner Sir Jack Hayward.
Sir Albert's only regret was that he did not become
the Commissioner of Police, a job that he had worked hard for and prepared
himself for and a post that he had acted in on five occasions. He
said that it was politics (it was believed that he supported the United
Bahamian Party during the height of the new PLP regime in 1967) that stopped
him from getting the job but he learnt then that in life you have to prepare
for disappointments. He said that after 28 years and ten months on
the Force he asked his wife to join him in a new life in Freeport and the
rest they say is history.
Present to speak on behalf of the Prime Minister
Perry Christie was Allyson Gibson, the Minister for Financial Services.
Other Government Ministers there were Shane Gibson, Minister of Housing;
Bradley Roberts, Minister of Works and Fred Mitchell, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs. The Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham also paid tribute
to Sir Albert. Mr. Ingraham’s former Cabinet colleagues were there
including C.A. Smith, David Thompson, Janet Bostwick and Frank Watson.
Present PLP MP Pleasant Bridgewater was there as were Ken Russell and Neko
Grant of the FNM.
We say best wishes to Sir Albert Miller for a remarkable
life and wish he and his family; wife Lady Miller, sons Tony and Russell
and daughter Debbie well. The photo comes from the booklet distributed
at the farewell banquet.
BIMINI
BAY PROJECT TO BE SHELVED?
The Ambassador for the Environment Keod Smith (pictured) is a real environmental
policeman. He doesn’t want anyone to cut a tree down, or kill an
insect unless he gives permission. So it was no surprise that one
of the projects on the hit list of environmentalists would be the Bimini
Bay project of Gerardo Capo, the voluble Cuban American. The Ambassador
made the announcement by way of a statement published in the Nassau Guardian
on Friday 11th April. The Bimini Bay project has been a sore point
for the people of Bimini. It appears that the project, which was
announced by the Ingraham administration, is simply out of money.
But it has this low-grade killing of the environment going on for five
years or more, with dredging of the mangrove swamp milking up the waters,
and killing off the young fish including the shark population that flourished
for study around Bimini.
Residents are also incensed that the tree cover
has been stripped from the north section of the island of North Bimini
leaving a huge white limestone swath across it, exposed to the sun. Every
time there was some public criticism, Mr. Capo would respond that he had
not run out of money and that the project was continuing. Not to
be outdone this time, Mr. Capo was back in the newspaper on Saturday 12th
April saying that the project had not stopped and that it was indeed continuing.
So who is right: the strong willed Ambassador for the Environment or the
much talking Capo?
THE
NATIONAL YOUTH CHOIR REPRISE
Cleophas Adderley who is today the Director of Culture tells the story
of the start of the National Youth Choir in 1983. This year it is
celebrating its 20th anniversary as a choir, along with the country that
is celebrating its 30th anniversary as a country. The choir came
about from an initiative of Winston Saunders when he was Executive
Director of the Bahamas Quincentennial Commission, the body formed by the
late Sir Lynden O. Pindling’s Government to commemorate the 500th anniversary
of the landing of Columbus on San Salvador in The Bahamas.
The choir almost disbanded after the 1983 initial performances but Mr.
Adderley determined to keep it going and put out ads for a new group of
people. Now he has set rules and limits. You must be 15 and
not older than 27 years old. The choir cannot be bigger than 38.
And there is pressure for slots every year.
This year the performances for the choir's 20th
year took place at the Dundas Centre for Performing Arts from Tuesday 8th
April to Saturday 12th April. The audiences were sold out each night.
The Prime Minister Perry Christie and Mrs. Christie attended the opening,
as did the Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell later in the week. The
choir did a reprise of many of the numbers that made it famous over the
years. The favourite of many was the rendition of George Symonette’s
Eight Babies. Congratulations to the choir and the batch of fresh
and vibrant young people including the Prime Minister's daughter Alex and
to their effervescent director Cleophas Adderley. The Nassau Guardian
published this Donald Knowles photo.
WHERE
IS THE BAHAMAS ON IRAQ?
If you paid attention to the official Bahamas you
would not know that there is a war going on in Iraq. Since Prime
Minister Perry Christie made his national address to the Bahamian people
in March, there has not been a peep from the Bahamas Government on the
subject. The members of CARICOM have each issued their individual
statements. They are widely divergent. Jamaica, Barbados and
Trinidad and Tobago have been very forthcoming on the subject. Billie
Miller, the Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados, was furious when she saw
the statement of Otto Reich, the special envoy President Bush for the Caribbean
that said that there are consequences for words spoken by Caribbean leaders,
even as he insisted that the US was not planning sanctions against the
Caribbean. The Bahamas has chosen it seems to be officially silent
although the radio talk shows have been almost 100 per cent against the
war in Iraq.
BAIC LAYOFFS
The Bahamas Agricultural Industrial Corporation
(BAIC) is in the news again. This time it is not about the war between
Sidney Stubbs, its Chair and Leslie Miller, the Minister. The truce
declared is still holding between them. But layoffs have been going
on and it has allegedly affected FNMs more than PLPs. Peter Carey
and Fred Williamson said to be prominent FNMs are amongst those said to
have separated from BAIC. Most people did not kick up a fuss, however
until Ricardo Dean, the Chief Councillor for North Eleuthera and a popular
man about Hatchet Bay, was dismissed. He was declared redundant he
said when a few days before he had received a letter granting him an increment
and telling him what a good job he had done. Mr. Dean too is an FNM
supporter but he is popular and well liked in the district. And so
it appears mud is on someone’s face again as BAIC comes into bad news once
more. There is less sympathy for Peter Carey. This editor received
a letter of protest from Mr. Carey, which we print below.
A number of questions have to be asked of those
who were hired by BAIC during the FNM era. Did they perform their
duties? Did they report to work? Did they finish the schooling
that they were supposed to do when given the opportunity abroad?
The argument goes from the Corporation that if the public knew the answers
to those questions there would be no hue and cry but a thank you to the
Corporation. Perhaps it will all come out in the end. The fact
is that BAIC makes no money. It has a huge overdraft and is a drain
on the resources of the Government. The Government needs to bring
this issue fast to a close.
A
PROTEST FROM PETER CAREY
As we say above, an e-mail of protest at BAIC
was received from Peter Carey, one of the affected parties. Entitled
'Stop Political Victimisation and AXE the Offenders', here is what he had
to say:
I would be most grateful to you if you would
allow me the honour of expressing my personal outrage over the recent wave
of political victimization of Bahamians in our beloved Bahamaland – at
BAIC. It is almost one year since the election of The “NEW PLP” to
govern this country. We recall the reminders of many Bahamians during
the campaign that the PLP has a history of political victimization and
regardless of new or old the PLP would soon turn to their old tricks.
We recall, Prime Minister Perry G. Christie,
requesting his party members to be magnanimous with persons who may support
other political views. I note that the majority of them have shown
respect to their leader’s exhortations, but their lies a few who are determined
to return to their evils ways in an effort to reward friends and families
with opportunities that they do not have the vision to create i.e. provide
meaningful and creative programs in the economy to provide jobs for them.
With great despondency, Bahamians have learned
about the axe given to employees of BAIC with letters signed by Executive
Chairman, Mr. Sidney Stubbs. Mr. Stubbs has since told the nation
that he did not act alone. We are all please when the Prime Minister,
(“Chief Executor” as he called himself), reversed those decisions.
Now, using his power over the Board of Directors of BAIC, that same
person, who acted along with Sidney Stubbs, is causing persons to be victimized
in the name of “right-sizing”.
It is even sadder that the new manager, in my
mind a bright and upcoming professional is being used to advance the actions
of his political masters, who is using BAIC a public corporation in a criminal
way by terminating the services of Bahamians for no other reason then political
victimization.
It is the role now of our Prime Minister to bring
to end the terror caused by those in his government who are abusing their
political position and role as it leads to BAIC. I am sure that many
have advised the Prime Minister, (I note the remarks of Anglican Archbishop,
His Grace Drexel Gomez) to have them resign. This political interference
at BAIC is simply intolerable.
Staff at the Corporation are inevitably intimidated when political
appointees are flexing their strengths to frustrate them. My fellow
Bahamians, these actions should concern us all. They are wrong and should
be stopped. There is enough legitimate evidence to cause our Prime Minister
to get involved and put an end to this madness.
Then the advice of Bishop Gomez should be carried
out and the axe should fall where it should have fallen since September
2002.
Watching and waiting.
Peter T. Carey
[Peter Carey needs to explain what he did when sent to school at
Government expense in Canada? Did he finish his course successfully?
Did he in fact attend the school at all? - Editor's Note]
RAPE
AND ASSAULT IN THE SCHOOLS
The Tribune’s lurid headline was CLASSROOM SEX HORROR. This is part of
The Tribune’s continuing campaign to compete with the weekly rag called
The Punch. But within the lines of the story is indeed a horror story
that is all too frequently coming out of our schools. It is the story
told by a mother to the Tribune and printed on Thursday 10th April.
Here is what the mother said in her own words:
“I was sitting on the porch Friday afternoon
and she was walking home. As she approached, I knew something was
wrong by the expression on her face. I said ‘What’s wrong with you,
why does your face look like that?’ She said to me, ‘Mummy, I was
attacked. I was nearly raped at school…’
“The young man was sitting in a group who were
talking obscenities. He left the group and sat on top of the girl.
