Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames... Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 9 © BahamasUncensored.com 2011
April 1st, 2012
April 8th, 2012
April 15th 2012
April 22th, 2012
April 29th, 2012
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THE MARATHON LAUNCH: Garth Wright, the first FNM Secretary General and father of MP Kendal Wright, used to tell the people at FNM rallies: “Look at the people”. That is what Perry Christie, the leader of the PLP, said as he greeted the masses of PLPs supporters in their Gold Rush rally at the R.M. Bailey Park to launch the campaign of Jerome Fitzgerald as the next representative for the Marathon constituency. Mr. Christie touted Mr. Fitzgerald who is also a PLP Senator as the future of the PLP. The Gold Rush at R.M. Bailey stepped up the rally temperature one more notch with undoubtedly the largest crowd in the history of this election campaign. The FNM has been following a cautious strategy of small openings at party headquarters. They have had nothing to match the PLP’s performance on Friday 30th March at R.M. Bailey. “Ring the bell Papa!” said the PLPs that night. Our photo of the week then is that of the PLP launching its campaign in Marathon for Senator Jerome Fitzgerald on Friday 30th March. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
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COMMENT OF THE WEEK
A TESTY INGRAHAM
The last session of the House of Assembly was an interesting session in that it ended abruptly with a testy Prime Minister saying that he was tired of arguing and debating in the House and he suspended the House in the middle of the debate until 22nd May. The mandate of his government runs out on 23rd May, so effectively that was the last session of parliament. Mr. Ingraham was unmoved by the cries of foul by some MPs like Cynthia "Mother” Pratt who was crestfallen that she was not given an opportunity provided by all previous governments to say farewell as an outgoing Member of Parliament.
Mr. Ingraham had promised that this was what he would do but you cannot rely on him or any promise that he makes.
Dr. Johnny Lunn always likes to say that he suspects that Mr. Ingraham is bi-polar. That he needs to take his pills every day. Certainly after that performance in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 28th March, it begged the question whether he is in fact bi-polar. Did he in fact take his pills that day? Someone suggested that maybe the problem was that he did take his pills that day? Whatever it was, he certainly left a bad impression as a hopeless bore who is on his last legs.
It started out early on the 28th March with the PLP saying that they would not allow the government to proceed with winding up their debate on the Mayaguana Land deal (see story below) which they had started two days before and on which the Parliamentary deal was it was to be wound up the day of the sitting on 26th March. When Obie Wilchombe, the PLP’s Leader in the House, objected on the part of the PLP, the FNM's Leader of government business Tommy Turnquest stood up to respond. The Prime Minister interrupted and said he did not come there for any argument and asked the Speaker to put the vote. No word to Zhivargo Laing, his Minister, who was presumably ready to sum up. That ended that.
Then he moved on to some land resolution which he said had been outstanding since 1967. That was done on a nod. He proceeded with another resolution at which point there was an argument between the sides and the Prime Minister got up again and said he was tired of it an suspended the House until 22nd May. We say good riddance and carry your ass. What a bloody fool. He obviously did to take his pills that day.
During the session, he was being taunted by the PLP's Frank Smith about his behavior to which the Prime Minister shouted from his seat: “I am not talking to any sissies today”. Now that’s an interesting comment. How would he know whether he is talking to any sissies. Did he have a taste? He is soon going to run up against someone who is going to slap him with their full and back hand for talking nonsense and insulting people.
That’s our Prime Minister: he is on his way out. Just a silly twit who needs to hang up his hat and retire. His testiness and stupidity continues but as they say “it ain long now”
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 31st March 2012 up to midnight: 185,868
Number of hits for the month of March up to Saturday 31st March 2012 up to midnight: 813,903
Number of hits for the year 2012 up to Saturday 31st March 2012 up to midnight: 2,365,130
PERRY CHRISTIE ANNOUNCES ON HOUSE FORECLOSURES
In prepared remarks set to be delivered before the PLP’s rally in Grand Bahama (the rally of 31st March was rained out), Perry Christie, Leader of the PLP, said that the PLP will move to ease the burden of Bahamians losing their homes as a result of foreclosures. The FNM has been feverishly trying to beat the PLP to the punch on this one but too late. Here is what Mr. Christie had to say:
What about those Bahamians in danger of losing their homes? Has he been listening to you?
No, he hasn’t. In October of 2008, he gave a grand speech promising you relief….specifically promising to address the foreclosure crisis, but then he failed to deliver – with one Bahamian family after another losing their homes and their credit.
Tonight as we gather here, Bahamian families across the nation, are living with the terrible fear that they will lose their home. It’s the same story over and over – a job lost, sometime two jobs lost, or hours shortened so much mortgage payments can’t be made.
This is a crisis. And it’s growing. We need to create a safety net. And we will. We need to come to the rescue. And we will.
I’m going to share the broad outlines with you tonight – and then I’m going to ask you to go to our website – myplp.org – to see the full 10-point plan, or ask the PLP candidates for more information as they come to visit with you in your homes.
Because this is an important plan to address a critical issue.
Grand Bahama, we’re going to work with banks and other lenders to achieve a 120-day moratorium on foreclosures – that means everything would freeze so we have an opportunity to bring everyone together to fix this problem.
We also need to work with the banks to get a write-off of unpaid interest and fees for those homeowners facing foreclosure.
That means outstanding balances would fall, lowering overall debt.
We also need to encourage a reduction in the interest rate on these mortgages to Prime +1% -- again, another move that greatly increases the homeowners’ ability to stay in their homes.
The government would guarantee interest payments for affected borrowers for five years, through 2017.
That’s not all – we’re going to create a special fund so the government can help borrowers in trouble.
And if homeowners want to access their pension fund savings to save their homes, we’re going to work to pass legislation to do just that.
These are just a few of the measures we’re proposing – again, please visit the website for more detail.
THE LAW ON THE GENERAL ELECTION
The mandate of a government runs five years from the date of the first meeting of the House of Assembly after the general election. The House met on 23rd May 2007 and so the mandate runs out on 23rd May 2012. The constitution then gives the Prime Minister 90 days to hold the general election. You don’t count holidays and Sundays. That means that if the Prime Minister does not dissolve the House before 23rd May on the 23rd May the House stands automatically dissolved. Then the statute law says that the maximum period calling the general election is 30 days but if that law is amended to remove that restrction, then it can run to 90 days from 23rd May. That’s the law.
THE BRITISH PRPOSALS ON FIXED DATES
The British from whom we got this constitution that we have, have now decided as result of the deal between the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party in Britain that they will have a fixed date for the next general election in Britain. You may click here to find out how that will work in practice. The date will be fixed and can only be changed if there is a vote of no confidence in the government or if the Parliament agrees by majority to change it. Of course in Britain since they don’t have a written constitution so they can change their procedures at will. In The Bahamas, we would have to amend the constitution to do that.
GEORGE SMITH ON THE MAYAGUANA LAND DEAL
Last week in the House of Assembly, the FNM government moved a bill that it said would take back land which the PLP had given to investors in Mayaguana when they were in office. They claimed that this was the biggest land give away in the history of the country. Not so because it was not a giveaway at all. The PLP proposed to convey 9000 or so acres of land in Mayaguana to a joint venture company owned by both the government and the developers. The FNM plan takes back half and gives the land outright to the developer. They say that’s a good deal for the Bahamian people. They think we are fools. George Smith was Chairman of the Hotel Corporation that negotiated the deal during the PLP’s time and contributed the piece which follows to the Nassau Guardian explaining the whole deal. You may click here for the piece by Mr. Smith.
PLP ANSWER THE PRIME MINISTER ON VINCET PEET
The Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham pronounced himself judge and jury at the FNM’s second opening in Marathon on Wednesday 29th March. He claimed wrongly so that Vincent Peet had vacated his seat because he had not attended meetings of the House of Assembly since 30th November 2011. The Prime Minister claims that the rule operates once a member misses 90 days of sittings of Parliament after ninety days. He claimed that as of 1st March Mr. Peet’s seat was vacant. For our money we would have told the Prime Minister that he is talking crap. Of course something less polite. That it aint so and if he touches Mr. Peet’s pay we will sue his behind. Mr. Peet issued the following statement:
Statement
Progressive Liberal Party
30th March 2012
PM should stop distracting and ring the bell.
Contrary to what the PM would have Bahamians believe, this election is not about Vincent Peet, but about the failures of the FNM government to keep Bahamians safe and to put Bahamians back to work because they failed to put Bahamians first.
Androsians in particular have embraced Dr. Perry Gomez as their candidate in the upcoming general elections and will make him the duly elected member for North Andros and the Berry Islands. They are not distracted by the redundant remarks of the Prime Minister designed to distract from their record of failure.
The Prime Minister should cease with his silly political games and call the general elections.
MITCHELL QUESTIONS AIR SAFETY REGULATION
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill has an interest in flight safety. He placed several questions on the order paper about the non-Bahamasair airlines and the regulation of flight safety. The questions asked in the House of Assembly were answered by the government two years after they were asked. Mr. Mitchell raised the matter during his address in Exuma on Tuesday 26th March.
Finally tonight, I want to express my concern for the regulatory ability of our country to oversee the non Bahamasair airlines. I and my colleagues have to depend on these services just like you to travel up and down the country. I asked a question in the House of Assembly following the death of my friend Nelson Hanna in a plane crash. It took two years for the FNM to answer. The answers were unsatisfactory.
There was a crash in Long Island on 9th March. I want to salute the skill of the pilot Clotir Pierre. His heroic action stopped a disaster from happening in this country. I am advised that as result of what happened with that aircraft the FAA has issued an airworthiness directive to inspect that particular part of the plane which jammed. As he was heading into Long Island he lost the ability to control the aircraft. A rare event. But thank God for his skill.
Recently, I sent a private note to the Minister for Aviation advising him of further complaints that I have received about the regulation of these non Bahamasair airlines and general aviation. Too many operators fly around without co-pilots on multi-engined commercial aircraft. There is the complaint the government does not allocate enough resources to the flight inspectorate division of the Civil Aviation Department.
We must provide the resources to ensure that we have a safe flying industry for the Bahamian public.
PLP DENOUNCES COP VISIT BY THE FNM
PLP Leader Perry Christie told his audience at the R.M. Bailey Park on Friday 30th March that the FNM had brought in a top level cop from the United States sponsored by one of Hubert Ingraham’s rich friends in Lyford Cay to advise the Bahamian police what to do. He was talking about Bill Bratton, a top cop from New York, who was flown in from Los Angeles by private plane in a one day visit to overlook the crime fighting strategies of the Bahamian police. Ellison Greenslade the Commissioner of Police duly went along with this charade and entertained the man who simply said that the police were already doing what they are doing in the United States. The PLP denounced the visit as a publicity stunt for an administration that is simply bankrupt of ideas. We agree and go further and say this is an insult to the men and women of the Force. The PLP’s statement follows:
Progressive Liberal Party
March 27, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FNM FLAILING FOR ANSWERS ON CRIME
Today’s press conference with Bill Bratton represents the FNM’s latest last-minute, superficial attempt to persuade Bahamians that they care about crime.
First there was a new television ad from the self-named Papa. And now this.
But the FNM is under-estimating Bahamians.
Bahamians know that having a wealthy FNM donor pay Bill Bratton to hold a press conference does not equal a genuine commitment to fight crime.
When the FNM came to power, they gutted Urban Renewal, and ended Witness Protection, Swift Justice and School Policing – for petty political reasons, because they were PLP programmes. Now, nearly five years later, after murders have doubled, with a record number of accused murderers out on bail, they think some media gimmicks are going to persuade Bahamians that they have a real plan to fight crime?
Bahamians are looking for a government that cares about crime all the time, not just at election time.
During his term, Perry Christie pioneered Urban Renewal, an award-winning programme which produced real results. Last summer, working with law enforcement experts, clergy, citizens and the PLP’s new generation of leaders, Christie created PROJECT SAFE BAHAMAS, a comprehensive, innovative on-the-ground approach to reducing violence and fighting crime in The Bahamas.
The plan proposes increased penalties for illegal weapons possession, new gun interdiction efforts in ports, and increased border patrols. The plan includes the creation of safe havens, training for outreach workers in conflict mediation, and upgraded Urban Renewal.
PROJECT SAFE BAHAMAS is tough on criminals, and offers support and opportunities for young Bahamians who want to do the right thing.
The fact that the FNM is finally acknowledging the magnitude of the crime problem actually represents progress for this out-of-touch government. But as is the case on so many other fronts with this government, it’s much too little, much too late.
BAHAMASAIR JETS THE REAL STORY
There was much fanfare last week as Bahamasair finally revealed what its strategy is for moving forward with the airline. It announced and revealed the purchase of two 737-500 jets. The two 737-200s are to be retired as too expensive to keep. The latest generation 737 is the 737-900 series. These “new” jets will be able to fly as far as Chicago and Toronto and should therefore present more options for Bahamasair. The airline wants to be able to keep the possibility of being a carrier of last resort for the tourism product of The Bahamas. The PLP's Chairman Bradley Roberts was able to supply some interesting information though about Bahamasair which we share below:
Revenues. 2010 $56M
Revenues. 2011 $62M Net Loss $22M
Revenues. 2005 $90M Net Loss $11.3M
2 Two Jets bought $2.5M each plus $2.5M in training/transition/costs for a total package of $7.5M. The cycles on the engines are unknown.
RBC rejected the deal
Scotia required full Gov't Gnt
Citibank did it on a Gov't comfort letter. Interest rate unknown.
You will recall there was much talk of buying new aircrafts. One was flown in for PR purposes.
These two aircrafts will represent the first purchased by Bahamasair in about seven years.
Note Bahamasair revenue for 2011 is sharply down from 2005. The losses for 2011 are 50% more that 2005.
FRED MITCHELL’S SPEECH BEFORE PARLIAMENT ENDS
This is likely the final speech of Fred Mitchell MP Fox Hill for this term. He spoke on the Freedom of Information Act on Monday 19th March in the House of Assembly. He told Minister of Environment Earl Deveuax to stop whining about public criticism. The video was captured by C. Allen Johnson and you can join him on Facebook.
FRED MITCHELL TOOL CONTINUES TO TITILLATE
The PLP’s political Gold Rush Rally took place in Fox Hill on Monday 19th March. The remark of Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill that he had the tool for the job and it wasn’t a wrench continued to titillate. The cartoonist Stan Burnside jumped in with his version. We present the full statement at the rally in video form. The video was captured by C. Allen Johnson and you can join him on Facebook.
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MARATHON PHOTO
We present the launch of the PLP’s campaign in Marathon in photos by Peter Ramsay. The candidate for the PLP Jerome Fitzgerald was joined by PLP Leader Perry G Christie. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
EXUMA OPENING IN PHOTOS
Anthony Moss incumbent MP for Exuma, said the critics, was in big trouble. Hubert Ingraham sent his man Phenton Neymour, having done a bum job as the MP for South Beach, to try and take the seat. Not so fast Mr. Moss is poised to win again. The crowd at his launch outnumbered Hubert Ingraham's crowd three to one. The pictures tell the tale of the rally in Exuma for Anthony Moss on Tuesday 27th March. The photos are from the PLP’s Facebook page.
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THE NEW EDITION OF TEEJ GRANT’S EXTRACT IS OUT
Residents of Grand Bahama this week learned through ZNS of the completion of the acquisition of the old Freeport Inn property that sits on a two-acre tract adjacent to the Rand Memorial Hospital. We were further informed that the purchase price was 1.9 million dollars paid for by the Public Hospital Authority for the Government. This old property has serious maintenance issues such as termites, a flat leaky roof(s), cast iron plumbing, outdated electrical supply, and lastly, inadequate parking.
The seller of the property, we believe, could not believe his luck to find a crew that was SO BIG, SO DUMB, AND SO HAPPY who would relieve him of his problematic property which has been closed for the past year.
Now, the Minister of Works, Neko Grant, announced that phase three of the acquisition is to demolish the structure and cart it away. We are not surprised of that decision because of the aforementioned maintenance issues. We strongly object to this poor decision of the tax payers having to pay for the clearing of this property. He was also supported in this visionless idea by Peter Turnquest, Kwasi Thompson, and Norris Bain, all FNM candidates in Grand Bahama. We believe it will probably cost the tax payers another million dollars for the demolition.
Education is no substitute for common sense; Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham wanted the property and although it did not make any business sense, these men were all too happy to comply and support his idea. So, if for no other reason, the people of Grand Bahama should reject these blind followers for not having the courage of their convictions. These men should not be allowed to make policy decisions for the people of this Island.
Being big, dumb, and happy are not qualifications for Parliament. These men have made a public policy decision that goes against their own self- interest. They and their families live on the Island of Grand Bahama and may have to use the old, broken down facilities someday. So, if only for that reason, the idea to squander the public purse should have been out rightly rejected.
Stalwart B
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes this week from Freeport on how the Ingraham government has treated civil servants. He warns civil servants not to be taken in again by the promises being made by Hubert Ingraham up and down the country simply to win votes.
I wish to state for the record (so Ingraham would know) that I, Forrester Carroll, have a line of communication, straight into the board room of his FNM party-a fly on their wall if you will-and the fly is telling me that Hubert plans (if we are stupid enough to re-elect him to office) to retire; dismiss; send home (whatever you wish to call it) every civil servant who has 30 years or more, on the job, in the public service. He will target policemen, BEC personnel, and the remaining few at Bahamas Customs/Immigration officers who he hasn’t dismissed as yet and all other government and quasi-government departments. I am told that he intends not to leave one person, in the service, which is more than fifty-eight years old.
Christie warned civil servants, in 2007 that Ingraham intended to downsize the civil service by dismissing many of them, if he was voted back in office, but civil servants instead believed Ingraham when he denied Christie’s claim. He told you, at that time, that Christie was only trying to scare you into voting PLP, well what he did is now part of our history; you voted him in office and his actions are what Christie said they would be; the sucker cleaned house. Christie told you the truth then and I am telling the truth now; Ingraham will fire all civil servants (if he wins again) who he meets on the job who is older than 58 years of age. A vote for Hubert Ingraham and the FNM, in this election (civil servants and government Corporation workers) is a vote to cut your own throats. This is not a difficult prospect to believe because the sucker did it twice before; this is how he operates; he likes to fire Bahamians. Ingraham vehemently denied what Christie warned civil servants about back in 2007. In an attempt to polish up his image Ingraham began to appeal to voters telling them that he was gentler because, as he said, he was a father and a grandfather giving the impression that he was more caring in his weaning years but all he was then and still is, is a rattle snake. After winning the elections his true colors emerged and on the very night he gave his victory speech fired Steve McKinney and Phillip Russell remember? And the record, of the FNM’s last five years of abuse of civil servants (including, as Christie warned them, hundreds of dismissals and brutalization) is there for all to see. I give you now, civil servants (including all senior police officers), fair warning that the mongrel plans, if elected again, to clean house further
Christie warned Customs and Immigration Officers, in 2007 as well, that the FNM (if elected) was hell bent on introducing a shift system which would have eliminated the need for them to work overtime hours. He also warned that they would work their eight-hour shift and then go home and although Ingraham denied that warning as well the reality is that today the implementation of the shift system, and its related defects, is these officers’ biggest nightmare and gripe with the FNM government. As a matter of fact because of it, and John Pinder’s reluctance to represent them well, Customs and Immigration officers have opted out of John Pinder’s BPSU and have formed their own union. The long time financial commitments of these officers were never considered, in the FNM’s equation, when changing to the shift system and the consequences for most of them have been enormous, to say the least. Long term mortgage payments (on houses and property) kids abroad in school and other challenges have been bothersome for hundreds of officers. Many, I am told, had to seek psychological help to prevent them from going crazy or from committing some other more drastic act.
