Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 1 © BahamasUncensored.Com
 |
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - It was undoubtedly the story of the week. There he was on the front page of every newspaper dominating the TV and radio news, and the gossip around the tables in the watering holes and on the streets. He looked like he couldn’t hurt a fly, not the kind of guy that you would suspect could kill anyone. Did not look like much at all. And yet on Wednesday 29th October, the police charged 35 year old Cordell Farrington, warehouse worker for Kelly's hardware in Freeport, with the murder of four boys and a fifth person who was an adult male that went missing but whom they never suspected that connected in any way. The country is in shock. Grand Bahama is saddened but relieved. On Wednesday 29th October as he was charged before a Freeport Magistrate, the crowds jeered: “We want to see him! We want to see him!” And they did, and he looked like he savoured every moment of it. We add to his notoriety one supposes by naming it the photo of the week. (From the Bahama Journal) |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
WE NEED MORE THAN A HALF WAY DISCUSSION
Those of you who remember will recall the press conference that
Hubert Ingraham and his Deputy Prime Minister Frank Watson called in 2001
to take over the investigation of the murders of two tourists that seemed
not to have any end in sight. The Commissioner of Police then Bernard
Bonamy sat like a school boy at the press conference table as the then
Prime Minister took over the investigation of the murders. At the
time, the previous incarnation of this column called them Chief Inspector
Ingraham and Sergeant Watson. Mr. Ingraham said that the murder could
not have been committed by a Bahamian. Buzz! It turned out
Mr. Ingraham was wrong. It was a Bahamian who the police eventually
charged for the murders.
That is the kind of sentiment we begin with as we review the tragic events in Grand Bahama since May 2003. We call it ‘The Saga of the Missing Boys’. The first boy went missing in May 2003, and then a second boy until five boys went missing. The community became totally frantic, alternating between hysterical praying and chewing each other out about who was wrong or right on the issue. Many people thought exactly that earlier sentiment of Mr. Ingraham. This could not be The Bahamas and it was not a Bahamian who was doing it. It was a foreigner coming in and out seizing little boys for sexual pleasure or to grab their organs for use overseas. The truth may turn out to be far simpler than that.
The human rights community condemned the police in the early stages of the matter for not taking the matter seriously enough. That brought the larger Government’s resources and international police into the equation and they still did not resolve it. Then after months of worry, prayer and detective work were added to the mix, the solution of the first ‘missing boys’ crime, which seems now to have been a prank by four youngsters that went bad. Four pubescent boys now sit in the Simpson Penn facility for boys awaiting trial on manslaughter charges.
Then last Sunday the police got an unexpected break. The talk is the man simply walked in off the streets. He had had a bout of conscience and decided after one of his periodical arguments with his girlfriend that instead of killing someone to relieve that tension as he had done allegedly five times before, he would turn himself in. In a moment, in a disbelieving flash, the police had their man, and he began to confess all, slowly methodically until it was all done. And then he led them to the bodies, and then he also added that he killed a fifth person Jamal Robbins 22 who had also gone missing on 23rd May 2003 but whose disappearance they had not suspected as being at all connected to the disappearance of the boys.
That one was a real doozie, because, the late Mr. Robbins turned out to be the alleged killer’s close friend with whose family he had visited just as recently as the day before the confession. He had killed his friend dead and buried him in a wild spot near Barbary Beach just over the bridge in Freeport. The others were also buried there and DNA testing awaits. It seems pretty clear that the police would never have had their man, if that man in custody did not get a bout of conscience. Thank God for conscience. We have to thank his mother and father and those who raised this alleged and now charged fiend for that.
And now the hard part: the whys and the wherefore. Will there be a conviction for murder, the mandatory penalty for which is death, and which in the present state of the law is unconstitutional and cannot be carried out? The community tries to heal with prayer services, with counselling for the children, with an examination of what life is worth. Someone suggested that parents needed to go home and hug their little children one more time before seeing them off to sleep.
That’s fine for those middle class families with bedrooms and food to eat, and homework to do, but not so fine in the myriad of houses in Grand Bahama and elsewhere in the country, too many of them that have not one of those things. They live in overcrowded conditions, born to mothers who often have no male adult help, and who push their children out to get money to make ends meet, making them vulnerable to the kinds of things that happened in Freeport. That’s the kind of discussion we need to have. But we are not going to have it. Soon this will all fade into the background, and that will be until some other monster comes along to frighten us into another half way discussion.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 1st November 2003 up to midnight: 64,916.
Number of hits for the month of October 2003: 262,784.
Number of hits for the month of November 2003: 4,446.
Number of hits for the year 2003 up to Saturday 1st November 2003:
1,366,050.
GREENSLADE’S
STYLE IS GOOD POLICING
It is clear to us that if anyone is a possible successor to the present
Commissioner of Police it is Ellison Greenslade, the now Assistant Commissioner
in Freeport. Following the successful solving of the crime of the
missing boys in Grand Bahama, it is clear that his stock should be rising
high. He kept the public fully informed about what the police were
doing, and brought a new style of police management to the public.
But within the Police Force, there are not many
who share the view about Mr. Greenslade or so it would appear. As
soon as it became clear that the results were in so to speak, up rushed
officers from Nassau to claim the reward. Clearly this ought to have
rightfully included the Commissioner of Police, but the head of the Central
Detective Unit from Nassau ACP Reginald Ferguson also went and the spokesman
for the police from Nassau went as well. This caused tremendous upset
in Freeport where it was felt that all of the patient work of the Freeport
police seemed to have been shunted aside.
We were shocked to learn that a Freeport Magistrate
kept the press out of the Court room for the arraignment of the murder
suspect Cordell Farrington. That was wrong in the absence of some
clear, lawful rationale for doing do. It stripped the public of the
right to know and the defendant of an open public process. It is
probably unconstitutional.
Further, we do not agree with all the carping that
is going on now that if the police were less forthcoming about what they
were doing, the crime would have been solved earlier. That sort of
old policing belongs to the old era and it does not work. Nassau Guardian
photo by Derek Carroll.
NO
SEX, NO BODY PARTS
With all the general hysteria in The Bahamas at
the moment, there was an expectation in some quarters that when the mystery
of the missing boys was solved, there was sure to be some sick sexual predator
involved who was grabbing little boys and raping them. No talk of
that dimension to any of this since the arrest of the alleged perpetrator.
It appears that this was a straight out strange guy who grabbed opportunities
that arose off the street and murdered his victims. We will know
the full facts when the preliminary hearing is heard. Since the evidence
is largely thought to be a confession it will be interesting to see what
the motivations and modus operandi were. Also debunked was the theory
that these boys were being seized for body parts to be sold overseas.
FIRE
KILLS GIRL FROM WILLAMAE PRATT CENTRE
Early last Sunday morning there appears to have
been an escape attempt from the Willamae Pratt School for Girls.
This school is a correctional and holding facility for youngsters who are
female below the age of 16. A fire was started apparently as a ruse
to enable a mass breakout of girls from the school. Two got away,
one is still at large from the early hours of last Sunday 25th April. Three
girls were seriously injured in the fire. One girl has since died.
Her name is Anastasia Alexandria who was aged 15. Two other girls
are still in critical condition.
This is yet another tragedy at these lock up facilities
that seem to be under funded and not properly supervised. The Minister
of Social Service Melanie Griffin has announced that a special Commission
will look into the causes of the fire and compile a report. It will
be headed by Archbishop Drexel Gomez. What makes this a double tragedy
is the fact that the state has a responsibility to ensure that the children
in this lock up facility are safe, and it is clear that yet again they
are not. Further, the young girl who died was actually still in prison
because her family refused to come and collect her even though she was
free to go and officially released since July of this year. The girl
is reportedly an American citizen.
THE
FOREIGN MINISTER IN MEXICO
Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs has returned to the country
from Mexico where he attended the Hemispheric Conference on Security from
Sunday 25th October to Wednesday 29th October. Mr. Mitchell gave
a statement on behalf of The Bahamas. The conference was mandated
by the Heads of Government at the Quebec Hemispheric Conference of 2001.
Heads mandated their Foreign Ministers to follow up the matter of a new
hemispheric declaration on security.
Mr. Mitchell explained that there is a new view
of security to depart from traditional definitions of security as a guns
and bullets issue. There is now a declaration that admits that extreme
poverty, lack of education, health care in particular HIV/AIDS and environmental
issues are all matters that will affect the security of the state.
Even though the US signed on to the declaration they are still more concerned
about “terrorism” than any other state. What they are managing to
do is to cheese off every other state in the hemisphere by their continued
insistence on silly and bothersome searches of foreign diplomats and officials
travelling through their airports in the US. You may click
here for the full statement by the Minister. Tribune news header.
BOYS
IN TROUBLE - A NATIONAL DISCUSSION
Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell has been
referring to the theme of Boys in Crisis over the past week. After
having attended the hemispheric conference on security, the Minister said
that he noticed that there was reference to women and their advancement
in the hemisphere but there was no acknowledgement of a serious issue of
boys in the hemisphere. In every country of the hemisphere the fact
is that boys are not managing to keep up academically and socially and
are at higher risk of death than women. The Bahamas has a particular
problem according to the Minister where the issue is being ignored.
Mr. Mitchell told doctors being honoured on Friday 31st October as Medical
Pioneers that they need to put boys and their care on the agenda.
He told the Trade Union Congress gathering on Thursday 30th October that
they need to put boys on their agenda, and speaking at the funeral of Leonard
Davis (see story below), he again returned to the theme.
CENTRAL
BANK SHOULD HOLD THE LINE
The Bahama Journal reports that the Central Bank
of The Bahamas is reviewing its lending restrictions. Right now the
banks have been told that they cannot lend out more money than they did
last year, and that effectively means that they can only lend out monies
to the extent that there is repayment of existing loans. This is
called a lending cap, and it was imposed by the Central Bank to protect
the foreign reserves which in turn support the currency value of the Bahamian
dollar with the US dollar. The commercial banks are said to be pressuring
the bank to lift the cap because it is eating into their profits.
Right now they say the surplus or liquidity in the system stands at 167
million dollars. According to the Journal, the normal level for this
time of year is said to be about 75 million dollars. The foreign
reserves are said to be about 500 million. The problem is the reserves
are this high not because of productivity gains but because the Government
has borrowed money in foreign currency. This is an artificial situation.
The jobless rate is high and investment in the economy is not what it should
be. We think that the Bank ought to hold the line and not lift the
cap. Perhaps the rapacious banks will get the message that they need
to offer better services at more reasonable prices and perhaps make more
money that way.
PROMOTIONS
HEAVEN IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE
The Bahamas Government opened the flood gates last week when the Public
Service Minister Fred Mitchell announced that the promotions of public
servants would go ahead and be in place by 26th November. The result
is that all of the pent up frustration about promotions has now been unleashed.
Everyone who claims to have voted for the PLP has reportedly rushed to
their MPs claiming that over the term of the FNM they have been victimized
by the PLP by not being promoted. No one accepts that maybe they
are not qualified for a promotion.
Promotions were also announced by the Commissioner
of Police and the Commodore of the Defence Force last week. Many
officers are happy but many more are dissatisfied. The Government
itself must be quite nonplussed since some of the promotions procedures
in the Forces do not appear to be open and transparent. No word yet
on promotions for the Departments of Immigration, Customs and the Prison.
Pictured
in this Donald Knowles photo from the Nassau Guardian is Acting Chief Superintendent
Juanita Colebrooke, the first woman to attain this rank in the history
of the police, being decorated by the Commissioner of Police.
DENGUE
FEVER BUG
The Ministry of Health’s Dr. Baldwin Carey has confirmed
that there are two confirmed cases of Dengue Fever in The Bahamas. He has
asked for special vigilance on the question of mosquitoes and their breeding
places. The Ministry’s vector control department is engaged in an
active spraying programme. Dengue Fever while sometimes simply a
sidelining illness can be fatal in some of its more virulent forms.
It is said that one of the victims became so seriously ill that they had
to be airlifted to Florida for further treatment.
Although Dr. Carey did not say it, the Dengue Fever
has been found in the eastern areas of New Providence. Dr. Carey
also said that there is increased surveillance for West Nile Virus in The
Bahamas. There continue to be reports of dead birds on the island
of New Providence. He said that when the public encounters such a
bird, they ought to inform the Ministry of Agriculture right away.
The Ministry’s statement was issued on Friday 24th October.
WILL
WE OR WON’T WE ON WTO, FTAA & CSME?
Vanessa Rolle of the Nassau Guardian reported on Monday 27th October that
the Government of The Bahamas has made a conscious decision to join the
World Trade Organization (WTO). She quoted from an address made by the
Minister of Labour Vincent Peet as he addressed the opening of the International
Labour Conference (ILO) on the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA),
the WTO and the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). There
is considerable resistance in The Bahamas to the latter two.
Mr. Peet said of WTO the question is not whether
we will join but what the terms and conditions ought to be. We believe
that the same should be the case for the FTAA and the CSME. Sir Sonny
Ramphal former Secretary General of the Commonwealth and the former head
of the Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) for the Caribbean on FTAA urged
The Bahamas to join the CSME with reservations. We agree. He
said that there should be a time out called on the FTAA. We believe
that is so as well. But we think that pressure ought to be put on
the US to stop the harassment of Caribbean visitors to their country in
their airports and in the granting visas. This should be made a clear
agreement of the FTAA process, not using the prohibitions on visas as non
tariff barriers to trade. Minister Vincent Peet is pictured addressing
the ILO conference in this Nassau Guardian photo by Donald Knowles.
GOVT.
BACKS OUT OF BTC TALKS - PRAISE GOD!
The Tenders Commission headed by Financial Secretary Ruth Millar (pictured
with Commission member Leander Bethel at left) met with the press on Thursday
30th October to announce that the Government had accepted their advice
to cease the period of exclusive talks with BahamaTel, the preferred bidder
in the tenders for the sale 49 per cent share of BaTelCo, the Bahamian
telephone company. All of the bids were thought to be a disappointment
and did not give the proper price but the Government committed to the process
started by the Ingraham administration. That process, started in
1998, has cost nearly 200 million dollars and is still not complete.
The Commission revealed that the exclusivity period comes to an end because
BahamaTel headed by businessman Tom Bain seemed not to be in a position
to address the concerns of the Commission on a number of issues relating
to the future of BaTelCo, among them its financing and capital expenditure.
Tom Bain predictably pronounced himself to be stunned and found the rejection
incredible.
We support the Commission on this one. The
fact is that this whole matter is a mess and BaTelCo should not be sold
at all, except in tranches to the Bahamian people and then ultimately to
the present management of BaTelCo with a monopoly period and then competition.
That’s privatization. What we are undergoing now is a total farce
at the expense of the Bahamian people. In the name of finishing the
process, the Commission said that it would now go to the second highest
bidder the Blue Group headed by Bahamian Lindbergh Smith (pictured, right)
supported by Deutche Telecom. Tenders Commission photo from the
Nassau Guardian.
SHORT NOTES
Pressure To PLP MPs
PLP MPS are said to be the subject of extreme pressure
for not checking in sufficiently with their constituents and not paying
attention to key generals giving them some of the spoils as they perceive
them of election victory. Some generals are now threatening not to help
out at the next election poll in 2007 if something is not done soon.
Exuma Hotel To Open
The Emerald Bay Four Seasons Resort is set to open
23rd November in Ocean Bight, Exuma. This is the latest opening date.
It was expected to be 1st November but construction delays are the cause
of the most recent announcement. The manager also said that the company
is concerned that the airport that the Government promised would be upgraded
for their opening in Exuma will not be ready. The facility is said
to have 350 employees mainly Bahamian and is said to be fully booked.
Atlantis Hotel Profits
The second fiscal quarter for Kerzner International
Atlantis Hotel has proven again to be a record. After a record first
quarter earnings, the Kerzners again have further profits to report.
The Tribune said on Friday 24th October that Paradise Island operations
increased gross revenues by 4.6 per cent from $112 million in 2002 to $117.7
million and operating income growing by 17.7 per cent from $24.2 million
during the year before period to $28.4 million. This should cause
the Union to keep it eyes on a hefty increase for their members.
The Union’s demands are said to have the company nervous. Reports
are that bartenders take home on average $100,000 per year and pool attendants
some $75,000 per year.
Royal Bank of Canada
An announcement from RBC says that the Nassau office
has been chosen as the new headquarters for the Caribbean region of RBC's
affairs. Good choice, not like those other (gratuitous expletive deleted)
at CIBC and Barclays that chose Barbados.
WHAT’S
TO BECOME OF STEVE MCKINNEY?
Last week, we indicated our support for the return of Steve McKinney’s
‘Drive Time Talk’ show on the Broadcasting Corporation's 1540 AM station.
The contract for the show was not renewed because amongst other things
it was said that it did not cover the costs of its production, and that
Mr. McKinney had caused the Corporation to pay tens of thousands of dollars
in damages to a person who claimed that they had been libelled.
Notwithstanding that, the show is enormously popular
and Mr. McKinney has been a great aid to the development of public opinion
as the tide changed over the past two years toward the PLP. The non
renewal of the contract leaves the Party open to the claim that the same
old pre 1992 habits are back where we do not like opinion that is adverse
to the PLP. Whether true or not, that is the perception of removing
Steve McKinney. That perception was furthered this week with another
report that ‘Speak Up’, the show pioneered by Picewell Forbes was also
taken off the air after guest host Vaughn Miller filled in for Mr. Forbes
on Friday 24th October.
The Nassau Guardian reported on Friday 24th October
that the Steve McKinney Show might be back on the air following talks with
the administration at ZNS. Mr. McKinney said that ZNS indicated that
if he could cover the costs it was possible for the show to be back on
the air. The late word is that a letter was delivered to that effect
but the cost bar was set so high that it appears that the Corporation has
no intention of returning him to the air. The negotiations are said
to be continuing.
A
CALL TO THE BAR
Berlice Lightbourne, a former law clerk and secretary at the former law
firm of Minister Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell was called to the Bar of
The Bahamas on Friday 31st October. Mr. Mitchell donned his robes,
wig and gown for the occasion and presented the petition. He described
Ms. Lightbourne as “a fine and outstanding example of a good Bahamian young
person. She is all that we would want any daughter or son of this
soil to be.” Ms. Lightbourne will join the chambers of Graham Thompson
and Co. in Freeport, Grand Bahama.
Pictured after the call with former Prime Minister
Hubert Ingraham with Ms. Lightbourne in the middle is the Minister of Foreign
Affairs. The photo is by Peter Ramsay. Congratulations to all
the other lawyers who were called to the Bar including Thea Samuels, the
daughter of Cheryl Samuels of Hampton Street, New Providence. Ms.
Samuels won the top marks at the Eugene Dupuch Law School and will join
the firm Dupuch and Turnquest and Co. Also called was Shakka Serville,
son of Brian Serville of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Attorney Ellen
Serville. These two lawyers were amongst 18 additional persons called
to the Bar on Friday 31st October. The official roll now inscribes
more than 700 lawyers in The Bahamas. Some of the lawyers called
are pictured below. Photos also by Peter Ramsay.
LEONARD
DAVIS OF FOX HILL IS BURIED
Leonard Davis was the owner of the famous Jungle Club of Fox Hill.
He was a founder of the Improved Benevolent Order of Elks of the World
and a Scottish Rite 33rd Degree Mason. He was a businessman who helped
to put Fox Hill on the map. Mr. Davis died on Thursday 30th October
in his sleep after struggling with illness for just over a year.