He walked to my child’s desk and sat on top of my child and started to
make all sorts of sexual moves and gyrations. He pinned her to her
chair in front of the other students. My child tried to fight him
off and the other students just sat there in shock and watched…
“She got away and he pursued her a second time.
He had taken his shirt off and he attacked her again. She ran to
another section of the classroom and he cornered her… Only when the teacher
came did the young man stop.”
Meanwhile in Grand Bahama some 400 teachers walked
off the job after an attack on teachers at St. Georges High School.
The community is with the teachers and want an immediate stop put to the
violence. Teachers are picture demonstrating in Grand Bahama in this
photo by Derek Carroll.
FOREIGN
MINISTER’S TRAVELS
Brent Symonette asked a parliamentary question two
weeks ago about the cost of travel by the Minister of Foreign Affairs…
and he got an earful for an answer. The total spent on foreign travel
by the Minister out of his vote was some $63,000. The Minister gave
a full explanation to the public of how the figures were arrived at and
said that Mr. Symonette does not need to access the cost of travel through
a Parliamentary question. He can simply access it directly from the
Ministry. Mr. Symonette got upset during the Minister’s presentation
and said that he wished the Minister would stop the innuendo that he Mr.
Symonette was making a personal attack. He claimed that he had asked
a simple question. Bull…! The question was asked to try to make the
Bahamian people feel that the Minister was spending too much money on travel.
And so you can expect the usual hacks to come next
week in the columns about too much money on travel. We can’t wait
for the disingenuous Zhivargo Laing to come with his you know what.
But the Minister should remember that these are occupational hazards.
The Opposition forgets of course that Hubert Ingraham spent 1,000,000 dollars
on
one trip for a month in Europe and the US and came back with a bunch of
bad legislation that ruined the financial services sector. And what
about his first trip promoting The Bahamas supposedly abroad? He
spent some $250,000 of Bahamian taxpayers money. The Minister said
that the costs of his trips are carefully thought out and are approved
in the usual manner. Please click
here for the full story.
WALTER
WELLS RESIGNS FROM CIBC
Walter Wells, the most prominent Bahamian in the
merged company of CIBC and Barclays Bank to have come from CIBC, apart
from Sharon Brown who came from Barclays has reportedly resigned from the
newly formed bank First Caribbean. It is not known why but it is
believed that he has accepted another offer from one of the major banks.
Mr. Wells is said to have been chafing at the bit for some time because
of the pressure to move to Barbados where the new bank has been centering
all its activities. His successor was immediately named as someone
from Barbados. The new bank is in trouble with its unions in The Bahamas
because of its labour practices.
FOREIGN
AFFAIRS IN MIAMI
As part of the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ mandate
to strengthen relations with Bahamians abroad, he made a courtesy call
on 18th March to Mrs. Barbara Shula Carey, the head of the Dade County
Commission. Mrs. Carey was married to a Carey, now deceased, who
was from Eleuthera. The Minister also addressed a session of the
Commission. A conference of Bahamian leaders in South Florida is
to be held in Miami on 25th sponsored by the Ministry. From left
Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell, Mrs. Carey and Bahamas Consul
General to Miami, Mrs. Alma Adams.
MEL ALLEN
DIES
Melvin Edwin Griffin Allen, well known retired tailor
and upholsterer who worked for years with Bahamas Airways and then Bahamasair
as Supervisor in their upholstery department, has died. He was 74.
Born in Tarpum Bay, Eleuthera, Mr. Allen is survived by his wife Norma
nee Dillet, sons Niven and Martin, daughter Cindy and adopted son Jason.
Mr. Allen was buried Saturday 12 April in the Eastern cemetery following
a funeral service at the church of the Most Holy Trinity in Stapledon Gardens.
Mr. Allen is pictured with his wife, Norma, retired head of the Blood Bank
at the Princess Margaret Hospital.
BAHAMAS
B2B NEWSLETTER
Hard on the heels of our story
last week charging "a startling display of bad and yellow journalism"
from the Bahamas B2B Newsletter, but ten full days following the distribution
of the offending newsletter itself, comes an e-mail from Bahamas newsletter
saying it was "misrepresented". Here is what they said:
'Warning From BahamasB2B'
We have received information
that messages appearing to have come from BahamasB2B have been sent to
people without our knowledge or authority.
The messages were sent using phony mail headers
that make it look like they came from lisa@bahamasb2b.com, when in fact
they did not.
ALL mail sent to our mailing list comes from
webmaster@bahamasb2b.com. The address lisa@bahamasb2b.com is used
only for personal correspondence from former BahamasB2B owner Lisa Wells.
We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused
and are pursuing the identity of the criminals who are sending these abusive
emails.
Thanks,
webmaster@bahamasb2b.com
We checked and our copy of that "startling display
of bad and yellow journalism" did not in fact purport to come from anywhere
but Bahamas B2B, in fact, the headers were identical.
SIR
SIDNEY PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO UNESCO
His Excellency Sir Sidney Poitier presented his Credentials as Ambassador
/ Permanent Delegate of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas to the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) at a ceremony
at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France on Friday, 28th March, 2003.
In presenting his letters of credence to His Excellency Mr. Koïchiro
Matsuura, Director General of UNESCO, Ambassador Poitier said that his
first job would be to educate himself fully on the work and programmes
of UNESCO so that he would be able to determine how best to contribute
to the work of the Organisation.
The Ambassador said that The Bahamas Government
has placed education at the centre of its sustainable development policy.
He looked forward to working with the Director General and the Organisation
in implementing its goal of universal primary education by 2015.
The Director General warmly welcomed Sir Sidney
to the Organisation, stating that he thought the accreditation of such
a distinguished world citizen would bring fresh life and ideas to UNESCO.
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Ingraham Wins The Day
Observers have been telling us for weeks now that
there will be no change in the top position at the FNM convention in May.
We have reported in the past month that there has been continuing intervention
from the highest levels in the party. Well it has all come to pass:
Tommy and Brent sat at a domino table at the FNM headquarters in Freeport
yesterday, Saturday 12 April. They were - as Cochise Hanna likes
to recall the words of the famous song - "walking along, singing a song...
side by side".
Tommy and Brent were in town to show how unified
the party was and to attend a farewell dinner for Sir Albert Miller who
has retired from the Grand Bahama Port Authority. We are informed
that former Prime Minister Ingraham was also in town for that same function
and he was smiling from ear to ear as he now knows that he was able to
outmanoeuvre all parties and deliver once again the leadership to Tommy.
We wonder why?
Pitched Battle in High Rock
A war has broken out in the High Rock branch of
the FNM that threatens the very survival of that branch. Since the
Annual General Meeting and election of officers last month, we have been
reliably informed that some of the old guard is refusing to turn over any
of the branch records including bank records. Observers say the MP
seems helpless to do anything about this sad state of affairs. An
appeal was made to News From Grand Bahama to help sort out this matter.
Ha!
St. Georges School
Mr. Kenneth Romer, Vice Principal of St. Georges
High School suffered a broken nose in his office after being attacked by
a parent. Mr. Romer had sent two students - one young man and one
young woman - to his office for reportedly fighting. Reports are
that another student called a parent by cell phone with what turned out
to be misinformation about his son. The father is reported to have
gone to St. Georges School along with another man, headed straight to Mr.
Romer's office where the two individuals assaulted the Vice Principal leaving
him with a broken nose. The police later arrested two men who were
brought before the court and charged. They were both denied bail
by Magistrate Franklin Williams and remanded to Fox Hill prison.
A man was said to have apologized to the District
Education Officer for Grand Bahama Mr. Cecil Thompson for his actions,
saying he had acted without proper information. Teachers, however,
have been in a sit-in mode up to Friday of this week, and have called for
better security to be put in place at public schools. The public
at large is of the view that, if convicted, the guilty parties as part
of their punishment should be made to do some kind of menial work at the
school so that all students can see what happens to parents or guardians
who cross the line of unacceptable behaviour and take the law into their
own hands on any school premises.
Foreign Affairs
We thought that with a new Government and Minister
that conditions for Bahamians who found themselves in distress in Cuba
would improve. On Friday, ZNS 810 radio carried as its lead story
a mother who claimed that she was being given little or no assistance by
the Government of The Bahamas. She was quoted as saying that she
"got nowhere with Minister Janet Bostwick and it looks like the same story
with this present Government and its Minister.” We believe, after
checking, that the mother should contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and her matter would receive speedy consideration if anything at all could
be done,
This, however, is a good time we believe, to highlight
the subject of a consular office in Cuba. ZNS also played an insert
from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, which suggested that no movement
on a consular office could come before the House of Assembly Committee
on Foreign Affairs issues a report. We believe that this is no more
than a stalling tactic on our Government's part in not wanting to make
a difficult decision on relations with the Republic of Cuba.
With hundreds of Bahamians in Cuba on a weekly basis,
this defies logic, not having a consular office there. We remind
the Government that it's first obligation is to its citizens and not to
other foreign interests and when foreign interests take precedence over
its citizens' interests we believe we should hang our heads in shame and
cease to call ourselves a sovereign state.
On the subject of Haiti, we believe that what we
are now doing in concert with the OAS and CARICOM is not working.
We further believe that the only thing the Aristide Government will understand
is for Haiti to be quarantined and all Bahamian interests asked to leave
that nation and the Defence Force assets down in Great Inagua should be
increased and not allow any boat that leaves any Haitian port into Bahamian
waters.
We also believe the only aid that should be given
to Haiti should be of humanitarian nature: food and medicine and once pressure
builds up, the Haitian people will solve their own problem.
