NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
WEATHER AND MORTALITY
Monday
30 April was a rainy, rainy day in Nassau. Our offices are located
in Dowdeswell Street in New Providence, the capital island of The Bahamas.
The Bahamas is low lying. Our highest hill is only 206 feet on the
mythical island of Cat in the Southern Bahamas. Where our offices are located
is particularly low lying. It was once a swamp, a stone’s throw from
the sea. The designers of the town built the area around Dowdeswell
Street on reclaimed land. As a child, my mother said it used to be
called the White Grounds. One assumes this was because the land was
filled in from limestone quarry that is a white dust.
But the designers of White Grounds were smarter than the designers who fill in swamps today. It is one of the only areas in New Providence that has an intricate drainage system that allows the tide to flow in and out. The result is that even when there is serious rainfall, the area never floods for long periods of time and within an hour the water has drained off into the sea.
Those
who drive along the road when there is a high tide and a full moon can
often experience the sea seeping in from the ocean and flooding the road.
If there is a torrential rain at the same time, the water often reaches
up to the highest step on our property.
The property that we own GWENDOLYN HOUSE has been occupied since the 1920s. We bought it in 1995 and it sits on concrete block stilts. So that when it floods, the water simply flows underneath the building. Ingenious yet simple!
So the rainy season has begun. It poured rain on Monday 30 April. It poured rain on Friday 4 May. But apart from a leak in the roof that we hope to repair this week, we were safe and secure. And of course we lean on the everlasting arm anyway.
This
column is being written from Rochester, Minnesota, the site of the Mayo
Clinic where this writer gets his annual medical check up. The results:
he will live until he dies.
4th May is the second anniversary of the death of my mother Lilla Angelina Mitchell. May she rest in peace. Our family still misses her terribly.
We had 14,592 hits for the week ending 6th May at midnight. That made 88,127 hits for the entire month of April, the second highest monthly total in the history of the site exceeded only by the month of Sir Lynden Pindling's burial.
The photo of the four Government High School boys huddling under
a shared umbrella is from the Tribune by Omar Barr. Again, this week, information
from Colina on the BISX closing prices for the week is late. We will try
to have the info for upload by 2pm Monday 7 May. Apologies on this. Thanks
for reading and please keep reading.
PERMANENT LINKS
11th Review of the Judiciary
Mitchell Address to Senate: Why the PM is the
way he is
Mitchell speech to PLP Convention
2000
Pindling & Me - A personal retrospective
on the life and times of Sir Lynden by Fred Mitchell
Address to the Senate Budget
Debate / Haitian Issue
Address to the Senate Clifton Cay Debate / Haitian
Issue
Address to PLP Leadership meeting in Exuma
/ Haitian Issue
Address of Sean McWeeney / Pindling
funeral
Gilbert Morris on OECD Blacklist
Fred Mitchell Antioch College speech
The funeral coverage
For a photo essay on the funeral of Archdeacon William Thompson. Click here.
 |
 |
| Professor Gilbert Morris on the country's blacklisting | Coverage of Sir Lynden's death & funeral |
e-mail timbuktu@batelnet.bs
| Site Links | |
| The PLP Position on Clifton | |
| www.johngfcarey.com | Thought provoking columns |
| http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/ | Canadian contacts Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
| http://members.tripod.com/~xtremesp/wolf.html | Bahamian Cycling News |
| http://www.bahamiansonline.com | Links to Bahamians on the web |
| http://www.bahamanet.com/JujuTree.cfm | Politics Forum |
| http://www.jameshepple.com/ | Tourism Statistics |
| www.briland.com | Harbour Island Site |
THE
KNIVES ARE OUT IN THE FNM
The Bahama Journal published a harsh set of remarks by the Prime Minister
who likes to show off with a loud mouth when he is in the smoking room
of the House of Assembly. And he attacked Tennyson Wells viciously.
Mr. Well's offence was that he wrote a letter to the clergy in the country
said the Journal saying that Mr. Ingraham was not a man who should be trusted
since he had effectively gone back on his word to step down as Leader of
the country and the FNM. According to the Journal, Mr. Wells said: “It
was in my opinion a betrayal, smacks of duplicity and brings into question
the Leader's sincerity and commitment to the democratic process.” Said
Mr. Ingraham, stealing an expression from his political daddy the late
Sir Lynden Pindling: “all restraint is now history. I am going to
cut his political legs off.” Oooh! We can see Mr. Wells shaking in
his boots. Who is afraid of the big bad wolf? Mr. Ingraham also reportedly
said "I'm at the pinnacle of my power and I can do what I want" (shades
of the madman and megalomaniac the Emperor Jones. We say again to Mr. Wells:
“Join the PLP!” There is yet still time.
FNM
DISSIDENT AD
Politicos and their hangers on like to think
that the whole country is preoccupied with their concerns, when in reality
the political community is a small one concerned with problems that are
often over magnified in importance. That may or may not be the situation
with a full-page ad run by the dissidents of the Free National Movement
who want Tennyson Wells, the FNM member for Bamboo Town to become the Leader
of the FNM. They want to stop Mr. Ingraham from becoming leader of
the FNM for a third term. You will remember that Mr. Ingraham defeated
an initiative by Mr. Wells last year to amend the constitution of the FNM
to put in place a Leader-elect position. Well, said the ad under the headline:
THE FNM LEADERSHIP SUCCESSION – A POSITION PAPER: “Choosing a leader to
succeed a leader who is also the Prime Minister of the governing party
and who is voluntarily stepping down, is unique. Because it has not been
done before, it will be precedent setting and could be a guide for the
future and an example for the Nation and the region. To give legitimacy
to the next leader, the process has to be not only transparent and democratic,
involving the largest cross-section of the Party as possible, but, like
Caesar's wife, it has to also appear to be so. This can only be achieved
by a special convention called for that purpose. This alone will heal the
deep division in the party over this issue, and insure that the party will
win the next election. To contemplate any other approach is suicidal.”
If you want to see the whole message, click
here. Things that make you go: Hmmm!
COMMENT
ON FNM DISSIDENT AD
When Perry Christie, Leader of the FNM, spoke in Fox Hill on Monday
16 April, he predicted that the FNM would split because the differences
between Tennyson Wells, the man who would be leader, and the man who is
now Leader Hubert Ingraham are irreconcilable. The Chairman of the
FNM Dwight Sawyer who is really a mouthpiece for Hubert Ingraham responded
that the PLP was hopelessly split and not the FNM. In fact Oswald Brown,
the mis-editor and former Jackass of the Week, ran a front-page story in
the Nassau Guardian under the headline “CIVIL WAR IN OPPOSITION PLP” (Monday
30 April). In that story Mr. Brown sought to show that because the
PLP lost Whitney Bastian in South Andros and Bastian is popular in South
Andros and is supported by stalwart councillor Benjamin Forbes, there is
civil war in the PLP. Not so! The South Andros matter is confined
to South Andros and the PLP support is intact. Mr. Forbes is the
only one of the older PLP generals in that area supporting Mr. Bastian.
And in any event that would not amount to civil war. But in the FNM on
the other hand, the Wells’ statement from the dissident’s ad says it all.
If they want to win the next election Hubert Ingraham has to go.
Any other course they say is suicidal. Now the question is: can the
dissidents succeed in stopping Mr. Ingraham? We don’t think so. Our
position remains that Mr. Ingraham boosted by the anxious young Turks like
Don Foulkes, Carl Bethel, Zhivargo Laing and Tommy Turnquest and the political
bribery and pressure on the FNM Council will prevail over Mr. Wells.
There will however be a significant minority that will support Mr. Wells,
enough to cause a huge uproar in the FNM. That’s because at the base
of the FNM is a group of persons who are independent minded and won’t stand
for it. Look for a big break up at their council meetings in future.
The next question is: after Mr. Wells is defeated what will he do? He has
indicated that he has put his mind in a frame to run as an independent
if he has to. But he needs the co-operation of the PLP for that to
succeed. Pierre Dupuch, one of his allies, is putting himself in
the same position. Mr. Ingraham is trying to take care of both Lester
Turnquest and this writer by eliminating Fox Hill and Malcolm Creek and
combing the two into one constituency. The real future for Mr. Wells and
the dissidents is the PLP. It is really time for them to cross the
floor and become PLP.
NIGEL
BOWE TO BE RELEASED
After three weeks of defying the terms of the extradition treaty between
The Bahamas and the United States, Nigel Bowe is to be released from the
custody of the United States of America. It is about time.
Bahamians are really quite sick and tried of being treated with such disrespect
by the United States, simply because the Bahamian national leadership is
spineless and because we are a small country. Many Bahamians were
in fact offended by the trial and extradition of Mr. Bowe in 1994. But
even after the announcement of the release, Mr. Bowe is still being held.
The Nassau Guardian reported on Friday 4 May that the Americans were still
holding him to clear up some paperwork so that he could be deported. Mr.
Bowe does not need to be deported. He will leave voluntarily and
his family has the ability to have him flown out. A Bahamian citizen is
being held against his will in the United States of America. He must
be released and released now. The only option The Bahamas would have at
this stage is to say that all its extradition treaty arrangements will
undergo an immediate review and suspension until this issue is settled.
The principle is that a Bahamian, having exhausted his sentence should
be sent home forthwith. The old adage: he may be a son of a bitch but he’s
our son of a bitch.
MORE
FROM LAING ON FREE TRADE OF AMERICA
Nothing has excited more e-mail traffic over the past week in this
column than the characterization in this column about three weeks ago that
Zhivargo Laing, the Minister of Uneconomic Development was an economist.
First came mail from a Bahamian in Hong Kong to another Bahamian in Washington
and then the one in Washington got on to this columnist. The people
of Mr. Laing’s generation don’t have a high opinion of Mr. Laing.
They believe that he has sold them out and their generation. But
Sir Thomas Moore contrary to one popular movie’s interpretation, is said
to have thought that in order to remain at the court of Henry VIII, those
who wished to stay had to compromise their moral principles. So maybe that’s
Mr. Laing’s excuse. Anyway, he now has the superintendence of the
Bahamas’ entry into the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA) process.
He has come home from Quebec City, newly imbued with a sense of mission
on the subject. This week he was in the press and on 30 May at the
Trade Negotiating Working Group in The Bahamas he said that we ignore the
agreement at our peril. He denied that it would take away Bahamian
jobs. To tell you the truth, we don’t think that Mr. Laing has a
clue what he is talking about. The first thing is that they have
inadequately prepared the country for what is to come: open markets, no
customs duties, open labour market. The new tax system for the country
is not being studied, and we have four years to put one in place.
The whole bit on civil society in The Bahamas is a sham where there are
still restrictions on free expression and the participation of citizens
in their democracy. You should let Felix Bethel, the COB lecturer,
give an assessment of Mr. Laing. Out of respect for Minister Laing’s
mom we say no more of him.
LILYMAE
MCDONALD FREED OF GUN CHARGE
The Tribune reported on Tuesday 1 May that teacher Li lymae McDonald
was freed of a gun possession charge because of insufficient evidence.
Charges against her 30-year-old son, his wife and another relative continue.
Chances are this is one of these situations where the police raid your
home and they take in everyone in the house without any specific evidence
against the person concerned. The practice is pernicious and should
be stopped. It happens too often with juveniles or children of accused
who happen to be living in their homes and selling drugs. The police
come along, find drugs so they take in everyone including mother, father
and all relatives, knowing that they can’t get a conviction against all
of them. They hope that by charging all, one will confess.
This seems an abuse of prosecutorial authority.
B.J.
NOTTAGE SPEAKS ABOUT THE PLP
It was like old story time. The interview appeared on Tuesday 2 May.
Oswald Brown, the anti-PLP mis-editor of the Nassau Guardian was promoting
Bernard Nottage, the PLP elected Member of Parliament for Kennedy, now
the Chief Executive Officer of the Coalition for Democratic Reform (CDR).
In his one-on-one interview that he has been peddling largely for a promotional
vehicle for Hubert Ingraham and the FNM, Oswald Brown quoted Dr. Nottage
as having told The Guardian that he began to realize that the PLP as a
political party had lost its structure and authority, which it had ceded
to the PLP Government. He claimed that he was the chairman of the
Platform Committee but despite his best efforts, the PLP reverted to the
University of Wulff Road concept. The University of Wulff Road was
the big promotion of the PLP for the 1982 campaign in which at the height
of its power, the PLP gathered the rank and file, the so-called grass roots
on Windsor Park, Wulff Road, Nassau, The Bahamas in a so-called University,
where they listened to speeches from party leaders. It was a phenomenal
success. The concept was done because backers of the PLP at the time
wanted Sir Lynden to show that he had the support of the people before
financial donations would be forthcoming. As a result, one donor
gave the tidy sum of $750,000. That helped to get the whole PLP elected
in 1982. So need we say more?
THE
THEMES OF GOOD AND BAD
The Beatles sung a song called ‘Penny Lane’. The line one remembers
for this purpose: “On the corner in the middle of the roundabout, the pretty
nurse is selling poppies for the Queen, and though she feels as if she’s
in a play, she is any way. Very Strange!” That’s the feeling
one gets after seeing all the movies that are current: Enemy at the Gate;
Along came A Spider; Bridget Jones Diary; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
All have the theme of morality; good against evil. Each individual
believes in love and the triumph of right over wrong and making the right
individual choices, even though there are forces all around you that militate
against it. The great philosophical question then: if God is all-good,
why is there evil in the world? It is strange in these days and times
when one seems overwhelmed by dark forces and in our own local play we
have this political personification of evil Hubert Ingraham in our way
right now. But every great drama deserves a good protagonist
and a great antagonist. That is how the great moral dilemmas are
resolved. No doubt The Bahamas will resolve the dilemmas we are in
now after the next general election. Not all but some. And
no matter what, we will still feel as if we are in a play, and we will
be anyway.
NO
PROBLEM WITH GAY TOURISTS NOW?
The Tribune published the story on Wednesday 2 May. It was an
interview with Thomas Strachan, who described himself, as the representative
of 38 sacked employees from Half Moon Cay. Why were they sacked?
The workers refused to turn up to work in protest at the visit to Half
Moon Cay (actually Little San Salvador) of gay tourists. The workers
described the scene as “Sodom and Gomorrah”. One worker reportedly
fainted because he was so shocked, apparently by the behaviour. They
thought it was morally abhorrent, as do most Bahamians about homosexuality.
Now Mr. Strachan and the workers moral fibre seem to have lessened.
Mr. Strachan says now that that he and the workers would think again about
their attitude to gays because of the Government’s apparent support of
gay rights. “If this is what the Government wants then I suppose
we have to go along with it… Although we can always get something to eat,
we have no money to spend if we don’t work.” Which religious leader was
it who said in 1984 “Principle don’t put bread on the table!” Things
that make you go: “Hmmm!” AND MEANWHILE up in Grand Bahama, a religious
group led a protest against equality for gays in the law as announced by
the FNM Government they voted for. But the great laugh in Freeport was
the women sip sipping about who on the line was in no position to be anti-gay,
since they might well be attacking themselves. Well as they say,
you whistle, we’ll point. Things that make you go: Hmmm!