He was 78 years old. Funeral Services were held for Mr. Davis at
St. Barnabas Anglican Church on Saturday 1st November. Officiating
was the Venerable Archdeacon I. Ranfurly Brown and Canon Basil Tynes.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs & The Public Service Fred Mitchell
spoke about Mr. Davis as an independent businessman and a fine example
to all Bahamians of a man who worked for himself and built up a reputation
as a hard working businessman. Following the service two marching
bands formed a parade with the residents of Fox Hill and the Elks and Masons
and members of his family to march to the cemetery Woodlawn for burial.
The Minister joined the march. Mr. Davis is survived by his 10 sons:
Derek (who owns the Village Food Store, the Davis Bus Service and Davis
Trucking and Land Clearing), Ryan, Erskine, Lenny, Lionel, Andre, Dale,
Paul, Peter, Audley; twelve daughters: Sherinne Pratt, Sheria Saunders,
Carla Bastian, Toinette Munnings, Isanora Adderley, Shirley Davis, Dorothy
McPhee, Portia McFord, Harriett Rolle, Jacinta Deveaux, Kena Davis and
Leonora Moss-Davis. We show photos of the day by Peter Ramsay.
CONGRATULATIONS
TO MANNY WALLACE
Emmanuel Wallace of Freeport Grand Bahama has tied
the knot. He was married in an impressive ceremony to the former
Roshann Pinder at Christ the King pro Cathedral in Freeport on Saturday
1st November. It was a grand occasion presided over by the Archbishop
Drexel Gomez. Amongst the well wishers was Ron Pinder, Parliamentary
Secretary of the Ministry of Health. Congratulations to Mr. Wallace
and his new bride.
TIGER’S
DAUGHTER GETS MARRIED
Garret ‘Tiger’ Finlayson, believed now to be the richest black Bahamian
and his wife Rowena looked on with pride at the Christ Church Cathedral
as their daughter Tanya married Dancyn Stephen Tynes, the son of Mrs. and
Mrs. Danny Tynes. A fine looking group of young people gathered in
the wedding party. The officiant was the Very Reverend Dean of the
Cathedral Patrick L. Adderley. The Prime Minister Perry Christie
attended the wedding as did Cabinet members Bradley Roberts, Melanie Griffin,
and Fred Mitchell. Also in attendance were Senate President Sharon
Wilson and Mr. Franklyn Wilson, Senator Cyprianna McWeeney and Mr. Sean
McWeeney and former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. The photo is
by Peter Ramsay.
MICHAEL
HEPBURN IS BACK
Last year businessman Michael Hepburn (Kenny Rogers
restaurant) was stopped while travelling through the Miami International
Airport and arrested and charged in the United States (click
here for the previous report). Mr. Hepburn was freed earlier
this year by the US Courts and is now back in The Bahamas. He attended
the wedding of his cousin Tiger Finlayson’s daughter on Saturday 1st November.
Welcome back. We thought the charges were trumped up anyway.
US
DIPLOMAT SPEAKS
It appears that slowly but surely relations between the US and The Bahamas
are returning to their more even keel since the departure of the last political
envoy from the US to this country J Richard Blankenship left in July.
Robert Witijewski who is now in charge until a new political appointee
comes in was reported by The Tribune to have ridiculed recent rumours in
the media that questioned the United States attitude to The Bahamas.
He laughed off the suggestion about the closure of the pre clearance lounge,
The Tribune said, as well as the reason for the search of Bahamian GG Dame
Ivy Dumont. The Tribune quoted him as saying: “the rumours were amusing
and diverting because they were completely wrong and the reality was kind
of boring. Tom Clancy would have been proud of the more imaginative
versions of what actually happened and why, and sociologists would have
had a delightful research opportunity looking at the origin, growth and
half life of the rumour cycle.” Hmmm! The report came in The
Tribune Saturday 1st November and came from a speech delivered to Rotary
Club of East Nassau on Thursday 30th October. Tribune photo by Tanya
Cartwright.
THOUGHTS
FROM COB’S OLIVIA’S SAUNDERS
Olivia Saunders is an administrator and lecturer
at the College of The Bahamas. While in the current government was
still in opposition, she presented useful alternative analyses for the
Opposition Leader on various economic policy issues. She continues
with that work at the College of The Bahamas and so recently provided a
thoughtful analysis of where The Bahamas ought to be going within the next
20 years. We agree that the country focuses too much on the present
and is not turning sufficient attention to where we ought to go. Click
here for the full and interesting analysis by Olivia Saunders.
ICCL
CONFERENCE IN FREEPORT
The fifth International Conference on Caribbean
Literature (ICCL) opens this week at Freeport’s Our Lucaya hotel.
The event is organised by Bahamian Dr. Melvin Rahming, Chair of the Department
of English at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia and Dr. Jorge Roman-Lagunas,
Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Purdue
University, Calumet. The ICCL promotes the global understanding of
Caribbean culture. The Bahamian Committee is headed by Mr. Philip
Franks and Mrs. Bonnie Franks. Please click
here for a schedule of events.
RESTLESS
BACKBENCH?
With the Party’s annual convention coming to mark
the 50th anniversary of its existence, PLP backbenchers are said to be
restless. It is to quite clear what the problems are but it is thought
that maybe a backbench caucus will be formed to try to keep the unit together
fully informed of their views and plans.
The House of Assembly’s Government Committee room
was left with the remains of the food from the meeting held there this
past week. The usual complaints of backbenchers are coming forth: they
are not kept fully informed; they believe they ought to have a stronger
voice in policy matters, and regular party caucus meetings. All good
points, but should the matter really become a public issue?
Of course there is not a very big backbench in the
strictest sense of the word. Of the 29 PLP members of Parliament,
16 are full cabinet members. There are five Parliamentary Secretaries.
That makes 21 bound by Cabinet rules. So there are therefore only
8 persons who are free to disagree publicly with the Cabinet. Then
of the remaining 8, one is the Prime Minister's Ambassador, the other is
an Executive Chairman of a Corporation, and another two are the heads of
a Statutory Board. That would seem to leave only four persons who
are free to vote and say what they wish in public without regard to the
wishes of the Cabinet, well 7 if you leave out the Chairmen of Boards and
Corporations. This is not a very large group of free men and women.
The last time there was a backbench caucus, it was
headed by Dr. Norman Gay during the Pindling Administration. Dr.
Gay soon ended up being a Cabinet Minister and the caucus collapsed.
There is also some talk that there is a candidate doing the rounds to oppose
incumbent Raynard Rigby at the convention for the post of Chair.
Whistling Dixie, no doubt! We support Mr. Rigby.
WEDDINGS
ADDING TO THE GDP
There have been four high society weddings during
the last year and we figure that they have done well for the economy:
Tiger Finlayson’s daughter, PLP Chairman Raynard Rigby’s wedding to a former
PLP Treasurer’s daughter, Franklyn Wilson’s daughter’s wedding to MP Frank
Smith; MP Brave Davis’ daughter’s wedding to Minister Neville Wisdom’s
nephew; soon to come the wedding of the son of Bookie Johnson. We
figure that maybe half a million has been added to the GDP of the country
with these weddings. Also another interesting phenomenon, all of
them took place in an Anglican church reinforcing the notion that the power
elite remain very much Anglicans although only now 16 per cent of the population
are Anglicans (See piece by Olivia Saunders above).
MAILBOX
Last week, we were properly upbraided
by a letter writer who took issue with our perceived stance on this
site. This week, reader Vaughan Scriven weighs in with a response:
I am prompted to write after reading today's
mailbox. I have also questioned your objectivity from time to time
but like you said, you are PLP supporters. In that regard, some bias
is to be expected. However, I have been following the site since
it's genesis and if I do nothing else on line on a Sunday, I read your
page because I have yet to find you “objectionable” in your coverage.
So, to your detractors, if you have a problem with the content you don't
have to stop but in my humble opinion you are the best read on the political
situation in The Bahamas today.
Vaughn Scriven
“Where there is no vision, there is no hope;
where there is no hope, there is no growth; and where there is no growth,
we cease to exist.”
THE
WEEK WITH THE PM
A light week of public engagements for Prime Minister
Perry Christie. Photographer Peter Ramsay captures the Prime Minister
exiting the wedding ceremony of Tanya and Dancyn Tynes held at Christ Church
Cathedral. Mr. Christie is being escorted out by Dean Patrick Adderley.
Also this past week, Mr. Christie attended a ceremony at Buena Vista where
he helped in honouring medical pioneers in The Bahamas. The event
was staged by The Bahamas Medical Association. From left to right
are: Dr. Cyprian Strachan, President of the Medical Association; Dr. Trevor
Jupp, honouree; Mavis Adderley, the widow of Dr. Francis Adderley honouree;
Dr. John Lunn, honouree; Dr. Patrick Roberts, honouree; Dr. Kirtland Culmer,
honouree; Prime Minister Christie; Dr. Cecil Bethel, honouree; Melanie
Griffin, Acting Minister of Health; Dr. Evaneth McPhee, honouree and Dr.
Mac Campbell, honouree.
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA -
EPHESIANS 6:12 – “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.”
CONDOLENCES
Our condolences go out to the families of all those affected with this
tragic end, the missing boys. We pray that God's love and presence
would bring peace in your time of sorrow.
GOD ANSWERS PRAYER
Last Sunday, a spiritual battle was unfolding between the forces of
light and darkness in the mysterious disappearance of five school age boys.
For the past month, prayer warriors from all over the island of Grand Bahama
had been lifting up prayers for the missing boys and their families.
They, also, prayed that the perpetrator have no peace in his soul until
he turned himself into the authorities.
The police, for their part, seemed at the dead end of a trail gone cold. You will recall last week, that Commissioner of Police, Paul Farquharson, made a plea for any information, however minute, to be given to the police. This was confirmation that the police had nothing.
The Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ellison Greenslade, is at a crossroad in his career. Observers say that he was in a pressure cooker. The public was losing confidence in his policing abilities because of some missteps in this investigation, and internally, he increasingly had to stave off a rear guard assault.
Last Sunday, ACP Greenslade attended the St. John's Jubilee Cathedral 8:00 a.m. service along with his Kiwanis family. Also at that service was one of the mothers of the missing boys. Towards the end of the service, there was a time of prayer led by Bishop Williams. We are informed that you could feel the intensity throughout the church's auditorium. When he was finished, Greenslade asked the bishop to tell the congregation that a breakthrough was coming, and, that they should not lose hope. With that announcement, the service was dismissed.
Around the same time, a young man named Cordell Farrington presented himself to the police. And, like a water faucet, he began to bare his soul. There was no subterfuge on the part of the police. When Cordell was finished, the spiritual battle and Grand Bahama's nightmare had come to an end.
A PROFILE OF THE PERPETRATOR
The perpetrator's profile was give to the Guardian by Dr. Gregory Swann,
a Bahamian forensic psychologist. When it was compared with the accused,
it was said to be 99% accurate. The only thing missing from that
profile was a photo. It was unlikely that the police would have ever
found the accused because of the way he conducted himself. His employers
spoke of him in high regard, saying that he was an excellent worker, and
was also being considered for promotion.
THE POLICE AND THE OLIVE BRANCH
Nassau's top brass of the police force was in town for the press briefing,
and ACP Greenslade was careful to include his local officers; however,
some felt the power of prayer was downplayed. Believers all over
Grand Bahama, notwithstanding with what had taken place, knew that it was
the hand of God and gave thanks saying TO GOD BE THE GLORY.
ELVIS HEPBURN
On Saturday morning, Elvis ‘Swinger’ Hepburn was the MC at a prayer
breakfast hosted by the PLP's Marco City branch. He was also heard
on a radio commercial promoting the event. This angered his erstwhile
fellow freedom fighters in the FNM; and, they cussed him behind his back
with words we dare not print on this site.
RED ROSE BALL
The Imperial Life Red Rose Ball was held Saturday November 1st in Grand
Bahama. From all accounts, it was a smashing success. It is
believed when the final tally is made, the Grand Bahama Aids Awareness
Committee will receive somewhere in the area of THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS
($30,000). In attendance at the ball were Prime Minister Christie
and Mrs. Christie, and a virtual who’s who in Grand Bahama. Mr. Dashwell
Flowers of Imperial Life is to be congratulated for pulling off another
successful ball.
CDR
Reliable sources have told News from Grand Bahama that some high-level
CDR members will return to the PLP. It seems that some of the nasty
scars have healed and that peace is about to be made. We shall see!!!
SYNTEX to REOPEN
The old Syntex plant in Grand Bahama has been fired up; and, is said
to be up and running with some of the old staff returning to the lab.
It is believed that the plant will be used to produce some anti-viral drug.
We are informed that a European company bought out the plant. It
is hoped that this plant and its product succeeds because the pharmaceutical
business tends to bring high-paying jobs and good benefits for its employees.
D.M. ...on the Anglican Church
Many speak of the inevitable split of the Anglican Church with respect
to the ordination of the openly homosexual bishop in New Hampshire, U.S.A.
As Bahamians in the Anglican faith, we must be proud of the stance that
our bishop Drexel Gomez took on the issue. We are a country that
stands on Christian values that we so vehemently speak and follow suit
because those are the true values that we stand on. Many speak of
liberation and the issue of sexual orientation as an individual right;
however, the bible does not justify homosexual practices. The bible
speaks of this practice being an abomination to God (Lev. 20).
As Christians, we believe that man and woman are created to join together in a union to reproduce and multiply. And if that sacrament is not for you, the apostle Paul speaks of being called to the single ministry. The approval of this openly homosexual bishop is no doubt the catalyst that will open the flood gates (or should I say, add to the flood). The church in Canada has sanctioned gay marriages, then this issue, there is also the call to legislate adoption by homosexual couples, and who knows what will follow.
The times have, no doubt changed, but the basic biblical principles remain the same.
Anglicans are the laughing stock of modern Christianity. But, as a people we do not need to be enveloped in the climax. We have a duty, our Christian duty to stand up for what is right in God’s eyes. As a Christian, you must seek the necessary means to offer prayer and counseling to those persons proclaiming to being homosexual. We must cease to act as though it does not exist. We must cease to dismantle it as other people’s affairs. We must cease to disregard it as not being a major issue in our country, because no matter how far away you think it is, it is close to home. We must begin to ask God for wisdom in dealing with the issue. We, together, must ask God’s divine intervention so that our country is not caught in the wave of immorality. Additionally, our stance on the issues reflects who we are and what we stand for as Christians and as a growing country founded on Godly principles.
GB News Mailbox
Some interesting mail this week. Our correspondent
D.M. mused about Brent Symonette in her contribution
last week, and this week, reader C. A. deGregory offers this reaction:
Please allow me to express to a few comments that I have in response to the questions, which were posted in the October 26th commentary on the Hon. Brent Symonette.
How preposterous! It may be of interest to my fellow Bahamians of lighter hue that it was Black-centered policies that allowed for the first true democratic and just government of The Bahamas. Bahamians -- black, brown and white alike, are afforded the opportunity to vie for public office. It can be assumed that Mr. Symonette believes that he won his seat based on the content of his character and not the color of his skin. Why then, would his loss of the bid for party leader be any less a decision predicated on merit and ability rather than his hue? Or is it the Honorable Member’s assertion that his election was because he is of European descent? Enough said.
On the matter of Bahamian nationalism, The Bahamas is young but fledgling nation with a panorama of native customs. It seems absurd to this writer that our nation would not be grappling with the very same issues which nation-states have labored with since the beginning of humankind. No person will ever be totally void of the prejudices of his or her past be it of party affiliation, race, creed, gender, religion and/or sexual orientation (lest we forget that still sensitive subject). Still, it is imperative that each person to seek the greatest objectivity possible -- even if that be to elect a person of European descent to lead a country which is primarily made-up of persons of African descent.
After all, it is not every minority group’s greatest aspiration to contribute to their nation in such a fashion as to warrant election to the country’s highest public office (i.e. African-Americans in the United States)? And is it not the responsibility of every majority group, which benefits from the contributions of their fellow citizens to engender a just society where all of its citizens may serve in public office if he of she is so qualified?
Thanking you in advance for your consideration of these thoughts.
C. A. deGregory
D.M. Notes: As a writer, my goal is
to foster thought. As a thinker, I appreciate the time that my readers
take to critically analyze my writings and I acknowledge the points that
they make. However, the points that I make are rationally thought out and
I stand by every word that I write. It is my belief that a
good leader is not one to run in the dark and hide. And, being a
member of a ‘minority group’, with odds against him or her, should probe
to go over and beyond (think about it). Nationalism is a process
(I agree). We need not compare ourselves to other 1st world
countries that are still struggling with it. As a small, young nation
we ought to take the first steps and be consistent in our trek towards
nationalism.
Saving Govt. Rent Dollars
Also in the mailbox this week, some thoughts on saving
the Government money in Freeport from reader Devita Davenport. Hey,
it all helps.
It would be nice to see the old police station in Grand Bahama be converted into offices for the City of Freeport Council and or the Gaming Board of the Bahamas and or Environmental Health Departments. The offices of the listed governmental departments are located in complexes where the government still has to pay rent.
The old police station is slowly becoming an eye sore and should be better utilized. Perhaps, if the building is not owned by the G. B. Port Authority (or even if it is owned by the GBPA) those government departments can be relocated.
Another way to save some dollars for the Government.
I trust that you can pass this on to persons who
can make this happen.
Devita Davenport
 |
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - It was not even two months ago that Bahamas Electricity executives completed their tours of the island of New Providence to sell to the public the message that they had finally gotten their act together. They could provide all the electricity for New Providence and they could do it at a lower cost to the consumer. But just when we thought it was safe to go back into the water, and the moment our minds were off the problem, the capital city and the island on which it sits was plunged into darkness. Not just a part of it but the entire island, and the General Manager Bradley S. Roberts, no relation to the Minister Bradley B. Roberts, could not say why. The entire business day from 5:18 a.m. when it happened on Thursday 6th November to about 9 p.m. when all power was said to be restored, was lost. That is why we chose this Bahama Journal photo of BEC General Manager being interviewed by the press as our photo of the week. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
HEADS SHOULD ROLL
If
you did not know any better, you would have thought that the executives
of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) must have robbed the church.
Our country and the Government have been embarrassed beyond measure by
the total failure and collapse of the electricity in the capital city of
Nassau. For over 12 hours on Thursday 6th November, the
entire city was in darkness, forcing the absence of workers from their
jobs, the spoiling of food in homes and businesses, traffic gridlock, schools
being cancelled, workers being sent home early. But more importantly
it gave a sense of insecurity to a nation that had come to expect and accept
the word of BEC’s executives that they had finally licked the problem of
blackouts in Nassau, our capital city. Now we start all over
again, trying to trust the executives of BEC. Given the previous
positions taken in this column, no one should be surprised then when we
say: “Heads must roll!”
In any other country, someone would have offered their head on a platter. It was a little disappointing to say the least that at 7:30 a.m. when the crisis was then two hours into its life, the General Manager of the Corporation did not come off as an effective spokesman for the Corporation. He sounded like he simply did not know what was going on at all. It did not come off well. It did not even inspire confidence that he or his executive team knew how to get on top of the problem.
That was the day Thursday 6th November: the day when the lights went out, without warning at 5.18 a.m. and did not get back on in the capital city until well after 9 p.m. that evening in some parts of the island. The emergency generators that were supposed to protect some people and Government offices from their problems of a blackout, did not themselves rise to the occasion. Many of those generators had not been properly maintained and so they failed. In a word, the day was a mess.
