Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 3 © BahamasUncensored.Com
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD WOLF?
Hubert Ingraham, the former Prime Minister, who became Leader of
the Opposition again on Monday 28th November, likes to intimidate his opponents
or try to. He has the voice of big Billy goat gruff, and seeks to
make sharp barbs and comments designed to frighten. That is how he
ruled, that is how he plotted and schemed his way to the top with the FNM,
and now he is trying it again with the new PLP. Only this time its
does not work. There is no one in the PLP who is afraid of him.
Last week in the House of Assembly Prime Minister Perry Christie reminded the former Prime Minister that when he came to power against Sir Lynden Pindling, he (Mr. Ingraham) said that the rabbit had got the gun from the farmer. Now Prime Minister Christie said it is the farmer who has the gun. Mr. Christie added that when he went to Malta, he knew that rabbit was one of their native dishes, and told them he would like to eat rabbit. The House got the point and dissolved into laughter.
We thought that Hubert Ingraham would stick around the House now that he is Leader of the Opposition. You know when he was supposedly retired he used to come into the House for ten minutes to mark himself present and then leave. Since he is leader of the Opposition, we thought he would now stay. But Mr. Ingraham had such a bad day on Wednesday 30th November that when things got too hot for him, he again jumped up and left. His performance was poor during the week, blustering at times, but humbled most of the times as he came to realize that yes indeed the farmer has the gun again.
Nothing could have been more humbling than the experience of having to sit by and listen to a blistering attack on his character by Keod Smith, the Member of Parliament for Mt. Moriah. Mr. Smith was deeply offended by comments Mr. Ingraham had made about his ancestry, and told Mr. Ingraham that he had defamed his mother and father in the process. You may read in detail below. One of the reasons we mention Mr. Smith is the fact that we warned Mr. Ingraham that he faces a virtual nightmare with these young Members of Parliament who have no respect for him, who will eat him alive every time he gets up. Mr. Ingraham when he tried to speak was reduced at the end to asking whether or not the Speaker was going to protect his right to speak without interruption. Mind you this was the same man who minutes before was interrupting the Prime Minister as he spoke. Such a pitiful character.
As we look at his first weeks in office first as FNM Leader and then as Leader of the Opposition, we think that his heart simply isn’t in it. He does not have the patience and sustainability that is required of him to do it. Perhaps it is that heart attack he had earlier in the year. He thought that when he came back the PLP would be trembling and would fall back in his wake. No such luck. You have young ambitious Members of Parliament who just don’t give a hoot about all that, and who will fight to keep what they have established. The world has changed since Mr. Ingraham first came to power in 1992 and it certainly has changed since 2002 when he lost.
We asked the question in the headline: Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? The wolf is of course metaphorically Hubert Ingraham. The answer is that no one in the PLP is afraid. As the months unfold toward the election, and Mr. Ingraham exhausts himself and his party's resources, it will become clearer and clearer that the wolf is now a pitiful shadow of himself. He himself says that he will only be there for eighteen months after the election and hand it off to the next person. Well as the FNM liked to say in the old days, in the name of God go now.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 3rd December at midnight: 94,931.
Number of hits for the month of November up to Wednesday 30th November at midnight: 473,092.
Number of hits for the year 2005 up to Saturday 3rd December 2005 up to midnight: 3,767,351.
PAUL
ADDERLEY THE NEW GOVERNOR GENERAL
The Cabinet office announced last week that the
Queen had assented to the Hon. Paul Adderley, the former Attorney General
to act as Governor General, succeeding Dame Ivy Dumont who retired on 30th
November. The appointment began on 1st December. The Cabinet
Office did not say how long the acting appointment would last. It
is thought that it will not be a permanent appointment. Mr. Adderley
has acted as Deputy to the Governor General on a number of occasions when
Dame Ivy was absent from the country. The Prime Minister Perry Christie
and other Cabinet Ministers attended the swearing in at Government House
led by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Sir Burton Hall. The
Bahamas Information Services photo is by Peter Ramsay
CARL
BETHEL – JACKASS OF THE WEEK
Last week, this column described him as the idiot savant of Bahamian politics.
This week, he is the man who knows no political father. Hubert Ingraham
in his defence against the onslaught by Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell
and Carl Bethel’s manufactured visa scandal disassociated himself from
the remarks of Carl Bethel. Mr. Ingraham said that the visa issue
was a statement by Carl Bethel and not one of the FNM. He said that
while the FNM might adopt what Carl Bethel said, the fact is it was Carl
Bethel’s statement. Now that is an interesting thing for the new
Leader of the Opposition to say in the face of the fact that two other
people showed up at the Sunday press conference to make the announcement
on visas with Carl Bethel. One was the Leader of the Opposition business
in the House and now Deputy Leader Brent Symonette; the other was Alvin
Smith, who was then Leader of the Opposition. So Carl is on his own,
no support from the FNM. That is why we thought this week, not only
do we describe him as the idiot savant of Bahamian politics but also as
our “un-valuable” JACKASS OF THE WEEK.
Fred Mitchell, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was on
his game. He was at his most brilliant. The people of the country
were wowed by his skilful use of language, words and the teleprompter at
the PLP’s convention where he savaged Hubert Ingraham and his greed to
return to power. But this week in Parliament on Wednesday 28th November
he was even better than that. He wrote and delivered a skilful response
to the spurious allegation of Carl Bethel and the FNM which really sought
to say that he was presiding over the sale of visas in The Bahamas.
He responded point for point and in detail about allegations made about
him. As the FNM MPs in the House sat in silence with their heads
hung down, Minister Mitchell revealed evidence that there was a pattern
of FNM MPs writing for visas for others. One of those MPs was Carl
Bethel himself, who was attorney general at the time that he wrote the
letter. Mr. Mitchell laid the letter on the table of the House.
You may click
here for Mr. Mitchell's full response. A lame Carl Bethel could
only say the next day in the Senate that the response of the Minister was
a red herring but of course the real point is that Carl got caught with
his pants down.
THE
ANTI- PLP PRESS
All of the press of The Bahamas resent the PLP,
even that section of the press which has been deliberately courted by Prime
Minister Perry Christie. The reporters seem not to take the proper
care to examine what is before them. Their writers seem to go out
of their way with inaccurate headlines, inaccurate stories and twisted
logic. One only has to remember the CSME debate earlier in the year.
The lies and distortion perpetrated by a supposedly independent and balanced
press should cause The Bahamas to hang its head in shame. The editors
and writers in the press are unrepentant about it, or are simply unwilling
to do anything about it.
Since Hubert Ingraham has returned the pages of
the newspapers have been filled with the pro Hubert Ingraham programmes,
embraced uncritically and as if what he has to say is absolute gospel.
When the Foreign Minister and Minister for Public Service established that
Hubert Ingraham stands to make $196,000 as Leader of the Opposition on
the Government’s coffers, The Tribune printed the story as an allegation.
The fact that the law is absolutely clear made no difference to the lies
told in their headline about an allegation of a salary.
Now the Minister of Foreign Affairs has pointed
out that Carl Bethel has simply spun a story that has no truth to it but
his views have been embraced uncritically by the press as if they are the
truth, and then they did not report the facts as outlined by the Minister
of Foreign Affairs which clearly show that Mr. Bethel has told a gross
distortion and untruth.
When the Prime Minister returned home from Malta
and had his press conference within hours of it they were on to Hubert
Ingraham and printed a rebuttal of what the Prime Minister had to say on
the same front page. On the other side, if they speak to the FNM
or to Hubert Ingraham, they don't bother to check with the PLP for any
response or if they get a response they simply bury the matter within the
FNM’s story.
This the same old story. The PLP has no friends
in the media and the PLP is now in a state of siege. This is not
going to change any time soon. The PLP had better realize it and
treat the press accordingly.
HUBERT
INGRAHAM’S FAILED RALLY
When Hubert Ingraham became Leader of the Opposition
again, he announced that his party would be holding a series of rallies
throughout the islands to galvanize FNM support. This is strange
for a number of reasons. It is an old and tired play book.
The play books have all moved on from those times. We reported how
the first one that he held in Nassau fell flat because the young people
here felt that it was boring and unexciting. Further, his own party
members don’t have their hearts in it because they believe he is too dictatorial.
Secondly, the elections are nowhere in sight and Christmas is coming.
People’s attention now turns to social matters and to their families, not
politics.
The weather in The Bahamas is much cooler in the
evenings, and no one wants to show up for rallies at night shivering in
the dark to wait for a message that is tired and comes on too late.
That was the problem Mr. Ingraham had in Grand Bahama as he tried his rally
to recapture Freeport on Friday 2nd December. It was cold.
The rally was too long. People left. He came on after 10 p.m.
He was making the case that unemployment had increased in Grand Bahama.
He tried to blame that on the PLP. The only problem is that the hurricanes
that destroyed the Royal Oasis had nothing to do with the PLP. We
all remember who it was that against advice allowed the Royal Oasis in
the first place.
The PLP warned the FNM government that the hotel
owners were not proper owners for the facility since they did not appear
to the PLP to have the resources to sustain an operation. The PLP
was correct. The owners could barely make payroll, and ended up leaving
bills to National Insurance, to the Gaming Board for casino taxes and to
the workers themselves. They also left a huge power bill that they
had not been paying on and could not settle.
So we encourage Mr. Ingraham to continue in his
old ways. The old magic has worn off and no one gives a hoot about
him and his idle words. It is to the PLP that the future belongs,
not to the backwardness of the past under Hubert Ingraham. Foreign
Minister Fred Mitchell ended his presentation in Parliament on Wednesday
30th November with the words “Forward ever! Backward never!”
We agree. In a late word from Grand Bahama, it seems that Hubert
Ingraham’s rally in Freeport was widely known among former FNMs as the
‘Turn Yourself In’ rally, and it is now being said that since so many former
supporters missed the opportunity to come back, those wishing a private
appointment “may contact Boxer, Kelly or Sonny no later than Thursday of
this week”. My, my, my.
BATELCO
LINKS UP WITH HAITI, COMPLETES BIMINI
Ambassador to Haiti for The Bahamas Dr. Eugene Newry
told the Nassau Guardian on Thursday 1st December that next year telephone
call charges to Haiti could be substantially reduced following a deal between
the state owned Teleco de Haiti and Bahamas Telecommunications Company
Ltd. The deal will see a fibre optic cable link up between Haiti
and The Bahamas, with the link up being completed at Inagua. It is
expected to come on stream in June of next year. Ambassador Newry
arrived back in Nassau during last week following talks with the Haitian
Government. We congratulate BTC and the Minister of Works Bradley
Roberts on this historic milestone. On Friday 2nd December Minister
Roberts traveled to Bimini where he officially inaugurated the new digital
service via fibre optic cable to Bimini. This will substantially
improve the service between the island of Bimini and the rest of The Bahamas
and allow data traffic and gsm cellular service between that island and
the rest of The Bahamas and the world. Prime Minister Perry Christie
and Minister of Housing and National Insurance Shane Gibson are shown at
the Office of the Prime Minister receiving the first telephone call from
the new Bimini system made by Minister Roberts. You may click
here for the full remarks of Minister Roberts. BIS - Peter
Ramsay
NATIONAL
HONOURS DISPENSED
One the final public duties of outgoing Governor
General Dame Ivy Dumont was to present the awards from Her Majesty the
Queen for the Birthday Honours list 2005. The awards are the British
Honours that we inherited after independence and included Commanders of
the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG) and other awards. Those
receiving the CMG, the highest given out this year were Winston Saunders
for culture and the arts; Bishop Neil Ellis of Mt. Tabor Full Gospel Baptist
Church; Archbishop Patrick Pinder, Leader of the Roman Catholic Church
in The Bahamas. Winston Saunders, who heads the Cultural Commission
that has recommended the abolition of the British Honours, was asked how
he could accept the British Honours while calling for their abolition.
