Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 1 © BahamasUncensored.Com
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| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - Again our photo of the week is from the winning Junkanoo Group ‘One Family’. That group won two straight: Boxing Day 2002 and New Year’s Day 2003. The crowd was furious and as usual there were reports of cheating, especially say the critics because One Family did not show up at the float parade of Friday 28th December. One Family had a different take. They apologized for not coming to the float parade but their view is that the jinx has been broken and a new age of Junkanoo ushered in. No longer do the Valley Boys and the Saxons dominate. The Tribune photo is by Felipe Major. |
New Year's Day Junkanoo Results
Overall
1st One Family (repeat winners from Boxing Day, 2002)
2nd Valley Boys
3rd Saxons
4th Roots
5th New Tribe
6th Music Makers
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
JUN…JUN…JUNKANOO
Last
week we said from this column that perhaps we ought to forget all about
judging Junkanoo and who gets first, second and third. Judging has
become a perennial complaint. This year, bless the Minister’s heart,
a course was offered for persons who were to serve as judges so that they
could get the low down on how to judge for Junkanoo. But, guess what?
There was still almost a riot when the announcement was made that One Family,
headed by the Burnside brothers Stan and Jackson won the New Year’s Day
parade. We are sure that you will not be able to speak to Vola and
the Saxons for weeks after this. This is a low point in Mason’s Addition.
The Valley Boys and leader Gus Cooper (shown at right in this Tribune photo
by Omar Barr) were outraged to the point of holding a news briefing to
demand an explanation of why and exactly how they lost.
The point is this. Judging is subjective and there is nothing we can do to stop that problem. That means that the result is going to turn on whom you pick as judges. Further, even if you tried to be democratic and let the crowd choose, for example, you can stack the crowd. So why don’t we just have fun with it. It’s such an expensive fun time, to get mad about who wins. Or better yet, why don’t we all accept as a people that the decision of the Judges is final.
Of more serious concern, however, are the rumours in the political community that the Free National Movement intends to put hell on the Minister of Culture when Parliament reconvenes on 15th January because of what they perceive as the fiasco of the Junkanoo bleachers. Last week in this column, we said as much when we indicated that we thought that of all the things that the PLP could have taken a political hit from, Junkanoo bleachers was the strangest. But the public simply decided they did not like the prices – too high and they did not like the fact that the bleachers were brought in from Canada. Add to that The Tribune’s unrelenting propaganda war and the Minister’s combative view in defending the matters and it turned into a bit of a political quagmire.
We made a clear distinction in defending the matter. First, we agree that the Minister’s intentions were proper. With that, he had the support of the Junkanoos themselves that Junkanoo needed to be taken to another level. The naming of the parades after Dr. Offfff (Tyrone Fitzgerald, now deceased) and the ailing founder of Roots Paul Knowles, were masterstrokes. The float parades and taking the junior Junkanoo to Cable Beach were good ideas. Where the thing foundered was that the public was not prepared for the steep prices and the Minister digging in his heels on that caused the whole thing to go off. This was a cultural event that as recently as twenty years ago was a free event. And the prices when they first came for bleachers were within reach of the public or so it was perceived.
The public certainly did clamour for better bleachers but the sticker price was a shock, and they revolted and revolted in the usual way of The Bahamas with all sorts of political rumours of kickbacks and failures that are probably exaggerated and perhaps totally false. The Minister clearly has to go back to the drawing board and learn from it. It did not help at the end to say in the face of empty bleachers and the fact that prices on Bay Street had to be slashed that the idea was not to make a profit. The public was told otherwise. Nor did it help that a Poinciana tree was cut down simply because it was an inconvenience for those in the bleachers. It was not as the lying Tribune said a one hundred year old tree. But the point is, if the PLP is environmentally friendly what is it doing cutting down trees?
But the Minister has the support of the Prime Minister who himself clearly had read the tea leaves. The Prime Minister said that he thought the seating was an excellent idea (our expression of his words) but he took note of the pricing controversy. So the Opposition will get no comfort there. But the lesson must be drawn from this. It is the lesson that the PLP was trying to preach to Hubert Ingraham in Christmas 2001 as he barrelled his way into the referendum campaign in the face of stiff opposition from the people. The PLP promised to listen and promised to consult. It did neither with the bleachers. But we think that was not a fatal mistake.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 4th January 2002 at midnight: 24,355
Number of hits for the month of December up to Tuesday 31st December at midnight: 96,835.
Number of hits for the year ending Saturday 31st December 2002 at
midnight: 647,531.
SIR
GERALD CASH IS ILL
We reported from this site that Sir Gerald Cash,
the longest serving of the former Governors General (now 84 years old)
of The Bahamas was ill suffering from prostate cancer that had metastasized.
We have now learned that Sir Gerald has taken a turn for the worse with
a stroke and has had to be hospitalized. We wish himself and his
family well. Sir Gerald is also a former Member of Parliament, Senator
and President of the Senate. His moment in time came when in 1956
he wrote a minority report that said that the resolution on race of the
Select Committee of the House that was moved by the late Sir Etienne Dupuch
did not go far enough. Sir Gerald was the quintessential Governor
General and was said to be well suited in temperament and bearing for the
job. No one excelled him before or since.
THE
U.S. AMBASSADOR IS AT IT AGAIN
Psychologists in The Bahamas must be having a field
day examining the stability of a personality who is a diplomat but can't
seem to keep out of the press of The Bahamas as if he is running for office
here. This week, J. Richard Blankenship who has got to be the most
unpopular man in The Bahamas bar none, this past week was in the press
defending his actions in a country that has grown weary of his defences
and interventions but yet they continue to come as if to bludgeon the Bahamian
people into submission. Surely a psychologist would wonder about
whether there is some deep dark hatred for the Bahamian people that lurks
buried within that causes this kind of response.
The Ambassador’s most recent pronouncement came
in what was billed as an exclusive interview with his propaganda arm in
The Bahamas, The Tribune. He put forward the novel proposition that
there are no rules in diplomacy and according to the Ambassador: “Sometimes
diplomacy has to be sacrificed.” That is interesting. Since
obviously the United States sets the rules and the rules are out of the
window then there is a free for all. That means that we no longer
as a country have any obligations arising out of our international agreements
with the United States and we can just walk away from them. The statement
seems entirely ill advised and petulant.
Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell was on leave in Ireland
for most of the week and there was no comment from the Ministry about the
Ambassador's statement. It is perhaps best to leave well enough alone.
It would simply be unseemly for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to engage
in a debate with a man who simply does not know how to do his job.
You know that a fellow has a problem when at every turn he has to tell
you: “I speak for the President of the United States.” Well, let’s just
all say “Uncle”. You also know that you are in trouble when a man
starts referring to his Christian duty. That means that both he and
The Tribune now have a civilizing mission for us all. Praise God
and pass the ammunition!
THE
NASSAU GUARDIAN GETS IT WRONG
What has been remarkable during the last weeks of
the to and fro between The Bahamas Foreign Ministry and the US Ambassador
is the fact that the Nassau Guardian has supported the Bahamian Foreign
Minister. And except for a strange commentary by its writer Mark
Symonette about the Prime Minister rapping the Foreign Minister on the
knuckles, The Guardian seems to have gotten it right. But they really
took a wrong turn when in their editorial of Tuesday 31st December they
somehow took the Foreign Minister’s departing statement at the Nassau International
Airport on 29th December to mean something other than it was on its face.
The Nassau Guardian said in its editorial that they
wondered why the Minister of Foreign Affairs had departed on leave at this
time and whether this was some plan by Perry Christie to cool the fires
between the US Ambassador and the Foreign Minister. They missed the
boat. Said the editorial: “…it could not be confirmed whether Prime
Minister Perry Christie had asked Minister Mitchell to take time off so
that cooler heads might prevail at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs…” Why
could it not be confirmed? The Prime Minister was at the Junkanoo
parade dancing with the Valley Boys for all to see. Could not the
Nassau Guardian have asked the question or called his office and gotten
the answer to the question?
In our view, the Guardian also mistook a line that
talked about things not turning on the individual to mean exactly the opposite.
You
may click here to see the whole address of the Minister.
The point to the Nassau Guardian must surely be
this. Do not start idle speculation about a rift in the Government
when you do not know. A reading of all the public statements clearly
show that the Minister's position is not his personal position but the
Government’s position. Also, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has
often said that every Nassau Guardian reporter knows how to get a hold
of him, leave or no leave. His position of being available to journalists
is well known throughout the media profession.
Secondly, the obvious point of his departing statement
was that the relationship between the US and The Bahamas is larger than
the individual Ambassador that comes here. This present US Ambassador
has not been very helpful in moving the relationship along. He has
chosen for what reason God only knows to be confrontational and it will
backfire. So rather than the Government using its scarce resources
to simply try to get the reforms that are needed, it must spend time, money
and energy dealing with this needless and unexpected behaviour. The
Bahamas must live in the hope and the expectation that he will come to
his senses. The relationship between the US and The Bahamas is good.
The only one who does not seem to realize it is dare we say it…
JUST
WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE…
Remember the movie 'Jaws'? At the end of the first Jaws movie the
great shark was dead. But in the second movie the catch line was:
“Just when you thought it was safe to get back into the water…” The
end was left out, giving the clear impression that the shark was back.
And so it was during the end of the week in the Bahamas yet another instalment
of Fright Week from the U.S. Ambassador appeared in The Tribune.
In the latest version of the American’s propaganda
piece in the Trib, the Ambassador tells the Bahamian public that the U.S.
will withdraw any military assistance that it gives to The Bahamas if The
Bahamas does not sign what is called an article 98 agreement. This
has to do with the International Criminal Court (ICC) that was signed on
to by the previous administration in The Bahamas and which is supported
by the present administration.
The US Ambassador told The Tribune the following:
“The law mandating the signing of these agreements is very clear.
These agreements must be signed otherwise no US military assistance will
be forthcoming. Congress has taken a position. In our country
Congress passes laws and we are obliged to follow them.” Is there
no end to this tiresome fellow? The problem is that The Tribune blares
this as some great big surprise and headline.
The fact is that by the Ambassador’s own admission
the military assistance amounts to one million dollars per year. We think
that The Bahamas should have a clear answer and it would not surprise us
if the statement that the Ambassador gave that he does not know the position
of the government is untrue. Let us leave it at that. Canada
has already told the Government of the USA that it will not sign such an
agreement.
DEATH
AND DESTRUCTION AS OLD YEAR PASSES
When you look at the leading causes of death in
the country, take HIV out as the largest single cause of death and then
add the number of deaths by homicide or by road traffic accidents and you
begin to get alarmed. And the facts say that the country’s road traffic
fatalities as the year ended stood at 49 and the number of murders stood
at 50. While the latter category is way off the figure in the year
2000 during the FNM's administration it is still too much.
Bradley Roberts, the Minister of Public Works has
said that 2003 is going to be a pivotal year. We think that all years
are pivotal but we agree with Mr. Roberts that this year it is our hope
that at the end, the carnage on our streets and the death by homicide will
be way, way down. In our view that can only come when the quality
of life in The Bahamas improves so that the violence will lessen.