BS
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK - There was a touching photograph of Prime Minister Perry Christie with his youngest child Adam, now 13 years old. The portrait of the Prime Minister as a family man is slowly emerging as his children enter their adulthood. Son Steffan was seen in an engaging photo with his mother at the PLP’s convention last year. Daughter Alex sang at the PLP’s convention and at her grandmother’s funeral and is an active member of the National Youth Choir. Adam, the youngest, is a special child. He is autistic. In public policy the Prime Minister has a concern for special children and for the disabled. Adam attends the school for special children at the Gavin Tynes Primary School. This was his coming out occasion when he introduced his father at an assembly at which the Prime Minister was a special guest. The occasion was captured by Peter Ramsay, the Prime Minister’s personal photographer on Friday 11th April. |
This has got to be the most glorious time of the year for Bahamians. Not only is it because of the festival of Easter with the new suits for the children and the churches brightly and excitedly decorated, but also the weather is absolutely perfect. The sun shines brightly. The skies are a blue like you have never seen before. The air has just the right blend of warmth and coolness and there is very little humidity. And so it is the perfect time to sit under the shade of a tree, free of flies and other insects and digest the fish on Good Friday and the lamb on Easter Sunday.
The busiest time of the year for the fishermen in New Providence and no doubt the rest of The Bahamas is on Maundy Thursday, the eve of Good Friday. On that day as you pass every ramp by the sea, there are crowds gathered and car jams with people rushing to get their last minute supply of fish. For most Bahamians the choice by tradition is the goggle-eyed fish, so called because of the covering on the eye that is stripped off when the fish is cleaned. For those who can’t get the fish of choice, snappers or grunts are the fish to eat. These are called frying fish in The Bahamas and the sweetest part of the fish is said to be the “grunt head.”
The weekend is a long weekend in the truest sense of the word. Good Friday is a public holiday and there is a bank holiday called Easter Monday. Bahamians use the long weekend to good effect. There are regattas in Crooked Island and in Bimini. Excursions have gone out to both islands. Many people who originally hail from other islands take the time to get back home. Nassau empties out as a town.
In the old days, it used to be said that the waters of The Bahamas were too cold for Bahamians to swim in before Easter Monday. Easter Monday was said to be the start of the swimming season for Bahamians. The traditional season ends with the last public holiday of the year before Christmas, Discovery Day on 12th October, now called National Heroes Day. The beaches will be packed by the time most people read this on Monday morning.
For four days or so then, the country appears to be on a kind of magical hold, marking the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the centrepiece of the Christian calendar and the reason why the church has a mission on earth. The country has a good reason why it would want to be on hold. Over the past week there was another murder. A 66 year old man became the 15th murder victim of the year when he was shot at point blank range in the head. His hands were bound with duct tape. Yet another shiver of death in The Bahamas for no apparent reason. The police killed the son of former permanent secretary Colin Deane in a scuffle. The young man had been a troubled person throughout his lifetime and now causes grief for his widowered father with his death in the unfortunate circumstances of a scuffle with a female police constable.
The FNM is getting ready for its convention on 7th May. They are trying to decide who will lead them for the next two years. Brent Symonette MP for Montagu and the son of former Premier Sir Roland Symonette has still not said whether he will run or not. The local papers have been predicting that he will not run. He himself has been mum but this column predicts that his fate as a would-be leader of the FNM was sealed with the deal to accept the position of Leader of the House for the FNM two weeks ago.
The PLP is getting set to mark the first anniversary of its return to power, with people grumbling that it was not all that it was cracked up to be. Except, if they think carefully, it really is all that and more. But after one year, the pressure is on to get the jobs for the faithful and get some decisions that will help ease their lives and make their struggle in the hard years worthwhile. The second day of May this year will be an important anniversary. It means that there are four years left before an election has to be called. Perhaps a reshuffle of the Cabinet is also in the air.
That said, it is left only for us to say Happy Easter to you all and thank you for your continuing support of this column since the change over last year.
The photo of fish being sold at Potter’s Cay on Maundy Thursday is from the Bahama Journal.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 19th April 2003: 31,785.
Number of hits for the month of April up to Saturday 19th April 2003: 70,539.
Number of hits for the year up to Saturday 19th April 2003: 390,452.
US
IMPERIALISM
CARICOM has issued
a statement on behalf of Caribbean Heads of Government calling on the UN
to have a lead role in the reconstruction and governance of post war Iraq.
But more and more it looks as if the US made a mistake by going into that
country. Arab Foreign Ministers in a meeting on Friday 18th April have
called on the US and British to leave Iraq as soon as possible. There were
demonstrations in the streets of Baghdad on Friday 18th April calling for
the US to leave Iraq. There was a confrontation with US troops that turned
ugly but was deflected by Iraqi police. At one point a demonstrator told
the soldier: "What are you going to do, shoot me?" This is now an army
of occupation.
Secretary of State Colin Powell is now been shunted out by the Bush
administration to make us all swallow that bitter pill and reality. They
have rejected the offer of the UN to provide weapons inspectors to search
for the weapons of mass destruction that were the pretext of the invasion
and which have yet to be found. Poor Colin Powell was again left to grimace
in front of the camera and say that the weapons will be found. Without
the UN inspectors, nothing the US produces by way of evidence will be internationally
accepted. We bet a case of Kalik that they will never be found because
there were none in the first place.
The US should get out of Iraq now. Of course the whole war business
is off the American media radarscope. They are on to other more exciting
things like the latest kidnapping and murder in the US, nothing about the
mass destruction their country wrought on innocent Iraqis and the raid
of their cultural heritage. That is not important. The whole thing is unseemly.
The CARICOM statement is a waste of time and energy. The US will listen
to no one. The occupation will continue. In that light, we think the US
should be encouraged to invade Syria and keep going until they have wiped
every "Arab terrorist" off the face of the earth. Then when that is finished
they should turn their attention to Zimbabwe and North Korea and get rid
of those bad guys as well. They should not forget Myanmar (formerly Burma)
while they are at it. Once all the bad guys are gone, we shall have peace
in the world. Amen!
EVENTS
IN ZIMBABWE
The Governments of the Caribbean and the Commonwealth
must find the fortitude to suspend Zimbabwe indefinitely from the Commonwealth.
This softly softly approach that has thus far been used will not work.
The problem is that geopolitical realities are stopping the countries of
the world from doing what is necessary to stop the leader of Zimbabwe from
the savagery against his own people. The recent report of beatings of Opposition
supporters is disgraceful.
When we in The Bahamas sent money to Robert Mugabe
it was as a freedom fighter; we did not send money for this. It is time
for him to go. The Bahamas must take a strong stand at the Commonwealth
on this issue. The Commonwealth Ministerial Action group meets again in
May in London and it is crucial that it confirms that Zimbabwe is to remain
suspended. The problem is that it is only the white countries, which take
that stand. The Caribbean countries are subdued because they don’t want
to offend the African countries. The African countries have a head in the
sand policy and South Africa who should be particularly strong on Mr. Mugabe
is doing nothing but shielding him from the effects of world opinion.
CHINA'S
RESPONSIBILITY AND SARS
The Bahamas has to determine whether or not it is
safe to continue to allow its Consul General to remain in Hong Kong, given
the reports on SARS, the new disease that is killing Chinese. It is an
acute form of pneumonia, the organism for which has now been discovered.
What is important here though is the comment on
how a society that is totalitarian and non transparent can cause itself
and the world problems. Because of the nature of the Chinese society, it
is now being said that the true statistics of this highly infectious and
dangerous disease are being hidden. The President of China recently issued
an edict that the facts should not be hidden. This is a little too late
but also better late than never. The World Health Organization must get
in there and get to the bottom of this.
We cannot afford any instability in China. China
already is hiding a major AIDS problem, now with this disease all of the
economic growth and stability that they have been promoting as a result
of their totalitarian system, looks like it can collapse. That would be
bad for the world, so we have a stake in making sure that the nation of
1.2 billion people does not spin out of control. It also shows why an open
democratic society is still the best model for governance and economic
growth.
BAHAMASAIR'S
FUTURE
Every Bahamasair Board and General Manager gets persuaded
into believing that they can solve Bahamsair's problems. The present board
appears to have been persuaded of the same thing. We have to face reality.
It can’t be solved. The airline needs to be sold off to the private sector.
The Government needs to accept the debt and get rid of its only asset and
that is the right to fly within and out of The Bahamas to other destinations.
It is time for us to get out of the airline business. The reports in the
press about slashing salaries and the number of employees are part of this
slow bleed of the resources of the Government to prop up a failed airline.
It will take courage but it must, repeat must be done. That will be the
present Board's best contribution to the country. Let us wind up Bahamasair.
BAIN TOWN THREATENS THE DOG CATCHERS
According to the Nassau Guardian Thursday 17th April,
the dog catchers have been catching hell in Bain Town. There has been a
big campaign by the Canine Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture to catch
the stray dogs that plague this country. They have been doing a good job.
But when they moved into Bain Town, the people there tried to stop them
and the police had to be called.
The last major campaign to get rid of strays foundered
when people began to let the dogs go from the traps and attack the dog
catchers. But the dog catchers must not be deterred. The matter of stray
dogs is simply a disgrace in the country. Those that are ill should be
put down. The neutering and spaying campaign should continue. The US Ambassador’s
wife has been instrumental in providing the assistance to get this job
done. As unpopular as it is in some quarters, the dog catchers should catch
the dogs.