He deferred saying that the day was for accepting the country’s honours
such as they were not one for entering into controversy. Bahamas Information
Services photo by Peter Ramsay
ALLYSON
ANSWERS JOHN DELANEY
The Minister of Financial Services Allyson Gibson, in foreshadowing the
delivery of the electronic services of the Registrar General's Department
to Ragged Island, delivered a scathing press statement on Thursday 1st
December answering false charges made by Senator John Delaney of the Free
National Movement. Mr. Delaney, a Lyford Cay resident, was crying
crocodile tears over what he said was an incident where sewerage leaked
on to documents and caused the closure of the office for an extended period
and the contamination of documents from the company files. Not so
said the Minister. The Minister said while there was an incident,
it did not damage the files, and further the incident did not shut down
the public's access to the office for any extended period of time as Senator
Delaney would have us believe. Senator Delaney has become the resident
expert on everything to do with financial services of late. Mrs.
Maynard Gibson reminded the public that “Mr. Delaney was a paid consultant
during the previous administration which presided over the near destruction
of the financial services sector of The Bahamas. Now that Mr. Delaney
is on the public payroll at the Senate, he must not be allowed to further
destroy the financial sector through deliberate misrepresentation.”
Please click here for the full statement
of the Minister. File photo
KEOD
SMITH EATS INGRAHAM ALIVE
People were simply embarrassed for Hubert Ingraham.
And but for one word when the Member of Parliament called Hubert Ingraham
Brutus, the character from Shakespeare who stabbed his friend in the back,
all of it got through into the public domain. Hubert Ingraham sat
in the House of Assembly holding his head down and did not say a word.
All he could manage quite pitifully at the end was to say that he would
not dignify what Keod Smith said by responding to him. But Keod Smith
was angry. He said that Mr. Ingraham had been involved in a campaign
of disparaging remarks about his ancestry.
Mr. Smith said the comments made by Mr. Ingraham
in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 21st November were racist, and defamed
his (Mr. Smith’s) mother and father. The FNM and the down market
Punch has been running a campaign against Mr. Smith that he is Haitian
and not Bahamian. Mr. Smith said that he was proud of who he was.
He was Bahamian in every respect, with Turks Island roots but that he had
no difficulty with Haitians and that one family member had married a Haitian
and another spoke the language of Haiti.
In his House remarks, Mr. Smith called Mr. Ingraham
racist. He told Mr. Ingraham that he, Keod Smith, was born to married
parents. He repeated it. He said that he knew who his father
was and that the problem of those who did not was their problem.
This is a response to Mr. Ingraham's foolish bent in public of reminding
people that he was a bastard, his words not ours and that he did not know
his father until very late in life, and look how successful he has been.
While we agree that Mr. Ingraham is also a bastard is a political sense,
the words of Mr. Smith were stinging. Hubert Ingraham sat there and
took it, only holding his head down in shame and embarrassment.
PRIME
MINISTER RETURNS FROM MALTA
When Prime Minister Perry Christie stepped off the plane from Malta, he
was fired up and ready to go. While he dealt with the issues of foreign
affairs that were the centrepiece of the Malta Heads of Government trip,
he had also prepared extensive notes on domestic affairs that became issues
in his absence. He launched a blistering attack on the former Prime
Minister Hubert Ingraham who during the absence of the Prime Minister had
made several allegations with regard to the project out at Cable Beach
that is being developed by the Baha Mar group headed by Sarkis Izmerilian.
Mr. Ingraham, who always criticized the PLP for
making foreign investors the subject of political debate, tried to claim
credit for the investment by saying that the PLP did not give permanent
residence status to the Izmerilians, that it was the FNM government that
did. The Prime Minister derided that saying that nothing turned on
it. The fact is that the former Prime Minister Ingraham wanted to
play the childish game of who did what, whether or not the permanent residence
status was granted under the FNM, the investment was not done on the watch
of Hubert Ingraham but under the Christie watch.
Mr. Christie also took issue with Mr. Ingraham’s
comment that the details of the investment in Cable Beach were secret.
He pointed out that the entire deal was released in detail with the Head
of Agreement to Parliament. Tourism Minister Obie Wilchombe laid
it out in a sixteen page communication to Parliament which was subsequently
published in the newspapers in double page ads. Further, there was
a town meeting held where some 600 people attended to review the details
of the project.
The sale of the Crystal Palace formerly owned by
Phil Ruffin and the sale of the Radisson Cable Beach from the Government
did several things. It stabilized the employment situation in Cable
Beach. There has been no loss of jobs but a net gain of jobs.
The project will also revitalize Cable Beach for the future with some 3500
hotel rooms; part of an investment package in which some of the investors
include the Harrah’s group of Las Vegas. Mr. Ingraham can produce
nothing from his watch that beats this project. Prime Minister
Perry Christie is shown at the news briefing on his return from Malta holding
a special Financial Times newspaper supplement heralding the success of
the Bahamian economy. He is flanked by Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell
and Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe. Bahamas Information Services
photo - Tim Aylen
RIGBY
ANSWERS TRIBUNE CLAPTRAP
Raynard Rigby makes the point in a letter to The
Tribune that he was born in 1969, after the revolution of 1967. He
could only recall the stories his grandmother told him of the days when
the PLP fought for the dignity of Black Bahamians. He was responding
to the campaign by the FNM dominated press that the PLP is playing the
race card. We address that in a letter to the editor this week to
this column.
It is all foolishness of course but what the FNM
is hoping is that the marginal voter is fooled by this stuff and that a
shift away from the PLP is caused by it. Mr. Rigby’s letter was straightforward
and direct. The PLP's campaign is not about race. But it is
also clear that the history of The Bahamas is one of racial discrimination.
He argues, how could talking about the history of The Bahamas be racist?
You may click here for the full text
of a brilliant letter.
BAHAMIAN
CHRISTMAS CRAFT
Mrs. Bernadette Christie, wife of the Prime Minister
on Friday 2nd December, officially opened the 11th Annual Authentically
Bahamian Christmas Craft and Souvenir Show at the Crystal Palace Hotel.
The event has become widely popular, with both tourists and Bahamians looking
for something authentically Bahamian for Christmas decorating and with
artisans from across the country, who come to display their creations.
Mrs. Christie is pictured examining items from one of the many booths,
as Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe looks on. Bahamas Information
Services Photo – Derek Smith
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Ingraham Cannot Be Allowed to become Prime Minister
Thank you for allowing the space in your website.
It is with time that I realize the grave mistake that the FNM has made
with their leadership choice. Hubert Ingraham rose to the leadership
post with deceit and treachery. He came to be Leader by the wrong
means and we cannot allow this demon to be Prime Minister. He felt
no qualms about stripping the leadership from Tommy Turnquest, and there
is no telling what he will do to the Bahamian people. Ingraham only
cares about himself and his ego will destroy our nation. I have always
been an FNM, but because of what Ingraham has done to the FNM, I can no
longer support this tyrant. We, as proud citizens of this great nation,
cannot permit this (unpublishable comment deleted – Editor),
to be prime minister.
Relying on my conscience,
Russell R.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More on Racism
I read your page every week and have done so
from its inception. I enjoy it; it is well written despite its obvious
political bent. If this article were to be believed the PLP government
has done no wrong since its election to office in 2002. That aside,
what amazes me is your ability to put a spin on situations. An example
of this is the racism agenda ascribed to the PLP convention. You
tried to justify whatever racial crticism the PLP got by stating that the
FNM introduced race by referring to Mr. Ingraham and Mr. Symonette as salt
and pepper and by playing the song ebony and ivory. While I accept
that they did highlight race, there was no hint of racism.
The PLP convention on the other hand was a different
story. I watched both every night. I would say that there was
an undercurrent of racism. It was insinuated that a vote for the
FNM would be a vote for the 'white man' and the way of life prior to majority
rule. It reminded me of the PLP tactics of playing 'Roots' before
election. It may persuade or make some fearful but I don't think
it would be the majority. I think it is a dangerous tactic.
Just my thoughts.
(Name Withheld)
Interesting. The PLP is not playing the
race card. The FNM introduced salt and pepper, ebony and ivory.
Presumably they did that because they thought that being white and being
black was of some importance. But of importance to whom? Certainly
not the PLP. It was the FNM in fact that argued against Brent Symonette
running for leader because they were not ready for a white leader, presumably
because they thought that The Bahamas would not be ready for a white Prime
Minister. Again, that was them and not the PLP.
All we say is that the evidence points to the
same oligarchs that had power before 1967 bankrolling the FNM's fight for
power. We saw how they all resurfaced during the ten years of the
FNM's time in office. Brent Symonette represents them, and whatever
you argue today, if power were returned to them, they would benefit disproportionately
to their size in the population but certainly well within the proportions
of their financial contributions.
You would not really want the PLP to play the
race card in the same way the FNM keeps trying to suggest that one of the
PLPs is Haitian, playing the Haitian card. If the PLP really appealed
to race, you would see quite a mess indeed and the FNM would not be able
to survive. Fortunately, the PLP has responsible leadership, and
no matter how the political enemies of the PLP try to twist it, race is
not an issue for the PLP.
Oh by the way further confirmation of what is
intended came from Hubert Ingraham this week when he indicated after being
made Leader of the Opposition that he if he wins the Prime Ministership
will step down in 18 months, and hand it off to guess who? Brent
Symonette, scion of the last UBP leader. Oh well! – Editor
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
This past week Prime Minister Perry Christie received
at donation of $250,000 to assist victims of Hurricane Wilma from a private
sector group known as the Action Bahamas Committee.
The group is chaired by businessman Franklyn Wilson,
and raised the money in recent weeks mainly through a national telethon
which accepted pledges of about $500,000. Mr. Wilson said the cheque
was only a first installment, which the committee presented so that victims
could get immediate relief.
Prime Minister Christie encouraged the group to
continue to assist Bahamians impacted by disaster and invited their input
to government’s plans for emergency measures in times of disaster crises.
From left are Ronnie Armbrister, Cleomi Turner,
Algernon Allen, Bishop Neil Ellis, Prime Minister Perry Christie, Franklyn
Wilson, Al Jarret, Freddie Munnings Jr. and Kendrick Christie.
Farm Road Street Festival - Prime Minister Perry Christie this
past Friday, officially opened the Farm Road 'Joe Billy and Blind Blake'
Festival
in his constituency. The week long street festival is a cultural
celebration and the brainchild of Senator Traver Whylly, who is pictured
with Mr. Christie and Miss Farm Road, along with one of the performers.
| 11th
December, 2005
Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com How do you do today? It's great to have you as a reader. We have the most incisive political news about and from The Bahamas! Please tell all your friends about us. |
|
| THE GINN DEAL SIGNED... | NURSES ISSUES ARE SETTLED... |
| A BROKEN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION... | HUBERT INGRAHAM’S TIRED OLD RECORD... |
| JUNKANOO CORPORATION TAKES OVER... | MITCHELL ADDRESSES CONSULAR CORPS... |
| RBC CONTRIBUTES TO HURRICANE RELIEF... | WEB CAFES UNDER ATTACK... |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR... | THIS WEEK WITH THE PM... |
The Official Site of the Progressive
Liberal Party... |
The Official Site of the Free National Movement... |
| PLPs On The Web... | Interesting Places... |
| Bradley Roberts / PLP Grants Town | Bahamas Government Website |
| Neville Wisdom / PLP Delaporte | Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
| Alfred Sears / PLP Fort Charlotte | Bahamians On The Web |
| Melanie Griffin / PLP Yamacraw | Bahamian Cycling News |
| John Carey / PLP Carmichael | FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES... |
| Grand Bahama PLP | |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
EILEEN CARRON
IS CRIPPLED, BLINDED BY RACE
Eileen Carron is a Dupuch; the daughter of the late long serving
second Editor of The Tribune, Sir Etienne Dupuch. She married a man
from Mauritius; they have one adopted son Robert. She has been engaged
over the past week in a full scale attack on the PLP as being crippled
by race. She has laid open the columns of The Tribune as the almost
exclusive space for Hubert Ingraham. She means to bring the PLP down
as she has always meant to do, and she is using the same old tired strategy.