NEW YEARS
HONOURS
We congratulate all those who received national honours
from the Queen in the Queen’s New Year’s honours list. Leading the
pack were Franklyn Wilson, Rev. Dr William Thompson and former Minister
of the Government Jeffrey Thompson. Also named were Dr. Gail Saunders,
Dr. Perry Gomez, Leander Minnis, former Member of Parliament, Pastor Hugh
Roach. Conrad Knowles, outgoing Chair of the Licensing Authority
received the ward of Member of the British Empire (MBE). Mr. Knowles’
son Paul, the Junkanoo leader was also honoured.
We say that it is time to abolish these honours
and provide true Bahamian honours. The Commission on Culture headed
by Winston Saunders is to study this problem.
DOCTOR’S
HOSPITAL TROUBLES
The Government was shocked some weeks ago when Doctor's
Hospital said in a public announcement that it would no longer accept the
word of the National Insurance Board that it will pay the expenses of those
under the Industrial Benefit but needed from those persons a hard cash
deposit before they would begin treatment. That put a serious crimp
in the programme, and the Government was scrambling to fix it. At
issue was the fact that 1.9 million dollars was owed to Doctors Hospital
and the Hospital was facing a serious financial crunch. Its Chief
Financial Officer former Senator Darron Cash was in the press explaining
the plan to get the hospital back into the financial black.
The matter with NIB has now been resolved.
But Minister Shane Gibson who is responsible for National Insurance was
none too happy about Doctors Hospital going public. In a statement
issued to the press and published on Thursday 2nd January he said that
it was unfortunate that Doctors went public with the problem. He
said that the NIB viewed Doctors approach as unjustified because the records
will confirm that the greater portion of the debt was contracted prior
to the PLP coming to office on the 2nd May 2002.
BAHAMASAIR
SUSPENDS CUBA FLIGHTS
The Minister with responsibility for Bahamasair,
Bradley Roberts, has announced that the airline has suspended all flights
to Cuba after information was withheld by Scan America, a company with
which Bahamasair had collaborated on the flights. The Minister said
Scan America had not disclosed its true intent with the flights which were
supposed to have been targeted at European tourists coming to The Bahamas
and tourists from Canada. "It appeared", said the Minister "that
they were in fact after promoting the flights of Americans to Cuba via
The Bahamas." Many people were worried that the Bahamasair was causing
problems for the country and the Americans by running the flights. 
In
a late development, Monday's newspapers reported that "after consultation
with the Minister" responsible for Bahamasair, the airline had decided
to fulfill its contractual obligations in flying to Cuba until June, but
would not do so in violation of the US embargo against that country.
WHAT
THE NEW YEAR HOLDS
We want to thank you all for sticking with this
column over the past year, even as it underwent many changes and a major
transition with the departure of Fred Mitchell, its founder for the active
world of a Minister of the Government. Notwithstanding the attempt
by many to try and figure out who is writing the column and connecting
it to one source or another, the fact is the readership continues undiminished.
The site is put together by a talented team of persons headed by Russell
Dames with contributors from the United Kingdom and Grand Bahama.
It is the best and unparalleled source for political news and commentary
of a truthful nature in the country.
In the New Year, we hope that we are able to provide
much of the same incisive information and commentary. We think that
the year coming will be challenging. But unlike others there is no
doom and gloom here. Every year is an important year as these things
go. We agree with the sentiment expressed by Dr. Nicolette Bethel,
the social anthropologist, that time is an artificial construct.
We add that it is only there to keep our mind organized and there is no
particular magic to the year 2002 or 2993 or any year, except as a means
of record keeping.
We lost many of our important citizens to death
during the past year but we are equally as sure that many many more important
citizens of our country were born during the year. We look forward
to their growth and development. Our only wish is that a certain
person leaves The Bahamas alone and is gone by the end of the year so that
this country can get back to the peaceful life that it knows.
Happy New Year to you all!
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
Royal Oasis Resort & Casino
Last week, just before going to press, reports came
to us that industrial action was underway at the Royal Oasis casino.
The casino was in fact closed. The true story has come to light that
is the casino operators saw fit to close the casino without regard to Government
in an attempt to teach the gaming employees a lesson for staging a sick-out
the night before. It was clear to see from ZNS TV13 on the Monday
evening news that employees were locked out when they reported for duty
on Sunday morning. We are further informed that the Government regulators
had to intervene and make them open the casino or jeopardize their casino
operating licence. We are told by employees that since the Driftwood
group took over the operations of the casino, industrial relations have
deteriorated to the point where it is almost impossible to reason with
management and hence the formation of the union for the workers’ protection.
We are told that the latest industrial action took place because of the
company’s not living up to its agreed position having to to with Christmas
bonuses.
More on Driftwood
By New Year's Day, Driftwood was again in the news.
This time it was the tour operator and the taxi-cab drivers. The
taxi-cab drivers in this instance blocked the exit at the resort preventing
the ground transportation buses from leaving the hotel property to drop
off guests at the airport. The taxi-cab union said that they do in
fact have an agreement to allow tour operators to drop off “pre-arranged”
groups, not the wholesale dropping off of all guests and they claim that
in this instance that the company was breaching their own agreement in
that all the guests on the morning in question were about to be taken to
the airport by tour bus. The sad thing about this whole ordeal is
that the actions were played out before guests leaving the island.
It seems as if the management has decided to become a law unto itself and
that the Government of The Bahamas is going to have to take a firm hand
in dealing with the Driftwood group.
Oil Leak
It was reported last week in the main portion of this website that Minister
of Transport Glenys Hanna Martin had announced on Christmas Eve (shown
in this BIS photo by Derek Smith) that a tanker ‘Front Highness’ located
some 70 to 100 miles northeast of Hole In the Wall, Abaco was leaking through
an eighteen inch hairline crack in the hull. The Ministry of Transport
had sent a plane up to monitor the spill. Well, we can now report
that an oil tanker was towed into Freeport for repairs to its hull for
a supposed oil leak. To the surprise of all concerned, no fracture
was found or any leaks along the single hull structure. Observers
speculate that what may have happened is that the tanker found itself in
the midst of what could have been someone's illegal bilge discharge.
Discovery & Freeport Anglican High
The faculty this week were informed that the school
fees at these institutions had to be raised starting in September 2003.
because of financial losses. We are informed that the fees may have
to be hiked gradually by as much as thirty five percent in increments each
term. This could not have come at a worse time because tourism in
Grand Bahama is down and parents have already withdrawn their children
from private schools in large numbers. Further compounding the problem
of overcrowding in the public high schools. It is now very unlikely
that the Government will be able to build a new public high school in Freeport
in this fiscal year, given its financial constraints, so we call upon the
Minister of Education to immediately start discussions with the Anglican
authority and all other private schools in Grand Bahama to see what it
is able to do to alleviate some of the losses being suffered. We
are informed that St. Paul’s Methodist, Sunland Lutheran and Catholic High
schools all have financial problems in terms of revenue received including
grants-in-aid and what they must pay out, and they still come up short.
Junkanoo
This year the parade was moved to a new venue at
Explorer’s Way to Bank Lane to the Post Office side street through the
Grand Union food store parking lot back onto Explorer’s Way. Most
observers say that the route itself, particularly in the Post Office side
street was a bit cramped and the Junkanoo committee ought to consider moving
the parade up on the Mall in front of the Garnet Levarity Courthouse building
on the Mall where the roads are wider and the verges are able to more comfortably
accommodate large crowds. Ken 'Motorboat' Ferguson's Classic Dancers
edged the Majestic Crusaders for the win.
One Family / US - A Comment
If we are in fact One Family, why is it necessary
to threaten The Bahamas on almost a daily basis? The latest threat
that the US would withhold military aid to us came this week with a statement
from the American envoy. That was an act of aggression by a neighbour
of three hundred million against a country of three hundred thousand.
We might, on the other hand, if the so-called aid is withdrawn, consider
changing our posture with the interdiction of Haitian migrants and help
only those in distress and simply observe the rest of them as they sail
through our waters to the US promised land. It seems as if this irrational
behaviour will get worse if the Government of The Bahamas does not put
an end to this outspoken ambassador who seems intent on conducting foreign
affairs in the public domain, so the Government will immediately have to
bite the bullet and insist upon his recall or face the consequences of
eventually being destabilized. In the words of Kenny Rogers “Sometimes
you have fight when you’re a man.”
BS
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| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The photo of the week is the picture of the Prime Minister Perry Christie and Mrs. Christie meeing the press after Mr. Christie received the Trumpet Award in Atlanta, Georgia. The Award is a prestigious one from the elite of Black America and was given the Prime Minister for his work over thirty years in the business of politics and Government. The Prime Minister’s address at the presentation on Monday 6th January brought a standing ovation. The Prime Minister took with him several members of the Cabinet to witness the event: Glenys Hanna Martin, the Minister of Transport; Shane Gibson, the Minister of National Insurance; Allyson Gibson, the Minister of Financial Services; Obie Wilchcombe, the Minister of Tourism and Senator Cyprianna McWeeney. Also joining them was Ron Pinder the Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Health. The Prime Minister was pleased at the response and it gave the delegation an opportunity to make several business and investment contacts and to further the action toward successful religious tourism. BIS photo by Peter Ramsay. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
AN ACT OF DESPERATION
Tommy Turnquest is a loser. He lost his bid to become Prime
Minister after his mentor Hubert Ingraham tried to force him down the throats
of Bahamians. His father Orville Turnquest spent almost down his
last dollar in order to procure the victory to no avail. You either
have it or you don’t. Tommy Turnquest does not have it and apparently
he does not get it.
Tommy Turnquest now finds himself in the anomalous position of having to be the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, the Leader of the Free National Movement but not the Leader of the Opposition. That latter posts belongs to Alvin Smith, the Member of Parliament for North Eleuthera. And it is to that person that the Prime Minister must respond and consult when national business is being conducted.
This is not the first time that the FNM finds itself in that anomalous position. Once before Cecil Wallace Whitfield was the leader of the Free National Movement with no seat. He was called then the seatless wonder. The Leader of the Opposition was Cyril Tynes, the then MP for Acklins and Crooked Island and it did not work very well then. It is not working now.
In order for Tommy Turnquest to keep himself relevant, he must every once in a while make some press statement that shows that he is the HNIC (Head Negro in Charge). And so, it was that on Tuesday 7th January, Senator Turnquest , anomalous position and all, held a press conference in which he accused the PLP of taking drug money during the last political campaign. These are the same allegations that Senator Turnquest and his party dragged up during the last campaign, that were thoroughly refuted by the Progressive Liberal Party during the campaign and were put to rest when the people of The Bahamas rejected Senator Turnquest and his people.
Here is what we think is up. Senator Turnquest wants to latch onto the coat tails of the US Ambassador and the attempts by the US Ambassador to show that The Bahamas government under the PLP is being uncooperative with the United States of America. Senator Turnquest knows better but the politics of desperation has now set in and we think that in that desperation he now comes with these foolish allegations.
You should also remember that Turnquest and the establishment at the Tribune have had a long-standing connection. And so, it is no surprise that the axis of a US Ambassador hostile to the PLP and its leadership, The Tribune and Senator Turnquest are now all on the same page, trying desperately to spin an untrue story about the PLP in an effort to destabilize the new Government. This is not a useful effort, and it is counter productive. The fact is that Senator Turnquest and his party have much to answer for the allegations made by the US Government. The PLP has just come to power and much of what has been alleged happened during the administration of the FNM. That is what Senator Turnquest has to be worried about. The PLP must find the underlying cause of this.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 11th January 2003 at midnight: 15,650.