CARNAGE
ON THE STREETS
The deaths on the streets in New Providence, the road traffic accidents
of artistic horrendousness continue. Coming back into town, the newspapers
are replete with stories of bad accidents and the injury and death of yet
another motorcyclist. The 26th road fatality for the year. The police
have responded with speed guns and anti-speed campaigns and fining people
for blown light bulbs. That one must really get on the goat of Bahamians
because, so many people talk about it. The police crackdown has not
helped the situation. All it has done is to bring the wrath
of the public down on the police for acting as revenue collecting agents
for a Government badly in need of and strapped for cash. Ian Mabon,
who is normally out of the political arena, the husband of former Tribune
editor Athena Damianos wrote a letter to the press published in The Tribune
Monday 30 April: “While I commend the Traffic Division for its recent sterling
work in traffic law enforcement, roadblocks included, I feel that we are
going from the sublime to the ridiculous when a $75 fine is issued for
a blown light bulb that illuminates the rear licence plate… While I appreciate
that the laws must be enforced, and the Lord knows we have so many that
are not, we must also adopt a common sense approach to some things…”
Mr. Mabon of course comes from that conservative business sector of the
community. He has no problem being stopped by the police. But
of course, the young black kid in his car minding his business who has
dreadlocks does have a problem. So Mr. Mabon’s problem is the light bulb.
The kid’s problem is his being stopped for no reason. All it amounts
to is enforcement of the law. The general question is giving up and
encroaching on the liberty of the subject. We in this dispensation
are all too willing to give up our liberty in the name of enforcing the
law. And Lord knows we do not see the commensurate benefit. But what
is really needed here is a strict enforcement of the law on drunk driving.
One is willing to bet that drunk driving is a major cause of many of the
accidents, and included in this is intoxication with drugs. There
should also be strict enforcement of no alcohol for sale to those under
18. And then driver education before one gets a driver's licence ought
to be strengthened. One day, one supposes when the carnage kills
one of the sons of some politician, we suppose the FNM will act.
FIGHT
OVER GENERATION PROPERTY
The headline in The Nassau Guardian of Wednesday 2 May said: FIGHT
OVER GENERATION PROPERTY. There is a youth camp that is being
established in North Eleuthera and it is being built on generation land
and commonage land. A group of local churches are spearheading
the effort, led by Richard Albury, whose dad owns Michael Anthony Jewellers.
This provides an interesting point to comment on Commonage Land.
There are two islands that have commonage. One is Eleuthera; the
other is Exuma. This is land granted by the Crown under Queen Victoria
in perpetuity to residents of certain islands. There are rules, which
govern the commonage. No one can own the land but no one can be ousted
from use. The Committee meets from time to time to effect the governance
of the commonage. Generation property on the other hand, is land
that has been left to so many owners intestate that it cannot be determined
who they are. The practice has built up that persons in certain families
in the islands can build on the land but no one can own it outright.
This is a problem that needs to be cleared up by legislation. You
have large tracts of land tied up in that way in the islands and it is
prohibiting development because no one has title and therefore money cannot
be borrowed on the land as security. It will be interesting to see
how this fight resolves itself in Eleuthera.
RESPONSES
TO LAST WEEK’S COLUMN
Arthur Foulkes, the Chairman of the Broadcasting Corporation of The
Bahamas, the publicly owned radio and television company has described
this column’s speculations last week as absolute rubbish and the product
of a fertile imagination. (Tribune Monday 30th April) We said the Corporation
intends to downsize the news reporting staff and then bring in foreign
persons to run the sophisticated equipment that will be need to run the
international conferences being held here in the summer plus The Bahamas
Games. Temper! Temper! Mr. Foulkes should know good propaganda when
he sees it. Nothing stings like the truth. We stand by the
story. We also understand that Darold Miller is to begin working
at ZNS. After last week’s story on Mr. Miller, we were pleased to hear
of that development. We trust that Mr. Miller is not made to do the
downsizing of the staff, then is left hanging out to dry by Hubert Ingraham
who is after all the mastermind behind all of this. The Tribune in
an earlier story confirmed that ZNS had spent one million dollars on a
new portable broadcast TV van. The old one has been in commission
since 1977. It has outlived its usefulness… And then we must apologize
to our readers re the story about the son-in-law of the Prime Minister
last week. Our informant badly misinformed us, and the evidence from another
informant is that the son-in-law is very much here in The Bahamas.
Well, glad his dad-in-law does not have to worry over that one... Also,
in defending the PLP's decision to boycott the House of Assembly on the
Inheritance bills, we argued that the boycott had happened before in 1965,
following Black Tuesday. We got the period of the boycott wrong. The boycott
was not until the 1967 General Election and was only for a period of nine
months.
THE
INGENIOUS CARL BETHEL
There are a lot less charitable names we can call Carl Bethel, the
Attorney General that does not know what the constitution of The Bahamas
says. Mr. Bethel is one of the main protagonists trying to flog this new
inheritance law that the FNM is intent on passing in the face of opposition
from the country and the church. The church said and Mother Pratt
[PLP Deputy Leader Cynthia] is leading the fight for the PLP that it can’t
condone shacking up as giving persons a right to own an estate in the other
person's property with whom they have been living for seven years.
It stunned the FNM but now the ingenious Carl Bethel has come up with a
good one. He says that the bill actually encourages marriage, because
shacking up will incur legal liabilities on those who do so. Jeez,
what bull…s… These folks must be absolutely desperate to succeed.
CHRISTIAN
COUNCIL PRESIDENT ON DEATH PENALTY
Bishop Sam Greene, the new President of the Bahamas Christian Council,
has come out swinging. He says that the Council supports capital
punishment and says that we should hang them high. Is it not a bit
ironic - don’t you think - that the Christian Council, emphasis on ‘Christian’
is promoting the death of people. Things that make you go: hmmm!
SIMEON
HALL IN HOSPITAL
The Tribune of Thursday 3 May reported that the Rev. Simeon Hall who
last week demitted office as President of the Bahamas Christian Council,
spent some time in hospital in the Intensive Care Unit suffering from chest
pains on Wednesday 2 May. He was said to be resting comfortably.
However if what his physician said is to be believed it sounds like he
may be a candidate for bypass surgery. It does appear not to be a
simple illness. We wish him well. Perhaps Bishop Sam Greene, the
new President of the Christian Council might pray for the life of Rev.
Hall as opposed to the death of some other persons. Just one’s humble
opinion.
SAFE
BAHAMAS INITIATIVE
There are two things going on simultaneously. There is a propaganda
political effort by the FNM and Frank Watson (Deputy Prime Minister aka
Minister of Jail Breaks High Crime Figures) which is being assisted by
the Rev. Dr. Simeon Hall, immediate Past President of the Bahamas Christian
Council. That began with a church service on Sunday 30 April. It has all
the support of the high and the mighty. The thing started off with
the usual pronouncements of the Governor General, the outgoing President
of the Christian Council. The usual assortment of civil servants
was press ganged into appearing at the national gym to launch the initiative
with the church service. The usual statements of good intentions
and winning the war on crime were given. But what was missing was
the ordinary people. Nowhere in sight. So how can any such
initiative be successful? There is a real disconnect here between
the rulers and the ruled, and never the twain in this FNM dispensation
will meet. Then there is the Safe Bahamas initiative; the private
sector effort which we support, largely because of James Campbell who is
the chair and Marlon Johnson, Executive Director. This private sector initiative
has the support of the Police and the long term goal to change social behaviour.
Now that is the group thinking about the disconnect between the ruled and
the rulers. At a briefing last week, The Tribune showed a beautiful photograph
of the beautiful people who rule us, the 'leading lights' as they were
described by The Tribune.
AIR
TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS
A Respondent’s Notice has been filed in the Court of Appeal by this
Senator as Attorney for the Air Traffic Controllers to affirm the decision
of Osadebay’s decision in the Supreme Court. The Government has appealed
the decision that the Controllers are to be allowed to return to their
duties. The Controllers held a demonstration on Wednesday 2nd May,
led by their leader Roscoe Perpall (See Tribune photo by Omar Barr)
BRENT
SYMONETTE CAN’T UNDERSTAND
Brent Symonette is busy trying to defend the decision of the Airport
Authority of which he is the chair to bring in a U.S. firm to run the airport
parking lot. He also was on Jones and Company the weekend of 29 April
saying that the PLP was racist. Ya Ma! This is a boy who went to
St. Andrews High School when no Blacks were allowed to go there.
But anyway, here’s the point Brent. You are the head of a public corporation.
You owe an explanation to the public for what you are doing, not the other
way around. You are accountable to us. The UBP is dead and you’d
better accept it.
COMPLIANCE
COMMISSION
Under the new financial legislation passed by The Bahamas, yet another
commission known as the Compliance Commission has been established.
John Kenning, former Barclays Area Manager and Bank of The Bahamas chair,
Felix Stubbs head of IBM and Rowena Bethel, a Government Lawyer at the
Ministry of Finance make up the Commission. Boy, this man Ingraham
never tires of John Kenning. Things that make you go: hmmm! It is
time to give someone else a chance.
JOHN
DELANEY EMERGING AS FNM MOUTHPIECE
His picture during the past year has been more ubiquitous than Rev.
Dr. Simeon Hall in the newspaper. Virtually every day it was
some pronouncement or other from Mr. Delaney, a partner in the firm Higgs
and Johnson. Mr. Delaney was at it again in The Tribune. This
time he is under the all-encompassing rubric of Deputy Chairman of the
Bahamas Financial Services Board’s Strategic Development Committee.
Essentially, an apologist for the Government’s misrule in the financial
services sector, Mr. Delaney now says that The Bahamas must now follow
up on individual meetings with the Latin American nations and ensure they
remove the designation of The Bahamas as a tax haven that has caused The
Bahamas to lose business. During the most recent visit of the Prime
Minister at the meeting for the summit for the Americas, the Prime Minister
met with the Mexican, Venezuelan, Brazilian and Argentinean leaders.
In that meeting it is alleged that The Bahamas reached an agreement on
the unilateral decision of those countries to revoke the designation of
tax haven status. Singapore and Switzerland do not have the same
designation and therefore The Bahamas is less attractive to Latin American
clients. This is all good advice on the face of it. But the
real problem is that The Bahamas has no foreign policy and only meets a
problem when there is a crisis. John Delaney and the principals for
whom he has become the apologist should try and straighten that bit out,
then we might not be in the mess we now find ourselves.
RIGHTS
UNDER ASSAULT EVERYWHERE
In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, our hero of the past that we sent a donation
to; that we boycotted for as a student, has been going steadily downhill
in our minds. He is no longer a democrat. He is oppressing
his people and he needs to leave office. We are embarrassed
and shamed by some of the things that he has said and done. He portrays
a shocking ignorance of real life. He has supported the subversion
of the judiciary in Zimbabwe. He has subverted the rule of law by
condoning attacks on judges and on the seizure of private property.
Now he proposes to crimp the work of independent journalists in the country,
and is again condoning physical attacks on journalists there. This
is abhorrent and must cease. But Britain, it appears, is no better.
Tony Blair who we saw as a hero in another way as a young, progressive
left of centre man with sensible economic policies, is turning into a right
wing ideologue. Now according to CBS news in the U.S., Mr. Blair now proposes
to do away with jury trials in Britain and also to abolish the double jeopardy
rule. This is an unacceptable erosion of the rights of the individual
in Britain and needs to be fought with all our might. That’s all
we need to give Hubert an idea for The Bahamas.
US
POLICY CHANGES TOWARD OECD INITIATIVE
Paul
O’Neil, U.S. Treasury Secretary, is not supporting the initiatives by the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on harmful
tax practices. This is the initiative whereby The Bahamas is being
forced with 31 other countries to change its tax regime. The whole deal
according to the Europeans is that it is eroding their tax base.
The French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius was mortified by the US about
face. Hubert Ingraham should now see what a slave he was by jumping
up to please these people before using his foreign policy apparatus to
test the water. This, particularly given the fact that George Bush
was running for President in the United States. We should have waited.
Mr. Fabius was quoted in The Tribune as saying: “Paul O’Neil does have
a view on this. He’s saying we must fight money laundering but that we
don’t have to do it by saying what the right kind of tax regime should
be. It is also Paul O’Neill who is attentive to the idea that we
should not be taking decisions for other people in their place.”
FRANKLYN
WILSON ON THE STOCK MARKET
There has been a decline in the rate of growth to 2.59 percent in the
value of Bahamian stocks. This is when comparing the first quarter's growth
for this year with the first quarter of last year. Some 100,000,000 dollars
in value have been lost. So said Franklyn Wilson, the former Senator
and MP and now Chairman of Arawak Homes in a minute to the Leaders of the
PLP. Mr. Wilson says that this is yet another sign of the economy
in trouble. Among the stocks doing poorly: Benchmark, RND Cinemas, British
American Bank, Global and Doctors Hospital. Mr. Wilson says that 14 of
the 16 shares listed on the Bahamas Stock Exchange are trading lower than
the highs of the trade price. Further the five listed in this column
above are trading at lower than their offering price when the stock was
offered first for sale.
RUSSELL
MILLER PROMOTED AT OCEAN CLUB
Russell Miller has been promoted to Senior Vice President at Sun International’s
Ocean Club. Mr. Miller retains the title of General Manager. The luxury
resort recently underwent $100 million in renovations. Our congratulations
to Mr. Miller. He is pictured in this Nassau Guardian by Gus Roberts.
LAWN
TENNIS PRESIDENT RE-ELECTED
Despite all the controversy during the last year over her treatment
of and relations with former Bahamian tennis pro Roger Smith, Edith Powell
has been re-elected President of The Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association.
JACKASS
OF THE WEEK
Just when we thought we could retire this headline, word comes that
the mis-editor of the Nassau Guardian, that repeated ‘JACKASS OF THE WEEK’
Oswald Brown actually hung up the telephone on PLP candidate and attorney
Koed Smith. Mr. Smith, on a legitimate news call to the newspaper thought
that he and Brown had been disconnected, but was informed by Brown that
he did indeed hang up the telephone and would do say again. For that and
for continued disservice to the name of journalism in The Bahamas, he earns
our JACKASS OF THE WEEK award. When will the man learn that newspapers
are supposed to report the news?
ALLYSON
GIBSON ON SIR LYNDEN MEMORIAL
This week, we bring you another in the series of notable speeches on
the occasion of the Sir Lynden Pindling memorial, this one by Allyson Gibson.
Mrs. Gibson is one of her generation's foremost champions of women's issues
in the public affairs of The Bahamas and daughter of former Deputy Prime
Minister Sir Clement and Lady Zoe Maynard. Please
click here for the address.