DEATH
IN THE PLAYGROUND
Kyiel Clarke-Munroe was seven years old when he
died on the playground of his school the Carlton Francis Primary. The schoolyard
is a place where he was supposed to be safe. He and another child climbed
up to the top of monkey bars, the bars collapsed and he never recovered
from the fall. He was pronounced dead shortly afterward on Wednesday 16th
April at the Princess Margaret Hospital. This is a sad case.
The Minister of Education Alfred Sears immediately
ordered that all the playgrounds be sealed from use by children until they
can be secured. The story is that this was not put on the Ministry’s premises
by the Ministry of Education but by the Parent Teachers Association. Whatever
the story, there is likely to be a lawsuit to follow. This accident follows
hard on the heels of the drowning of students on a school outing in Sweetings
Cay in Grand Bahama.
The Ministry now needs to take more general stock
of its liability insurance and responsibility for ensuring that there is
a safe system at their schools and in dealing with students on the whole.
As there is more pressure on the school system, and the lack of resources,
there may be more of these kinds of accidents. As they say a gram of prevention
is worth a kilogram of cure. Do they actually say that?
WHITNEY
BASTIAN DENIAL ON BAIC
The Bahamas Agricultural Industrial Corporation
(BAIC) continues to make the news. The truce still holds between the Chairman
of the Corporation Sidney Stubbs and the Minister Leslie Miller. That’s
not the story.
This week Whitney Bastian, the MP for South Andros
was forced to issue a denial that he received information which he disclosed
in the House of Assembly about the battles within the Corporation from
no less a person than the Minister himself. Mr. Bastian said that he was
simply acting to help the employees of the Corporation from sources within
the Corporation. He said the Minister did not supply him with information.
Things that make you go Hmmm!
TEACHERS
STRIKE IN GRAND BAHAMA
The teachers are back to work in Grand Bahama after
being called off the job to protest the lack of security at the schools
in Grand Bahama, owned by the Ministry of Education. The walkout took place
over two days and the Minister of Education Alfred Sears had to fly to
Grand Bahama to deal with the matter directly. The teachers went back to
work. Nothing has been disclosed about how the matter was settled.
One hopes that there is not a frightening pattern
again developing like the pattern before last year’s General Election where
wildcat strikes happen in order to get the Government’s attention and the
Prime Minister always ends up being called in to settle it. We hope that
this is not the start of all this stuff we thought we put behind us with
the new PLP, being more proactive in office.
FOUR
IN A ROW SAYS RICK FOX
Bahamian standout of the three time champions of
the US National Basketball Association Rick Fox has been quoted in the
press as saying that Los Angeles will win four straight championships with
the next one slated for this year. Some are wondering whether after this
year Mr. Fox has a future with the Lakers. It appears that he is an ageing
athlete that is losing his skills and some say that after this it may be
time for him to hang up his boots. Others say: "No way!" What do you think?
HAITIANS BRING DRUGS
The Americans are playing on the drug issue. They
have blamed the transhipment countries for their drug problems. They have
done nothing stop demand. When The Bahamas asked for assistance in trying
to stop the flow of illegal migrants to The Bahamas the US promised it
seemed to help but there appears to be no movement on that score.
If the evidence was not compelling about what Bahamian
authorities suspected on the movement of drugs and the connection to illegal
migration, the evidence is now conclusively in. The Nassau Guardian carried
a headline 'DRUG BUST OF THE YEAR'. Five Haitians were charged with smuggling
cocaine with intent to supply. The cocaine was said to have a value of
4.6 million dollars. All of the men were mature persons. Most in
their 50s and while they are only charged and not yet found guilty, it
seems fairly certain that the drugs were found on a migrant vessel. The
youngest Haitian was 31 and the Bahamian caught with them Dwight Fitzpatrick
was 34. They were not granted bail and await trial from prison.
The Bahamian authorities have suspected that since
the US puts pressure on the go fast boats, the drug guys have moved to
putting the drugs into the slow boats that are used by Haitian migrants.
Those are not checked by the DEU of The Bahamas and the DEA of the US.
Now maybe the US will move post haste to help The Bahamas with this migrant
situation because clearly it is connected to drugs.
THE
FNM IN LEADERSHIP TURMOIL
There is still no statement from Brent Symonette
MP, the now Opposition Whip, about whether he will proceed to run for the
head of the FNM. The rank and file of the FNM believes that Hubert Ingraham
has bamboozled him into withdrawing. The groundwork has been set by the
active discussion about whether a white man can be the leader of a Bahamian
political party. The Tribune claims that the country is so ready. To us
it seems an idle debate and it smacks of Brent Symonette’s lacking of a
particular quality that a leader requires. That is not skin colour; that
is the testicular fortitude to go ahead and run. The question of whether
he is white or not is quite irrelevant to the question of ability.
No doubt Mr. Symonette has some skeleton in the
closet about race and some ghosts to excise. One is the explanation for
why he went to an all white school and what is his view about that now
in a modern Bahamas. But he really should, must have the stomach for it
and go for it if he wants to. If he does not now, he will miss his chance.
He will be beaten by the PLP but that prospect should not stop him. The
whole debate about whether his whiteness is relevant or not is tiresome.
Who cares?
The rank and file say that Hubert Ingraham has no
right to determine by pressure or otherwise who will lead the FNM since
it was he who caused their defeat. Further, they say Senator Tommy Turnquest
was defeated in his own seat and he has no right to be the leader of the
FNM any more. Watching all of this from the sidelines must be a nervous
Alvin Smith, the puppet Leader of the Opposition who must be wondering
if Brent becomes the Leader of the Opposition what will happen to his salary.
Back
To The Top
VOGUE
COVER FOR BAHAMIAN WOMAN
Bahamian women in athletics are not only doing well
on the track but they are also excelling on the cover of the world’s popular
women’s magazines. The latest comes with Bahamian Long Jumper Jackie Edwards
who is to appear in the April editions of Vogue, Glamour, Vanity Fair,
Allure, Flex and Cosmopolitan as the Face of the Generation. The Tribune
featured her success in its sports edition on Tuesday 15th April. She lives
in Texas and said that she entered the contest thinking that she would
not win. She is the daughter of the Methodist Minister Rev. Nymphus Edwards.
Ms. Edwards said: “I was pleasantly surprised. I
never envisioned that I would win. When you have 5,000 entries you don’t
expect to win.”
MINISTER
REFUTES THE ENVIRONMENT ENVOY…
Last week, we reported from this site, the apparent
conflict between what the Ambassador for the Environment Keod Smith had
to say and what the developer Gerardo Capo had to say about the Bimini
Bay project in Bimini. It appeared from the press that Mr. Smith said that
the Government or he had stopped the project in Bimini for environmental
reasons. The developer was in the paper the next day to say that the development
had not in fact stopped. Then on Monday 14th April, the Minster for Works
Bradley Roberts announced that indeed the project had not been stopped
by the Government.
It turns out that the developer had been speaking
all along with the Government’s ministers and had agreed to scale down
his project but that the work on the project was to continue. It seemed
to give the Government a black eye in that it looked like there was a conflict
between two sources in the Government.
The public of course would not know this but the
Ambassador for the Environment and the BEST Commission does not have any
executive authority to stop anything. The BEST Commission is an advisory
body of the Government on environmental matters. It brings together the
public sector expertise in a kind of quasi Ministry that is designed to
give the Government the best advice on environmental matters.
The Ministry that has the executive responsibility
on environmental matters is the Minister of Health under Dr. Marcus Bethel.
The Ministry that deals with permission to build is the Ministry of Works.
Notwithstanding that confusion, the Government should stop the project.
The project is ruinous to the environment. The developer does not apparently
have the money to finish the project. What is needed is the restoration
by the developer of Bimini's environment.
BACARDI
STRIKE…
The Minister
of Labour is a busy man these days. It appears that the restraint that
came in anticipation of the General Election last year is off and the Union’s
are now pressing their demands by strikes and other forms of industrial
action.
First, union Leader Huedley Moss gave an ultimatum
to the Government’s Water and Sewerage Corporation that they sign the contract
with the union or face a strike. Three days after the ultimatum the strike
took place. The Minister of Labour Vincent Peet stepped in and the Government
signed on the dotted line. Last week there was a teacher’s strike which
caused the Minister of Education to fly to Grand Bahama when a teacher
was injured in a school by a parent called in to even the score in a dispute.
The parent was called by a child with a cell phone. The Unions demanded
that there be more security in the school.
It is hard to see what more the Minister could have
promised as a result of a strike than if a meeting been requested but whatever
it was the Union now seems to be satisfied that progress is coming. It
clearly got the Government’s attention.
Huedley Moss is now back again. This time he is the principal advisor
to Bacardi’s union. Bacardi’s management seemed to be holding fast and
so the Union decided that they had had enough and a strike was called.
The daily papers carried on their front pages photos of the Union workers
on strike. As the week ended, the Minister of Labour was involved and the
parties were back to the bargaining able.
There is no word on how the Bacardi talks were going,
but Bacardi is said to be in a perilous state. Having lost the market preferential
treatment into the European Union, Bacardi now has to compete with other
centres of production for Bacardi products around the world. Costs are
therefore a key factor. Labour is said to be too expensive in The Bahamas.
And so the gauntlet has been thrown down. The union is said to be willing
to accept a reasonable offer. The onus is said now to be on the company
to make such an offer.