Number of hits for the month of January up to Saturday 11th January 2002 at midnight: 25,783.
Number of hits for the year 2003 up to Saturday 11th January 2003
at midnight: 25,783.
LAST
YEAR’S MURDER TOTAL
The number of murders in The Bahamas decreased over
the year 2001 by 17.3 per cent according to police statistics. These
statistics were given at the third annual press briefing by the police
on crime matters. Fifty-two persons died as a result of murder last
year. The police said that they were able to bring 77 per cent of
those to closure. The number of murders was boosted by what was called
a rash of murders in the month of December.
The fact that you have 52 murders does not compare
to the 72 murders that took place in 2001 but 52 is 52 too many. The question
is who is studying these statistics to find out why this is happening and
what we can do to solve the problem. At one time, the police were
saying that this had to do with the drug wars, and then they added that
there was a domestic violence component. The police then took special
initiatives in those areas. Recently the violence seems to be connected
to teenagers who are involved in mindless conflicts at social events, and
the resultant anger is the use of gunfire to settle the dispute.
Nowhere is there a sadder example of that than the case of the young Julian
Sawyer who at 18 years old was visiting family and friends in Nassau over
the Christmas holidays. He went to the Carnival. There was
an unprovoked altercation with some other youngsters. He and his
friend simply tried to leave the scene in their cars. Then gunshots
rang out through the back of his car, a bullet ends up lodged in his head
and that was then end of that. A sad, sad, bitter and unnecessary
end.
It is now time for us to move beyond the hand wringing
however and let us see if we can apply the lessons of this to public policy.
Can we for example take heed of the advice of Sandra Neville who asked
that the pubic utilize the counseling services of the Women’s Crisis Centre
in The Tribune Thursday 9th January as a means of trying to settle conflicts.
What do we do in our schools in order to lessen the problems arising out
of conflict resolution? Whatever we must do, the police should be
reporting at the end of the year that the total number of murders has lessened
to zero.
HAITIANS
AND FIRES IN THE BAHAMAS
The Police who are responsible for Fire Safety and
putting out fires in The Bahamas have announced that there is a need for
a fire safety campaign to be conducted in the Haitian migrant community.
The police statistics published on Thursday 9th January indicated that
80 per cent of those who died in fires in The Bahamas in 2002 were Haitian.
That is a serious matter and it is clear what must be done. We applaud
the fact that the police are to launch a public education campaign in that
community.
RESTORATIVE
JUSTICE RED MASS THEME
Attorney General Alfred Sears has moved from activism
to the establishment. And no more establishment position could there
be than to attend the Red Mass that is held in the first week of January.
Mr. Sears attended the mass on Sunday 5th January at the Roman Catholic
Cathedral in Nassau. He heard the Catholic Archbishop call for restorative
justice. It is a strong point with the Catholic Church. They
have held seminars on the point. The point is that victim’s rights
must have some attention paid to them because the public does not feel
that they get satisfaction from the criminal justice system. In the
old days, it was felt that once the prosecution did its work on behalf
of the aggrieved person or complainant that was enough. But the criminal
justice system fails in so many ways: delay, inadequate sentencing and
the crime still leaves the victim feeling unwhole. It is therefore
important to heed the Archbishop's cry and move in the direction of restorative
justice. Tribune photo of the Attorney General and Archbishop Burke
at the Red Mass.
DEATH
ON AN AIRPLANE
The late Everett Bannister, an old airplane man
himself, used to always say that whenever there is a plane crash it usually
happens in threes. After a full year with no airplane fatalities
in the US commercial air industry, after the horrendous year of 2001 and
11th September, a commuter aircraft of US Airways went down after taking
off from an airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. On board were three
Bahamians, who are said to be dual nationals of The Bahamas and the US.
They lived in Abaco. The Albury family of Marsh Harbour has lost
Robin (left), Caitlin (centre) and Nicholas (right). This is very
sad and we express our sympathy to their families.
Since that one in North Carolina, there was another
crash in Turkey and in Peru. It all goes to show that airplane flying
is intrinsically dangerous and you can never take enough of a safety precaution
when it comes to these flying tubes filled with flammable liquid.
The early report is that the plane that took off with the Bahamians aboard
was improperly loaded which could have caused the plane to crash shortly
after take off.
COMMENTARY
ON TRIBUNE EDITIORIAL
There is an old saying that it is better to be silent
and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and be confirmed one.
That can be the only response to the words of Eileen Carron this week in
The Tribune in her propaganda pieces that pass for editorials. Mrs.
Carron has taken to parsing every word and phrase of the Foreign Minister
as if she is holding a brief for someone else. The question she must
ask is whether or not she is the stalking horse for someone else.
The Tribune’s editorial says that The Bahamas Foreign Minister ought to
have thanked the US Ambassador for giving a clear picture of what the problems
are in The Bahamas when he gave his address to the public on 6th December.
It is a good thing that she is not conducting the foreign policy of The
Bahamas. There is apparently nothing for which The Tribune will not
fall down and play dead when it comes to who they perceive to be their
social betters. It clouds her judgment and we have charitably called
her before intellectually dishonest. Says she: “Mr. Mitchell’s sudden
aversion to using the press on this occasion is out of character.”
And that she has seen no evidence of a threat to Bahamian sovereignty,
calling in aid the Rylands and Fletcher principle from her days in law
school she claims that The Bahamas has an obligation to the United States.
Here is what someone ought to remind Mrs. Carron
and The Tribune. She is the same woman who opposed Bahamian sovereignty
so who would not have any difficulty at all with anything anyone does to
this country. She would not know sovereignty if it stared her in
the face. Further, Fred Mitchell is the Foreign Minister of The Bahamas
not someone on a frolic of his own. It has been the persistent line
of The Tribune to pursue this business of Fred Mitchell acting on his own.
The position taken by the Foreign Minister must be presumed as with all
Cabinet Minister, to be in fact the position of the Government, not Fred
Mitchell’s personal position. As for Rylands and Fletcher.
This principle has no applicability to The Bahamas situation and drugs.
The fact is that it is both the United States and Columbia who owe The
Bahamas some compensation for causing the problems to The Bahamas.
We are neither a supplying country or a consuming country. We are
simply a way station. The United States has done nothing to
stop demand in the United States. That is the principle that stares
us openly in the face.
The last line for The Tribune must be: there are
none so blind as those who will not see.
ANSWERING
ANDREW ALLEN
Daddy is now out of power so the intrepid newsman
is boldly going into places and areas where no man has gone before.
Andrew Allen, son of the privileged, schooled with the mucks, and adopted
of their attitudes, now comes with advice that examines the Foreign Minister’s
airport statement as he departed on leave that is so perverse that it really
bears ignoring. What is amazing is that he has the facility to turn
on its head a statement that said nothing about the US Ambassador that
talked generally about The Bahamas generally in Foreign Affairs.
The fact is that most diplomacy is done quietly
and without provocation. The fact is that the only diplomat who seems
to need his work to be done by the methods being employed is the one who
is always in the newspaper. The fact is that there are no problems
between the US and The Bahamas except in one person's mind. That
person is certainly not the Minister of Foreign Affairs. When Mr.
Allen learns some patriotism perhaps we can talk to him and regard him
as intellectually honest enough to comment without thinking that he has
perverse motives.
TRIBUTE
TO SIR GERALD CASH
Sir Gerald Christopher Cash is dead at 85 years old. Sir Gerald served
as Governor General of The Bahamas from 1976 to 1989. He served in
the post longer than any other person and was to most the Governor General’s
Governor General. The Prime Minister in a public statement hailed
Sir Gerald for his contributions to the life and development of The Bahamas.
Sir Gerald served in the House of Assembly, the Senate and he also served
as a member of the Executive Council, the forerunner of the modern Cabinet
from 1958 to 1962. He served in the Senate as President. He
then went on to become the Governor General, first acting when Sir Milo
Butler, the first Bahamas Governor General took ill.
We believe however that Sir Gerald's finest hour
was when he was appointed a member of the House Select Committee to look
into Racial Discrimination that was moved by the late Sir Etienne Dupuch.
Sir Etienne later promoted the adoption of the report of that Select Committee
as the straw the broke the camel’s back for racial discrimination in The
Bahamas. But sir Gerald Cash wrote a minority report. In that
report, he said that he did not think that the report of the majority went
far enough and called for legislation to end racial discrimination in The
Bahamas. This is important because many people criticized Sir Gerald
during his lifetime for being a man who sat on the fence and did not have
strong opinions. But he had a particular image of himself.
That image showed that he was best suited for the role that he was later
to play as the Governor General of The Bahamas; a neutral political figure
who should not express his political opinions publicly. What counts
is that when history called upon him to take a stand, he did. The
country should remember that fact.
There is to be a state funeral for Sir Gerald at
Christ Church Cathedral in Nassau. He is to be buried with full military
honours. So we have buried another great Bahamian, we say God rest
him, and may he rest in peace. A great man is gone.
FRANKLYN
WILSON’S DEFENCE OF MINISTER MITCHELL
Kudos to Franklyn Wilson CMG for his stalwart defence
of Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell and his attack on U.S. Ambassador Blankenship's
behavior in The Bahamas. Mr. Wilson appeared on the Jones and Company
Radio show on Sunday 5th January. Wendall Jones who is the host of
the show has also been consistently calling for Mr. Blankenship to be recalled.
There were other supportive voices in the press among them letter writer
Jacob Johnson who argued that the Ambassador had in fact called the Bahamian
people to treason and that the best profile for an Ambassador was a low
profile. We could not agree more.
The Bahamian people are with the Foreign Minister
on this one. Now we need to know where the Government is.
MAJORITY
RULE DAY
10th January 2003 marked the 36th anniversary of Majority Rule in The Bahamas.
One hundred and thirty four years after the abolition of slavery, the descendants
of the slaves were able to accomplish the power of governing the country.
The country has progressed since to full sovereignty. And so even
those 30 years of Independence to be celebrated on 10th July 2003 would
not have been possible unless there was 10th January 1967. It was
a great day. We salute all the people of The Bahamas on the occasion
of this magnificent anniversary. The Progressive Liberal Party should
seek to make this a national holiday and of course be sure that the whole
holiday is depoliticized.
The Bahamas Christian Council held an ecumenical
service in Rawson Square to mark the occasion and Raynard Rigby (shown
in this Tribune photo), the National Chairman of the PLP delivered
a welcome address. Mr. Rigby later called it a sad day for Bahamian
democracy when the FNM declined to take part in the service. Please
click here for Mr. Rigby's remarks at the service.
OF
NOTE AND MENTION
B.J. Nottage
It is strange that Dr. Bernard Nottage in his appearance
on radio LOVE 97 on Thursday 9th January should choose to concentrate on
the message of the US Ambassador, which is a message that no one denies
is relevant. The problem is that the Ambassador shows disrespect
for the country by his methodology and the country has no choice but to
respond in kind. One would have thought that all of the leaders of
the political parties at least understand and accept that The Bahamas is
a country and one for which it is worth fighting. All the Leaders
of the political parties have to examine what this country actually means
to them and at what point do they draw the line in the sand; win, lose
or draw.