The union which represents the interest of customs and immigration officers was obliged recently to order their members to “work to rule” and not to report for any overtime shifts. They were ordered to report for work 9 am and quit at 5pm, as stipulated by the rules (“General Orders”) which govern them.
Ingraham’s usual dictatorial (Mugabe-like) response was to order them back to work while, at the same time, threatening them with dismissal from their jobs if they defied him. What did these brave soldiers do? They defied the damn dictator, of course, and showed him why lobster, in the Bahamas, is red. They continued to refuse to report for any overtime shifts. Ingraham, realizing that he couldn’t man-handle and bully around these young Turks, ordered his puppet Attorney General to secure a court order, which he thought would force the officers back on the job, but it backfired and instead the court ruled in the new union’s favor and ordered Ingraham to leave those hard working men and women alone. The court ruled that the officers had every legal right to do what they were doing; so I say kudos to the officers and to the piss-head I say, take that on your backside you big head, small brain sucker.
In ordering the officers back to work initially (like some military general) Ingraham told a press conference that, “Persons who do not return to work (forthwith) will be dealt with by the public service and without regard to any other consideration and we are serious about this” said the screwball. The jackass went on to tell the officers (via the press) that they will never again go back to making the kind of money in overtime that they were used to making, prior to his government putting a stop to it. The piss-head emphasized (in his Mugabe tone of voice) that those days were over and that his government would never endorse such a system again. Thank God the sucker, and his minions, will not be in government much longer; as a matter of fact they have only another couple weeks to ridicule, insult and piss on Bahamians. The jackass is living out his final days as prime minister of this once rich (but now very poor) country. Ingraham’s threats have had no affect on the public officers. They knew exactly where they stood in law and they called the sucker’s bluff with the confidence of knowing that they were on the right side of that law; they defied the piss-head and the Judge ruled correctly in their favor. Delaney should have known that the officers were right and so it shocks me to see professionals, like Delaney, prostituting themselves to please that damn dictator prime minister. I am just waiting to see what the piss-head will do next; defy the Judge’s order maybe? I sure would like to see the watermelon-head jackass being carted off to prison, in handcuffs, for defying the court’s order. Am quite sure that there is at least one big, husky, nasty looking, unwashed Negro up there in Fox Hill Prison just waiting to welcome his fowl backside and get him in some backroom and fix him up. They tell me that these inmates have been fasting for so long that even this bastard would be a desirable object to them.
The dog-faced bastard is spending his last few weeks (as prime minister) going about the country (recklessly) promising every constituency (at every opening) everything in the book. He did nothing for Long Island in the 15 years he has been in power but at the end of (this) his last few weeks in government he could suddenly find all sorts of goodies to promise them. Does this fool think that Long Islanders are as stupid as those who kiss his backside, on a daily basis, are? He was in Exuma, the night before he was in Long Island, promising Exumians every unrealistic thing their hearts desire including a hospital. Abaco is to get a hospital, as well, only Ingraham never told them exactly where all the money is coming from to do all these things. When we consider that the FNM government, actually, has to borrow money, presently, to pay government salaries one can only conclude that Hubert Ingraham has, in actuality, gone off his rocker; the man is a damn reckless FOOL. Among the promises he made to Long Islanders was a hospital as well; I ask again, where in the hell does this ASS intend to get all these millions of dollars from, all of a sudden? The treasury is showing clear signs of being cash starved as local vendors are now screaming for payment of the bills owed to them by this government; just like it was in 2002. He promised Exuma Cable Television, by Easter, but wasn’t this a condition (that has been breached already) of Cable Bahamas’ 15-year monopoly franchise (in the first place) to have the entire country with access to cable TV within that 15 year period? Besides where did he get all this power from (so suddenly) to be able to dictate to Cable Bahamas and with confidence assure the good people of Exuma that they will have Cable TV by Easter? Is he now the general manager of the Cable TV network Company? Isn’t that a commitment that only the Principals of Cable Bahamas could make? I resent this piss-head thinking that we are all fools.
The all wise King Solomon said in his Proverbs chapter 17 verse 24 (the life application version), that “Wisdom is the main pursuit of sensible men, but a fool’s goals are at the ends of the earth;” he said, as well, in verses 27 & 28 that “The man of FEW words (and a SETTLED mind) is wise; therefore, even a FOOL is thought to be WISE when he is SILENT. It pays him then to keep his big MOUTH shut.” Ingraham, who is now (two weeks or so before a general election) running around the country like a chicken with his head cut off promising these Islanders everything in the book (when he failed to do any of these things for them in the 15 of the last 20 years he and his FNM government have been governing the country) would do well to heed this advice given by the wisest man who ever lived. Only a fool speaks first and then thinks about what is said after the fact. Desmond Bannister, in responding to something the leader of the opposition is reported to have said in a speech during the launch of the PLP’s North Andros Headquarters opening a couple weeks ago, referred to the crowd as a GERIATRICS gathering; I ask you, was he just being stupid; just trying to be funny (because it wasn’t) or does he feel that he wouldn’t need those old folks’ votes to win? It was better, for him; to have kept silent and let us all assume that he was no FOOL than to open his big mouth and now we know how stupid he is. You open your mouth, Bannister, and expose your stupidity; keep silent, says King Solomon, and people will think you to be sensible even if you are not-and you are not.
We are witnessing a windfall of contracts being awarded to FNM Operatives in an attempt to maintain their base of voters from dwindling further. I am informed, by a school principal, in the North Andros constituency, that a school which was completely refurbished in the summer of last year is presently being refurbished again and school isn’t even let out for the summer as yet. This is an awful way of doing business when you consider that the little 2’ x 2’ terminal building, at Deadman’s Cay Long Island’s Airport, hasn’t had a drop of paint put on it since 1991, yet the FNM could find money to refurbish this school, in Andros, two years in succession? This is an incredible wastage of public finances (which we don’t have) in an attempt to buy votes for Desmond “GERIATRICS” Bannister. Before I go on I would like to tell you about a story I read today (7th March) on the front page of the Tribune where the Piss-head was complaining about Leslie Miller who he claimed made certain disparaging remarks, at a recent PLP rally, about one of his FNM candidates. He said that Leslie’s reference to his candidate, likening him to a little poodle that beats up on his wife and puts her in the hospital often, was directed toward Tommy Turnquest. The piss head was quoted as accusing the PLP of being so desperate that we have now resorted to gutter politics by “throwing low blows.” Well I’ll be damned, Ingraham talking about gutter politics and throwing low blows? What a damn joke. If this piss head wants to accuse Mr. Miller of throwing low blows (and I heard Miller’s entire speech and he didn’t identify who he was referring to) what would he call the things Deacon Kwasi Thompson, Pastor Zhivargo Laing and Pastor Norris Bain said about Mr. Greg Moss (the PLP’s candidate for Marco City) at the opening of pastor Norris Bain’s headquarters a couple weeks ago? Or does the sucker think that we have forgotten all about that? If Greg Moss was of the same dirty mind, as those bird brains, he would have exposed already all the things we know about them but that’s not the kind of campaign he wishes to wage against them. Their bad record, Mr. Moss says, is enough ammunition for him to exploit and he doesn’t need to resort to the gutter politics like his opponents. Those who live in glass houses, though, should avoid throwing stones. Besides what’s the point of being married for 19 or 21 years if your marriage is one of cheating and counter-cheating? What’s the point of being married for all those years if your marriage is like a hell on earth and your wife is constantly running down to the police station to lodge complaints on you for cheating? I say it is better to separate and be divorced, like thousands of other Bahamians have done, than to remain in a union just to be able to say that you have a long unbroken marriage? It makes little or no sense at all.
And can anyone--someone--please tell me why was the piss-head so concerned about Bishop Gomez introducing his little brother at the opening of North Andros’ PLP headquarters a couple weeks ago? It is none of Ingraham’s damn business, what Bishop Gomez or anyone else does, is it? I remember the piss-head telling the Bishop one time to stay out of his business; that he (the Bishop) should run the church and leave the running of the country to him( the piss-head), well why has he thrust himself in Bishop’s business? I would like to ask the bastard, anyway, to explain to me (and the country) what’s the difference between Bishop Gomez, of the Anglican Faith, being on the PLP’s platform as opposed to Bishop Simeon Hall, of the Baptist Faith, being on the FNM’s platform, a couple years ago. As well, if I am not mistaken, didn’t two Anglican priests, with their priestly garb around their necks, offered as candidates for the FNM in past general elections? And what about Bishop Frederick McAlpine; wasn’t he on the FNM’s platform, in the last elections, spewing out the worst (imaginary) filth he could dream up about PLP candidates ; or doesn’t McAlpine count in Ingraham’s book as a man of the cloth-a man of God, if you will? I should ask you the question point blank, Frederick McAlpine; are you a man of God? I challenge Ingraham to tell the nation what’s different about the two incidents i.e. Gomez on the PLPs Platform and Hall (both Bishops) on the FNM platform? Bishop Gomez’s case, however, is a little different in that he felt obliged to support his little brother as opposed to Simeon Hall who mounted the FNM platform in total support of them (the FNM) and their break back philosophy. In Frederick McAlpine’s case he made a disgraceful spectacle of himself and succeeded in bringing the gospel of Christ to open shame. It is a good thing that the Gospel of Christ needs no defense from us humans. But I am content to leave the piss-head to Bishop Gomez who has already told him (Ingraham) that he started a fight that he cannot win; in other words sucker the man of God is warning you (devil) that you are barking up the wrong damn tree with him.
The Bahamian people are fed-up with Hubert Ingraham’s abrasiveness; his dastardly behavior, his broken promises and his stinking attitude toward them. He knows not how to talk to his fellow Bahamians; he threatens them (all the time) as if he is their savior and lord; he is always angry and the sucker thinks that we should be grateful because only he can run the damn country but, as I opined earlier; the devil is a damn liar. I am convinced that even this piss head’s parents may have had doubts about his worth so why would we be grateful for the existence of this jackass? It pisses me off when I hear Ingraham talk about the Public Treasury as if the country’s money is his; “I don’t have the money for this, he says; I can’t afford that, he says, as if the money that comes into the consolidated fund is his to spend as he wishes; he is a damn FOOL. I can assure the sucker that he could sign as many of those worthless contracts as he likes, he can sign until the cows come home to rest but this is one election he will lose and lose big. The jackass has a strained relationship with reality and even a reality check cannot help this bastard with his problem.
“It doesn’t seem right for a FOOL (Jackass) to succeed; or for a SLAVE (an Uncle Tom) to RULE (Govern) over PRINCES (the nation);” Proverbs 19:10 interpreted.
Thank you.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
APRIL 2012.
Is The Court Of Appeal Being Reasonable?
A great deal of fanfare was being made last week in the Court of Appeal by the Judges there about the fact that the court has had to start late because on several occasions the bus from the prison is late with the prisoners for trial. The Court huffed and puffed and summoned the Superintendent Of the Prison to the Court to explain after the police told the Court it wasn’t their fault. Dr. Elliston Rahming, the prison Superintendent duly showed up and apologized for the lateness. He explained the problems. The prison bus was damaged and there is no replacement. The police on whom they depend for the replacement often arrive late to the prison. So yes it was the fault of the police. He said that there were other problems like the traffic on the streets of New Providence, no doubt exacerbated by the road works of the government. The Court told him not to do it again. They said they didn’t care what the excuse was, the Court had to start on time. This seemed a bit excessive. It is not like the Court of Appeal lives in a vacuum. The fault is not the prison or the police. It is the fault of the government that administers the system and provides the resources and manages the country. So why would you pick on the prison superintendent. Gee!
The Case Of Ojay Jullian Ferguson
Eighteen year old Ojay Ferguson was the subject of a Nassau Guardian special article last week. Apparently, he is one of the up and coming stars of Bahamian track and field and is finding great success at home and abroad. Only trouble is that while he was born in The Bahamas, he is not according to the Bahamian constitution a Bahamian and so he will not be able to qualify for the Bahamian Olympic team. His mother is Jamaican and so his citizenship of origin is Jamaican. A petition is circulating amongst athletes for the government to grant him citizenship before the Olympics take place in the summer time.
The Carifta Team Good Luck
The Carifta team has been chosen for The Bahamas, 71 people. The Carifta Games is the premier meet which is the lead up to the choices for the next generation of Caribbean Olympic and other international meet athletes will take place in Bermuda over the Easter Weekend. The team from The Bahamas will leave on a special jet on Thursday 5th April.
FNM Coming With Proposals To Save Houses
Perry Christie beat them to the proposal when he spoke in Freeport at the Gold Rush in Freeport on Saturday night 31st March. Mr. Christie outlined a comprehensive plan to save the homes of people whose homes are being taken away from them by the banks. The FNM has been scrambling around with the Central Bank and the banks to get a programme to stop people’s homes from being taken away from them by the rapacious banks. Mr. Christie beat them to it.
Ingraham In Fox Hill
The FNM’s candidate for Fox Hill Shonel Ferguson was out pounding the pavement to try and get people to come out to her launch in Fox Hill. The launch took place on Saturday 31st March. It was a flop. Poor her. She chose the wrong side and the wrong leader.
The OAS Gets Its Invitation
The back channel chat is that the Organization Of American States (OAS) who are supposed to be the observers for the Bahamian election have received their invitation. Reportedly, the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham who sent them the invitation sent them a range of dates between the 25th April and the 25th May.
Ingraham Keeps Attacking Christie
Hubert Ingraham is nothing if not relentless. Relentless in his stupidity. He has taken at every turn now attacking Perry Christie in a personal way from the political platform. The problem is that it has no resonance. No one is interested in his personal attacks. The issues are: crime and unemployment. He has no answer to that so he keeps with this personal stuff. It gets worse. He attacked Cynthia “Mother” Pratt, who has iconic status among women in The Bahamas. She was upset when he abruptly shut down the House on Wednesday 28th March, denying her the opportunity at the last sitting to say farewell to her constituents. Mr. Ingraham mocked her from a public stage on Thursday 29th March saying that she was in the House to do the people’s business and if she wanted to say farewell to her constituents, she could go door to door and do so. Mr. Ingraham in his usual boorish way is the first Prime Minister to deny the tradition of allowing outgoing members to say farewell to their constituents.
Ken Russell Comments
Ken Russell, the outgoing FNM MP for High Rock, did not get a chance to say farewell in what was almost certainly the final meeting of the House of Assembly in this term on Wednesday 28th March. The Prime Minister abruptly suspended the House of Assembly on that day until 22nd May. The mandate of his government runs out on 23rd May. He has promised to dissolve the House before the 2nd May. Mr. Russell is retiring, forced out in a nasty and bitter battle with Mr. Ingraham. Mr. Russell said that the move to shut the House down was nasty move by Mr. Ingraham. He said that Mr. Ingraham was probably afraid of what the outgoing MPs were going to say about him.
Love 97 Poll Slaughters FNM
A radio poll by the Jones Communications Network Love 97 on the talk show Issues of The Day slaughtered the FNM. The PLP got 62 callers in favour of the PLP, 23 in favour of the DNA and the FNM got 19 distant third. The FNM is in deep do do.
The FNM On The Beach
FNM Leader Hubert Ingraham is promising what he calls a red splash on the public beach at Montagu on Easter Monday 9th April which was paid for by tax dollars, the improvements that is. What are PLPs who wish to use the beach on that day to do when they meet up with a hostile crowd of FNMs on the beach. PLP Leader Perry Christie speaking at his party’s Marathon Rally said that the town would not be painted red but that the streets would be paved with gold, referencing his party’s theme of the Gold Rush.
Candia Dames At It Again In Cahoots With Ingraham
Here’s how it goes. The day after the rally of the PLP in Exuma on Tuesday 27th March the headline in the Nassau Guardian said that Fred Mitchell had clarified the PLP’s stand on doubling the investment in education. The writer Candia Dames claimed wrongly that this was the first time someone had clarified the issue. She said that Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister, had attacked the PLP plan as meaning that the number of teachers would have to double. Mr. Mitchell said no such thing. That was all that Ms. Dames used. Except that was not the thrust of Mr. Mitchell's speech. The reason why Mr. Mitchell's picture and the story appeared so prominently in The Nassau Guardian became clear the next day when Hubert Ingraham attacked Mr. Mitchell from the platform saying that he had contradicted the leader of the PLP. Asking the question: who is the real leader of the PLP? Put two and two together and you see that what we have always said about the link between the writer and the Prime Minister.
Push Back From Butch In Exuma At Sandals
Butch Stewart, the owner of the Sandals Resort in Nassau and in Exuma, is pissed at the comments made in Exuma at the PLP’s launch on Tuesday 27th March. Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill speaking at the rally in Exuma said that the party would be working for a new minimum wage that would be 210 dollars per week which is the government’s minimum wage. The private sector’s minimum wage is $150 per week. Mr. Mitchell said that the PLP was dedicated to a livable wage for the workers at Sandals. The Sandals owner immediately sent out his emissaries to say that he was unhappy about what was said. Further, at the gate of Sandals the next morning the manager of the facility was at the age watching to see who came in late and on time. This was not done after the FNM’s rally in Exuma. Their daily newssheet Emerald Dayz also told workers that political paraphernalia was not allowed on the premises. Again no such warning came after the FNM’s rally in Exuma. Mr. Stewart had his emissaries contact the Leader of the PLP to decry the call for a minimum wage. Sandals has a community relations problem in Exuma. It has a bad reputation as an employer in Exuma. Its response has been to hire high paid consultants one of them a former government administrator Everett Hart who supports the Prime Minister. Hubert Ingraham and Mr. Stewart are like two peas in a pod. The Exuma people complain of the fact that Jamaicans are working as housekeepers at the facility. These jobs that Bahamas can do and the Immigration Department is not doing anything about it. The people of Exuma meanwhile suffer. The latest salvo is that P. Anthony White will write in the down market paper The Punch tomorrow in favour of Butch Stewart’s untenable position on the minimum wage.
The Eleuthera Candidate For The FNM
Howard Johnson is the FNM’s candidate for South Eleuthera. He made quite a splash at the FNM’s launch in Freeport when he spoke of the public being hoodwinked and bamboozled. Sounded good! Except that the speech and words were lifted verbatim from the speech of Malcolm X without attribution. The PLP cried foul saying that this shows that not only is he a bad candidate for South Eleuthera, he is also a plagiarist. The Malcolm X clip is shown below. By the way, he has other problems. Damien Gomez, the PLP’s candidate has charged that Mr. Johnson is not eligible to run in The Bahamas for the general election because he does not fulfill the residency requirement of being in The Bahamas one year before the general election. The FNM responded that he was a student abroad. Mr. Gomez says that in law unfortunately there is a different standard in the constitution than the one in the statute law for residency of a voter.