NEWS
FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Palm Reader Expelled - It was the talk of an embarrassed community
in Grand Bahama all week. One Dianne Brown, otherwise known as Mother Brown
was 'invited to leave' The Bahamas by the Department of Immigration. It
turns out that Mother Brown, a palm reader and interpreter of Tarot cards
by trade, was ensconced in a luxury Freeport apartment along with her son
and daughter-in-law, dispensing magic candles and potions of cure-all at
up to almost $300 a pop. Among the half-ounce bottles available were 'Do
Not Leave Me', 'Taming Bull' and 'Love Breaker'. Word has it that Mother
Brown's extensive list of clients contained some of the most well known
names in Grand Bahama. Many young Immigration officials hesitated to raid
the operation. Said one, "That woman does do Obeah and I ain' want no spell
on me." Immigration Officer First Grade, Rev. Napthali Cooper, who also
happens to be Pastor of 'The Lord's House' church rose to the challenge.
Rev. Cooper promised further investigation by the Grand Bahama Christian
Council to stop charlatans taking advantage of the local populace.
New Captain For 'Team Lucaya'? - 'Team Lucaya' is how the FNM MP for the area Neko Grant bills himself and his political generals. Street rumbles reaching News From Grand Bahama this week say that powerful people within the FNM are currently looking for a seat to give one of the two FNM political ladies in Grand Bahama that are favourites of the Prime Minister. These power brokers are going around peddling the suggestion that maybe Neko is too busy for the job of full time representative since his recent promotion at the liquor giant, Burns House. A knowledgeable politico reminded us that Mr. Ingraham never forgave Neko for beating Ingraham's favoured female candidate hands down in a primary for the seat. "From that time to this, Hubert has tried to make life difficult. Neko should be warned: the leader and his minions are trying to take his seat."
Mixed Reviews For FNM Dissident Ad - The newspaper ad placed by dissident FNMs played to mixed reviews in Grand Bahama this week. An FNM compatriot of Tennyson Wells said "We's Long Islanders together and we know black people like Hubert don't give up power just like that. If we can't move him, maybe we just have to wait 'till he's ready." FNM Roston Miller's ZNS explanation of the ad brought condemnation in the strongest terms from Ingraham's loyalists here, and even fence-sitters said they thought the ad should have been signed. Meanwhile, sources say that a committee has been formed to ask the Prime Minister to stay.... Now where have we seen this move before? Things that make you go: hmmm!
Fishing Hole Road Questions For Ken - Activists of the PLP offshoot Coalition for Democratic Reform were in the news in Grand Bahama this week with a series of questions for Minister for Public Works and Grand Bahama FNM MP Ken Russell. The questions concern approvals for the much-contested aggregate conveyor belt, proposed for overhead of the Fishing Hole Road. We'll report on the answers when, or if, they come. There was only light to medium rainfall in Grand Bahama this week and water remains settled to the side of the Fishing Hole road. Despite this plain evidence of easy flooding, talk continues about lowering the road by 2.5 feet. According to one motorist, "They must be trying to drown someone!" The activists made the point that aggregate mining by Dravo Bahamas is making deep craters in an already flat island, and "all the powers that be can talk about is twenty, mostly manual-labour jobs". Among the questions posed: What implications will the crater have during a hurricane? Where are the environmental impact studies promised for the area? Interestingly, this story was covered by the Tribune, COOL 96 radio in Grand Bahama and even by ZNS. The Nassau Guardian and its wholly-owned sister Freeport News were noticeably absent.
Freeport Voters Least Registered - Freeport has the lowest percentage of eligible voters currently signed up on the new voters register. The statistics came from the head of Parliamentary Registration for Grand Bahama. What he didn't say, but is widely believed is that the numbers reflect the disenchantment with Government by FNMs in what is supposedly 'FNM Country'. "Why should we register?" asked one FNM "Many people who think like me are saying that they will stay home from the polls and see what happens. Whatever happens, happens... and the only thing is the power people here will be allowed buy whatever they want again." What a pity, but it doesn't have to be. Vote PLP.
Driftwood Fence Down Again - For the second time in a week, a confused motorist has plowed into the fence erected across the middle of the main road through Resorts at Bahamia, the former Princess Properties. Disgraceful as it was that the hotel's new owners were allowed to get away with closing a public road, the least they could do is to put proper signage to prevent certain disaster. The fence had been fixed from a similar accident only a few days before.
Driftwood Cutting Payroll - Maybe they can't afford the proper signage? The Driftwood people were at it again. This time, Director of Housekeeping Vernell Butler is said to have been sacrificed in the name of cost cutting. The well-trained and motivated Ms. Butler is said to have documented her position well and insiders report that this separation will cost the company. Concerns persist in the community that money problems at Driftwood are leading to quality problems in service and product. Nervousness about where the next cuts will come pervades the company from top to bottom. Reports are that the new owners are already looking for a buyer or partner.
Bahamas Games - Grand Bahama athletes in the basketball and track
disciplines are grumbling about the Government's reported decision to house
Family Island athletes in a Games Village during the Bahamas Games coming
up in Nassau this July. "If it is anything like last time, the internal
security was bad, the places were hot with tin roofs, the food never reached
and the bathrooms were just unsanitary. On the whole, some run-down broke
up Government High School is just not up to par for people's young children
to live in." Bimini, Abaco and Eleuthera sports officials have also
said they will refuse to stay in games village. Government wants to pinch
pennies and the sports officials are saying that they could do better given
the funds to be spent on a games village. Stay tuned.
NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
A WEEK OF POLITICAL FOMENT
Hubert
Ingraham has said that he is at the height of his political powers.
See our story last week. Yet increasingly the evidence is that he
is preparing himself for the fall. One remembers in this connection the
statement by Baby Doc Duvalier, the former Haitian dictator, who said as
he came under more and more political pressure that he was “as strong as
a monkey’s tail”. The next day he was seen in his BMW headed for
the airport in Haiti and exile in France. He continues to reside
there.
The statement by Mr. Ingraham is itself evidence of who Bradley Roberts has called a madman. But the other evidence is looking at the under girding of his party. Tennyson Wells, the dissident Member of Parliament for the FNM, was in Freeport on Thursday 10 May on Cool 96, the FM Radio station in Freeport. He said that Mr. Ingraham does not support the professionals of The Bahamas. He said that that is why he disagreed with the policy on the financial services sector of the Ingraham Government. It undercut the Bahamian professionals. This is nothing less than open warfare in the FNM.
And now it has become clear that Maurice Moore, one of the founders of the FNM, former Ambassador to the UN, former Minister and Member of Parliament, is openly campaigning with Mr. Wells in support of his leadership. Mr. Moore’s argument is that the founding fathers of the FNM must rescue their party before Mr. Ingraham destroys it.
The real disappointment in all of this, however, is C.A. Smith, Minister of Transport. There appears to be a split between Mr. Moore and Mr. Smith, who were once politically inseparable. Mr. Smith is fighting for dear life within Mr. Ingraham’s FNM. Mr. Ingraham sees him as one of the dinosaurs of the FNM who have to be removed and has sent him to the lions. Mr. Smith is right now being devoured by the air traffic controllers dispute. Please see the story below.
We got some sad news about a close friend of ours this week. He is in hospital in the United Kingdom. We wish him well.
This week we had 13,353 hits
on the site for the week ending Saturday 12 May at midnight. That
makes a total of 24,381 hits on this
site for the month of May. Thank you for reading and please keep
reading.
PERMANENT LINKS
11th Review of the Judiciary
Mitchell Address to Senate: Why the PM is the
way he is
Mitchell speech to PLP Convention
2000
Pindling & Me - A personal retrospective
on the life and times of Sir Lynden by Fred Mitchell
Address to the Senate Budget
Debate / Haitian Issue
Address to the Senate Clifton Cay Debate / Haitian
Issue
Address to PLP Leadership meeting in Exuma
/ Haitian Issue
Address of Sean McWeeney / Pindling
funeral
Gilbert Morris on OECD Blacklist
Fred Mitchell Antioch College speech
The funeral coverage
For a photo essay on the funeral of Archdeacon William Thompson. Click here.
|
|
| Professor Gilbert Morris on the country's blacklisting | Coverage of Sir Lynden's death & funeral |
e-mail timbuktu@batelnet.bs
| Site Links | |
| The PLP Position on Clifton | |
| www.johngfcarey.com | Thought provoking columns |
| http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/ | Canadian contacts Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
| http://members.tripod.com/~xtremesp/wolf.html | Bahamian Cycling News |
| http://www.bahamiansonline.com | Links to Bahamians on the web |
| http://www.bahamanet.com/JujuTree.cfm | Politics Forum |
| http://www.jameshepple.com/ | Tourism Statistics |
| www.briland.com | Harbour Island Site |
CRIME
IN THE NEWS
Every
week in the press of The Bahamas the Commissioner of Police (Acting) Paul
Farqhuarson has some new announcement or initiative. The latest is an announcement
of a new crime management strategy that is to include teams of detectives
specially assigned to the Family Islands. But Mr. Farqhuarson has
announced some long term, ambitious objectives. He said the following,
speaking to invited guests at the Diplomat Centre of Bahamas Faith Ministries
in New Providence. First he promised a return to the “good
old days when crime was not a major problem. In launching this new policy,
we are determined to improve the quality of life for both residents and
visitors, to reduce the volume of crime to a level where we can all feel
safe in our homes and on our streets, and to reduce the fear of crime year
by year… At the end of 2000, total reported crimes stood at 15,300.
We aim to reduce this total by 20 per cent – to about 12,500- by the end
of 2002, and then by a further 20 per cent – to around 10,000 reported
crimes - by the end of 2005.” The Commissioner also said that he
seeks to increase the detection rates for murder by five per cent – from
65 per cent- to 70 per cent- armed robbery by 12 per cent, housebreaking
by 20 per cent, as well as increased arrests for firearms offences by 15
per cent to around 3000 arrests, and major drug offences by 10 per cent
to around 2000 arrests. The Commissioner asked for the support of the public.
The question now is, will he get the resources and equipment to do the
job? The answer seems to be yes, if Mark Wilson, the Permanent Secretary
to the Ministry of National Security is to be believed. The Commissioner
is pictured holding hands with the heads of the Defence Force and the Customs
Service in this Guardian photo.
WHO
WILL BE COMMISSIONER NEXT MONTH?
The question is now being asked whether or not
Paul Farqhuarson who has been acting as Commissioner for the last 18 months
has much longer in the job. It is a simple, practical question in
this sense: the eighteen-month announced stint on study leave of the constitutionally
appointed Commissioner Bernard K. Bonamy has passed. He is about
to take his exams for his final year as a law student at the Eugene Dupuch
Law School in Nassau. Once he is finished, will he take his seat
as Commissioner? No one knows for sure but if he insists, he will
be entitled to take the seat back. Now the question is: if that happens
what will happen to Mr. Farqhuarson who will then be in an awkward position,
having managed a host of fundamental changes in the way the force does
business. Mr. Bonamy was presented by this Senator filling in for
Opposition Leader Perry Christie with a plaque at the Police Welfare Fund
Ball on Friday 27 April. Mr. Farqhuarson was also there but he and
Mr. Bonamy sat at different tables. The Government has not said what
its position is but at the time that study leave was granted to Mr. Bonamy,
the current thinking in the Government was that he would not return to
the seat, that Mr. Farqhuarson would in fact become the Commissioner.
Mr. Bonamy would retire or be transferred into another Government department.
If Mr. Bonamy intends to practice law, he will have to do pupilage.
That will require if he wants to stay in the public service a transfer
to the Attorney General’s Department. Will the Government then say,
if you want to do that you will have to step down from the seat as Commissioner?
Most observers think that Mr. Bonamy will not return to the Force.
An interesting state of affairs!
MORE
ON ZNS COMES OUT
Remember our story about the changes coming at ZNS? Arthur Foulkes,
Chairman of the Corporation said that we were saying was absolute rubbish.
We stood by the story last week and went further, saying that Darrold Miller,
former talk show host and news director for Love 97, was on his way to
becoming Managing Director. We blamed the country’s Chief Slave Prime
Minister Ingraham for the whole mess. The Tribune in a story written
by Tosheena Robinson on Thursday 10 May put the whole scenario again to
Mr. Foulkes. She went further and put the questions to the Prime Minister.
This time, Mr. Foulkes confirmed that the story was true. He said that
the details were still being worked out about Mr. Miller’s appointment.
We understand that those details include how ZNS is going to pay for the
staff they need and the equipment they need. The Corporation is,
in a word, broke. This requires under the FNM the same permission
from the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister that it did when Lynden
Pindling was Prime Minister, so nothing has changed. ZNS is run by the
Government. The News Room situation is further complicated by the
fact that five reporters have been given permission to study at the College
of the Bahamas for their Bachelor’s Degrees in Journalism. They are
still on the payroll. This is admirable but the workload has fallen
on those who are left. The Corporation is unwilling to pay the reporters
who have to fill in for those who are studying. They offer time off instead.
That is unacceptable to the reporters. Those who are studying are
unable to carry a full load. Now comes Mr. Ingraham’s disingenuous answers
about whether or not he hung Darrold Miller out to dry in this matter.
First the Prime Minister told The Tribune that he does not offer jobs (Tribune
Thursday 10 May). That is a lie. And it became apparent that
it was a lie once you read the last paragraphs of the story and he confirms
that he withdrew his objections to Darrold Miller being hired by ZNS. Further
everyone knows that he offered jobs to a number of persons who now work
at Bahamas Information Services. Gladstone Thurston, the former Guardian
and Tribune reporter, who has been doing freelance work for the FNM at
Mr. Ingraham's invitation, is now reportedly to join the Bahamas Information
Services at the invitation of Mr. Ingraham.
THE
PRIME MINISTER’S INVOLVEMENT IN ZNS
Here is what The Tribune got from the Prime Minister and published
on Thursday 10 May 2001: “Last night Prime Minister Ingraham, who no longer
has ZNS in his portfolio, said he does not offer jobs and he has nothing
to do with ZNS. Mr. Ingraham said he first heard of the Miller matter
when he was being interviewed by Mr. Jones [Wendall owner of Love 97].
After the interview Mr. Jones told the Prime Minister that ZNS was seeking
to take Darrold Miller from him. Mr. Jones, said the Prime Minister,
told him that it would be like cutting his legs from under him if he lost
Mr. Miller who he needed at his station. [The late news is that Wendall
Jones reportedly denies that he ever made any such statements to the Prime
Minister.] As a result of that conversation, said the Prime Minister, he
telephoned Mr. Foulkes and told him what Mr. Jones had said. He suggested
to Mr. Foulkes that there was no need to take Mr. Miller from Love 97,
where he was needed. Mr. Ingraham said that at the time that he spoke to
Mr. Foulkes, he was not aware that Mr. Miller had already been interviewed
by ZNS for possible employment. ZNS then went cool on the idea, said
Mr. Ingraham. Mr. Miller went to see the Prime Minister. ‘He said that
ZNS was no longer desirous of engaging him and he felt it had something
to do with what I said to Mr. Foulkes. He then told me that he was
quitting Mr. Jones,’ Mr. Ingraham said. Mr. Ingraham said he then
telephoned Mr. Foulkes and told him what Mr. Miller had said. The
Prime Minister then told Mr. Foulkes that in view of the fact that Mr.