DOES
SADDAM HAVE ACCOUNTS HERE?…
Trust The Tribune
to find a startling headline to try to embarrass the Government. And so
this one was a doozy. The Tribune’s Business section claimed that Saddam
Hussein had a bank account here in The Bahamas in a bank Banco del Gottardo.
They were quoting from a story in The Sunday Times, another bastion of
anti-Bahamian sentiment that appeared in London last week.
The account is reported to have been code-named
Satan. It was reportedly used to funnel millions of dollars from contracts
that were given by the Iraqi government to foreign contractors. The bank
was incensed. It is headquartered in Switzerland. It said it had complied
with applicable UN sanctions and a request to identify Iraqi deposits in
their bank. They had found two such accounts. None of them had to do with
members of the Iraqi Government.
One suspects that as it clearly emerges that the
US invasion of Iraq was misconceived since there are no weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq, that there will be more and more propaganda coming
out of the established sources to discredit the Government of Iraq that
they removed.
No word from the Government of The Bahamas that
increasingly faces these silly reports about Bahamian banks being used
to launder illegal money. The problem with no response from the Government
is that it creates a picture out there that The Bahamas Government has
something to do with a bank being used for a particular purpose. One remembers
the comment by Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur who says that there
is more money laundered in the United States than in any other country
in the world and the entire Caribbean combined.
IAN
STRACHAN'S NEW BOOK…
Dr. Ian Strachan, the lecturer at the College of
The Bahamas and the playwright seems to have come into his maturity. It
was not even two years ago that he was engaged in a row about his use of
the
Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts and an apparently bitter struggle
with personalities who run the place.
Dr. Strachan has now written another book, his first
since God’s Angry Babies in 1997. It is a mature work and well worth reading
about the complex relationship between the tourism that gives us life in
our countries in the Caribbean and yet is at the same time so soul destroying
and a root cause of our problems. It is, again, well worth the read. The
title is “Paradise and Plantation: Tourism and Culture in the Anglophone
Caribbean”. It is available in Nassau at Logos bookstore. It is published
by the University of Virginia Press and the ISBN number is: 0-8139-2146-5.
The price is $25. Here is an excerpt from the preface:
“It is hard to ignore the hotels. They rise like
mammoths of iron and concrete above the homes, the office buildings, and
the trees of New Providence, island of my birth. Seeing the latest titan
appear from the mist, the Atlantis Resort, built by Sun International Hotels
Ltd. on Paradise Island, I have tried to imagine how Bahamians might have
felt eighty years ago as they watched the Colonial Hotel, at the time the
tallest building in the colony, climb skyward in 1920. I think further,
and I try to imagine what the Royal Victoria Hotel must have looked like
to the inhabitants of these islands in 1961. Tourism has ruled in this
place since then, and it is not any wonder, therefore, that when I sought
a subject for scholarly research I hoped to better understand the myth
of the Caribbean paradise. It is in The Bahamas that this myth finds a
beginning, and it is this myth that has served as the primary subject of
tourism’s special language in this region. The notion that we live in “paradise”
has been one of the central myths of Bahamian life. If I have sought to
interrogate that myth, then, I have tried to apply pressure to something
intimate to all Bahamians, indeed, to all Caribbeans.”
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
The Word Come Down:
Former Prime Minister, Hubert Ingraham was in Grand
Bahama again this week. While here he met with the party faithful to make
sure the delegates to the upcoming FNM convention got the message as to
what the new lineup for the FNM would be. Tommy T, leader; Zhivargo "Brother
Laing", deputy leader; Carl "Smart" Bethel, chairman; Darren "Counting"
Cash and Johnley "the Administrator" Ferguson, both vice chairs; and Theresa
"Get Things Done" Moxey as secretary general.
No sooner than Ingraham had boarded his Bahamas
Air Flight, the news from Grand Bahama started receiving calls. The gist
of these calls were that the people of the Bahamas on May 2nd of last year
had sent the FNM a clear message. These stiff necks still have not gotten
the message, and if we continue down the same road by not allowing people
to make their own decisions next time we might be wiped out completely
and not win any seats. Another said Brent must not make the same
mistake like Allen did; sometimes, leaders must take bold steps. Yet
another was quoted as saying "Opportunity may only knock once for some
people"; and yet another was quoted as telling Ingraham "That line up can't
fly.
High Rock War
No sooner than our story on the high rock war was
posted last week did reports come in that the records of the branch would
soon be delivered to the new administration loyal to Tommy. The MP for
the area has since sided with the anti-Tommy faction, even after being
advised by the chief not to involve himself in this type of skirmish. But,
we believe the advice came a little late. Our advice to him, (MP) is to
ask this faction not to nominate for any national office at this time or
suffer the humiliation of defeat.
CDR
Word is that the CDR headed by CEO, Dr. Bernard
Nottage, may once again soon have a seat in Parliament after the FNM convention.
We understand that negotiations are ongoing but in any event at the end
of May the CDR will announce its shadow cabinet. This year for the first
time, the CDR will present a budget for 2003-2004 fiscal year where it
will lay out how the scarce resources of our country could be utilized
to its maximum potential. Stay Tuned.
HAITI
This week no one was surprised when a wooden sloop
was boarded by Defence Force and DEU agents and the largest quantity of
cocaine was seized. Most Bahamians believe that not only are these sloops
used for human cargo smuggling, but they are also used for drug trafficking
and arms dealing. We believe that the U.S. authorities have consistently
turn a blind eye to these boats because they see it only as a Bahamian
migrant problem that has little or no effect on the U.S. mainland. So for
these selfish reasons, the full assets of the U.S. as they along with the
Bahamian authorities patrol our waters have not been as vigilant as they
ought to be. Hence, these boats have been coming in unchallenged and undetected.
We believe that the Embassy in Nassau should now make the case to Washington
that a policy change in this regard is in the interest of the United States
to help the Bahamas with its boat people problem because ultimately, the
drugs will end up on the streets of the United States.
B.S.
![]() |
PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The photo of the week appeared in the Nassau Guardian on Tuesday 22nd April. It was a picture by Patrick Hanna of two kids building a sand castle on one of the beaches of New Providence on the Easter Monday Holiday. The past week and the week before were four day work weeks in The Bahamas because of the Good Friday and Easter Monday Holidays. The police said that the long weekend in the country was “crime free”, with no incidents of importance reported. The children seemed oblivious to photographer Patrick Hanna as they set about their work. Easter Monday in the tradition of The Bahamas is the beginning of the swim season. The water is judged to be warm enough by Bahamians to allow a swim. The last day of the swim season is traditionally the National Heroes Day Holiday on 12th October formerly known as Discovery Day. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE FNM’S AGATHERTHIN'
You always know its silly season or more correctly FNM convention
season when all the freaks come out at night and during the day.
Every day now as the convention scheduled to begin on 7th May draws closer
and closer, the statements come fast and furious in the FNM dominated press
of The Bahamas. The Tribune of course has been running a now stillborn
(see story below 'BRENT WON'T RUN') one man or shall we say a one woman
campaign to elect Brent Symonette, the Leader of the FNM. They keep
insisting the obvious that colour should not be an issue in determining
who is the leader of the FNM.
The PLP has been watching all of this with some bemusement but also with studied interest. Anyone who does not believe that Perry Christie is not watching this with a keen eye, despite the silence and jocularity on the point is seriously mistaken. The PLP is keenly aware that whatever is being orchestrated by the FNM now is a strategy that they think can be a winning one. Their strategy is to ridicule the PLP for being a government of indecision, fudging and commissions and corrupt or at best spendthrifts. They will argue that nothing is being done.
This week the strategy was unveiled in a small form when Brent Symonette MP for Montagu and would have been leader of the FNM stood up in the House of Assembly to try to denounce Allyson Maynard Gibson for tabling a bill that was not the correct bill. The Minister at the earliest opportunity corrected the mistake, withdrew the bill from the House in accordance with the rules in the meeting of Wednesday 23rd April and substituted the new bill. Mr. Symonette tried to make a meal of it, talking about incompetence and rushing and misleading the House. He couldn’t bring it off because the PLP kept asking him whether he was still running or not for leader and the whole thing descended into laughter.
But on a more serious note, the talk in the FNM is that the country will get tired and is tired of the indecision and commissions. They argue that the PLP is unpopular because there are no jobs; that the renting of bleachers for Junkanoo is a millstone around the neck of the PLP; and that if the elections were called today, the PLP would not win one seat. One small point, no election is going to be called today. The FNM intends to play to these themes at their convention.
In order to do that, they will have to ensure that there is no dissension on the question of leadership. And so former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham is pressing everyone to stay in line for Senator Tommy Turnquest to be returned and there is to be no fight over leadership at the Convention.
Some argue that a more sinister motive is in place. Mr. Ingraham thinks that when 2005 comes, the Christie led government will have collapsed under its own weight and that at that time there will be a demand for him to come back. He will be able to easily ask Senator Turnquest to step aside for him to return. That would have been a whole other question if it were Brent Symonette there.
Of course there is the poem of Robert Burns about the best laid plans going where you don’t want them to go. The fact is that 2007 is a long way away, the time for a fresh election. Perry Christie has been counted out before by the same accusations and he wiped the floor with the FNM in 2002. As it was said once: we routed them before and we can rout them again.