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Audrey Colebrooke Dies
A beautiful lady, a former banking executive and the daughter of well known businessman and PLP Stalwart Councilor George McKinney. She was Audrey Colebrooke and having lost her long battle with cancer she was buried at the Lakeview Cemetery in Nassau following a service at Annex Baptist Church in New Providence on Saturday 31st March. Perry Christie, the Leader of the PLP, spoke at the service. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
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The Public Domian Poll
The poll published by Public Domain in the Nassau Guardian last week shows that the momentum is with the PLP in the General Election campaign. The FNM has now taken to using small spaces to make it look like they have huge crowds for their rallies. Three four hundred people looks like plenty on the TV. That's what they did in Marathon on Thursday 29th March. In Fox Hill on Saturday 31st March, they used a small space as well. No way could even one thousand people fill that small space. Five hundred looks like plenty on TV. The PLP used the Fox Hill Parade for its rally. The FNM is using this strategy to try to portray to the public something that is not true on the ground. They are having trouble pulling people to the rallies. The PLP's crowds on the other hand are huge and the decision to go to R.M. Bailey Park for Marathon and Jerome Fitzgerald threw down the gauntlet to the FNM. Put up or shut up. The Prime Minister attacked the Public Domain poll published last week in the Nassau Guardian which showed that the FNM had 33 per cent and the PLP 30 per cent, the DNA was an also ran. He said that Public Domain run by Umwale Rahming, son of architect Patrick Rahming, was wrong that the parties were in a dead heat. Our argument is that Mr. Rahming's study is true from the respondents (550 odd) that he questioned but not true for a prediction of the general election. This is what happened in Jamaica. The polls said close. The Opposition wiped the floor with the government. We predict the same here.
City Markets
The PLP is now to blame for the troubles of City Markets where the Finlaysons bought a company that was on its last legs ina last ditch effort to save it. Employees have been out in the street over the past week calling for their monies. Some claim they have not been paid for three weeks or more. They are also concerned that their pension monies will be safe. They have been trying to get a meting with the Finlayson family. The Prime Minister got into the mix blaming the PLP for it all. Well there he goes again. He has the Minister of Labour in his Cabinet, the feckless and hopeless Dion Foulkes. What is his Minister doing?
Palm Sunday 2012
Today is marked as Palm Sunday on the Christian calender. St. Agnes Church in Nassau marked the occasion by a public procession of witness. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
Dr John McCartney Former Head Of Bahamian Socialist Leader Dies
He never made it to the office of Prime Minister. However, he made a good try with the founding of the Vanguard Nationalist Socialist Party in 1971 or thereabouts. The party came out of a split in the student movement with one half going to join the PLP, men like Franklyn Wilson and Sean McWeeney. The other group led by Dr McCartney and with Lionel Carey and Charles Fawkes forming the socialist party. The party never garnered enough support to win their deposits back in any election and ultimately John McCartney left and went back to the life of a University professor. Sadly Dr McCartney died last week after a battle with stomach cancer. He is to be buried from St. Barnabas Church in Nassau on 14th April at 2 p.m. We have lost one of our finest sons.
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The political parties said that they suspended their political activities for what is called Holy Week, the week that leads up to Easter Sunday. They meant only overt political activity. The FNM was the main offender of their announced ban, since their teams were still on the ground as active as ever. But The Bahamas largely in a fob to being a Christian nation was engrossed in the rituals of Easter. The goggle-eye fish on Good Friday and the attendance at church for the blessing of the oils and the plays that recreated the passion of Christ. One such presentation took place at the St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Cathedral in Nassau. The photo was taken by Peter Ramsay. The presentation was made in the presence of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Nassau Patrick Pinder. Our photo of the week as we wish you Happy Easter is that of the Passion Of Christ at the Roman Catholic Cathedral on Good Friday.
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COMMENT OF THE WEEK
INGRAHAM HIGHJACKIING THE EASTER HOLIDAY AGAIN
The last general election was held on 2nd May 2007. As fate would have it, the PLP lost the election. That campaign was filled with missteps and miscues by the PLP. The FNM actually got the jump on the PLP for that campaign by starting with a series of parties throughout the island on Easter Monday of that year. So here we are again, our Easter holiday being high jacked by Hubert Ingraham and his red splash which he plans for the Montague Beach on Easter Monday on Montagu Beach.
The Montagu Beach is being redeveloped and expanded with Kerzner’s money at Paradise Island with some public funds and it is a public beach. The Prime Minister is improperly using public monies for a political event. What happens about those who are not PLP who want to use the beach on that day?
It is there tomorrow that the political community widely expects that he will announce the date for the general election. The speculation is that the House will be dissolved on Tuesday 10th April and the general election will be held one month later. If that is so only those who were on the register on Thursday 5th April will be able to vote.
Whatever, it is time to get on with this. We must remove Mr. Ingraham from office.
The fact of the hijacking of Easter is yet another sign that he is a godless heathen who fears man nor beast.
In the week before, he showed his UBP ancestry by flying down to San Salvador where the roads have needed repair for four years and in Inagua for five years and signed multimillion dollar contracts to fix the roads. This is purely a gambit to buy the support of voters in those islands.
The PLP is ready with its paraphernalia and will have its supporters meet on the beach of the Western esplanade. We encourage all who can to attend. Let us hope that in six weeks this will all be behind us and we will have defeated this evil man and put into the scrap heap of history where he belongs.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 7th April 2012 up to midnight: 104,152
Number of hits for the month of April up to Saturday 7th April 2012 up to midnight: 104,152
Number of hits for the year 2012 up to Saturday 7th April 2012 up to midnight:2,469,282
THE GOLD RUSH ON WESTERN ESPLANADE
Calling all PLP’s to the Western Esplanade from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Easter Monday. Dress in your gold shirts. Free food and drinks. Buses leave from every constituency. MPs and Candidates for the PLP will all be there. Come one and come all to the Gold Rush.
THE PLP’S PLAN ON MORTGAGES
The Progressive Liberal Party issued a formal statement on the plan to save the homes of Bahamians during this mortgage crisis. We published this plan last week, excerpted from the speech of Perry Christie that was to have been delivered in Freeport on 1st April but was not because the function was rained out. The statement follows:
PROGRESSIVE LIBERAL PARTY
1st APRIL 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PLP OFFERS FORECLOSURE PLAN FOR STRUGGLING HOMEOWNERS
Across The Bahamas, homeowners are struggling as never before: many homes have already been lost to foreclosure, and many more Bahamians are sick with worry about their ability to keep their homes.
In October 2008, Hubert Ingraham promised that his government would offer help to homeowners facing foreclosure. He promised, but he did not deliver: homeowners have found no support from the FNM government.
The Progressive Liberal Party is ready to take action on day one, with the following ten point plan to address the crisis:
1. Work with the banks and other institutional lenders to agree to a 120-day moratorium on foreclosures. This 120 day moratorium would allow for the appropriate consultation to take place within the financial sector and with the Central Bank and it would also allow the necessary legislative authority for the items below to be put in place.
2. Obtain the agreement of the banks to a write-off of 100% of the unpaid interest and fees for those mortgagors who are facing foreclosure. This should be acceptable to the banks as they would already have made provisions against these losses. Therefore, writing off the unpaid interest and fees would have no immediate financial impact on the banks. As for the delinquent borrowers, they would benefit from the fact that their outstanding balances would fall substantially. Essentially, they would be placed in the same position they were in before their loans became delinquent except that that Government would have a lien against the mortgaged property to the extent that the Government’s guarantee to pay overdue interest on their behalf is called under point 5 below.
3. Actively encourage a reduction in the interest rate on the mortgages in question to Prime + 1%. This would be substantially below what most borrowers are paying, reflecting the impact of the government guarantee described below.
4. Actively encourage the banks and other institutional lenders to extend the loan repayment period under defaulting mortgages to the maximum allowed by the financial institution.
5. In return for the banks agreeing to the four elements above, the Government, for its part, would guarantee the interest payments of the affected borrowers for 5 years through 2017.
6. To assist borrowers who may not be able to meet interest payments and to help ensure the sustainability of the Government’s guarantee, we will create a special fund into which borrowers would pay an annual service fee of one half of 1% of their outstanding loan balances. This fund would be used to help meet the obligations of those borrowers who cannot pay their interest through 2017. The collective contributions to the fund would assist the Government to cover the interest costs of those borrowers who fall into delinquency. This, in turn, would help reduce the direct cost to the Government if called upon to make good on its guarantee. The Fund would be there to cushion the cost to the Government and by extension reduce the ultimate burden on the taxpayer.
7. Pass any legislation necessary to ensure that homeowners who have accumulated savings in their pension funds can access those funds for the purpose of saving their homes from foreclosure.
8. Pass any legislation necessary to protect homeowners from foreclosure where they have already paid back more than a certain percentage of their mortgage loans. This will require close consultation with the banks and other interested parties. Once you have reached a certain level of home mortgage debt repayment, you should have some assurance that you will no longer be in danger of losing your home. This legislation would also vest powers in the Supreme Court, similar to laws in force in England, enabling a forced sale or foreclosure of homes to be stopped or suspended where the court decides that it is just and equitable in all the circumstances to do so.
9. Pass new legislation to give greater protection to borrowers in relation to interest, add-on charges and other bank fees; and to bring under regulation unregulated lenders. This new legislation will also bring under stricter control and supervision the system of salary deduction so appallingly abused by certain financial institutions.
10. Extend the “first homeowners” exemption from stamp duty to persons who lost their first home in foreclosure but are trying to buy a home once again.
The Progressive Liberal Party believes that helping distressed homeowners is the right thing to do and the sensible thing to do. It is an important part of getting the Bahamian economy moving and growing again while at the same time creating an important social safety net.
The PLP notes that the foreclosure crisis is of course related to record unemployment. The FNM has sought to blame economic problems on the global recession, but their fiscal and economic mismanagement have increased the nation’s woes exponentially.
REACTION TO THE PLP’S MORTGAGE PLAN
Writing in the Nassau Guardian, the Colina Financial Advisors Company disagreed with the plan of the Progressive Liberal Party to solve the foreclosure crisis in the country. They wrote on 4th April: “ In a democracy, it is not prudent for the government to mandate any financial institution to do anything. The shareholders, directors and management decide what course of action should be taken.” This is the knee jerk lessaiz-faire capitalism argument that abounds in the lunatic fringe of Rick Lowe and company. The government interferes in the market all the time. For example, the Ingraham government has just handed over an immoral monopoly to the same players who have controlled the Nassau Port through market forces only this time they have a legal government granted monopoly. It appears that the right wing people have no problem with that kind of welfare for rich people. The more pointed argument of the proposal, although arcane to the average man, is that there will be a funding gap between ( see point 6 above) between what is collected from the half per cent levy on outstanding balances which is to go into a fund to protect against defaults. The estimated gap is about 102 million said some commentators. Franklin Wilson, the Chairman and CEO of Arawak Homes, perhaps the country’s largest home developer says that this not a need for concern because by buying insurance on the market, any funding gap can in fact be filled. All we know is that the plan it reads well. It is not seeking to dictate to the banks but is using moral suasion. The FNM dismissed it out of hand, embarrassed as they were about the fact that they have no plan at all. Their leader Hubert Ingraham described it as “thoughtless and unworkable”. They promised one in the coming weeks. What was that about late again? The PLPs plan is being widely welcomed by the public as the right step at the right time and in the right direction. Lynden Nairn who is in the business of financial advice wrote a commentary on it which we share below. In answer to the CFAL statement we quote from the encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI of 9th June 2009 which reminds us that capitalism without a moral conscience is not what we practice. It is called CARITAS IN VERITATE:ON INTEGRAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN CHARITY AND TRUTH
36. Economic activity cannot solve all social problems through the simple application of commercial logic. This needs to be directed towards the pursuit of the common good, for which the political community in particular must also take responsibility. Therefore, it must be borne in mind that grave imbalances are produced when economic action, conceived merely as an engine for wealth creation, is detached from political action, conceived as a means for pursuing justice through redistribution.
The Church has always held that economic action is not to be regarded as something opposed to society. In and of itself, the market is not, and must not become, the place where the strong subdue the weak. Society does not have to protect itself from the market, as if the development of the latter were ipso facto to entail the death of authentically human relations. Admittedly, the market can be a negative force, not because it is so by nature, but because a certain ideology can make it so. It must be remembered that the market does not exist in the pure state. It is shaped by the cultural configurations which define it and give it direction. Economy and finance, as instruments, can be used badly when those at the helm are motivated by purely selfish ends. Instruments that are good in themselves can thereby be transformed into harmful ones. But it is man's darkened reason that produces these consequences, not the instrument per se. Therefore it is not the instrument that must be called to account, but individuals, their moral conscience and their personal and social responsibility.
PLP ON CUSTOMS AND IMMIGRATION STRIKE
The Progressive Liberal Party issued the following statement on the Customs and Immigration strike which began on Thursday 5th April. The issue is mainly the push by the Customs and Immigration officers to recover lost income to the officers as a result of their working overtime hours and not being paid for those hours. The Customs and Immigration officers wish to be compensated for the loss of that income which was in some cases triple their salaries before the new shift system was implemented and the overtime payments abolished. They argued that the cost of overtime was passed on to the airlines and shipping companies so it was not a cost for the Bahamian government. The Bahamas government took the stand that it is a cost saving after the airlines and shipping companies complained. The proposal was in fact first mooted by the Bahamas Public Services Union under John Pinder prior to the PLP leaving office and was included in the industrial agreement with the government signed with the PLP. The system was fully implemented under the FNM. Hubert Ingraham is now blaming the PLP for the issue. (See story In Passing) In the meantime, the officers broke away from John Pinder’s union and now are represented on their own. They say that the government refuses to negotiate in good faith or at all. Two officers were arrested on the first day of the strike on Thursday 5th April. Another officer complained that she was dragged through the mud by the police. There was a confrontation at the Lynden Pindling Airport on Friday 6th April with the police reportedly having orders to break up the demonstration at all costs. The riot squad was reportedly sent in. Mr. Ingraham for his part has remained silent and put the defence force in to man the ports along with supervisors. His get tough attitude is that he can say to the country we have to go to elections to show whether a small group can hold us to ransom or whether we of the government will run the country. The election is expected to be announced at the FNM’s Red Splash event on the public beach at Montagu on Easter Monday. The PLP’s statement on the issue follows:
Progressive Liberal Party
April 5, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INGRAHAM’S CONTEMPT FOR BAHAMIANS CONTINUES
Again and again, the Prime Minister has failed to resolve the longstanding concerns of Bahamians workers.
He has ducked and dodged, but he has not led.
Ingraham’s inability to resolve the current labour dispute, and his failure to negotiate in good faith, are part of a broader pattern of contempt for Bahamians.
Bahamian workers, who have been battered by FNM policies which have deepened and extended the recession, are fed up. They see a government which has poured hundreds of millions into foreigners and special interests, and nearly one hundred million into cost overruns for the grossly mismanaged road works, but has spent years avoiding the resolution of their concerns.
This government does not believe the concerns of Bahamian workers are important.
The next government must move with dispatch to resolve outstanding industrial relations issues. It’s the right thing to do and the smart thing to do: without industrial peace, there will be no economic recovery.
THE STORY OF THE YOUNGSTER AT 601
On the blocks, the young people in the country are unemployed: according to the statistics one in three is unemployed. They have nothing to do all day. It is a constant battle to find food to eat, a means to obtain clothes and wash them; transportation and health care. Some are being pushed by their families who believe that maybe the reason that they do not have a job is that they are simply not pushing enough. So often they leave out before the sun rises and the family rises to avoid the fuss. They return late at night when everyone is sleeping to avoid yet another confrontation. In between, they spend their time on the parks and on the wall. It is cat and mouse game often with the police and for weaker minds dipping into the sale of drugs and for some even armed robbery. Most crave a job and most want respect. They report that what they don’t get is respect from the police, some of whom are their age contemporaries but who abuse their authority and power. The story of an evening that ended badly at the Club that used to be called 601 on Bay Street East:
My female friend, me and some friends were leaving the club early in the morning. She was about to cross the street, when a car came up on us that she didn’t see. So she stepped back on the curve and almost bumped into one of the off duty officers who acts as a bouncer at the club. We had had a pretty good time. He said to her: “You better watch your ass on this sidewalk”. I couldn’t believe that he said that. I said to him: “ Hey how could you talk to a female like that. That isn’t showing respect. She didn’t mean to bump into you.” The next thing I know, he was grabbing her and then telling us we better get out of the way before he didn’t lock us up. I said: “lock us up for what? What did we do?” The officer took out his gun and was waving it around and actually shot into the air. Then the other officer (off duty) grabbed me from behind and was holding me choking me by my neck. I told him: “What you holding me for. This does not make sense and you could see that that other officer is drunk.”. He let me go and said to me “ you all get out of here.” We left. But that left me really upset that night. I don’t understand why they don’t know how to talk to people and to treat people.
JEROME GOMEZ PUTS INGRAHAM IN HIS PLACE
The following statement was issued by Jerome Gomez, who is the PLP’s candidate for the Kilarney Constituency about the Prime Minister and his propensity not to take responsibility for his own actions and that of the government of the FNM:
I wish to address disingenuous and scurrilous remarks being made by the Rt. Honorable Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and the FNM over the past several weeks at their constituency office openings which at every turn try to brand the PLP as a political party of uneducated, corrupt, dishonest men and women, rushing to get their hands in the “cookie jar”.
The prime minister also attempted to tie the PLP’s theme of “Gold Rush” to heart of the country’s crime, drug and criminal problems. How utterly ridiculous! These remarks amount to nothing more than a weak and feeble attempt to distract the voting public from the very real and pertinent issues of crime, unemployment, and the economy.
As a proud first time candidate for the Progressive Liberal Party, the oldest political party in The Bahamas, I would be the first to acknowledge that there exists imperfections in every political organization or individuals that make up these organizations.
The PLP is no exception, nor is the FNM. I am a member of the PLP because it puts Bahamians first and its record of people-centric policies speaks for itself.
To attempt to deny that the PLP has played a major role in the national development of the Bahamas and its people, to deny that many great Bahamian heroes were birthed out of the PLP, could be likened to denying one’s own existent.
After all, it was this very same PLP that first gave Mr. Ingraham the opportunity to serve as a member of its National General Council, as national chairman, as a Member of Parliament and cabinet minister.
It can be said that Mr. Ingraham cut his political teeth in the PLP, and now he wants to infer that it is a political party not worthy to have talented Bahamian men and women like, Jerome Fitzgerald, Dr. Daniel Johnson, Cleola Hamilton, Hope Strachan, Dr. Kendal Major, Khaalis Rolle, attorney Dion Smith and Arnold Forbes and others in is ranks.
The PLP is rich in intellect and talent. It attracts the brightest and the best the Bahamas has to offer. It is a party that rejuvenates itself every five years. The PLP made Mr. Ingraham a good politician and the FNM has made him a bully.
The FNM has governed the Bahamas for fifteen of the last twenty years and must therefore take responsibility for many of the country’s ills.
I implore Mr. Ingraham to cease and desist from these disingenuous attacks on the PLP, its candidates, and the tens of thousands of Bahamians who support the PLP and simply speak to his government’s performance over the last five years. The PLP of 2012 with twenty two new candidates is not the same PLP of the 1970’s and 1980’s, of which Mr. Ingraham was an integral and influential member.