Miller was resigning from Jones Communications, he withdrew his reservations
on the matter of employment. ‘I have heard nothing on the matter
since,’ the Prime Minister said.” Now that’s the PM’s story out of his
own mouth.
DARROLD
MILLER'S APPOINTMENT CONFIRMED
The newspapers confirmed on Saturday 12 May that Darrold Miller, former
Director of News at LOVE 97 has resigned from the company Jones Communication
and is now to head the ZNS News area as Deputy General Manager at the Corporation.
The salary is said to be $80,000 per annum. the press said that this was
also confirmed by the Broadcating Corporation. Wendall Jones handled the
resignation with propriety thanking Mr. Miller for his work in helping
to build the station. The Nassau Guardian reported that some news
reporters are unhappy about the appointment. We congratulate Mr.
Miller. For Mr. Miller this marks the height of his career in journalism,
having begun as a sports reporter at the Nassau Guardian. He was
hired by this Senator when I was Director of News and Public Affairs at
the Corporation in 1979. We wish him luck! This confirms our story
of two weeks ago.
CHIEF
INSPECTOR INGRAHAM & HIS SHINY CAR
The Exuma Regatta, aka the Family Island Regatta, always has stories
that live in infamy. Usually it is a story of who got caught out
with their sweetheart or who got so drunk they couldn’t remember.
But this story is one about the country’s chief executive. Those
who were there swear it is true. They say that one night as they
were preparing for a function, they heard a siren in the distance. A police
car came swooping through the crowd. Everyone was curious: what emergency
could it be? It turned out that it was no emergency at all.
It was the country’s Chief Slave Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham in the
driver's seat, piloting a marked police car, with the siren on and the
riot horn honking - his bodyguard in the front seat on the side of him
and his trusted friend in the Cabinet, Senator Ronald Knowles, the Minister
of Health sitting in the back. Hmmm! So that’s what all those new police
cars are for.
C.A.
SMITH ON AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS
There he was standing in the Grand Bahama Airport. He was the
last person to board the Freeport to Nassau flight on Tuesday 8 May.
He is a Minister of the government. He would have been flying on
a Bahamasair jet, wet leased from Icelandic Airlines. Wet leasing means
that the plane comes with the crew. The crew can barely speak understandable
English. It is the most odd feeling for a Bahamian. One is
offended and ashamed. It is like the whole country has gone backwards.
But that is not the main point here. This Senator confronted C.A.
Smith in the airport on the question of what exactly he thought he was
doing by seeking to dock the pay of the air traffic controllers who had
been prevented from returning to work by the Government. You
can click here for a copy of the response to the Government by this Senator
to letters written by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport
and Local Government. The Permanent Secretary has indicated that
he has coded [this means that the money cannot be collected from the bank]
the salary of eight of the officers. They were in the so-called B
group who were never given letters of administrative leave but were instead
turned away from the gate or escorted from the premises and stripped of
their identity passes for the airport. The Court has ruled that all
30 of the controllers ought to be returned not just those in the B group.
Now you have the fatuous situation where the Government blocks the return
of eight and then seeks to dock their pay because they are not back at
work. We expect to move the court to get an order to prevent that,
but think how unethical and administratively dishonest that move is.
And then there is a further point, why are innocent citizens of The Bahamas
being put through all these manoeuvres and expenses to defend themselves
from a Government’s deliberate unlawful behaviour? But this is the coup
de grace! This Senator told C.A. Smith that what we were talking about
is not just a question of law. He argued that we were in the Courts
and we should let the Judge decide whether his behaviour was lawful or
not. My rejoinder was that we elected him to office to bring his
particular moral conscience to the business of Government. Otherwise
what good was he? His response: “Oh well! You know if we were running
the Government on morality, you wouldn’t have work to do as a lawyer.”
What does one say to that?
THE
MAN FROM SAFE BAHAMAS
Marlon
Johnson has been hired as the first Executive Director for an organization
called Safe Bahamas. This is a private sector initiative headed by a man
we respect, James Campbell. The idea is to try a different and long
term approach to ending crime. It is not simply a matter of policing
but trying to reverse the social trends by long term strategies.
Mr. Johnson is the ideal man for the job. And we suspect that what
we see here [whether he knows it or not] is the launching of a career in
public service. He has it in his blood. He is the product of
a single parent home. His mom Yvonne Johnson was amongst the most
dedicated of public servants. She served as Clerk to the Senate up
to the time she died last year. She was totally devoted to his upbringing.
His father is Edmund Moxey, the former Member of Parliament. He himself
has just completed a stint with the Ministry of Finance and a tour overseas
in Washington D.C., with the World Bank. So he is well primed for
this job. Eventually we see him in Parliament and onto the Cabinet.
That’s how highly we think of him. But first he has to accomplish
the goals of Safe Bahamas. The Tribune carried this picture as he
spoke to the Primary Principals Association on Tuesday 8 May. Remember
the face and the name and mark the words written here. Well!
WORKERS
BANK TO BE SOLD
The
dream of Thomas Bastian, perhaps the longest running head of the Bahamas
Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union, was for the largest union in the
country to replicate what was done in Israel and in Germany. The
Unions would become economic power houses, owning banks and manufacturing
and service corporations. We think that Pat Bain still shares that
vision. We supported and support Pat Bain in his run against Mr.
Bastian last year. It was time for Mr. Bastian to go. He had
run his course. But that did not stop eyebrows from being raised
in the community with the picture of Mr. Bain and Bank of the Bahamas Managing
Director Paul McWeeney on Friday 12 May signing what was said to be a letter
of intent between the Worker’s Bank, owned by Mr. Bain’s Union, and the
Bank of The Bahamas for the latter bank to buy the Worker’s Bank.
The Workers Bank has been in a struggle for years. It has seen one Managing
Director after another. Lately Harold Longley, former Royal Bank
of Canada banker, has been advising the Worker’s Bank. Its
problem has been that the Bank was never free to make decisions on a purely
economic basis. Union members always got special treatment, even
though they may not have qualified for the loan. We don’t know the
inside story but Mr. Bain has thrown the towel in. We don’t know
the details. Perhaps this will send The Bahamas of The Bahamas stock
up. The last trading price at close on Friday was $5.65 per
share. As for the Bank of The Bahamas, many in the market think that it
can’t compete either and it’s only the 51 over cent stake of the Government
that keeps it going. The rest is publicly owned and traded.
This columnist thinks that eventually the Bank will be purchased by Commonwealth
Bank, which announced a major increase in profits last year over this year.
Its stock price is trading at $8.65. It would seem to be a natural
opportunity for Commonwealth Bank. Guardian photo.
CIBC
AND BARCLAYS BANK IN MERGER TALKS
The Bahama Journal of 1-13 May has reported that two major banks in
The Bahamas, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and Barclays
PLC are holding talks in Canada, Barbados and London with a
view to merging the banks’ business in the Caribbean. CIBC is said
to have had a healthy 35 per cent profit in The Bahamas last year. The
decision-making for CIBC already takes place in Barbados. Barclays
has done a similar consolidation of its management functions in the Caribbean.
Stay tuned!
THE
PRIME MINISTER REGISTERS TO VOTE
The Government has been at its wit’s end to get people to register
since the programme of registration began in November, last year. Well
guess who hasn’t registered until now? None other than the country’s
chief slave Hubert Alexander Ingraham. All this time, the Government
bemoaning the fact that they can’t get people to register. We have
the picture by Peter Ramsay to show that he finally did on Monday 7 May.
But at week’s end, Parliamentary Commission workers were still twiddling
their thumbs in the registration centres waiting for them to come.
MURDER
AND MAYHEM AGAIN
Macushla Darville and Samora St. Rose in The Tribune Tuesday 8 May
wrote that grief and hostility overwhelmed a local family on Monday 7 May.
The reason, their loved one was shot dead at the Laundromat Mainstreet
on Shirley Street. The picture by Omar Barr was graphic. A body lying
dead on the ground in Shirley Street. All we need now is for someone
to be shot dead in Bay Street in the public square. Death and destruction.
This is the 15th murder victim for the year. Not to be outdone, Denise
Maycock of The Tribune on the same day reported that on Saturday morning
5th May Chaunce Powers 51, American architect, as killed in a car crash
in Freeport. What is that number, 28 for the year in road traffic
deaths? So death and destruction continues. Please look at last week’s
columns for suggestions on what to do with the traffic problem.
RICK
FOX: A KEY LAKERS PLAYER
The Los Angeles Lakers are at it again. This time they are trying
to repeat as the Champions of the American National Basketball Association.
This may as well be the championship of Bahamian basketball. The
eyes and ears of this nation are glued to these endless playoffs in a system
that most of us who pay no attention do not understand. How for example
can a team that wins the top of its division not end up playing in the
finals? But anyway! Rick Fox is the product of a Bahamian father
(Ulric Fox of Holiday Ice) and a Canadian mother. He has both citizenships.
But The Bahamas is doubly interested in the Lakers because of Mr. Fox’s
presence. And from all accounts he has been doing a good job of stopping
their rivals the Sacramento Kings from advancing any further. The
Tribune of Friday 11 May had this picture of Mr. Fox.
U.S
CONFIRMS ITS CHANGE OF TUNE ON OECD
The French must be livid but Paul O’Neill, the new U.S. Secretary of
Treasury issued a statement that he does not agree with the approach of
the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on the
harmful tax practice initiative. According to a statement by
Mr. O’Neill published in the Wall Street Journal and in the Washington
Times on Thursday 10 May and Friday 11 May respectively: “The work of this
particular OECD initiative must be refocused on the core element that is
our common goal… In its current form, the project is too broad and it is
not in line with this administration's tax and economic policies.”
Mr. O'Neill said that the OECD initiative, if it was to be refocused had
to concentrate solely on obtaining a system of Tax Information Exchange
Agreements. One is being worked on between The Bahamas and the United States.
Ian Fair, the Bahamas Financial Services Board’s Chairman said that while
this is a positive development the issue won’t die right away. Of
course most people are saying that while it may not be related this is
probably comeuppance for the French who many believe conspired to get the
United States off the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations and
off the Drug Policy Council. Mr. O'Neill’s statement continued: “I am troubled
by the underlying premise that low tax rates are somehow suspect and by
the notion that any country or group of countries should interfere with
any other country’s decisions about how to structure its own tax system.
I am also concerned about the potentially unfair treatment of some non-OECD
countries… The U.S. does not support efforts to dictate to any country
what its own rates or tax system should be, and will not participate in
any initiative to harmonize world tax systems. The U.S. simply has
no interest in stifling the competition that forces governments like businesses
to create efficiencies.” Now most people think that Hubert Ingraham
ought to get our BOOBY PRIZE FOR JACKASS OF THE WEEK. If only he had waited,
our financial services sector would not have been gutted to the extent
that it is, with jobs being lost every day.
10
MAY MEMORIAL DAY FOR THE DEFENCE FORCE
This Senator was a student at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government
on 10 May 1980. He was speaking to George Smith, the then Minster
of Agriculture on the telephone, when he told me that the Cuban air force
had sunk the HMBS Flamingo, a Bahamian Defence force vessel. Later, it
was learned that four of our marines had lost their lives: Fenrick Sturrup,
Austin Smith, David Tucker and Edward Williams. The MIGs of Cuba
struck because the Defence Force was pursuing a Cuban fishing boat that
had been approaching in our waters off Ragged Island. Not only did
the MIGs sink the boat but they fired shots in the water as the men jumped
overboard. The four marines were never found. Today, Captain
Anthony Allens, who is now Director of the Port of Nassau, is still with
us and remembers the events vividly. The four marines have their
names inscribed on the cenotaph in the Garden of Remembrance behind
the Supreme Court in Nassau. This week, the Royal Bahamas Defence
Force remembered their fallen colleagues. And so do we. In going
down of the sun, we shall remember them. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE!
BISHOP
NEIL ELLIS IN COB HALL OF FAME
Bishop Neil Ellis of Mt. Tabor Baptist Church was inducted on Friday
11 May as the first inductee of the College of The Bahamas Alumni Association’s
Hall of Fame. The induction took place at a luncheon held at the
Radisson Cable Beach Hotel. The President of the Association is Broadcaster
Picewell Forbes. Congratulations to Bishop Ellis.
SMOKEY
The
song we most remember Smokey 007 for is “You Born There! You Born There!
” It is an anthem to Bahamians. He sang the song at a PLP rally in
Freeport during the 1982 campaign and we remember watching these young
women leaning abreast over the barricades in the barest of halter-tops
and as a friend would say, mammary glands were swaying to the rhythms.
His real name is Leroy McKenzie and he is a musical legend. He was at the
top of his game during the 1970s. Duncan Rapier who used to run the
old Britannia Hotel at Paradise Island (now the Coral Towers, Atlantis)
gave him a break and the rest was history. He performed in Freeport
at Joker’s Wild, the House of Lords and the Sandpiper Lounge. Tribune
reports in a 9 May story by Steven Taylor that Mr. McKenzie is living at
an old folk’s home called Unity House. He gave us a picture of what
he looks like. The music and the glamour have faded, but it was good
of the paper to remind us of a time when.
SHELL
BAHAMAS HAS A NEW COUNTRY MANAGER
Well it did not go to a Bahamian. There’s a big surprise! But
Shell has now brought in a new Manager for The Bahamas.
Andrew Kerr has left, presumably on to bigger and better things.
Mr. Kerr brought some fundamental changes to the way
Shell does business and even though on the face of it a quiet man,
he brought with him a certain amount of controversy. Sorry
we couldn’t make the reception to say farewell and welcome to the new
man. The manager is Reidar Karlsrud. Mr. Karlsrud
is apparently from Norway and has worked in the Caribbean before.
We shall be watching.
FRANKLYN
WILSON’S APPOINTMENT
It has been announced that Franklyn Wilson, the former Senator and
Member of Parliament, now Chairman of Arawak Homes Ltd., has been named
to the Board of directors of Junior Achievement International. He was elected
to the Board in April at its meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr.
Wilson is also a trustee of Elmira College in new York. He founded
Junior Achievement in 1979 in The Bahamas and served as its Chair here
for 10 years. Congratulations to Mr. Wilson.
HURRAH
FOR SADIE CURTIS!
According to the Prime Minister, six million dollars has been spent
on a state-of-the-art primary school to serve the Southern District of
the Island including Pinewood Gardens, Nassau Village, Kennedy, Sir Lynden
Pindling Estates and South Beach. It is called Sadie Curtis Primary.
Mrs. Curtis was present at the official opening on Friday 11 May.
The school can serve 500 students. It has a computer lab and is said
to be protected against burglaries. Mrs. Curtis used to teach this Senator
as a young boy in what was known as Sands School or the old Eastern Preparatory
School I. That must have been in 1959 or 1960. She is 76 years
old. We say congratulations to her.Tribune photo.
