Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames... Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 8 © BahamasUncensored.com 2010
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE ULTIMATUM TO HAITIANS
It was the national joke heard around the country. Brent Symonette,
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, finally had something to say after a year
and a summer of almost silence. Mr. Symonette gave a warning to Haitians,
well not quite, he said to illegal immigrants, but we know he meant Haitians,
that they must leave the country within two weeks or else. What a
joke. The warning was published on Monday 16th August. That
must have sent them all scrambling for their rafts, shaking in their boots,
so they could make the way back to Haiti, Jamaica, China(?) or better yet
to the good old U.S.A.
So this is what we are now reduced to, the same old tired policies of yore: round ups and repatriations. If you read Dawn Marshall’s (sister of former Justice Jeanne Thompson) book THE HAITIAN PROBLEM, you will learn that the policy of all of the governments of The Bahamas since the 1950’s from the colonial one, to the UBP to the first PLP, to the first FNM, to the second PLP and now to the second FNM, has been round ups and repatriations. In fact, if you go even further, Sean McWeeney wrote an essay about the affect of the Haitians on the Bahamian population following the overthrow of the French. From that time in the 18th century, the idea was to give the Haitians a once and for all ultimatum: “Get out or else!” They went nowhere and they dwell now amongst us. They are us.
All of the policies went down in failure. Even Loftus Roker, the much then reviled and now with hindsight lionized former Minister of National Security, who in his time took the whole thing so seriously that he caused the bottom to fall out in the labour market of The Bahamas during his time, did not succeed. He succeeded for a time, but the forces of backlash came back with a vengeance and before you knew it, he was gone, surrendering and warning as he went out the door that we would rue the day.
Now of course you have late adolescent Haitians and Jamaican men and women everywhere you look filling in the labour market in The Bahamas that Bahamians won’t fill.
The government added to the problem this year in a misguided attempt to look humane (a contradiction in terms for an FNM government) by announcing shortly after the earthquake in Haiti that they would stop rounding up the illegals and would allow those in the detention centre out on furlough for an unspecified time, until things improved in Haiti.
The sound of the gasp of incredulity was heard from north to south in the country. What were these FNM folks up to? Did they have the sense that they were born with? It seemed to everyone with sense (which obviously excludes the FNM policy makers) that this was simply an open invitation to the illegals (and the potential pool in Haiti especially) to say, the doors are open in The Bahamas, let us go and see.
Weeks later, the press was able to confirm that the Department of Immigration could not say where the 100 or so souls who they let out in the post quake amnesty were or are for that matter.
So here we are now today, the Minister is saying they are going to restart the round ups and repatriation. They are warning the illegals to go home. His Director of Immigration, well meaning and earnest Jack Thompson warned them that the department was serious. We are sure they are. In the end though, Immigration policy in The Bahamas is a joke. The Haitians know it. We know it. They know that we know it. We know that they know that we know it. We are a very knowledgeable nation.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 21st August up to midnight: 139,657.
Number of hits for the month of August up to Saturday 21st August up to midnight: 384,968.
Number of hits for the year 2010 up to Saturday 21st August up to midnight: 5,631,104.
NYGARD’S
POINT OF VIEW
You will see in this week’s Letter to The Editor
section a note forwarded to this site from correspondent from the former
MP for Mt. Moriah for the PLP and now the Attorney for Peter Nygard, the
antagonist in the war at Lyford Cay between the forces of old money and
new money in that ghetto for the rich out in Western New Providence.
Mr. Keod Smith takes umbrage on behalf of his client for comments made
in this column in reference to Mr. Nygard.
Mr. Nygard's defenders were all over the newspapers
last week, urging The Bahamas public to support him as the wronged party
because, after all, he wanted to invest 50 million dollars in our economy
and create many more jobs for Bahamians. Oh, the life of a hewer
of wood and a drawer of water. The descendants of Ham would be pleased.