The PLP will mark the occasion of the 2nd May when they were reelected to office after ten years in opposition with church services and social celebrations. But no one for one moment has forgotten what it took to get to office, why the PLPs were elected to office and what has to be done stay in office. The battle against the forces of the FNM is still joined and the PLP must continue to remember why it is now the Government and not the other side.
The number of hits for the week ending Saturday 26th April 2003 at midnight: 18,397.
The number of hits for the month of April up to Saturday 26th April 2003 at midnight: 89,023.
The number of hits for the year up to Saturday 26th April 2003 at
midnight: 408,936.
BRENT
- $10,000 AND TWO CUFF LINKS
The propaganda began in earnest this past week to set the scene if not
now, later for a run for Leader of the FNM. The pressure was said
to be enormous on Brent Symonette, the son of former United Bahamian Party
(UBP) Premier Sir Roland Symonette, to abandon any idea he had of running
for Leader of the FNM. Their publicists and promoters have been at
pains over the past weeks to discuss openly in the press the idea that
the time has come when The Bahamas could have a white Leader of a political
party and a white Prime Minister. The idea is really a silly one,
since colour should not decide who becomes leader of a party. Many
argue though that, while that is the case, this white man is just the wrong
person. What that really means is that this man is the wrong person.
Mr. Symonette is painfully aware of all the baggage
and he appeared on a radio talk show during the week tantalizing the public
about whether he would or wouldn’t run. To this end, The Tribune
ran a front page top line story: D DAY FOR SYMONETTE on Tuesday 22nd April.
The thrust of the story was to refute the story run here last week and
in other media in The Bahamas that he had been pressured by Hubert Ingraham,
the former Prime Minster to withdraw from the race. On the radio
show, Mr. Symonette deferred again, saying that he would make an announcement
within two weeks. Most FNMs already thought that Mr. Symonette had
decided not to go ahead and had therefore lost his chance to become leader
of the party forever.
In the process of defending his position, Mr. Symonette
sought to portray himself as a rags to riches story. He said that
when his father died over 20 years ago, he was left $10,000 and a pair
of cuff links. This brought howls of laughter from the other side.
The Prime Minister teased Mr. Symonette in the House about the matter when
he asked him: What about the trust fund that was controlled by Mr. Symonette’s
mother? In other words, who was the beneficiary of that? In
the process of all this 'will he, or won't he' the country got a fascinating
portrait of an attempt to refashion a UBP’s image into a modern day Bahamian
politician with no racial hang ups and political past as baggage. Tribune
photo.
BRENT
WON'T RUN
The announcement was made at a Friday news conference by Brent Symonette
that he has decided not to run during the next FNM convention for Leader
of the party. Flanked by the Leader of Opposition business in the
House Alvin Smith, one of the Gang of Three Plus One at the head of the
FNM, Mr. Symonette was reported not to have ruled out running before the
next election. Noticeably absent were the other members of the Gang
of Three Plus One, FNM leader outside the House Senator Tommy Turnquest
and FNM former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham (the plus one, who alone
amongst the group holds no 'leadership' post). Mr. Ingraham is widely
thought to have been the key factor in Mr. Symonette's decision not to
contest the party's leadership. The story came as we prepared this
site for upload and seems to confirm our report that the appearance of
unity was paramount in the decision. Mr. Symonette was quoted in
The Tribune as saying: "…it was in the best interest of the FNM and the
unity of the party that we have a convention that is not divided in any
way…" Bahama Journal photo.
THE
BRENT SYMONETTE STORY
If you did not know any better it would have brought
tears to your eyes. The rags to riches story told to the Bahamian
people on radio on Tuesday 22nd April by Brent Symonette, the son of the
former Premier of The Bahamas Sir Roland Symonette. Mr. Symonette
had been promoting himself as would be leader of The Bahamas but he can’t
make up his mind because some have argued that because he is white he can’t
succeed. Others have told him because he is his father’s son, and
the UBP that his father led has so much political baggage that he cannot
succeed. All of that is poppycock. What you need is guts but
some have it and some don’t. We thought that you would be interested
to read some of what Mr. Symonette had to say to Jeffrey Lloyd on the programme
ISSUES OF THE DAY on Love 97 on Tuesday 22nd April in his own words:
“When my father died, I inherited $10,000, a
pair of cuff links and a watch and that was it. People forget that
he died over 20 odd years ago, so I grew up knowing the value of hard work…
“Details of my life, skin colour, and wealth
are being spread over The Bahamas for everyone to have fun discussing,
but people are unaware of the facts. As a youth I began work at 7
a.m. working long hours selling wicks and burners for Electrolux Kerosene
refrigerators.
“With my first car, I earned the money to buy
it and these were not handouts. When my father died, my mother inherited
everything. I don’t hold a grudge against him because that was his
way. He taught us the value of money. That was ingrained in
me and I am ingraining it in my children.
“When my father died my brother (Craig) and I
dabbled in numerous business ventures. The deposit for the first
subdivision that me and my brother created was guaranteed by my brother
(the late R. H. Symonette, the former Speaker of the House) and the banks
were more lenient because they thought they could rely on my father to
bail us out. We went ahead, we borrowed the money and through hard work,
we created the firms that we did; so it is not fair nor will I sit back
and have people say that I inherited money because that is not the case.
I work for it and continue to work for it.
“I am reasonably well off (declared net worth
15,000,000 dollars) but a lot of the money I earned and I should not be
penalized for it. Mr. Tiger Finlayson is very wealthy, but we don’t
penalize him. Mr. Bradley Roberts is very wealthy but we don’t penalize
him. I did the same thing, but everyone thinks that I inherited it.
I only inherited something on the 13th March this year after my mother
died…
“There were times when I was a teenager at 3
a.m. and my father was already up. He would shower, go downstairs,
and we went to work. That is the way I was brought up so hard work
and me go hand in hand…
“We have progressed very successfully as a country
and we should also be thankful of that. Are we going backwards?
We can’t change the history that slavery resulted in this country, but
we should also look back and realize that at some point in time, black
people owned more slaves than white people in The Bahamas, that is an historical
fact, but we tend not to remember that…
“If I am labelled because of my father’s past
affiliation, the public must label Minister Allyson Gibson with her father,
Sir Clement T. Maynard and Minister Glenys Hanna Martin with her father
A.D. Hanna, both former politicians. We don’t see this happening.
They are individuals of their own right, so what’s good for one has to
be good for the other. There is no difference between myself and
Minister Allyson Maynard Gibson expect the colour of my skin… She sends
her kids away to school, I sent my kids away to school. She lives
on the waterfront out west; I live overlooking the waterfront out east.
No difference except the colour of our skin. But we are both Bahamians…
“They have branded me a UBP, but when the UBP
came into existence, I was under 10. Does this mean that every single
child of every single politician gets branded or put in a box because of
who their father was? If that is the case, one must also say that
Minister Bradley Roberts is a UBP, as his father was general for the party.”
[This was a remarkable interview. Obviously
very heartfelt and some deep deep wounds have been inflicted and need healing
balm. The defence was well thought out, but the fact is that Mr.
Symonette began from a position of wealth and privilege as the son of a
rich, powerful white merchant in a country dominated by that class and
in that he is not like Allyson Maynard Gibson nor like Glenys Hanna Martin.
While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with Mr. Symonette's - or anyone's
background - which in and of itself should be held against them, the fact
is that Mr. Symonette is intellectually dishonest and unless and until
this privileged scion of the UBP can acknowledge the truth of who he is
and where he came from, he just cannot make it. There is a saying
by their fruits ye shall know them—Ed.]
NORMAN
SOLOMON’S DISEASE
Not much is known about the disease Parkinson's in The Bahamas. What
little we know about it, we know from the international figures like Pope
John Paul, the actor Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali. But now the
matter has come home to all. The Prime Minister attended a banquet
on Saturday 26th April for the Kingdor National Parkinson’s Foundation
to raise money for the cause in The Bahamas. But the country was
surprised to see a familiar local face amongst the victims of the disease.
The disease affects motor co-ordination and is sometime marked by tremors,
slurred speech, loss of motor co-ordination and loss of memory. That
face was the owner of the Solomon Group of Companies businessman and former
Leader of the Opposition Norman Solomon. Mr. Solomon told a TV audience
that the greatest nuisance for him is the inability to button his shirts
and to cut meat when he eats. But he felt that apart from that he
had a healthy attitude about the disease and acted as if he did not have
it. Mavis Darling King, niece of the former Governor General Sir
Clifford Darling and daughter of the late K.S. Darling is the principal
spokesman for the disease in The Bahamas.
ALGERNON
CHALLENGES MELANIE ---HMMM!
Every once in a while, Algernon Allen, the former Minister of Idle Poetry,
rises up from the political graveyard since his ignominious defeat by the
new Marathon Man Ron Pinder, to defend some strange cause or other.
One time, he was there attacking the pimps, prostitutes and people of the
night on Dowdeswell Street. Another time, he rose up to say what
a great thing it would be for The Bahamas to have a white Prime Minister.
Now he has come forward in the Nassau Guardian Wednesday 23rd April to
defend; well, we are not quite sure, but what it appears is that he had
or has some affinity for a man named Philippe Bonefoy who he claims contributed
$700,000 to the building of a home for abused children.
Melanie Griffin, the new Minister, had told the
public earlier what a mess Mr. Allen had made of the whole matter of the
home for abused children with no proper records of what was donated and
what was not and who was to pay for the completion of the centre.