NEWS
FROM GRAND BAHAMA
There's A Stranger In My House... Would be FNM Leader Tennyson
Wells was in Grand Bahama this week being escorted around town by the party's
first-born, former lone FNM Grand Bahama MP, former Minister and former
Ambassador Maurice Moore. At breakfast in Kristi's Friday morning, their
lament seemed to paraphrase the popular song: There's a stranger in my
house, we gave him the guest room for two terms, but that was all; now
he's taken over the master bedroom and all the master's duties; we don't
know him anymore and we wish that he would go. Mr. Wells was in town for
a radio show and a series of meetings with his loyalists here. Upon his
arrival at Kristi's (the Freeport eatery frequented by politicos) several
known Ingraham supporters beat a hasty retreat without explanation, one
even leaving his breakfast unfinished. Another, courteous to a fault, said
"I can't let the chief to hear that I was even here!". The Ingraham forces,
however, took the precaution of leaving one of the faithful to carry the
news.
Ain't Voting for Hubert's Handpicked Woman Candidate - This was the overwhelming response to last week's story on feelers being put out to strip FNM Lucaya MP Neko Grant of his renomination for the seat in favour of one of two Grand Bahama women politicians known to be favourites of the Prime Minister. Veteran Grand Bahama FNM general Earl Godet told News From Grand Bahama that he "ain't voting for anybody but Neko in Lucaya and definitely not for any woman that Hubert picks.... " The Prime Minister is reported to have promised one of the women Mr. Grant's seat and promised the other that he would look out for her after failing to protect her job. "Hubert has his own agenda and it ain't gonna work," grumbled one FNM organizer. Trouble, trouble trouble in the FNM camp.
We Told You So - Grand Bahama attorney Maurice Glinton and Professor Gilbert Morris, Grand Bahamian intellectual now in Washington DC along with a host of others can now safely say "I told you so" about the Government's handling of the blacklisting crisis in the Financial Service sector of the country's economy. OECD deadlines loom ahead in December and keen observers say that by then it won't matter much whether we stay on the blacklist or not because the sector would already have been decimated anyway. Prime Minister Ingraham embarked on a campaign of grovelling appeasement in response to aggression from the OECD states, only to find out that the powerful Americans have now come out against the 'harmful tax haven' regime. What a pity for the country and what a disgrace for the Government.
Dravo Fill for Holmes' Rock Park? - It was the talk of the Holmes' Rock community this week, as David Wallace the FNM MP for the area crowed in the press about the redevelopment of a public park. Reports have it that the quarry fill for the park came from Dravo Bahamas, the same company just down the road that proposed to build a conveyor belt for its aggregate over the main road into the community. This is the same conveyor belt project that MP Wallace said he would do "all in his power" to make sure it doesn't happen, a statement from which he later backed away. According to one constituent "It is a shame, but David can't do anything against these people".
Port Authority Experts on TV - Barry Malcolm, the Grand Bahama Port Authority's high level PR man was on television this week with one of the company's engineers in an effort to 'sell' the conveyor belt project. The hour-long show attempted to make the case that a conveyor belt bearing heavy aggregate rock over the main road into people's homes is really the best thing that could happen for them.
Who Is Censoring The Mail? - People are beginning to notice that only stories favourable to the Grand Bahama Port Authority and its projects are making the newspaper in Freeport. Several complaints reaching News From Grand Bahama insist that the mail is being censored as no letters expressing concern are making it into print. We will investigate and inform our readers.
Donald Archer Promoted - Long-time Grand Bahama hotelier Donald
Archer has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Resorts at Bahamia.
Company president David Buddemeyer said that the appointment was in keeping
with his integration theme of consolidating the organisation for greater
operational effectiveness. Congrats to Mr. Archer.
Is This What FTAA Offers? - Outspoken Grand Bahama Human Rights
activist Mary Nabb charged discrimination against Bahamians this week by
Resorts at Bahamia. Ms. Nabb, a long time teacher, encouraged two former
students to dress appropriately and apply for labourers positions in the
ongoing renovation project at the Resorts. At first, the young men were
denied entry by security personnel. The young men were then both told that
nothing was available, all the while, Korean labourers could be seen going
about their business. Newly appointed senior vice president Donald Archer
would say only that Resorts at Bahamia was in possession of all the relevant
immigration approvals. Commentators observed that FTAA is all about cheap
labour and the free movement of people. Ms. Nabb charged "clear discrimination
against Bahamians in our own country".
NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
INGRAHAM'S MISTAKE
This
column is being written from Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States
of America. This is the site of the twice per year meeting of the
Alumni Executive Council (AEC) of the John F. Kennedy School of Government,
Harvard University. Last year at this time, I was elected the Chair of
that Council. On Thursday 17 May, I was again elected to serve for
a second one-year term. This starts my last year on the AEC.
It is an enormous privilege and honour to serve.
Just before leaving Nassau, I got a telephone call from an FNM Parliamentarian. He warned me as a PLP that the Chief Slave in the country, Hubert Ingraham had told his colleagues that he was coming to the House of Assembly on Wednesday 16 May with both guns blazing. He was going to finish off his critics once and for all on the question of the Inheritance Bill that he intends to become law before the Parliament recesses for the summer.
Mr. Ingraham is making a fundamental mistake. He is trying to force through change in a society that is not really interested in change on that subject. Few societies are, but there is a way to bring about change. That way is to use persuasion as opposed to coercion. Certainly he has the votes to pass it. But he will find himself at the bitter end of the public's ire when he faces the elections if he proceeds like a bull in a china shop on this legislation. Indeed, when the Parliament met on Wednesday, as promised, he predicted that the Bill will pass come what may. We shall see.
The Opposition plans to join the debate once the Bill reaches the Committee stage. It will then be clear what the Government intends to debate. The PLP refuses to participate in an exercise of talking shop. The government itself is not sure what the final form will take.
But the FNM informant said that he had never thought that Mr. Ingraham could become so hated in such a short space of time. First the labour bills were a disaster with the FNM and the public, and then the financial services bills were a disaster with the FNM and the public. Now he has almost every church leader up in arms over the Inheritance Bill. We think its not so much because of what it says, but because Mr. Ingraham is going about it the wrong way. He does not understand the fundamental lesson for political leaders: you are there to protect the public, not challenge them and cause them discomfort.
This week we had 19,145 hits
on this site up to midnight 19 May. For the month of May up to midnight
19 May, that means a total of 43,528
hits on the site. Thanks for reading and please keep reading.
PERMANENT LINKS
11th Review of the Judiciary
Mitchell Address to Senate: Why the PM is the
way he is
Mitchell speech to PLP Convention
2000
Pindling & Me - A personal retrospective
on the life and times of Sir Lynden by Fred Mitchell
Address to the Senate Budget
Debate / Haitian Issue
Address to the Senate Clifton Cay Debate / Haitian
Issue
Address to PLP Leadership meeting in Exuma
/ Haitian Issue
Address of Sean McWeeney / Pindling
funeral
Gilbert Morris on OECD Blacklist
Fred Mitchell Antioch College speech
The funeral coverage
For a photo essay on the funeral of Archdeacon William Thompson. Click here.
|
|
| Professor Gilbert Morris on the country's blacklisting | Coverage of Sir Lynden's death & funeral |
e-mail timbuktu@batelnet.bs
| Site Links | |
| The PLP Position on Clifton | |
| www.johngfcarey.com | Thought provoking columns |
| http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/ | Canadian contacts Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
| http://members.tripod.com/~xtremesp/wolf.html | Bahamian Cycling News |
| http://www.bahamiansonline.com | Links to Bahamians on the web |
| http://www.bahamanet.com/JujuTree.cfm | Politics Forum |
| http://www.jameshepple.com/ | Tourism Statistics |
| www.briland.com | Harbour Island Site |
INGRAHAM
THE ORCHESTRATOR
Late breaking story filed at 1700 20/5/01
Nassau - Details are now emerging that show clearly that Hubert Ingraham's
hand is orchestrating the latest series of events that ended with the call
for his leadership to continue for a third term. What we can reveal is
that Mr. Ingraham is relying on Sylvia Scriven, whom he just promoted to
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health, to run a secret committee
calling for a third term for Mr. Ingraham. Frank Watson the Deputy Prime
Minister was reportedly stunned when Mrs. Scriven ordered him to convene
a meeting of Members of Parliament, saying that the Chief wanted it to
happen that day. It was important for it to be done that day so that when
Mr. Ingraham spoke at the FNM's banquet on Friday 18 May, the day after,
the stage would have been set for him to issue the warning to the party.
He told the party faithful at the banquet that there is a difference between
division and dissent. Our sources tell us that on the chopping block are
Frank Watson, Deputy Prime Minister; (he doesn't know it yet), C.A.Smith,
who is to become an ambassador; (he doesn't know it yet) and there is an
active debate over David Thompson, the member for Marco City, recently
demoted. Mr. Ingraham is reportedly concerned that lawsuits against Mr.
Thompson arising out of his conduct as an attorney with Callenders &
Co. might sink him if he is no longer in power. As Shakespeare would say,
'treachery, thou art afoot'.
INGRAHAM
THIRD TERM OKAYED
It was only a matter of time before the chief slave and master trickster
Hubert Ingraham would wangle his way into getting his Parliamentary group
to affirm his bid for a third term. We have been following the campaign
and when Algernon Allen, the Minister of Social Development aka Minister
of Idle Poetry, told us that the third term was a fait accompli, we knew
that was it. But the only people who didn't seem to get the point
were the dissidents. Our position was long time ago that they should
cross the floor and join Perry Christie and the PLP. They will now
see how they are marginalized in this fight. Mr. Ingraham called
together a meeting of the parliamentary group on Thursday 17 May and it
was put to a vote. Of the 34 people there at FNM headquarters,
the vote was: 28 for the third term, 4 against and 2 abstentions.
The four who voted against were Floyd Watkins (FNM Delaporte); Tennyson
Wells (FNM Bamboo Town); Lester Turnquest (FNM Malcolm Creek); and Pierre
Dupuch (FNM Shirlea). One of the two abstentions was Anthony Miller, MP
for South Eleuthera, who allowed that while his people in South Eleuthera
do not support a third term, he would consult them again before voting,
so he abstained. The other abstention was Ronald Bosfield of South
Andros, who complained that you can't call him to a meeting without any
notice and then say that the same day you want a decision, so he abstained.
Neko Grant, MP for Lucaya and Elliott Lockhart, MP for Exuma said that
while they privately oppose a third term, if that is what the majority
wants, they'll go along with it. Mr. Wells was truculent to the end. He
denounced the vote saying that he would oppose it at the Council level,
the executive level and in the streets if necessary. Well, we'll
see; but we say: join the PLP. Perry Christie, Leader of the PLP, believes
that Mr. Ingraham will turn down the invitation to serve for a third term.
He told the Nassau Guardian that the FNM shows how desperate it is to find
leadership in the party. For this part of this senator, we always knew
that Ingraham was a deceiver and a louse. Now, this carefully orchestrated
plan shows what a deceiver he is. He must be ridiculed for going back on
a clear and unequivocal promise that they put in his manifesto in 1992.
It is clear that the Prime Minister's word means absolutely nothing. He
does not mean what he says and he does not say what he means. He is a liar.
THE
INHERITANCE BILLS
There is nothing more pressing in Bahamian society
right now than the proposed Inheritance Bill. The Government plans
to ram the Bill down the throats of the Bahamian people, in the absence
of the official Opposition from the House of Assembly. Everywhere
you go in The Bahamas people talk of nothing else. Everyone agrees
that change must come. What they are not sure about, is what exactly
ought to change. They agree that the rule in a case of intestacy
that the first son inherits all the land to the exclusion of all the other
children and the widow is wrong. After that there is not much else
on which people agree. There is widespread opposition to the provision
that will allow those who have been living together for seven years or
more to be able upon intestacy to claim a share in the other's estate.
There is also opposition to children born out of wedlock being able to
petition the court to overreach the dispositions in the will of a father
who does not leave provisions for them. Then the debate disintegrates
into tirades on immorality. Mr. Ingraham simply bit off more than
he can chew on this one. He feels that he has the majority and so
what? On he goes. We like it. Let him continue to anger the
public. We'll see whether it actually serves his purposes or does
not get him the boot when election time comes.
MYLES
MUNROE ON THE INHERITANCE BILL
The Church has figured greatly in this debate. In this connection,
the charismatic head of Bahamas Faith Ministries the Rev. Dr. Myles Munroe
had a lot to say about the bill when he appeared on the Jones Communications,
Love 97 programme 'Issues of the Day'. First, Rev. Munroe sought
to set the record straight with regard to the consultation process in which
the Prime Minister said he had engaged with church leaders. You will
remember a story in this column some weeks ago when we criticized the preachers
for showing up like supplicants to the Prime Minister. Mr. Ingraham
later published the entirety of their remarks in the newspaper and rebroadcast
them on the air. This, Mr. Ingraham said, was consultation
and he said that the church leaders agreed with him on the bill.
Niki Kelly in her column of Tuesday 15 May in The Tribune quoted Rev. Munroe
as follows: "The meeting [of religious leaders] with the Prime Minister
was not for discussion. We sat there. He gave us information,
gave us a chance to ask a couple of questions, then closed the meeting."
According to Ms. Kelly, Rev. Munroe didn't want the Prime Minister and
his Cabinet "to use that meeting to somehow indicate or even try to imply
that we agreed with the Bill because we met. Nobody in that room agreed
with anything." Ms. Kelly continued that what Pastor Munroe wanted
was for the Government to call a meeting of a cross-section of people in
a closed room discussion, where questions could be put by both sides,
and the Government listen to what people had to say. Rev. Munroe
said that he did not think that had happened. Nuff said.
NIKI
KELLY PRAISES REV. MUNROE
Let me put my position on the Inheritance Bill. The Bahamas is
in my view a secular state. It is not a theocracy. As such,
the civil law of The Bahamas must reflect the social situations that exist
today. This means that the Inheritance Law ought to change; the law
on divorce ought to change; the law on sexual conduct ought to change,
particularly as it relates to coitus between persons under the age of 16
and relations between those under the age of 16 and those 16 and above
but below the age of 21. But these issues also have a moral
dimension to them. Therefore, any politician ought to tread carefully
when dealing with change in these areas. They court disaster if not
managed advisedly. That seems to be the position of Rev. Myles Munroe.
Niki Kelly praised him in her column of Tuesday 15 May for having in her
words "a gift for interpreting Biblical scripture in practical terms
that are relevant to modern society." According to Ms. Kelly, Rev.
Munroe said that he opposed the provision of a single man or a single woman
cohabiting with one another and being able to claim the estate of the other
without a marital commitment. He urged the Government to move cautiously
on trying to deal with the issue of illegitimate children. Some 70 per
cent of the births in the country are to those who are unmarried.