The Cabinet Office did not have generating power. Even many Ministers of the government were delayed getting to their places of work because there was no power.
Nicholas Brady speaking at a Chamber of Commerce meeting way back in 1994 told The Bahamas that it could not hope to succeed as a developed country until it got in place a reliable supply of electricity. That remark was made almost a decade ago. Mr. Brady, a former Treasury Secretary of the United States may not remember the remark today but when power failed and his generator kicked in at Lyford Cay, the whole issue must have come back into sharp relief.
The public is quite frankly sick of it. The Corporation has simply run out of excuses. There was said to be a transmission line failure, and then there seemed to be some kind of generator fault. It just did not come off convincingly or professionally. It appeared that we simply had a team at the helm of BEC that did not know what it was doing. To say that the country is disappointed is not to overstate the matter.
The question is: what do we do? No doubt the Minister will have some new initiatives to offer with regard to BEC. One hopes that there is in fact a thorough investigation into the matter to determine just what went wrong. The cartoonist Stan Burnside of The Tribune published a drawing on Friday 7th November that showed even the frustration of BEC's Minister Bradley Roberts who was an arch critic of BEC while in Opposition. If there is any negligence discovered in the investigations, then the blame will have to be attached to who is responsible and that person should fall on his or her sword.
The larger lesson though for this country it would seem in this and all other areas of our national life, is a commitment to discipline, as evidenced though maintenance and upkeep. Perhaps if we could get that lesson straight, we might not only be able to keep the lights on but also keep our wider national life at a level at which we can be justly proud instead of embarrassed.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 8thNovember at midnight: 55,287.
Number of hits for the month of November up to Saturday 8th November at midnight: 76,196.
Number of hits for the year 2003 up to Saturday
8th November at midnight: 1,421,337.
THE
CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER COMES
It was a busy Foreign Affairs week for The Bahamas.
The Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque came a calling to The Bahamas.
Despite all the differences between the United States and The Bahamas,
Mr. Roque flew into The Bahamas on Delta Airlines direct from New York,
where he had just delivered another UN vote on behalf of his country’s
efforts to lift the illegal economic blockade by the United States against
Cuba. The vote was a lopsided 179 to 3 with two abstentions. Those voting
with the United States were Israel and the Marshall Islands. The Bahamas
supported Cuba.
Mr. Roque spent two days in The Bahamas and met
with the Minister of Foreign Affairs to discuss a lengthy agenda of proposed
agreements, including the review of the status of Bahamians imprisoned
in Cuba. There are 20 Bahamians in Cuban prisons. Mr. Roque told the press
on his departure from Nassau that the arrangements had been made for 12
of the persons to be transferred to The Bahamas under the terms of the
agreement between the two countries, and that 9 were ready to leave for
The Bahamas. Three awaited further processing. It all seemed to go rather
well.
The Cuban Foreign Minister described his talk with the Prime Minister as important and impressive. The Minister of Foreign Affairs told the press that the matter of human rights did not arise in the talks but that it had earlier been made clear to Cuba what our position is on human rights. The Bahamas condemned the execution of the persons who hijacked a Cuban boat after a three day trial and it also condemn the crackdown on Cuban dissents. Mr. Mitchell said that there were many countries with whom we had relations whose system we did not agree with but that as a practical reality Cuba being on our border, we had to find a way to have formal relations.
The Cuban Consul General Felix Wilson was able to turn out a host of
Bahamians for a reception for his Foreign Minister. At the British Colonial
Hotel on Wednesday 5th November. The people of the country are voting with
their feet, going to Cuba for health care, tourism, business and education.
The Government of The Bahamas plans to put a Consulate General in Havana
early next year. The Cubans have asked to put a resident Ambassador in
Nassau. The matter is being considered by the Government. Prime Minister
Christie spoke to the issue of the friendship with Cuba and the friendship
with the United States when he addressed a group of visiting USA Congressmen
on Friday 7th November in Nassau. He told them that the United States has
to understand that if The Bahamas is its friend no matter where it goes
it is still a friend of the United States and that includes its relations
with Cuba.
THE
US TRIES TO SET THE AGENDA
The morning that the Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe
Roque arrived in The Bahamas, the United States charge d’affaires released
a letter to the press which was published in all the daily newspapers in
The Bahamas. In it, the US Envoy said that while the Cuban Foreign Minister
was in town, the Foreign Minister of The Bahamas ought to raise certain
questions with the Foreign Minister of Cuba.
The statement said in part: “Hopefully during each of Foreign Minister
Perez Roque’s stops he will be asked why tens of thousands of Cubans have
risked their lives to flee their homeland. Is it because of the oppressive
controls of a regime that regulates all aspects of public and private life?
Is it because until the historic visit of Pope John Paul II it was illegal
to celebrate
Christmas? Is it because after 43 years of a command economy, the Cuban
standard of living is lower than when Fidel Castro seized power?”
The idea behind the issuing of the statement was clear. This was to
send signal to the Bahamian Government to act on behalf of the United States
to raise a particular agenda. The Foreign Minister of The Bahamas was asked
about the statement and its content after his meeting with the Cuban Foreign
Minister. Some Bahamians were livid because it appeared to be an interference
in the internal affairs of The Bahamas.
Mr. Mitchell said that the statement was an unusual and odd one. He
said that it was unusual for a third country to comment on a bilateral
meeting between Cuba and The Bahamas. He went on to say that raising the
human rights issues in the way the United States envoy did might in fact
have been counter productive. According to the reps, the issue did not
come up in the meeting with Mr. Roque.
The Foreign Minister said that The Bahamas has made its position clear
on the human rights concerns in Cuba. The Bahamas joined a number of OAS
countries earlier this year in a declaration to condemn the treatment of
dissidents in Cuba. It also signed on to a Caricom statement calling for
greater transparency in the Judicial system of Cuba.
It was an interesting week, the cold war, long over being fought one
of its last battles on Bahamian soil. Both Cuba and the United States appear
to be overly sensitive to public criticism of their policies. That is one
thing then that they share and that is we guess a start.
If the Republicans lose the US presidency next year, the policy on
Cuba will change dramatically and the whole argument will be moot. Even
as it stands the President of the United States now has a fight on his
hands trying to stop his own party from reversing a Cuba policy that does
not work and cannot work.
Nassau Guardian photo by Donald Knowles.
THE BLACK
CAUCUS IS IN TOWN
At least one dozen members of the Congressional Black Caucus
including its Dean Charlie Rangel were in town over the weekend for the
8th annual Carib News Business Conference sponsored by Karl Rodney of the
Carib News Network. Franklin Wilson and Senate President Sharon Wilson,
his wife hosted them to a reception on Saturday 8th November at their home.
Maxine Waters, Congresswoman from California and her husband former Ambassador
Sidney Williams were also in town. Also joining them were a host of elected
black officials at the state and a local level. Harry Belafonte was there
as well and so was former Ambassador to the United Nations and former Mayor
of Atlanta Andrew Young. Foreign Minister Billie Miller of Barbados was
also in town for the conference.
Among those pictured in this Peter Ramsay photo are Foreign Minister
Fred Mitchell, Congressman Rangel, Mr. Belafonte and Minister of Transport
& Aviation Glenys Hanna Martin.
BEC
COSTS THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY
The Tribune’s Business Section Friday 7th November
reported that an anonymous economist said that the losses to the economy
were between three to six million dollars as a result of the blackout by
the Bahamas Electricity Corporation on Thursday 6th November. Another source
told them that the lack of productivity resulted in a productivity decline
of some twenty to forty percent. What else can we say? The darn thing was
just a mess.
MOURNING
THE FIVE BOYS IN GRAND BAHAMA
Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt, the Deputy Prime Minister
was the chief mourner and comforter on Thursday 6th November in Grand Bahama
as Lady Henrietta St. George, wife of Port Authority owner Edward and the
Grand Bahama Port Authority led a candle light vigil in memory of the five
dead boys who were killed this year. Their deaths are believed to be homicides
and one man is in jail (see last week's column). Four boys are also in
jail for the murder of another of the missing boys. The Members of Parliament
for the area were also present including Ann Percentie and Pleasant Bridgewater
of the Progressive Liberal Party.
THE
NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER
The Progressive Liberal Party promised in its platform
“Our Plan” for election 2002 that it would hold a National Day of Prayer.
So said so done. The Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt, herself
an ordained Minister led the way with prayers at the cabinet office.
There was a national service held on Friday evening 7th November at
the Kendal Isaacs Gym. Churches were asked to keep their doors open during
the day so that people could have access to them for the day. We simply
add though that prayer without works results in nothing.
DUD
MAYNARD SURFACES
Andrew ‘Dud’ Maynard used to be the Chairman of
the PLP in its Lynden Pindling heyday. When Bernard Nottage lost the fight
for leadership of the party in 1998 and decided to form his own party,
Mr. Maynard, a former PLP Senator and still a Stalwart Councillor the PLP,
went on to follow Dr. Nottage into political oblivion. His voice was resurrected
on Love 97 radio and in The Tribune the following day. He appeared on radio
on Sunday 2nd November and in The Trib on Monday 3rd November.
Mr. Maynard claimed that the Government was lackadaisical, too large
and not performing. He also said that the Government was trying to play
a big shot in the international political arena and that we must stop trying
to go to every world conference. The former comment was a slap at Perry
Christie, the Prime Minister. The latter was a slap at the Minister of
Foreign Affairs.
Interesting, why the press sought to play the comments up as they did.
No doubt The Tribune thought as a former PLP it was good for him to give
the PLP some comeuppance. But it is plain to see from the comments of Mr.
Maynard that he is completely out of the loop and unaware of the realities
of today’s modern politics. His time is past. That is all we need to say
about that.
The fact is the economy is in the doldrums and the Government is working triple time in order to get the thing up and going. The meetings that Mr. Maynard criticizes the Government for attending are done with a view to getting the country up and going on its feet again. But as we say, he is out of the loop.
HEADS
OF GOVERNMENT IN ST. LUCIA
Prime Minister Perry Christie will lead a delegation to
the Heads of Government meeting for Caricom leaders in St. Lucia. The Prime
Minister will be part of the discussions in preparation for the Heads of
Government meeting for all Commonwealth leaders in Abuja, Nigeria in December,
and a proposed meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom
also in December. He will return to the country on 16th November. He will
be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
BACKLASH
ON COLINA BUYING IMPERIAL LIFE It is official now. James
Campbell, the Chairman and CEO of the Colina Group has announced that they
are buying the Imperial Life’s insurance portfolio. You
may click here for our views on the subject in a previous editorial, entitled
'Nervousness About Colina'.
ANOTHER
GIRL DIES
Another of the girls that tried to escape from the
juvenile lock up facility the Willamae Pratt Centre for Girls has died.
The girl was 13 years old. Her name is Deshawn Bassett. She survived for
eight days after the fire. She died in the early hours of Monday morning
3rd November. It should be clarified by the Ministry of Social Services
that the investigation into the breakout into this matter headed by Archbishop
Drexel Gomez is not a substitute for the mandatory Coroner’s inquest that
must be held by law when any death occurs with some one in the state custody.
This whole incident is quite sad. On Saturday 8th November Minister of
Social Services Melanie Griffin was in The Tribune answering the complaints
of an anonymous member of the staff of the facilities who called for a
thorough investigation into the facility. The source claimed that more
male figures were needed around the facility, and that the only difference
between that facility and the Fox Hill prison was the age of the persons.
The Minister said the employee acted improperly by going the press to air
the concerns. We add only that with the attitude of that employee being
what it is, it is clear that the person does not have a clue what kind
of facility it is supposed to be and should therefore not be working there.
AMNESTY'S
REPORT ON THE BAHAMAS
Amnesty International can sometimes seem an unnecessarily quarrelsome
organization. Last year for the first time in the history of the country
and reportedly largely at the behest of the Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell
who comes from a human rights activist background, they were given unhindered
access to all Bahamian facilities. The reward was a report that can only
be described as grim. The Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcus Bethel
described the report as unbalanced. It did not take into account all of
the pledges by the Government and the work that Government has already
started. It also did not take into account the lack of resources. The Bahamian
people are pretty cheezed off about it. But the thing you should remember
about Amnesty is that you deal with them like you would deal with the dictums
of the Pope. You take them into account as the moral compass but you do
what you can. You can never really please them but they are useful because
they help to steer you in the right direction and keep you on the straight
and narrow path.
MAILBOX
- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A mixed and interesting grab bag from the mailbox
this week. Well known Bahamian educator and executive Donald M. McCartney
writes:
THE WEEK WITH THE PM
I would like to thank you for keeping Bahamians (like myself) who are abroad up to date on what is happening at home. Your columns are indeed a life line for us. Your columns are a source of information. They are to the point and succinct.
My congratulations to my "invisible" friend Assistant Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade and his team for keeping the proverbial lid on the kettle while investigating the case of the missing boys. Mr. Greenslade is indeed a "policeman's policeman." I hope that erstwhile friend will accept the "olive branch" that I am offering (smile).It is my hope and prayer that the Bahamas realizes that while we must do all that we can to keep our children safe, we must not become a reactionary nation and lose our propensity for friendliness and trust. We must, however, sensitize our children to the fact that there is good and evil in the world, and they must be able to discern the difference. Our children must be taught to err on the side of caution while still remaining mindful that there are still some good people in the Bahamas and indeed in the world.
I am pleased to write that on Saturday, 25th October the Saint John's School Dance Troup entertained Bahamians (including the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Public Service the Honourable Fred who brought remarks on be half of the Government of the Bahamas) and others in "true true" Bahamian fashion in Atlanta, Georgia. The students along with their instructor are to be congratulated for a spectacular performance. Seeing them perform was like an "oasis in the desert." They were most professional in their demeanour and performance.
Congratulations must also go to the parents who accompanied the troupe and Ms. Cleomi Woods, principal of ST. John's College.
As footnote, I am presently studying at Georgia State University in Atlanta. For those (few) friends of mine who wish to be in contact with me try e-mail addresses: dmccartney1@student.gsu.edu or Dmm1946C@netscape.net. I will delighted to hear from you.Warmest regards and best wishes,
Donald M. McCartney
Customs Fees Reach the Breaking Point for US Boater
This one in from Gaylord A. Wood, JrColbert, Louis XIV's finance minister, was charged with financing the Palace at Versailles and keeping Louis XIV in champagne and truffles. He described taxation as "the art of so plucking the goose as to obtain a maximum amount of feathers with a minimum amount of hissing."
The Gulfstream Sailing Club is largely composed of working folk in Broward County who love sailing. We also love the clear waters and friendly people of The Bahmas. Our club used to visit The Bahamas over the long holiday weekends -- Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, Memorial Day, our Independence Day, Labour Day and Thanksgiving. Our group does not fish, so we have no need for fishing permits. (Whoever heard of sport fishing from a sailboat, anyway?)
We frequent the excellent restaurants and night spots in Bimini, Freeport, Lucaya and West End during our visits, dock our boats at the marinas there and stay in hotel rooms ashore. Many of us support Regatta Time in Abaco in July. We observe a Clean Wake Policy, carrying out all of our trash with us when we leave.
It is sad to report that with the customs fees for our five cruises rising from a steep $500 per year to $1,500 per year ($300 per visit x 5 visits), our members have told us that they must look for other cruising grounds such as the Florida Keys. The geese have hissed!!!
My only regret is that the fee increases are bound to have a dramatic effect on the local economy. I heard a rumour rhat the fees are to increase again 1st. November to $600! Boaters do have choices, and this may well be a "deal breaker" for boaters planning their weekend and summer vacations. It wouldn't be so bad for cruisers who will stay for an entire year, but most of them are self-sufficient types who don't spend any money ashore anyway.Thanks for listening. Fair winds and calm seas to all Bahamians. Sincerely,
GAYLORD A. WOOD, JR.
Fort Lauderdale.
Photo taken by Peter Ramsay
A busy photo week for Prime Minister Christie,
the highlight of which had to be hobnobbing with the black glitterati in
from the US for the Carib News business conference. Mr. Christie is pictured
at top with Harry Belafonte.
Photo taken by Peter Ramsay
Earlier in the week, the Prime Minister officially opened the 7th Annual conference of University of the West Indies medical alumni, held this year at the Raddisson, Cable Beach. Looking on is Governor General Dame Ivy Dumont and Sir George Alleyne of Barbados, former head of the Pan American Health Organization and now Chancellor of the University of the West Indies.
| Filepe Perez Roque, the
Foreign Minister of Cuba and his
Vice Minister visited the Office of the Prime Minister for a courtesy call on Thursday on Thursday 6th November. From left: Fred Mitchell, Bahamas Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Roque, the Prime Minister, the Vice Minister. Photo taken by Peter Ramsay |
||
Photo taken by Peter Ramsay
The Ambassador of the State of Israel to The Bahamas, His Excellency Joseph Amihud, accompanied by Honorary Consul for Israel Mr. Ralph Seligman made a farewell call on the Prime Minister. Ambassador Amihud is leaving.
Photo taken by Peter Ramsay
Sir Fred Philips of St.Kitts, Nevis is a special envoy of Dr. Dencil Douglas, PM of St. Kitts. Sir Fred was in Nassau to brief Prime Minister Christie on the action of Nevis to secede from the Federation of St. Kitts Nevis. The Bahamas does not support secession and the PM communicated that.
Photo taken by Peter Ramsay
The Chinese Vice Minister of Culture was in The Bahamas during a Caribbean
tour. The Vice Minister and the Chinese Ambassador to The Bahamas made
a courtesy call on the Prime Minister to present a gift to to the PM on
the ocassion of Vice Minister’s visit
OBITUARIES
Former Justice of the Supreme Court Maxwell J. Thompson
OBE died on Friday afternoon 7th November. He was 93. Mr. Thompson was
born in Matthew Town, Inagua on 30th December 1909. He was awarded an OBE
by the Queen in 1971.
‘Max’ Thompson is survived by two sons James Thompson, an attorney
and Maxwell James Thompson of Canada, the former Fr. Leander of the St.
Augustine’s Monastery, two daughters Mrs. Rosella Booth of England and
Mrs. Catherine Butler of Nassau.
PLP
CONVENTION COMING
The Progressive Liberal party will hold its 49th annual convention
at the Wyndam Crystal Palace Hotel beginning with a prayer breakfast on
Sunday 16th November and running until Saturday 23rd November. Chairman
of the convention is George Mackey. Running for re election is Chairman
Raynard Rigby. The party is 50 years old this year, and is the oldest political
party and the first in The Bahamas.
The party’s fortune revived last year when it was returned to office
after a ten year hiatus. It is under severe pressure this year from its
delegates because of the criticism that its decisions in favour of its
supporters are too slow. Party Leader Perry Christie will be challenged
to rally the troops. Ministers are expected to face the music of disgruntled
stalwarts.
All and all it promises to be an exciting time. Mr. Rigby and Minister
of Agriculture Alfred Gray spent the weekend in Inagua at a constituency
convention hosted by the MICAL constituency.
PARLIAMENT
MEETS ON GUY FAWKES DAY
You may or may not remember that the wrath of God was invoked
at the national day service of The Bahamas on 5th July 2003 by the President
of the Christian Council Bishop Sam Greene.