The Minister of Junkanoo
You can't win for losing. The Minister took
the line at a press conference attended and supported by leading junkanoos
(see Felipe Major's Tribune photo) that he did not want to enter into any
“He say, I say” over the results of the Junkanoo and bleachers issue.
He said he wanted to do a proper accounting. Rumours are flying in
the capital that the FNM plans a major push against the PLP on this issue.
The Minister quite rightly wants to get all his ducks in a row. But
for that frankness, the press led the story on Friday 10th January with
the line that the Minister was ducking Junkanoo questions. We’ll
see what they say when the Minister issues his full report. The least
that can be said is that this Minister has usefully moved the whole process
of Junkanoo forward and up a notch.
Austin Knowles’ Bail Application
One wonders what the US Ambassador has to say now
about the fact that the Courts, we repeat the Courts have decided that
Austin Knowles should not be granted bail. The application was dismissed
on 9th January. The US Ambassador said that he wants The Bahamas
to change the bail laws. Read his address of 6th December because
too many people escape on bail. Hmmm! We wonder what he has
to say now that Max Factor, the cosmetics king has a great grandson who
is now on the lam from a rape charge. He was let out on bail in the
US and the bail was a million dollars but with all of the power of the
US and its bail laws, the man still got away. So now, do we conclude
that the US judicial system is corrupt because of that? Talk about
double standards!
Kudos to the Labour Minister
Vincent Peet has decided that the nurses should
have their day in deciding whether or not they want to continue as members
of the Bahamas Public Services Union or go on their own. The FNM
refused to allow the vote to take place. The PLP's Minister of Labour
Mr. Peet has said that a vote should go ahead and the nurses are pleased
that at last they will get their say. This is another praiseworthy
decision like the one to grant union rights to the casino employees of
the casino in Grand Bahama. Previous governments of The Bahamas had
unlawfully prevented the casino workers from organizing.
New Working Hours
Please take note that as of 1st February 2003, the
working week is reduced to 40 hours. There should be no decrease in pay.
Some employers have used this as an opportunity to reduce the pay of hourly
paid workers. The law reduced the time from 48 hours to 44 last 1st
February. That was because the law was badly drafted. There
needs to be an amendment so that something that was meant to make workers
better off does not leave them worse off. The Government must also
get its act together and realize that over time payments must now be made
to all its employees in accordance with the law and they cannot contract
out of those provisions unless you are talking about the Police, Defence
Force and Prison.
Dion Foulkes Emerges
Dion Foulkes, the former Minister of Education defeated
in the 2002 General Election seems to have been in virtual hiding since
his defeat. But now he has emerged at the side of Tommy Turnquest
at the press conference to accuse the PLP of being involved with drugs.
With father Sir Arthur now once again a Tribune columnist, the scene is
now set for yet another grudge match between the PLP and the FNM in 2007.
The PLP must avoid the mistake made the FNM in 1997 of predicting the demise
of the defeated party. The fact is that just as quickly as the fortunes
of the FNM reversed in 1997 to 2002, the PLP can face the same. Senator
Tommy Turnquest, Mr. Foulkes, Carl Bethel and others are young men and
there are young women too who were defeated so the PLP is making a grave
mistake by seeking to say that the FNM party is finished.
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
Damage To Our Country
This week Tommy Turnquest set off a firestorm in
Grand Bahama when he called a press conference flanked by his Deputy Dion
Foulkes. The press conference was called to repeat stories about
the PLP receiving monies from questionable sources, including drug-related
sources in the May 2nd General Election where his party lost all but one
seat in New Providence. That seat that was not lost is the Montagu
seat held by Brent Symonette, the soon to be leader of the FNM who will
become the leader by default because these fellows are well on their way
to self destructing.
People on Grand Bahama are asking what was Tommy’s
goal in making and repeating these allegations because it defies logic.
A hotel worker told News from Grand Bahama “This is the second time Tommy
has sided with other interests against his own people. Remember when
he went up to the ‘Our’ Lucaya construction site and ridiculed the Immigration
Officers for doing their jobs?” Another comment: “In the outside
world the press will report on the Government of The Bahamas not the PLP
or FNM – but the Government… they will report on the Government so he,
in effect, was breaking down his own house.” Still another comment
made to us was “thank God people did not elect him. Whoever is advising
him in these matters missed the boat completely because that was a cheap
shot that can only bolster Blankenship’s claim… Tommy has to know how far
to take his politics and when it is time to put country first.”
The facts do not bear what these allegations because
drug arrests and seizures have been on the increase since May 2nd.
A word of advice to Tommy from this quarter: you should never be seen to
be playing the part of a puppet on a string being manipulated by outside
forces.
Overgrazing the Commons
There is a principle that is taught that on a parcel
of land, which can sustain twenty sheep, and you put forty sheep on the
same parcel you would find in short order that the parcel will become overgrazed
and all the sheep will die. This same principle can be used in the
ongoing dispute between the Grand Bahama Taxi-cab union and the Grand Bahama
Tour Bus Association. With the tourism numbers down in Grand Bahama,
we have said from this quarter before that there is not sufficient business
to sustain both the taxi and bus drivers to allow pickup from the airport
and harbour. So, notwithstanding this so-called agreement between the two
groupings we know that we will continue to see disputes break out between
the two if our tourism arrival numbers do not improve.
The Freeport News this week carried a story that
Grand Bahama failed the test of the trial run by Holland America cruises
to add Grand Bahama to its itinerary. The story implied that Holland
America decided against Grand Bahama because of this ongoing dispute and
we say that this was indeed stretching it, to try and blame the bus and
taxi-cab drivers.
Constitutional Commission
The Freeport News carried a front page story, which
read five Grand Bahama residents appointed to the Constitutional Commission.
They included Harvey Tynes, Q.C.; Willie Moss, Maurice Glinton, Calvin
Kemp and Robert Adams. We believe that this was a good selection
from Grand Bahama, but the question on everyone’s mind was, by what authority
was this Commission appointed, because it had not statutory authority.
We wonder how is it to be funded, if it has no legal standing? So
it seems that this is just another exercise in futility or a talking shop.
If we are to be seen to be serious, the Government must move with haste
to give it some form of legal standing so the findings of the Commission
will not just be compiled and put on a shelf to gather dust. We say,
let’s get it right.
19 – 25 The Deadly Years
It is 1.30 a.m. on a Saturday morning and the telephone
rings and the news comes to a mother or a father that they should come
to the hospital immediately because there has been an accident and their
son or daughter has been seriously injured in a car crash. There
is another scenario that is played out. That a parent should report
to the emergency room because their son has been stabbed or shot in an
altercation. These two scenarios are becoming too frequent in our
society today and we wonder what we as a people can do to arrest this awful
state of affairs because yesterday, two 19-year olds in Grand Bahama; Miss
Lindsey Jones, the victim of a traffic accident and Julian Sawyer II were
both laid to rest.
We don’t know what the answers to these senseless
losses are, but all we say to the parents is that all we can do is pray
that our children make it through these most dangerous years. In
the words of Deacon Jeff Hollingsworth, we tell them that we love them
and to take it easy.
BS
 |
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - Sir Gerald Christopher Cash GCMG,
GCVO, former Governor General of The Bahamas was laid to rest following
a state funeral at the Christ Church Cathedral in Nassau on Wednesday 15th
January. Flags flew at half mast throughout the country during the
week. There were spontaneous statements of affection from public
leaders and from ordinary Bahamians who had worked with Sir Gerald who
remembered his time as Governor General as a period of growth and stability
in the early years of the country’s independence. Sir Gerald was
85. The photo by Peter Ramsay shows the Prime Minister Perry Christie
presenting the flag to Sir Gerald’s widow at the grave site in St. Matthew’s
cemetery.
(Click here for full story)
|
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
ONLY ONE TERM?
For our money, PLPs have to get some stiffening in their spines. There is all this gloom and doom talk about one term Government. You hear it even on the streets by people who now shout in public places at Ministers as they pass by that the PLP may only get one term. Hmmm! This is early days and that is foolishness. You simply cannot judge in 2003, months into the term what is going to happen in 2007.
What is the reason for the sentiments? Some PLPs are exasperated at the pace of decision making. They argue that PLPs have not been put in place and that the Government’s work is being frustrated by people who do not share the agenda of the PLP. There may be some of that but one has to ask oneself why, when one looks at complaints against the FNM administration, there were those same complaints. FNM supporters argued that Hubert Ingraham did not clean out the PLPs from the ranks of the civil service and that is why the FNM’s work was not being done.
The PLP now comes in and argues that Hubert Ingraham so stacked the public service that it is impossible for the work to get done.
But isn’t the challenge of leadership to try and understand the problems that face you and get productivity from the people with whom you have to work? We have to remember that it was only a year ago that we in the PLP were arguing that the kind of tribalism that we saw Mr. Ingraham practice would not happen under the PLP. Yet we are now arguing in some quarters that that tribalism must be utilized if were are to get anything done.
But the other dimension to this is of course to redefine the word victimization. Suddenly the FNM has been able to utilize that word to mean the removal of any person from any position at any time by the new PLP administration. That is certainly not true. The PLP has to come to grips with seizing control of the new Government administration and it has taken too long to do so. It must choose its managers because 2007 (election year) is not that long away and the PLP must start thinking about what the shape of the economy will be in that year and what will be the shape of the Government’s administration both in the civil service and politically in that year.
All of this will take time. The complaints are that it is taking too much time. And what is also causing concern is that MPs visiting their district know that there is a rise in despair and a lack of jobs. Young men sitting on the walls of parks without work and no prospect of work and not properly trained.
All of this must be pressing on the politicians and so they too instead of remaining positive and upbeat are turning in on themselves. We think that it is too early. We think that it is taking too long for the PLP to make decisions that are critical for the future. We press the PLP to begin to move. But we also think that the PLP must reorient its thinking to become proactive and be sure to remember how we got into the Government. The leaders of the PLP, the party and the Government, need to sit down amongst themselves, have a frank political chat with one another and start getting on the road to putting the Government in gear.
If the PLP does not have this frank conversation with itself, if it fails for too long to act then the whole thing of a one term Government will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. A word to the wise they say is sufficient.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 18th January at midnight: 19,101.
Number of hits for the month of January ending at Saturday 18th January 2003: 44,944.
Number of hits for the year 2003 ending Saturday 17th January 2003:
44,944.
WHAT
IS A LIFE WORTH
Fox Hill was the scene of another senseless murder last week. On
Wednesday 15th January at around 8 p.m. shots rang out in the Congo Town
area of Fox Hill. The police said there was some kind of feud going
on between some drug people, one of whom was offended by the breaking of
a windshield in a car. The result was that shots rang out Wild Wild
West style on Major Road in Fox Hill and then an 11 year old student (Eddison
Curtis, pictured) of the Uriah McPhee Primary School was dead. He
got a single bullet wound to the head while sitting watching television
next to his grandmother.
The country that is really numb to these murders
was in shock again. The community leaders went into action with calls
for the death penalty and for guns to be taken off the streets. The
church leaders prayed. The politicians said nothing but seemed mainly
to be wringing their hands. It was only left to the police to try
and figure out who did it. By the end of the week, they said they
had questioned a number of people that might lead to a charge.