This PLP of 2012 is a reinvigorated, reenergized party of dynamic new candidates and experienced members of parliament who are ready to govern on day one.
FRED MITCHELL ON CITY MARKETS
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill has a number of constituents who work for City Markets, the food store that is now bankrupt and is to be bought up by Rupert Roberts, the owner of Supervalue, their main competitor. Mr. Roberts ironically began working at Supervalue when the late Stafford Sands owned the stores. Now he announced last week that he is buying them from the Garrett Finlayson family who tried to buy and rescue the company; but after pumping 25 million into the stores they have now given up the ghost. Mr. Roberts told the press last week that he could not afford for the stores to get into someone else’s hands. His company started to interview the staff to see who they would retain. The staff are still concerned about the safety of their pension and their severance monies. In the meantime, the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham got into the act on Saturday at his party’s rally on Saturday 1st April by saying that it was the PLP’s fault that City Markets was sold to foreigners. Fred Mitchell MP responded to what he called these misstatements of fact. In fact, it was the Ingraham government that approved the transfer of the equity of City Markets from the Bahamian group to the Neal and Massey shareholders of Trinidad and Tobago. Mr. Mitchell’s statement follows:
STATEMENT BY FRED MITCHELL MP FOX HILL
ON THE PRIME MINISTER AND CITY MARKETS
2nd April 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Prime Minister came to Fox Hill without anything to offer the people of Fox Hill but misinformation and propaganda. He is dead wrong yet again to blame the PLP for the troubles in which the City Market business finds itself. The Prime Minister and his friends like the market forces so much: City Market is a simple victim of the market. The troubles of City Markets have nothing to do with the PLP's policies or decisions. That as usual is a figment of the imagination of the Prime Minister.
My constituents in Fox Hill were looking for answers from the Prime Minister. On their behalf I simply demand of the Prime Minister that he uses his good offices and that of his hapless and hopeless Minister of Labour to protect the interests of the Bahamian workers in this matter. Nothing more or less is needed by him or from him. Propaganda cannot put bread on the table.
The issue of the City Markets and the transfer of its undertakings was materially misstated by the Prime Minister. He is seeking to confuse people in the name of party politics. It cannot help him.
The PLP at all times in 1967 and in 2006 acted in the best interests of the people of the Bahamas. In this country there are private property rights which attach to shareholders. Notwithstanding all the propaganda to the contrary, the PLP allowed as far as possible during its terms of office to apply the principles of the market and the rights of private owners to sell their shares to willing buyers. It is a delicate balancing act in a small country but the PLP balanced the rights of ownership with the public interest in putting Bahamians first. In the case of both transfers of the undertaking under the PLP, if the PLP had refused then there would have been a cry about the PLP stopping free enterprise. Mr. Ingraham and his rich friends cannot have their cake and eat it too.
In 2006, Winn Dixie, the owner of City Market was on the auction bloc having filed for bankruptcy. They put the Bahamian property up on the market for auction and the bidders that won were a group that included many well known Bahamian shareholders. It is therefore incorrect to say that the PLP turned down Bahamian shareholders. Further, the PLP administration took steps upon the approval of the transfer to protect the policy of Bahamians first by insisting that the new financiers from the Caribbean were just that financiers and not equity owners. That was the PLP's policy.
The Prime Minister must speak the truth and not seek to mislead the country on these issues.
End
FRED MITCHELL’S STATEMENT ON SHONEL FERGUSON
The MP for Fox Hill Fred Mitchell issued the following statement in response to the FNM’s candidates assertions made on Saturday 31st March in Fox Hill as she opened her campaign headquarters there. Shonel Ferguson claimed that she was going to fix the park in Foxdale, one of the subdivisions in the constituency. Mr. Mitchell’s said that she didn't own the park and that this was a matter for the residents of Foxdale. A community meeting was arranged for Wednesday 4th April to discuss the matter (see story In Passing below). Mr. Mitchell’s full statement follows:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MITCHELL RESPONDS TO FNM CANDIDATE'S PROMISES IN FOX HILL
3rd April 2012
It was reported to me that the candidate for the Free National Movement on Saturday 3rd April at a public event hosted by the FNM in Fox Hill in the presence of the Prime Minister made a promise to make changes to a public space in the Foxdale Community which will lead to that space being converted into a public park. This lot of land in Foxdale has been the subject of some contention in the community. The space is reserved for the use of the community. I support that and have supported that conversion It is yet to be confirmed by the government that the developer has in fact deeded the land to the government. If it has been deeded to the government it is then the responsibility of the government in law to fix the park and to upgrade the facility In consultation with the residents of Foxdale, not a private citizen. The record will show that the Member of Parliament has sought to have the Ministry of Works act to convert the land into a proper public space. As far as I am aware there is only one Member of Parliament for Fox Hill. There is only one government. It does not lie in the hands of a private individual to alter the facts on the ground, without lawful authority. No one wants to stop a private citizen from helping in a genuine and well intentioned effort but it must be with lawful authority. When that private citizen then goes and changes the situation on the ground as the FNM candidate now proposes, who will be liable if there is some act or omission which results in injury or harm to those who use the facility. Will she bear the liability when someone's child is hurt on the space? I have brought this issue to the attention of the residents and to the Ministry of Public Works and a community meeting has been convened by the residents to discuss the matter. That is the proper starting point to any changes on that space.
It is always seductive for neophyte candidates to think that by jumping in with both feet and without the facts they can alter matters to their benefit. However, the history of the development of this public space will show the work that has already been done on this matter. What it awaits is for the Ministry of Public Works do the job that has been asked of it by this representative on behalf of the people of Foxdale in order to ensure that there is a safe passive public space for the use of the residents of Foxdale. That is not for the FNM candidate but for the government. The Ministry must now do its work.
End
ADVISORY YOUTH COUNCIL ON CRIME
Latrae Rahming of the Advisory Youth Council, a Bahamian youth group, issued the following statement on crime in The Bahamas calling for the government to address the issue and giving concrete proposals on how to resolve the crime issues. You may click here for the full statement
LYNDEN NAIRN’S ANALYSIS
Lynden Nairn is a financial analyst. He works for Colina Financial. He is also the campaign coordinator for Khaalis Rolle of the PLP who is running in Pinewood. He has been involved in political and economic analysis for over a decade in the public affairs of the country. He wrote this response to the mortgage proposals of the Progressive Liberal Party. Mr. Nairn denies that there will be a significant funding gap if there are defaults when the government steps in and collects a levy of half a per cent for a fund to protect against such defaults. This is what critics have argued. H said: “It is my thoughtful view that the PLP should be commended for their plan to address the mortgage anomaly that directly affects thousands and indirectly impacts all of us during this period of economic travail. I know personally that they consulted broadly and it is evident that all of the relevant issues and stakeholders were taken account of. I fully support the PLP’s mortgage relief plan.”
You may click here for the full statement.
CREDENTIALS PRESENTED TO GG
The credentials of foreign diplomats were presented at Government House to the Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes over the past three weeks beginning with the Austrian Ambassador Hans Peter Manz working out of and resident in Washington on 22nd March and then the Swiss Ambassador Ulrich Lehner working out of and resident Washington on 5th April and finally the Indonesian Ambassador Teiseran Foun Cornelis on 12th April working out of and resident in Havana. The photos are by Derek Smith of the Bahamas Information Services. Fred Mitchell, the Opposition’s spokesman on Foreign Affairs, represented the Progressive Liberal Party at the ceremonies.
 Photo Austrian Ambassador Hans Peter Manz |
 Photo Switzerland’s Ambassador Ulrich Lehner |
 Photo Indonesia’s Ambassador Teiseran Foun Cornelis |
THE STORY OF SPORTS PEOPLE AND THEIR MONEY
Since this is the Carifta sports weekend in Bermuda, we are reminded of what these young athletes do for our entertainment. They deserve if they choose in their careers to be well paid and have enough put up for the rainy days of their senior years. This promo below is about a movie just on that theme starring Lance Gross.
THE HAPPY COUPLE?
This ought to titillate the gossip wags even more. The former Permanent Secretary Missouri Sherman Peter and the former Minister Fred Mitchell MP and Opposition Spokesman on Foreign Affairs arm in arm at Government House on the occasion of the presentation of credentials of Indonesian Ambassador to The Bahamas Teiseran Foun Cornelis. The photo is by Derek Smith of the Bahamas Information Services.
EASTER MESSAGE FROM ANGLICAN BISHOP LAISH BOYD
THOUGHTFUL OBSERVATIONS ON THE PLP MORTAGE PLAN
We present a set of observations on the PLP's mortgage plan which should help all PLP's fight the pernicous plan of the FNM to push back and deride the PLP's ideas on the Mortgages. We think that the PLP's plan is good plan and it is catching on with the country. Here's what the commentary says:
Notwithstanding the fact that public records do not provide evidence of their having done so in 2008 when the Prime Minister announced an intention to intervene in this mortgage crisis, several commentators have now chosen to question whether it is morally correct for the Government to do any such thing.
Neither is there much of a public record from these commentators objecting to the myriad of times when the Government has similarly intervened in the economy – for example, the policy of reconnecting delinquent customers at BEC outside of normal corporate policy or prudential business norms.
This obvious lack of consistency gives rise to the question as to whether these commentators are allowing non relevant factors to influence their comments on the PLP's mortgage foreclosure Plan.
For the Progressive Liberal Party, a matter like this is precisely the kind of situation where the morally correct thing for the Government to do is to intervene and seek to help those in need. It is a philosophy which is central to the core values of the Party.
Thus the PLP has been consistent from 2008 on the need for action. At that time, Mr. Christie specifically said
"There is absolutely no [doubt] that there are people who are in desperate need of such assistance and it is in the wherewithal of the government and the financial sector to cause that to happen. I think that is a necessary intervention and I hope that the government would be able to make that as broad as possible”
You may click here for the full paper.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes from Freeport this week about the problem of crime and how the FNM continues to mislead the Bahamian public on its seriousness. He says that the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and his Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest have been cooking the books and using misleading figures on crime. He argues that the U.S. policeman that was brought in by the FNM government to review the police work in The Bahamas was an insult to the Bahamian police. He says that the FNM is using the public treasury to campaign and using public servants including the wife of the Prime Minister who is a public school principal to campaign.
The country is drowning in a heightening escalation of the commission of heinous crimes; we are being overwhelmed by labor unrest, by unemployment, by asset foreclosures, by a sustained lack of equipment and supplies at all government agencies, by lack of maintenance of government assets, by poverty raging like tornados especially in the inner cities, and the misery index off the chart. We are smothering in our national debt while scarce resources are getting scarcer by the day.
All these things are happening while the government seems oblivious to the worsening degradation occurring all around us. Hubert Ingraham, Zhivargo Laing, Neko Grant and the rest of their colleagues have spent the last five years preparing for re-election. Every day, hour and minute of the past three months, especially, have been spent signing contracts (for which there is no money to complete them) in an effort to sure up their political support for the next polling exercise. Whatever it takes to promote their re-election efforts they are fully prepared to do. Nothing and I say nothing, no matter how glaringly wrong, is off limits to these suckers. After borrowing almost $2 billion within the last five years, to operate the country, they seem unprepared to put a halt to this bad practice but are prepared to continue borrowing, in their desperation, to win the next election.
The contracts Neko Grant has been signing every other day, recently, will not be financed to their conclusion for the simple reason that the money is not available to the consolidated fund now, nor will it be anytime soon in the near future. Hubert Ingraham is practicing his usual reckless bad habits of acting impulsively, without thinking, and he will end up as usual doing a bunch of foolishness as. It really puzzles and baffles me, at the same time to no end, that intelligent individuals like some (I know) in the FNM could follow this reckless fool so willingly. This 2012 Hubert Ingraham is a Freak; he is a damn out-of-control freaking jackass; this is my honest-to-goodness opinion of this FOOL.
Crime has escalated each year, since 2007, under that fool and Tommy Turnquest; racking up four new records so far and from the looks of things we are now headed for a fifth record which would complete the FNM’s entire term of murder record breaking years. I saw statistics where, by comparison, our crime rate is presently higher than Korea, Manchester, Toronto and Calgary/Alberta combined. There is no questioning it; we have a growing epidemic on our hands and I heard Tommy Turnquest talking fool the other night, at the opening of Charles Maynard’s headquarters in Golden Isles. Talking fool is a very dangerous thing to do especially when fools are involved. The minister of national security was on stage denying the facts and contradicting all the statistics. He claimed that crime is down (not up) by twenty-five per cent (25%) compared to the same period last year but he can deny the stats all he wants, he can’t shake this crime monkey off his back. What is so ironic is that in 2006, as far as Tommy Turnquest and the FNM were concerned, crime was the number one issue in the 2007 general elections and the PLP (who was the government at the time) was to blame (as far as Tommy Turnquest was concerned) for the escalation. Today, though, in 2012 crime as far as Tommy Turnquest and Ingraham are concerned, is not an FNM problem; it’s everybody’s problem. Well I say to Tommy and Ingraham what is good for the goose is good for the gander; if it was the PLP’s Problem in 2006 then it’s the FNM’s problem in 2012; I will not let you get away with that double talk and double-standard. I don’t listen to the sucker but someone told me that during his keynote address, at the same headquarters opening, the piss-head said that he blamed the PLP for crime; that if the events of the drug trade did not occur in the 1980s we wouldn’t have the level of criminality we are experiencing today; now can you believe this ASS? This is too stupid a statement for me to waste my time taking issue; it could only have been made by a JACKASS like Hubert Ingraham.
The headline in the Nassau Guardian this morning (27th March) read “Govt. gets outside help in crime fight;” I couldn’t believe it; if crime is on the decline, as Tommy said in his political speech at the Golden Isles opening, and if the crime-fighting measures he and Ingraham put in place (a set of measure every three months for the last almost five years now) over the years are working then I pray answer me this one question please; why in the hell are we consulting with this former retired New York police commissioner? Now the leader of the FNM is stupid or he thinks the Bahamian people are and I think it’s the latter; he thinks we are so stupid that we wouldn’t see through his government’s gimmickry? Last night (26th March) they told the nation that crime was on the decline having dropped, Tommy said, by 25% over the same period last year yet eight hours later the two musketeers dissed our entire police force (with all the wealth of knowledge and know-how they possess) and flew this man in from New York for consultations. Immediately I felt that the government displayed no confidence in Mr. Greenslade, and his hardworking team of officers who make up the Bahamian constabulary, by calling in this retired foreign police officer just as foreign and local investors have no confidence in him and his team of FNM miscreants. The fact that Tommy and the piss-head felt the need to import some help, is a sure sign that we have a crises of major proportion (of out-of-control criminality) on our hands which the FNM government feels very confident (given the situation at hand) they will never be able to control.
Bringing in this man, though, is seen on the streets (and in offices and boardrooms around the country) as a slap in the face and an insult to the Commissioner and his hardworking team of men and women. We’ve had two parliamentary appointed commissions on crime in the country within the last few years and the reports, for the most part, are packed away in boxes in some back room in the ministry of national security. All the recommendations, except for the one about the ankle bracelet, have largely been ignored and we all know how tamper proof the ankle bracelet is around aluminum foil. I ask Hubert Ingraham very seriously, what can this retired New York policeman tell commissioner Greenslade and his officers that they do not already know? Is there anything that the Bahamas Police force has not tried to date? I doubt so; crime is out of control in New York. This is as bad a decision (and just as insulting)as the one to bring that lady in from Jamaica to fill the DPP Post as opposed to appointing Ms. Cheryl Grant-Bethel who is most qualified for and deserving of the position. The man loves foreigners and hates Bahamians; watch what he does not what he says.
The problem with crime, in the country, under the FNM is that they have missed the point altogether; they have failed to address the root cause of the menace; we must get to the root of the problem and kill it; Urban Renewal-Perry Christie style-was essentially getting to the root of the problem. It was working, very well, but Ingraham stopped the program and so we sunk back into the crime rot of pre-2002. Hubert Ingraham and Tommy Turnquest (because they put a halt to and restructured the way Urban Renewal was being conducted under the PLP) are responsible for all those deaths (now 460-as I write this article-for the five years they’ve been in power) so far during their term in office. There is a penalty in this country for persons who commit murder and there ought to be a law to penalize government ministers who make stupid and reckless decisions deliberately which, in the final analysis, causes the murder rate to increase when it could have been curtailed. If there were such laws, on the books, these suckers, who I submit are responsible for these 460 murders thus far during the FNM’s Five years in office to date, would be found guilty and the suckers made to pay for their crimes; the penalty for murder being death remember? As long as Government Heads are not held responsible for their actions, countries will continue down the road of deterioration and the only ones who suffer normally are the poor and needy. The FNM government, by their deliberate actions, has facilitated the increased murder rate and they will pay one day for this crime. Criminal activity is raging in the country, as opined earlier, because of the examples set by Hubert Ingraham, Tommy Turnquest and the cabinet of the Bahamas. Think about the sequence of events and the FNM government’s illegal behavior with respect to the methods employed in prosecuting the Nassau road improvement program; how that the more people suffered and called on the government for relief the more they were ignored.
The government’s road improvement project, in the capitol, has devastated businesses and their employees along the routes affected. So much so that over the period (to date) many long established companies, like Jiffy Cleaners and some others, have opted to close their doors and call it quits rather than continue suffering the kinds of losses they were sustaining. Others reduced staff to a bare minimum while the remaining businesses, left with their doors still open, are hanging on for dear life. Out of the tragedy the Coconut Grove Business League was born and that for the purpose of working together to highlight their problems in an effort to getting the FNM government to accede to their demands to adjust the way the project was being prosecuted. Instead of trying to meet the coconut grove business league half way through the FNM, and its road works minister Neko Grant, fought them tooth and nail claiming that the problems, with which the business owners and their employees were faced, were not a concern for the government; that whatever losses they were sustaining were a natural consequence of the improvements the country was seeing with the road improvements. The devil is a liar (said Ethric Bowe of the coconut grove business league) and they took the FNM to court and won their case. The government appealed the lower court’s ruling and won on the appeal. The business league would not lie down and play dead and so proceeded to take the matter to the highest court in the land, the Privy Council; they won. The government used the only other tool in their arsenal i.e. to delay payments for as long as they can but pay they must and will. The FNM government was/is determined not to do the right thing, neither are they prepared to do what is legally their obligation. Thank God for the Privy Council (I support the privy and not a Caribbean court of appeal concept); they ruled according to law and ordered that the FNM government pay the coconut business league forthwith; we will see what happens now.
After all the trouble and expenses the FNM government have caused those business persons to incur, and their refusal to pay them damages they now come, two weeks before the general elections, claiming that they suddenly care for them and wish to now pay them for their losses; isn’t this some change of mind? They sure came to their senses all of a sudden haven’t they? What do you think caused them to have a change of heart? Do you think it’s because it’s elections time and they are now looking for votes? Since you now have them by the testicles (Mr. Ethric Bowe) make the suckers pay for your having to go all the way to the Privy Council and don’t leave off one damn cent. Oh I forgot, the PLP made a commitment, a few months ago, that when they form the next government they are committed to compensating those coconut grove business owners, and all the others, for the loses they incurred; it might be that, that position by the PLP caused them to change their minds? I should tell them though that if they are looking for votes, it’s too little, too late for those political fools. The PLP will meet with those business owners and do the right thing; laws in the Bahamas regarding compensation in matters such as these are clear; you offend someone and cause damages, you pay for those damages; no ifs ands or buts, so the PLP will do the right thing not do them any favors.
