December 2000

 

 

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fredmitchelluncensored.com

Designed and constructed by Al Dillette with Sebastian Curry  Banner Graphic by MikeTech Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume I  © Fred Mitchell 2000
While material on this web site can be used freely by other sections of the press, as a courtesy, journalists are asked to attribute the source of their material from this web site.
3rd December, 2000 
This Week on fredmitchelluncensored.com

THE CORONER'S INQUEST NO SCHOOL FOR THREE DAYS 
THE PENALTY THE TEACHER FACES JANET BOSTWICK'S ROLE
THE ROLE OF THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION  THE STATE OF HEALTH INFO IN THE SCHOOLS
BUT SHAWN'S DEATH IS ALL ABOUT MONEY SENATOR DARRON CASH MARRIES
SENATOR CASH'S SHOW PULLED PM GETS IT WRONG ON DARRON CASH
RUNNING MON MARINA REOPENS IN GRAND BAHAMA  CHANGES AT SHELL BAHAMAS 
TROUBLE COMING IN THE ECONOMY?  PRIME MINISTER ATTACKS LAWYERS
ADDRESSES BY PERRY CHRISTIE / BRADLEY ROBERTS  ALFREDA RAHMING BURIED
WORLD AIDS DAY  BAHAMIAN STUDENTS IN FILENES 
BAHAMIAN HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALLER  JANET BOSTWICK SPORTING A COLLAR? 
BENCHMARK DECLARES A DIVIDEND  JOHN COX WINS CYCLE RACE 
JOHN COX'S MOTHER AND ME  NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA..
   
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Photo of Senator Mitchell by Peter Ramsay


NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE IN THE SCHOOLS

It is always difficult to predict what will happen in one's life from week to week. But this week in The Bahamas was particularly bizarre. A Coroner's Jury of six women and one man, voted six to one to recommend that a teacher Rosalyn Astwood be charged with manslaughter in the death of a student who had a heart problem and whom she had given six strokes with a stick in the palm of his hand. This comes in a culture where corporal punishment is accepted as a form of discipline by 99 per cent of the population, and where the Ministry of Education for which she works closed its eyes to the widespread use of corporal punishment in the schools by all teachers.

It must be made clear that this writer does not believe in nor support corporal punishment, but as Attorney for the Bahamas Union of Teachers and the teacher, it was particularly outrageous to see a teacher pilloried by a dumb verdict. It was a system suddenly gone horribly wrong. The verdict came on Wednesday 29 December just about 2 p.m.

The reaction was immediate and swift in the teaching profession. Teachers had left their work and surrounded the Court as the verdict was read. They were off work the next day and the day after that. No school was taught throughout The Bahamas. The Minister of Education Dame Ivy Dumont showed no sympathy or concern for the teacher involved. The Ministry did not even have the common courtesy to attend the court hearing to monitor for themselves what the position was. They left the teacher to twist in the wind. The verdict was an outrage. The Prime Minister appealed for calm. Teachers broke out in tears in the courtroom, and declared that discipline in the schools was over.

We provide a full report of what happened in Nassau this week and throughout The Bahamas following the verdict.

This week the month of November ended with a total of 57301 hits on this site . The site had 2583 hits up to midnight the 2nd December on this site for the month of December. Please keep reading and thanks for reading.


 PERMANENT LINKS
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

THE CORONER'S INQUEST
The facts go something like this. A child by the name of Shawn Evans had a rare disease that is unknown to the school's administrators and to his home room teacher and his religious knowledge teacher. He was diagnosed in 1999 by pediatric cardiologist Dr. Jerome Lightbourne with a disease called LONG QT syndrome. This is a heart arrhythmia that can lead to sudden death, even with medication. It is a rare disease, only some 227 cases of it known worldwide. Two cases are in The Bahamas, one was Shawn Evans who died. The other is a cousin who is also a student in the same S.C. McPherson School that Shawn attended. Shawn's father died of a heart attack at the age of 41. It is believed that the disease is hereditary. The school had only been told by a note from the Doctor that the child had Long QT syndrome and that he should refrain from competitive sports and physical education. That note was delivered to the school last year. The school changed principals in 2000 and the new principal this year did not know, neither did the teacher who has been charged with his death. The child was making a nuisance of himself in the classroom on 19 September and after a warning he and another student were punished. He received six strokes with a small stick in the palm of his hand. He showed no pain or discomfort. Shortly afterward the child fainted and died. There were no emergency aids available at the school. No one knew of the condition until the children told the teacher that Shawn had fainted before in the swimming pool. On those facts, no reasonable or sensible person should have come to the conclusion that his teacher Rosalyn Astwood had the intention to kill Shawn Evans. Yet that is what a jury seemed to recommend and the Coroner subsequently charged the teacher with manslaughter, releasing her on her own recognizance in the sum of one thousand dollars. The Tribune photo shows Union President Kingsley Black and this columnist announcing the verdict to teachers gathered outside the Court.