The point we made here really had nothing to do
with whether or not Mr. Bacon is right or Mr. Nygard is right. The
fact is Lyford Cay should not be in the news. It should be out of
the news. We say again, if Mr. Nygard is the cause of Lyford Cay
being in the news then the solution is clear.
At last into the mix came the intrepid Minister
for the Environment, one Earl Deveaux. You never heard such equivocation.
Well no, he was not quite involved in it. Well, yes there are some
issues. Well we are seeking to address them. Yeah right.
AFGHAN
WAR A FAILURE
Usually, we try to confine ourselves to matters
of domestic policy but having commented on this matter before, it bears
some repeating in light of what is now transpiring. The US President
Barack Obama should get the hell out of Afghanistan. It is a morass.
It is the graveyard of empires. It makes no sense to continue being
there. It is depleting the resources of the American empire and imperils
his own presidency. The US Afghan policy is a failed policy inherited
from the Bush administration. There was no reason to adopt it and
there is no reason now to continue it. It is antithetical to all
that Mr. Obama says he stands for. There is absolutely nothing that
the US can do to reform that country. The best they can do is contain
the issues that affect the US and us outside their borders. The time
and money are simply not worth it.
The matter now comes up because the general who
Mr. Obama has put in charge of the effort of winning the war and of withdrawing
from the country as of 11th July next year, David Petraeus, is now saying
that he does not think that withdrawing next July is a good thing.
This seems directly contrary to everything that the President himself has
been saying. It borders on insubordination. The point we make
here is that no matter what Mr. Obama does, he is not going to appear muscular
enough for his opponents in the Republican Party. He will not get
their support. Further, The Bahamas and the Caribbean region are
suffering because the United States is distracted by this war in an area
where they cannot win the war. The money is better spent nearer home,
and the efforts at security should be put into shoring up those near home
and not in some far away, hopeless adventure.
Jerome Gomez, an accountant and financial advisor at Baker
Tilly Gomez; Danny Johnson, a podiatrist and the son-in-law of the late
Sir Lynden Pindling, and son of former MP Oscar Johnson, have been
ratified as candidates for the Progressive Liberal Party. They will
be the standard bearers for the party in the Killarney and Carmichael seats
respectively. The party made its decision on Thursday 19th August
at its monthly National General Council meeting. Gomez is pictured
above with Party Deputy Leader Philip Davis (left) and Party Leader Perry
Christie just after having received his nomination at Party headquarters.
Johnson is shown at right in a file photograph.
THE
KENNEDY RACE
Meanwhile, the race in Kennedy is far from settled.
The Tribune has been keeping the public abreast of events within the PLP;
can you believe that? Two candidates were scheduled to speak, said
The Trib, at a meeting in Kennedy of the local PLP branch on Monday 16th
August. The two were said to be front runners Derek Ryan, Attorney
and now National General Council member for the area; and Dion Smith, an
attorney. Craig Butler, who was overlooked in the Elizabeth constituency,
was also said to be interested. No word on Keith Bell who is believed
to be the establishment choice and the one who is likely to get it.
In the meantime, what you have is a situation where
there is a contest between the two alleged frontrunners over who can mobilize
the most people in the public race. So on Thursday 19th August as
the Councillors came to their monthly meeting, they had to run the gauntlet
of 200 or so ground organizer types promoting the interests of Mr. Ryan
and Mr. Smith. This has really irritated the Stalwart Councillors
who believe in the case of Mr. Ryan that they are being bamboozled by someone
who attacked the former Deputy Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia
Pratt when Mr. Ryan worked for Mohammad Haraji, the man who was disaffected
because he believed that the PLP reneged on an alleged deal to return his
bank licence that had been revoked by the FNM.
Dion Smith has the ears of the leadership and has
impressed them with his ability to organize and he does not have that baggage
of having attacked Mother Pratt. Problem is, Mr. Ryan has the branch
in his back pocket and at the drop of a hat can mobilize hundreds of street
people to press the point. The typical hands off style of the leadership
is being sorely tested.