The problem is that Fox Hill is the neighbourhood
in trouble again. The fact that a primary school student is dead
is cause for even further alarm. But one remembers that it was a
primary school student and his mother who were shot and killed less than
a year ago in a series of tit for tat murders in Fox Hill. No one
seems to be getting to the root of why this is happening. The causes
must be social in nature and require the attention of politicians and civic
leaders on a sustained basis. This will not happen. We will
have praying and the same useless proselytizing, the same call for the
death penalty, then we will all go back to sleep until yet another person
is killed.
The police tell us that some five people have been
murdered for the year 2003. If things keep up this pace, we shall
have 90 murders in The Bahamas by the end of the year.
CHILDREN
DEALING WITH GRIEF
Those who are in their 50s and 40s in The Bahamas can surely remember that
they hardly heard of the death of a child in their classrooms as they were
growing up. What deaths they did hear about, had to do with illness,
not homicide. The question is how is the constant issue of dead classmates
that occurs in The Bahamas with increasing frequency being dealt with in
the primary and secondary schools of The Bahamas. In the case of
Fox Hill, the neighbourhood has been traumatized over the past two years
with death and mayhem. In each case, it involved the death of a child.
In another case, at the Sandilands Primary School in Fox Hill children
had to be let out early and special counsellors brought in when they were
able to watch from their school window a man being beaten to death and
left dead right in their school yard. We say again, that Bahamians
have become so numb to this that even the most outrageous murder hardly
brings a ripple of protest, except from those who are beating the drum
on capital punishment.
We think that it is important for us to help the
children over these traumas. This should not be seen as a normal
part of the life of any young child. But beyond the words, the Government
itself must make a special political effort to get to the bottom of this.
If the Government fails to do so, then crime will ruin the tourism trade;
it will infect the national life and become endemic. The result is
that we will soon become like Jamaica, with countries scrambling to put
in visa requirements for our nationals who travel abroad and people not
wanting to come to The Bahamas because it is seen as too violent a place.
Tribune
photo of Uriah McPhee students raising hands in condolence by Felipe Major.
THE
NASSAU GUARDIAN
The Nassau Guardian came in for considerable criticism
this week by the picture that we now show. The picture appeared on
Thursday 18th January on the front page of The Guardian. It was taken
by Donald Knowles. It seemed unimaginably insensitive for it to be
used. The fact was that an 11 year old boy was gunned down in his
home and died. His mother was severely traumatized and one could
imagine her further trauma to see a photo on the front page of the Nassau
Guardian with the persons carrying her son’s body out of the house and
laughing. Shame on The Guardian!
FOOTNOTE
TO GUARDIAN HISTORY
The Nassau Guardian has announced that it has laid
off seven members of staff. The Guardian's announcement said that
the publisher felt saddened by it but that there was nothing personal involved.
The Tribune’s report of the matter had a different tack. It claimed
that Guardian sales had been anaemic for years and that some people with
20 years experience had been laid off by the Nassau Guardian. The
Tribune said that the Union’s Acting President Robert Farquharson claimed
that the right procedures had not been followed in the lay off.
The Tribune reports that another fifteen percent of the staff is to go.
The Tribune also reports that the Perrys who own the major shareholding
in the Nassau Guardian want to bail out of the paper but so far no one
or group has been able to meet the price. The Perrys are a family
out of Palm Beach in the United States.
THE
DRUMS OF WAR
George Bush is determined it seems to plunge the
world into another war. The British Government headed by a Labour
Prime Minister Tony Blair ought to be ashamed of itself for following this
line uncritically. The recent statistics coming out of the United
Kingdom show that the British public and Members of Parliament are opposed
to the war that Mr. Bush proposes to fight against Iraq because no convincing
case has been made that one is necessary. Notwithstanding that fact,
the United States President was like a crazed individual on television
shouting out at Saddam Hussein that this was his last chance to disarm.
The fact is that the fight with Iraq is no fight at all. The United
States no doubt has the power to destroy the ground that Iraqis walk on.
But we have to ask the penetrating question what will it be for?
Surely the question of regime change is not enough. There are bad
guys all over the world and the United States is not attacking them.
It causes one to wonder whether or not the motives of the United States
are pure. Further, you have the North Koreans who clearly have a
more potent force and threat available to them than the Iraqis but Mr.
Bush says that diplomacy must be used to fight that problem. It just
seems that he is afraid to face a real fight but is quick to be brave when
it comes to a defenceless country, a toothless tiger like Iraq.
One funny moment in the scenarios was when the Americans
tried to make something out of 11 shells that they found which they said
were capable of sending chemical weapons aloft. There was no evidence
that they had so been used. They said it was disturbing but the United
Nations inspection team came back and said that this was not enough to
show that Iraq was in material breach of the UN resolution. Clearly
in a large country like Iraq you could have forgotten 11 shells.
Then there was the Iraqi scientist who was taken away and searched.
He gave a statement on television about how he and his family were searched,
with his wife's private bedroom being searched when she was on her sick
bed. One of the inspectors gave her a hug and it later transpired
that this hug was simply to check to see whether or not she was hiding
any evidence of weapons on her. The team found nothing.
The UN Inspection team has suddenly found a lot
of energy, presumably because they have now been supplied with additional
information by the British and the Americans. But also we think it
is because the US in its embarrassment that nothing has been found, has
put pressure on them to find something, anything. Suddenly Hans Blix,
the chief is saying that Iraq needs to co-operate more. Iraq has
no obligation to co-operate more than the passive co-operation that they
are giving. The country has said that the UN inspectors are free
to go where they want and to ask what they want. What more should
Iraq do?
The fact is that the US and the British are proposing
to plunge the world into a war that the world does not want but does not
have the power of military force to stop. There is however the power
of moral suasion and the voice must be heard just like those hundreds of
thousands in Washington and around the world who marched on Saturday 18th
January to call for an end to the war mongering. It must also be
pointed out that 81 per cent of the American public says that the US President
should not go into war without a UN resolution; that the US should not
go it alone; and that the President of the US has so far not made a convincing
case for war.
CHANGING
CAR MILEAGE
The Tribune reported an interesting story on Friday
17th January. It goes to a practice that has been suspected around
The Bahamas for some time. The number of cars that are being sold
here on the second hand market as low mileage up market cars. No
car is more poplar than the Lexus in the up market in The Bahamas.
Dr. Anthony Carey apparently got taken by one car dealer. The Tribune
reports that a consent order by Justice Lyons of the Supreme Court was
entered against Executive Motors (the Toyota Dealer) and Quality Auto (the
Suzuki dealer) by Dr. Anthony Carey. Altogether he should collect
some $30,000 from the companies because it appears that the odometer on
the car sold to him understated the mileage on the car. This is a
good consumer story and one that others should explore.
ANDREW
ALLEN MUST COME AGAIN
It must have been the shock of all right thinking
people when the son of William Allen let loose with a diatribe against
the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell as a result of the column
that appeared on this site last week. We stand by every word.
It is interesting how when faced with the fact of the background against
which this criticism emanates, the reaction is to try to create political
mischief by red herrings and smokescreens. Mr. Allen dismisses the
comments from this column as an attempt to create class warfare.
No such thing.
The fact is that many find it inexplicable that
a son of Bill Allen, the former Minister of Finance who was born and raised
in the bottom could be so out of touch and just plain obtuse when it comes
to the ordinary realities of life in The Bahamas that he could come to
the defence of someone who sought to attack and embarrass his country.
Mr. Allen has decided to side with the aggressor against The Bahamas.
There is a reason that one does not waste time trying
to analyse Mr. Allen’s specific arguments. It is clear that he does
not have the facts and has another agenda. That agenda is to push
The Tribune’s uncritical line that whatever the Americans say is well said.
We say again that Mr. Allen ought to get himself a stiff dose of patriotism
and then get out into the streets of Nassau and seek to understand the
people of this country. When he has done that and then freed himself
from the slave mentality as the servant of The Tribune maybe, just maybe
he can be taken seriously.
POLICE
APPRECIATION WEEK
Bishop Neil Ellis of Mt. Tabor Full Gospel Fellowship
has been active over the last week in promoting the cause of the police.
It has been Police Appreciation Week. And during the week there was
an award ceremony for police officers at Government House on Tuesday 14th
January. Governor General Dame Ivy Dumont, the Prime Minister and
the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Cynthia Pratt
were in attendance at the ceremony. The families of the police officers
seemed to be pleased at the awards. The Prime Minister flew back
to Nassau after hours of meetings in Freeport with the Grand Bahama Port
Authority to attend the Police banquet that ended their appreciation week.
Deputy Prime Minister Pratt ended the week with a service in Freeport.
We congratulate all the officers who were commended during the week.
INGRAHAM
NOT TO BE THE LEADER
According to reports Hubert Ingraham has been having the time of his life
this past year. He is collecting over one hundred thousand dollars
in pension money and his full salary as a Parliamentarian. He had
the usual boiled fish party at his house on New Year’s Day. There
was a parade of senior civil servants at the house that would make a who’s
who of Government. Mr. Ingraham was clearly enjoying himself when
he joined the Cabinet to march along the road to the grave site of Sir
Gerald in St. Matthew’s cemetery. All along the way people were shouting
at him: “Look at my Prime Minister!” This of course could only add
to the current speculation all around town that Hubert has been inviting
the faithful back to the ranch for powwows on how he can recapture the
leadership of the FNM. Not so said Dwight Sawyer, the Chair of the
FNM this week. Mr. Sawyer was responding to a story in the weekly
rag The Punch. Mr. Sawyer said that Mr. Ingraham has absolutely no
interest in the leadership of the FNM.
That out of the way, now we hear that Alvin Smith,
the Leader of the Opposition by the Constitution in the anomalous position
of not being leader of his party, has decided that he likes being Leader
of the Opposition and that he intends to run for the position of Leader
of the party when their convention comes up against the FNM Leader Senator
Tommy Turnquest. The talk is that Brent Symonette has chickened out.
He is visibly uncomfortable talking about race, and until he can get over
that he will not make it. This despite the comfort given by Dr. Bernard
J. Nottage, the Leader of the CDR that a white man can be Prime Minister
of The Bahamas.
Dr. Nottage has thrown all of his supporters into
confusion by his backing the US Ambassador against the Bahamian people
and
then the gratuitous and badly thought out comment about a white man becoming
Prime Minister of The Bahamas. Further note that you had him failing
to support Majority Rule day, choosing instead to attack it as a PLP holiday
or black man’s holiday. The line was also pursued by Phenton Neymour
who was one of Dr. Nottage’s candidates in the last election. How
strange are things these days? BIS photo of former Prime Minister and
Mrs. Ingraham going to the state funeral for Sir Gerald Cash by Peter Ramsay.
MOTHER
PRATT MEETS CHINESE VICE PREMIER
Madam Wu Yi, State Councillor of the People’s Republic of China, aka a
Vice Premier flew into Freeport, Grand Bahama, on a chilly Friday evening
17th January. She and a group of Chinese businessmen were onboard
a chartered 757 jet that has been flying them around the Caribbean.