Bishop Greene told the assembled gathering including the Governor General and the Prime Minister that if the Government passed a law legalizing same sex marriages that he would become a modern day Guy Fawkes. This caused outrage in the country that a religious leader would seem to advocate violence against its civic leaders for something that was within their competence to pass and a widespread feeling of ‘disconnect’ since the matter was never up for public discussion anyway. Nevertheless, the storm abated but many did not forget.
The House of Assembly met on Wednesday 5th November 2003. Apart from a stage managed contretemps between Whitney Bastian MP for South Andros, the Opposition and the Speaker, which resulted in a fifteen minute suspension of the House, all passed peacefully.
Guy Fawkes was the Englishman who was involved in a plot to blow up Parliament because he disagreed with the policies of the then King. He was discovered and executed for his crime. Many Commonwealth nations today including The Bahamas still “Burn Guys” every year on 5th November the anniversary of the discovery of the plot to mark the event.
ANGLICAN
STATEMENT ON GAY CONSECRATION
A reader sourced from ‘AAC News’ this statement
from the Anglican mainstream on the consecration of Canon Gene Robinson
as Bishop:
“We are in mourning. We are greatly pained that the consecration of a divorced man living as a non-celibate homosexual contrary to Biblical teaching, Anglican Doctrine and Catholic Order has now brought a deep tear in our Anglican Communion.
“We find it hard to understand how the presiding bishop could oversee this action with other ECUSA bishops after subscribing to the unanimous statement of all the primates that such an action would tear the fabric of the Communion.
“We can only conclude that the leadership of ECUSA has knowingly and deliberately acted to separate itself from the Anglican Communion and Catholic Order.
“We, like most of the Anglican world, do not accept Gene Robinson as a bishop. We call upon the Archbishop of Canterbury as promised at the Primates Meeting to encourage all those faithful Anglicans in ECUSA who are deeply affected by and have dissociated themselves from his appointment as a bishop to stand fast and remain within the Anglican Communion. We are heartened that the recent primates’ statement called for adequate provision for Episcopal oversight of those in ECUSA unable to accept this appointment. In our view, like all Episcopal ministry, such oversight must be acceptable to the recipients. Now that the consecration has gone ahead in defiance of the primates’ most recent plea, the need for such oversight for these persons and congregations is urgent.
“Following upon the unilateral actions of the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada, the consecration in New Hampshire is a further serious breach in the fabric of the Anglican Communion. It is necessary now to address the important questions of sacramental order and recognition of ministries which are raised by the separation of these two dioceses from the rest of the Communion. Whilst we acknowledge that these are difficult questions which should not be decided precipitately, we are clear that they must be addressed quickly and effectively if the Communion is to be able to continue with conviction to share a common life.”
GOMEZ ANGERED BY GAY CONSECRATION
Archbishop Drexel Gomez was almost apoplectic. Last Sunday Eugene Robinson became the first openly homosexual Bishop in the Anglican Communion. The legalism describing the condition of the Anglican Church with this new consecration is that of “impaired communion”. The Anglican Communion is not yet broken but impaired. The Archbishop said that the other churches of the Union will have to reconsider their alignments with the American Church. The African Church was vociferous. Some of their individual dioceses announced the break with the Anglican Communion in so far as it touched and concerned the American Church and Bishop Robinson. The Archbishop said that it was true that the American Church provided much of the money for the churches to survive in other areas but he said that since this was a matter of principle, the Church would have to suffer and learn to do without the money. The Anglican Church was founded when Henry VII the King of England could not get an annulment from his wife and wished to marry another. He passed legislation to break with Rome and founded the English Church. No doubt, the present Anglican Church will find some juridicial basis for all to be happy in the same bowl. The sound and fury at the moment is likely to pass away to some compromise. The Archbishop of Canterbury has formed a commission to recommend how this can work. Archbishop Gomez is on the Commission and it is set to report in one year. The question many ask is if the dioceses are all autonomous then the juridical basis for alignment is clear. Those who do not wish to recognize Bishop Robinson can refuse to do so and those who do can without sacrificing the whole communion. Then we can all move on to deal with world poverty, bad housing, saving the sick and praying for the dying.
MILLER
ON BAIC CREDIT CARDS
The Tribune published a report on Tuesday 4th November that
Minister of Trade and Industry Leslie Miller and Sidney Stubbs MP are still
battling it out over the Bahamas Agricultural Industrial Corporation (BAIC).
This time the newspaper says that Mr. Miller failed in a bid to cancel
the use of credit cards issued by the Royal Bank of Canada for the use
of the Corporation's executives. Mr. Miller wrote the Royal Bank and asked
them to cancel the cards. The Ministry of Finance was said to have disagreed,
saying that the Minister had no authority to do so. Only the Board has
the authority.
Mr. Miller was unrepentant. He told The Trib: “I wish there was a Board
at BAIC. The Board now is non functional. They don’t hold any meetings,
and decisions are made on a daily basis without any regard to the board
or the minister. So I took it upon myself to cancel the credit cards—I
‘m trying to correct a situation that is totally out of control. We need
transparency in BAIC with regard to the use or abuse of credit cards.”
The usual grumbling came in response to this latest report that the
PM must do something to stop the infighting at BAIC. Mr. Stubbs, Chairman
of the Corporation, responded immediately and denied that here was any
abuse of the credit cards.
THE
CHINESE ACROBATS IN PICTURES
The Chinese Vice Minister of Culture was in The Bahamas
for the start of last week. He was here to bring to some conclusion to
a cultural agreement between The Bahamas and China so that the two countries
could engage in further cultural exchanges. Also in town from the Minister’s
home province was the Hebei Acrobatic Troup on the last leg of a Caribbean
tour. They wowed the press and the people of the country with their feats,
and pictures made the front pages of all papers.
BERMUDA'S
BUTTERFIELD TO BUY A BAHAMAS BANK?
We reported earlier that the Bank of Butterfield, a Bermuda
based bank, had bought into the local offshore market by purchasing Thorand
Bank and Trust here in Nassau. Now the Tribune reports that it is looking
into the possibility of purchasing a local bank. They have their eyes on
British American Bank. The talk in the market is that the bank is on the
market. American Alamerica Bank of Alabama headed by Donald Watkins is
also said to be in the market for a bank in The Bahamas.
MR.
AND MRS FRANK SMITH MP
They married on 27 September 2003 in Christ Church
Cathedral. Frank Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Smith, nephew of former
MPs George Smith and Philip Smith married on that day Sharlyn Wilson, daughter
of Mr. Franklin and Senate President Sharon Wilson.
The photo of the event is by Franklyn G. Ferguson.
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA -
MEMORIAL SERVICE– A memorial service was held on Tuesday evening in the Garden Villas area commonly called the Ghetto. The service was jointly sponsored by the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Grand Bahama Port Authority. In attendance at the service were Deputy Prime Minister, Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt, Minister Melanie Griffin and Minister Allyson Maynard Gibson.
Mr. Edward St George in his remarks at this candlelight vigil that brought a wide section of the Grand Bahama community into an area that is shunned by most residents said to the gathering that he was appalled to see the conditions that the people lived in. He further pledged his support to ensure that the ghetto is cleaned up.
On Friday morning, the second memorial service was held at St.John's
Jubilee Cathedral to celebrate the lives of the six persons that were slain.
This service was sponsored by the Civilian Command Center and the Ministry
of Education. In attendance were Attorney General and Minister of Education,
Minister Sears, The National Insurance Board Minister, Shane Gibson (represented
the Prime Minister). This service was carried live on ZNS TV &
RADIO. It was generally agreed that both services were reflective of
the views of most Grand Bahamians that the time had come for us to become
more introspective and more considerate of how we relate to one another.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Trouble, once again, has reared its ugly head in the City of Freeport
Local Government council. We have said that News from Grand Bahama will
be watching the actions of this council very closely and will be reporting
on it.
The local daily and the radio stations reported that an altercation had taken place between a local government councillor and a person sitting in the public gallery who is said to be the husband of the former deputy chief councillor. That is not the real story; it was nothing more than a sideshow.
News from Grand Bahama will now take the unusual step of naming the Administrator, Alexander Flowers as one of the major impediments preventing the City of Freeport Council in moving forward. Mr. Flowers is a civil servant and not an elected official; therefore he should know that he is not a policy maker but a technocrat charged with implementation of the policies of the political directorate. Whatever his personal views are they should be kept to himself. This week he has taken to doling out bad advice to novice council members and directly challenging the authority of the Chief Councillor in public.
It is unlikely that any positive progress will be made in the local council as long as Administrator Flowers is the administrator. If Administrator Flowers would like to make policy then he should run for political office.
To the local government councillors who have distinguished themselves thus far as being devoid of reason, the public at large is not amused about who is right or wrong. All that is required of you is to ensure that their parks are cleaned in a timely fashion; that local contracts are awarded and the contractors are promptly paid after completion of their jobs.
If any of these jokers had aspirations to run for higher political office in the future, it would be safe to say that even to the post of dogcatcher, it would be unlikely that they could be elected. It is hoped that when these nine council members meet on Tuesday, 10th November, a more reasonable Administrator would be in place and humility would somehow find a place around the decision-making table and that individual egos be put aside.
FREE SPEECH and THE PLP
As the PLP heads into its 50th anniversary as a political party, it
is hard to see why they should now have to defend themselves on free expression.
This week, we listened as
Darrold Miller attempted to defend an issue that should not arise.
You will recall in 1992 when the old PLP administration had a strangle hold on what was reported on ZNS Radio and TV and after the people had had enough notwithstanding that strangle hold, they sent the PLP into political exile. It was hoped at that time that the party would have mended its ways, but sadly this has not been the case when it came to freedom of expression.
We believe that it is not only in the PLP's interest but also the public interest to know what people are thinking from Inagua in the south to Abaco in the north. It is only through shows like Steve McKinney's drive time talk that we know exactly what the people are thinking. Darrold Miller, it seems, carries a sanitized version that does not allow for criticism of his political masters.
We know Ministers Mitchell, Wilchcombe and Sears, who have all, while in opposition, were considered human rights advocates. We now ask ourselves this question: Were they truly advocates of free expression and human rights; or was it a convenient posture at the time to further their aspirations of seeking a high political office?
DESMOND BANNISTER
News from Grand Bahama would like to take this opportunity to endorse
the reelection of Desmond Bannister for the post of President of the BAAA.
He has brought a degree of credibility to that office and it is generally
viewed that he is a fair person evenhanded in his approach and he sees
the Family Islands as the future growth areas for the Bahamas in track
and field. It is further reflected in the way his administration has brought
Family Island athletes into the picture. We hope he continues and we wish
him every success in his reelection bid this Saturday.
DEATH NOTICE
Our condolences go out to the family of the late Milton Lewis of Hunters,
Grand Bahama, who passed away this past Wednesday morning. He is the father
of PLP Stalwart Thaddeus Lewis.
B.S.
D.M. -… On Ministers of Government
I was able to see footage of the service for the missing boys on the
National Day of Mourning for Grand Bahama’s missing boys on Friday, and
my observations have led me to commend those Ministers of Government who
took time from their busy schedules to offer words of encouragement for
those bereaved families. It brought to light that it is those gestures
of
compassion that help in the healing process of all the persons affected
by this tragedy.
However, in another vein, events of the past few months have raised many questions with regard to Ministers of government; their performance, their character/reputations, their reliability, and their rationale. As voters, we elect those candidates who we think would be best suited to make decisions and speak for us at the higher echelons of the administrative body of government, and entrust the duty on our Prime Minister to select those persons evenly suited to perform a specific task in a ministry. Moreover, we expect our ministers to offer suggestions that would move our country forth, who conduct themselves at a high degree of respect, and are able to make concrete, rational decisions in the most adverse of circumstances in the manner in accordance with the standards and procedures set out in our constitution.
There are one or two ministers who are spinning tops. A metaphor used only to describe their erratic behaviour. It does not seem as though our ministers have a clear agenda or proper manageability, they only have a portfolio assignment. I am at a point where I am afraid to hear certain ministers make public statements for fear of what or how an issue would be presented. The easiest example is the minister of Local Government and his handling of the local government dilemma in Grand Bahama. He simply acted without consultation and exerted the power that he thought he had.
As Members of Parliament of the same political party, Ministers of Government should operate as a fraternity – all for one and one for all, in order to move our country forth. It is clear more than anything that many Ministers have ulterior motives. Those who are not in a subtle mêlée for leadership positions are displaying narcissistic behavior, or walking the path for an unforeseen profit.
Whatever the case, it is imperative that the business of the country
and the needs of the people are dealt with both consistently, expeditiously,
and with the utmost fragility.
D.M.
“...just as lightning makes no sound until it strikes, the revolution
will be generated quietly...”
G.B. Mailbox
This week, from regular reader / correspondent; an anxious Pineridge
constituent, we have something entitled ‘The C. A. Smith Syndrome’: -
I reside in the Pineridge consistency and am very concerned about the
representation or the lack thereof from our current Member of
Parliament.
It seems as if she has the “C. A. Smith Syndrome” and her mode of operation
has changed. She is not as visible and as accessible to the people of Pineridge
as she used to be.
Yes, we are cognizant that she has a ministerial post, however, it is incumbent upon her to keep in touch with the people. I suggest that she drive about and have individual talks with people like she use to. People are longing for the old “Ann P” to return.
We know that she has “arrived” and that she has a lot on her plate. But she must remember to keep the common touch.
There is much work to be done in Pineridge: the upkeep of the parks, the revitalization of areas like Fawcett Lane, Oates Lane, Watkins Lane, the removal of derelict vehicles, the stamping out of the drug houses in the area, the planting of flora downtown, the clean up of downtown, the regularization of “mame houses”, the cleaning up of the ghetto, the paving and repaving of roads and the list goes on for miles.
I am confident that Ms. Percentie can get the people to work along with her for the good of Pineridge. ‘For the people - by the people’ can work here.
We just want good leadership and leadership by example !!!!!
P. S. Where is Mr. Kemp our Town City Representative in all of this?
He needs to step out of the Box (literally - he works at the Post Office)
and do the business of the people.
 |
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - Every year on the first Sunday in the month of November (last Sunday 9th November was one such Sunday), The Bahamas together with much of the former British Commonwealth world remember those who died in the Second and First World Wars. Stylized poppies recalling those that grew on Flanders Field in France where many fell in the First World War are worn on the lapels of many as a sign of remembrance. But as the years lengthen between the end of the Second World War and today, the number of veterans is getting less and less. There were only two last Sunday. Their chief Basil Johnson is bed ridden and ailing. The youngsters turned out from the various civic organizations like the Red Cross, Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, the Boys Brigades and the Pathfinders but the whole ceremony seemed to lack the relevance and enthusiasm that it should. It is time to go back to the drawing board to make the whole thing more relevant. The Governor General Dame Ivy Dumont and the Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt both laid wreaths. The GG laid the wreath for the nation. The DPM laid one for the Government. We make the Remembrance Day scene of the two standing in the rain our photo of the week. The photo is by Peter Ramsay. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
WAGGING THE DOG
When
a Government tries to please too many, they end up pleasing no one. That
is the situation in which the Progressive Liberal Party may find itself
with regard to the fight for Labour in the country. The election
of 2002 ushered in for the first time in a decade, a labour friendly Government
in office in The Bahamas. Yet despite a yeoman’s work by the Minister
of Labour Vincent Peet, it does not appear that this is translating itself
into a more quiet industrial relations atmosphere. It appears that
in every sphere of labour relations in the country, patience is fast running
out. We think that it has to do with the fact that over the last
ten years, the only way labour could get anything accomplished was to precipitate
a crisis. No one wants to wait. No one thinks that it is right
to wait. Everyone seems to think that the only way to get something
from the Government or the private sector for that matter is to bring the
work place to a halt.
Vincent Peet has spent his time as Minister of Labour putting out fires. Every time there appears to be one fire out then comes another. The Hotel Workers Union were dissatisfied with the work relationship between the Management of the Oasis, formerly the Princess in Grand Bahama, so the result was a threatened walk off from the job. Mr. Peet flew to Grand Bahama to try and make peace. He managed to get that one settled.
Then there are the countless smaller skirmishes: the one with Water and Sewerage Corporation Union, threatening to walk off if they did not get a contract; the Bahamas Public Sector Unions threatening industrial action if they did not get a promised raise. Bacardi workers said they would walk off the job and they did if they did not get a contract. Vincent Peet was there at that scene trying to get that settled.
This week the Unions of the National Insurance Board (NIB) seemed to have been involved in a two day sick out at the National Insurance Board’s offices all over the country. Services went on but were severely curtailed with 74 per cent of the staff reportedly off work. The sick out took place on Thursday and Friday 13th and 14th November. The sick out was pretty effective. What the public must be asking is what more do these people want?
The Unions see it not as a political action but as a straight out industrial relations claim. They maintained that they have been arguing for their salary increases for over three years and the NIB seems simply not to be responding to their demands. So you guessed it, let’s walk off the job. The irony of this is that the Minister of National Insurance Shane Gibson is a former trade union leader, and one would have thought that given who he is, this would have been the place to solve the problem by talking before action. But alas it seems to have made no difference.
Looming in the distance is a more important issue. The negotiations for the new contract for the hotel sector are continuing. The Management of the sector are alarmed at what they say are the demands of the Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union, and of course there is the threat that if the salaries are not increased there will be a walk off the job. The problem in the sector is that there is uneven success. All properties in The Bahamas except Atlantis at Paradise Island are said to be losing money hand over fist. The sector is just about facing a recovery in the United States and the industry is hoping to get some relief on the already high labour costs in The Bahamas in order to get their profits back in order.
One must also mention that another part of the problem is the fact that management in the private sector and the Government have not bought into the consultative process, and the Government’s policy is therefore not being carried out. In many instances, it is the same old routine. Some managers clearly need re-education to learn the facts of today’s life.
But The Bahamas today is what it is. This is The Bahamas that Perry Christie has now the task to fix. There is no waiting on the part of anyone for anything. It seems that the rude, bludgeoning force of Hubert Ingraham or the rather relaxed and consultative style of Perry Christie has so far made no difference to the labour situation. One labour leader thought to be a supporter of the PLP was even on a PLP platform accusing the Government of being anti Labour. Well! It is a real situation of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. And certainly the facts do not bear out that assertion.
In Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean, civil servants were not paid for six weeks, because there was no money to pay them. They had to go on strike to get paid. The Government of Antigua had to go to the banks for emergency funding to pay the civil servants: 14,000 of them in a country of 68,000 people. Compare that to 310,000 Bahamians to 20,000 public servants. No one faces that problem in The Bahamas. So it would seem that we really have to think long and hard about we do here, and how lucky we in fact are.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 15th November 2003 at midnight: 40,429.
Number of hits for the month of November up Saturday 15th November 2003 at midnight: 131,750.
Number of hits for the year 2003 up to Saturday 15th November 2003
at midnight: 1,461,766.
LORD
HELP US FROM THIS CONFUSION
(A guest commentary by SI)
Tell me all three [of my sons] want the Crown,
I’ll tell you: “It’s a feeble prince that doesn’t.”
That makes them the kind of sons I want.
I’ve snapped and plotted all my life.
There is no other way to be a king,
Alive and 50 all at once.