The meeting set for Tuesday 17th August that was
touted by The Trib did not take place as such. The leadership reportedly
ordered the meeting cancelled. The branch leadership defied the leadership
and held it anyway and voted unanimously, in the absence of Mr. Bell, Mr.
Smith and Mr. Butler and their supporters to call for Derek Ryan to be
the candidate in the next election. Lot of muttering under the breath
here.
BAHAMAR
AND THE CHINESE
The rubber is about to hit the road in the matter
of the development of Cable Beach by the Izmeralian family and the Bahamar
project. In summary, some two billion dollars stand to be invested,
which will remake the Cable Beach strip in New Providence and supply brand
new hotel room inventory for a tired Bahamian tourism product. This
proposal was approved by the PLP when it was in office and left on the
table when it lost office.
Hubert Ingraham, some say tied to his masters at
Paradise Island, has been talking down the project at Cable Beach and caused
the American casino investors to pull out of the project. It has
been languishing for want of money. The money is now to come from
the Chinese and the last of the approvals were granted with one more expected,
finally, from their Ministry of Commerce. The whole matter, though,
has the Chinese on edge. Does The Bahamas government want this investment?
It is not clear, given the various statements by the Prime Minister: that
if the PLP, the Opposition party, does not support it in Parliament, he
will not approve it; that there cannot be two projects a Bahamar and a
Phase 4 of Atlantis.
The question now is, what of the PLP? How
this gets to be the specific business of the PLP is clear: the Prime Minster
wants to share the blame, the responsibility if you will, for agreeing
to bring in 5000 Chinese workers to help construct the project. The
company says that these are needed because the skill sets are not here,
either in terms of the level of skills or the numbers, to complete the
project in a timely manner. Also, since it is the Chinese government’s
money, the Chinese say that there can be no project with their money without
their labour. So they say that if we want the money, we need to support
the project, Chinese workers and all.
The more general issue is: what has this to do with
the PLP? The question of approving work permits is that of the government
and the government should simply go ahead and make a decision if that is
what they believe in the final analysis is good for the country.
They keep talking about decisiveness and leadership, it is time for this
tired Prime Minister to exercise decisiveness and leadership.
The Chinese should know that the PLP support this
project and will be encouraging the government to approve it. What
the PLP must be wary of is being blamed for something which is not of the
its making. We hope that the political chess players of the PLP are
wise to the place where they are and plot carefully through this thicket.
What may be appropriate is if the matter is brought to the House of Assembly,
only one MP should speak. That ought to be the leader, to explain
the situation to the country and then leave the government to their own
devices.
ROAD
OPPONENTS GET INJUNCTION
Strike one for the opponents of the Baillou Hill
Road project. The group led by Rupert Roberts of Supervalue, Steve
Heastie of Esso Gas Station and Ethric Bowe, a political activist, went
to court led by their Attorneys Maurice Glinton, Raynard Rigby and Paul
Moss. The Judge granted them leave to continue their Judicial Review
application, which will question whether the Minister of Works acted reasonably,
when he set out new regulations for the passage of traffic over Baillou
Hill road by reversing the traffic flow. More importantly though,
the Judge granted an injunction to stop the road works, saying that the
balance of convenience was in favour of Messrs. Heastie, Bowe and Roberts.
The government claims that it is abiding by the injunction.
The Judge set the matter down for an early hearing
to 21st September and urged the parties to consult. In making his
decision, the Judge cited as authority the legitimate expectation point
made in the case involving the Guana Cay case, where the people of that
cay took the government to court over the development of Baker’s Bay.
The case makes the point that if there is going to be consultation, there
must be real consultation and the litigants had a legitimate expectation
of such consultation. You may click
here for the full decision made by Justice Neville Adderley.
GALANIS
ON THE POLITICAL FUTURE
Philip Galanis, the former Senator, MP and now newspaper
columnist appeared on a radio show with Rogan Smith and Toshenna Robinson
Blair on Love 97 on Monday 16th August to talk about the political and
economic future of The Bahamas. His fellow guests were Dr. Ian Strachan
of the College of The Bahamas and former FNM MP David Wallace. Mr.