Mrs. Griffin said that Mr. Bonefoy who had been touted by Mr. Allen in
his previous life as the person who would complete the centre can’t be
found despite numerous requests to speak to him. He has proven to
be elusive. The result is that all efforts to contact him have ceased and
the Government will have to complete the centre itself. How Mr. Allen
thought it necessary to defend that, we don’t know.
A
STRANGE HAPPENING IN MAYAGUANA
The two Bahamasair 1969 version 737 jets were out
of commission last week. The result was that the schedule was all
botched up with delays after delays. The airline is at a critical
stage with drastic steps needing to be taken to bring its costs in line
and help to save it. The fact is that the whole industry is in trouble
with American Airlines, a major carrier into The Bahamas near bankruptcy
and the regional airlines Air Jamaica and BWIA in financial trouble.
After a much promoted sale to Butch Stewart the Jamaican entrepreneur in
1994 by the Jamaican Government, it was announced that the Jamaican government
in a debt for equity swap would reacquire some 45 per cent of Air Jamaica.
Meanwhile, the Unions in Nassau seem not to be able to accept that there
will have to be drastic steps taken at Bahamasair if it is to be saved.
But to add to its troubles this week, the passengers
of Bahamasair in Mayaguana had had enough. The flight arrived in
Mayaguana from Inagua on its way to Nassau to pick up passengers.
Too many passengers were put on at Inagua. The result was not enough seats
for booked passengers at Mayaguana. The plane was blocked on the
tarmac by angry passengers so that it could not move. The pilot begged
them to allow him to do so because his legal time to fly was running out.
They did not and so another crew had to be flown in to bring the 14 passengers
to Nassau. No word on whether any one has been charged with this
incident but charged they must be.
AIRPORT
WORKERS ON STRIKE
There was brief work stoppage at Nassau International
Airport on Thursday 24th April. The dispute was about whether or
not certain airport workers transferred from the Public Service are entitled
to the pay anomalies that the Government granted to public service workers,
even though those airport workers now work for the Airport Authority.
The Government's lawyers say no, the Union says yes; that it was a term
of the pre existing contract before they transferred. Perhaps the
matter will now end up in the court where it properly belongs. The
workers were back at work by afternoon.
BACARDI
WORKERS STILL OUT
The strike over the layoff of 20 Bacardi workers
continues into its third week. There does not appear to be any end
in sight. Union Leader Huedley Moss says that they will remain on
strike for as long as it takes. Meanwhile, Bacardi is said to be
alarmed as the future of the company is put in jeopardy by a Union that
will not see the facts. Not so said the other side, the company is
simply being bloody minded. Nassau Guardian photo by Donald Knowles.
MINISTERS
REPORT TO THE NATION
The Minister of Financial Services and Investment
spoke to the nation on Wednesday 23rd April to say that there is some $2.18
billion of investment pending for The Bahamas. She predicted that
this should mean the creation of some 5,947 jobs. The address was
the second of a series of reports to the nation by Ministers of the Government
through national radio addresses. You
may click here for the full address by the Minister. The report
was the second of a series foreshadowed by Prime Minister Christie in his
national address on the eve of the second Gulf War. The first in
that series was a report by the Minister of Tourism, Obie Wilchcombe on
14th April. You may click here
for Minister Wilchcombe's report.
NEW
ANGLICAN CHANCELLOR
Attorney Mrs. Ruby Nottage has been installed as
the first woman Chancellor of the Anglican diocese. Mrs. Nottage
was congratulated during the official service at Christ Church Cathedral
by former Chancellor and former Governor General Sir Orville Turnquest
and Lady Turnquest and is shown at the service Thursday 24th April with
altar boy Jonathan Lockhart. Bahamas Information Services photo
by Peter Ramsay.
NEW
SUB DEAN AT CHRIST CHURCH
Archdeacon Etienne Bowleg has been installed as
the new sub Dean at Christ Church Cathedral. Reverend Father Bowleg
is substantively Rector of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity and replaces
Archdeacon William Thompson (now deceased) at the Cathedral Chapter. Bahamas
Information Services photo by Peter Ramsay.
KEN -
THE MISERABLE
Of all the Members of Parliament in the House of Assembly in the Senate,
the one that will get the misery loves company prize must be the Member
of Parliament for High Rock Ken Russell. Here is a man who by all
accounts is a successful politician having served as a Minister of Works
in the last administration. He won his seat handily in the last election
bucking the national trend, so he must be admired by most of his constituents.
But he wears a frown all the day long. There is not one thing it
appears that can be done to please the man. His colleagues in the
FNM say that that is his personality and they too try to stay out of his
way. Only one person makes him smile and that is former Prime Minister
Hubert Ingraham. They say when Ingraham comes into the picture you
can see that grin from a mile away. Still, in Ken's defence, he always
has a smile for a former editor of this site who is his constituent.
Perhaps he only smiles when he feels that it counts. Hmmm!
BAHAMIANS
MEET IN MIAMI
Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell was the host along
with Consul General Alma Adams in Miami for a one day symposium on the
theme 'Strengthening Relations between The Bahamas and South Florida'.
Some 50 elected officials from the South Florida area were present to hear
speakers from the Dade County Commission, the Broward County Commission
and from the churches in South Florida talk about how relations can be
improved between The Bahamas and South Florida. At least three persons
on the Dade County Commission have Bahamian connections. The Anglican
Church of St. Agnes is a particularly strong parish in Miami with some
3000 members of Bahamian descent. The Minister promised that there
would be follow up to ensure that the links would grow stronger between
the Bahamians who live abroad and The Bahamas. You may click
here for the Minister’s address.
PLP
1st ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS
PLP Chairman Raynard Rigby has announced a schedule of events in celebration
of the party's first anniversary in government. Please click
here for the party's detailed announcement. On Thursday, 1st
May 2003 - National Address by the Prime Minister and Party Leader, the
Hon. Perry G. Christie; Friday, 2nd May 2003 - Cultural Extravaganza on
Clifford Park starting at 7:00pm and featuring leading Bahamian artists;
Saturday, 3rd May 2003 - Victory Fun Day at PLP Headquarters starting at
7:00 am and continuing all day with lots of fun, games and activities for
the entire family; and Sunday, 4th May 2003 - PLP will attend church to
fellowship and to give God thanks for the electoral victory. Mr.
Rigby himself is on Island FM radio Sunday 27th April at 3 p.m. to discuss
the party's fiftieth anniversary.
PRIME
MINISTER CHRISTIE ON RADIO
Prime Minister Perry Christie is scheduled to be
heard on radio today, Sunday 27 April. The Prime Minister is the
guest on a special edition of the 102.9 Island FM Sunday show 'Parliament
Street'. This week's show is being hosted by broadcaster Charles
Carter and Island FM News Director Jerome Sawyer and is being simulcast
by COOL96 Radio (96.1 FM) in Freeport. Mr. Christie is expected to
give an account of his stewardship after one year in government, with questions
from leaders of important segments of the Bahamian economy and from the
general public.
FOREIGN
MINISTER TO WASHINGTON
Fred Mitchell, the Foreign Minister will travel
to Washington DC for the first official visit by a Bahamian Government
official to the US capital. An earlier visit to Washington scheduled
for February had to be postponed because of the US attack on Iraq.
The Foreign Minister will be in Washington from 28th April to 3rd May.
MITCHELL
AT PINDLING LECTURE
Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell will be the distinguished
lecturer this year for the Sir Lynden O. Pindling Memorial Lecture on Monday
5th May. The lecture was originally to be held near the anniversary
of the birth of Sir Lynden in March but due to scheduling conflicts the
lecture will now be held on 5th May. The subject: What does it mean
to be a Bahamian? The lecture is free and the venue is the Dundas
Centre for the Performing Arts. It begins at 7:30 p.m.
SARS
ALERT FOR BAHAMIANS IN CANADA
Bahamians in Canada are concerned now that the World
Health Organization has issued a travel advisory for the city of Toronto
in Canada because of the SARS crisis. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
was first spotted in China in November last year but it has become a major
health outbreak throughout China and the rest of Asia. There have
been several deaths in Toronto related to persons who travelled to the
Far East and returned to Canada. The Mayor of Toronto is furious
about it but the WHO warning stands.
The Ministry of Health in The Bahamas continues
to monitor the situation. There is a questionnaire that has to be
answered by everyone at the border about where they have spent the last
few weeks. Anyone who is returning from an infected area should remain
in quarantine for at least ten days if they are symptomless. Students
in Canada are advised to pay attention to reports from their local health
systems in Canada that are updating the universities and colleges on a
daily basis. If there are any issues, they can call the High Commissioner
to Canada located in Ottawa for any additional information.
ZENDAL
FORBES CALLS FOR MONEY FOR SCHOOLS
Zendal Forbes, who is the only declared candidate
for Leader of the FNM, beside Senator Tommy Turnquest issued a press statement
this week on education. Mr. Forbes called for the government to commit
forty million dollars of additional resources to the development of education.
Mr. Forbes is a former FNM candidate against Sir Lynden Pindling in the
1992 General Election. He is felt to believe that given the rejection
of Senator Turnquest and those who now appear to be on a course for reelection
to the FNM leadership, there is a need for opposition to that. His
friends say that the feeling amongst Mr. Forbes’ supporters is that Brent
Symonette (click here for stories
above) was really a stalking horse for Senator Turnquest. He
was meant to block anyone else from entering the race when he did not at
all intend to run.
One thing we have to say about Mr. Forbes is that
he gets an 'A' for courage. We trust that when nomination day comes
in the FNM that the persons who promise to nominate him show up.