We all remember Neko Grant, when he was forced to convene a town meeting in the area, how he lambasted the business owners; Tommy Turnquest, as well, ridiculed the coconut grove league saying that he drove through the area and that he had no difficulty getting to businesses if he wanted to and that he didn’t know what they were complaining about. Now that they are trying to salvage some votes, suddenly the woes of the business league are important to them.
Yes these suckers are now pretending to care about the crime wave after racking up four consecutive yearly records. I see the PISS-HEAD, every ten minutes, in a stupid television AD talking about he is a father and a grandfather and pretending to care what happens to them? You are too late sucker; you care only about your political fortunes going down the drain; resign and carry your frowsy behind; we’ve had enough of you and your cowardly minions.
Civil servants are now telling me that they have been sent a memo, reminding them not to engage in partisan political activities as per their “General Orders;” however one civil servant said to me that Ingraham must be joking; that the FNM has TV Ads running, right now on MSNBC, where Ingraham is using school teachers and ambulance drivers and as if that wasn’t enough the piss-head Ms. Emily Petty, who is a school principal supposedly, on the FNM’s political platform in south Eleuthera the other night, dressed in FNM regalia no less. It was at the opening of the FNM’s South Eleuthera headquarters. They say that Ingraham can go to hell; that when he stops using civil servants to campaign for the FNM they will stop campaigning for the PLP. I agreed with them; the Negro is a damn hypocrite and he can go to hell.
Thank you.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport Grand Bahama
April 2012.
Best Wishes To Dr. Kendal Major
We extend best wishes to Dr. Kendal Major, the PLP’s candidate for Garden Hills who had emergency surgery last weekend to remove his appendix. He is to have three weeks of convalescence before returning to the campaign trail.
Mitchell Attacked At Customs Demonstration
Fred Mitchell is the Opposition’s spokesman on the Public Service and in that connection visited the site of one of the demonstrations by the Customs Department now on strike on Thursday 5th April. He visited the site outside the Customs Headquarters on Thompson Boulevard. He was briefed by the customs leader on the site. But a few minutes later an officer who identified himself as Bowleg began to hurl abuse at him. Saying that Mr. Mitchell was the cause of the issue that customs now faces because he (Mr. Mitchell) signed the agreement with the union to implement the shift system.
(see story above)
You may click here for Mr. Mitchell’s statement issued on 24th May 2010 on the issue of overtime in the public service.
The man said that Customs did not need any politicians and that they would solve the problem on their own. The statement was that of an ignoramus. We do not think it represents the mainstream on the issue but gives the cause bad name. It is interesting that this comes after the Prime Minister Mr. Ingraham went on TV and said it is the PLP's fault that there is a customs and immigration problem today. It appears that the FNM operatives in the Union who are embarrassed that their government has caused the problem are now following that line to cause confusion. Interestingly no one on the site stopped him or thought that what he did was improper. An interesting society indeed.
Ingraham Get Fred At All Costs
On the day of the release on City Markets ( see story above) one of Hubert Ingraham's confidantes got a call from the Prime Minister, a man whom he had not spoken to in two years. He was hysterical reportedly on the phone: “ We have to get that fucking Fred Mitchell. I am sick and tired of him. He called me a liar. Get all the people into Fox Hill I want you to remove him at all costs. Whatever it takes.” Testy! Testy! Do you remember the last king who said “ who will rid me of this bothersome priest.?” That resulted in the murder in the cathedral. Things that make you go: ‘Hmmm!”
Shonel’s Desperate Campaign In Fox Hill
Speaking from a public platform in Fox Hill on Saturday 31st March, the FNM's candidate for Fox Hill said that she would fix the park in Foxdale. The question is with whose authority. ( See story above) But hers was a real ham-fisted effort. She put a garbage bin on the park and sent a well known political operative, who does work for Brent Symonette, around the park to say that they were about to clean up the place and put swings on the park. The community responded quickly and got a meeting together on Wednesday 4th March. She attended although not invited. At the end of the meeting the residents told her that her intervention was not appropriate that the meeting was not a political meeting. She complained that she was not recognized by the meeting’s organizers even though she paid for the chairs for the meeting. She was told that chairs would have been provided anyway. This is shameless trying to secure votes by garbage bins and last minute fixing up projects. For five years the FNM government refused to fix the park and to make sure that Fox Hill was clean. Now they want to come at the last minute to try and bribe people to vote for them. This is shameful.
Dr. David Allen An Apologist For The FNM?
Dr. David Allen, the psychiatrist, needs to be careful lest he is soon labeled an apologist for the Free National Movement. Almost every considered opinion in the country was that the visit by Bill Bratton, the U.S. policeman paid for by some of Hubert Ingraham's high net worth handlers at Lyford Cay to come and review the work of the Bahamian police was simply a publicity stunt by the FNM. Not so said Dr. David Allen. He was in the press defending the decision to bring in a foreign policemen who did not seem to add any value to the crime solving equation.
Aaron Knowles Reportedly Dumped By Ingraham
The website bahamaspress.com reported last week that Aaron Knowles, the long time friend and confidante of the Prime Minister who walked out of the PLP with him and who led the P.R. campaigns and media buys of all the FNM's campaigns has been unceremoniously replaced by the daughter of the Prime Minister. The website published a letter which showed that Mr. Knowles authority to do media buys had been replaced by authority to the firm Dream Catcher Media owned by Keisha Ingraham-Taylor the Prime Minister’s daughter. The website attributed the sacking to FNM powerhouse lady Kay Forbes Smith, former Consul General in Atlanta. After the bitter ousting of Ken Russell M.P., Mr. Ingraham’s former friend and confidante, and now this with Mr. Knowles, the Ingraham friendship circle is getting smaller and many might be asking : “ Lord am I next!”.
Ken Russell On Zhivargo Laing
In the magazine Extract published by Teej Grant, Kenneth Russell, the outgoing Member of Parliament for High Rock had this to say about Zhivargo Laing his colleague MP in the FNM and former Cabinet colleague. The interviewer had suggested that Zhivargo Laing might be a more grounded alternative to the present Prime Minister as Leader of the FNM. Mr. Russell’s reply: “You can say that to make him feel good! He was young and vibrant but Zhivargo is also insulting and condescending. He was always like that! I been there for fifteen years and he is still the same person from when I first went there.”
Where Is The Police Staff Association On Foreign Policeman?
The Police Staff Association which in the past year has made one or other intervention into political matters has had nothing to say about the visit of the American police officer Bill Bratton to review the work of the Royal Bahamas Police Force and whether they think that is an acceptable action by the government. What’s the matter: cat gat ya tongue?
Ojay Ferguson Not Getting Citizenship
Last week, we wrote of the petition circulating amongst the athletes of the Bahamas for Ojay Ferguson who is Jamaican by birth but has lived his formative years in The Bahamas and is running with the Bahamian Carifita team to give Mr. Ferguson citizenship. So far the government has refused to grant the citizenship. Last week the press reported that he had made a blindingly fast race beating the national time record for that race but it cannot be entered into the records of the Bahamas because despite the fact that he labels himself a Bahamian athlete in law he is not. Mr. Ferguson won the 100 metre race for Carifta for The Bahamas but the report is that if the citizenship issue is not resolved this will be his last international meet for The Bahamas and he will have to run for Jamaica at the Olympics. The law is of course said to be an ass but in this case it’s the government that seems to be the ass.
The Second Coming Of Heather Hunt
The former McKinney Bancroft And Hughes lawyer who is now the FNM candidate for Marathon Heather Hunt has had two openings of her headquarters. The last was held the day before the launch of her opponent’s campaign Senator Jerome Fitzgerald (PLP) which he held on Friday 30th March. People were wondering why. The scuttlebutt is that Ms. Hunt had a bit of a melt down and lost her nerve after going through the constituency. The Prime Minister had to come in and give her a strong talking too and did the second opening to build up her courage. In any event that won’t help you honey bunch.
New Chairman Of The Grand Bahama Port Authority
Reportedly, the inner circle of the PLP is wondering why the Port Authority in Grand Bahama would appoint a new Chairman of the body Ian Faire who is also head of the Maritime Authority and a close confidante of Hubert Ingraham the Prime Minister on the eve of a general election when the government is likely to change.
Beneath The Cross Of Jesus. Happy Easter!
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THE GOLD RUSH IS ON: The PLP called and calls its election events the Gold Rush. This countered the FNM’s event on Easter Monday to launch their campaign on the newly refurbished Montagu Beach which they called the Red Splash. This was a most unfortunate choice of expression given that there are nearly 500 murders committed on the watch of Hubert Ingraham from 2007 to now. The FNM said that they were ahead but the evidence on the ground does not support it. What they did was commandeer the airwaves and so their event projected more than the PLP’s but the gold rush was a startling success on the Western Esplanade. We say as the PLP’s Jerome Fitzgerald said that he did not propose to give one quarter to the FNM and Hubert Ingraham. The photo of the Gold Rush on the Western Esplanade is from the PLP’s Facebook page.
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COMMENT OF THE WEEK
HUBERT IS ONE SILLY MAN
You have to ask yourself if there is anything for which Hubert Ingraham is willing to take some responsibility. He came to office saying that he was Mr. Fix It. Yet at the end of his term, he is sadly blaming everything on the PLP. There is nothing for which he will not blame the PLP.
The latest blame the PLP point was the rise in infant mortality in the country. He said that was the PLP’s fault. It took former Minister of Health Marcus Bethel to say that nothing changed in the protocols under the PLP from when he (Mr. Ingraham) was in office so the rise in infant mortality had nothing to do with politics. But you have to add to that silliness to blaming the PLP for the fact that Sol Kerzner could not pay his debts at Paradise Island, the Chinese workers had to be brought into build Bahamar and Mr. Ingraham refused to admit that he scuttled the American investors interests in the project which then forced the investors to look to the Chinese for financing; the road cost overruns under his administration amounting to 100 million dollars, they too are the PLP's fault, according to Hubert Ingraham. Everything under the sun. Well let’s put it this way, we hope when he is sent packing by the young man Renardo Curry in Abaco on 7th May, he can as he is nursing his wounds try to blame the PLP for that as well. That would be true.
Mr. Ingraham is coming off as increasingly silly and desperate. Stupid in fact. Lord how long oh how long. The answer comes back: Aint long now! Aint long!
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 13th April 2012 up to midnight 126,234
Number of hits for the month of April up to Saturday 13th April 2012 up to midnight: 261,496
Number of hits for the year 2012 up to Saturday 13th April 2012 up to midnight: 2,626,626
(INGRAHAM CALLED WORST PRIME MINISTER)
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It was a scene that wowed the country. One pundit estimated that the crowd was twice the size of Hubert Ingraham’s crowd the night before on R.M. Bailey Park. Perry Christie, Leader of the PLP, received a heroes welcome, and he rewarded the troops with a full scale assault on Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister, calling him the worst Prime Minister in the history of the country. His remarks came at the PLP’s Gold Rush Rally on Clifford Park on Friday 13th April. He called Mr. Ingraham spiteful and vindictive. He said that Mr. Ingraham’s time was up and it is time for him to go. |
IT’S ABOUT TIME THE ELECTION WAS CALLED
When the Prime Minister announced that he was calling the general election there was a sigh of relief in the population. This general election should have been called since February of this year. Mr. Ingraham was in deep trouble with the electorate and was simply drifting around, fooling about with House of Assembly meetings. The population was more and more on edge. And even as he knew he had to call the elections, he was engaged in the game of stall delay and defer. He announced that he would address the country at one p.m. on Tuesday 10th April and say what the date was. He did not. All he did was say that the House was dissolved. Then there was the proclamation which was read without saying the date of the election. That was read but did not say when the date would be. Then the hapless Dwayne Sands, one of his Senators, gave the date away. Not that it was a secret anyway because in an attempt to be coy Mr. Ingraham had at the red splash event on the Montague Beach told his followers to remember the number 7 so everyone then knew it was 7th May. In choosing 7th May, the term goes over the 2nd May when he was elected to office. This was the criticism that he made of Lynden Pindling in 1992 warning Sir Lynden that a deal was a deal and that when the anniversary of the election date passed, Mr. Ingraham said he expected the election to be called. No talk of all that now. He has overstayed the two terms that he said he wanted. He is now older than Sir Lynden was in 1992 when he said that Sir Lynden at 62 as too old for the job. The man is full of contradictions. The bottom line: it is time to get this general election behind this. The country needs to get off standstill.
PHILIP BRAVE DAVIS COMMITS PLP TO FIXED DATES
Philip Brave Davis, the PLP’s Deputy Leader, spoke at the PLP’s rally on Arawak Cay on Wednesday 11th April. At the rally he said that the PLP believed that the country should have fixed dates for the general election. We support that position and have speaking about it in this column for several weeks.
You may click here for the full statement of Mr. Davis.
FRED MITCHELL ON ANITA BERNARD
The Progressive Liberal Party objected when Anita Bernard was appointed the Secretary To The Cabinet. The S to C as the post is called is the titular head of the Public Service. She is responsible for the taking of the Cabinet minutes and their distribution and is the ultimate guardian of the government’s files as opposed to those of the party. Anita Bernard does not know the difference. When she was appointed near the start of Mr. Ingraham’s 2007 term, the PLP remembered that during the general election of 2007 Mrs. Bernard dressed in FNM clothing, campaigned in Yamacraw door to door against Melanie Griffin. The Prime Minister said he did not care about constitutional conventions and the rules of the public service which says that public servants are to be scrupulously neutral. He appointed her anyway. Now we see on the dissolution of Parliament, the Secretary to the Cabinet standing on the doorstep of the Parliament with the Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade and the Attorney General John Delaney on Tuesday 10th April. Mr. Delaney is in a red tie which is the signature FNM colour and symbol. Anita Bernard, the head of the public service, is in a red blouse. Fred Mitchell, the Opposition’s spokesman on the public service, issued the following statement condemning Mr. Bernard:
11the April 2012
STATEMENT FROM FRED MITCHELL OPPOSITION SPOKESMAN ON THE PUBLIC SERVICE
ON ANITA BERNARD SECRETARY OF THE CABINET
The Progressive Liberal Party objects strongly to the fact that on the day of the dissolution of Parliament the Secretary of the Cabinet Anita Bernard showed up at the reading of the proclamation dressed in a red blouse. This is clearly displaying partisanship by the top public servant. The rules of the public service specifically prescribe the participation of public servants at a senior level from involvement in party politics. How does this lady expect to survive a possible change of administration when she is so clearly partisan and FNM oriented? What PLP or DNA would trust her or her advice?
This is simply disgraceful and supports entirely the position that the party took when she was first appointed.
We said then that the appointment was inappropriate. We have now been shown to be right. You cannot have a party
political hack sitting in the top post of the public service. This means that all of her advice would be suspect and coloured
by politics and not in the best interests of our country. It is shameful. It is disgraceful.
This shows again how the Prime Minister has helped to undermine the integrity of our systems and our country.
End
THE CUSTOMS DISPUTE
The Bahamas Government moved to put an end to the Customs and Immigration strike by invoking on Friday 13th April a rarely used clause in the Industrial Relations Act which says that a strike though lawfully called is deemed by the Minister of Labour to be injurious to the public interest then he can refer the matter to the Industrial Tribunal for settlement and the parties have to end their strike or lockout and return to work until the Tribunal settles the issue. The Union takes the position that they want the matters settled because it is simply the government’s fault that they will not sit down to the table to settle the issues. You may click here to see what the entire list of issues is. The thrust of the Union’s argument is on the question of whether the government can change the terms of their contract to their detriment with regard to the implementation of the shift system and the payment of overtime having regard to the law on the issue. The law has a saving of more favourable terms clause. This means that when the new law came into effect, if you had contract terms that were more favourable to you than the law allowed for, you could not in a subsequent contract roll back those more favourable terms. The government’s invoking of the law saying that the strike was injurious to the public interest is very interesting given the fact that Huber Ingraham, the Prime Minister went on TV to say that there was nothing that he knew about that was of concern to the government that needed further discussion. He said that the government met with the Union and had settled all of their issues and that as far as he was concerned the ports were open and the government's revenue was being collected and he had no concerns. That was clearly a lie. How could the ports be functioning properly, and the revenue collected with Defence Force officer who know nothing about the arcane nature of Customs work manning the ports. The Union said that the United States was concerned about the matter being a national security one. We think that Hubert Ingraham clearly lied to the Bahamian public on this matter. Meanwhile the PLP’s Perry Christie promised in his statement to his party on Wednesday 11th April that the Union that the PLP if it came to power would resolve the issues. He said that the Unions could trust him when he said that they would sit down and resolve the issues. We believe that.
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JAMES CATALYN COMMENTS ON THE WEB
James Catalyn, the playwright, wrote this comment on the web about what the tactics of the PLP ought to be. We thought that it answers these silly stories that have been written the week long about the fact that Perry Christie and the PLP have not sought to match the large photos of Hubert Ingraham all over New Providence like Hubert Ingraham is the only candidate for office in the country for the FNM. He (Mr. Catalyn) says that the PLP should remain focused. This is about the team, not one man dictatorship:
Hubert's game plan at the rallies has changed from Vote FNM, to vote for ME! (Party be damned!)
We CANNOT follow suit. Perry, nor the PLP, must get caught up in a Hubert/Perry competition. The Nation does not want that. Continue to promote "We the PLP as a party, NOT as a one-man game.
Hubert has visions of Dictatorship in his eyes and is conditioning the people to call him "Papa". Looking at television, many who call him Papa seem mesmerized already.
NOTE: A vote for HUBERT is a vote for DICTATORSHIP!
A VOTE for the PLP is a vote for DEMOCRACY!!!
Stay with the issues, talk about forward planning not the past. Do not fall into Hubert's trap.
Listen to, hear and heed the VOICE of the People! DO NOT TURN A DEAF EAR.
Brave I implore you to keep Perry on course!
I implore ALL of you to stay the course!
To win this election requires TEAMWORK, NOT individual personalities!
In the words of our motto "Forward, Onward, Upward, Together".
THIS IS NOT A TWO MAN COMPETITION. THIS IS A NATION AT THE CROSSROADS!
Share this with whomever candidates you wish.
I am a Proud BAHAMIAN and a Proud PLP!
James J. Catalyn
THE PHOTO OF THE FT. CHARLOTTE LAUNCH
In scenes reminiscent of the PLP’s victory in 2002, the PLP took to Ft. Charlotte’s Clifford Park to launch its campaign for the general election to be held on 7th May. The photo is from the PLP’s Facebook page.
PHOTO FROM GRAND BAHAMA
This was the scene in Grand Bahama on Saturday 14th April when the PLP launched it formal campaign for the next general election in Grand Bahama.
PHOTO OF THE ARAWAK CAY LAUNCH
This another scene from the Gold Rush on Arawak Cay on Wednesday 11th April as the PLP launched its New Providence campaign.
PHOTO OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY DISSOLVED
The scene at the steps of the House of Assembly as the proclamation was read announcing that the Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes had dissolved parliament and re-summoned the Parliament to meet for the first time after the general election on 23rd May 2012. The photo shows the Provost Marshal Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade reading the proclamation. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
DAROLD MILLER IS BACK
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill was the first guest of the Darold Miller live show on the new Nassau Guardian radio station 99.6. Mr. Mitchell and he exchanged memories of the time they worked together at the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas. This is the ad promoting Darold Miller live. Mr. Miller has returned to The Bahamas from the Turks and Caicos Islands.