Galanis set the stage by reviewing the current landscape saying that the
economy is in trouble and crime is escalating exponentially. He said
that people are not only disillusioned and dissatisfied with the government,
they are angry and impatient and there is no short term solution to our
economic or social challenges on the horizon.
Mr. Galanis thinks that Hubert Ingraham, the Prime
Minister, will only run again if he thinks that the economy will improve
before the election. He said that he thinks that despite the past
faults most people are coming round to the view that Perry Christie ought
to be given a chance again as he is the best person to hold the PLP together.
You may click here for Mr. Galanis'
remarks.
MORE
FOX HILL DAY PHOTOS
Last week, we presented an extensive spread on the activities
for the Fox Hill Day celebrations which took place on Tuesday 10th August.
This is the end of the Emancipation Festival. The 1st August 2010
marked the 176th anniversary of the freeing of the slaves. We showed
pictures last week of the visits of the PLP’s Leadership to the various
churches in Fox Hill but excluded those from St. Mark’s Native Baptist
Church, we correct that error this week.
FNM
MARKS 19TH AUGUST WITH CHURCH SERVICE
You must read these words from the Prime Minister,
the number one heathen in the country. The Preacher at the Mt. Pleasant
Green Church must have been shocked out of his mind, first of all to see
the Prime Minister come to church and then to hear the words below.
These words were spoken on Thursday 19th August (a day that will live in
infamy). Even the devil can quote scripture, but in this case do
not believe a single word of this gross hypocrisy in the face of the FNM
buying the 1997 general election with public monies and then lying their
asses off to regain the government and then taking us to rack and ruin
in 2010. It is a matter of mistrust:
“Today we observe the 18th anniversary of that
momentous day when, after 22 years of struggle in opposition trenches,
division in our ranks and four successive general election defeats, our
Party, the Free National Movement finally won a General Election.
“As I stand before you tonight in this sacred
place, on this special day, I recall words of a hymn penned by the late
Carl Gustaf Boberg, a Pastor, editor and member of the Swedish Parliament.
As the story goes, Mr. Boberg was enjoying a peaceful walk when a thunderstorm
suddenly appeared. When the storm was over, Mr. Boberg looked over
a clear bay and in the distance he heard a church bell ringing. As
he listened, these words came to his heart: “O Lord, my God, when I in
awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands hath made, I see the
stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God to thee, How Great thou Art, How Great
thou art.”
“On this the 18th anniversary of our election
as the governing party we can truly say to Our Lord – “How Great Thou Art”.
You may click
here for Mr. Ingraham's full remarks.
Peter Ramsay photo
INGRAHAM'S
FAILURES ARE ALL AROUND US
The FNM should be hanging their heads in shame.
They have nothing to be proud about the 18 years they have the stewardship
of this country. This causes us to reflect on the day they came to
power on 19 August 1992. Three days later, there was a devastating
hurricane. That natural disaster was a portent of the disaster the
FNM would visit upon this country.
Speaking at this party's poorly attended service
at Mt. Pleasant Green Church on Thursday 19th August Party leader and Prime
Minister Hubert Ingraham made in our opinion three points: that things
were bad when he came and he pledged to make them better; that he kept
his promises to make things better and that he is renewing his pledge to
do better.
On the first point: no matter how bad things were
when he came in, they are worse today than when he came in and worse
than they have ever been. It is a lie anyway to say that things were
bad when he came back to office in 2007. His stop review and
cancel programme saw to that.
Everywhere you look, the facts are that we are worse
off under Mr. Ingraham: our standard of living has fallen, the per capita
income has fallen; the cost of living is up; the taxes have gone up; one
startling statistic from a COB study shows that Bahamians today spend 20
percent of their income on transportation.