---Henry II in
The Lion in Winter
The
Nassau Guardian of Friday 14th November carried a picture and story of
Ambassador Keod Smith, the Member of Parliament for Mount Moriah in New
Providence at his most intense. After seeing Mr. Smith’s statement
and a response by the Government Minister driving the LNG project, a letter
writer to this column commented that the Government’s policy on the question
of LNG in The Bahamas seemed to be in disarray. It is not but
you can forgive her for thinking so. Mr. Smith has his own line to
take, and does not march to anyone’s drum but his own. But given
the state of more or less open warfare at the Bahamas Agricultural and
Industrial Corporation between Minister and Board Chairman, PLP party supporters
are entitled to ask the question along with the country: “What is going
on here?” (See letter below)
The Ambassador for the Environment said in his press conference (operative word “his” press conference) that he was asking the Government to move very slowly on approving the proposed LNG pipeline to South Florida from The Bahamas. You know that the editorial position of this column has always been that there should be no pipeline, but the process is still unfolding. Mr. Smith the Prime Minister’s Ambassador was joined by the Opposition to the project in the form of Sam Duncombe of Re Earth. Ms. Duncombe is not a public official and so the public would have no axe to grind there, but the juxtaposition at the press conference with Mr. Smith was to say the least in the minds of some a curious one.
The Prime Minister and his Minister for Environmental Health Dr. Marcus Bethel might well be asking themselves the same question as the public. Dr. Bethel is the Minister for the Environment. Mr. Smith is a part of that Ministry. The Ambassador for the Environment is the Prime Minister’s Ambassador appointed under Article 111 of the Constitution and surely after the press conference the public could ask the question: “Does the Ambassador not have the right of access and access to both the Minister and to the Prime Minister?” When things have come to the point where an Ambassador of the Prime Minister decides that he must make a public statement which appears to fly in the face of a Ministerial responsibility and a Government policy still under review, then things would seem to have fallen apart indeed.
We do not think that things have fallen apart but again people can be forgiven for thinking so. Bob Dylan sings a song about the disease of conceit. Mark Anthony in Shakespeare addressed the crowd on the sterner stuff of which ambition is made. Mr. Smith perhaps deserves some understanding and leeway for just not knowing any better. Most would give him the benefit of the doubt but many are uncharitable and think that it is simply a wilful and naked attempt to get the Prime Minister's attention so that he can get an appointment to the Cabinet. Knowing the PLP’s history, the safer bet in the short term is that this is one way not to get into Cabinet. It shows that you don’t understand the rules or that you will risk flouting them.
The charity will come because in Opposition Mr. Smith clawed his way, kicking, fighting denouncing himself into the public consciousness and politically slaying Tommy Turnquest, the FNM’s leader. There is obviously then a sense of entitlement by him for that accomplishment. The thing is that in the real politick of the actual business of Government there may be different realities. But he continues to do what he does best, fighting like he is in Opposition even though he is a Government member. Government members by the very nature of things must take a different tack.
And so Keod Smith means well but as with most well meaning gestures,
there is the danger that such a gesture could be misinterpreted.
He may well take the view that he is young enough to tell the devil take
the hindmost and not care, even if the public as a result of it thinks
that the Government is confused. And when there is confusion who
in the end then suffers but every PLP MP including himself? Nassau
Guardian photo.
CITY
MARKETS UNIONIZES AT LAST
Thomas Bastian (Dr. Bastian to some) was nowhere
on the scene when the final act was done on Thursday 13th November.
The Commercial Stores Union is now officially the bargaining agent for
400 employees of the City Markets chain. Leo Douglas who began the
battle with Mr. Bastian was there for the signing. He is part of
the superstructure of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union,
headed by Pat Bain, Dr. Bastian’s successor. The hotel union is the
principle backer of the union for City Markets. The signing was a
grand success for Mr. Douglas and the whole team of the Hotel Union that
battled to get he workers of City Markets unionized.
City Markets tried very trick in the book: the courts,
the Ministry of Labour, holding out to the bitter end. But in the
end the will of the workers and the Government passing legislation to facilitate
the matter caused the matter to be concluded. The Union would be
foolish to think that it ends here. They have to be ever vigilant
because City Markets is not beyond trying to decertify the Union.
But the talk is that the atmosphere has changed up in Jacksonville where
the hard-liners and anti union managers have left and that this may bode
well for the future.
We think that the Union is good for City Markets
and will be good for customers. We wish them every success.
We congratulate Minister of Labour Vincent Peet for his fine work, and
of course the parties for coming to a sensible industrial agreement.
THE
PLP FACES THE CONVENTION
When PLP Chairman Raynard Rigby bangs the figurative gavel to begin the
49th annual convention of the PLP on Monday 17th November under the theme
‘Transforming The Bahamas - Securing Our Future’, he will be starting an
exciting week of activities. But he will also see that he is riding
a bit of a tiger in that the natural cleavage between elected representatives
and the convention delegates, including councillors, is a little more stressed
this year. The faithful have been too easily joining the chorus of
the FNM pamphleteers that the PLP has been doing nothing, and by that they
seem to mean that taxi plates, jitney plates and the usual array of Governmental
largesse has not been given out. The Prime Minister is expected to
face his critics head on, particularly since Tommy Turnquest, the Leader
of the Free National Movement seems to have made it an issue (See story
below).
The talk is that each Minister will have an opportunity
to speak directly to the nation in order to report what has transpired
in his portfolio. And delegates will be watching very carefully to
see any public signs of disharmony. The PLP is not very forgiving
for those who break ranks publicly, and the younger crew who seem to want
to assert their independence will no doubt have to watch for that
There is much to talk about. It is the economy,
stupid. The fact is that the complaints about unemployment, defaulted loans
and many other defaults on minor obligations have everyone hard pressed.
The PLP will have to look to satisfy those demands as unreasonable and
difficult as they sometimes are.
But Members of Parliament should be sure that they
come to this convention well armed with their contacts to their people.
There is no getting around that. You have to be close to your people.
In the end that is the only way to keep the PLP back in power. We
look forward to an exciting convention. Convention Committee Chairman
George Mackey (left) is pictured with Mr. Rigby at right announcing convention
details in this Nassau Guardian photo by Donald Knowles.
PM
TRAVELS TO ST. LUCIA
Prime Minister Perry Christie returns from St. Lucia where Heads of Government
met in a special session to mull over developments in the region from 14th
to 15th November. This will almost certainly have been the final
time for the Chairman Jamaica’s PM P.J. Patterson to Chair CARICOM.
The Bahamian Prime Minister's main task was to update his fellow Prime
Ministers on the state of relations with the United States of America.
It seems to be emerging more and more that The Bahamas is being relied
upon as the leader in the Caribbean when it comes to US/CARICOM relations.
The state of relations with the United States can only be described as
growing better. There was a time there after the Iraq war and the
two difficult US Ambassadors in Barbados and The Bahamas that things looked
to be in deep doo doo. That seems to have changed. The two
Ambassadors have now gone into private life. The US has come to accept
that the Caribbean does not support its campaign in Iraq but it is like
friends who are on different political sides, we agree not to talk about
it.
The meeting of four CARICOM Heads of Government
with US President Bush in September threatened to destabilize the relationship
with some leaders accusing the others of being successfully cherry picked
by the US. Nothing of that nature appeared to materialize in St.
Lucia. In fact, things have now progressed further with scheduled
meetings with the US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday 17 November
and US Secretary of the Treasury John Snow on Tuesday 18th November.
This is how the whole thing should work.
The Bahamas Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell told
ZNS news that US /CARICOM relations should lack drama. Relations
should be ordinary working relationships where we are constantly talking
to one another. The meeting with Colin Powell should be a regular
one, and should be treated as a continuing conversation, rather than a
special event. It would seem that this would inure to the benefit
of all the nations concerned in this hemisphere. Photo of Prime Minister
Christie upon his return to Nassau from St. Lucia is by Peter Ramsay.
Mr. Christie is being met by Secretary to the Cabinet Wendell Major, left;
Assistant Commissioner Reginald Ferguson, second from left and Chief of
Protocol Andrew McKinney, right.
CONVENTION
BEGINS WITH PRAYER BREAKFAST
The 49th annual convention of the PLP began Sunday
16th November with a Prayer Breakfast. Party stalwarts and the rank
and file turned out in impressive numbers to give thanks for the convention
being held under the theme ‘Transforming The Bahamas - Securing Our Future’.
Photos by Peter Ramsay.
DENGUE
FEVER OUTBREAK
The Minister of Health Dr. Marcus Bethel (pictured) has reported to the
country that there has been one death from dengue fever in The Bahamas
and there are 25 confirmed cases, with over 100 persons who await the results.
This is alarming, and one wonders why the Ministry of Health has not been
more aggressive in trying to get on top of this. The Vector Control
Unit should be working overtime on trying to stave off any further cases.
The mosquito spreads the disease and the recent rains will only worsen
the problem if spraying on a regular basis is not done. So far the
disease is confined to New Providence but mosquitoes need no passports
to travel to other islands. One would hope that the statement of
the disease would now carry a more public face connected to the Minister
and not medical officials. The country does not take matters seriously
enough until the top man gets involved and that is what many think we need
here.
REMEMBRANCE
DAY
Arthur Hanna, the former Deputy Prime Minister and the father of the now
Minister of Transport Glenys Hanna Martin always used to say that in order
to survive no matter how old you are, you need to be relevant to the times.
That must come to mind as we enter now the fiftieth odd anniversary of
Remembrance Sunday, started to commemorate the Armistice Day when the First
World War came to a halt in 1917. All those soldiers are dead, and
long gone. But there are still some left from the Second World War.
We tell the children today what we told the generation
that was born in the 1950’s 60’s 70’s and 80’s. Those soldiers died so
that we might be free. The words of the commemoration are usually
repeated by one of those old soldiers. They say of their fallen comrades:
“They shall not grow old as we grow old… We shall remember them”.
But are we remembering them? Government members, Parliamentarians,
Opposition politicians barely turn out to the blessed thing at the Cenotaph
on Parliament Street.
The service on Sunday 9th November was cut by the
Cabinet Office to half its usual length to accommodate those who complained
that it was too long. This time it was cut even further by the rains
that poured down on the service. But some have said that in order
to make it more relevant perhaps the Deputy Prime Minister’s National Day
of Prayer should be incorporated into the present Remembrance Day.
We can then use this useful time to remember the war dead, including the
four marines killed by Cuban MIGS in the waters off Ragged Island in 1980
and the nation itself. It is something worth considering. Photo
of Governor General Dame Ivy Dumont and Mr. Reginald Dumont with Cabinet
Members and others during the Remembrance Day service at Christ Church
Anglican Cathedral by Peter Ramsay.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Two real peaches among the offerings from this week’s
mailbox. First, letter writer Sylvia Rolle muses about the meaning
of hectoring from both sides, over the question of the proposed liquid
natural gas (LNG) projects and in the process, raises some interesting
historical parallels:
What’s Going On Here?
An interesting thing is going on here. Keod Smith held a press
conference to say that The Bahamas Commission on Environment, Science &
Technology (BEST) has rejected the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
submitted by one of the LNG proposals because there is no legislation in
place to regulate and monitor them.
Of course, whenever a lawmaker in the governing party says this, it always comes off as the worst excuse possible and an indictment of his party with respect to the carrying out of its legislative function.
Then Leslie Miller was on the airwaves saying that there is nothing environmentally adverse about LNG plants being established in The Bahamas.
First of all I did not know that BEST had the authority to approve projects. I believe that the role of BEST is to make recommendations and give advice to the Government regarding the environmental implications of a particular project. But once the Government has that information in hand it can and does, from time to time, ignore most if not all of BEST's recommendations in certain cases.
The fact that BEST has rejected an EIA is merely one stage in the review project and rather than providing greater transparency, as he seems to think he has done, Keod Smith has in fact caused confusion and has created a tempest in a teacup, involving the already highly controversial Leslie Miller.
A political scientist once told me that political parties are not homogenous but are in fact a coalition of diverse interest groups. Since then, I have noticed that while this is true in The Bahamas, political ideologies are so poorly articulated that we may easily recognise the coalition but it is difficult to recognise the varying interests.
I note this fact to say I can't see what environmental interest Ambassador Smith has that clashes with whatever Minister Miller’s interests are. They have not sufficiently articulated this; all they have done is issued conflicting statements and confused the electorate on the issue of LNG plants.
It appears to me that the resistance to LNG plants, which are the energy reservoirs of the foreseeable future, is similar to the resistance to gambling casinos in the early sixties. In both cases those opposed conjure up all kinds of negative impacts that the innovation would have on the Bahamian people; and in both cases the governing party splits publicly on the matter. All that is left now is for Keod, like Sir Roland before him in the casino case, to gather around him those fanatical to his cause and stage a futile demonstration against his own Government.
...And it would be interesting to know who among his colleagues would
wish to join him!
Sylvia Rolle
Good Letter
Also in the mailbox this week is a short and sweet note of the sort
that makes an online editor’s heart sing. From: ‘NHBS Student 7’
–
“Enjoyed your stories.”
Signed,
First-time ‘hitter’
THE
WEEK WITH THE PM
Prime Minister Perry Christie spent much of the week at the 9th Special
Session of CARICOM Heads of Government in Castries, St. Lucia. Mr.
Christie is shown in this BIS photo by Peter Ramsay leaving Nassau International
Airport. After his return on Saturday, the Prime Minister was in
fine form during Sunday morning's Prayer Breakfast to officially open the
annual convention of his governing Progressive Liberal Party.
WHAT’S
WITH TOMMY TURNQUEST?
With the PLP’s convention coming up, the FNM’s sleeping leadership decided
this past week to call a press conference. It took two of them to
take on the PLP: Party Leader Tommy Turnquest (left) and Party Chairman
Carl Bethel (right). The poor pair of them had a lot to say but did
not say anything. Click here for
a complete text of Mr. Turnquest's remarks and some transcript of the press
conference. We have only this to say. Mr. Turnquest is
no match for the Leader of the PLP. The man who pointed and anointed
him successor to the FNM’s leadership Hubert Ingraham seems to be backing
away from him. The friends of Mr. Ingraham are openly saying that
Mr. Ingraham thinks in retrospect that he made a mistake by making Mr.
Turnquest the leader and that he wants to come back to save the party from
that mistake.
What Mr. Turnquest ought to do is to spend time
trying to improve his own political fortunes by cleaning up the FNM and
making it ship shape in order to get a reasonable showing in the next election.
As for Carl Bethel, what can we say about him? He goes down
on record as the worst Attorney General in the history of the country.
It was a mistake to make him so having only largely served in a Magistrate’s
Court practice. He is just now getting some experience in the Supreme
Court. Both these gentlemen have a difficult climb back. It
is not easy to win after getting the jobs at so young an age and then losing
them, blinded by conceit and arrogance.
The fact is that the PLP has to approve foreign
investment projects when applications come. They are approved as
expeditiously as they can be approved. The persons represent that
they have the money to invest. Due diligence is done but the Government
has no way to put a gun to anyone's head to spend the money. Surely
the FNM found that out when Landquest said that they would spend millions
in Eleuthera in 1992, after blaming the PLP for not approving their project.
The FNM approved the project but nothing has happened to this day.
The Minister for Financial Services Allyson Maynard
Gibson (centre) was infuriated by the mish mash of misinformation put out
by this pair of FNM Bobsey Twins. Click
here for the Minister’s response.
SHORT NOTES
Charles Carter
The Nassau Guardian has announced a deal with Island FM broadcaster,
former Minister and MP Charles Carter to become the CEO and Publisher of
the Nassau Guardian. Now maybe we will see some proper news in that
paper. The Guardian has been a wasted asset for years. We look
forward to a change. Tribune photo.
Miriam Roker
Miriam Roker of Fox Hill celebrated her 80th birthday on Thursday 13th
November with a church service at the Mt. Carey Baptist Church in Fox Hill.
Ms. Roker is a former teacher at the Sandilands Primary School and a well
known community leader. She has a number of Fox Hill born godchildren
who got together and put the service on to give back to the community.
The proceeds of the collection went to the Sandilands Primary School.
Running Against the PM
Every one has their fifteen minutes of fame, and it looks like 65 year
old Evangelist Rufus Hanna intends to get at least 2 minutes of his share
of fame. He was interviewed in the Nassau Guardian and they published
his announcement on Saturday 15th November that he intends to run against
Prime Minister Perry Christie for the Leadership of the PLP at its annual
convention. He claims to be a member in good standing. Every
convention deserves a little amusement, and Rev. Hanna will no doubt be
the latest bit of entertainment at the convention. He said
that he would get rid of the 'gussimae' Cabinet. He plans to change
the mosquito place we call Parliament. I will put it over to the
Montague Gardens, he said, and there will be a Prime Minister's residence.
What can we say: everyone’s entitled to try but one should really at the
age of 65 know when you are making a fool of yourself. Nassau Guardian
photo.
Guy Fawkes
Ishmael Clarke of Fox Hill, known variously as 'Ish' or 'Cole' to his
many friends in the village, is a traditionalist. And so it was that
on the evening of Wednesday 5th November, 2003 that he, concerned with
others who shall remain nameless, burned Guy Fawkes in effigy. Not
once, but twice, for good measure. Mr. Clarke is shown in this Bahama
Journal photo by Omar Barr underneath a giant silk cotton tree in Fox Hill,
proudly displaying his 'Guys'.
Haitians Drown
The Tribune of Saturday 15th November reports that three Haitians,
part of a group of 76, drowned at sea on Tuesday 11th November when their
sloop capsized in waters off Planter's Cay in Acklins. This is a bad time
of year for Haitians to be taking to the seas, with the periodic cold fronts
coming in and making the waters exceedingly rough.
Knowles To Be Extradited
Magistrate Carolita Bethel has ordered Austin Knowles Jr.; Edson Watson,
Shawn Corey Saunders also known as Shawn Bruey; Nathaniel Knowles and Police
Constable Ian Bethel extradited to the United States to face drug charges
in the US that if successfully prosecuted will put them away from many
years to come. They have 14 days to appeal her decision. Dominic Duncombe's
Tribune photo of Austin Knowles Jr. leaving court.
NATIONAL
YOUTH CHOIR CONCERT
The Bahamas National Youth Choir & Alumni presented a concert last
Saturday evening at Trinity Methodist Church in celebration of the 20th
anniversary of the establishment of the choir and the 30th anniversary
of Bahamian Independence. We see Choir Director Cleophas Adderley
and two soloists on the historic evening through the lens of Peter Ramsay.
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA -
There's still more of news from Grand Bahama to come... Here's this week's contribution from our correspondent D.M., who this week writes about what's on everyone's mind. On The PLP Convention...
I have this eerie feeling that the upcoming PLP convention is going to be a ‘talk out’. The people of The Bahamas are not interested in hearing the endless palaver; we want to hear the real facts about where we could possibly go in the position that we are in. Everyone knows we, as a country, are struggling. This should not be a pleasure trip this week. Despite the fact that it is clear that the party has poor communication between itself and its supporters, it is clear that the entire population has many questions of the government and it would be wise that they have a clear agenda that seeks to answer questions in which the populus has concerns.
The supporters of the government are not interested in hearing what the government has done since May 2nd, 2002, but they want the government to address the issues that currently affect us as a nation, and will affect us in the future. We suggest that the governing PLP seek to answer the list of questions below:
What is the government’s stance on FTAA, WTO, CSME?
What is the government’s stance on the homosexual issue?
What is the government’s position on marketing our Family Islands or,
when will other islands get a taste of the economic pie?
What is the government’s position on the unemployment problem in The
Bahamas?
What is the government doing to combat the problem of AIDS in The Bahamas
(starting in our schools)?