On the night that Hubert Ingraham was launching his campaign for re-election Thursday 12th April on the R.M. Bailey Park, the people of Marathon and their dynamic PLP candidate Senator Jerome Fitzgerald had other things in mind. There were five block parties held in Marathon that night and the people turned out in droves. Here is how one correspondent described it:
It was a smashing success and there is no doubt that the Peardale and Pinedale area has gone completely Gold and after 4 1/2 years in there the people are sticking with Fitzgerald. Only a handful of people from the Marathon constituency were out to the Rally on RM Bailey Park in Comparison to the PLP Marathon opening where they were out in the thousands. The Block party through Union Village and Pinedale had 500-600 persons alone. Not ONE single person from this community went to the rally.
The 5 block parties throughout the Constituency were a smashing success and some of the stragglers who did go to the rally were SHOCKED upon returning home to find the large crowds gathered and partying into the night with the grill going and hamburgers and hot dogs for the kids. There were no incidents. Although embarrassed some FNM supporters stopped to get some food on the encouragement of the PLP supporters. One PLP supporter was overheard saying "Gal you know you aint gat no job no lights no food and you gone there fooling with the FNM. You better try hard come get some of this food to take home for you and your kids. You know Fitzgerald care bout us, thats why we sticking with him because he stuck with us."
JULIAN RUSSEL’S DAD: I SUPPORT MY SON (STALWART B WRITES FROM FREEPORT)
Last night, Reverend Doctor Ralph Russell, the patriarch of the Russell family and father of Julian Russell, the PLP candidate for Central Grand Bahama, shocked the large gathering assembled at a PLP gold rush rally held in downtown, Freeport. Reverend Russell crossed the creek, his words were few yet powerful. He simply said, “I support my son, the next Member of Parliament for Central Grand Bahama; he is a good son and God’s spirit is with him.” Then as quietly as he came, he left the stage.
The FNM should have never gone to Eight Mile Rock and hold a rally under the big tree. The big tree represented Julian Russell’s yard. It was seen as an insult to the Russell family. Most people believed that they should have gone to the Friendship Shopping Centre’s parking lot which was only a stone’s throw away; or, they could have gone to the fish fry grounds, or the food store parking lot. But, in their usual nasty manner, they chose to hold it in the man’s yard.
One FNM supporter said we miss Sonny Martin: His advice was always not to interfere with a man and his son as he coined the phrase “that’s my boy.” Sonny would have never agreed to that bad idea because of the unintended consequences that the idea would evoke.
The Russell family in Eight Mile Rock are among Grand Bahama’s finest sons. They are known for their quiet disposition and peaceable spirit. Last night’s endorsement sealed the fate of Neko Grant, Julian’s opponent. So now the PLP is able to put West End and Bimini and Obie Wilchcombe and also Julian Russell in Central Grand Bahama in its column. As the PLP machinery moves East, they can now place two in its column with three to go.
Stalwart B
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes from Freeport that we ought to consider charging Hubert Ingraham for fiscal mismanagement of the Bahamian economy in the same way that the former Prime Minister of Iceland has been charged. He says of Mr. Ingraham’s term of office adapting the words of Malcolm X “You’ve been had; you’ve been took; you’ve been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray and you’ve been run amok;” and I say you’ve been pissed on.”
I have a few questions for the piss head today; it has been alleged that while you (Hubert Ingraham) served in Sir Lynden Pindling’s cabinet during the 1980’s that you passed on certain cabinet secrets to the US Drug enforcement Agency; well, on behalf of the Bahamian people, I wish to ask you if this is the truth? It is further alleged that while you served in Pindling’s cabinet (as one of his TRUSTED ministers) you voluntarily became one of the US Drug enforcement agency’s main informants; on behalf of the Bahamian people I wish also to ask whether this is true? I am told, as well, that you (Hubert Ingraham) tried to convince that same US Agency to help you bring down Sir Lynden’s government (like some Haitian “Papa Doc) and put in its place a government led by yourself; is that the truth? It is alleged, further, that you served the agency and passed on information under the guise of a secret Informant, identified only as C.I.1622 (confidential informant # 1622); is this truth? And what about those letters, copies of which are still in circulation around the country, bearing your signature (allegedly) and purportedly written by you to the US Authorities; again I must ask you if this is true? Inquiring Bahamian minds want to know; they want to know if you are, in fact, the no-damn-good bastard/traitor that you have been, for some time now, accused of being on the streets? Bahamians want to know if the no-damn-good sucker who has sat in the country’s prime minister’s chair for 15 of the last 20 years now has at one time or another been a damn TRAITOR; have you? This is not the first time you've been asked these questions, not the first time you’ve been asked about this alleged part of your miserable life and it’s about damn time you answer our curiosity. You are super quick to respond to every other allegation about you or your party so why haven’t you responded to these allegations? While you’re on the campaign trail this season you can tell us the truth from one of your rally platforms; you are quick to denigrate Cynthia “Mother” Pratt so tell us about your life when you served at the pleasure of Sir Lynden. If your answers to all my questions are “YES” (and all of them require only a “YES or “NO” answer) then I am obliged to ask at least a couple more(1) what does that make you-a damn traitor? (2) And If not a traitor (who should be tried for treason and SHOT) then what are you? (3) Do you know the history on what they did to and with traitors (especially those who looked like you) back in the 50s? They spaded (castrate) the bastards and then hung them by the freaking neck until the suckers breathe their last breath or they took them outback and SHOT them.
But let us go on to another subject and ask a few more pointed questions of this prime minister; pray tell the nation who are the nineteen (19) beneficial owners of the new Port at Arawak Cay? It is being alleged that Frank Watson (former deputy prime minister) and a Freeport businessman (who shall remain nameless at this time) and you (Hubert Ingraham) together own a substantial amount of the “A” shares in the deal; on behalf of the Bahamian people I would like to ask if this is true? If these alleged rumors are not false (but true) then what does that make you, jackass? A shameless, money hungry, traitor bastard maybe? Talk about the “cookie jar and scandals?”
That $83 million Nassau container Port facility (at Arawak Cay) was touted by Ingraham to reduce shipping costs to the Nation’s busiest port- of- call (from ports in Florida) but alas, with the recent announcement of increased port charges, we now know that we were sold a bill of goods and like Malcolm “X” said in his now famous speech, “ We’ve been had; We’ve been took; We’ve been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok” and I say We’ve been pissed on.
Tribune Business reported recently (9th March 2012) that effective April 1st 2012 the second of its two-phased rate increases are expected to take effect. Top shipping firms, calling at ports within the Caribbean area, opined that Nassau is now becoming one of the most expensive cargo “Ports- of- call” in the region. Such major tariff increases (suddenly and all at once, opined Mark Miller of Crowley shipping company) are unheard of. Miller said that gradual increases are expected (in the trade overtime) as a normal consequence of longevity in business, however what the new port owners are doing is ridiculous. The net effect on consumers will be a drastic increase in the cost of living in the country. I am now told that, due to these increases specifically, the cost of transport charges, from a Florida port, to Arawak cay on just an ordinary vehicle, for instance, will be around $600.00 as a first cost. It then follows, and must be understood, that if the additional freight charges, on a Truck or Car, is going to be $600 then the additional customs duties on that additional $600 at 85% will be $510.00; this will total an additional cost to the average consumer of $1110.00; can you imagine that? This means that ordinary cars and trucks, being imported into the Bahamas, will now become practically unaffordable luxury items to the ordinary, average, everyday Bahamian-well beyond anything that he/she will be able to afford; especially given the times we are living in. When the new Nassau Cargo Port was first talked about, by the Christie PLP government, one of the benefits of its placement at Clifton Arawak Cay was that it would lower cargo rates; not drastically increase them. Hubert Ingraham and the FNM government touted the same thing i.e. that their locating it at Arawak Cay (against the advice of all the studies and surveys by the Experts) would bring down the rates of shipping as well but we know now that we have been deceived, once again, with Ingraham’s lies. I remind you again of the words of Malcolm “X;” “We’ve been had; we’ve been took; we’ve been hoodwinked; we’ve been bamboozled, led astray, run amok” and I shall add, we’ve been pissed on. They promised us cheaper electricity rates as well but since coming to office, in 2007, those rates have steadily climbing under the FNM government; so much so that many thousands of Bahamian consumers have had to sacrifice the use of that very basic necessity.
It was Ingraham’s idea (he said) to lower fees for carriers calling at ports in the country. According to him, carriers were complaining (for years) that the charges, at Bahamian “ports-of-call,” were too expensive and many, he said, threatened to boycott coming here. He (Ingraham) used this perceived threat (and I say PERCEIVED because I’ve never heard of any unusual amounts of complaints and I have worked around the trade all my working life and then some) to justify implementing the shift system, for Bahamas Customs and Immigration, which has (to date) been a nightmare for customs and immigration officers. Just as in the case of the Arawak Cay Port charges being increased (rather than decreased) so have the fees for services rendered by the customs and immigration departments, despite Ingraham’s assurances to those carriers to the contrary. Customs and Immigration officers will confirm (if asked today) that Ingraham lied to the port users; in fact instead of eliminating the overtime fees (as these officers were told would happen) Ingraham has almost doubled the fees in some cases, levied prior to the shift system going into effect. Only now, instead of the money being paid directly to the officers working the extra duty it is now (instead) being paid into the consolidated fund and classified as general revenue. Again I quote from one of Malcolm “X’s” most powerful speeches; “You’ve been had; you’ve been took; you’ve been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray and you’ve been run amok;” and I say you’ve been pissed on.
To suggest that Hubert Ingraham is most disingenuous; a deceiver of the highest order and the country’s Liar-in-Chief would be putting my description of him very mildly. For instance the situation with Desmond Bannister and his complaint about the validity of the registration of a number of would-be voters in the North Andros constituency; both Ingraham and Bannister know very well that those voters have not committed any illegalities; they both know of the amendments, to the law, which give persons in their positions the legal right to choose their place of ordinary residency yet they set about to deliberately embarrass these folks. They brought what could only be termed, in legal circles, a frivolous case against them. The piss-head and his cohort were content to put those people through that embarrassing nonsense just to get at one man? There are no jobs in Andros, to be had, so these ladies and gentlemen must find work in Nassau and if they do they must then travel back and forth at great personal inconvenience and expense. This is what they must do out of necessity and these two suckers would have the nerve to embarrass them in this manner? The suckers may not have known but we had our list, of persons who we know support them, who are in like positions but had no intentions of embarrassing any of them unless it was absolutely necessary. As it turned out, I am told, three of the persons the FNM contested were their supporters; only two were PLPs they say. I suspect that the five will now support the PLP; the net result to Desmond Bannister and the FNM? Three votes lost and a whole heap of embarrassment. The court ordered the persons real names to be kept a secret (for privacy reasons) and gave the press instructions to that effect; anyone counteracting that order would stand in contempt of court but wouldn’t you know though that it had to be the country’s chief law breaker; the country’s piss-head who defied the order and announced a couple of the names in one of his substance-void speeches recently? It is alleged that he actually called out the names of a few on the list only because he wanted to ridicule one particular person who was once an FNM supporter but left them and joined the PLP back in 2002. I would like to know now though; will this sucker be charged (as I would be if I did what he supposedly did) with contempt of court and arrested, as I would be if I disobeyed an order of the court? I doubt it seriously because the piss-head is above the law, remember?
One of the names that the piss-head identified was a well known Androsian, who supported the FNM up until 2002. His crime, as far as Ingraham is concerned, was to have resigned from the FNM and joined the PLP but the man, I am told, had good reason to leave them. As a matter of fact the reason he said he left the Free National Movement is the same reason all Bahamians, of good will, should leave the suckers. What brought him to his good senses was an incident, which occurred back in 2002, which opened his eyes to the realization that, for Bahamians of ilk, the PLP was his best bet. This person, I am told, was a close confidant of Earl Deveaux who allegedly took him along when he (Earl Deveaux) visited Brent Symonnette’s home, allegedly, on one occasion. The man reported that he waited for Deveaux in an adjacent room to where the meeting was taking place. He claimed, allegedly, that he overheard Brent’s guests denigrating Bahamians of color so terribly that it made him sick to his stomach. Earl Deveaux (he said allegedly) sat there like a dumb mute and said nothing while Brent and his cohorts, allegedly, ridiculed and pissed all over all Bahamians who look like (him) Earl. They were allegedly calling us by all kinds of names, none of which were very complimentary, while Deveaux sat there on his backside and remained as quiet as a lamb-a dummy-not uttering a word. That was the last time the man said he supported the FNM; he immediately left them and joined the PLP and the piss-head had it in for him ever since. Here is where Ingraham’s deceptive traits though become more pronounced; Aaron “Kiki” Knowles Jr. (who has now been relieved of his duties as the FNM’s senior PR person) hasn’t lived in Grand Bahama since 1992 but is now reportedly registered to vote at polling division number six (6) in the East Grand Bahama constituency in 2012 (I know the man; I know how long it has been since he relocated to Nassau and I know where he lived, prior to 1992, in Grand Bahama). So if Knowles moved to Nassau permanently in 1992 (and I know that he did) based on Ingraham’s move against those Andros voters, should he have registered to vote, in 2012, anywhere in Grand Bahama? I think not. The story broke this morning (23rd March 2012) on BP and I immediately passed the information on to our IT people who will determine the facts. For the good of the order though I would ask “KIKI” that if in fact he is guilty, as charged, then my advice to him would be to get regularized man. Don’t get put into an embarrassing situation because no one is above the law, not even that self-proclaimed (“No one Greater than me”) almighty Hubert Ingraham. If those Andros people are wrong, for choosing Andros over Nassau in which to register, then Aaron is wrong for choosing Freeport over Nassau and the piss-head would be wrong if he chose North Abaco over Nassau.
Allegedly Aaron had good reason to move to Nassau, when he did, back in 1992 for I am told that he was allegedly rewarded handsomely, by the piss-head, with two very lucrative printing contracts; one to produce BTC’s Telephone Directory and the other to print Bahamasair’s In-Flight magazine. It is now further alleged that Aaron has been given a huge contract, recently, for certain works coming out of the LPIA project only we don’t know at this point how that would pan out seeing that the relationship between the piss head and Aaron are apparently very strained. I just don’t know what kind of mixture the piss head gives these intelligent and rational men and women to drink to cause them to display such disregard for good sense and logic. I know Aaron well enough to be able to say, most assuredly, that he would readily admit to me that our country is on the wrong tract under Hubert Ingraham; I just don’t know what Ingraham spikes these fellows’ drinks with to cause them to lose all sense of values (seemingly). I would venture to say, as well, that Aaron knows that Hubert Ingraham is bad for our country’s business so I must ask, logically, why would he content himself to remain quietly in the background but an integral part of this destructive force? Could it be, simply, because of the lucrative contracts which he has allegedly amassed? But the Aaron “KIKI” Knowles Jr. that I once knew was more substantive and more of a patriot than this one; I guess though money changes some people’s values; right folks?
For the sake of the survival of our little nation Ingraham and his government must be sent packing. He and his government must go if our country is to be saved from ruin; it is clear, for all to see now, that no Investor will ever come here again if this ASS remains in power. There is no way anyone can deal civilly with a JACKASS prime minister like Hubert Ingraham. His paramount and only desire is to win the government (at all cost) only so he could remain prime minister. His motives for wanting to retain his position, as prime minister, are indeed not honorable; his motives are corrupted with an exaggerated desire to be the BOSS; to be able to speak to Bahamians any kind of way; to be able to call all the shots; this monster is obsessed with being prime minister and is willing to bankrupt us into slavery to the lenders to retain the position. We must stop him before it comes when it is too late to save our once best little country. Investors will not come here (I repeat) as long as this sucker runs things; just think about the kinds of vitriolic remarks he’s been directing toward investors he decided suddenly he didn’t like for some reason lately. Remember the remark he directed at the owner of the Robin Hood Stores when he asked him; “How in the hell did a foreigner like you get a license to operate a store on Harold Road?” And what about Mr. Rupert Roberts (a born and bred Bahamian) owner of the Super Value chain of food stores; “How in the hell did you, a white man, get a license to operate a food store over the hill” he asked him. Volatile statements like these turn investors off (and away from our shores) and what usually follows is a serious lack of confidence in the government and country. When potential investors hear the prime minister (no less) speaking to established investors in this manner (like dogs) what do you think they will do? Run from us (as you would) as fast as their legs could carry them. Do you think any jackass investor would opt to risk putting millions of dollars, on the ground, in this country while a damn dictator like Hubert Ingraham is running it? And who suffers the most when investors fail to show up with money to invest in businesses here? You guessed it; all of us who depend on jobs and incomes to feed and clothe our families and to keep our businesses afloat. Lack of investor confidence results in lack of investors; I can assure you that none will come here again as long as Hubert Ingraham is prime minister. No amount of “thirty-second advertizing clips and sound bites” will change voters’ minds at this point; your die is cast you sucker.
This is 2002 all over again; the treasury broke and the FNM government cannot pay the bills they owe local vendors. We all remember what it was like just before the 2002 general elections. In April 2002 Ingraham began the process to borrow $125 million to pay off local debts; money his government owed local vendors which, in some cases, they were as much as six months in arrears. Ingraham has proven over and repeatedly that he cannot manage our economy; I wouldn’t trust the two of them (Ingraham and Zhivargo Laing) to manage even an enclosure of “pot cake” dogs. They are so desperate to win this election that they are prepared to even take money out of the treasury to pay for cable TV services on three of the Islands? But isn’t that Cable Bahamas’ job? Weren’t they given a 15 year monopoly to take Cable TV services throughout the Bahamas? No matter what you do though you fools Bahamians will piss all over you on Election Day-you pissed on them long enough and I am convinced that they are preparing to return the favor. They bragged about repair work done to the Rand Memorial Hospital and about the purchase of the Island Palm Resort yet Albacore Construction, the contractor on the job, hasn’t been paid $450,000.00 due to them for completing the contract? This information was widely reported on Bahamas Press recently, so the question which now must be asked is; what kind of voodoo accounting is that? This sucker, and his minions, must be voted out of office if we are to save our country from further ruin; he must go if we are to save our country from falling into the hands of the IMF and before our currency is devalued to the equivalent of Jamaica’s. There ought to have been a system in this country, similar to that in Iceland, North Korea and a few other countries, where Heads of State are held responsible for their recklessness in governance. It was reported in a publication, recently, where the citizens of Iceland had their prime minister arrested, locked up and charged with “Fiscal Imprudence.” Interpreted this means that the sucker was locked up for making the same kind of bad and reckless economic decisions that Hubert Ingraham has been making for the fifteen years he’s been prime minister. In North Korea the Finance Minister (the same position Ingraham now holds) was arrested and charged with making decisions which North Korea leaders said impacted the economy adversely; his punishment? He was taken out and shot by a firing squad no questions asked and no appeals. What should we do with Ingraham? Being voted out of office is light punishment; he should get a harsher punishment than that; it’s unthinkable; it’s unbelievable. We’ll just vote the bastards out of office and let history punish them for their sins of oppression.