On the second point that he kept his promises to
make things better. This must be a joke: crime is higher than ever;
more lights have been disconnected from people's home than ever; people
are living as if they are in the Stone Age; the general quality of life
is worse.
Our institutions are in the worse shape they have
been. BEC can’t keep the power on; BTC cant keep the phones on; for
the first time in living memory for a whole day, we were out of touch with
the outside world by phone; the chronic backlog of cases in the courts
is worse than it has ever been; women have to wait longer than ever to
ask the magistrate for legal assistance to collect monies from deadbeat
dads.
In foreign affairs, the country is marginalized.
Today the county can best be described as more tribal
than ever. If you are PLP, the government will give you nothing.
If you are FNM; an Ingraham FNM, everything is there for you.
As for keeping his promises to reduce the size of
government -- where is the evidence of that? Has government gotten
closer to the people like he promised -- where is the evidence of anything
but local government being a failure. He promised to diversify the
economy but the economy is now a greater monocrop economy than every before.
Tourism is even failing under him. Illegal immigration is worse than
it has ever been. Victimization and intimidation were supposed to
end, but at ZNS, it is clear that it is worse than it has ever been.
What other country do you know where legitimate
contracts could be cancelled and people not protest? Here that is
the case, and it is so because of intimidation and fear by the Ingraham
led government. That is what Bishop Neil Ellis calls, the spirit
of the leader.
In this respect people like Cheryl Grant Bethell
who is fighting for the job of Director of Public Prosecutions in the courts
is a hero of the Bahamian people, she is standing up for her rights.
As for renewing his pledge to do better in the future.
In this own party, Mr. Ingraham's members are voting with their feet, lining
up to take him out. Their assumption is that he is last year's news
and is gone. So he is no position to renew anything because his own
people will soon take care of him.
CHRISTIE
AND MONCUR?
This photo appeared on Facebook of the perennial
national gadfly, hanger and flogger Rodney Moncur. Taking time out
from his busy schedule to get some people hanged, he met up with the Leader
of the Opposition Perry Christie and in a release from the Worker’s Party
Secretary General Brian Smith asked whether Christie was going to intervene
with Hubert Ingraham to stop what the Worker's Party said was the illegal
charging of students to get into public schools. This is one of Mr.
Moncur’s latest hobby horses, that of defending a young child who was being
forced to pay 100 dollars to get into a public school. The Minister
resolved the problem but the hobby horse is still being ridden. So
now to the photo, neither man looks too pleased and the Leader of the Opposition
looks mortified. We would too to be caught in that position. Not
a happy camper!
BEC
CAN'T KEEP THE LIGHTS ON
The power went off island wide in New Providence
for three hours on Saturday evening 21st August. This while Hubert
Ingraham, the Prime Minister and his cohorts were praising themselves about
what they have done for The Bahamas, in fact, they should hang their heads
in shame. The power doesn’t work, the water doesn’t work and the
phones say where you put me. BEC technicians explained that the heat,
which is excessive for even this time of year, has caused additional problems
to their general capacity problems. The Corporation simply can’t
meet the demands of power in New Providence, failed to plan, and are still
failing to plan for the supply of power. The country cannot progress
without reliable electricity supply and we have failed to do so.
Technicians expect that there will be three more weeks at least of continued
load shedding in New Providence. This adds to problems with power
supply in Harbour Island where demonstrations were held protesting the
interruptions there and in Abaco. It is a sickening and depressing
situation. We just cannot get it right. One start will of course
be to rid this country of the great albatross around its neck Hubert Ingraham.
Amen
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Senator Allyson Gibson writes to set the record straight of an errant
Tribune columnist:
The following quote appeared in The Tribune on
13th August, 2010, as a part of a column authored by Adrian Gibson: “The
Coroners court was formerly a specialist court until it was abolished by
the PLP in 2007. Today, it is a part of the Magistrate’s court.”
One would expect that Adrian Gibson, allegedly
a teacher and law student, would do research (if only in The Tribune’s
archives) before putting pen to paper.