What is the Ministry of Social Services doing to address the social
crises in our country?
What is being done to combat the frequent labour crises in our country?
What is the status of the civil servants raise?
Who is dealing with the illegal drug trafficking issue?
Who is going to regulate the function of the local government in The
Bahamas?
What does our Prime Minister do? I suggest that he let his presence
be known and stop letting the ministers run this country (though they are
qualified – they are not to lead the country alone. He needs to take
some heat by taking some of the heat off them).
What direction is The Ministry of Education going to allow our students
to have the competitive edge they need in this ever changing world?
Please, let’s us not forget that we still have an illegal immigration
problem.
The grass-roots, the entrepreneurs, the professionals and all other Bahamian people want answers, and they want answers now. Despite the channelling system that we have to address various problems, the Bahamian people are looking to the Government to deal with the issues and perform the necessary actions. People are packing their bags and travelling to the capital this week because they have questions and they want clear and concise answers.
“...just as lightning makes no sound until it strikes, the revolution will be generated quietly...”
Eldin Ferguson III. A young Grand Bahamian abroad…
Football Standout From Grand Bahama
Twenty year old native Grand Bahamian Eldin A. Ferguson III is making
quite a name for himself in the world of college football in the United
States. At 6’2” 220 lbs. Eldin is considered to be the team’s best
athlete as he plays wide receiver for Jacksonville University in Jacksonville
Florida. He is the son of Fox Hillian chef, architect and entrepreneur
Eldin Ferguson Jr. and former Miss Bahamas Sharon Ferguson (nee Smith)
who now live in West Palm Beach, Florida.
A former student of Grand Bahama Catholic High School, young Eldin started
playing American football as a junior in William T. Dwyer High School where
he was a standout tight end/defensive end, helping his team go 13-2 as
they were runners up in the FHSAA State Championship. He is currently
in his 3rd year at Jacksonville University where he Majors in Marketing
and has a Minor in Computer Information Systems. “I still keep in
touch with all my friends in The Bahamas”, said Eldin; “...it will always
be home to me, but school and football in Florida is my priority as I try
to continue my education and take advantage of the many opportunities that
are presented to me daily.”
 |
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The excitement was palpable. The Prime Minister was delivering the final, capstone address on Friday night at the 48th annual convention of the PLP. Delegates were excited, and seemed very satisfied. He was announced and the music began to play: ‘The Storm is Over’ by R. Kelly, bringing back memories of a campaign that successfully retook the Government 18 months ago. Peter Ramsay took the photo of the moment showing pure delight as the Prime Minister took to the stage on Friday 21st November 2003 to end the PLP’s convention. That is our photo of the week. PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE PRIME MINISTER'S KEYNOTE ADDRESS TO THE 48TH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE PROGRESSIVE LIBERAL PARTY. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE WORDS WERE HARDLY OUT OF OUR MOUTH
It
was almost like having the gift of prophecy. The words were hardly
out of our figurative mouth in our last COMMENT OF THE WEEK when there
was yet more illegal union action. Last week, we wrote in this column
of our concern that there was simply no patience left in the country for
anything on the Labour front. It appeared that the first recourse
to action was always the strike as the vehicle of choice for solving problems.
We cautioned against it. That caution came too late because as we
went to print last week, Bahamasair’s Airline Airport & Allied Workers
Union representing the line staff of the company engaged in an illegal
strike. The entire fleet of Bahamasair’s planes was grounded when
a mysterious bug hit the staff and they called in sick for three days beginning
last Sunday.
We reported last week, the news that the National Insurance Board also had a sick out. There was also the news floating around the PLP’s convention floor that the Bahamas Electrical Worker’s Union would also engage an industrial activity, possibly arranging for the lights to go off during the Prime Minister’s address. That thankfully did not happen, but The Tribune carried on its front page the Deputy Prime Minister’s photo against the backdrop of demonstrators from the BEC Union.
Demonstrations are one thing; illegal strikes are another. The public was angry. The PLP public had to be restrained from turning on the workers of Bahamasair, an airline that its own Minister Bradley Roberts pronounced as bankrupt. Its own Chairman Basil Sands told the public that with Bahamasair down for several days, and the private operators picking up the slack, it was clear that The Bahamas could do without Bahamasair. If the Minister decided last week to close the airline down, the public would have been with him.
The problem with the union at Bahamasair as we see it is inexperienced leadership. And while no Government can prescribe to a Union leader what to do, the new leadership of the Union replacing the more mature Frank Carter takes the view that every time there is a crisis, the idea is to walk off the job or threaten to do so. There is no acceptance that there must be a process, one that works in the best interest of all concerned. The difficulty is exacerbated by some who mistake the Prime Minister’s permissiveness for licence to do anything and get away with it.
The Prime Minister sought to address the issue himself when he told Union leaders during his convention that he thought that trade union leaders had no right to take illegal strike action and damage the economy. While not saying so directly, he seemed to be saying that there is a line beyond which the Unions should not go.
The problem is what does the PLP now do? It would be easy to resort to a crackdown. As we said, the public would have been with the Government if it decided last week to close down Bahamasair. But a Government also has a responsibility to protect the ill led from themselves. The staff of Bahamasair should not be made to suffer because of irresponsible leadership. And there is a complete understanding of the exasperation that staff would feel about the lack of attention, the abuses by management, but in a world where airlines are collapsing, closing and entire staffs are being asked to accept pay cuts or be dismissed, it would seem that good sense should prevail.
And so the airplanes are back in the air. But we tell the Government this; if it happens again simply close the airline down. There is enough foolishness going on in The Bahamas not to take more. It is not right for whole communities to be held hostage to the selfish interests of people who have a good life and ought to know better. That is a most unfortunate thing to have to say in a milieu that was supposed to have solved these problems by resort to the consensus of a social understanding. But at some point, you have to say that if war is what you want, war is what you get.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 22nd November 2003 at midnight: 51,171.
Number of hits for the month of November up to Saturday 22nd November 2003 at midnight: 182,921.
Number of hits for the year 2003 up to Saturday 23rd November 2003
at midnight: 1,512,937.
MITCHELL
ADDRESSES THE CONVENTION
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell addressed the final night
of the PLP’s convention on Friday 21st November just minutes before the
address of the Prime Minister. He had been absent from the country
throughout the week. The address was not a report of what was happening
in his Ministry but rather seeking to strike a bolder vision of where The
Bahamas should be and how it relates to the mission of the Public Service
and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs both of which are part of his portfolio.
He recalled John F. Kennedy’s famous exhortation at his inaugural address
in 1961: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do
for your country?”
The address was brief and to the point. He defended
the role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in defending the country’s
reputation abroad. He scored his opponents who criticize the travel
by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He called the arguments “childish
or sophomoric”. You
may click here for the full report.
THE
CONVENTION IN PICTURES
Peter Ramsay of The Bahamas Information Services
is the personal photographer of the Prime Minister and follows him around
wherever he goes to record for posterity. He was there during Convention
2003 for the entire week and recorded these wonderful pictures of the entire
event. One great hit of the week was the smooth dance move on the way to
speaking at the podium by the normally reserved Attorney General and Minister
of Education Alfred Sears and we lead with that. You may click
here for the rest of Peter Ramsay's photos of the convention.
BAIC
AND THE KOREAN FISHING BOATS
You have to ask yourself how is it that Sidney Stubbs, the Member of Parliament
for Holy Cross (PLP) and the Executive Chairman of the Bahamas Agricultural
& Industrial Corporation (BAIC) gets himself into these controversies
all the time. There has as you know been a virtual state of war between
himself and the Minister responsible for BAIC Leslie Miller since the former’s
appointment. The matter has played out fully in the Bahamian press.
Now comes the story that some Korean Boats owned
by a company of which BAIC consultant Earlin Williams is said to be one
of the principals, are to go into the fishing business from Morgan’s Bluff,
Andros. The story told by the Bahamian Company Nestiwill Holdings
Ltd., the putative owners of the boats, is that they purchased the boats
by way of mortgage from a Korean company. But the question many will
ask is: where do apparent men of straw get the assets to ground a mortgage?
The alarm was raised by an FNM general from North Andros Gary McDonald
who said that the fishermen of North Andros fear that with the arrival
of a mother ship from Korea, the fishery resources of North Andros will
be wiped out.
The Minister for Fisheries Alfred Gray announced
that the licences for the boats were revoked and the boats impounded.
He said that the boats were not owned in accordance with the Bahamian Government’s
policy to reserve fishing for Bahamians only. Sidney Stubbs, the
Chairman of BAIC, was on the radio contradicting the Minister saying that
the Department of Fisheries were at all times aware of the financing arrangements
for the boats. There is something rotten in that state of Denmark.
The Government’s policy is clear. It cannot
be circumvented as easily as a sham mortgage. If that were the case,
the local fishery would already have been overwhelmed by American fishermen
who have been trying for years to make the same arrangements. The
facts have to be fully investigated. But this does not come off right,
and what is disturbing is that after all the Prime Minister has said about
deal making and ensuring that there is integrity in governmental processes,
it appears that there are many people who do not buy into that message
at all, and will do anything once there is money involved. This is
a very worrying prospect. The larger problem though is once again
the Government appears to be at odds with itself. The Ministry of
Fisheries does not appear to have done its proper due diligence, and it
also appears that BAIC tried to pull the wool over the eyes of another
Government agency. What will the Prime Minister do? Tribune photo
of Korean fishing boats in Andros by Dominic Duncombe.
FTAA COLLAPSES
The small countries including The Bahamas pronounced
themselves satisfied that the looming deadlines of 1st January 2005 which
threatened to transform the entire trade relationship in the Western Hemisphere
are now off. Leslie Miller, The Bahamas Trade Minister, was able
to say after the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) conference
in Miami that the FTAA process has been watered down, and the conference
seemed to accept that there is a need for special and differential treatment
for small economies. We await the details.
For two days, protesters in Miami threatened the
security of the conference and the business interests in that area including
the Office of the Consul General for The Bahamas. The Office was
closed for two days on Thursday 20th November and Friday 21st November
on the advice of the Miami Police.
No word on whether Ministers of countries have decided
whether Miami is to be the HQ for the Secretariat of FTAA. In the
running are Miami and Port of Spain, Trinidad. Miami pulled out all
the stops, including ensuring that there were no personal searches of Ministers
going through the Miami Airport. This is the main complaint about
Miami and it was interesting that they removed that irritant just for that
occasion, which only goes to show they can remove it for all occasions.
TRIBUNE’S
100th ANNIVERSARY
The Tribune, one of the morning dailies in The Bahamas
celebrated its 100th anniversary as a newspaper on Thursday 20th November.
They did so with a 136 page edition, complete with pictures from its history
and the whole story of its founding by Leon Dupuch in 1903 as a single
sheet. It was said to have been founded in response to the more conservative
Nassau Guardian, which was founded in 1844 but functioned mainly as a society
paper.
The paper really took off under Etienne Dupuch who
succeeded his father and was its editor until 1972 and who continued to
contribute until his death. There were congratulations from the Prime
Minister and the Governor General. The Tribune has been known as
a crusading Opposition paper throughout its lifetime, and despite the fact
that it made most of its money under a PLP administration continues an
inveterate hatred of the PLP under its now publisher Eileen Carron. We
show the captioned photo from the Tribune's anniversary front page.
AN
ASSAULT ON MICHAEL JACKSON
This week the United States excelled itself by engaging in yet another
disgraceful spectacle. You will remember our views in the previous
incarnation of this column about the US judicial system when Nigel Bowe
was extradited to the US to face trial on charges that many Bahamians believed
were clearly trumped up and how he was convicted in a trial that most Bahamians
believe was not by any means fair. We made a similar comment when
George Wilson was arrested in the United States and charged and convicted
then later freed. So no one can be surprised at our absolute disgust
at the spectacle in and around the arrest of Michael Jackson, the Black
American music performer this past week by officials of a county in California.
His brother Jermaine seemed to sum it up when he described it as a “modern
day lynching”.
The jocularity with which the whole matter was handled
by the prosecutors, the feeding frenzy in the press of people who have
no idea what is going on endlessly speculating, including the circulation
of deliberately humorous images of which we show an example, makes the
whole thing come off like a put up job.
Bahamians saw in the last Presidential election
in the US how its Supreme Court intervened in a process that cast serious
doubt on whether the President that now sits in office was duly elected.
How that was allowed to stand. In the face of that, the world has
come to expect anything from a US Judicial system, a system that allows
600 people to be held without charges and without trial and without access
to lawyers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba while the US is telling the Government
of Cuba to grant freedom of expression and a transparent judicial system
to the people of Cuba.
For the sake of Mr. Jackson, an idol to many, and
no doubt a man who seems his own worst enemy in many ways, we hope that
he will get over this and get true justice, even though in the manner of
his arrest, justice already seems to have been denied. Despite his
perceived weirdness he has inspired many a young man and woman with his
words and poetry and by his success.
You have to ask yourself in light of the comments
of his brother Jermaine, how is this different from prosecuting the late
Paul Robeson or Muhammad Ali—all Black Americans from another age who were
prominent entertainers prosecuted for their beliefs but mainly because
of their prominence and outspokenness. You dress it up in something
judicial but really what you want to do is put a Negro in his place.
It was the man who many think of as an Uncle Tom,
Clarence Thomas, who now sits as a US Supreme Court Justice who said during
his own Supreme Court hearings when his white friends were coming against
him with allegations of sexual misconduct that it was nothing but a high
tech lynching for an uppity black man. That shut them up dead in
their tracks.
MINISTER
OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN WASHINGTON
The Foreign Ministers of CARICOM, the Caribbean
Community, travelled to Washington DC on Monday 17th November to visit
with officials of the United States Government. The main act was a stop
in to chat with Colin Powell, the United States Secretary of State. The
Bahamian Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell joined CARICOM colleagues Louis
Straker of St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Rudy Insanally of Guyana; K.D.
Knight of Jamaica and Kerry Symmonds of Barbados. The Bahamian Foreign
Minister said that he thought that the talks went well and described it
as part of a continuing conversation between CARICOM and the United States.
The Tribune’s AP photo by Matthew Cavanaugh before the meeting shows, from
left: Guyana Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally, Jamaican Foreign Minister
K.D. Knight, St. Vincent Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Louis
Straker, Mr. Powell, Barbados Trade Minister Kerry Symmonds, Minister Mitchell
and CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington.
PM
OFF TO LONDON AND NIGERIA
The Prime Minister Perry Christie is to leave the
country to head a delegation to Abuja, Nigeria the site of the Commonwealth
Heads of Government conference. This will be the first such meeting
for Mr. Christie. The meeting will be held from 5th December until
8th December. The meeting will be preceded by a stop off in London
where he will meet on 2nd December at breakfast with fellow CARICOM Prime
Ministers and Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister. The meeting
with the British Prime Minister is in furtherance of the UK/CARICOM initiative.
PM’
WIFE OFF TO CHINA
The wife of the Prime Minister Bernadette Christie
left The Bahamas on Saturday for a visit to China. While there Mrs. Christie
will launch the sixth in a series of ships owned by the Clipper Group.
She will return to the country on 1st December. In September of this
year Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna Martin launched the
Clipper Valour, the fifth in the series built at the Tianjing Shipyard
in northern China. Prime Minister Christie bids Mrs. Christie a tender
farewell on the tarmac at Nassau International Airport in this photo by
Peter Ramsay.
BAHAMAS
AND DIABETES
The Ministry of Health has been trying to bring
to the attention of the country the fact that The Bahamas is facing a problem
with diabetes. This is not unlike the rest of the Western Hemisphere
where the disease is becoming alarmingly prevalent. It has been laid
down at the doorstep of eating too much sugar and the increasing problem
with obesity in The Bahamas.
In a piece written in the Nassau Guardian by Mindell
Small, and based on information from a Ministry of Health press conference
Wednesday 12th November, it was reported that between 2002 and 2001, the
number of all diabetics in the public health system was 4,158. These
statistics show that 3.3 per cent of the adult population aged over 30
were diabetic. The female to male ratio was 2:1 and there was a doubling
of the prevalence of diabetes starting from the 30th year of life every
ten years. There was a slight decline after the age of 80.
The Bahamas Diabetic Association believes that the
actual prevalence in the country is about fifty per cent higher than the
figures of the public health system show. The figures are a cause
of concern, and there is now said to be an increased effort to promote
healthy living, including a change in the kinds of foods we eat, and the
increased level of physical activity of both young and old alike.
WHERE
TO NOW FOR THE PLP?
The “rah! rah!” and excitement of the convention is now over and persons
have departed to their habitations. What was accomplished at this
convention beside the high excitement? The delegates will be waiting
to see if the promise of dealing with FNMs in the civil service who are
standing in the way of progress comes true. The PM promised that
he would so act. The delegates had been carping about it all week.
They will be waiting to see if PLPs start getting hired in the Government
service. They will be waiting to see if taxi plates, jitney plates
and livery licences will be dished out to PLP supporters. The delegates
were threatening about it all week. If that does not improve within
the next the three months, then the grumbling of the past week behind closed
doors will return. What the delegates will be looking for is action.
In a way, the sideshow of the BAIC/ Ministry of
Trade/ Ministry of Fisheries matter all seems to come down to the fact
that there is a great idleness in the economy. If there were actual
productive work, then it would seem all of this attempt to set up deals
would either not be noticed or not be possible because there would be real
work for the people to do. The list of projects by the Prime Minister
is impressive but the fact is they are still just projects. And word
is leaking out from Paradise Island again and again that they have put
the brakes on their project because they do not think that the Government
is serious in pursing the economic benefits that can accrue from the project.
It needs to be checked out. Hold their feet to the fire.
This is now year two, and next year May we start
year three. That is a bracing prospect to know that within three
years we will be right back at election time. We think that all this
stuff about hiring PLPs and giving PLPs this licence or that is to miss
the point. What we need to do is to grow the economy and then it
would not matter whether PLP or FNM, there will be enough to go around.
The PLP must remember what got it elected and that was an appeal to a rational
centre in Bahamian politics, not the loony fringes. The PM said it
himself, he believes that the PLP form a natural majority in the country
which if we do the right things will bring success to the election at the
next time the PLP are up to be re elected. A jubilant mistress of Ceremonies
Senator Paulette Zonicle is shown at the podium in this shot by Peter Ramsay.
RIGBY
IS REELECTED
It came as no surprise that Keod Smith, the MP for Mt. Moriah, led the
way and put up a candidate against Raynard Rigby the incumbent candidate.
The candidate was a good man Chris Symonette, a former Young Liberals Chair
who has been off the political scene for some while. He got 198 votes
to Mr. Rigby’s 401. With that kind of mandate, the returning Chairman
can safely ignore the protesters. But it is always wise not to do
so. The PLP needs a fundamental rethink of its direction. It
is one that has to be done below the radarscope and out of the limelight
of the cameras. It has to be done one branch at a time. That
is how H.M. Taylor became so powerful. It also means trying to get
along with some pretty cranky people, but in the end it is worth it to
revamp and retool and remake oneself, if you are to survive in the long
run.
JOHN
KENNEDY REMEMBERED
John F. Kennedy, the USA President, who came to
The Bahamas in 1963, was shot dead on 22nd November 1963, 40 years ago
on Saturday past. The Minister of Foreign Affairs recalled the event
in this speech but also said how Mr. Kennedy had inspired a whole generation
to public service. It is also the birthday of Raynard Rigby, the
Chairman of the PLP who was born on 22nd November 1969. Happy Birthday
to the Chair and we support the call to public service.