Thank you.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
April 2012
Pierre Dupuch, the former Member of Parliament and former Minister, writes one of his periodic interventions in the press about the FNM’s attempt to pass a law to criminalize sex without consent in a marriage. He says that it is unenforceable and is only being done by Hubert Ingraham for political reasons.
What some people will do to get a vote never ceases to amaze me! It is now being said that Bran McCartney has been "black listed" because he opposes the Marital Rape Law. Join the club McCartney, I too do not believe in passing laws that cannot be enforced. The Marital Rape Law happens to fall in that category.
Do you have to dislike women to disagree with such a law? To the contrary, my very high regard for women makes me disagree with it. Let's see what I think about women. My mother and my wife are, in my opinion, two of the greatest women to ever walk this earth.
My mother chose the highest profession in life, motherhood. After raising her family she also worked at the Tribune. It was she who, with the help of a ruler, tamarind switch, and a leather strap, raised six of us. She was the disciplinarian in our family. Whether she was successful or not history and the record will show.
I never looked on her as inferior or superior to my father; they complimented each other. I will never forget one evening asking my father to use the car. Suspecting that I had already asked my mother he said: "what did your mother say?" Feeling very embarrassed I answered that she had said "no." "Well," he said, "why do you ask me?" They were one.
My wife, like my mother, chose a dual profession, motherhood and she worked at our office. At work we follow the standard managerial procedures; at home we are one. She raised five of our children. I am proud of them all. And although I was the disciplinarian in our family I am very quick to tell you that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world!!
Here is an example of two families. On the one hand, the mother is the disciplinarian, on the other, the father. It's what works for a family that counts. There is no such thing as one being the "boss" or being better than the other. If the partners don't complement each other, the family doesn't exist.
In public life I ran in six elections. In 1962 I was 24 years old and was a candidate. I lost. Geoffrey Johnston and A.D. Hanna won. I ran again in 1982, 87, 92, 97, and 2002. I won all of them. Some of my most successful campaigns were run by women. The 1997 election stands out more than any. At the very last minute, Hubert Ingraham gerrymandered my boundaries so badly that had it not been for Dr. Mary Ritchie I would have lost. She took over my campaign, pulled my fantastic team together, and won the election by several hundred votes. I sometimes wonder what this country would be like if great women like Dr. Mary Ritchie were still alive!
A woman has a right to join any profession she wishes, and she should not be treated differently than a man. It’s a non-starter to say that because of her gender she should be paid less. My daughter-in-law is a doctor. Why should patients pay her less than her husband who is also a doctor? Why should a female lawyer be paid less than her male counterpart? Yes, it's a non-starter. Should a female politician be paid less than a male politician? Obviously not!!
The Vietnam War was the first time reporters were allowed in the front lines. What impressed me most was that virtually every time a reporter would put a microphone in front of a soldier in the trenches and ask him who he would like to say hello to, the soldier would say, "hi Mom."
After all, a mother carried that child around in her womb for nine months. A man cannot do that. It is said that a mother has influence on a child even when it's in her womb! Yes, it is true that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
Now let's go back to marital rape. Yes, it's wrong. But in court you have to prove it! So prove it. A smart husband would get in touch with a certain perverted FNM lawyer who would put his wife in the witness box and, under cross examination, literally undress her, make her feel less than a woman, and dirty.
And what would the verdict be? Innocent. What would the after effects be? Disastrous for the wife.
But the Marital Rape Bill may stir up emotions sufficiently to get some votes, won't it? Do the people pushing this Bill really care about women? I do. And I suspect Bran McCartney does also.
--30--
IN PASSING
A PLP Shows Off His Haircut
This engaging photo of a young PLP showing off his devotion to the cause in his haircut appeared on Facebook.
Hubert Ingraham’s Wife On The Platform.
We commented in this column this week about the fact that Anita Bernard, the Secretary to the Cabinet who is the head of the public service violated a cardinal rule of the service that you should not display party partisan politics by appearing at the reading of the proclamation of the dissolution of parliament on 10th April in a red blouse, the colour of the Free National Movement. We now go further and charge that Delores Ingraham, who is the wife of the Prime Minister, is violating general orders by appearing on a party political platform with her husband dressed in FNM paraphernalia. Mrs. Ingraham is a principal of a school and she is not by reason of her marriage exempt from the rules of the public service. Should the PLP come to office immediate disciplinary steps ought to be taken against any officer that violates these rules. The public service ought to be scrupulously neutral.
Pulling Down Fred Mitchell’s Posters
The Fox Hill PLP team put up posters around the constituency for Fred Mitchell’s campaign. They put the posters up as soon as the House of Assembly was dissolved. The next day they were all knocked to the ground in a deliberate act of sabotage.
Helping People Does Not Ensure Votes
There is a man going around Fox Hill parading as a pastor and a basket ball coach. He was sentenced under the FNM to 18 months in jail for selling drugs. He was let out early by the lobbying of the Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy by Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill. Now that same man is going around bad mouthing Fred Mitchell in Fox Hill. It only goes to show that helping people does not translate into support sometimes. Some people are simply ungrateful.
Overseas Voters For The Bahamas
The Progressive Liberal Party has published guidelines for its supporters who wish to register to vote overseas. They have until Tuesday 17th April to do so. Students, government workers overseas should remember that they have to elect whether to vote overseas or not. Once they choose to do so they are stuck with the choice, they cannot come home and vote. You may click here for all the details on how to go about that choice. The vote for overseas voters takes place on 2nd May.
Voters Who Will Not Be in The Country
The law for elections also permits those who are not going to be in the country to vote early. The date for that vote is 2nd May. In order to avail oneself of that you have to make an application to the Parliamentary Commissioner. You may click here for the information on how to do that. The PLP published guidelines for its voters.
One A Day And Not Vitamins Either
The talk around town is that Nassau is “One a day”. They are not talking about the famous vitamins. They are talking about murders. It appears that there is one murder a day.
Shonel And Company Slumming
The FNM’s hapless and hopeless candidate for the general election brought all her rich friends to Fox Hill for a day of slumming one supposes. The FNM’s candidate Shonel Ferguson has not been seen in Fox Hill in 30 years now suddenly she is everyone’s cousin and friend and the savior of Fox Hill. She hosted a breakfast at the Jungle Club in a shameless attempt to seek to curry favour in the heart of Fox Hill. They were repelled. What really upset the residents is that Duane Sands, the FNM candidate for Elizabeth, who had just finished kicking out another group of families from Bahamas Mortgage houses pulled up in his fancy car with Hubert Chipman, the FNM candidate for St. Anne’s. Some say they were asking for guards for the Mercedes. But the fellows around the park were trying to get something to eat and were told that they had to wait until those who had contributed money to Shonel's campaign had eaten before they could get some food. That went over really well. This happened Saturday 14th April.
FNM Seeking To Buy Votes In Fox Hill
Senator Jacinta Higgs, who lost to Fred Mitchell in the last campaign, has been brought into Fox Hill with her family to help save Shonel Ferguson’s sinking campaign. She and her sister and other family members were out in force on Friday 13th April trying to press people that they were everyone’s aunty and cousin. Senator Higgs had promised to stay out of the campaign. A substantial donation was coming her way to help her struggling school if she had but since she has reneged on the deal, the donation we suppose will now disappear.
Fox Hill In The House
The widow of George Mackey, the late representative for Fox Hill who died in 2006, Betty Mackey is seen in this Peter Ramsay photo at the gold rush rally on Clifford Park on Friday 13th April.
Congratulations To Ojay Ferguson
A tweet from Ojay Ferguson said that the Minister of Sports had given him a call. A birdie tells us that the Minister was calling to congratulate Mr. Ferguson, the Carifta athlete, who is Jamaican by birth but who applied for Bahamian citizenship, that he had been granted after all the citizenship. This after this column reported last week that the government despite the fact that this man could help the Bahamian Olympic team and has lived here since he was a boy was not be granted citizenship of The Bahamas. Anyway, that one is done. Congratulations young one. Do well.
BJ Through the Fish Eye
Peter Ramsay took this engaging photo of BJ Nottage at the PLP’s rally on Clifford Park on Friday 13th April.
Thank You Junior Roberts
He Rupert Roberts aka Junior started out as an employee of Stafford Sands but then left and formed his owned company: from City Markets to Supervalue. He is now the leading grocery man in The Bahamas. He bought the City Markets store, to save the struggling chain. He said he could not afford for the stores to fall into someone else’s hands. He has committed to millions of dollars in upgrades. Thank you sir. This will not save all jobs but will save many jobs.
Tory Garvey Return To The PLP
Troy Garvey has been a warrior for justice in Freeport. He dallied with the DNA and toyed with
running himself. But now Troy Grvey is back home to the PLP. In Grand Bahama, he spoke
from thepublic platform at the Gold Rush rally Saturday 14th April. We have the photo to
prove it. Side by side with the PLP's Greg Moss. Welcome back brother. Welcome back!
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK: FRED MITCHELL NOMINATES for the fourth time to run as the PLP’s candidate for Fox Hill. He was surrounded by family and friends on that day 17th April. Mr. Mitchell pledged to continue to work for the people of Fox Hill and to deliver the seat for the Progressive Liberal Party. The photo of the week is Fred Mitchell MP surrounded by family and friends as he walked from the nomination day site at the Sandilands Primary School in Fox Hill on Tuesday 17th April. The photo is by Kevin Williams.
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COMMENT OF THE WEEK
NOMINATON DAY IN NORTH ABACO
Political bias is a helluva thing. The Bahamian media particularly the state run Broadcasting Corporation cannot tell the truth if it stared them right in the face. Nothing demonstrated those two propositions more than the reports by the Broadcasting Corporation of the nomination for the North Abaco seat on 17th April. The PLP has a man in the race who will keep Hubert Ingraham’s feet to the fire and who has promised an upset, a veritable David against the Goliath. His name is Renardo Curry.
When speaking in Fox Hill at the PLP’s Gold Rush Rally on 19th March, Fred Mitchell described Mr. Curry as a man of courage and said he was the future of Abaco.
The Bahamian media obviously does not share that view or that enthusiasm. No doubt the news of the day in North Abaco was the fact that the Prime Minister was nominating again for public office for the eighth time. But this time he has a challenger in a seat which he won he won last time in 2007 by just 177 votes over his opponents. This means that with a strong challenge from the PLP, the seat of Mr. Ingraham is within striking distance of a PLP catch. Mr. Curry is just the man to do it.
Mr. Curry showed up with a contingent that outshone and outnumbered the Prime Minister's support on the day of the nomination. That was not shown by the cameras. In fact Mr. Curry got nary a mention at all. Then as the night wore on the PLP supports in Cooper’s Town took to the streets in a mass block party that at its height attracted some 800 people. Mr. Ingraham’s supporters in Cooper’s Town were themselves shocked and surprised.
Our point here is that there is a reason why you see Hubert Ingraham flying up and down in Abaco signing one contract after another. That reason is Nardo Curry who has got Mr. Ingraham's water running. This is a significant challenge. Mr. Ingraham tried to scoff it off as a joke. That may well be now but as the saying goes: he who laughs last, laughs best.
We wish Renardo Curry the best. He is the future of Abaco. Mr. Ingraham has done all that he can do and it is now time for a new vision for Abaco. That is what Mr. Curry represents.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 21st April 2012 up to midnight: 148,123
Number of hits for the month of April up to Saturday 21st April 2012 up to midnight: 422,930
Number of hits for the year 2012 up to Saturday 21st April 2012 up to midnight: 2,788,060
Perry Christie, Leader of the PLP, nominated to run for office for the eighth time at the Centreville Primary School on Tuesday 24th April. He is running in the Centreville constituency where he began his career in elective office back in 1977. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
BRANVILLE MCCARTNEY NOMINATES
This was the race that was watched by all the pundits. The cameras were all there as the new kid on the block Branville McCartney nominated for political office on Tuesday 17th April. Mr. McCartney who entered politics for the first time in 2007 and was elected in Bamboo Town, nominated for that seat again. He is up against three other opponents: Renward Wells from the PLP, Cassius Stuart from the FNM and Craig Butler an Independent. Mr. McCartney started his own party the Democratic National Alliance last year after breaking away from the FNM. He resigned from the FNM in March 2011. The country is watching to see whether he wins and or even if he can win his deposit back. The history of third parties in the country is dismal with all of them going down to defeat and not winning their deposits back. Each candidate in a Bahamian election has to pay a deposit of $400 to run. If you do not win one sixth of the votes in the general election, the deposit is lost to the Public Treasury.
STOPPING THE PRIVATE PROSECUTION OF LOUIS BACON
John Delaney, the Attorney General has some “splaining” to do. On Thursday 19th April, Alfred Sears, Charles Mackay and Keod Smith, the lawyers for Peter Nygard, the Canadian fashion designer who lives in Lyford Cay, took Louis Bacon, another Lyford Cay resident, to the criminal courts. They also charged in a private prosecution the attorney for Mr. Bacon Pericles Maillis. This all arose out of a dispute in Lyfrod Cay over boundaries and noise and ultimately it appears to turn on who has the most money and who has the most political influence in the country. Clearly Mr. Bacon has more money. Mr. Bacon is a billionaire. Mr. Nygard a mere multi millionaire. Mr. Bacon’s attorneys threatened to sue this website once because of some unflattering information printed on the site about him. It is alleged in this present dispute that Mr. Bacon used unfair means to interfere with the quiet enjoyment of Mr. Nygard to his residents at Lyford Cay. There has been a back and forth in the press and Mr. Bacon it is reported is packing up and leaving The Bahamas because it is said he and his wife no longer feel safe here. Their mansion is on the market reportedly at a price in the scores of millions. The case before Jeanne Weech-Gomez did not get off the ground though. Before the Magistrate could call the case, the lawyers from the Attorney General's office came armed with a writ of Nolle Prosequi. That meant the Attorney General was interfering in the prosecution and bringing the matter to a halt. There were two hours of arguments of over it but that was the end of that. Except that Louis Bacon himself who had not up to the time of the court case been served with the summons still has the case outstanding against him. The Attorney General John Delaney before being Attorney General was the lawyer for many a star at Lyfrod Cay. It would be interesting to see if he ever represented Louis Bacon and whether or not his acting to stop the prosecution was the right thing for him to do. What it does give the impression though is that in this country it’s the big bucks that count. According to press reports, the AG says that this is a matter for the civil and not the criminal courts. Only thing is two of Mr. Nygard’s employees are being prosecuted by the police and ultimately the Attorney General for alleged offences against Mr. Bacon’s property arising out of the same dispute which the AG’s office now says belongs in the civil courts. Things get curiouser and curiouser.
MITCHELL URGES WOMEN TO VOTE FOR THE PLP
Speaking at the Progressive Liberal Party’s Gold Rush rally on Clifford Park on Friday 20th April, Fred Mitchell MP Fox Hill told the crowd and the country that if the PLP were elected to office that it would bring into force the legislation on National Health Insurance. Mr. Mitchell recalled the cases of breast cancer in his constituency and said that this is one reason that National Health Insurance was so important. He told women that they needed to vote for the PLP in order for National Health Insurance to come into being. In speaking to the young men, he said that the PLP will not be playing if it wins the next general election. It plans to use the venture capital fund and the government's contracts to support small contractors and ensure that they and their crew have work and get a stake in the economy. You may click here for the full speech. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
MITCHELL TELLS INGRAHAM TO BUTT OUT
Hubert Ingraham, the Leader of the FNM, was in the press saying on nomination day 17th April that the PLPs don’t want Perry Christie as their Leader. Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill issued the following statement in answer to Mr. Ingraham’s assertions:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
18th April 2012
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham in his waning days in office ought to learn a thing or two about being gracious as he walks into the sunset. The continuous, unseemly, gratuitous insults by him about the Leader of the PLP show that Mr. Ingraham is simply unfit to govern. Mr. Ingraham's quoted comment at yesterday's nomination proceedings about the PLP and Mr. Christie are stupid. They are false. He keeps
trying to make this a contest about personalities when this election is about crime and unemployment and the failures of the Ingraham led administration.
I would invite him to cease and desist. Further, I invite him to mind his own business. The PLP elected Perry Christie fair and square as its leader in open and democratic elections.
This is something Mr. Ingraham now fails to do with regard to the choice of a Deputy Leader. Mr. Ingraham is a one man band.
I remind Mr. Ingraham that the PLP is not a one man band like the FNM. I remind Mr. Ingraham that it was he who had to apologise for coming onto the stage to the anthem " Nobody greater than
me", with his party comparing Mr. Ingraham to God.
The Leader of the PLP is Perry Christie and Mr. Ingraham should butt out of PLP business and stick to the issues and not idle bombast.
END
THE GAME OF FINANCIAL DECLARATIONS
One of the requirements of the election laws is that upon nominating you must declare your assets, income and liabilities. The declarations border from the truth to the absolute farcical. The media and the public seem to have a fascination for what is not theirs. The Nassau Guardian led the next day with the fact that there were six “millionaires” they said in the list of candidates. The Tribune on the other hand took a look and showed what the poorest candidates had. They picked on Rodney Moncur who to the chagrin of almost everyone claimed an Oxford Dictionary valued at $500 and a $300 dollar sapodilla tree and three tamarind trees at $900. That means that if there is a hurricane this year and the trees are wiped out, Mr. Moncur a candidate for the DNA will be wiped out. Here is how The Tribune reported it on Friday 20th April:
Among the 133 general Election 2012 candidates, a few stood out - including the DNA's Bain and Grants Town candidate Rodney Moncur, who listed as property a New Oxford Dictionary valued at $500, a $300 Sapodilla tree and three Tamarind trees valued at $900.
Mr. Moncur's plant list went on: he declared two Mango trees and two Coconut trees valued at $1,200, two Guinep trees worth $600, four Pear trees at $1,200, and a $300 Hog Plum tree among others - worth a total of $6,170.
He declared an income of $60 per week and a total income of just over $4,000.
Mr. Moncur's total assets were valued at $371,370.
Meanwhile, Ali McIntosh, Bahamas Constitution Party leader, declared no current accounts, no securities, no life insurance, no automobiles, and no salary. She did however list $17,400 worth of property and a $9,050 gift, for a net worth of $20,562.
Disclosures also require the endorsing signatures of at least five of a candidate's constituents. Among the heavy-weights in that category were Shane Gibson, the PLP's Golden Gates incumbent.
Mr. Gibson recorded a whopping 67 signatures, while Norris Bain and Perry Gomez both had more than 20.
OUR TEAM AT THE SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
In what is probably his last public international duty before demitting office the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette represented The Bahamas and its Prime Minister at the 34 nation Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Columbia. From left Mikhail Bullard, Marilyn Zonicle, the Deputy Prime Minister, Ambassador to Washington C.A. Smith; Frederick Tucker. Those with the DPM are foreign service officers.
The PLP took the time on nomination day to organize parades to the places of nomination throughout the country on Tuesday 17th April. Thirty eight PLP candidates nominated for every constituency in the country. This is the first time in 15 years that the PLP has done so. Some photos from the PLP’s Facebook page.