Had he done research, he would have found that,
in September 2006, Sir Burton Hall (then the Chief Justice) addressed a
memo to all Stipendiary and Circuit Magistrates.
In that memo, Sir Burton Hall stated that, “it
is notified that with immediate effect the practice that was instituted
in 1993 of designating a particular Magistrate’s Court as the Coroner’s
Court will be discontinued.” Had Adrian Gibson been minded to find out
the facts and write the truth, research (even a Google search) would also
have revealed that Sir Burton Hall subsequently spoke publicly about his
decision and that his decision was supported by the Bar Council. Further,
as a law student and a teacher, Adrian Gibson ought to know that in accordance
with our laws, in The Bahamas, these decisions are taken by the Judiciary
and not by the Executive.
In 2006, the Chief Justice, as head of the Judiciary,
properly exercised his power to determine the allocation of Coroner’s work.
Clearly, in more that one aspect, Adrian Gibson’s serious allegation
are not true.
The PLP did not abolish the Coroner’s Court.
I was the Attorney General and Minister of Legal
Affairs at the time. I deplore Adrian Gibson’s irresponsible and untruthful
allegations and aspersions against the Executive.
I am deeply concerned that these obviously untrue
allegations were published by The Tribune.
I write to set the record straight and I hope
that the usual appropriate apologies and corrections will be forthcoming
from The Tribune and Adrian Gibson.
ALLYSON MAYNARD-GIBSON
Nassau,
August 16, 2010.
Keod Smith, former MP, writes in defence of Peter Nygard:
I see that bahamasunsensored.com is taking an
unfair and uninformed swipe at my Client, Peter Nygard in favour of Louis
Bacon. Perhaps [bahamasuncensored.com] ought to dig a bit
deeper before allowing [itself to be] seen as [a tool] to
carry out the bidding of Bacon, a man whom I know believes that his money
controls all things and everyone in The Bahamas.
That has never been Nygard's approach to The
Bahamas and Bahamians...
Keod Smith
------------------------
IN PASSING
Happy Birthday Perry Christie
Rt. Hon. Perry Christie, the Leader of the Opposition PLP celebrated
his 67th birthday on Saturday 21st August. He spent the time at a
family dinner at Compass Point restaurant with his wife and family.
Best wishes! The Christies are pictured outside St. Agnes after church
this morning.
The Farmers Market
The Ministry of Agriculture sponsors a farmer's market every Saturday
from 8 a.m. Bahamian fresh products are on sale along with Bahamian
manufactured agricultural products. Farmers come from all over the
island and the country to sell their wares. What they need are customers.
The market grounds are located at the Ministry's Farm on Gladstone Road.
Fr. Thaddeus Pratt Anglican Priest Dies While On A Cruise
Fr. Thaddeus Pratt, former rector of St. Gregory The Great, and parish
priest of St. Bartholomew, Berry Islands passed away on Friday 20th August
aboard a cruise ship docked in St. John, Antigua. He was on this cruise
with his wife, her sister, family and friends.
School Overcrowding
The Tribune reports that just what we said would happen in the school
system has happened. In its Friday 20th August edition, the Director
of Education Lionel Sands admitted that the schools in the southeast of
New Providence are full to overflowing and cannot take any more.
We predicted that as a result of the fall in the subsidy to the private
schools and their having to raise the fees, there would be a huge uptick
in the numbers attending public schools, which the public schools would
be hard put to accommodate. So said, so done.
Strike At COB Again
Jennifer Dotson, head of the Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas,
the union representing the faculty at the College of The Bahamas has said
that they may exercise their right to strike at the opening of classes
this fall. Despite the arbitration having settled the clauses in
the agreement, the College refuses to actually sign off on the deal.
Mrs. Dotson said that the staff was being put on alert.