She is using her own insecurities about race to try to beat the PLP with
that tired old stick.
If you read any of the authoritative works on the history of Bahamian politics and social structure, whether by Dr. Gail Saunders, Michael Craton or Colin Hughes, or for God sake’s just live in the place, you will know that race is the major and dominant political cleavage in The Bahamas. It has dominated every election in The Bahamas from the time of Stephen Dillett, who was denied his seat in the Parliament because of his colour in the 1800s. The Parliament was dissolved by the then establishment rather than seat him. When elections were called one year later, and he was re-elected, they allowed him finally to sit.
Up until 1967, the House of Assembly was dominated by white merchants. That is a fact. The United Bahamian Party ran the country, and if you saw a picture of the Cabinet of their day, there was not a black face to be found. Except that, as Colin Hughes rightly points out in his seminal work ‘Race and Politics in The Bahamas’, white did not mean necessarily Caucasian as we understand it in, say, the United States of America. He talks about the difference between phenotypical colour and associational colour for example. To translate, it means simply that even though some were not European and therefore not “pure white” but were in fact mixed, and were quite pronouncedly brown, for all intents and purposes because they were “associated” with the power structure in the country which was white or European, they were considered white.
A caller to one of the talk shows was trying to argue this in a crude way by saying that we should not be calling Brent Symonette a white man because his father the country’s first Premier Sir Roland Symonette was not white. His father was quite brown in appearance but if you use Mr. Hughes’ arguments in the power structure Sir Roland was clearly regarded by black Bahamians as white. The only time that you would hear otherwise about Sir Roland and others like him is when black Bahamians seek to be disparaging about the person, to give someone who sought to “pass” their comeuppance, they would then say something like “he isn’t white anyway”.
In some circles in The Bahamas to suggest such a thing about one’s race is a slur akin to challenging a macho male with a slur about his sexuality. It is that grave.
Cyril Stevenson, of mixed race himself and one of the founders of the PLP, always referred to himself as coloured or black. But he was very fair skinned. And when he ran The Herald, the PLP's mouthpiece of the 1950s and 1960s, he once carried a headline that charged that R.H. ‘Bobby’ Symonette, a former Speaker and former Representative for Exuma, the oldest son of Sir Roland by his first marriage, was a coloured man. Mr. Stevenson got ahold of Mr. Symonette’s birth certificate which in the law and practice of the day stated the race of the individual. On his birth certificate was mixed. The other designations of the day were European and African. The practice no longer continues on birth certificates since 1962. Bobby Symonette now deceased was a half brother to the present Deputy Leader of the FNM Brent Symonette.
A similar story can be told of Eileen Carron. Her father was of mixed race himself, very brown and with clearly African hair type. He married a white woman from the United States. His children are much fairer than he and with European hair type. But the story of the disaffection caused by the marriage of one of his daughters to an obviously black man was quite something in the 1950s when it occurred.
This is all intensely personal stuff which has to do with one’s sense of self, one’s identity. It is so sensitive that some mixed race families who were rejected by the white establishment of that day are psychologically damaged by it to this day, and still can't quite bring themselves to describe what race they are. They rely on avoiding the subject all together by arguing that race is not important and often ask why should it be brought up any way.
They have been losing the battle on that score for years. It just can't be helped. The United States which dominates our culture is infused in its politics by race. That same culture is here, where racial discrimination existed in the country itself, within the times and memories of those alive today. Even the younger Bahamians see it all around them today, the obvious disparity between where the general African looking population is and the circumstances into which they were born, and the general lot of the European looking part of the population and the circumstances into which they were born. The two are as different as night is from day, generally speaking.
It has taken a while but our point is that Eileen Carron is the victim of that which we describe. She is damaged by it, and cannot get over it. So when she attacks the PLP on race as she has done in her editorials, in a way one must forgive her. She cannot help it. Racism is insidious. It is a sickness. The victims of it cannot help themselves. The PLP strikes at something visceral and atavistic in Eileen Carron; primordial, very primitive, in her very being. The fact that the present reality of the PLP, as it always was, is to fight for justice for all Bahamians does not arise for her. She just can’t get over her psychological hump. She will go to her grave that way.
Raynard Rigby, born after the 1967 revolution, wrote a letter, which we published last week, where he said that he found it inexplicable that people would say the PLP is racist, simply because the history of the country is recounted and remembered. Well, good sir, unfortunately we all have to get used to it. It is a sickness. Eileen Carron is but one example of the many who carry around that burden that they cannot get rid of. We really feel sorry for her.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 10th December 2005 at midnight: 81,262.
Number of hits for the month of December up to Saturday 10th December 2005 at midnight: 110,067.
Number of hits for the year 2005 up to Saturday 10th December 2005 at midnight: 3,848,613.
THE
GINN DEAL SIGNED
When the FNM left office, the cry was that the PLP should not be elected
to office because they were anti foreign investment. No one can say
that to day with over 7 billion dollars of investment attracted to the
country since Perry Christie has been the Prime Minister. This is
remarkable for a man who the FNM says can’t make a decision. The
point is that it is all propaganda.
You will also have read in this column how
the press in the country is anti PLP. They make the argument
that the PLP is anti foreign, that they can’t make decisions, and then
refuse to report anything which would give the lie to the lies that they
have told. Nothing can demonstrate that more than this week’s 3.7
billion dollar deal signed at West End, Grand Bahama between the Government
of The Bahamas and Robert Edward Ginn III and his Ginn Company, land developers
headquartered in Carolina in the United States. The signing took
place on Friday 9th December. The project is to start right way.
It was the largest single investment ever in the history of The Bahamas.
The Guardian did not report it at all the next day in their edition of
Saturday 10th December. The Tribune put it down low in a minor headline
on the front page. The PLP had better get used to it. The facts
are clear, the press in The Bahamas will not spread the message, and we
have to find a means of getting our message out.
Here is what the Ginn deal is about. The PM
announced that the total deal is 3.7 billion dollars. It will mean
an additional 4 billion dollars to the GDP of The Bahamas over the 20 year
life of the investment. It is anticipated that some 3700 construction
jobs will be created during the construction phase and 4,000 permanent
jobs. It is being built on 2000 acres of land in West End.
The proposal is to build 4,000 condominium hotel units, 870 single family
dwellings, a casino, a two championship golf courses, two marinas and a
private airport.
On the revenue side the concessions of 318 million
dollars represent eight per cent of the total investment. There are
special concessions to be given on stamp duty but there will be stamp duty
payable even though this is normally not the case under Hotel Encouragement
concessions. Those taxes will amount to 196 million dollars.
The occupancy taxes are expected to contribute 59 million dollars to the
revenue.
We congratulate the Prime Minister, his Minister
of Financial Services and Investments Allyson Gibson, the Minister of Tourism
Obie Wilchcombe, who is the representative for West End in the House of
Assembly, for their hard work on this project. The people of Grand
Bahama deserve a boost. The Prime Minister promised West End that
if the PLP returned to office in 2002, the glory days of West End would
return. The shovels are in the ground come Monday. You may
click
here for the full address of the Prime Minister.
NURSES
ISSUES ARE SETTLED
Cleola Hamilton has been a good leader for the nurses of The Bahamas.
She led the fight for the separate recognition of nurses as a union, separate
and apart from the Bahamas Public Service Union, and she has now obtained
the first industrial agreement between the Government of The Bahamas and
the Nurses Union. Those who argue that the Bahamas Government is
not labour friendly and not a vast improvement over the period of industrial
disharmony that existed under the Free National Movement are sadly mistaken.
The last days of Hubert Ingraham saw virtual insurrection in the streets.
To be sure, there have been some industrial disruptions within the PLP’s
time but not to the extent of the FNM’s time.
In fact, the country was surprised this week when
the nurses led by Mrs. Hamilton staged a two day sick out on Tuesday 6th
December and Wednesday 7th December by the Public Hospitals Authority Nurses.
There was fifty percent compliance but that caused major disruptions in
the provision of emergency service and other services for the poor.
This was truly regrettable. It is always the poor who suffer.
The matter had to be settled quickly. The Church, the Prime Minister,
the Minister for Labour, the Minister for the Public Service from his assignment
in Barbados all got into the mix. This column’s view is clear.
Honour the nurses' reasonable requirements. After this country quite
disgracefully allowed Nurse Joey Lunn to be murdered in cold blood in the
hospital ward, and the security is still not what it should be, it seems
to us here at Uncensored that whatever their reasonable requirements, they
should get.
It is a job which requires the nurses to go above
the call of duty. And no one can say that they do not perform, like
the arguments advanced against teachers who cannot seem to produce a set
of people who can read in the country. The contract settling the
issues was signed with Minister of Labour Vincent Peet on Thursday 8th
December. We agree with Hannah Gray from the PHA that it was unfortunate
that the sick out had to occur. The package is a five year contract
which starts with a $900 lump sum and includes in the first year a $100
per month increase. It also includes a commitment to a comprehensive
health insurance for the nurses. The sick-out should be put behind
the Authority and the Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau and the Rand
Memorial Hospital in Freeport and their nurses should now get back to work.
Minister
of Labour Vincent Peet is pictured signing the nurses' contract. At left
is Acting Managing Director of the Public Hospitals Authority Hannah Gray,
and at right is Bahamas Nurses Union President Cleola Hamilton. Bahamas
Information Services photo by Eric Rose.
A
BROKEN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
The people of The Bahamas have no idea how badly
served this country is by the public service that it has. They may
only think of the song by the artist K.B. where he lampoons those who work
for the Service as being lazy, late and indifferent. We think of
another level, not the level that directly interfaces the public but the
level that is supposed to be preparing, advising and executing the Government’s
policies and decisions. It appears to many that as it is getting
closer to elections, there is a strong undercurrent of resistance in every
theatre to what the Government is hoping to accomplish.
The politicians complain that every executive order,
every decision appears to be the subject of stall, delay and defer.
Paperwork seems to get conveniently lost, and the cry of every senior government
executive seems to be that whatever the policy is it can’t be done.
This is the complaint that has come from an anonymous letter writer to
this column. The letter writer argues that if the PLP does not get
on top of this issue with the movement of senior executives and other changes
in the service, it will see all the programmes it presently wants to execute
before the end of this term mired in bureaucracy and red tape, not necessary
for its execution, but part of a deliberate effort to stall all of the
programmes.
Another letter writer pointed out that on the day
that Hubert Ingraham's return was announced in some offices, even those
close to the top levels of the Government, some individuals went around
offices saying “He’s Back! He’s Back!” Then there was the noticeable
taunting of persons suspected of being PLPs, and deliberate slowing down
and interference in the work of the Government.
Hubert Ingraham’s return to the FNM was a serious
mistake. His return to Government should be stopped at all costs.