BRADLEY
ROBERTS' CONVENTION ADDRESS
The 48th Annual Convention of the Progressive Liberal
Party was studded with major addresses by Cabinet Ministers, giving an
account of their stewardship over the past year. In ensuing weeks,
we will publish many of those addresses. Here is Bradley Roberts,
Minister of Works, Utilities & Bahamasair. Please
click here.
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA -
Last week we were in-bound from the Turks & Caicos Islands when we were caught up in an industrial action by the national flag carrier, Bahamasair. We made it as far as Nassau and spent most of the day at Nassau International Airport trying to get home. We eventually made it home via charter around 8:30 p.m., too late to make our deadline for News from Grand Bahama.
Today, we shall change our format to deal specifically with our trip to Provo, Turks Island, and the PLP convention.
EVERETTE HART MARRIES
Congratulations go out to Everette Hart and his new bride, Ethlee Wilson.
The two were joined in matrimony in a ceremony held in Provo at the Beaches
all-inclusive resort. Everette is the island administrator in Exuma.
In attendance at the ceremonies were, our former Prime Minister, Hubert
Ingraham, along with his good friend, Alphonso Elliot. From the PLP
side, were the Honourable George Smith and Baltron Bethel. Also in
attendance were Hart's boyhood friend, Comptroller of Customs, John Rolle
and his wife. We wish the Hart's good health and long life.
TURKS & CAICOS
About 50 years ago, the residents of the Turk & Caicos Islands
migrated to The Bahamas in large numbers. At the time of their migration,
they came to work in the lumber camps of Abaco and Pineridge, Grand Bahama.
After the lumber camp closed most of these families settled in the Eight
Mile Rock community in areas such as Hanna Hill, Pinedale, Jones Town and
Seagrape. There, these people educated their children and raised
their families.
In the past decade as the Grand Bahama economy started to falter, the children of the early settlers made their way back to the land of their parents’ birth. Amongst some of the children who have relocated and we met last week were Peter Stubbs, Godfrey Bain, and Lloyd ‘Skipper’ Stubbs who all have done well along with their families making a valuable contribution to their respective communities. We would also like to say thank you to Carl ‘Flyer’ Simmons from Tropical Shipping who showed us around and extended the hospitality that we seldom see in our days.
As we toured Provo, we could not help but notice how these people have learned from some of our mistakes as they develop their island territory. For instance, there is no such thing as a private beach, and as you drive the coastal roads, one could see where provisions have been made for residents to access the beach. The second point that stands out is how the government has preserved large tracts of crown land that can only be purchased and owned by belongers or residents. These tracts have been strategically laid out so as not to turn the island into ghetto areas besides upscale areas thereby preserving the value of the land.
The tourist market that has been targeted is considered an upscale one with visitors coming to recreate for one and two-week periods at a time. This has benefited the local economy tremendously. There is said to be no unemployment in this industry and labourers have had to be imported from the Dominican Republic and Haiti to fill some of the entry level positions.
Finally, the involvement of the local people in their economy - hotels and resorts are owned by some of the locals and when possible joint venture projects are encouraged; a notion that is frowned upon by the last two Bahamian administrations.
WE MUST CHANGE
We cannot develop The Bahamas without empowering our people and providing
the opportunity for them to become owners of our economy.
As we sat this past Friday evening and listened attentively to the announcement of project after project by Prime Minister, Perry Christie at the PLP convention, it is fair to say that if only 30% of what is proposed comes to pass, this should take care of the immediate employment situation of The Bahamas for at least five years. As a Bahamian who wishes our country well, I hope that some of these heads of agreement that have been signed bear fruit.
Eighteen months into a new PLP administration, we must now pause to reflect on four cabinet ministers, namely, Allyson Gibson, Leslie Miller, Fred Mitchell, and Alfred Sears. These four ministers are supposed to reflect the views of second generation PLPs. Their views that were strong on how The Bahamas ought to be developed were in stark contrast to the views of the past. But, sadly it seems that not much has changed from the views of the founding fathers that brought us majority rule in 1967. Building on that foundation must include the ownership of the economy of The Bahamas by the Bahamian people. Since 1967, we only have two black poster families that have broken through the economic glass ceilings. The question must now be asked of our second generation of policy makers, what has become of your nationalistic views, or, was this nothing more than an expedient view to advance politically?
The selling of large tracts of land is nothing more than a selling of our children's inheritance. We understand in the short term that jobs must be had for our people; but, in the long term, we have seen no shift in the thinking that we should be major participators and owners in our economy. Notwithstanding our missteps, there is still opportunity to be had as we develop the rest of these islands. If we now take corrective measures in planning by including our people, we will preserve our way of life in the standard of living to which we have become accustomed these past forty years.
We would expect that the Government of The Bahamas once and for all would settle the question of access to the beaches which would include easements for all future projects and a policy that would include explaining to all foreign investors that residents must have unfettered access to all of the beaches in this country. That does not require a lot of money but a resolve to preserve the Bahamas for generations to come. BS
This week, correspondent D.M. writes, On National Insurance and Bahamasair
The convention was like an ‘in-flight’ campaign, where Ministers used the opportunity to respond to critics and boast about what they have done in the last 18 months. I admire the attempt that the party made to communicate concisely to its supporters…if no one else understands the agenda, at least its supporters should. However, there was little attention paid to the labour unrest in the country this week. While the delegates and party leaders were dancing to the latest music, people were neglecting their jobs.
In the interest of discussion, it is easier to understand the plight of the managers of National Insurance Board as they sought to make an active step in the hope of achieving their overdue compensation. It is no secret that National Insurance pumps millions of dollars into the country’s treasury and is one of the greatest accomplishments of which this country can boast. The action by the union seemed overdue, when they only seemed to have desired a meeting with the minister to hash out the issues. The minister responded, though sluggishly, with a demand in sorting out the issue. Some managers that I know are smiling wholeheartedly and all seems to be well for this time.
Bahamasair, on the other hand, is a major governmental disaster that just happened at the most inopportune time. I hold the opinion that those persons who did not have a documented emergency for their absence from work for those working days should be terminated. Bahamasair is overstaffed, poorly managed, and is a leaking barrel for the government and for that reason those employees do not have the right to strike. If we hope to promote tourism to our Family Islands, we depend on the reliability and professionalism of our national airline. Bahamasair should, no doubt, be the gateway to these islands…and it should be the first choice of tourists entering these islands.
The future seemed brilliant with the arrival of the new aircraft to join the fleet; it seemed to be the catalyst for greater reliance and professional service. The ‘sickout’ this week was disappointing, poorly planned, and unwarranted. The Minister in his capacity should have exercised his power by making it clear that everyone was to report back immediately or be terminated. A standard must be set and if we are to go on record as transforming ourselves into the future, we must do just that (set a standard, now).
How do we account for those thousands of dollars lost this week?
Sickouts were all too prevalent. The million-dollar question is who
is going to strike next? It is government’s responsibility to take
a stern hold on these labour crises or else the possibility exists that
they will permeate other facets of our occupational areas (public and private)
and almost every arena is connected with another. D.M.
 |
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK - Sidney Stubbs, the embattled MP and now former Chairman of the Bahamas Agricultural Industrial Corporation, resigned from that latter post on Wednesday 26th November. After 11 months as Chair of the Corporation, he has left in disgrace, having been engaged in a scheme to establish a fishing operation, replete with Korean fishermen, and with allegations of cronyism and illegality. As he resigned in an emotionally charged address in Parliament, he borrowed a phrase from Richard Nixon, the disgraced US President, who had also said that he was not a crook. Mr. Stubbs paraphrasing Mr. Nixon’s angry attack after losing the California Governor’s race in 1962 said that the press would not have him to “kick around anymore”. Mr. Stubbs did not seem to get the point about why he had to resign and neither did his allies. But we thought that the picture that appeared on the front page of The Tribune on Thursday 27th November showed his full anger at his critics and that’s why we chose it as the photo of the week. Photo by Dominic Duncombe. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
WHAT A BLOODY DISGRACE
The PLP, the party we support and the party we love has got to be frank with itself, and ask itself: “How from where we started did we ever get to this?” After 18 months in office, and after all the patient work of so many including the Leader of the PLP to clean up the image of corruption in around the PLP, how could one of its youngest members get into such a scheme that smelled from here to high heaven. Was it greed? Was it arrogance? Was it crookedness? Do we not learn from the past?
The Prime Minister had clearly had enough by Tuesday night 25th November. It appears that Sidney Stubbs the now former Chairman of The Bahamas Agricultural Industrial Corporation (BAIC) was summoned to the Office of the Prime Minister and told unceremoniously either resign or be fired. He complied. The letter was read on the floor of the House and you may click here for full copy of the letter.
Mr. Stubbs, as one of the youngest MPs of the PLP, should not have allowed himself to get into this mess. He was warned. In his 11 months as Chair of the Corporation, there were ceaseless attacks by him in public against the Minister of the Government Leslie Miller who was responsible for the Corporation. His refusal to accept that the attacks were impolitic really sealed his fate. But the Prime Minister resisted in an attempt to save Mr. Stubbs some public grief. In the end, Mr. Stubbs appears to have been his own worst enemy. His critics only needed an opportunity, and the opportunity came when it was revealed that his friend and confidant Earlin Williams designed a scheme that others now say was a proposal originally brought to BAIC by a client of BAIC, to start a fishing business in North Andros, using Korean capital and Korean fishermen and Korean boats. We wrote last week that the whole think stank to high heaven. It caused a hew and cry in the Bahamian fishing community and huge political problems for the Minister of Immigration, for the Minister of Fisheries and for the Government.
It was a complete embarrassment for everyone on the Government side. There was no way it should have been in this mess, had everyone acted and acted as they should have and promptly. There has to be a lesson in this. The backbench ought to learn how a backbench behaves and its responsibility to the Government. They ought to learn that young though they may be, and winners though they are, they are not invincible and not infallible; that one has to be aware of one’s limitations.
For the government, the lesson must be that of acting quickly from now on to stamp out any hint of a scandal that will ruin everyone’s reputation. It had simply gone on for too long. The country now will see whether with this distraction out of the way, the Government will now get on with the central focus of its business, which is to grow this economy. With that BAIC business going on, the Government’s work was simply being deflected.
The Tribune, the Opposition and all those who support them must feel vindicated. But they ought to give it a rest. The problem is now over at BAIC. But that again goes back to the PLP, it must not be allowed to happen again. After eighteen months in office, there is no way the PLP should be having to defend what was clearly an ill conceived scheme, and the party simply took too long to deal with it. That lesson must not be forgotten as they complete the term.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 29th November 2003 at midnight: 35,662.
Number of hits for the month of November up to Saturday 29th November at midnight: 218,583.
Number of hits for the year 2003 up to Saturday 29th November 2003
at midnight: 1,548,599.
PM
TRAVELS TO UK & NIGERIA
Prime Minister Perry Christie is to head the delegation
for The Bahamas at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference in Abuja,
Nigeria from 5th December to 8th December. The Prime Minister will
be accompanied by Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Allyson Maynard
Gibson, the Minister of Financial Services and Investment; Ronald Thompson,
Permanent Secretary, the Office of the Prime Minister; Basil O’Brien, the
High Commissioner to the United Kingdom; Andrew McKinney, the Chief of
Protocol and Charmaine Williams, Commonwealth Desk Officer at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. The party will travel through London.
While in London, the Prime Minister will join his
fellow CARICOM Prime Ministers for the annual UK/CARICOM Forum at
a breakfast on 2nd December. The breakfast will be hosted by Tony
Blair, the British Prime Minister. The Prime Minister will stop in
Miami on 10th December to speak to the Caribbean/Latin American Conference
on Trade before returning to Nassau.
WHAT
SIDNEY STUBBS HAD TO SAY
Sidney Stubbs MP has gone down in flames.
It was a sad day for a young politician to have been caught up in what
the Nassau Guardian described as a “tangled web” leading to his resignation
in a public and humiliating fashion as the Executive Chairman of the Bahamas
Agricultural Industrial Corporation on Wednesday 26th November. But
as he went down, he sent off a few parting shots. Those shots were
mainly reserved for the media.
Here is what he had to say in his own words:
“The Tribune has gone into high gear once again
churning out mischief, half truths, lies and other irresponsible comments
and innuendo over the last several weeks in a full frontal attack on a
group of innocent foreign investors whose only crime was they wanted to
invest 20 million dollars in the economy of North Andros.
“Over the last three weeks it would seem that
Lucifer has turned lose his most malicious demons and have empowered them
to spew mischief and distortions and havoc.”
Click here for
the full text of Mr. Stubbs resignation letter.
WHAT
WHITNEY BASTIAN HAD TO SAY
Whitney Bastian is the Member of Parliament for South Andros and has been
a constant thorn in the side of Sidney Stubbs, the MP for Holy Cross, who
has now resigned as the Chairman of the Bahamas Agricultural Industrial
Corporation (BAIC). He congratulated Mr. Stubbs for having done the
right thing in resigning on Wednesday 26th November, but he also read into
the record an affidavit by Mark Stubbs, a cousin of Sidney Stubbs. Mark
Stubbs claims that he got “swing big time” by Sidney Stubbs and Sidney’s
friend and confidant Earlin Williams, who was one of the directors of the
company, which purportedly owned the fishing boats that are at the centre
of the controversy at BAIC.
The thrust of Mark Stubbs’ affidavit is that he
introduced Sidney Stubbs to the Korean investor, one Mr. Choi, who has
a business in Cuba. Mr. Choi was seeking to expand into the fishing
business in The Bahamas but needed land in North Andros to do so.
As matters developed, Mark Stubbs claims in the affidavit that Earlin Williams
came along on the trips to investigate possible North Andros sites and
when Mark objected, Sidney Stubbs insisted that the project could not go
ahead unless Mr. Williams who was his advisor was able to be involved.
The affidavit accuses Sidney Stubbs of receiving
monies from Mr. Choi for per diems amounting to 1000 dollars for one of
the investigative trips but it states that Sidney Stubbs denied having
received the money. However, when later confronted by the certain
knowledge that it had been advanced, the affidavit says that he (Sidney
Stubbs) agreed that he had received the money.
Later Mark Stubbs claimed that the investment idea
was stolen from him and was pursued without his involvement. The
result was the problem that led to the resignation of Sidney Stubbs. Mr.
Bastian is pictured during the House debate on the matter of the Korean
boats in this Tribune photo by Dominic Duncombe.
WHAT
V. ALFRED GRAY HAD TO SAY
Minister of Fisheries Alfred Gray had quite a bit
of explaining to do, principally how was a licence granted to import the
Korean owned fishing vessels into The Bahamas by his Department.
Mr. Gray blamed the matter on the Deputy Director of Fisheries Edison Deleveaux
who he said made an error of judgement that was reversed as soon as the
Director of Fisheries and the Permanent Secretary became aware of the error.
Here is what the Minister had to say in his own words:
“The records of the Department of Fisheries show
that on 28th October 2003, a formal application was made to the Department
of Fisheries for a permit to import free of duty, 15 fishing vessels into
The Bahamas by a Bahamian company, the value of these boats was indicated
to be 2.5 million dollars.
“The application was accompanied by a letter
dated 21st October 2003, signed by Ken Collins, President of Nestiwell
Holdings Ltd. and a certificate of importation for Nestiwell Holdings Ltd.
“We also received fifteen copies of certificates
of ship building each for a 40 foot vessel in the name of Nestiwell Holdings
Ltd. from Hyundai Marine Industrial Company Ltd of Korea; an application
for a permit to lay in the seas of The Bahamas 14,000 traps for crawfish
and for the use of compressors; a copy of a mortgage dated the 27th October
2003, between Nestiwell Holdings Ltd. and Neneka Bahamas Ltd. which stated
The Bahamas company was borrowing by that mortgage 2.5 million dollars
to be paid to Neneka Bahamas Ltd. over a period of 25 years with the repayment
date being October 2028 at an interest rate of eight per cent; Nestiwell
Holdings Ltd. was given a certificate of registration on 30th October 2003;
the vessels arrived in the country on 11th November and subsequently on
14th November, the Department of Customs was instructed to revoke the registration
issued by the Ministry of Fisheries and impound the vessels as it was not
clear whether the vessels were 100 per cent Bahamian owned. It was
also revealed that key documents for the permit to be granted were not
present. (There was no exchange control or National Economic Council
approval for foreign participation or the permission to borrow foreign
currency.)
[Editor’s note: By law only Bahamians can engage in fishing in The
Bahamas unless given permission by the Government.]
OTHER
BAIC LOOSE ENDS
Earlin Williams who is said to be a consultant with
the Bahamas Information Services (BIS) and a confidant of former Chairman
of the Bahamas Agricultural Industrial Corporation (BAIC) Sidney Stubbs
issued a remarkable statement at the end of the whole process on Wednesday
26th November. It was a full frontal attack on the Prime Minister,
who arranged to hire Mr. Williams as consultant at BIS, a job, which up
to upload time, he still has.
Mr. Williams' statement was quoted in The Tribune
of Thursday 27th November 2003. It said:
“It is now clear that Nestiwell is the first
victim of the victimization of Perry Christie’s government. It is
unfortunate that the government conducted a clandestine and sinister plan
to get me and my partners out of the fishing business. The minister’s
interpretation of the mortgage and his determination that he should take
the boats out of the country will be challenged.
“I appeal to the Prime Minister to do the right
thing and follow the policy announced by his minister that Bahamians be
allowed to go into fishing in Bahamian waters and no lobby of special interests
ought to be allowed to prevent me from lawfully carrying out my business.
I appeal to the good judgement of the prime minister to do the right thing
and not to victimize me because my name is Earlin Williams and not Earlin
Wilson.”
[Editor’s Note: Mr. Williams was a director of
Nestiwell. See ‘WHAT ALFRED GRAY HAD TO SAY’ above. The
reference to Earlin Wilson is an attempted clever dig at the fact that
Franklin Wilson is a leading businessman who is a PLP and perceived to
be close to the Prime Minister.]
The Korean Honorary Consul Max Gibson issued statement
saying that the Consulate knew nothing of this deal. The Ministry
of Financial Services & Investment, which is headed by Allyson Maynard
Gibson, wife of Max Gibson also denied any knowledge of this deal.
The Prime Minister has removed BAIC from the portfolio
of Minister Leslie Miller and placed it within the PM's responsibilities.
WHAT
THE PM HAD TO SAY
Prime Minister Perry Christie was said to be livid. He summoned Sidney
Stubbs into his office on Tuesday 25th November and told him resign or
be fired. Mr. Stubbs complied.
The Prime Minister rose in the House of Assembly
and he warned his colleagues on the subject of integrity but not before
tearing another political orifice in Brent Symonette, the Member of Parliament
for Montagu (FNM). Mr. Symonette, in ending his contribution to the
special debate facilitated by the Government on BAIC on Wednesday 26th
November, accused Mr. Stubbs of being involved in the same old PLP tactics.
The Prime Minister told Mr. Symonette that at least
Mr. Stubbs was trying to help other people but noted that Mr. Symonette
when he as Chairman of the Airport Authority was giving the contract to
repave sections of the airport to a company owned beneficially by Mr. Symonette,
as Chairman he was giving the contract to himself. The PM asked what
that was, the same old ...? He did not finish his sentence.