They have been on an eight nation tour of the Caribbean. Jamaica
is the last stop when she leaves The Bahamas. Madam Wu was met at
the airport in Grand Bahama by the Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt
who is her host during the visit.
Mrs. Pratt accompanied the Vice Premier on a tour
of Freeport including the investments of Hutchison Whampoa in Grand Bahama.
These include almost one billion dollars of investment in a container port
and in hotels in Freeport. Whampoa is a Chinese company and it also
owns fifty percent of the Grand Bahama Development Company, the Container
Port and the Grand Bahama Airport Company and the hotels on the Lucaya
strip. The photo from the Freeport News shows the Deputy Prime Minister
greeting the State Councillor.
FAREWELL
TO A GOVERNOR GENERAL
It was moving service of thanksgiving for the gift of a great Bahamian.
Sir Gerald Cash, the country's second and longest serving Governor General
died at the age of 85 on 6th January and was buried on Wednesday 15th January.
The service took place at Christ Church Anglican Cathedral. The music
was superb. The day began with a march from the House of Assembly
following tributes from the House where Sir Gerald first served in 1949.
He lost his seat in 1962 when the PLP’s National Committee for Positive
Action put up a candidate Anthony Roberts against the late Sir Stafford
Sands of the UBP in 1962. Sir Gerald remained an independent throughout
his life.
The Prime Minister lauded Sir Gerald in his address
at the cathedral. Please click
here for that address. The principal address in the House for
the PLP was given by the Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell. Former Prime
Minister Hubert Ingraham praised the address by the Foreign Minister. Please
click here for that address. We present a full photo spread of
the events by Peter Ramsay. Please
click here for the Peter Ramsay photo essay. The photos here
of the Widow Cash at the House of Assembly, the start of the funeral march
from the House and a recent photo of Sir Gerald are by Derek Smith.
WARNING
FROM PARADISE ISLAND
Paul O’Neal, the Chief Operating Officer of Atlantis
at Paradise Island has told his employees that despite the fact that the
hotel is holding its own so far, the war drums being beaten by President
George Bush of the United States are ominous for the continued success
of the resort. Mr. O’Neal says that cutbacks may be necessary if
war breaks out and there are adverse consequences for tourism travel.
OIL
AND THE BAHAMAS
Bahamian officials are watching the situation in
Venezuela with a wary eye. The oil prices are increasing because
the political troubles in Venezuela have been causing shortages in the
market. The Bahamas ought to be making contingency plans in case
we run out of gas.
HOOPS!
THERE IT IS
Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt filled in for Prime Minister Perry Christie at the
official openings of the St. Georges High School gym and the Jack Hayward
gym in Freeport. The ceremonies were too long particularly the first
one, which seemed overindulgent. It forced Minster of Education Alfred
Sears to apologize to the children at the second opening of the Jack Hayward
High School for the long delay. The first school seemed insensitive
to the fact that they should have been on time.
On the day, Mother Pratt stole the show when she
shot a successful basket on the first try, harking back to her earlier
days as a star basketball player. She urged respect, discipline and
hard work on the school children. Mother Pratt invited all the Ministers
there to come and try their hand. Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred
Mitchell tried his hand at basketball for the first time in his life and
of course, missed. No such thing for Mother Pratt. She got
it the first time. The photo is from the Freeport News.
TIT
FOR TAT AT BAIC
The Tribune has published in its Saturday 18th January
edition a letter purportedly signed by the acting general manager of the
Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) E. Luther Smith
in which he is appealing to the Prime Minister to intervene to block instructions
from the Minister Leslie Miller to transfer two of its employees out of
the Corporation into the Ministry. The paper also quotes Sidney Stubbs,
the chair of BAIC as accusing the Minister of making "trite" allegations
against him. This is the latest round in the war between the two
men, the Minister Leslie Miller and the BAIC chair Sidney Stubbs and anonymous
sources have been saying that the Prime Minister needs to act because in
the words of the Tribune, the Government appears to be "coming apart at
the seams..." This is clearly hyperbolic nonsense but at the same
time we believe that the Minister ought to be supported in his efforts
to properly organise the Corporation.
MITCHELL
TO CALIFORNIA
At the end of the week, Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell
is expected to travel to California to speak to the United Methodist Church
of Altadena California at next Sunday’s morning worship service there.
Minister Mitchell is to speak about international relations as The Bahamas
seeks to further define its place in the world as a country and a sovereign,
independent nation.
The Pastor at the church is Reverend Yvonne Williams
Boyd and the service begins at 10.30am Sunday 26th January. For the
many who have e-mailed this site seeking information, the church's address
is:
Altadena United Methodist Church
349 W Altadena Drive
Altadena, California
626-797-2065
Bahamians who are in the greater Los Angeles area
who wish to attend may contact the Ministry of Tourism's office there.
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
Is It A Deal, Or Not?
“We have been sold out!” was the cry that rang out
loud and clear as the Minister of Foreign Affairs sat at breakfast with
the politicos on Friday morning. They were talking about an agreement
that was reached between the Grand Bahama Taxi-Cab union and the Grand
Bahama Tour Operators Bus Association. The agreement would entitle
the tour operators to move fifty percent of pre-arranged tours from the
airport and harbour by bus. Another driver was quoted as saying,
“I’m not a member of the union and he (Irvin Kemp president of the union)
speaking for me? That agreement ain’t worth the paper it’s written
on.” Another driver: “We don’t have enough business for six hundred taxi-cabs
and he givin’ away fifty percent of our business?” Still another: “I have
a bad feeling about this deal.”
The Minister, without a doubt, was given the clear
impression that this is going to be a tricky situation for the Government
to sort out. After all, how can a union purport to represent a group,
when - as in the case of the taxi-cab drivers - only about two hundred
of the six hundred cabbies are members? The Minister was advised
to take this message back to his colleagues, ‘cause trouble coming.
Tommy T
When will this fellow learn? We are informed
that Tommy Turnquest, the leader of the FNM was in Grand Bahama from Thursday
16th January and an informant told us that instead of Tommy going around
to the taxi stands, to the restaurants, to the straw market to press the
flesh with the people; "all he does is go to these meetings in these suites...
He must appreciate that meetings like that don’t win votes. Why didn’t
he come to breakfast with the fellows?"
We know that every time the Minister of Foreign
Affairs is in Freeport, he can be seen all over touching base with people,
some of whom he knows are not PLPs. The sooner Tommy learns this,
the better for him. Our informant told us that, nonetheless, Tommy
met with the FNM faithful on Friday night and now people are quietly saying
that as the convention approaches, they might have to start seriously considering
looking at an Allen / Symonette team for leadership.
Ministers Speak To Youth
The Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Neville
Wisdom along with Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell on Friday January
17th attended the annual general meeting of the Golden Eagles track club
in Freeport. The meeting was held at the Government Administrator’s
office where the Minister of Youth addressed the athletes and parents.
Minister Wisdom spoke about his time as a track coach and told the young
people that performance and discipline go hand in hand. He also spoke
about the pitfalls of adolescent sexual activity that could bring their
young careers to a screeching halt. Minister Wisdom encouraged the
youngsters to seek guidance from that greater power that is God to help
them and direct them in the right path of life.
Minister Mitchell for his part told the young audience
that he noticed they were somewhat shy and hesitant to say their full names.
He told them that they should be proud of the names that their parents
gave them and that their names say to the world who they are, so whenever
anyone asked who you are, you should be proud to stand and give your full
name. He also pointed them to the fact that Parliamentary procedure
can be seen on ZNS TV13 and these are the same procedures that they will
have to go through from time to time in their various organizations and
clubs and he continued on telling the young people about being proud of
one’s country.
The young people were completely bowled over to
see two Ministers attend their meeting.
War Is Not The Answer
In early November 2002, friends told us not to worry,
the US President was only sabre rattling and that there would not be a
war. This week, as the deployment orders went out to thousands of
American troops, it looked as though war is inevitable. We believe
that this war against Iraq cannot be justified in light of what the world
now knows about North Korea and its nuclear plants. We believe that
a compelling case has not been made for routing the Iraqi people.
The question must be asked, for what? For one man, Saddam Hussein?
Or is the real reason about receiving cheap oil from the rich fields of
Iraq. We believe that a war might last four days before a surrender
is made, but will it all end there? We think not. We ask the
question, is it worth it to trouble a people who do not share the same
Christian values as we in this hemisphere and we have further seen how
they don’t mind dying for a cause over the evening news.
We pray that the G7 nations will, in the end, persuade
the US to pull back from this most dangerous state that will after all
bring pain and suffering not only to the Americans but also to The Bahamas
and its economy and the rest of our brethren in the Caribbean. War
is never the answer and might is not always right.
BS
 |
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The picture of Roger Watson, the man charged with the murder of young Eddie Curtis-Johnson, is the photo of the week. Mr. Watson looked like a wild man. And no doubt that caused many people to jump to conclusions about his guilt. The story is that he is only recently released from prison and now is back in again. If you remember, the young Edison was killed by a bullet that came from a number of shots fired at a house in Fox Hill on Friday 17th January. It was murder number five for the year 2003. The shots were apparently fired because of a dispute over a damaged windshield. Young Mr. Johnson was watching television and the bullet pierced his head and he died instantly. The country was simply outraged. There are now seven murders for the year 2003, two more than a week ago. The police have said that if it keeps up at this rate there will be 90 murders for the year 2003, an all time record. The photo was taken by The Tribune’s Felipe Major. Mr. Watson appeared in court on Monday 20th January. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE PUBLIC IS GROWING WEARY
The
newspapers in The Bahamas were having a field day during the week with
the dispute between the Chairman of The Bahamas Agricultural Industrial
Corporation and the Minister for Trade and Industry Leslie Miller.
There had seemed to be some agreement as early as November 2002 when Prime
Minister Perry Christie reportedly told his convention that both sides
in the dispute had agreed that there would be no further statements to
the press.
The first salvo in the new press war was reported on this site last week. A set of letters was released to the press by persons unknown, which showed that it was the Minister’s intention to transfer two employees out of the Corporation and place them within the public service. This was said somehow to be an attempt to undermine Chairman Stubbs’ authority and the leak was suspected from Mr. Stubbs’ quarter. The fact that the authenticity of the letters was never challenged shows someone in the Corporation wanted to scuttle whatever policy it was that was being planned.
Then the recriminations in public continued. During the week, Chairman of the Corporation Mr. Stubbs claimed that he was going nowhere. He said that he had an appointment until 31st December and he intended to last for the duration of his appointment. The last day of the year is a long way away and there were too many people who were betting that he would not last that long.
The problem spilled over on to the radio talk shows and this caused the Minister to reportedly call up on the show and call the telephone caller attacking his integrity on another matter “ a pathetic liar”.
The Opposition Free National Movement issued a statement saying that both the Minister and the Chairman should resign or be removed. PLPs started pressing the Prime Minister’s ear, saying out loud that the situation could go no further.
The public pressure brought no visible decision about what is to happen but one just has to look at the dynamics of the politics of the situation. How can the Prime Minister choose a backbencher over a Minister? It just can’t happen unless there is something fundamentally wrong. Nothing of a fundamental nature is wrong save and except that the Chair of BAIC does not seem to appreciate that in the war of words, in the war of who is right and wrong he will have to take the fall. Those are just the political facts.