He will be bad for this country with his peremptory style of leadership,
his interfering in every little thing, and running a country by dictate
and fiat. The Bahamas has long gone past that. But in order
for any Government to function, it must have a competent and committed
public service that will actually work for the Government. We do
not think that it is so much a political agenda. It is as if the
Service has a mind of its own. That mind tells them that they want
no change and so anything that goes in the direction of change, there is
an automatic and inbuilt resistance. The PLP must get on top of this
or it will get on top of them.
HUBERT
INGRAHAM’S TIRED OLD RECORD
The former Prime Minister and now once again Leader
of the Opposition Hubert Ingraham held a public rally in Marsh Harbour,
Abaco on Thursday 9th December. He had his crowd we give him that
but he told a number of untruths, half truths and distortions which we
cannot let stand. Now the fact that he had a crowd needs to be explained.
First, he took a large contingent with him from Nassau and from Grand Bahama.
Then you know that Abaco is where his constituency is and Abaco is already
in the hands of the FNM. So now that we have gotten that out of the
way, let’s get to the untruths, half-truths and distortions.
Mr. Ingraham had the nerve to criticize the immigration
policy of The Bahamas Government, and not just on the overall immigration
policy but the policy toward the people of the Pigeon Pea and the Mud areas
of Abaco. There was recently another devastating fire there and parts
of the shanty town that built up on reclaimed land were destroyed.
The Government is now in a desperate battle to find suitable housing and
space for the displaced people who are largely Haitian or of Haitian decent.
It is a sore point for the community. It is a sore point, notwithstanding
the fact that the community itself including Hubert Ingraham and his new
found pal Edison Key was responsible for the shanty towns by encouraging
the use of cheap Haitian labour to build Abaco. Now suddenly everyone
including Mr. Ingraham is having amnesia about what happened and why it
built up. That is were we start, the shanty towns built up and flourished
under Mr. Ingraham, he did nothing about it.
Edison Key, the former PLP Senator who is being
paraded all over the FNM’s platforms brought the first set of Haitian workers
into Abaco to pick cucumbers on his farm. Now that the PLP is doing
something about it, Mr. Ingraham and Mr. Key say that this is not the right
way to go. Then he tackled the issue of passports and visas again.
This is a tired old story. When will Mr. Ingraham explain instead
how the intends to deal with the collection of his $196,000 per year income
as Leader of the Opposition, double dipping from the public purse, instead
of spreading larceny about visas and passports. The country knows
that it is the PLP who has put in place for the first time, the restrictions
on the use of brokers to get visas. For the first time, there is
a security clearance officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal
with visa security clearance. As for the machine readable passports,
it is clear that the delays have been caused by a change in the standards
required for those passports since Mr. Ingraham was in office. He
now claims that they left in place a decision to get machine readable passports
but he fails to remember that this was three years ago when he left office.
Times have changed.
Mr. Ingraham also sought to attack the Ginn deal
in Grand Bahama, saying that the deal would never happen. The fact
that the Heads of Agreement has been signed, and that the shovels will
be in the ground come Monday morning, gives the lie to that. Quite
apart from that, Mr. Ingraham engaged in the same old tired rhetoric, giving
a list of what the FNM did while they were in office. This is good
for the Party faithful but the country is not interested in the past but
in what will be done for the future.
JUNKANOO
CORPORATION TAKES OVER
Minister of Culture Neville Wisdom presided over
a major milestone in the development of Junkanoo this past week as the
Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence signed a revised contract on seating
a ticketing for the year end parades. The Minister said that the
establishment of the corporation (JCNP) “ensures that the business of Junkanoo
is officially transferred into the hands of the Junkanoo community”.
The selection and training of judges is also to
be the responsibility of the Junkanoo Corporation Mr. Wisdom said: “The
great advantage of this new system is that the gross sales of tickets for
Junkanoo, which has always generated moneys to go towards the prize money
for Junkanoo, will go directly to the Junkanoo community, who will cover
the expenses of managing the parade."
Under the revolutionary new plan the Minister says
that the government’s only involvement in the business of Junkanoo is to
guarantee its business plan. The net profits from the sales of tickets
will go towards the prize money and the government will guarantee the shortfall
in that prize money. Minister Wisdom (left) and Permanent Secretary
Harrison Thompson (centre) and Culture Czar Winston Saunders are pictured
standing as a representative of the seating and ticketing company watches
Les Johnson of the JCNP sign the contract. Bahamas Information Service
photo by Peter Ramsay.
MITCHELL
ADDRESSES CONSULAR CORPS
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell addressed
the Honorary Consular Corps annual luncheon on Monday 5th December at the
British Colonial Hilton. In addition to those from the Honorary Consular
Corps there were members of the resident Corps. The Minister uses
the occasion of the luncheon which is organized by the Dean of the Corps
Anders Wiberg, the Honorary Consul for Sweden, to review events over the
year in Foreign Affairs and then to talk about events for the New Year
in his Ministry. The Dean of the Corps praised the Minister for his
proactive approach to the foreign policy of the country. You may
click
here for the full address of the Minister. Bahamas Information
Services photo: Eric Rose
RBC
CONTRIBUTES TO HURRICANE RELIEF
RBC Financial Group, which operates RBC Royal Bank
of Canada, RBC FINCO. and RBC Trust in The Bahamas and Caribbean, contributed
$45,000 to the National Emergency Management Agency to aid the victims
of recent storms including Hurricane Wilma in a recent presentation to
Prime Minister Perry Christie..
RBC Financial Group is committed to making contributions
to worthwhile community causes year-round, but the NEMA fund was considered
a priority in view of the extensive damage from recent hurricanes.
Ross McDonald, RBC's Senior Vice President of Bahamas and Caribbean, said,
"We are committed to the restoration of our communities and the lives that
have been impacted by the hurricanes and deem it a privilege to help in
whatever way we can."
RBC Bahamas and Caribbean has a retail network of
42 branches, four business centres and 68 automated banking machines in
eight Caribbean countries, employing 1,500 persons and serving 205,000
customers. From left are Carla Jackson, Manager, Finance & Operations
RBC Trust; Ross McDonald; Prime Minister Christie and Nathaniel Beneby
Jr., Managing Director RBC FINCO. Bahamas Information Services
photo by Peter Ramsay
WEB
CAFES UNDER ATTACK
As we go into election season, the Royal Bahamas Police Force has chosen
to lead a campaign against the proliferation of web shops. This after
allowing them to multiply and be fruitful all over the islands. Gambling
is not legally permitted in the country without a certificate from the
Gaming Board or a dispensation from the Ministry of Finance. Bahamians
are not allowed to gamble in the casinos in The Bahamas. There is
no form of legalized gambling for adult Bahamians since the horse racing
track closed down in the 1970s. The continued prohibition on Bahamians
gambling is widely perceived as an anachronism that needs to be removed.
The web cafes are the latest permutation of what
is called “buying numbers” in The Bahamas. All over the islands are
establishments known euphemistically as Web Cafes. They resemble
the traditional internet cafes in look only. What goes on there is
a sophisticated approach to “buying numbers”. Gone are the little
sheets of paper with numbers written down on them. You now have an
electronic account into which you pay money. You can play on line.
The money is transferred on line. When you go into these establishments
people are lined up in droves like in a bank, only they are buying numbers.
The police have turned a blind eye to the matter
for years, some of their number actually buying numbers themselves.
Within the past week though, three of these establishments have been raided.
The latest was the Flower Mat Limited on Balfour Avenue in New Providence.
Some 30 patrons were arrested, and detained before being given bail.
The money was confiscated and a trial is to come. Craig Flowers who
is said to be the owner of the establishment was taken away as well.
The police say they are determined to shut down the illegal gambling houses.
This won’t be their first try and certainly won’t be the last one.
They simply cannot stop it.
Many believe that the Government itself needs to
legalize "numbers" or tax the practice. It may not be an efficient
use of police time and resources to chase after what can be argued is essentially
a victimless crime, an adult pursuit. The arrests are not popular
and in this election season, the only backlash can be against the PLP.
The crowds outside the latest arrest taunted the police. One patron
made the point that this is often the only way for many poor Bahamians
to make it. We suspect the protests are going to get worse if it
continues. The Nassau Guardian published a photo of patrons as they
were carried away on Friday 9th December. The photo is by Letisha
Henderson.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Website Plaudit
My family and I are TCI/Bahamians residing in
the Turks & Caicos Islands.
Your website is a part of our Sunday afternoons.
Thank you for the quality of reporting that you deliver, it presents clarity
to the news stories we may miss otherwise.
Keep up the good work
God bless The Bahamas.
Judy K
Providenciales TCI
Thank you for reading and please keep reading. - Editor
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Prime Minister Perry Christie welcomed the willingness
of the National Congress of Trade Unions to collaborate with the Government
in various areas of national development, including training. Mr.
Christie made the comments as he received at donation of $10,000 to assist
victims of Hurricane Wilma from the NCTU. The Prime Minister noted
that the donation brought the total of moneys received for assistance with
Hurricane Wilma to over $700,000.
From left are Elgin Douglas - President, Bahamas
Commercial Stores, Supermarkets & Warehouse Union; Dennis Williams
- 2nd VP, National Congress of Trade Unions & President, Bahamas Electrical
Workers Union; Patrick Bain, President, National Congress of Trade Unions
& Bahamas Hotel Catering & Allied Workers Union; Jennifer Isaacs-Dotson,
Trustee, National Congress of Trade Unions & President, Union of Tertiary
Educators of The Bahamas; Prime Minister Christie; Linda Denise Evans,
Treasurer, National Congress of Trade Unions & Treasurer, Bahamas Financial
Services Union; Denise Wilson, 3rd VP, National Congress of Trade Unions
& Secretary General, Bahamas Communications & Public Officers Union;
Robert Farquharson, Secretary General National Congress of Trade unions
& President, Bahamas Communications & Public Officers Union; Stephano
Green, Secretary General, Bahamas Electrical Workers Union.
| CHALK'S AIRLINES CRASHES ON THE WAY TO BIMINI FROM MIAMI
Monday 19th December, 2005 6.11 p.m. At around 3 p.m. today, a Chalk's Airlines flight bound for the island of Bimini from Miami crashed into waters a few hundred yards off Miami's Government Cut. 19 people, including two crew members were reported on board. At the time of this upload, 14 people had been confirmed dead and no survivors had been found. Following is the text of a statement issued by the Office of The Prime Minister of The Bahamas: Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie has expressed shock and concern over the crash of Chalk's Airlines flight from Miami to Bimini. "Tragically, it now appears that there has been loss of life. The nation wishes to express its deepest condolences to the people of Bimini on their apparent loss. I have spoken to the representative Obie Wilchcombe and I have asked him to personally convey my regret and deep sorrow in this matter. I ask all Bahamians to join in prayer for what appears to be a most serious tragedy. "I have dispatched both the Represenative Obie Wilchcombe and the Minister of Transport & Aviation Glenys Hanna Martin to Bimini. It is expected that they will be joined tomorrow by other senior Government officials. "The Bahamas Consul General in Miami, Mrs. Alma Adams is now directly on the scene working with the Miami Police Department and the emergency services in Dade County. Mrs. Adams has also already met with some family members on the scene of the accident. "Resources of the Government are to be committed to finding out what went wrong and to assisting Bahamian families in their time of bereavement. The Government will keep the country advised as more information becomes available. "At first light tomorrow, Tuesday, the flight inspectorate of The Bahamas Government will dispatch a flight standards inspector to coordinate on behalf of The bahamas information between the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). "The Bahamas Department of Civil Aviation has already been in contact with the FAA in Washington and is expecting a formal report shortly." |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
A PRIVATE SECTOR REPORT
ON EDUCATION
During the past week, the press gave widespread coverage to a report
prepared by a coalition of private sector organizations on the state of
education in the country. One newspaper led with the headline: EDUCATION
IN CRISIS. The report was the familiar pabulum these days that the
students that we are producing aren’t making the grade; that if something
is not done we will not be able to compete in the year 2020 with the rest
of the world.