Dame Marguerite Attends Service For Sir Lynden
26th August 2010 will mark 10 years since the passing of the Father
of Our Nation Sir Lynden O. Pindling. To mark the occasion, Dame
Marguerite Pindling attended the Sunday mass 22nd August at St. Agnes Church,
joined by PLP Leader Perry Christie and Mrs. Christie and Deputy PLP Leader
Philip Davis and Mrs. Davis and the Women's Branch of the PLP. Dame
Marguerite is also pictured after the service with Fred Mitchell Fox Hill
MP and with Ryan Pinder MP and Mrs. Pinder.
Peter Ramsay photos
Mitchell In Canada
Fred Mitchell MP Fox Hill has returned to The Bahamas following a private
visit to Toronto, Canada.
Australian Elections
The Australian Labour Party has lost the election in Australia.
The press keeps calling it a cliffhanger. In fact, the Opposition
conservative coalition has more seats although not in overall majority
and so independents, most of whom were former conservative members, will
help to form the new government. Thus, Kevin Rudd, who ousted the
racist and difficult John Howard from power in December 2007 and last year
was the most popular Prime Minister in Australia’s history, was ousted
by his female Deputy Julia Gilliard who has now led the party down to defeat.
Typically, she is saying that she intends to fight on, but in our view
does not have the moral right to govern.
Conference On Public Financing Of Campaigns
The Organization of American States (OAS) is sponsoring a conference
on campaign finance reform in Jamaica from 2nd September to 3rd September.
The conference will include model legislation. PLP MPs Fred Mitchell
and Alfred Sears MP have both called for campaign finance reform in The
Bahamas including that of support for political parties.
BTC Seeks To Make Amends
The Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation provided a free day of calling
to its customers both landline and cell within The Bahamas on Friday 20th
August. This came after the outcry from customers that the $5 calling
credit that they offered to cell phone customers following the crash of
the BTC network for calling on 6th August was not enough. Seems that
made the natives settle down. Click
here for the full explanation about BTC’s troubles on 6th August.
Brad McPhee’s Bad Propaganda
Brad McPhee, good FNM that he is, former Torchbearer President and
all that, sent out a bit of praise on his Facebook webpage congratulating
Long Islander Frank Watson, a former Deputy Prime Minister on being named
Deputy to the Governor General. Mario Bannister, a former Young Liberals
Chairman and an aficionado himself of Facebook got right on him reminding
Mr. McPhee that Frank Watson bounced a cheque at the treasury and that
he was involved in scandal at Bahamasair. All facts. But Mr.
McPhee took umbrage. What they said in the exchange is none of our
business and they each have a right to their opinions. But Mr. McPhee
said that Mr. Bannister could not talk because there was not one former
or present PLP MP who was not involved in corruption. Excuse me?
Think again friend. Them’s fighting words and also libellous.
Please retract forthwith.
Wyclef Jean Not Certified To Run For Haitian Presidency
The Electoral Commission in Haiti has ruled that the rap star Wyclef
Jean is not entitled to run for President of Haiti. Good thing!
This is an effort that was bound to lead to problems. Mr. Jean said
he disagreed with the decision, which said he did not have the residency
requirements for the job, but he asked his supporters to respect the decision.
In a late word, the BBC is reporting that Wyclef Jean is going to contest
the ruling of the Haitian CEP. Big surprise!
Vybz Kartel Brawl At LPIA
The group was actually banned on the advice of the Barbados Police
Force from playing in Barbados. But they performed in Nassau last
week and everything went well until they reached the airport. There,
two members of the group set upon a fellow passenger over a bump by a door
they were opening in the bathroom. The person assaulted pressed charges
and the police arrested three of the group and off they went to court.
Two of the men pleaded guilty and the charges were dropped against the
third. The two were fined 2500 dollars or six months in jail.
Hopefully they won’t come back.
Power Failure Downs Net In GBI
The power failure gremlins continue to plague The Bahamas. The
power was out in Freeport recently, causing a failure in the internet for
the business community in Freeport. The system was down for half
a day said Cable Bahamas. Life in the Third World!