The next question is what will Mr. Stubbs’ response be when, as it now seems inevitable the Prime Minister must act to stop the slow bleed that is affecting his Government by an apparent failure of a backbencher to understand his role. Will that backbencher then take to the highways and byways further threatening his career in an attempt to scuttle the Government or will be simple say: “Uncle” and move on?
Given the history of the thing, it is anybody's guess what will happen. We do not hold out much hope that there will be a quiet departure into that good night. The solution is obvious and that is Mr. Stubbs could be placed in another job and simply be quiet. The Prime Minister will no doubt have to act sooner or later, and the country looks to him to bring a stop to it. The matter is unnecessarily distracting from the Government’s main mission of bringing a better life to the people of The Bahamas.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 25th January 2003 at midnight: 24,136.
Number of hits for the month of January ending Saturday 25th January 2003 at midnight: 69,159.
Number of hits for the year 2003 up to Saturday 25th January 2003
at midnight: 69,159.
INGRAHAM
UP TO MISCHIEF
The National Art Gallery Bill, passed by the House
of Assembly, on Wednesday 22nd January 2003, brought the former Leader
of the Free National Movement and retired Prime Minister out to the House
of
Assembly. It was predictable because he wants it to go down in history
that he was the person responsible for bringing the National Art Gallery
to The Bahamas. The bills were moved in the Parliament by Minister
of Education Alfred Sears and seconded by Fred Mitchell, the Minister of
Foreign Affairs. Both men paid tribute to the vision of the previous
Government in seeking to establish the Gallery. But it was the new
PLP Government that had the insight to bring the matter to its final conclusion.
However, the National Art Gallery was not really
what Mr. Ingraham came to talk about. In typical style, he spoke
about all and sundry or, as Bahamians would say, about horse dead and cow
fat. He launched into a spontaneous explanation about how he prevented
the Foreign Minister from getting into Parliament on two occasions: in
1977 when he led the fight against Sir Lynden and Arthur Hanna for Fred
Mitchell to get the nomination for Centreville against the then Senator
Perry Christie. Then he admitted that he stopped the Minister from
getting into the House in 1997, by gerrymandering the boundaries presumably.
Mr. Ingraham has much to answer for in the last matter.
It is this column’s view that the death of the young
boy Edison in Fox Hill in what is now in the political constituency of
Montagu can be traced back to that purely political decision of Mr. Ingraham
to put a group of Black Bahamians into a constituency that Brent Symonette
does not need or care to have in order to win. The result is that
no political leadership is exercised in the area to stop the crime.
Mr. Ingraham ought to do penance for that.
WHO
WILL BECOME PRIME MINISTER?
Hubert Ingraham was in a bantering silly mood in
the House on Wednesday 22nd January and so there he was saying what advice
he had given the Foreign Minister about waiting to become Prime Minister.
According to Mr. Ingraham he told the Foreign Minister that he must wait
his turn to become Prime Minister. It is not his time yet, he said.
Mr. Ingraham said that I told him [Mr. Mitchell] that he must not be too
anxious and that Prime Ministers are very jealous of their positions.
Prime Minister Christie later joined the House and tweaked the former Prime
Minister that he had been watching from television the love fest that was
going on between the former Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister over
the past dating back to 1977.
Mr. Ingraham then went on to explain in his words
how the Foreign Minister had left him. That he had been too busy
to pay attention to the fact that the Foreign Minister had in his words
been enticed by his late predecessor Sir Lynden Pindling to go back to
the PLP. Mr. Ingraham said that he and the Foreign Minister had been
all through the country together: Eleuthera, Spanish Wells, Abaco, Andros,
Bimini. He said that one time the Foreign Minister had driven with
him from North Eleuthera to Cotton Bay in the south because that was what
he wanted. The Foreign Minister asked the former Prime Minister to
say what Mr. Ingraham's mission was for that journey, but Mr. Ingraham
refused to say.
We only say that as amusing as all of this is, and
as the other younger PLPs watched with fascination, Mr. Ingraham can take
no credit for the success of Fred Mitchell. He is obviously his own
man, a self made man. Mr. Ingraham clearly needs to give no advice
to Fred Mitchell. Still, the fact of Mr. Ingraham mentioning who
would succeed Mr. Christie as Prime Minister - and he added Allyson Gibson
in the list as among those that the public was saying had ambitions to
succeed Mr. Christie - caused a discussion on the ZNS radio talk show on
Friday 24th January about whether or not Fred Mitchell could succeed Mr.
Christie.
As for Mr. Mitchell himself, he had nothing to say.
There is nothing to say one imagines. He seems a happy man just doing
the job the Prime Minister has asked him to do. Clearly Mr. Ingraham
was up to destabilizing mischief.
MITCHELL
IN CALIFORNIA
Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell is in California
this week, where today, Sunday 26th January, he delivered the homily at
the United Methodist Church of Altadena California during the Sunday morning
worship service. Minister Mitchell spoke about international relations
as The Bahamas seeks to further define its place in the world as a country
and a sovereign, independent nation. Please
click here for that address. The Pastor at the church is Reverend
Yvonne Williams Boyd. The Foreign Minister hosted the Bahamian community
in Los Angeles to a reception on Saturday evening 25th January.
THE
FORTY HOUR WORK WEEK KICKS IN
The Minister of Labour Vincent Peet (pictured in this Guardian photo by
Farreno Ferguson) has stood his ground and the forty hour work week that
was hastily passed into law in 2001 in a desperate attempt by the FNM to
save its political hide will take effect as scheduled on Saturday 1st February.
The business community is most upset saying that it will increase costs
and cause people to be laid off. Of course that is the typical cry
of business. The former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham in one of
his off the cuff statements in the House on Wednesday 20th January said
that he thought that the business community was not being fair since even
when they were doing well, they still complained that the forty hours work
week would be bad for business. He said that there should be no change
in pay. In that he echoed the words of the Minister of Labour.
The problem is that the lunch hour is not covered
by the law. The other problem is that those who are hourly paid workers
are likely to get less in their pay packet, since the employer is going
to pay them for the reduced hours as opposed to continuing to give them
the same weekly aggregate salary as under the old law, as the law intended
but did not express in the version passed in the House last year.
The employers claimed that there was no custom to pay for the lunch hour.
However, the obvious correct position is that if you have been paid for
the lunch hour as a part of your contract of employment, that benefit cannot
be changed nor contracted out of as a result of this change in the law.
We support the forty hour work week and are happy
that the Government has decided to stick by its guns n this one.
PUBLIC
SERVICE HOURS TO CHANGE
As a result of the change in the law as of 1st February,
the work hours for the Public Service are likely to change from 9 a.m.
to 5:30 p.m. to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There should be no change in pay
for public servants as a result of the change. Former Prime Minister
Hubert Ingraham tried to take credit for this when he spoke about it in
the House on Wednesday 20th January.
NEW
UN AMBASSADOR FOR THE BAHAMAS
The Prime Minister has announced that Dr Paulette Bethel is to succeed
Ambassador Anthony ‘Boozy’ Rolle as Ambassador for The Bahamas to the United
Nations. Dr. Bethel is a former Deputy Chief of Mission for The Bahamas
at the UN and has worked for The Bahamas at the Organization of American
States and she has been an international civil servant at the UN’s office
in Vienna. Dr. Bethel, who has one daughter, is herself the daughter
of the late Marcus Bethel Sr. and his wife Jane. The Prime Minister
said that it was a special delight for him to have named her. He
said that she comes amply qualified in her own right. The Prime Minister
is shown making the announcement on Tuesday 21st January.
Dr Bethel's maternal uncle was the late first Governor
General of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas Sir Milo Butler. Her family
had the interesting experience in 1956 when her uncle ran against her father
for the seat in the Western District in New Providence where her father
was the incumbent. Sir Milo went on to win the 1956 election as part
of the famous Magnificent Six of the PLP. Dr. Bethel takes up her
post at the UN on 3rd March. Tribune photo by Omar Barr.
THE
NASSAU GUARDIAN IS SOLD
The Nassau Guardian is now said to be a fully Bahamian
owned company. The Nassau Guardian’s major share holding in the company
was sold to US publishing magnate John Perry in 1968. He owned some 42
per cent of the company and with the shares of retired Treasurer of the
company Phalmon Collie it was believed that they had control of the Nassau
Guardian. The paper had become a pitiful shadow of itself in recent
years with reports of staff strife, low morale and a union to boot.
That did not stop the laying off of staff in order to get their costs under
control.
The Tribune was positively gleeful about the reports
of the sale on Friday 24th January. They portrayed it as a desperate
attempt to try to stop the losses, which they said, occurred when the official
gazette was taken away from The Nassau Guardian exclusively by the FNM
in 1992. According to The Tribune, the PLP administration took the
gazette exclusively to the Nassau Guardian in 1968 as an act of political
spite. The Tribune said that the staff was in shock about the combination
of the layoffs and the sale. But Pat Walkes who is the publisher
of the paper said that reports about low morale were not true and were
simply someone up to mischief.
The company has been bought it appears by those
persons who are behind Colina Insurance. The company that now owns
the majority shares is Pan Ed Investments Limited. The shareholders
are Colin Callender, Emmanuel Alexiou, Anthony Ferguson and James Campbell.
The Nassau Guardian was founded in 1844 and was seen throughout most of
its life as a defender of the established interests. Even after Mr.
Perry bought the paper it was seen as paper that changed its opinions depending
on who was in power. The apogee of that experience was during the
hapless editorship of Oswald Brown who excluded people from the newspaper’s
columns because he did not share their political beliefs and ran the paper
as personal fiefdom engaging in personal vendettas. Colin Callender
now says that he intends to change all that.
Here is what Mr. Callender said in their statement
on assuming the ownership: “Over the years, Bahamian newspapers have been
identified with various special interest groups, but our aim is to make
the Nassau Guardian once and for all an independent source for news and
information of relevance to all sectors of Bahamian society… [We will be]
proactive in the pursuit of freedom of information, inclusive in terms
of community coverage, zealous in the protection of editorial independence,
and committed to providing the best customer service for our advertisers
and readers.” Hmmm! We shall see. Guardian photo shows
its new owners from left James Campbell, Emmanuel Alexiou, Colin Callender,
Chief Financial Officer Razi Jesubatham and Anthony Ferguson.
EILEEN
CARRON AT IT AGAIN
The Publisher of The Tribune is quite incredible. We have called
her intellectually dishonest before. We have said that she has a
problem with her African ancestry. In that she shares the same problem
that her father had. But it is always interesting when she is able
to reveal those prejudices to another generation of Bahamians. In
the old days when her father was the publisher of The Tribune one could
always get him to launch off into a tirade by suggesting that he was black
or by suggesting that the House resolution that he claims he sponsored
that resulted in the end to racial discrimination in The Bahamas did not
do what he said it did. The daughter is cut from the same cloth.
She is entirely predictable.
Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell read a passage from
Michael Craton's book on Sir Lynden Pindling when he addressed the House
on the day of Sir Gerald Cash’s funeral. In it, Mr. Craton claimed
that the resolution did not do what the late Sir Etienne purported to achieve.