On one level this is all clearly true. J. Barrie Farrington, the Head of the Bahamas Hotel Employers Association said that local business people are becoming increasingly concerned about the education level of job candidates, many of whom are barely literate. He said that one Bahamian executive reportedly found that job candidates could not write a simple paragraph with clear sentences. Another reported that applicants were doing poorly on aptitude tests.
Frank Comito who is also with the Association said this: “Twenty years down the line, we could find ourselves in a very uncompetitive situation where our cost of living would be incredibly high and our productivity would be incredibly low and the amount of dollars circulating through the economy because of that would be minimized and it could have severe consequences not only on every individual in The Bahamas, but certainly on government revenues and support services and everything else.”
The report was titled: BAHAMIAN YOUTH THE UNTAPPED RESOURCE.
Having not had sight of the full report, it is difficult to judge whether what it says is true or not. Certainly from what the businessmen have said, we agree that there is a problem in the system of education, and the products that come out of that system. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell speaking in his Fox Hill Constituency told of how he had been asked by his colleague Melanie Griffin to provide three persons for jobs as case workers, an entry level public service job. The job requires five Bahamas Junior Certificate (BJC) subjects for entry into the service. This is an exam taken in junior high school at the age of 13 or 14. Mr. Mitchell said that he could not find in the five pages or so that he had in his constituency office of persons looking for jobs, one person with five BJCs.
The problem we have with the report, such as we have seen, and the businessmen is this. When the Minister of Foreign Affairs was engaged in the fight for the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) talking about the nation’s need to compete, to prepare itself for the year 2020, and to harmonize our standards with our neighbours around the region in order to compete, where were the voices of these businessmen? They sat silently and allowed an unenlightened and selfish intelligentsia to derail a perfectly acceptable formula for The Bahamas to boost its outside competitiveness.
The foolish arguments about Caribbean people encroaching on the privileges of Bahamians, when they are a part of us, caused a policy to be wrecked that could in fact help to improve our standards and our competitiveness. But no the businesses in The Bahamas have the foolish view that they can go it alone in the world, and depend on the United States to save them. On one level then we say to these businessmen tough if the system is poor, and suffer it to be so. You obviously want to do no nothing about it.
The second difficulty we have with the report is its observations which appear to be political in nature, and we are not certain that they are true. The report alleges that the decision to end the old Government High School and allow open access to secondary education, following the coming of Majority Rule in 1967 caused the education system to suffer. It is described as the end to academic elitism. The report says that Government High School's enrolment was limited by its capacity and candidates were selected in part on the basis of entrance exams. The school sought the best and brightest students and tried to provide a superior education.
That is certainly not something that can be borne out by the facts. The removal of Government High School had nothing to do with the present state of the public school system. It should be clear to all but the most ardent revisionists that the system that existed in 1967 could not continue because it simply did not meet the demands for the number of students who required an education. The report will have to show by cogent statistics that what they assert is true, rather than a repeat of political propaganda designed to say that since black people took over the standards of education have declined.
The report also criticizes the Bahamianization of the education system in the sense that teachers became Bahamians. It says that it had the effect of precipitously reducing the qualifications of teachers. It says: “that means that less than ten per cent of the teachers had the minimum high school grade to enter college. One must note that another unintended consequence of Bahamianization was the social promotion of students… students could advance in grade without passing the grade.”
Again, we challenge the authors of this report to say on what do they base this information. It may be true that social promotion existed and probably exists today in public schools but the point is what does Bahamianization of the teachers have to do with that? Where is the link? Did social promotion just start in the school since Bahamian teachers began teaching in the schools? Again, this appears to be a dig at the post 1967 era and the public policy decisions made by the PLP to expand the educational opportunities for the masses.
Having read just those bits, one has to be wary of this report. How helpful is it, save and except to merely add to the chorus of persons who are concerned about the future. It does not seem that it can be relied upon to show us the way forward into the future.
Surely, we know that with the “old” Government High School gone, the private sector schools are now more expanded than ever. The academic elite that would have gone to the Government High School are surely in the private sector schools. It must follow. No doubt some are still in the public school system. The Government subsidizes the private schools to make the fees for their parents affordable. Without those schools, the public system could not function because it still does not have the places for every child.
It must follow then that the logic of the report and its authors is totally off. There is something more fundamental at work in The Bahamas which is adversely affecting our ability to prepare for the future. The brightest and the best from the old Government High School ran the country in the post 1967 era. So if the system was broken by them, clearly the old Government High School was not the best for The Bahamas, since they were the ones who designed the new education system. We are only seeking here to follow the logic of the report and its authors and show them the graveyard down which such logic goes.
We do not find what the report said to be useful in many aspects. We are not sure what to do about education but what we suspect is that the Bahamian leadership both political and civic must start to be more open-minded, less prejudiced in their thinking, and understand that a small country must in fact allow itself to be infused with new ideas and conform to international standards. In order to do this, it will have to be competitive. To be competitive it must join the world community and conform to the standards of the world community. It cannot opt out. This means joining the Caribbean Single Market and Economy, and the World Trade Organization and the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas and working toward preparing ourselves to meet the standards demanded by the world.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 17th December 2005 at midnight: 72,330.
Number of hits for the month of December up to Saturday 17th December 2005 at midnight: 182,397.
Number of hits for the year 2005 up to Saturday 17th December 2005 at midnight: 3,920,943.
ST.
AGNES PARISH PRIEST DIES
Rev. Fr. Patrick Johnson, the Rector of St. Agnes Church is dead.
The Rector died in his sleep of natural causes in Eleuthera where he was
visiting family to console them in time of their bereavement. He
was scheduled to perform a funeral service on Saturday 17th December for
the late Leo Roberts, member of St. Agnes, pharmacist and one of the founding
members of the Renaissance Singers. Instead, the funeral for the
reverend father himself is to be held at the Christ Church Cathedral on
Thursday 22nd December at 10 a.m. He is survived by his wife and
two daughters.
Fr. Johnson was an excellent priest. He took
over St. Agnes parish, the largest in the Anglican diocese and its largest
financial contributor, the parish with many of the muck-a-mucks in Bahamian
society, shortly after the death of the beloved Archdeacon William Thompson
whose life was tragically cut short by a murder most foul. Now the
parish is reeling once more as it faces a forced transition through death.
The Rector goes to his grave having increased the
numbers of the parish and increased its level of giving. In the last
months of his life, he was distressed as was the congregation about a swirl
of public disinformation, generated it appears from some internal sources
about his leadership of the parish. It led to some bitter feelings
all around, and charges that he was left to twist in the wind without the
support that should have been forthcoming.
The Rector himself had not been well for some time
and the stress may have contributed to his untimely demise at 55.
Nevertheless, the good rector goes to his grave with his reputation intact,
with a record of service to St. Agnes, faithful until death. Archbishop
Drexel Gomez travelling in Barbados issued a statement of condolences on
behalf of the diocese. In a family photo at top by Kenneth Love,
Father Johnson is shown with his wife, Ethel, standing, and his two daughters,
Shaundica, left, and Sonja. Father Johnson is also pictured at right
in a Peter Ramsay photo.
BEC
SETTLES THEIR UNION DISPUTE
On Monday 12th December the Bahamas Electrical Workers
Union and the Bahamas Electricity Corporation signed a new industrial agreement.
The agreement brings to an end the protracted struggle between the two
sides at the work place at BEC. This is yet another feather in the
cap of the Government. The nurses’ agreement has been signed, the
doctors have signed off and the last of the agreements to be negotiated
in the public sector will be that with the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT).
No doubt the BUT will prove to be most difficult. The leadership
of that trade union has proven to be difficult in reaching consensus on
issues, so most people are bracing for a difficult time.
The BEC dispute, which led to angry words in public
and threats of strikes and industrial action, was settled in part by the
intervention of Bishop Neil Ellis, the head of the Mt. Tabor Full Gospel
Fellowship who brought the two sides to a compromise. The terms of
settlement seem generous. Union members in the bargaining unit are
to receive a $2500 lump sum payment within seven days of the signing of
the agreement. Some departments with effect from 1st May 2006 will
receive a 2.5 per cent increase in pay: clerical computer operators and
technicians, office staff supervisors, and managers of group one and two.
The labour trade and craft group 3-8 will receive a three percent salary
increase. The supervisors and managers of the Labour Trade and Craft
group one to three will receive a 3.5 percent salary increase.
The Management, the Union and the Government pronounced
themselves pleased. But we think that the most important point is
a pledge by management and union to work together to conciliate disputes
rather than threatening each other, and airing their dirty linen in public.
Kudos to Vincent Peet and Minister Bradley Roberts on their good work in
settling this difficult dispute. From left are BEC Chairman Keith
Major; BEC General Manager Kevin Basden; Labour Minister Vincent Peet;
and BEWU President Dennis Williams. Bahamas Information Services
photo by Raymond Bethel.
HAITIANS
CAPTURED AT SEA
On Monday 12th December, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the United
States Coast Guard acting together apprehended 311 Haitians on board a
fifty foot vessel on the Cay Sal Banks trying to reach the United Sates.
The 311 have all been repatriated to their home land Haiti. The Royal
Bahamas Defence Force reported that the total they have apprehended at
sea so far this year is 1200.
At the join task force meeting held on Friday 16th
December between The Bahamas Government and the U.S. Government, migration
was the number one topic, even though the talks are centred on drug interdiction.
Both countries now realize that illegal migration from Haiti is central
to the security of their borders. The Bahamas Government has had
joint operations with the United States Coast Guard on drug interdiction
matters since 1987 through Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos (OPBAT).
The successful anti drug operation often intervenes in migration matters
because increasingly illegal migration has been a source for drug trafficking.
At the meeting, both countries pronounced themselves
satisfied with the progress on the anti drug effort and said that they
would increase their efforts to fight the trade. There is some resentment
amongst Bahamian citizens at what appears to be the public hectoring by
U.S. officials about what The Bahamas ought to do and not do when the whole
problem is driven by the demand in the United States. The Bahamas
seems to be starting a formal approach to the United States Government
on the issue of expanding the work of OPBAT to include illegal migration.
Foreign
Minister Mitchell and US Ambassador Rood are shown shaking hands at the
Joint Task Force meeting at top and strolling to the meeting at right in
these Bahamas Information Services photos by Tim Aylen.
BRADLEY
CORRECTS TRIB ON INGRAHAM
Bradley Roberts, the Minister with responsibility
for Bahamasair has corrected a Tribune report in which FNM Leader Hubert
Ingraham is quoted as speaking about a “…return of Bahamasair flights to
Treasure Cay”. Minister Roberts points out that despite some consideration
of “outsourcing” by Bahamasair, flights into Treasure Cay continue “to
this very day”. The Minister advises The Tribune to investigate all
utterances of Mr. Ingraham for credibility.
GOVERNOR
GENERAL (Actg.) VISITS GB
Acting Governor General Paul Adderley, on his first
visit to Grand Bahama since assuming the post, had high praise for Minister
of Health, Dr. Marcus Bethel and the staff of the Public Hospitals Authority
and the Grand Bahama Health Services.
Mr. Adderley, who delivered remarks at the Government
Clinic in Eight Mile Rock, referred to the hurricane damage suffered in
the area, saying “Despite your problems and setbacks,” he declared, “it
is evident that you have again risen to the challenge and are well on the
way to achieving the ambitious but necessary improvements presented in
the Government’s annual budget this year.” He commended the staff
for their “indomitable spirit and resiliency, and for your dedication to
the provision of quality service to all, no matter the personal cost.”