That is a favourite trick when pressure is brought to bear within a party.
The persons who said that they would give you the chance to run by nominating
you suddenly disappear into the woodwork on nomination day and can’t be
found.
THE
PRISON REPORT IS TABLED
On Wednesday 23rd April, the Deputy Prime Minister Mrs. Cynthia Pratt laid
on the table of the House the much awaited report on conditions in the
Prison. It is much worse than we thought. The most startling
fact is that 70 percent of the inmates in the prison are illiterate.
There are no training programmes in the prison and the conditions in prison
are unsanitary and unhealthy. Mrs. Pratt thanked the Commission Chair
Dr. Elliston Rahming for the work of the Commission. She said that
the report makes it clear that if you treat people like animals they will
become animals. Let us hope that this report is more than talk and
that some real work is begun to clean up the prison.
CHURCH
AND STATE
We thought you might appreciate seeing this candid
photograph of Prime Minister Perry Christie being greeted at Christ Church
Cathedral by His Grace the Archbishop of the Anglican Church the Most Reverend
Drexel Gomez. It was, in our view, an interesting photographic juxtaposition
of church and state. The photo is by Bahamas Information Services'
Peter Ramsay.
CONGRATULATIONS
TO PICTET BANK
This week Pictet Bank, the French Bank, that is
located on the western foreshore near Caves Point in New Providence is
celebrating its 25th anniversary in The Bahamas. Perhaps a call by
the Government upon the bank for their stickability in the face of some
pretty difficult times and pressure from overseas would be well worth it.
CARIFTA
GAMES RESULTS
The Bahamas' march to the top in regional and international sports continues
with recent successes by national teams at the CARICOM countries regional
'Carifta' Games, held during April.
Track & Field - The Bahamas earned 3 gold, 6
silver and 13 bronze medals for a total of 22 prizes overall in a fifth
place finish behind Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and Antigua and
Barbuda. Twins Tavara (on the left) and Tamara Rigby wave the flag after
finishing first and third respectively in the under-17 girls 200 metres
during Carifta track in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad in this Nassau Guardian
photo by Donald Knowles.
Swimming - The National Swim Team shocked a powerful Cayman Islands team
at Carifta swimming in Kingston, Jamaica by outstripping them for third
place overall. The Bahamas secured 18 gold, 7 silver and 10 bronze
medals in the effort. Head coach Allan Murray told the press "the
margin between third place and the Trinidadians in second and the Jamaicans
in first is diminishing. Alana Dillette (3 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)
overtakes the competition in the pool at the Jamaican national swim complex
in this Tribune photo. 11-12 girls standout Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace
bagged 6 gold medals and a record in the 200 metre freestyle. Full
results are available at www.swimjamaica.com.
Boxing - The Bahamas Boxing Team came out on top
in the first day of Carifta competition Friday 25th April in Nassau's Kendal
Isaacs gym. The Bahamas' Brandon Johnson is shown in this Tribune
photo (left) by Felipe Major on his way to defeating Anderson Emanuel of
Barbados for a gold medal in the under-20 Light-Heavyweight division.
As we prepared for upload Saturday evening 26th April, the final night
of boxing competition was underway.
A
CREDIBLE VEHICLE FOR THE PLP
The PLP continues to get a proper drubbing in the
public relations battle. What has been helpful during the past two
weeks have been the addresses of the Ministers of the Government Allyson
Gibson and Obie Wilchcombe. They both gave good accounts of their
stewardship, with Mrs. Gibson latterly indicating that over two billion
dollars of investment (click here for
story above) coming to The Bahamas will mean significant jobs and a
boost for this economy. But the PLP does not have a newspaper.
It does not have a well maintained website with regularly updated information.
Government Ministries do not themselves have websites or regular information
dispatches to the public. Right now such a site for the Ministry
of Health would useful. What tends to happen then is that when a
crisis in information management occurs, an ad hoc vehicle is invented.
That vehicle does not have the credibility of one that if properly maintained
over the years would build up credibility. That is what we face when
you have a paper like the Nassau Guardian, lousy though it is; The Tribune,
prejudiced though it is. The fact is that they have been going for
a long time. They publish every day and they have developed a reputation
for reliability. The public finds that credible. The result
is that it is useful for the propaganda of the opponents of the PLP who
control both those papers. The question is an age old one for the
PLP. When will it create a reliable public relations vehicle so that its
message can get out? We hope it is soon.
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Revival Reach Grand Bahama
St. John's Jubilee Cathedral was the venue of ‘Three
Days Ablaze’ revival services put on by the Grand Bahama Christian community
starting on Tuesday past until Thursday. In attendance was televangelist
Bishop Eddie Long of the Full Gospel church out of Atlanta, Georgia along
with Bishop Neil Ellis out of Nassau. We are informed that thousands
attended the services and according to revival goers, their souls were
truly uplifted.
New Subdivision Named
On Friday past the groundbreaking for phase two
of the ‘Sunrise’ subdivision was held by Island Chain developers, headed
by our friend Mr. Michael Edwards, who we refer to in this column from
time to time as 'Iron' Mike. The project is a significant Bahamian
success story, because Island Chain rescued ‘Sunrise’ from a foreign developer
who was unable to follow through after having taken deposits of money.
The hotel workers union is supporting 'Sunrise'
with mortgages for its members. Mr. Edwards used the opportunity
to chastise the banks for their policies concerning mortgages and consumer
loans. He spoke of how much easier it is for the average citizen
to get high interest money for cars and vacations, but it seemed that home
ownership was discouraged. He called for change. Minister of
Housing Shane Gibson officially opened the subdivision, with Prime Minister
Perry Christie represented by Minister of Financial Services & Investment
Allyson Maynard Gibson.
The Ingraham / Johnstone Factor
On Thursday past, Brent Symonette confirmed reports
in this column that he would not run for the leadership of the FNM on May
7th at their convention. News From Grand Bahama is reliably informed
that former Prime Minister Ingraham told Mr. Symonette point blank that
he would not support him.
The Johnstone faction of the FNM is said to have
told Mr. Symonette "Tommy didn't get a fair chance to lead the party".
This is alongside Senator Turnquest's acceptance of the leadership deal
from Mr. Ingraham that certainly could not fly. That within itself
speaks to Tommy's political acumen.
Informers from the Johnstone faction have also let
it be known that they did not believe that old family ties between the
Turnquests and the roots of the party should not be disrupted for the sake
of Brent's leadership.
Mr. Symonette was told that based on public opinion
victory in the leadership race would have been his, but to what avail if
he could not command the support and prevent certain key elements of the
FNM from possibly bolting the party. In the face of all this, Mr.
Symonette decided to stand down.
Grand Bahama Reaction
Saturday night a banquet for the installation of
officers in five FNM branch offices was held. The banquet room -
which was set for a crowd of 600 - was said to be only half full with many,
many empty tables. Reaction was swift and unkind to the putative
victor ‘Tommy T’ -
One observer said: "people ain't gonna go for this"...
"Look what they did to Mike [Edwards who was the
northern region FNM Vice Chair] they threw him out and replaced him with
Alex 'Fire' Pratt whom they knew couldn't do the job, but yet they followed
Ingraham's advice. Now it looks like the same thing is happening
with the leadership"…
"I wouldn't waste my time or money to go to
Nassau [to the FNM convention] to prop Tommy up”…
“It looks as if Tommy is running from the press...
How come he ain't been on Steve or Darrold's show yet... did you ever know
a politician to run away from a mike?"…
"You don't lie to your friends, you tell them
the truth... I've known the boy [Tommy] all my life and he just don't have
it."
Cease Fire In High Rock?
Before leaving for Nassau Sunday morning, FNM Leader
Tommy T and Chairman Dwight Sawyer were huddled at Geneva’s restaurant
along with former FNM Minister Carl Bethel and High Rock MP Ken Russell.
They were holding court with several members of the High Rock FNM branch.
We wonder if they were trying to negotiate a cease fire to the ongoing
battle that is raging within the High Rock FNM. From the looks of
it, MP Russell was not smiling; notwithstanding charges that he seldom
smiles (see story above) we wonder what that means…
And while we think of Mr. Carl Bethel; a word to
the wise: Perhaps his time at Geneva’s this morning would have been
better spent making peace with Boxer. More on this later.
Possessing The Land
On May 2nd, the PLP would have completed its first
year as government under the leadership of Perry Christie, or to put it
in Bahamian terms, the first lap finished and three and a half more to
go.
We know that the economy is not in good shape and
so the party has had its share of difficulties trying to do a balancing
act, but we expected by now that some movement could have come in the form
of relaxed regulations in the banking sector. Today it is still too
difficult for the average Bahamian to open a bank account in The Bahamas
and we are in the business of financial services. It is said that
a Bahamian can open an account a lot easier in south Florida than they
can in their own country. Something must be wrong with that picture.
On the subject of citizenship we believe that the
problems that exist in the Turks Island and Haitian communities with children
born in The Bahamas to foreign parents should have been dealt with by now
through the amendment of the Nationality Act.
BaTelCo is another area where we feel that we are
no closer today than we were two years ago on the privatisation issue.
Our views on the privatisation itself have been expressed before, but we
feel that the inaction of the government is unacceptable.
These are all areas in which we believe that clear
determination and leadership prepared to take unpopular decisions could
have made significant progress this year. We hope that the next year
of PLP government will not allow these same problems to persist.
BS