Interestingly enough the PLP held a rally in the Fox Hill constituency
on Monday 14 May. Speaking at the rally was Agatha Marcel, the PLP's
candidate for the South Beach constituency. She said that even though
she had a child out of wedlock, she stood for certain principles.
She believed in the sanctity of marriage and so she too opposed that provision
in the Bill. This columnist takes a more neutral approach.
The practical situation is what do you do where such so-called "common
law" marriages exist. Should there not be some protection for individuals
who find themselves in this position? That must be a concern for
the civil law. The morality is quite a different matter. And
on that I have no desire to pronounce. We leave that to Rev. Munroe
and those qualified to do so.
CHURCH
ATTACKED BY INGRAHAM
There is now no love lost between the church and the Chief Slave in
the country, Hubert Ingraham. Mr. Ingraham viciously attacked the church
on the inheritance bill. He said that the church should stop attacking
him on the business of shacking up when they themselves could not stop
people from shacking up. That is a body slam. Now the next
move is that of the church. The remarks were reported on ZNS on Friday
18 May.
AIR
TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS DISPUTE
Transport Minister C.A. Smith has announced that a Canadian expert
is studying the tapes of the air traffic controllers over the days in March
that caused the air traffic controllers to be put on administrative leave.
He says that the Canadian will tell him who did what and what happened.
Actions will then be taken against the controllers after that. Well,
who's to say the Canadian does not doctor the tape? Who's to say
that the custody and control of the tape has been kept safe and sound and
that the Government has not tampered with the tape? ZNS reported
this on Friday 18 May.
MISS
BAHAMAS WINS MISS CONGENIALITY
The
Miss Universe contest usually draws much attention from ladies of quality
and high fashion in The Bahamas. Just like the Miss Bahamas contest
itself, those who like to dress and are fashion conscious watch these things
with an eagle eye. This senator found himself at one such gathering
to celebrate the 79th birthday of Marjorie McKinney, the mother of Janet
Davis (nee McKinney and wife of businessman Derek Davis); Andrew McKinney
of the Protocol section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Anthony
McKinney of Paradise Fisheries. A comedienne named Hope Curry was the MC
for the evening and kept informing us about the latest goings on of the
Miss Universe contest held in Puerto Rico last Friday 11 May. Usually,
this senator pays no attention to the thing because the Bahamian woman
never wins. It's all, political any way, and in order for us to win,
we have to hire someone with the expertise and clout to know how to win
and coach the woman accordingly. The closest that we came to a win
was the beautiful Ava Burke, now Thompson, who won the contest's Miss Photogenic
Award one year. The country was ecstatic. So imagine our surprise
when according to Hope, our woman won MISS CONGENIASTITY, translation
Miss Congeniality. The country is ecstatic. On Wednesday 16
May at Breezes, Hotel manager Jackson Weech and Minister of Tourism Tommy
Turnquest presented prizes to Nakera Simms, Miss Bahamas and Miss Congeniality.
We think that beauty contests are a bit of a cattle show and are really
demeaning to women. But they are popular beyond measure. And
one thing is that it has helped with the social and financial mobility
of many many women and their families. So if it ain't broke, don't
fix it. Congratulations to Miss Bahamas. The photo by The Tribune
shows Miss Bahamas as she learns that she is Miss Congeniality.
BARCLAYS
& CIBC SAY IT AIN'T SO
A story by Samantha Joseph writing in the business section of the Tribune
Friday 18 May says that both Barclays Bank and CIBC in The Bahamas have
dismissed as speculation widespread rumours that the two banks will either
enter a full merger or combine resources to offer specialist offshore banking
services. We reported about that possibility on this site. The Tribune
story says that both companies limited their comments with Barclays, in
particular, failing to totally deny the speculation. We shall see.
THE
HEATHEN VISITS THE CHURCH
The Bible, we believe, says that even the devil can quote scripture.
And no doubt in the run up to this election season, you will see plenty
of heathen and devils appearing in church to quote scripture. Chief
amongst them is the Chief Slave in the country, Hubert Ingraham.
Don't be surprised is he doesn't start calling himself the Rev. Dr. Hubert
Ingraham. Anyway, Mr. Ingraham appeared at the convention of the
Assemblies of God , their 54th national convention. He challenged
the church leaders to play a full role in nation building. This brings
to mind my favourite Ingraham story about church. First of all, he
only became a member of a church when he was about to become Prime Minister.
He officially joined Zion Baptist Church. Has he been back since
he did that in 1992 except for official functions? We bet not.
But shortly after he became Prime Minister, he and I attended the 1993
convention of the Church of God of Prophecy in its East Street tabernacle.
Sir Lynden Pindling, the founding Prime Minister of the country and then
Leader of the Opposition, was still alive and was also there. Now
prior to that year, the Church of God would have all the political leaders
sitting up on the high platform. But in Mr. Ingraham's first year
as PM that changed and he had to sit in the congregation. Then he
was called to read a passage from the Bible. Not to give an address,
as was usually the case when Sir Lynden was PM. The passage was so
long that Mr. Ingraham claimed to be choking from a dry throat by the time
he came down. Then Sir Lynden was called to read his passage. The
congregation broke out in wild applause as he walked up. Mr. Ingraham
turned around to me and said: "Mitchell! Never a- (expletive deleted)-gain."
By which he meant that he would never come back into the Church of God
because he felt he had been insulted. And never did he, except that
he had to break that promise in the year 2000 when Sir Lynden's funeral
was held there so he had to come. And then last year he actually
spoke from the platform at the Convention. Only goes to show, you
should never say never.
PUBLIC
MEETING IN FOX HILL
The Eastern Region Branches of the Progressive Liberal Party held a
public rally on Freedom Park in the Fox Hill constituency on Monday 14
May. The star speaker was Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie.
Mr. Christie delivered a scathing attack on Bahamasair. Mr. Christie
revealed that Bahamasair is paying Icelandic Airlines some $550,000 per
month to wet-lease an aircraft for use on the Miami to Nassau run.
The contract expires at the end of the month. He also attacked Brent
Symonette for trying play the race card. Mr. Symonette accused
the PLP of being racist because he was attacked for his strange deal to
lease out the running of the Nassau International Airport parking lot to
a foreign company. Bahama Journal photo.
MITCHELL
REMARKS IN FOX HILL
For the second time in as many weeks this Senator as Candidate for
the Fox Hill constituency spoke at a PLP rally in the constituency.
This time the issue of the Police Commissioner and his return to the job
was addressed. There was also a response to Archie Nairn, the Permanent
Secretary at the Ministry of Transport who has crossed the line and is
getting himself involved in political matters. For
the full text of the remarks click here.
POLICEMAN
FOUND DEAD
The count of murder victims in this country of 304,000 people has gone
up again. This past week two persons were found dead, both shot to
death. They are the 16th and 17th victims for the year in The
Bahamas. One was killed in Freeport. The other was police officer
Sgt. Kevin Williams of Bernard Road, New Providence. Was it not Janet Bostwick,
Old Mother Hubbard as one Tribune corespondent put it, who said that if
we got rid of the PLP we get rid of crime?
NIGEL
BOWE CLOSER TO HOME?
The Nassau Guardian reported on Tuesday 15 May that F. Nigel Bowe,
the Bahamian whose sentence has been exhausted and is being held in detention
awaiting deportation, is about to come home at last. He was released
from federal prison in the U.S. on 6 April. The Guardian spoke to
Missouri Sherman-Peter, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs who said that they had given leave to the Bahamian consulate in
New York to facilitate his return to The Bahamas by the issuance of appropriate
documents to him. The Guardian said that this was confirmed by the
Immigration and Naturalization service in the United States. It's
strange that once you are a free man, you can't actually be free for over
a month. This is a natural disgrace.
YOUNG
TURKS BEATING THE FINANCIAL BUSH
Senator Darron Cash (FNM) continues to be an apologist for the Bahamas
Government and the FNM of which he is a part. He and a number of
others announced that they were sponsoring a financial conference to reassure
U.S. investors that The Bahamas was still a safe place to park their money,
even after Hubert Ingraham passed the bad pieces of financial legislation.
Senator Cash told his audience, reported in The Tribune Tuesday 14 May
that while the Government had indeed passed some legislation that caused
some concern in the market, he had the impression that this legislation
was being revisited and that suitable amendments would be made. One
of the others involved in this conference, Owen Bethel of Montagu Securities,
told the group that he had the impression that once the Financial Action
Task Force (FATF) finished its work and okayed The Bahamas, then it would
be time to look at changes. The Central Bank Governor Julian Francis
went one better than those apologies and said that The Bahamas had better
learn that things have changed. He said nothing about reversing
the situation. His remarks were made at the official opening of Banker's
Week at the Nassau Marriott on Monday 14 May. Of course, the Governor of
the Central Bank not being in private business has no idea what all of
this foolishness is going to cost private industry. The insurance
company Family Guardian announced that the changes in the law are a major
set back for their business. They told The Tribune that they are losing
business because of it and that their agents are complaining bitterly about
it. Cecile Greene of Family Guardian said that the know your customer rules
have been onerous and in 95 per cent of the cases of fresh applications
for insurance, the applications could not be accepted because the customer
had to be found again to complete more paper work. All we say is
when these people go to the polls, they should remember who caused them
to lose income: Hubert Ingraham and the FNM. The report appeared on Tuesday
14 May.
SUN
INTERNATIONAL BREAKS MORE GROUND
The latest at Paradise Island is that the hapless Minister of Finance
William Allen has broken ground with Sol Kerzner at Atlantis for its new
100 million-dollar condominium development. The news is that demand
for condos is growing at light speed. The minimum and pre-construction
price for the condos is half a million dollars. Needless to say William
Allen and the FNM think that this bodes well for the economy and they see
it as a sign of confidence in the FNM. But of course Sol Kerzner
does not vote in The Bahamas and what we need to know is not what is out
of the pipeline but what is in the pipeline. Tribune photo.
MORE
NEWS ON ZHIVARGO LAING
Niki
Kelly, the journalist, in her column on Tuesday 15 May had some interesting
words to say about Zhivargo Laing. She said that The Bahamas has
its own version of foot and mouth disease in the form of Zhivargo Laing,
whom we call the Minister for Uneconomic Development, when he denied allegations
that the proposed Free Trade of the Americas (FTAA) called for the free
movement of labour. Mr. Laing said the following: "The FTAA agreement
says: 'free movement of goods and services'. If it wanted to say
'labour' it would have said so." Wrote Ms. Kelly: "In case the Minister
isn't aware, services are performed by people. This means that you
cannot freely move the service without moving labour to perform it." Well
you know, out of respect for his mother, we say not more. However, this
week the press reported Dr. Peter Maynard, President of the Bahamas Bar
Association, described Minister Laing as "out of his depth" when it came
to the FTAA.
TIGER'S
STORY OF SUCCESS
The
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Burns House, the liquor conglomerate
in The Bahamas, has been named Businessman of the year for 2001.
The reason: because of his recent purchase of Butler and Sands
his liquor competitor. This gives him a virtual monopoly in the liquor
business. Mr. Finlayson was absent for the presentation by the Chief
Slave and Uncle Tom in the country Hubert Ingraham, who does not believe
in Bahamian businessmen of a certain hue. Was it a deliberate decision
then for 'Tiger', as Garret Finlayson is known, to be out of town on business
when he was expected to receive the award from the Prime Minister?
Imagine the Prime Minister, who just condoned a decision by the Licencing
Authority, subsequently reversed by the Court, to stop Tiger from expanding
his business, standing up in his monkey suit at the black tie dinner, waxing
on about how great Tiger is and how he used to be Tiger's lawyer.
This man Ingraham could kill. How can he stand up, praising the fellow
knowing that he just tried to wreck Tiger not even three months ago? Bismark
Coakley, the President of the Chamber of Commerce and one of Mr. Finlayson's
close friends, was a happy camper as he presented the plaque to Mr. Finlayson's
son Mark who works with his father in the business. The Prime Minister
was there so you guessed it, the Nassau Guardian had it on the front page
and we show it to you from their edition of Monday 14 May.
AMOS
FERGUSON, THE ARTIST
The
Tribune Monday 14 May carried a giant picture of Vincent D'Aguilar with
Amos Ferguson, the Bahamian intuitive artist, whose paintings with house
paint fetch thousands of dollars around the world. Sandra de Friesching
who does a column called 'Close Encounters' spoke to Amos Ferguson who
is now 81 years old. He still continues to paint. His muse
Bea, the devoted wife, has now passed on to glory. Mr. Ferguson,
of course, comes from a generation that has a view about Black Bahamians
that it is negative, but quaint. It was interesting to see it in
print and he said what many young Bahamians still think today: "Bahamas
[Bahamians] get me mad sometimes. Spend all day looking at the painting
make me tired. They's take the painting and not pay. So many people
have let me down, you know. I don't think my art is expensive...
everything has gone up in life and I's don't deal or bargain. I am
known all over the world, but the Bahamian people don't buy my work.
I was told in dreams that white folk would bring me luck, but my colour
would bring me hard luck. Only few Bahamians have brought my work
over the years… they speak well of me, but they don't support me."
Things that make you go: hmmm!
TALENTED
TEEN FOUNDER DIES
Cindy Thompson, founder of the Miss Talented Teen Bahamas contest has
died of breast cancer. She had been ill for about a year. She was buried
after services at St. Francis Xavier's Roman Catholic Cathedral on Friday
18 May. Ms. Thompson leaves two children, one ten and one six. She was
to have been the maid of honour for Richa Sands who is to be married to
the traditional King of Togo later this year. May she rest in peace.
MARITIME
AUTHORITY SCHOLARSHIP
The Bahamas Maritime Authority ran an ad in The Tribune Tuesday 14
May. They are looking to award a scholarship to a young Bahamian
seeking to engage in the maritime field. It is for a full four-year
programme that will lead to a Bachelors Degree in the maritime discipline,
tenable at the California Maritime Academy commencing August 2001.
The scholarship, sponsored by the Bahamas Ship Owners' Association, will
provide the successful applicant with tuition, course material, accommodations
and airfare. The applicant must possess a minimum of five BGCSE passes
of grade C or better, including English Language and Mathematics.
They must have an aggregate of 1000 on the SAT exam. The person is
expected to return to The Bahamas and attain the highest professional qualification.
Contact the Ministry of Education, Nassau for further details. Proof
of citizenship is required, originals of academic certificates. Application
closing deadline: 25 May 2001.
NEWS
FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Quote of the Week - "Negroes don't give up power. The only exception
I can remember was Nelson Mandela, and Hubert ain't no Nelson Mandela."
FNM
Stalwart who warned us last week that the Prime Minister intended to break
his word on a third term.