The visit took place this past Friday, 16th December. Dr. Baldwin
Carey, Director of Public Health, Mrs. Elma Garraway, Health P.S. and Parliamentary
Secretary Ron Pinder greet the acting Governor General at the Eight Mile
Rock Clinic as Dr. Marcus Bethel and Ms. Sharon Williams, the Administrator
of Grand Bahama Health Services look on. Bahamas Information Services
photo by Vandyke Hepburn.
MINISTER
TREATS HIS CONSTITUENTS
Fred Mitchell, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and
the Public Service, was busy in his constituency of Fox Hill this week.
As Christmas comes he treats the children of Fox Hill to gifts and a party,
and he sponsors a Christmas service on the Fox Hill Park. This year
he added a new twist with a lunch for the prefects of the three schools
in his area: L. W. Young Junior School, Dame Doris Johnson High School;
and Sandilands Primary School. The lunch was hosted by the General
Manager of the Hilton British Colonial Michael Hooper, who is the son of
King Eric Gibson and the brother of Shane Gibson, the Minister of Housing.
Mr. Hooper told the students that he wanted to bring them to the hotel
to expose them to what hotel life was like from the customer side so that
they can experience the ambience of a hotel, and what goes on there.
He said that there would be plenty of opportunities for them in the hotels
in the future, not just in Food and Beverage but also at the front desk,
in administration, in accounting, and in the mechanical side of the business.
The students thoroughly enjoyed the lunch and thanked the General Manager
for his treat. The photos: the party for the children of
Sandilands Primary School on Wednesday 14th December; Community Leaders
join Minister Mitchell for the lighting of the Christmas Tree in honour
of the late Bishop Austin Saunders (the widow Saunders 4th from left) and
the prefects luncheon (photo by Tim Aylen / Bahamas Information Services).
JOHN
MARQUIS’ FAIRY TALES
On 17th December at the Logos bookshop John Marquis,
the expatriate, English editor of the Tribune, was available for a book
signing. He was launching a fairy tale that the publicity blurb said
was a book that unearthed a new theory into who killed Sir Harry Oakes,
the late Canadian baronet whose murder in 1943 was never solved.
It appears that while Mr. Marquis was in The Bahamas in the 1960s before
his work permit was not renewed, he was told by a drunk at a bar that the
Duke of Windsor was responsible for the death of Sir Harry Oakes.
This he has spun into a tale for a new book, and thus the book signing.
We thought that the book signing was an interesting
event for another reason and that is the nonsense that he wrote in the
press on Monday 12th December in a Tribune column called INSIGHT.
Even though an author is not named, every one knows that it is John Marquis
who writes it. He is another one of these Black haters, anti PLP
haters who simply will use any pretext to spin idle untruthful yarns about
the present Government. He is a perfect tool for Eileen Carron.
If you read last
week's editorial in this column, you would have seen what we think
of her.
Mr. Marquis’ Insight piece may as well be a first
chapter in yet another novel, a tall lying tale of people buying visas,
and selling them in a parking lot. Quite fanciful stuff, and all
a lot of nonsense. The quotes from unnamed sources without the back
up anywhere, is unethical yellow journalism. The Tribune used to
be thought of as a paper of record what with the Nassau Guardian always
being under the thumb of some political group or other, but now it has
lost its reputation. It has joined the bandwagon of the gutter press,
all of them competing for the down market space. What a pity.
HUBERT
CANCELS HIS EXUMA RALLY
We wondered what happened why Ingraham's Progress
across The Bahamas in pursuit of political rallies came to a halt this
week. The rally that was scheduled to be held by the FNM on Thursday
15th December was cancelled. No surprise to us. We told you
they would run out of steam. Had to! Who in their right mind
is interested in politics at this Christmas season? The air is cold outside
and most Bahamians are interested in preparing for Junkanoo or attending
the various parties.
Down in Exuma, the park was being used that night
to light the Christmas Tree. Junior Junkanoo was on the air being
broadcast so that Love 97 was not available for the FNM's live broadcast
of the rally. Further, Mr. Ingraham has not settled on a candidate
for Exuma. Tommy Turnquest, the previous leader had settled on Anthony
Musgrove, the dynamic young FNM, to face incumbent Anthony Moss.
The battle of the Anthonys. But Mr. Ingraham with his biggetty self
does not like Mr. Musgrove and has been saying all around that no one is
going to choose any candidate for him, and it aint going to be Musgrove.
Well we hope he can build a party like that, just about cheezing off all
of Tommy’s supporters. Bottom line, no rally in Exuma this year.
ANDREW
ALLEN’S FALSE LOGIC
Andrew Allen is sometimes on point, other times
he is badly misguided. His latest foray into the realm of the misguided
is an article in The Tribune Tuesday 13th December in his column PERSPECTIVES.
Mr. Allen warns us to beware of paper independence. His thesis is
that while Caribbean countries have become independent and handle their
own affairs, they cannot stop crime in their societies and have to depend
on expertise from Britain to help them fight crime. He named Jamaica
and Trinidad and Tobago as two societies who have made such a decision.
He goes on to posit that this means that these societies are not really
independent since the essence of independence is the ability to protect
your own citizens and when it comes to crime these societies cannot do
so. The argument is not a worthy one.
All societies whether large or small depend on expertise
from other countries to deal with various problems. Even the United
States borrows expertise. Independence as a political stage means
the legal authority to chart the destiny of the people who fall within
the definition of your state. Coming with it must be the ability
to ensure the security of that state but everyone knows that there are
more powerful states in the world than other states. The fact that
Britain can be defeated by the United States in a war because of the superiority
of U.S. might does not mean that Britain is not an independent country.
The fact is we all get along with the relative powers that states have
in relation to one another, and we all borrow from the expertise of one
another, but as independent countries, unlike the Turks and Caicos for
example, we can make those decisions on our own, with full legal authority.
There are those who argue that The Bahamas is virtually
occupied by an American army. There are American helicopters in our
skies. In our waters, U.S. ships patrol right up to the twelve mile
limit and can even pursue people within the twelve mile limit. Even
in times of disaster, The Bahamas has to call on the U.S. and other countries
for assistance. Just like Pakistan, Sri Lanka called on the assistance
of their friends following the recent earthquake. Does that mean
that we cannot protect our citizens because we call for help? In
fact when the help comes, it shows that we can protect our citizens.
Does that mean that this is paper independence? The notion is ludicrous.
Those are the necessities of life. The fact is the decisions to make
those calls are done in Nassau, not in London, and there is a discrete
community of interest in this geographical location of islands that thinks
of itself as Bahamian.
Being independent then is not just matter of military
might or physical coercion, or legalisms for that matter. It is all
that and more. But more fundamentally it is a state of mind.
The problem one gets with Andrew Allen and his supporters at The Tribune
is that they do not have that state of mind when it comes to The Bahamas.
FOOTNOTES
TO HISTORY
McKinney now Chief of Protocol
Andrew McKinney has been named to Chief of Protocol
in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after acting in that capacity for the
last six years. Mr. McKinney’s appointment takes effect from January 1,
2002 and was announced to the Ministry’s staff and the public by Minister
of Foreign Affairs and the Public Service Fred Mitchell on Wednesday December
14, 2005.
Minister Mitchell said Mr. McKinney was “a good
example of what the public service is and ought to be and public servants
would do well to emulate his work ethic… as the generations come down,
they will know Andrew McKinney as the person who wrote the script for how
official ceremonies are to be conducted here.”
Mr. McKinney reaffirmed his commitment to strive
“to be that perfect officer in the Ministry of Foreign and The Bahamas
Government.”
Mr. McKinney served as Deputy Chief from July 1994
to January 2000. He first became involved in protocol matters as
a young Customs Officer, recruited by the country’s first Chief of
Protocol, late Ernest Strachan, when The Bahamas was still a dependent
territory, just before Independence in 1973. McKinney is pictured at
right with Minister Mitchell and Permanent Secretary Dr. Patricia Rodgers
in this BIS photo by Raymond Bethel
Grouper Fishing
The grouper fishing ban has begun and will end on
16th February 2006. From now until then, no live Nassau grouper can
be taken from Bahamian waters lawfully. And with respect to the humour
now doing the rounds, yes, that also means Freeport grouper, Exuma grouper
and so on.
The Web Cafes
Last week we reported on a swoop by police on various
“numbers” houses in The Bahamas or web cafes as they are now known.
The report is that all of the persons were released without charge by the
police. It may well be that the Attorney General's office will determine
whether a charge is to be brought by summons.
A
NO NAME ENGLISH ACTOR SLAMS THE BAHAMAS
Sitting under the gray drizzly skies of miserable England, Jonathan Linsley
slammed The Bahamas from his home in Bexhill in England. Ever heard
of it? Probably never. Anyway Mr. Linsley has had the good
fortune of landing an acting job that took him to Freeport in The Bahamas
where the sun shines most of the time and the living is laid back.
He didn't like it, and went back home and laid waste the place.
The Ministry of Tourism and the people who are the
producers of Pirates of the Caribbean Part II ought to have a word with
this dullard who obviously doesn’t understand that you don’t bite the hand
that feeds you. We say without fear of contradiction that while the
U.K. is a nice place, it does not and cannot compare to The Bahamas.
We leave this ingrate to the Bahamians abroad. Here is what he had
to say in this own words on 14th December 2005 to the Rye and Battle Today
News:
“The Bahamas is a very boring place to be honest,
very dull unless you are into swimming, snorkeling and all that.
“It is a very poor country, geared up for tourists.
After six weeks, you have been to every restaurant and you have seen every
pub. There are ex pats living out there, all bored but trapped by
the tax thing because they don’t pay any tax there. They are all
talking about what a good hurricane they had.
“It’s all a bit depressing really. The poor people
of The Bahamas have lost everything on their end of the country…”
The article continues: “Back in The Bahamas Jonathan
experienced the drama of a fire in his hotel, with safety measures leaving
a lot to be desired. Since then there have been other problems such
as theft from rooms, but it’s the day to day life of the island which leaves
him unsettled.”
“It’s very expensive there because everything
is imported. A bag of salad we could buy here for 99 p is about three
pounds there. If you buy a two litre carton of milk here it costs
one pound and twenty five pence but there its six dollars and fifty cents,
which is about three pounds and twenty five pence for a carton of milk.
These are the prices they charge tourists but when you go to supermarkets
the locals pay the same prices.
[How he can complain about prices when the prices in the U.K. are simply
outrageous is beyond us—Editor]
“Fruit and veg is [sic.] in short supply, so
they import a lot. For instance, all the watermelon come from Spain.
(We didn’t know they grew watermelons in England, all of England’s fruit
comes from Chile and Israel. Shows how daft the fellow is really-Editor).
The
wages are not high, so of course they are desperate to make some money
out of tourists and out of our film.
“If I had to be there and live on $100 a week
wages [The minimum wage in The Bahamas by law is $150 per week – Editor],
I
don’t think that I would survive.”
ASSAULT
ON CATHOLIC PRIEST
The Freeport News has reported an attack on Roman
Catholic priest Father Alain Laverne in Pinedale, Eight Mile Rock, but
Grand Bahama police say that they have made no progress in the case. The
incident is reported to have stemmed from a minor car crash, but an onlooker
got involved and began swearing at the priest after discovering that he
was of Haitian background.