Delays At Lynden Pindling International Airport
The international airport at Nassau shut down for two hours because
the air conditioning system in the air traffic controller’s work place
broke down on Friday 20th August. This cause delays of flights going
and coming into Nassau. Life in the Third World!
Congratulations To Former ACP Shenandoah Evans
Former Assistant Commissioner of Police Shenandoah Evans is the recipient
of a Master’s Degree in Police Management and Criminal Justice from the
University of Leicester in the United Kingdom on 16th July. Mr. Evans
retired from the Police Force in February of this year and is now Deputy
Controller of the Port, working out of Freeport. He is married to
Justice Estelle Gray Evans.
PM Back From His Boat Cruise
After whiling away his time on board a ship somewhere out there the
Prime Minister arrived back in Nassau on Wednesday 18th August to a sea
of troubles. There is insurrection in the FNM and the most important
thing; there was a strike against Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Someone
call the police, a state of emergency needs to be called said one Facebook
user.
ZNS Suspends Sherman Brown?
Following on a report that appeared in The Tribune of Tuesday 17th
August, reporter Sherman Brown has been suspended for ten days with pay.
This is the second suspension of a reporter this year for alleged ethics
violations. Both the Chairman Michael Moss of the Broadcasting Corporation
and the General Manager Edwin Lightbourne weighed in on the matter.
Mr. Brown is accused of moonlighting as a P.R. agent for Peter Nygard,
the man who is embroiled in a conflict with his neighbour in Lyford Cay.
The Tribune reported a number of times that Mr. Brown arranged according
to them interviews for Mr. Nygard with them. Mr. Brown has denied
it and said that he is going to sue. Paul Moss, the political activist
represents Mr. Brown as an attorney and said that the matter is pure foolishness.
What we think is foolishness is the very idea that ZNS could be high minded
about ethics. They have not a clue, bless their hearts.
Tribune Speculating On Branville McCartney Again
The intrepid Tribune was at it again last week with a front page story
on Thursday 19th August (a day that will live in infamy) which said that
Bran McCartney was being encouraged to wait his turn by his advisors.
The Trib said that he does not have the support of Cabinet members, limited
to three, maybe four. They added that some disgruntled backbenchers
were in on the plot as well. But the bottom line is that his advisors
are now telling Mr. McCartney to wait his turn. The Trib also said
that if Hubert Ingraham were to step down as Leader of the FNM there are
six people waiting in the wings to run. They listed them as DPM Brent
Symonette (to the manor born); Minister of State Zhivargo Laing (Mr. Know
It All); Tommy Turnquest, Minister of National Security (Mr. Also Ran);
Dion Foulkes, the Labour Minister (out because he is not in the House);
Party Chairman Carl Bethel (Machiavelli or Iago or Cassius, take your pick)
and well, poor, innocent Branville McCartney.
Criticism Of Conduct Of Chrissy Love On ZNS
The radio talk show host Chrissy Love has been in for some withering
criticism on Facebook because of her alleged attack on the PLP on her radio
talk show. Most people thought that her attacks were unseemly, personal
and undignified. Knowing Chrissy, would she give a damn? The
more serious point they make is would a PLP supporter be given equal opportunity
on the publicly owned station?
Vernice Walkine Leaves Her Job At Tourism
NAD, the airport development and management company announced last
week that Vernice Walkine, the Director General of Tourism is to leave
the Ministry of Tourism and join them as an Executive Vice President for
Marketing. Seems like a bit of a come down to us, but we know it
is probably more money and we are sure that she can do the job. We
think that she did a creditable job as the DG of Tourism. We know
things really got complicated when Vincent Vanderpool, who himself is a
civil servant, came on board as Minister and continued to confuse the role
of civil servant with that of minister or policy maker. Hopefully
the confusion will now end, and the fall in tourism will be on his shoulder
alone as it rightly should. By the way, his friends are complaining
that he does not return their e-mails and phone calls. Very unlike
him. Too busy with Ingraham?