Freedom Fighters? - Our friends John Bain, Kelly Burrows and Max Quant were named FNM 'Freedom Fighters' at a party 'Heroes' banquet this past Friday 18 May in Nassau. It was at this same banquet that the Prime Minister spoke of the difference between dissent and disloyalty. The talk by Mr. Ingraham was widely perceived as a thinly veiled threat, translation for the dissidents: stop fooling around or face being completely purged. As for the 'Freedom Fighters', Max Quant and John Bain are said to have been significant financial contributors to the party, but some in the Grand Bahama political community say that Kelly Burrows' award was a shocker because, according to one of his political friends "Kelly is a pacifist about everything except Kelly". The 'Freedom Fighter' accolade is said to be payment for delivery as a mover and shaker on the Sylvia Scriven committee to ask the Prime Minister to remain in office as party leader. Hmmm! News From Grand Bahama was told that former FNM Vice-Chairman 'Iron' Mike Edwards was also offered the honour but did not respond. Hmmm, hmmm!
Battling Vietnamese At Resorts at Bahamia - Last week, we reported that the Driftwood group's Resorts at Bahamia had brought in a group of Koreans over Bahamians as cheap labour for the hotel's renovation. We we wrong, the cheap labour is Vietnamese and this week they staged vicious pitched battles with each other on hotel property. The genesis of the disagreement was unclear, but when the dust cleared half of the group of about twenty had been put on a plane for home, expelled by their employers. One of the departing Vietnamese muttered something in his native tongue which was translated for News From Grand Bahama as "I'm not a dog. Don't treat me like a dog."?
Watson Questions Remain - Incensed by the fact that Deputy Prime Minister Frank Watson is being quoted in the newspapers about who is best to lead the country, one FNM naysayer insisted to News From Grand Bahama that Mr. Watson should first tell all about Bahamasair's mission $135,000. "He is leading this whole cooked up thing to help Hubert to break his word to the Bahamian people. We should tell this Minister of Insecurity is the last one to talk about who is best for what. We still don't know what happened in all those breakouts from the prison. His judgement was bad then, his judgement was bad at Bahamasair and it's bad on who should be the leader of the party." He says it all.
Who Died? - On regular observer at the Grand Bahama FNM's Sunday morning breakfast 20 May at Geneva's restaurant said it was as if someone had died. This one refused to sit with that one, no one laughed and everyone watched their words carefully. C.A. Smith, Minister and FNM Pineridge MP was asked whether he checked with his constituents before voting to give the Prime Minister free reign to break his word on a third term. "The good thing about democracy," C.A. is reported to have said, "is that they could come and tell me if they wish."
David & The Conveyor - Also at breakfast in Geneva's was West End & Bimini FNM MP David Wallace who once (briefly) stood firmly against the project to build a conveyor belt for aggregate rock over the main road into his constituency. Wallace said that he had toured the rock facility and reported that an alternative road is well on the way to being finished. He claimed to be "too busy raising money for the campaign" to say more. This seems to suggest that until an alternative route for motorists can be constructed, the conveyor belt project is dead. We shall watch closely.
Fallout From 3rd Term Vote - Neko Grant, FNM MP for Lucaya, until
recently enjoyed a certain support from wide cross sections of people.
His yes vote to keep Hubert Ingraham on seems to have endangered that.
One long-time Neko supporter told News From Grand Bahama "Neko should
be shame, he don't have to live off the Treasury, so why go along with
what he doesn't believe?... I don't buy that 'most people wanted it. He
should be reminded that two thousand years ago most people said 'Give us
Barabbas". Another FNM informant maintains about Minister Algernon Allen's
support for a third Ingraham term that "Hubert must have a dossier on Bulgie,
because we all know how he feels, and a third term for the Prime Minister
is not it."
NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
IN THE MIDST OF LIFE
It
is once again our sad duty to announce the death of a relative. This
time it is my father Frederick A. Mitchell Sr. He died shortly after 11:30
a.m. on Tuesday 23 May at his home in Armstrong Street, New Providence.
He was 82 years old. His wife Lilla predeceased him on 4 May 1999.
He is survived by five children including this columnist, Robert Ian Mitchell,
Carla Mitchell-Seymour, Matthew Mitchell and Marva Mitchell and a sister
Ruth Agnes Granger.
Mr. Mitchell Sr. is the last of the males in the family of his late parents Robert and Odessa Mitchell of Bain Town. You may click here for a fuller biography.
Suffice it to say that this is a sad occasion but in many respects a satisfactory occasion. I believe that he died as a man should - at home in his own bed, at peace with his friends and family.
There are many trite things that one can say but none are appropriate, except to say that we shall miss him. He was a great guy and had a good life right up to the end. The picture we use of him is one taken circa 1968. Biology is amazing. If you know my younger brother Matthew you can see that Matthew is the spitting image of the man. Just remarkable.
On the political front, last week we began the column with the latest machinations by the Chief Slave in the country, Hubert Ingraham, who is plotting and scheming to stay in office for a third term. We report more fully on the matter below. What comes across in this whole matter is that despite the propaganda related to how the FNM governs, nothing has changed. There is a great climate of fear in the country. The FNM is using the public treasury to punish and bribe voters. One hopes that the country can now see the need for a change and turn to the new PLP.
It aint long now.
This week we had 15,344 hits
on the site for the week up to Saturday 26th May at midnight. That
makes a total of 58,900 hits on the
site for the month of May. Please keep reading and thanks for reading.
PERMANENT LINKS
11th Review of the Judiciary
Mitchell Address to Senate: Why the PM is the
way he is
Mitchell speech to PLP Convention
2000
Pindling & Me - A personal retrospective
on the life and times of Sir Lynden by Fred Mitchell
Address to the Senate Budget
Debate / Haitian Issue
Address to the Senate Clifton Cay Debate / Haitian
Issue
Address to PLP Leadership meeting in Exuma
/ Haitian Issue
Address of Sean McWeeney / Pindling
funeral
Gilbert Morris on OECD Blacklist
Fred Mitchell Antioch College speech
The funeral coverage
For a photo essay on the funeral of Archdeacon William Thompson. Click here.
|
|
| Professor Gilbert Morris on the country's blacklisting | Coverage of Sir Lynden's death & funeral |
e-mail timbuktu@batelnet.bs
| Site Links | |
| The PLP Position on Clifton | |
| www.johngfcarey.com | Thought provoking columns |
| http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/ | Canadian contacts Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
| http://members.tripod.com/~xtremesp/wolf.html | Bahamian Cycling News |
| http://www.bahamiansonline.com | Links to Bahamians on the web |
| http://www.bahamanet.com/JujuTree.cfm | Politics Forum |
| http://www.jameshepple.com/ | Tourism Statistics |
| www.briland.com | Harbour Island Site |
NURSES
STAGE A SICK OUT
The
public health system got a great shock this week when on Monday 21 May,
the Public Hospitals Authority reported that some 170 nurses reported sick.
The sick-out lasted for two days. Creola Hamilton, head of the Nurses
Union, reported that they have 60 per cent of the support of all nurses
in the public health system. Whatever the numbers, the sick-out was
effective. If you read the statement of the Progressive Liberal Party
on the matter it will give you a full insight on the issue (click
here for the full statement). This Senator as Opposition spokesman
for Labour issued the statement at a press conference in support of the
nurses, along with Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt, the Deputy Leader of the Progressive
Liberal Party (see Bahama Journal photo). Mother Pratt, who was a
nurse for 17 years said that she was extremely concerned that it had to
get to the point where nurses had to take industrial action and that the
Government ought to try to resolve problems before they got to the point
where a sick out was necessary. She added that this was all the more
reason where as in this case the hospital was involved and people’s lives
were being put at risk.
NIGEL
BOWE RETURNS HOME
All
of the newspapers have reported that Nigel Bowe has returned to The Bahamas.
Mr. Bowe is said to have returned to The Bahamas on Tuesday 22 May at about
11 a.m. at the Nassau International Airport. He went to his home
on West Bay Street called ‘The Forrest’ where according to an earlier interview
with his son he was to spend a quiet time with his wife family and a few
close friends. Those who have seen him say that he looks well and
intends after doing the rounds to reintegrate himself slowly back into
normal society. Mr. Bowe wasn’t in the country for a week when he granted
a special interview to the Bahama Journal. He blasted the United
States for his trial and pronounced himself in the terms of a man persecuted
for standing up for a principle. Some of what he had to say in the
exclusive interview. The photo is by the Bahama Journal and the comments
appeared on Friday 25 May. Mr. Bowe said that he had lost 40 pounds
after being incarcerated in federal prison in Ft. Dix, New Jersey. He said:
“The [U.S.] federal government get their cases by threatening people to
make up stories. I could have made up any number of stories against
Bahamians and they would have accepted it, I told them that under no circumstances
was I going to bargain myself out of prison by telling lies or implicating
anybody. They did it to me, but I was not prepared to do it under
no circumstances… It was a good vacation. I lost 42 pounds by exercising.
I said they imprisoned me, but I am going to make this adversity work for
me… No way in this world did I get a fair trial. That was a kangaroo
court. They used perjured evidence to convict me. They were
hoping that their threats would cause me to get soft and tell lies on people
- no way… They [the U.S.] must deal with it [drugs] by getting their people
to stop depending on drugs. If there were no users of drugs there
will be no vendors… The Americans cannot police their own borders, but
they want a small country like The Bahamas to do their job. They
are a bunch of bullies. They tell lies. They try to threaten
you. But they only try to threaten small countries. They don’t
bother with the big countries. They are a bunch of cowards.” Nuff said!
THE
CASE OF THE DEAD SERGEANT
Every
murder case in this country as one supposes everywhere has its own drama
connected with it. The case of Sgt. Kevin Williams of Fox Hill is
turning out to be curiouser and curiouser. Sgt. Williams in this photo
from his obituary was buried on Friday 25th May.
Sgt. Williams, 37, was found dead face down on Wednesday 16 May with a
single bullet wound in his chest. One lead suggests that the neighbours
heard an altercation and then shots. Eva Williams, the mother of
the dead police officer, called a press conference on Thursday 24 May to
complain that she was not being afforded the respect of a victimized mother
who had lost a son, and accusing the Force of not doing enough to catch
the killer. The circumstances of the death are shrouded in mystery.
There is a lot being left unsaid, with the newspapers in The Bahamas stressing
that he was single and lived alone and that a friend was questioned but
released and being extra careful to ensure that “friend” is left gender
neutral. The murder of another police officer found dead in he Queen
Elizabeth Sports Centre some weeks ago had these same unspoken silent gender-neutral
accusations in the undertones of the reports. It is alleged that his killer
was an under aged male who was arrested and then released without charge.
And then there is the rumour mill. The police are not being explicit about
what they suspect. All they would say about the instant murder is
that the investigation is ongoing and that they are following some leads.
The dead man is originally from the Black Village area. Activist
Rodney Moncur who lives in Black Village got into the act when he also
pronounced himself dissatisfied with the state of the investigation.
But one does not like the undercurrent that suggests that the life the
person led might have led to his death, but without saying what life he
led. The most common example in our country is if the person killed is
homosexual, then somehow that justifies the person being murdered or a
half-hearted police investigation. It must be made clear that whatever
life the officer led, it did not forfeit his right to life.
MEANWHILE
THE MURDER CHARGE FOR THE WEEK
While
the family of the late Sgt. Williams was complaining that the investigation
into the death of their loved one was getting precisely nowhere, the police
charged Stephen Williams (no relation to the sergeant) with the murder
of his three year old daughter. Mr. Williams had been remanded in
custody until the hearing in September. The Nassau Guardian photo
is shown as he was taken to court on Wednesday 23 May. 
The
daughter was said to have disappeared some ten months ago. Shortly
after the disappearance of the child, both parents moved to Eight-Mile
Rock Grand Bahama. Both were arrested during the past week but only
the father was charged. The remains of what is believed to be the
child were found in a shallow grave behind the Yellow Elder Primary School.
And then you will remember the case of the three persons that were shot
dead in Malcolm Road, New Providence during a domino game on 17 April,
the police have now charged James Miller 23 with the murder of the three
persons. He appeared in Court on Thursday 24 May (see Tribune photo
by Felipe Major at right). He too has been remanded in custody.
Maybe the Royal Bahamas Police Force needs to change its motto to: we always
get our man.
HUBERT
INGRAHAM’S MACHINATIONS
Hubert Ingraham has been trying to find some “legitimate” way to stay
on for a third term and beyond. All the hacks are at work.
He has had the secret committee headed by Sylvia Scriven MP and Parliamentary
Secretary for the Ministry of Health organizing various party groups to
“vote” for a request for Mr. Ingraham to stay on beyond the third term.
We reported last week that the vote amongst the Parliamentary group was
28 for it, 4 against and 2 abstentions. Now the proposal has advanced further.
The Executive Committee of the FNM was asked to vote on Monday 22 May.
According to a press announcement 57 members of the executive voted for
it and 4 against it. Deputy Prime Minister Frank Watson said that
the next step is to take it to the FNM's Council. It is expected
to pass there as well but with slightly more of a ruckus. The vote at Council
level is expected in two weeks time. But Frank Watson, whose nomination
is said to be on the chopping block, because no one over 60 is going to
be nominated by the FNM, is becoming a master of double speak. First
he wants us to believe that 34 parliamentarians of the FNM that support
Mr. Ingraham’s leadership could have met and decided his fate as leader
of this country without Mr. Ingraham knowing of the meeting or being invited
to it. That means that Mr. Watson and his colleagues could have pulled
a coup in this country and Mr. Ingraham nor his bodyguards and the police
would have known about it. Does this man think we are stupid? The
second bit of stupidity is the bit as follows. Mr. Watson says: “The
intent of the Free National Movement was that there ought to be only two
terms for a Prime Minister. What has not happened is any ground swell
of support either inside the party or outside of the party for that idea.
Our system is based on the Westminster system, which in essence does not
entertain the concept of term limits, our people are of the view that that
system is not designed to cater to term limits.” He said that one
of the driving forces behind the term limits idea was that Sir Lynden Pindling
had been in office for a very long time. Now, Mr. Watson said, there
had been a revelation and it is all right to not have limits. We keep having
to ask ourselves: how stupid do these people think that we are? All
of this was clear when they put the proposals in their Manifestos I and
II. Why don’t they come out and admit it: that they are hopeless
on their own? Without Mr. Ingraham they have no prayer of winning
the Government again. And it’s the sweetness of the positions that
have them grovelling to get Mr. Ingraham to stay. But the other thing
is that no one is fooled for a minute that it is not Mr. Ingraham who is
behind this. None of the others in the FNM has the sense to dream
up this crooked scheme. The good thing is that the Bahamian people
will see right through this foolishness. Mr. Ingraham is about to
break his word. That’s it plain and simple. If he goes for a third
term, he will be what we always knew he was a damn liar.
WHAT
FELIX BETHEL HAD TO SAY ON INGRAHAM
Felix Bethel, the political science lecturer at the College of The
Bahamas and columnist for the Bahama Journal has missed his calling.
If this were the United States he would have been making a healthy living
poking fun at the politics and politicians of the day in the tradition
of satirists like Russell Baker and Maureen Dowd of the New York Times.