Such actions must be strongly condemned. The
climate of anti-immigrant hate filled language has been engendered by jingoistic
and overemotional critics of the immigration policy. It is a serious
problem that the country will come to regret if not controlled and eradicated.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Eileen Carron is a tool
As a Bahamian living abroad I look forward to
your journal not because I'm a staunch PLP but because you really do tell
it like it is. However you seem to think that Ms.
Carron is simply a case of sour grapes and racial bigotry. She
is more than that. She is a tool of destabilization and uses her
paper as a propaganda vehicle to advance the cause of her masters who happen
to white supremacist and fascists bent on bringing about aligned governments
the world over “for the rich, by the rich and of the rich.”
With Hubert in power it did not matter that he
was black. What mattered was that he could be relied on and controlled
but the puppet masters. So much of what he did did not make sense
until I read a book ‘Protocols of the learned elders of Zion.’ I
suggest that you and every Bahamian read this book so that we may competently
and not emotionally counter the evil agenda of the Carrons and Huberts
of the world.
J. Lundy Roberts
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Prime Minister Perry Christie grins with delight
as he greets performers in the Junior Junkanoo parade. Minister of
Works Bradley Roberts looks on at left.
| It has been officially announced that the Boxing Day Junkanoo parades have been postponed until 8.00 p.m. on Monday 26th December, 2005, due to the expectation of continued inclement weather. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE CLERGY KILLERS
‘Tis
the season to be jolly or so the song says. But as Anglicans gathered
to say farewell to one of their priests on Thursday 22nd December, the
mood was anything but jolly. We reported last week on this site that
the Rev. Fr. Patrick Johnson, the successor to Archdeacon William Thompson
at the parish of St. Agnes, died suddenly in his sleep. The official
announcements would not as they often do not do in The Bahamas tell the
real story of the intrigue behind the scenes. The funeral service
therefore had the makings of a major drama, with the pomp and pageantry
and the scene in the cathedral setting a stage for high drama indeed.
Last week we intimated that there had been some unspecified attack on the priest during his tenure at St. Agnes, generated we said from within. We indicated that the priest himself did not believe that he got the support for his work, nor was there support to protect his reputation. This week at the funeral the story all came out when the person chosen to deliver the sermon at the Christ Church Cathedral Canon Basil Tynes of St. Barnabas laid it all out, basing his sermon a book by Dr. G. Lloyd Rediger, “The Clergy Killers”.
According to Canon Tynes, the Clergy killers described how the priests of various dioceses across the world are unprepared for the type of person in the midst of the congregation or church board who works insidiously to bring the priest down, by reporting to the bishop certain unspecified discontent in the church, bringing the matter before the vestry, making allegations of sexual misconduct or stealing, and finally moving the vestry to remove the priest. Those familiar with the St. Agnes matter over the last year said that this describes the situation there. The Canon said that in making the case to the Bishop, the clergy killer will say that if the Bishop does not act, the people with the money in the church will leave the church.
The sermon was a scorcher, with the Canon calling for all those who attacked the priest to repent. He said that his friend Patrick had wept on his shoulder because of the persecution that he had suffered. The Canon implied that it was lack of the support of the leadership of the church that led to the untimely demise of the priest at the age of 55. The sermon brought loud cheers and applause. It seemed a very bitter and sharp thing to say within the context of a funeral and some of the more conservative members thought his remarks were out of place. The message seemed wildly popular amongst the members of St. Agnes, however.
There are a couple of questions though. Where does it exactly leave the Anglican Church? The Canon’s message would seem to have ripped into the church institutionally and cannot be good for its reputation. Will the message not adversely affect the contributions, the support? The Roman Catholic Archbishop must be casting an interested eye at Anglican congregations. It gives the impression of turmoil in the church. Several priests were saying within the congregation that there is more to come, indicating a general dissatisfaction with the leadership.
The leadership of the Anglican Church is a highly intellectual one, and the criticism has always been that there isn’t a builder or an evangelizer at its helm. In the time that Lawrence Burke the Roman Catholic Bishop was in The Bahamas, he built churches and centres for the advancement of Roman Catholicism. Under the existing leadership of the Anglican Church covering roughly the same time as Archbishop Burke, the growth of the church has not been as dynamic when compared to Roman Catholicism.
But the Anglican Church is Episcopal, which means that the Bishop is the lord of all he surveys. He is there for at least another three years. He has announced that he will move for the election of a co-coadjutor Bishop in February, and that person will almost certainly take over the church when he leaves in three years time (click here for previous story). The question is will it be one that he supports or one that is diametrically opposed to what he stands for, and in the three years if they are diametrically opposed how will they get along?
Further, the people of Anglican congregations as with most church congregations are not interested in rabble rousing. They go to church for peace, and when the Bishop makes his announcement of what he plans to do, they simply accept what he says even though they may disagree. Priests are bound to do so more than laity. It is part of their vow. So it is difficult to see how, apart from a purging, the statements of the Canon would have advanced the work of the church. The Archbishop and most institutions do in these circumstances can take the position that the priest has passed on, and that the way forward is simply to leave the status quo in place. There would be few who would be troubled to disturb it, if he takes that position. The Archbishop’s operatives in the church have indicated that the whole story was not told by the Canon.
In any event, those who were not at the funeral missed a great drama. There is nothing on stage that could have exceeded it, with real dramatis personae, and a real story as backdrop to it all. The stage was set. The players were all elaborately costumed. The leaders of the state were there as well, and then came the moment for the sermon and the radical priest took to the podium and he did not disappoint. Drama is one thing though. Our concern is the church and where it goes to from here.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 24th December 2005 at midnight: 70,928.
Number of hits for the month of December up to Saturday 24th December 2005 at midnight: 253,325.
Number of hits for the year 2005 up to Saturday 24th December 2005 at midnight: 3,991,871.
MERRY
CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL
The Luncheon at Government House with the Governor
General was a particularly enjoyable one for all of the Cabinet.
One of their own was at the helm in Government House, and it was about
to be a merry Christmas indeed. But just as the Cabinet had finished
their meal, disaster struck. At 2:37 p.m. Chalk’s flight 101 plunged
into the seas off Miami Harbour, taking with it 11 Bahamians and Christmas
as well. Nevertheless, life goes on and it is that time of the year
when we reflect on what has happened over the past year, our accomplishments
and failures.
Our country has suffered much within the past year,
what with the people of Grand Bahama being struck by a third hurricane
in two years. Hurricane Wilma left scores of people homeless and
psychologically damaged. Unemployment is up in Grand Bahama, and
the Government's coffers are strained to meet the cost of infrastructure
for this country, and to meet these emergency requests. Nevertheless,
the Christians say that in all things we must give thanks. Put another
way, there is nothing we can do any way, so life goes.
For this column, we have been the centre of some
attention, vilified in some quarters, misunderstood even by those whom
we are sworn to defend. But continuing this column is the right thing
to do. If the Prime Minister and his colleagues don't get the message
of where the press is on the PLP and his leadership, then we are in serious
trouble indeed. On the day after he visited the people of Bimini
to grieve with them in their sorrow, the two major daily papers did not
publish one picture of the Prime Minister in the newspaper. Such
a visit deserved to be on the front page, but not even a mention was made.
That tells you what the time of day is. So this column tries to help.
This year it looks like we will meet the target
of four million hits for the year. That exceeds what was accomplished
by the old fredmitchelluncensored.com.
So we are well on our way. Thanks for reading, and we hope that despite
all the gloomy news this Christmas, that you enjoy Junkanoo, Christmas,
and have a prosperous New Year, and that you continue to read next year.
We will as usual post the Junkanoo results as soon as they are available.
From
left are Alfred Sears, Fred Mitchell, Neville Wisdom, Vincent Peet, Prime
Minister Perry Christie; Acting Governor General Paul Adderley, Deputy
Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt, Glenys Hanna Martin, Obie Wilchcombe, Melanie
Griffin, Shane Gibson and James Smith.
PRIME
MINISTER'S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
Prime Minister Perry Christie was on radio and television
today, with “a positive message, one of thanks, praise and hope.”
In his seasonal greeting, Mr. Christie remembered the victims of Hurricane
Wilma and the bereaved in Bimini. He thanked his colleagues and dedicated
public officers, but cautioned “we must never rest for there is always
more work to be done.” The Prime Minister wished for all “a Merry
Christmas and a Happy and meaningful New Year”. Please click
here for the full text of the Prime Minister's Christmas message.
CHALK’S
PLANE GOES DOWN IN A CRASH
Flight 101 of Chalk’s Airline, an airline that has
served The Bahamas throughout its fifty year existence, and that was the
backbone of travel links between Bimini and Miami, took off at about 2:30
p.m. headed on a routine flight from Miami’s Watson Island to Bimini.
The flight is fifty miles, some 40 minutes in flight. The flight
on Monday 19th December did not make it more than three hundred feet off
the water.
To the horror of those in the Miami Harbour, something
was going terribly wrong. The engine of the plane on the right seemed
to be on fire, then the wing broke off and the entire plane plunged into
the ocean. Despite the best efforts of rescuers on the scene within
minutes, everyone in the plane perished. Twenty people died on that
afternoon, eleven were Bahamians. 
A
nation mourns. The speculation is that there was catastrophic structural
failure in an ageing aircraft that came off the line first in 1947.
Whatever the cause, 20 people are dead.
A nation is mourning, a community is stunned.
Prime Minister Perry Christie immediately issued a statement extending
condolences of the nation to the families of the victims and to the people
of Bimini. Bodies have now been released to the funeral home in Miami.
The earliest funerals are expected in Bimini in the week of 7th January.
A memorial service is to be held in Bimini on Wednesday 28th December.
The Prime Minister and the Cabinet will attend. TOP - A sombre
Prime Minister Christie empathises with a Biminite who lost his wife, stepdaughter
and granddaughter in the crash as Obie Wilchcombe, the Member of Parliament
looks on. (BIS: Peter Ramsay) LEFT - The smoke trail from a
Chalk's Ocean Airways drops into the ocean Monday, Dec. 19, 2005 next to
Miami Beach. (AP Photo/Sandy Rodriguez) RIGHT - The wing of the seaplane
is lifted by a crane on a barge from the waters of the crash site Tuesday,
Dec. 20, 2005. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
THE
CRASH AND ITS AFTERMATH IN PICTURES
Prime Minister Perry Christie and members of his Cabinet including the
Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe representative for Bimini and the Ministers
of Foreign Affairs, Fred Mitchell; Social Services, Melanie Griffin and
Aviation, Glenys Hanna Martin flew to Bimini to console those who were
in mourning for the victims of Flight 101 of Chalk’s. That was on
Tuesday 20th December. That same evening the Foreign Minister flew
to Miami. The pictures by Bahamas Information Services photographer
Tim Aylen and Peter Ramsay say more than thousands of words.
THE
NAMES OF THE DEAD ON CHALK’S 101
Carolyn Burke (American resident of Bimini);
Bahamians: Barto Dean, Sabrena Dean, Sabre'a Dean (infant), Genevieve
Ellis, Niesha Fox, Salome Rolle, Bethany Sherman (infant), Sophia
Sherman, Donald Smith, Jacqueline Stuart, Jervis Stuart (infant).
WHAT
CANON TYNES HAD TO SAY
The sermon of the Rev. Canon Basil Tynes, the Rector of St. Barnabas Church
(Anglican) in Nassau at the funeral of the late Fr. Patrick Johnson, Rector
of St. Agnes has reverberated around The Bahamas. There is a guessing
game going on about who he was talking about. The sermon was masterful,
and presented the linchpin of a drama that played out on the national stage.