Translation, the same old UBP tactics, named after
the United Bahamian Party of which Mr. Symonette's father was the Leader
and which party lost office in a national scandal around conflict of interest
allegations where members of the Government received consultancy fees for
work done for a private company while that company was applying to the
Government for approval of various projects. Mr. Symonette was so
embarrassed by the PM’s attack he left the Chamber.
Here is more of what the PM had to say in his own
words:
“I made it very clear to the Bahamian public,
I have made it very clear here before, if any minister, any chairman, any
parliamentary secretary transgresses rules and they are brought to my attention
I would ask them to resign…
“When you leave this place commit yourselves
to leaving with the reputation you came with. I was attracted to
recruit personally all of you who are new. I did so because of your
ability and because of your integrity, both are personal to you.
Do not ever whilst you are here, put that on the line, it is not worth
it.
“When you feel that the excitement is gone from
governing, or that you want to do something where you can make money you
will have my complete support in facilitating your leaving. Even
if you give me an indication that you want to start before you leave I
will use that little indication for you to leave right away...”
The jury is still out with regard to the resignation of Sidney Stubbs,
the MP for Holy Cross as the Chairman of The Bahamas Agricultural Industrial
Corporation. PLPs seemed muted in their response. FNMs seemed
to crow about it, and in their watering holes were predicting that this
would not be the end of the matter. They seemed to think that the
matter went deeper and beyond the persons who were publicly involved in
it.
THE
MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE IN GRAND BAHAMA
Fred Mitchell, the Minister for the Public Service
had a two day working visit to Grand Bahama. While in Grand Bahama
he met with representatives of the public sector unions in Grand Bahama
to discuss various issues. He also met with individual public servants
to hear their individual issues. Mr. Mitchell said that it was part
of the outreach of the Government to areas outside of New Providence.
He had held similar meetings with public servants in Abaco, North Andros,
and Eleuthera. The visit took place from Wednesday 26th November
to Saturday 29th November.
FTAA
ROAD SHOW IN FREEPORT
Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell while
in Freeport (see story above) participated in the discussions of the civil
society with regard to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA),
the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and the World Trade Organization
(WTO). The discussions were hosted by the Grand Bahama Chamber of
Commerce, the Rotary Clubs of Grand Bahama and the managers of the Public
Service in Grand Bahama. There was also a discussion in High Rock,
Grand Bahama. Participating in the discussions were Gilbert Morris, the
head of the Landfall Centre; A. Leonard Archer, the Ambassador to CARICOM;
and Reginald Lobosky, an attorney at law and the head of Civil Society
Bahamas.
MINISTER
OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS SPEAKS TO STUDENTS
The photos show the Minister of Foreign Affairs
and the Public Service Fred Mitchell as he spoke to two groups of students
in Freeport during his recent visit to Grand Bahama from 26th November
to 29th November. He spoke at the 6th grade class of Denise
Minnis at the Discovery Anglican Primary School in Freeport and later at
the Catholic Junior High School Mary Star of the Sea.
OBIE
FERGUSON GETS A SIGNATURE
The Bahamas Hotel Managerial Association, a union
of middle Managers, founded and developed by Obie Ferguson has signed its
first industrial agreement on behalf of middle managers in the hotel industry.
On Friday 28th November, the Union signed an agreement with the Hotel Corporation
of The Bahamas. The agreement was over a decade in coming.
It was first agreed under the Ingraham Administration but never signed,
despite the fact that the matter had been taken to court and the Court
of Appeal agreed that it should be signed. The Minister of Labour
was present at the signing.
The signing of the industrial agreement brings to
a conclusion a long and sorry chapter of industrial relations with the
Hotel Corporation over the issue of this contract. It was pointed
out by the Minister of Labour at the signing that this contract speaks
only to relations between the Hotel Managerial Union and the Hotel Corporation.
It does not apply in any other property. There are apparently worries
that this is a general policy, which will cripple properties like Atlantis
who appear to be frightened about the fact that there could be a middle
managers union. The fact is though no apologies or explanations are
required. The law allows for the recognition of unions and the Government
should act according to the law.
CASINO
UNION BLOCKED
Tyrone ‘Rock’ Morris who is head of the Casino Workers
Union in Nassau is a bitterly disappointed man. He has put his employer
Atlantis on notice that he will not wait to act on behalf of the workers
at the Casino. Those were the sentiments expressed in the press on
Friday November 28th as he reacted to the fact there will not be a poll
to determine whether or not the workers are truly represented by his embryonic
union.
Successive governments have refused to recognize
Casino unions, and the first one was said to have been recognized in Freeport
at the old Princess Casino. This was done by the PLP’s now Minister
of Labour Vincent Peet. It is good thing. The decision though
is said to have sent shock waves across the industry because of its precedent
setting trend and the Atlantis group in particular were adamant that the
recognition would affect their future plans.
It appears that Mr. Morris will have to go to court
in order to protect the rights of those whom he represents in order to
unionize them. Again, we think that the law is clear on the right
to unionize and that where it is clear, the law should be followed.
If people have a right to unionize they should do so. And be allowed to
do so.
UNHAPPY
BUTCH KERZNER
The connection between the Kerzner group in The
Bahamas, the owners of the Atlantis Hotel and The Tribune is quite obvious.
All last week, The Tribune engaged in sending out signals and dire warnings
in its editorials about the trade unions and their activities in The Bahamas.
The Tribune published stories about how much the people at Atlantis are
making. Poolside attendants, who are unskilled workers, are taking
home some $70,000 a year by The Tribune's account, when you include tips.
The tenor of the thing is that the ungrateful wretches should not be a
part of Union Leader Pat Bain’s efforts to improve working conditions because
the master has provided all there is to provide at PI and more.
The problem is not Paradise Island though.
A contract has been in discussion for over 11 months with the Hotel Employers
and the Union. The contract covers all properties. Paradise
Island has been sending out signals that it wants to break the Union.
It is believed that the Kerzner group is unhappy about the recognition
claims of the Casino workers for a Union at Paradise Island and that this
may have influenced the Government’s thinking on the matter.
Now comes another bugaboo for the Kerzners and that
is the question of the Hotel Managerial Contract that was signed by the
Hotel Corporation on Friday 28th November (See
story above). The Tribune pushes the idea that this is bad for
business as well. It always seems to come down to a threat that if
the Government acts in a certain way or if the Unions act in a certain
way the Kerzners are going to pack up and go home or they will refuse to
further invest in The Bahamas. It seems that a signal is being sent
out to The Bahamas government that the country is so desperate for jobs
that the company at Paradise Island can threaten the Government with anything
and that they have to capitulate.
Arthur Hanna was the Deputy Prime Minister from
1967 to 1984. He tells the story of a time when the Government of
the day was petitioned by the then owners of Paradise Island, Resorts International,
headed by Jim Crosby. Mr. Crosby told the Government shortly after the
PLP came to power in 1967 that if the Government did not carry out a particular
policy request, Resorts would close the Hotel down. The Pindling
Government did not blink. They told him to close the hotel.
The Government had to act in the best interest of The Bahamas. Of
course the hotel did not close. It was an attempt at economic blackmail.
For some, the level of threat making just seems
a little tiresome for a company that is making record profits, that has
an adept and able management that knows the trade union climate, and a
company that knows what the rules are for business in The Bahamas.
But here is what Butch Kerzner had to say in his own words about the union
contract with the Hotel Corporation, after describing it as bizarre:
“It is totally inconsistent with where the rest
of the world is heading in the twenty first century where finding new ways
of improving productivity and customer service are the real issues. Unlike
a few years ago, we are busier than ever in many different parts of the
world. We have lots of projects going on so we are in close contact
with what is happening at the forefront of our industry. I am not
aware of any world class resorts with which we compete where this type
of situation exists. It is at odds with the philosophy that we have
at Atlantis where, each and every day, our great team of people is single
mindedly focused on competing head to head with the best in the world.
We have been successful in developing a culture that rewards excellence.
“In terms of this agreement that you [The Tribune]
refer to at the Radisson, we will need to study the whole matter further
before we have a definitive position as to whether or not this affects
our thinking on future expansion. I just don’t know.”
The question we ask is why doesn’t he know?
There should be no question at all because he has signed an agreement,
which commits him within the existing laws of The Bahamas to carry out
certain obligations. But you know, there is one rule for the Kerzners
and one rule for the rest of us. Right? It makes one feel that
the Kerzners are simply searching around for a pretext to get out an agreement
because they can’t find the money to do what they committed to doing.
FNM
CALLS FOR RESIGNATIONS
Tommy Turnquest, the Leader of the FNM is crowing
again. He thinks that with Sidney Stubbs now gone, he can demand
more. He smells political blood. Mr. Turnquest said in a press
release that now that Mr. Stubbs is gone that Leslie Miller, the Minister
of Trade, ought to be dismissed for conflict of interest, and that Neville
Wisdom, the Minster for Culture ought to be dismissed because of a dispute
with Junkanoo groups over seating arrangements for this year's Junkanoo
parade.
The Prime Minister has reportedly taken over the
negotiations on the seats issue directly with the Junkanoo leaders and
the matter is now settled. Keep whistling Dixie Mr. Turnquest. He
claimed that there were deep divisions within the PLP on these and other
subjects. But what we hear is that the hounds are really nipping
at his feet, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham being ever more adamant
that he made a mistake in making Tommy Turnquest the Leader of the FNM.
WRECK
COMMISSION STARTS
That on again, off again Wreck Commission to investigate
the tragic accident at sea on 2nd August 2003 when four people were killed
is on again. The Sea Hauler and the United Star collided on the open
seas about 1 o’clock on the morning of 2nd August. The United Star
was on its way with 196 persons to a weekend of frolic in Cat Island.
It was not to be. The Commission has so far revealed in testimony
that the Captain of the United Star was asleep and the Captain on the Sea
Hauler had gone to the bathroom when the two ships collided. There
was also testimony that there were no lights on the Sea Hauler at the time
of the accident.
The Wreck Commission is headed by former Justice
Joseph Strachan. He is assisted by two assessors Sir Durward Knowles
and Former Commodore of the Defence Force Leon Smith.
SMILEY
BUTLER DIES
Granville ‘Smiley’ Butler, the PLP Stalwart Councillor
and Trustee, died on Thursday 27th November in Nassau. He had been
suffering from a brief illness. Mr. Butler was a popular bus driver
who supported the PLP from the start in 1953 from the Kemp Road or Ann’s
Town area of New Providence. He was a strong supporter of Arthur
Hanna, the PLP's former Deputy Prime Minister. Mr. Butler took many
of the children of St. Anne’s High School to and from school every day
before his retirement from the business. When the PLP came to power,
he was appointed a Commissioner of Currency and his name appeared on the
sterling Bahamian notes just as we said it: Granville Smiley Butler, Commissioner
of Currency. We say condolences to his family Greg and Granville
Jr. No funeral announcements have been made.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
There were some quite fiery letters responding to
last week's comments on the US Justice system. We publish one letter
from a former diplomat to The Bahama who we will not now name. The
reason is that the last time an e mail appeared from that correspondent,
it was quickly followed up by another e mail that disclaimed authorship
saying that this computer had been entered by someone else. The diplomat
is no longer in The Bahamas but is a frequent visitor here.
"I still continue to read your column even though
I am no longer serving... After all, my visits to the Bahamas began, seemingly,
shortly after Columbus built his first vacation home in San Salvador, and
the Bahamas is still a favourite and special place for me to relax and
reflect on matters both simple and complex. I am now in the Family Islands
reflecting on your latest attempt to disparage my country.
"I am concerned about your recent criticism
of the US justice system and how the Michael Jackson case is being handled.
It is very difficult for high-profile Americans as well as high-profile
Bahamians to obtain a fair trial with the publicity that precedes their
hearings. I certainly remember the calls of outrage when I asked for the
Bahamian courts to expedite the extradition of individuals wanted for offenses
committed in the US. O.J. Simpson felt the same prejudice, but in the end,
prevailed.
"It is apparent you feel US courts can
not administer justice blindly, without regard to race. Please, for the
sake of your credibility, do not forget that if it were for not for rulings
by the Supreme Court, the US would not have had an integrated school system
when the Bahamas gained its independence from Great Britain. The much publicized
intervention of President John Kennedy at the University of Alabama came
years after the primary schools and secondary schools of America were fully
integrated.
"My family was involved in the process to insure
all Americans access to the same education system and I consider it a personal
insult to read your vitriolic comments concerning our justice system. No
matter what your life's experiences, you have never had a cross burned
in your yard by more that twenty men while you held your youngest brother
out of fear for your life. Maybe suggestions to improve the effectiveness
and efficiency of your judicial system would be more appropriate and helpful
to Bahamians.
"Criticizing America may make some of your readers
feel brash, but it will do nothing to change the fact that the United States
is still the only nation in the world able to defend the freedom of the
rest of the world, including the Bahamas, whether from a hostile action
or illegal immigration."
We also publish a second letter that was
equally as scathing. It is always interesting to see that the Bahamian
justice system can be attacked by Americans but it is not possible to comment
on the justice system of the US without coming under attack for the temerity
of doing do.
Your 'assault on Michael Jackson' piece
"Wow.... I'm surprised you were unable to work OJ
into your screed of hate of our customs, laws and judicial processes.
Guess you only desire the shopping opportunities that are available
here.... no, that couldn't be right... because there are those educational
opportunities and job choices and sports careers etc. that Bahamians pursue
and enjoy when they so choose.
After some thought, me thinks you would make a good democrat in today's
time, because everything seems to be coming up negative and shorthanded
for them lately!
"Although you would likely have a problem
with their support of the gay agenda, and their high taxation policies,
and their anti-Medicare prescription drug expansion program, and their
anti Clarence Thomas crusade, and being against the minority judicial nominees
that the president has made, and, last but not least their poor record
of never appointing an American from a minority group to as high a position
as that of Secretary of State and National Security Council.
"Sure wish you could send me a cold Kalik.........
P.S. For some balance in your perspective, log on to some freebies....opinionjournal.com.....
theweeklystandard.com.......nationalreviewonline.com..."
LARRY BRANTLEY
[The great thing about Pax Americana and of course the natural order
of things, is that we say what we want to anyway. Editor]
MRS.
CHRISTIE LAUNCHES SHIP IN CHINA
Mrs. Bernadette Christie, wife of the Prime Minister spent the week China,
this past week. Mrs. Christie arrived in Beijing, the capital of
the Peoples Republic of China on Monday. While in China, Mrs. Christie
was the guest of Dockendale Shipping Company Limited.
Mrs. Christie visited some of China’s historical
places such as the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City
and was the guest of honour of the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Mr. Li Jinzhang. Minister Li welcomed Mrs. Christie to China noting
that the Chinese government is pleased with the continued cordial and warm
relations that exist between The Bahamas and the Peoples Republic of China
since the diplomatic relationship was established between the two countries.
The Assistant Foreign Minister also said that the Chinese government looks
forward to receiving the Prime Minister as well as Mrs. Christie in the
very near future. Mrs. Christie is accompanied on the visit to China
by her sister Miss Paula Hanna.
The highlight of Mrs. Christie’s trip was the launching
of the Bahamian registered ship ‘DS Vanguard’ on Thursday, 27th November
at Xinjang Shipyard in the city of Tianjin. Tianjin is the third
largest city in China.
Pictured are Mrs. Christie, Mr. Leslie J. Fernandes
- President of Dockendale Shipping Company Limited, Miss Paula Hanna and
Lowell J. Mortimer - attorney for Dockendale Shipping Company Limited observing
as D S Vanguard is launched. Photographs by Nello Lambert.
THE
WEEK WITH THE PM
The Prime Minister maintained good spirits throughout
a hectic and trying week, seen here with press attaché Al Dillette
preparing for a public appearance.
Mr. Christie first appeared before the media this
past week to announce he had won an undisclosed settlement for libel and
an unreserved apology from a British publication. He is shown with
his attorney, Michael Barnett of Graham Thompson & Co.
Later in the week, the Prime Minister announced
the appointment of the first Rhodes Scholar from The Bahamas, Dr. Desiree
Cox, to the Urban Renewal Commission.
Mr. Christie was in fine form with members of his
extended family for the naming by the Ministry of Social Services of the
Nurse Naomi Christie Centre for Older Persons. Nurse Christie is
the Prime Minister's mother, now deceased.
The Prime Minister joked with old friends and colleagues
at the official opening of a new shopping mall at Sandyport in west New
Providence at the week's end. The cornerstone of the development
had been laid by former Prime Minister Sir. Lynden Pindling and Marguerite,
the Lady Pindling, was among the guests of honour.
B.S.
NOTES FROM GENEVA’S IN FREEPORT…
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA -
LOCAL GOVERNMENT MINISTER GRAY
The potential for the Ministry of Agriculture & Local Government
is unlimited. All that is required by the office holder is a vision
of how and when The Bahamas should be developed. Under the present
Minister, things seem to be going downhill fast.
This week Minister Gray got up in the House of Assembly to explain his Ministry's rationale for the granting of permission for the Korean fishing boats now impounded in Morgan's Bluff, Andros, the same boats that led to the resignation of BAIC's chairman, Sidney Stubbs. The Minister went below the radar by not taking full responsibility as Minister for the actions of his officers. The Minister flouted all conventions when he named one Mr. Deleveaux and sought to lay the blame at Deleveaux's feet.
In the Book of Genesis, Adam sought to use the same rationale with God when he tried to blame Eve. Rather than, as the head, taking full responsibility for their actions, they were subsequently, driven out of the garden.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
A state of war exists between the Chief Councillor, Marva Moxey, and
the Administrator. According to Ms. Moxey, the Administrator has
stopped speaking to her and according to another councillor, he is now
attempting to work around the chief councillor and deal directly with her
deputy chief councillor. If this is in fact the case, we renew our
call to the Minister of Local Government to move the Administrator replacing
him with a more suitable candidate. If not, we will continue to see
more evil and unpleasantness while the public business suffers.
Another councillor, who wishes to remain anonymous, told News from Grand Bahama that the biggest mistake they could have made was electing two women to lead the City of Freeport council. Hmmmm!!!
WE GOT THEM
“We got the boys on the run.” The FNM operatives were all out
in full force and looking like the cat that swallowed the canary as they
sat at boiled fish this past weekend at Geneva's. They were referring
to the Korean fishing boat saga. According to a reliable source,
once Prime Minister Christie and Foreign Affairs Minister, Fred Mitchell
leave town they intend to put Minister Peet's political skills to the test
as government's leader of House business.
The source went on to say that Stubbs is small potatoes and they believe that they might be able to convince at least one Minister to resign. “We know all the players and it is just a matter of time.” They say the test for the PLP is what Prime Minister Christie will do when he returns. But, until that time, they tell us to watch TV on Wednesday when Parliament reconvenes and the FNM goes Minister hunting. We shall see!!!
MITCHELL IN FREEPORT
On Thursday, Foreign Affairs and Public Service Minister, Fred Mitchell
came to town for a three-day visit. While here, he met with the Public
Service Union, Government Department Heads, officers of Local Government,
officers of the Port Authority, and he also spoke with students of Discovery
Primary and Mary Star of the Sea Primary schools.
His message was the same from east to west: He told civil society
that they should not despair and that the government was up to the task
of negotiating FTAA, CSME, and WTO; The Bahamas cannot operate in isolation
to the rest of the world. The message in short was that your government
and this Minister are up to the task.
B.S.