But he is a Bahamian, stuck under this sun. The thing is though:
he is good, viz. his article in the Journal of Thursday 24 May under the
headline: FURNITURE SHOPS & CROWN VICTORIAS. The Crown Victoria
is the car of choice of Ministers of the Government in this country, a
huge vehicle that burns a lot of gas at taxpayer’s expense. Mr. Bethel
starts his article by quoting from Matthew Chapter 4 verses 8-11. You remember
how the devil tempts Christ in the desert, and Christ sends him away with
the admonishment, “Away with you Satan! For it is written, you shall worship
the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” Mr. Bethel then
turned his attention to a trip being made by a Government Minister in her
turquoise Crown Victoria as she pulled up to do a bit of shopping at Palmdale
Furniture store. Said he: “She was probably going to purchase more of the
plastic goods she needs in order to maintain the lifestyle to which she
has become accustomed over the past eight years as an FNM Member of Parliament
and Cabinet Minister. The matter of the fine lady in the fine Crown Victoria
would have ordinarily meant nothing to me last Saturday morning or any
another morning had it not been for the fact that in this past week, public
attention has been riveted on the manoeuvrings, gyrations, shenanigans
and manipulations taking place in the Free National Movement as that great
organization focuses its mind on the question of leadership and succession…
All I know for sure is that power never yields to anything but power, and
that people will do what they perceive to be in their best interests.
Mr. [Tennyson] Wells should get in touch with the Cabinet Minister in the
big blue car. She can tell him a thing or two on why she voted as she did
on two occasions to ask Mr. Ingraham to lead her and her colleagues into
the next general elections.” This is a commentary that is exactly on point.
All of the FNMs who support Mr. Ingraham do so because their bread is buttered
by him. The gravy train has to continue and so they beg him to stay.
Don’t go, please stay!
MEANWHILE
AT SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
They say that the FNM leadership is now playing hardball with the soft
underbelly in its ranks, that is, those that can’t make up their minds
whether they are fish [i.e. for Tennyson] or fowl [for Ingraham].
The latest report is that the district of South Eleuthera was being starved
of social development assistance money. Unemployment is a major problem
in South Eleuthera and so the money provided by social services is extremely
important. The story is that the money is provided in the budget but the
Ministry, on the instructions of the Minister of Idle Poetry - one Algernon
Allen - was not, shall we say, making the money available. The idea
is that when Anthony Miller heard the cries of his constituents, he would
come running to Mr. Allen begging for the money. At that time Mr.
Allen would remind him of who he has to support for Leader of the FNM.
Things that make you go: hmmm!
THE
SENATE HASN’T MET
No legislation has been passed by the Parliament of The Bahamas, neither
House of Assembly nor Senate since December of last year. In December
last year the Senate met just before Christmas to deal with the 11 financial
services bills that the Chief Slave in the country, Hubert Ingraham brought
to Parliament that helped wreck the financial services sector in the country.
Nothing has happened since then but yackety yackety yak etc. etc.
Even the latest set of bills, the so-called Inheritance Bills are not to
become law until June. The Parliament has simply been a talking shop
for Mr. Ingraham and his colleagues. No laws have been passed. The
Senate has not met since December of last year. It is a wasted institution.
Mr. Ingraham and the FNM who came to office decrying what the late Sir
Lynden did are now following hot in the heels of the very same things that
he criticized. Stuck at the Committee stage are the Labour Bills,
the Inheritance Bills, and the Bill on Civil Aviation. What a state
of affairs. Next week the House of Assembly will start the budget
debate and that will be another stage for talking about how great the FNM
is. Yeah! Yeah!
ST.
ANNE’S SCHOOL CELEBRATES
The Old Scholars, former teachers, present teachers and students gathered
on Thursday 24 May to honour the founding of St. Anne’s as a school in
the Anglican Diocese. Present for the occasion was the founding principal
of the school Fr. John Pugh. Fr. Pugh is now 81 years of age and
ailing. But he said despite not feeling well, he was able to come
to the special day. He blew out the candles on a cake with 45 candles.
(Bahama Journal photo) The school was founded in January 1955 to serve
the St. Anne’s parish and the Fox Hill community. It was started
when Fr. Pugh questioned a young man and he later found out that the 15
year old could not read and write. Notable former old scholars of
the school are Attorneys Diane Sands-Stuart and H. Campbell Cleare III
and Dr. Franklin Walkine.
LABOUR
DAY ON 1 JUNE
The Bahamas has one of these long weekends coming with two holidays
back to back. One is Labour Day. The other is Whit Monday on 4 June.
The Labour Day holiday was created on a motion by Sir Randol Fawkes in
1962 to celebrate the working man of The Bahamas. The day was
chosen as the first Friday in June but is set at a time that commemorates
the riots of Burma Road in 1942, when the working men took to the streets
of the country to redress their social and economic grievances. The
Bahamas Trade Union Congress and the National Congress of Trade Unions
headed by Obie Ferguson and Leroy ‘Duke’ Hanna respectively have announced
that there will be a joint march of the trade unions on Labour Day.
The march will begin at 8 a.m. on Windsor Park in New Providence and thence
to Arawak Cay via Bay Street. A brief rally will be held. The
Labour Leaders also propose to pay a courtesy call on Lady Jacqueline Fawkes,
the widow of the man considered to be the Father of Labour in The Bahamas,
the late Sir Randol Fawkes who died last year.
GLOBAL
LIFE INSURANCE HAS A PROBLEM
There was a terse announcement reported in The tribune of Friday 25
May that indicated that the Bahamas Stock Exchange (BISX) has suspended
the trading of the stock of Global Life Insurance. The company used
to be known as Dominion Life and then Manufacturers Life. The company
in Nassau is owned by Life of Jamaica that is bankrupt and run by FINSAC,
a special public corporation, created by the Jamaican Government to take
over bankrupt financial institutions. Now FINSAC has recommended
a go ahead in the sale of Life of Jamaica to Barbados Mutual Assurance
Society / Life of Barbados and Colina Insurance Company in Nassau.
This was done says the Bahama Journal of Friday 25 May without the consultation,
consent or approval of Bahamian authorities. One insider said that
once the deal was being hatched, the regulations require that Global should
have made some announcement and other entities or persons ought to have
had the right to bid. It is said that the regulators in The Bahamas
are concerned that the whole buyout would seem like a sweetheart deal.
The company is publicly traded in The Bahamas and shareholders should not
be gypped out of getting a better price for their shares. Global
has promised a statement. This is the first such suspension of stock
trading. The head of Global in The Bahamas is Patricia Hermanns,
who is also Deputy Chair of the Stock Exchange. It begs the question
again about the incestuous nature of regulators in The Bahamas. The
question earlier arose when Tim Donaldson presided as Chairman of the Securities
Commission (as he still does) when the company Commonwealth Bank of which
he is the Chair had its stock offering to the public.
JAY
MITCHELL FEATURED
Our good friend Jay Mitchell, the Freeport based entertainer, was featured
by Stephen Taylor in his column Faces of Nassau. Jay has been playing
music since he was five years old. Mr. Taylor showed a picture of
the musician as he is today. Mr. Mitchell continues to work in Freeport.
But musicians in this country are generally in trouble. They can’t get
jobs even as the FNM Government allows foreign musicians to come in and
get jobs to play. Others have been replaced by canned music. It is
a galling thing. But through it all Jay Mitchell seems to have learned
the art of survival. Jay said in one of his songs: “It’s hard world
we live in, people get hurt again and again, make up your mind whether
you are weak or you’re strong.” Amen to that!
RAY
FRANCIS BACK HOME
After stints as Manager of the Coco Reef Resort Hotel in Trinidad and
Tobago and then later as General Manager at Sandals’ Negril Resort, Raymond
Francis is now back home, returning to The Bahamas as Assistant General
Manager for Sales at the Radisson Cable Beach Hotel. Mr. Francis
is one of the country’s most accomplished hoteliers. We welcome him
back home. He is pictured.
THE
BAHAMAS GAMES
The Ad says that there are 50 days to The Bahamas games as of Friday
25 May. The games that bring all Bahamians from across the country
to Nassau for a week of competition in track and field, swimming and team
sports begin during the Independence celebrations. Following complaints
from athletes for the islands, the idea of a games village at the Government
High School has been abandoned. The Department of Sports says that
it will house the games village in the hotels on the Cable Beach strip.
It is thought that this year’s games will be used as tools in Chief Slave
Hubert Ingraham's campaign for re-election to office.
NEWS
FROM GRAND BAHAMA
U.S. Intimidates Bahamian Travellers - Once, twice or even a
few times could be considered coincidence, but regular reports have been
reaching News From Grand Bahama of seemingly targeted action against Bahamian
travellers by U.S. Customs officials in Florida. Here's how it happens:
Bahamians check in at the airport or harbour for the trip home. Later,
at the point of boarding the aircraft or boat, luggage is called for, identified
and claimed. Then come the drug sniffing dogs, going over people and baggage.
People of colour are singled out and questioned. "Are you carrying drugs,
more than $10,000 in cash or contraband of any kind?" If the answer is
no, the hapless Bahamian is then made to sign a form to that effect and
then searched, their personal effects strewn over the ground and publicly
fingled through for all to see. Several astute observers of this
practice have charged racial discrimination. "It's quite plain to see that
racial profiling is going on here," said one outraged traveller, "I watched
the entire process and from what I could see, black Bahamians were the
only ones singled out on my trip." Perhaps the Minister for Foreign Affairs
should protest on behalf of the Bahamian people. At the very least, the
American ambassador should be called to account for this aberrant behaviour.
The drug trade flows from south to north, or didn't anyone tell them? The
average Bahamian man or woman wakes up and goes to work 6 days each week
to earn their money which is spent in the BILLIONS of dollars annually
in south Florida, or didn't anyone tell them? Are we all now considered
to be drug traffickers and money launderers?
Column Unsettles FNMs - The evidence was everywhere this past week. From the halls of public corporations to the private conversations of FNM generals and their candidates. Where does Fred Mitchell get his information? And that News From Grand Bahama, they must be inside the room with our fellows! A case in point was the recent story that Minister and Grand Bahama Pineridge MP C.A. Smith would not be offered renomination because of his age. The Smith camp was incensed and immediately began a counter-campaign. Never mind, C.A., there are many others who are going to be affected by the Prime Minister's secret determination that no one over 60 years old will run. Our advice to C.A. and all those others in his predicament is that you should save at least fifty cents of each dollar. A word to the wise is sufficient.
Interest In Pineridge - Apparently, our story has uncovered deep and wide interest in the nomination for Pineridge among influential Grand Bahama FNMs. One ambitious and well connected lady, currently in an elective position said "There's plenty of us who could carry the party's banner in Pineridge without C.A.'s 'high and mighty' Minister foolishness and I told Mr. Ingraham that if he wants more women to run, I am here." Poor lady. The PLP has a Wonder Woman of its own in Ann Percentie, just waiting to trounce whoever happens to want Pineridge again for the FNM.
Free Food & Favours Galore - After our story about a possible move to change the captain of 'Team Lucaya' FNM Lucaya MP Neko C. Grant held a big party at his residence for constituency generals to ward off any attempts to go after his nomination. "Neko aint playing," said one of his main men, "This is only the start of what he is going to do for us. Neko is the man." As we go to upload, just before 2pm Sunday 27 May, FNM Marco City MP David Thompson whose nomination is also in peril has opened the bar for his generals at the local restaurant 'Geneva's'. Reports in to News From Grand Bahama say the word is, "Give them anything they want!" Absent was Cyril 'Boxer' Minnis who said he is working with his brother, FNM candidate Dr. Hubert Minnis. All other hands were accounted for with the notable exception of recently recognized FNM 'freedom fighter' and big contributor Max Quant who is said to be "at war" with MP Thompson. At the table, there seemed to be grave concern about how the Prime Minister is set to break his word to the Bahamian people about offering himself for a third term and how that would sell... Hmmm!
Kelly Cusses - Our friend and newly recognized FNM 'freedom fighter' Kelly Burrows had a few choice words for the senior political correspondent at News From Grand Bahama. Kelly apparently objected to our description of him as a 'pacifist' Ah, well, we hope that if attacked, Freedom Fighter Kelly would take up political arms on our behalf.
Oil Spills - Several hundred gallons of light crude now sully the beautiful rocky shores of Pinder's Point in Grand Bahama, spilled from a tanker ship leaving the Bahamas Oil Refining Company (BORCO) jetty last Wednesday. Eight Mile Rock FNM MP Lindy Russell visited the site and came across in the media as an apologist for BORCO and the tanker company. The tone of his remarks was that these things happen and we should be grateful to the tanker captain and crew for prompt notification. Whoa! In another place, the boat would have been impounded by the authorities pending payment for clean-up and satisfactory inspection of the damage repair. In a similar, but unrelated development, a local activist reported to ZNS radio that a beach in the east of Freeport had oil in the water. The beach is under questionable 'reconstruction' and it is believed that the oil is coming from heavy equipment in use at the shoreline. Residents fear that the authorities inability to deal with two incidents of this size sound a warning bell to what might happen if larger and potentially much more dangerous projects are approved for Grand Bahama. Government and the Grand Bahama Port Authority are currently courting the giant Enron Corporation to install a massive natural gas facility in the east of the island.
Maurice Moore Primary - Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham was in Grand Bahama this past Friday for the official naming of the Maurice Moore Primary School in the Yeoman Wood area. The Prime Minister called Mr. Moore a visionary; a trailblazer and the praise went on. Mr. Moore was only scant days ago tooling around the island with would be FNM leader Tennyson Wells in tow, doing his best to displace Mr. Ingraham from his seat of party leadership. One FNM insider reminded us "Maurice has gone from being the shining light of the FNM to a man who now has nothing to do, no job and no influence in the party he did so much to create." Mr. Moore is reputed to have been the one to carry that fateful message from the bedside of the dying Sir Cecil Wallace Whitfield. "Ingraham is the man I want as my successor" Did he carry the message straight? And if he did, does he now regret it? Poignant questions indeed from the official opening of Maurice Moore Primary School. Now, here is the kicker: After the ceremonies, a gala lunch was held at a local hotel to celebrate the naming of the school. In attendance were the Prime Minister and all the Cabinet Ministers who made the trip along with every local Member of Parliament. The one person who did not attend the lunch in honour of the naming of the Maurice E. Moore Primary School was; you guessed it, Maurice Moore. Hmmm!
Know Your Customers - One life insurance company in Grand Bahama
was busy this week requesting its policyholders to come in and bring their
passports and also be prepared to sign detailed identity forms. All this
in the interest of the blacklisting 'know your customer' laws passed by
the Ingraham FNM. A policyholder told News From Grand Bahama "When I got
this policy I gave blood for testing and placed other personal bodily fluids
at their disposal and you mean now they don't know who I am? This law has
gone too far where everyone is now presumed to be a money launderer and
a drug trafficker. Soon I won't even be able to leave my property to who
I want. It's time for them to go." What more can we say?