We have our doubts about its propriety and its efficaciousness. There
are those who said it needed to be said. Others argue that it was
the wrong place. Whatever, it has been said and we thought that our
readers ought read an excerpt in his own words:
Of his Friend’s Hurt
“[Patrick] said to me there are times when I wish my heavenly father
could just take me home from all of this that I am going through.
“A man four weeks ago, after we left a luncheon
sponsored by the College of The Bahamas stood with me on the Cable Beach
strip for 45 minutes and during the course of the conversation he could
say to me: ‘Basil not all of us are as strong as you are.’ My friend
was broken and battered. And all for what? You tell me!
Is God glorified?
“But I believe his death must count for something
to bring us to a new watershed in our development in this diocese, which
needs to wake up and repent of the evil that goes on in the name of Christianity,
that touches those who are coming from the fount to those who are seated
on thrones in the diocese.”
[Canon Tynes is at the centre of this group of mourners at the
graveside in this Peter Ramsay photo]
A
PRIEST’S FUNERAL IN PICTURES
Peter Ramsay, the Prime Minister’s personal photographer
was at the funeral of the late Fr. Patrick Johnson at Christ Church Cathedral
on Thursday 22nd December. Here is his photo
essay.
SEAN
HANNA DIES SUDDENLY
Sean Hanna, one of the sons of the former Deputy
Prime Minister, the Hon. Arthur Hanna has died. Mr. Hanna, in his
forties, is said to have been discovered dead at home. It is not
thought that police suspect foul play.
THE
U.S. AMBASSADOR SPEAKS
It appears that the United Sates Ambassador is starting
to wander into territory that his predecessor did. He has made several
pronouncements over the last weeks which indicate a feeling of freedom
to comment on the Bahamian political scene. The Tribune published
the comments in what they said was an exclusive interview on Thursday 22nd
December. Here is what the Ambassador John Rood had to say in his
own words:
On Castro’s Cuba
“A tremendous opportunity was missed by The Bahamas and other friends
of the United States in the Caribbean to question Fidel Castro about the
poor human rights record of his country [at the recent Caricom/Cuba Summit
in Barbados 8th October 2005]. Caricom countries should have done all they
could to promote the virtues of democracy which they hold dear.”
(How would the Ambassador know what Caricom leaders said to Fidel Castro? It is clear from their lives what their position on democracy, pluralism and elections is.—Editor)
On The Bahamas vote on Iran at the U. N.
“Unfortunately The Bahamas chose not to support the resolution,
[condemning Iran] and they chose to stand with Cuba and Venezuela and did
not support a resolution that was sponsored by Canada and supported by
the US and the United Kingdom… but then two weeks later [at the Caricom
/Cuba summit] we have a resolution condemning the US.”
(The Bahamas and Caricom countries take the view as a matter of policy that it will not support at the UN country specific resolutions in the human rights context, unless all human rights issues of all countries are to be examined. The developed countries want to pick and choose who they condemn but will not support an examination of their own records and policies. Further, the Caricom/Cuba Communiqué speaks only to the issue of the economic embargo by the United States of Cuba. It is not a general condemnation of the United States. The position in Barbados is consistent with that taken at the UN which has annually condemned the embargo. --- Editor)
On Crime
“If the level of crime in The Bahamas continues, the U.S. Embassy
may have to review its policy on how it advises visitors coming into the
country. The three restaurant robberies this year were shocking to me and
to many people. The fact that people can come into a restaurant and
hold up patrons is truly terrifying and it is a potentially dangerous situation
and if it continues it is going to hurt these small businesses.”
(What about a night out in Detroit? ---Editor)
On Free Trade
“Countries that resist opening their borders to free trade will
be at a disadvantage and will not have access to the economic benefits
enjoyed by the rest of the world. There is a compelling argument against
the type of tax structure where it is dependent on new major investment
coming in, and if you don’t feed it with new investments you are going
to really hurt your tax structure, so it does not appear to me to be a
sustainable long term system.”
On LNG Benefits
“[LNG like] everything has a risk. The cruise ships that we
allow in this Harbour are a terrorist target; they are environmental targets.
A lot of things can happen, one could sink – we can go on and on about
all the potential dangers of a cruise ship in your Harbour. The people
of The Bahamas have looked at the economic benefit, and said that without
a doubt the economic benefit far outweighs those risks. And they
have made the decision and that is why the cruise industry is so strong
here.”
THE
CUBAN AMBASSADOR SPEAKS
With the U.S. Ambassador and The Tribune trying
to stir up trouble over the recent joint communiqué between Cuba
and Caricom, the Cuban Ambassador Felix Wilson must have felt that he had
to get into the mix. So on Friday 23rd December 2005, here is what
The Tribune reported that Mr. Wilson said in his own words:
On Bahamas/Cuba Relations
“The Bahamas and Cuba can be good friends despite the difference
in ideologies. We have been friends with Mexico, Canada and many
countries around the world who are not communist as we are. The actions
[of a nation] cannot be dictated by politics. Relationships between
countries cannot be dictated by political beliefs. They must be dictated
by interests of the countries and the peoples.”
On Cuba/Caricom relations
“The trade and cultural agreement signed between Caricom members
and Cuba on 8th December is the culmination of many years of exchange and
co-operation. This is not something that comes overnight, this is
something that has been developed over the years, where Cuba has a very
open, friendly co-operative relationship with the Caricom countries, and
so has been the case with the Caricom countries toward Cuba.”
THE
MINISTER OF TRADE ON FREE TRADE
Leslie Miller is the Minister of Trade and his Ministry
is charged with the responsibility of leading The Bahamas into the World
Trade Organization (WTO). He is fresh from the meeting in Hong Kong
which cobbled up an agreement to advance the notion of free trade around
the world. Mr. Miller though has his doubts. Here is what he
had to say upon his return as reported in The Tribune of Friday 23rd December
in his own words:
“Is it in our best interest to sign that document
to gain full ascension? What are we giving up versus what are we
getting? Believe me, from my vantage point as a Bahamian, this thing has
to be studied very, very carefully. And I will not advise the government
or the people of The Bahamas to be in any rush to sign onto the WTO for
at least the next five years.”
THE
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS SPEAKS
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell spoke
at the annual Christmas Carol Service of the Ministry on Friday 23rd December.
In it he reviewed events over the past year but had this to say about the
foreign policy of The Bahamas in his own words:
“It is also clear that we face an ever
more complex geopolitical environment. Our citizens are unhappy about
our relations with Caricom. We have the United States on the one
hand whose policies are not often transparent or clear, but who dominate
the political thinking in the country. The U.S. is generally a force
for good and they remain our closest partner, but on the other side of
our country is Cuba. The United States is engaged in an ideological
fight with Cuba and we have nothing to do with that. It is clear
what our values are. We support the principle of sovereign integrity,
and the right to self-determination, which includes the people of Cuba.
But we do not interfere in the affairs of other countries. Our role
is to live at peace with all of our nations in this hemisphere. And we
do not have the luxury of being in a position to lecture others on how
they ought to conduct their national lives.
“Our foreign policy then is of necessity a practical
one, and we do not and will not engage in any high profile fights amongst
neighbours, which are simply none of our business. At the same time, the
art of our diplomacy is to wade through these treacherous and difficult
ideological and geographical waters. Our skills will be required
more than ever in 2006.”
You may click
here for the Minister's full address and here for his Christmas
message to the constituents of Fox Hill.
CUSTOMS
OFFICERS UP IN ARMS
John Pinder, the President of the Bahamas Public
Service Union (BPSU) looks like he has got trouble brewing and is singing
the blues this Christmas. He went and agreed with the Government
in the latest industrial agreement to dismantle the pernicious overtime
system at the Customs Department that sees some Customs Officers making
in the six figures while their bosses have to make do with the basic measly
salaries. The situation is such that some customs officers refuse
to be promoted because it will take them out of the over time category.
In the name of public sector reform or of being
helpful, Mr. Pinder in the last round of negotiations advanced to the Government
moving to a shift system. This would mean that when fully implemented
all customs overtime would be eliminated in New Providence and Grand Bahama.
There would still be a need for it in some Family Islands because of the
lack of manpower. The customs rank and file have revolted and are
saying ‘not a day like it.’ They want Mr. Pinder's head.
Mr. Pinder’s spin doctors at the down-market Punch
newspaper have been trying to say it was the Minister for the Public Service
who imposed the change in the overtime system. Not so. It is
clear from a close examination of the process that John Pinder advanced
it. The Government agreed. That is what you get for concentrating
on things like lump sums and what money is going to base salary, and not
bothering to read the fine print, even the fine print supplied by one’s
own union leaders. The word is that customs officers now want to
form their own union.
DEBBIE
FERGUSON MARRIES
Debbie Ferguson, the sports star and Golden Girl
of the Olympics of 2000, is now a married woman. On Friday 23rd December,
the track star married Adrian McKenzie in a dazzling ceremony. We congratulate
Mrs. McKenzie.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Jonathan
Linsley
Well, I hope Jonathan Linsley does not come back
if that is how he feels about The Bahamas. One can understand he
is glad to be back with his family and friends... that is normal human
behaviour... but to diss this country in the manner he did is quite unnecessary.
Such stupid remarks. Obviously there will be a limited number of
restaurants on a small island. Obviously, we pay more for some items
(and you are quite correct when you say prices in the UK are high) but
we do not pay income tax here, an amazing difference to our pay check each
month. I could go on, but he is not worth it! However, I must
mention the bored expats. If they cannot find a way to be involved
in the community and make their lives worthwhile, well, then I guess they
will be bored. That is of their own making.
I am sure you know by now that I am an expat
for over 20 years and so these kinds of comments really annoy me!
Alison
BAHAMAS EDUCATION
Having read the article concerning education
in The Bahamas, I would like to say that I am the product of a Bahamian
education. I remember 1967 when many of us were not able to get a
good education because of the system set up; but in 1967 many of us were
given a chance to get a very good education because the government gave
scholarships to the schools that otherwise we would not have been able
to attend.
Government High School was not the best school
in Nassau pre-1967 nor beyond. I am a product of St. Augustine’s
College and so many are in the government of The Bahamas today. I
remember the Hon. Alfred Sears. We were classmates and the Hon. Fred
Mitchell was a couple of years above us. Many good schools existed
in The Bahamas like St. John’s College, Aquinas College, St. Anne’s School
in Fox Hill and many others. Government High was just one of the
good schools among many.
Those of us who were recipients of the Government’s
post 1967 scholarships are grateful I am sure for the opportunity to get
a quality education. I am proud to have been raised in The Bahamas
and to have been educated in The Bahamas. I don’t know what the educational
system is like today, but I know when I was growing up it was great because
we had to take the GCE and that put us up there with the best England had
to offer. We all had to take these exams no matter what high school
you attended.
The system of education in The Bahamas today is basically sound but
it does have its challenges. – Editor
THIS
WEEK WITH THE PM
Prime Minister Perry Christie delights staff members
with witticisms at the annual Christmas party in the Office of the Prime
Minister.
Miss Marisha Johnson is pictured with Prime Minister
Christie at the dedication of a computer centre at the Church of God on
East Street and Lilly of the Valley Corner on 22nd December. The
centre at the church under Bishop Moses A. Johnson is part of the Urban
Renewal Project.
Family Island Airport Security - The day before Christmas Eve,
Prime Minister Christie took the opportunity to stop in at the end of a
training seminar for Family Island Airport Security officers. More
than 70 men and women graduated from the course that enables them to qualify
for security screening work now to be conducted at all international airports
in the Family Islands. In a charge to the graduates, the Prime Minister
reminded them to demonstrate competence and integrity while retaining the
hospitality for which The Bahamas is famous. [Photo: Patrick Hanna]