West End
| Centreville Nomination | Marathon Nomination |
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| Obie Nomination | Eleuthera Nomination |
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GOLD RUSH IN ELEUETHERA
The PLPs Leader Perry Christie led the party’s election progress to the settlement of Hatchet Bay. There the two candidates for Eleuethera Clay Sweeting (a Spanish Wells fisherman) and Damien Gomez ( a Nassau lawyer) were welcomed by the crowd. The Leader of the Party promised added Defence Force protection against poaching should the PLP win the government.
You may click here for his full address delivered on Wednesday 18th April.
GOING BACK TO CLIFFORD PARK IN PICTURES
The PLP’s leader Perry Christie led his followers back to Clifford Park on Friday 20th April for another Gold Rush rally. The park was covered with people. It was an incredible sight, one huge party. Mr. Christie attacked Hubert Ingraham as a jokey Prime Minister. This wowed the followers who thought that Mr. Christie was being heretofore too passive in the face of the personal attacks being levied by Hubert Ingraham against Mr. Christie. Mr. Ingraham is trying again to make this a personal fight. The PLP’s response is that the PLP has a team. Mr. Ingraham is a one man band. The photo is from the PLP’s Facebook page.
CUSTOMS WORKERS WITH IMMIGRATION ARE BACK
We reported last week that the Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes had referred the customs and immigration workers dispute and strike to the Industrial Tribunal which meant that it had to stop and the workers had to go back to work. The Customs and Immigration officers explained their positions in a press conference.
The PLP’s Kendal Major running for Garden Hills nominated for that office on 17th April. Dr. Major suffered an acute attack of appendicitis requiring an appendectomy. He is now back in the fight. We wish you well.
THE HOTEL CALIFORNIA
You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave..
For those still in the Easter mood, Kings College Choir.
The entertainer Puzzle has made this song a hit of the campaign season. It tells in the style of the old troubadours the history of the preset economic troubles in The Bahamas. Puzzle performs the song live at PLP rallies and this is a video made available last week. Enjoy!
THE FUNERAL PROCESSION OF LEONID BREZHNEV
Leonid Brezhnev dominated the Soviet Union at the height of its power. He served as its effective head from 1964 until his death in 1982. He was a symbol of the Cold War. Funerals are interesting events and this is how the people of that state marked the death of their leader. Compare and contrast to what we do here in The Bahamas.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes from Freeport about a visit from the team of Neko Grant, the Minister of Public Works who is running for re-election in Central Grand Bahama. He says that even though Neko Grant’s workers ducked him, he had questions to ask them about the 21 reasons they gave on the calling card to support Mr. Grant. Mr. Carroll argues that Mr. Grant who has received $900,000 in perks and salaries in the 20 years he has been an MP should repay those funds because he is a failure as a representative. Mr. Carroll adds that Mr. Grant is a sour puss who does not speak to his constituents.
A team of four persons, representing Neko Grant, came through the corner where I reside on Monday evening after both political parties had agreed to a sabbatical from all political activities for the duration of Holy Week. In any event I prepared to engage them (if they stopped by holy week and all) but they didn’t come even near my door. I discovered, after they had gone through the corner like Nicodemus, that they snuck into my yard and left Grant’s calling card under the windshield wiper of my vehicle which was parked in the driveway; my suspicions were at the time and still is that one or more of my neighbors may have warned them against making contact with me but I would have entertained them and I bet more civilly than what I would expect to receive from the sour-puss (Neko Grant) if I were to visit his house on behalf of our PLP candidate for his area. I saw when the four-member team passed in front of my house and I made sure to turn on extra lights so they couldn’t use lack of lighting as an excuse not to stop in but as I said earlier they didn’t. What is the matter, Mr. Grant, afraid to face some real questioning on your suitability for office? Are you and your team being selective with regards to whose houses you will visit and who’s you will not? I have two votes in my house and although they are already committed, aren’t you supposed to drop in any way to see if you could make a case for our votes? Is this the way you guys in your party campaign these days? Don’t you think you’ve taken us for granted long enough? I know what your real problem is though, you’ve never had to run for office on your record before but in this one you do and your record STINKS.
In any event (Neko Grant) it was probably better that your team didn’t stop by as I wasn’t in the best of moods. Since they decided against engaging me, that evening, I decided to read the card, the team left, to see exactly how they were attempting to make the case for me to “Stay with Nek;” following are some of the reasons why Neko Grant says (after 20 years of sitting on his lazy behind doing nothing in the parliament) that I, and every other voter in Central Grand Bahama, should stay with him and not vote his backside out of office.
He said that I should vote for (and stay with) him because under his leadership the Public Boat Ramp at Williams Town was constructed; really Neko Grant? Are you talking about the same Boat Ramp that Works Minister Bradley Roberts, under the 2002-2007 PLP Administration, awarded a contract to Smith Construction Company to construct along with a couple miles of road and the seawall, after Williams Town was devastation, as most of Grand Bahama was, by the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes? The same contract, I might add, which your 2007 FNM government stopped reviewed and cancelled but had to re-instate because your government couldn’t find anybody else capable of doing the work? I would like to ask you Neko Grant; have you paid Mr. Smith in full for the work he completed, very efficiently, as yet? The last time I spoke with a relative of Mr. Smith, they hadn’t been paid as yet; So much for that lousy reason mister.
And what other good reason(s) does the country’s worst cabinet minister, in history, think would make us want to vote for (and stay with) him? Because (you say) he is the “overpaid cabinet minister” who was responsible for oversight of the country’s public works activities who signed the contract for FES Construction Company Ltd to build that overpriced, unnecessary government office complex, in the heart of downtown Freeport? You shouldn’t have opened that can of worms mister; you shouldn’t be asking me or anyone else in Central Grand Bahama for votes using that building complex as a good reason to stay with you; you should be asking us for forgiveness for making this stupid and asinine decision; a decision which will end up burdening our children, and unborn grand children, with huge additional taxes for years to come.
This sour-puss of a public servant (yes I mean you Neko Grant) wants me-a voter in the Central Grand Bahama constituency-to vote for and stay with him because, according to the list of achievements, on the calling card his team left for me, he presented St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church with musical instruments to start a Marching Band? Is this guy serious? Is this guy for real? Is this the same sour-puss Neko Grant who would pass you on the street (knocking you down to the ground in the process) but will not say “Good Morning, Good Day or Good Evening?” Are you kidding me Neko Grant? Are you serious boy? And are you serious about wanting me to vote for you just because (among a number of small nothings) you equipped “Sister Mary Patricia Russell” Junior High School’s music lab with musical instruments? What does that have to do with anything, you lame brain waste?
To further make his case with reasons why Central Grand Bahama voters should stay with him, Neko Grant included in the package of reasons that he built the Sister Mary Patricia Russell Junior High School and expanded it by eight more classrooms all within the past five years; my questions to this lame brain are (1) whose money did you spend building the school? And (2) why did you have to add classrooms after only two years later? I would like to remind you mister that if your dictator leader didn’t cancel the Heritage School contract, awarded to Patrick McDonald by the former PLP government, there would have been no need for additional classrooms to be added; the school the PLP had planned for the Heritage Subdivision was adequate in all aspects, including its size.
Another couple of the reasons, listed on his long list, qualifying him for re-election to office (from his point of view) was, as he said, because he sponsored a number of primary school (boys and girls) softball tournaments; because he sponsored the head boy and head girl at St. George’s High School; because he sponsored Youth Organizations to travel abroad; because he extended his music industry to the family islands; because he put some disgusting speed bumps in imperial park? Is this cabinet minister for real? Are you serious Neko Grant? Should we overlook all the hardships and abuse, to our dignity and welfare, that your uncaring FNM government caused us to suffer over the past 15 years and just “Willy, Nilly” vote for you and Ingraham again? I know that you are a very small-minded, pathetic simpleton who lacks basic living courtesies but I didn’t think you were so silly that you would actually believe that we would be moved to support you based on these silly little “NOTHINGS” you claimed to have done in the twenty years you represented Grand Bahama. Your reputation of passing people on the streets (who are even very well known to you) without a word of greeting has preceded you (Sir) and those who know that aspect of your character (which is everybody) want nothing to do with you. Many of your long time traditional supporters in the area, as well, want nothing to do with you. You are building a house in Bahama Terrace just across the street from one of your future neighbors; the wife, in the house, says that you never speak to, or greet, them either; they agree that you are just so impersonal and such a sour-puss that they could never support such a person to be their representative either. What I’ve been hearing is that they cannot wait to see the back of you as you leave the parliament for the last time Mr. Grant.
I am rather curious though as to why Neko Grant doesn’t go from house to house, personally, to make his own case for re-election; instead he sends around these inexperienced surrogates? Could it be that Grant knows already the cold reception that is waiting for him in most of the homes in the constituency? I think you do, Grant, and if it is any comfort to you I will admit that I would do the same if I were in your position. If I were in your precarious political position I would avoid the house to house exercise at all cost because I don’t relish doors being slammed shut in my face or piss being thrown in my face while standing at doors. What can I say, the man is a class conscious, low income, “overpaid for what he does” individual.
From what I’ve been hearing, Neko Grant has a lot of ground to make up in the central Grand Bahama constituency. He continues to take Central Grand Bahama for granted as the FNM continues to take, I assume, the entire island of Grand Bahama and the country for granted. They continue to believe, as does Neko, that the FNM cannot lose (under no circumstances, no matter what kind of lousy representation they render to this island) Grand Bahama. Those like me who live in the “Bahamia subdivision” have little or no need usually for their member of parliament; in most cases the member of parliament has more basic needs than his/her constituents. I recall just once, in the last 20 years, that we the residents and owners in the “Bahamia housing subdivision really needed the intervention of our parliamentary representative but he (Neko Grant) failed us. As a matter of fact, we were told, at the time, that he sided with the subdivision developers when we the property owners, in the area, thought that we were being gouged when the developers levied a sixty per cent (60%) increase in the yearly service fees on us. We thought that the Budimyer group, and Princess Realty/Bahamia Service companies, were being unduly harsh in making that decision but Grant, although he was called upon by some of his constituents to intervene and use his political clout to get the developers’ attention to our plight, he never did; he came down on the developers’ side, as did Fred Smith their lawyer. Grant remained silent as a lamb (on this matter) as he has been on all matters, which may have come up over the past 20 years, involving items of interest to his constituents.
After paying Grant a total of around $900,000.00, in salaries and perks, for twenty failed years of so-called parliamentary representation, he comes now to us taxpayers again for another five? God forbid that we should be so foolish to re-elect him and or his lousy FNM party. We gave him twenty (20) years and $900,000.00 of our tax dollars in salaries and perks and what have we got to show for it? Not a damn thing except for us gaining the dubious distinction of having the lousiest representative in the country’s history; I cannot think of any who has worsen so progressively and consistently, over the years, as Neko Grant has. He is quite a subtle fellow though; I must give him that; for he has been, over the years, smart enough to capitalize on Grand Bahama’s overwhelming support for the FNM (and their disdain for the PLP) which hasn’t weaned all these years until now (I predict). His longevity in the parliament, as our representative, has nothing to do with him being anyone special; he capitalized on the wave of support to the FNM and from the PLP; he has always been an out-of-touch; sour-puss; and not-an-easy to-know or talk to individual; he always seems to be angry with the world and would never ever greet you. If he does it would be in a similar fashion as a Hog would grunt when someone approaches her piglets. Why should I or anyone else in Central GBI stay with “NEK?” give me one damn good reason why any of us should? He gave me twenty-one (21) reasons on his calling card but not one on the list has any merit. Most of what he claimed to have done for us, in the 20 years, required our tax dollars to achieve and were all a part of his ministerial responsibility for which he has been over-paid handsomely.
Grant has yet to answer some questions I posed when he allegedly awarded a contract to Waugh Construction for the building of the playground at Sunset Park? As the area is situated in a private subdivision, and on private property, my questions to Grant were (1) did he (Neko Grant) pay the cost of the contract from his own personal financial resources and if he did why did the ministry of works make the announcement of the awarding of the $37,000.00 contract? (2) If taxpayers did in fact picked up the bill for the park wasn’t that illegal? Isn’t it against the country’s financial rules to spend taxpayer’s money to improve a private entity in this way? The man ignored my questions and never answered me; his attitude was (and still is no doubt) how dare Forrester, or anyone else, question what he, a minister in the dictator’s cabinet, does. He claimed he was not accountable to me or anyone else but he may have changed his mind, now that he is looking for votes from commoners like me.
This junior piss-head, I would label him, is so full of it that if you look hard enough you would see the stuff oozing out of his pores. Neko, like all his other colleagues, wants to be rewarded and take credit for things which we taxpayers foot the bills for. Why should he or any of the others be rewarded, with re-election to office, for executing matters under their respective portfolios? Don’t you think that Neko Grant was well paid already, in salaries and perks, for the lousy job he has been doing over the years? He should actually re-fund taxpayers most of the $900,000.00 we’ve paid him already because we have not gotten value for the tax dollars paid him in salaries and benefits to date.
Seems like, for the entire twenty years of Neko’s period in the parliament, the only things he has been attempting are the development of a few parks; the donating of a few instruments to marching bands in a few schools (instruments which I suspect were given him for the purpose); the sponsorship (he says) of a few softball tournaments and the installation of a few speed bumps in certain areas in his Lucaya constituency. This is a guy who has represented Grand Bahama for 20 years, the past five of which as one of three cabinet ministers based in Grand Bahama; he cannot, however, point to one worthwhile thing he, or his government, has done to make the lives of Grand Bahamians better. As a matter of fact he and his government have presided over the worst economic slump in our history with unemployment the highest it has ever been in the country’s history. Among the youth they say that the menace (unemployment) has affected adversely one in every three young persons but I say that in Grand Bahama one of every two young people are unemployed and cannot find work. But for these unimportant measly little nothings, Neko Grant wants us to re-elect him for five more years; are you kidding, you snob?
For my part, mister, you can take a long hike and don’t return.
Thank you.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
April 2012.
IN PASSING
Michael Misick Of The Turks And Caicos Islands
The former Premier Michael Misick of the Turks and Caicos Islands, our neighbours to the south who still belong to the British, is now a fugitive from British justice. The British suspended the democracy in the Turks and Caicos Islands back in 2008 and it has not been restored despite their many promises. The country is being run by a succession of British civil servants. The British have suspended jury trials and issued an arrest warrant for the former Premier who is seeking political asylum in another country. He is believed to be in the Dominican Republic. He issued a statement from an unspecified locale last week condemning the British and saying that they had violated the rights of the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Why Do PLPs Panic So Easily?
The PLP’s supporters seem to be constantly on edge. Every time Hubert Ingraham says something on the radio it appears that they go scrambling even though in every case whatever Mr. Ingraham says about the PLP turns out to be one colossal lie. The latest salvo is that the PLP was disorganized because it cancelled a public town meeting last week. Never mind that Mr. Ingraham cancelled a meeting that he called for in Eleuthera last week. That in his own twisted mind did not make him disorganized and late. Here are the facts about the cancellation of the town meeting from an e mail note circulated by Bradley Roberts, Chairman of the PLP: Hubert Ingraham was up to his usual self on diversion from the major issues of the campaign. The PLP event was intended for a small number of persons to assemble for a call in show only. However when we got there discovered that a music concert was scheduled next door in the hotel. The noise level would not have allowed the planned show to go forth in a sensible manner. Just recently after advertising for about a week a rally of Central Eleuthera, The FNM cancelled the rally. I pray that our people wake up and to examine truth from fiction.
Tommy’s Inventive Story About the Seventh Day Adventists
Get this now: according to Tommy Turnquest the FNM does not hold rallies on Friday nights out of deference to the Seventh Day Adventists. This is interesting from a party that launched its campaign in both Freeport and in Nassau on a God blessed Sunday afternoon. What a bunch of hypocrisy.?
Ingraham’s Contracts Keep Signing
Every time you look in the papers, the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham is continuing to sign contracts to spend the public funds even though he no longer has a Parliament to support that authority. He should desist. The aim of course is to buy the election. The latest ones were the contracts to build a hospital in Exuma, roads in San Salvador and Inagua and a hospital in Abaco. There is something obscene about it. Of more general import, he is using the Department of Environmental Health to give up small and short duration contracts limited to the election period of two to three thousand dollars to supporters of the FNM to get them through the election period.
Dame Marguerite Celebrates
Dame Marguerite Pindling celebrated her eightieth birthday with a luncheon at her home Lynmar on Skyline Drive on Saturday 21st April. MPs led by Perry Christie, Leader of the PLP, attended the event.
PM Upset At Police Band
The Royal Bahamas Police Force band was playing at the opening of the Freeport Government complex built at huge public expense. One of the songs played by the band was Funky Nassau. This upset the crowd and the Prime Minister who could not understand why you would play a song about Nassau when you are opening a building in Freeport.
Is The Minister Delusional?
Tommy Turnquest, the Minister of National Security, appears to be more and more delusional as he gets to the end of his term. His latest is that the FNM is going to win all of the Family Island seats and will win 32 seats overall. Life in dreamland!
Tommy Seeking To Confront The PLP In Bain Town
After being thwarted in his desire to do a walkabout in Bain Town, the Prime Minister says and his is backed up by his Minister of Health Dr. Hubert Minnis that he is in Bain Town all the time in people’s houses and eating in the bars and restaurants. Yeah right! Trouble is that does not change the fact that he got run from what he was trying to do. He wanted to hold a public meeting on 18th April in Bain Town. The PLP with their representative Dr. B. J. Nottage showed up and the Prime Minister fled. The Prime Minister sent Tommy Turnquest over to talk to Dr. Nottage to ask him he would have his people leave the scene. No doing said Dr. Nottage. Bravo! The photo appeared on Facebook.
Frank Edgecombe Hands Over The Deposit
Veteran politician and former MP for Fox Hill Frank Edgecombe once again did the honours of paying the deposit for the Fred Mitchell the PLP’s standard bearer in Fox Hill in the next general election. That came on Tuesday 17th April at the Sandilands Primary School. The photo is by Kevin Williams.
Promotions In The Public Service
We have learned that the Public Service Commission at the behest of the government is going to promote 958 people in the public service and announce it on Friday 27th April. They will backdate the promotions to 2009. This is a shameless attempt by the FNM to buy the support of public servants. Amongst these will be the promotions for the prison officers.
A Second Round Of Police Promotions
We have learned that the government proposes a second round of promotions for the police to be announced on Friday 27th April, four days before the police vote. In 1997, the Hubert Ingraham did a similar exercise by paying the police a lump sum of $1500 on the day of the vote by the police. He told them as they went to the poll: “Remember the money! Remember the money!”
Ingraham's Duplicity
Hubert Ingraham attacked the PLP he says because it has rallies on Friday nights and this he claims offends the Seventh Day Adventists. Interesting but false. Truth is, it was Mr. Ingraham who chose the allocation of the days for rallies to be aired on television. He chose the days Tuesdays Wednesday and Thursdays for the FNM and allocated Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to the PLP. Then in the style of duplicity that we have come to expect from Mr. Ingraham he gets up on the platform and accuses the PLP of having rallies on Fridays which offend the Seventh Day Adventists.
The Posters Are Taken Down
PLPs woke up this morning and found that all of the posters for their candidates were taken down island wide. Some people are saying its the bad weather that struck on Saturday night. But the pattern is a deliberate one to try and demoralize the PLP. This should be addressed with full vigour by the party brass. Ingraham and the FNM must be called out and asked if they are in any way connected to this thuggery.