This sent the daughter predictably into a multi part series of editorials
defending her father's legacy and trying to minimize the PLP's part in
the matter. The fact is the PLP was responsible for the public pressure
on the Government in 1956 to do something about racial discrimination in
the colony of The Bahamas. Sir Etienne’s resolution could not have
succeeded without the PLP's support.
What is interesting is that the establishment man
of the day Sir Gerald Cash while not disagreeing with the resolution wrote
a minority report confirming that legislation was needed to protect the
public from discrimination and also that the resolution of Dupuch did not
go far enough. But Eileen will try to rewrite history. Silly!
Silly!
ANDREW
ALLEN WRITES AGAIN
It appears that maybe Andrew Allen took some advice
from this column last week. You will remember that he accused this
column of engaging in class war by attacking his record as a columnist
who supports the interests of the established classes in The Bahamas. You
just have to look at who he hangs out with, and who he works with and who
his friends are. This column told him that he ought to get himself
a good stiff dose of Bahamianization and patriotism. Well last week
he seemed to try to demonstrate that in his column. While what he
wrote last week was a start, it does not go far enough. He needs
to be seen hanging out in the bars over the hill, then and only then will
we believe that he understands what it means to be Bahamian.
PARLIAMENTARY
SEMINAR TAKES PLACE
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA)
held a seminar in The Bahamas for three days from Monday 20th January to
Wednesday 22nd January. The seminar was attended by all MPs except
the former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham who is above these things (of
course) and the members from Grand Bahama. The now Prime Minister
who has an even longer history of political involvement attended each of
the sessions and mandated that his Cabinet and backbench attend.
The sessions were instructive in Parliamentary procedures. It fostered
a new atmosphere on Parliamentary matters between the Opposition and the
Government. That atmosphere was seen immediately when the rules were
spontaneously changed to allow for a question time for Ministers on Wednesday
22nd January. The old rules of the House called for questions to
be written but the Prime Minister allowed for spontaneous questions to
be asked and for the answers to be given. This column thinks it is
a good thing and should be held every week for one hour and then you move
into the normal business of the House.
MOST
CANTANKEROUS MEMBER
If one were to give out an award for the person who is the most cantankerous
member of the House of Assembly it would have to be Ken Russell the Member
of Parliament for High Rock. He comes off as so humourless, difficult and
grouchy. Everyone has political differences but they are just that;
political. Perhaps it is a misunderstanding of his demeanour.
Perhaps he needs to get over losing the last election – but get over it.
Still, it is said that they love him in east Grand Bahama, but for the
moment, this column labels him the most cantankerous member of the House.
GLENYS
MP IN A PANTS SUIT
There is a revolution of sorts going in the House
of Assembly. Glenys Hanna Martin, the Member of Parliament for Englerston
and Minister of Transport was seen sporting a pants suit in the Parliament.
It was the first time for a woman to so appear as a Member of the House.
We wonder what the Speaker of the House has to say about this. As
American women like to say: “You go girl!”
We hope that all the other female MPs back her up
and consign the arcane dress code as far as women is concerned to the scrap
heap. But we do not agree that the dress for gentlemen should be
allowed to wander off the dark suit conservative tie mechanism. The
red ties, paisleys and light coloured suits have to go. The decorum
of the House ought to be kept in its traditional setting. By the
way, the Queen was pictured in the latest Time Magazine as she left hospital
recently in a grey pants suit. Glenys is in good company.
NEED
FOR AN ANTI TERRORISM BILL
Brian Moree (Guardian photo) who heads the Consultative Committee
on Financial Services was in the press this week calling for the passage
of an anti terrorism bill. The fact is that such a bill is in circulation.
It requires careful thinking because many of its provisions may be unconstitutional.
But he is right in one sense; The Bahamas needs to keep its eye on the
ball in these matters. The fact is that The Bahamas’ financial system
and its tourism industry remain targets for terror. The problem is
that had the present US Ambassador not soured the relationship in public
with the Bahamian people, the whole matter of the progress on these issues
would have gone quite far.
This week, the Police sponsored an anti terrorism
workshop to bring the country up to date on these issues. US and
British anti terror experts attended and there was excellent co-operation.
There will also be a session this week, sponsored by the Organization of
American States, to finalize the National Drug Control strategy.
And this is another matter that was delayed it is believed by the hectoring
of the envoy from the US in Nassau. Hopefully it will all be settled
shortly and then The Bahamas can say that it accomplished something in
this area. Our concern in this column remains however, the security
situation at Paradise Island, Nassau Harbour, Cable Beach and the Airport.
And beyond just the actual security measures but addressing the systemic
lack of concern on the part of Bahamians for security matters. We
keep thinking that it can’t happen here.
THREE
CHEERS FOR FRANCE
This column applauds France for taking the public
stand that it is against a war in Iraq. However, one of the promoters
of the present US Administration responded on a television station recently
that France is an irrelevant country. He said that the only relevant
country in the world is the United Kingdom. Presumably that means
because the UK has decided that they will act the part of American lap
dog on a war, that makes them relevant. The reports that the US plans
to rain down 400 cruise missiles on each of the first two days of the war
against Baghdad is incredible. Such an attack would be immoral and
indefensible.
THE FNM’S
WEBSITE
A group of renegade FNMs has decided that they have
had enough of the official line of namby pambiness being held forth by
Senator Tommy Turnquest and Leader of the Opposition Alvin Smith.
They have decided to go for the jugular. Last week in The Tribune
one of the stories made up by the new web site about an alleged Cabinet
meeting where Bradley Roberts was said to have attacked another senior
member of Cabinet showed up in The Tribune. We have said it before
but it bears repeating. The Tribune has become so down market it
is now competing with The Punch for untruths and lurid detail. Such
is the nature of The Tribune that it now reduces itself to quoting from
an unauthorized FNM site, that simply made up stories about the alleged
Cabinet meeting that we bet never happened. PLPs of course all should
learn how to distinguish between the truth and nonsense propaganda.
HUBERT
TO HIS FNM COLLEAGUES
The Former Prime Minister was brimming over with
advice this week. He told the PLP that they should act in a way so
that when they lose office, they will be happy and satisfied just like
him. Presumably, fat and with a hefty pension from the Government
that he still collects after misleading the Bahamian people that he would
not stand for re-election. He said that if the PLP did not act like
him, they would end up like “these fellows here”, pointing to his FNM brethren
in the House, “sad and crying”. Maybe the FNM’s renegade web site
can go figure that out.
MITCHELL
AND BASKETBALL
Fred Mitchell was in Freeport for the opening of
the Edward St. George’s High School gym and the Jack Hayward High School
gym. He was called by DPM Cynthia Pratt to shoot a basketball with
her. Having never done so before in his life, he took the plunge.
We thought that the photographic moment should not be missed - Bahama Journal
photo by Tim Aylen / Visionmedia
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Quote of the week - "The Prime Minister must seek to use some of the bright minds that are available to him in the modern Bahamas and stay out of the graveyard trying to resurrect the dead who have already had their time..." - Mike Edwards, FNM agitator.
Trouble In The North
This week after seven months of quiet on the political
front in Grand Bahama it seems like all hell has broken loose. There
were reports of scuffles and fisticuffs breaking out between FNMs in Grand
Bahama over the election of delegates to the upcoming FNM convention set
for May of this year. A meeting of the FNM's Pineridge branch held
this past week to elect delegates turned into such a fracas that the meeting
had to be postponed.
FNM agitator Mike Edwards told News From Grand
Bahama that anyone in the FNM who seeks to disenfranchise any of its
supporters from taking part in any branch elections will have to look for
"the political rod of correction to fall heavily across their backsides".
Take that.
'Iron' Mike said he had not yet decided who to support
in the upcoming FNM leadership battle, but on the question of former Prime
Minister Hubert Ingraham he said that he hopes "his (Ingraham's) political
soul rests in peace for the people have already rejected him... any MP
who tries to resurrect him is doomed to fail". We think Mike was
talking to MP Ken Russell.
Meanwhile, Ken Russell, FNM MP for High Rock and
former Minister of Works, told this website that he only attended the Pineridge
branch meeting because he felt that there was going to be trouble.
So, as the senior FNM MP on Grand Bahama he went to make sure that all
went well that night for the nomination of officers. Mr. Russell
then fired a salvo of his own, saying that he was not the one who excused
himself from a meeting and alerted former Prime Minister Ingraham that
his colleagues were plotting against him when Hubert was attending the
Heads of Government meeting down in Australia last year. He said
that he had never heard that he was the one being accused of leaking any
information.
Mr. Russell was asked about stories of a reported
plot afoot to seize the delegates from Pineridge and Marco City along with
his High Rock branch to invite former Prime Minister Ingraham to come back.
Mr. Russell maintained that he does not try to influence his branch or
any other branches in any direction and that he is prepared to work with
whomever is elected, then he smiled. Yeah, sure.
There are persistent reports that Russell is in
fact trying to line up delegates for this upcoming election and we feel
that Russell will first of all attempt to get a nomination for leader for
himself and failing that, his delegation will then invite Hubert to come
back as leader. Other sources have told us that if things don't go
well on Tuesday, they will expose the entire plot, so stay tuned.
Can This Happen In The Bahamas?
The British and Internet press has reported on a
British Government spy in the financial services bureaucracy of the Cayman
Islands. Readers are directed to a story in the UK Guardian dated
18th January, 2003 by Paul Lashmar headed 'Bungled MI6 Plot Leads to Cayman
Trial Collapse' and also 16th January edition of www.taxnews.com and a
story by Mike Godfrey 'Cayman Islands Officer Accused of Destroying Evidence'.
These two stories outline how the British Government placed a spy or mole
in the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Cayman Islands to obtain information
on the island's financial services sector. Do we in The Bahamas know
who we have working in our financial services industry as so-called experts?
Do we know the backgrounds of those brought into the Central Bank and our
own financial intelligence units to help us with 'compliance'? One
wonders whether any of our own 'experts' are nothing more than foreign
agents, posing and all the while undermining our national interests.
The relevant authorities should take note.
Steve McKinney
This week talk show host Steve McKinney of the ZNS
show 'Drive Time Talk' pricked the conscience of The Bahamas and proved
himself to be a leader in the talk show business with a series of programmes
aimed at self discovery. We feel that his show last week was worthy
of being given honourable mention because not only did he seek to identify
problems, but at the same time he encouraged Bahamians to look inwardly
for the solutions. The show started off asking the question 'Do you
know where we're going as a people, as families, as a country' and it ended
on Friday with a recitation of statistics which showed that more than half
of the homicides in the country resulted from domestic violence, which
really set the audience into sober reflections. Well done, Steve.
The Lesson of The Shah
This past week by and large discussions around the
breakfast table were about the impending US war with Iraq and the predicted
economic fallout from it. We were reminded of 1979 / 1980 when the
Shah of Iran was deposed; that he had control of his military and all the
technology that went along with it. He also had the support of the
United States, but still was unable to hold on to power. So it was
agreed that we had not learned any lessons from that. Even if, after
two days, the Iraqi people surrender, unless an American invasion has the
popular support of the people any installed puppet regime will not survive
if it is perceived to be nothing more than a proxy of the United States.
The people in that part of the world are a proud people and their religious
fervour will not allow them to do anything but to challenge those they
perceive as infidels, so we hope this week that the war drums now being
beaten are able to be silenced with quiet diplomacy.
BS