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THE PENALTY THE TEACHER FACES
The more you think about the verdict of that silly jury on Mrs. Rosalyn Astwood, the S.C. McPherson teacher, the more absurd it becomes.  You have a teacher now facing life imprisonment for something for which she had no responsibility.
 

NO SCHOOL FOR THREE DAYS
The blame for all of this lies with Dame Ivy Dumont who has turned out to be, despite her Christian leanings, an insensitive Minister in the matter. No one from the Ministry came to the S.C. McPherson School or to other schools where a crisis was invoked by this verdict and the Minister nor her staff saw the crisis coming. Teachers were traumatized. The way of discipline in the schools was being challenged in a way they never expected. The Ministry of Education has a written policy that corporal punishment is reserved for the headmaster, and the senior masters or mistresses, but the policy was widely practiced in the breach. In fact Shawn's homeroom teacher testified that she never knew such a policy existed. Rosalyn Astwood, the teacher now charged, said that while she knew of a written policy, she also knew that all teachers used corporal punishment that the Ministry and the Principal knew that all teachers did and they closed their eyes to its use by all teachers. There was in fact tacit permission for corporal punishment to be administered by all teachers. This was borne out by the testimony of students who said that Shawn had been beaten before by his math teacher. Another student said that she had been beaten by all of her teachers. The teachers testified that as teachers sending students to the principal proved to be impractical and that it undermined their sense of control and their ability to control the class. Students took being sent to the principal, to be a joke and more important than that the headmaster was more often than not too busy to deal with the matter. The Bahamas Union of Teachers headed by Kingsley Black demanded an urgent policy review. Teachers were off their jobs in sympathy with their colleague from Wednesday 29 November to Friday 1 December. Mr. Black declared a work to rule in sympathy by the colleagues of Ms. Astwood, starting Monday 4 December.

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JANET BOSTWICK'S ROLE
The result by the Corner's jury was absurd. It is difficult to see how seven sensible people could come to such a silly verdict. And yet that is what they did. Some say they were frightened by the large crowds around the courtroom. Others say they were confused by the directions given by the Coroner. Yet others say they were trying to cut the baby in half, and in some ways may themselves have been stunned by the reaction. Some say that the vote was strictly on gender lines, with the six women voting to condemn the teacher and the one man giving a sensible decision. But now that the verdict is in, there are not many options to avoiding a trial. The case now goes to the Attorney General Janet Bostwick who under the penal code and the constitution has the ultimate conduct of all prosecutions in the country. Like her predecessor Sir Orville Turnquest who entered what is known as a writ of nolli prosequi to end the prosecution of John Mosko who was charged with the murder of a young Bahamian man in 1992, Janet Bostwick can do the same. The Union called for quick action to resolve the matter. Prime Minister Ingraham for once seemed sanguine in his comments calling for calm, saying that teachers should allow justice to take its course, that this was only one step in the process and that they should operate in such a manner that Mrs. Bostwick did not feel that she had a gun to her head. From the legal side, there is no appeal from the Coroner. All that is available is judicial review. That is not an adequate remedy because one would have to show that something went procedurally wrong or that the result was so unreasonable that no reasonable tribunal could have come to such a conclusion. So Janet must act and must act quickly to bring some sanity to the system.

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THE ROLE OF THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
The Minister of Education is Dame Ivy Dumont. She has within her Ministry a Minister of State Zhivargo Laing. Both of them seemed completely bewildered and in the dark on this matter She incredibly professed that she did not understand why the teachers were off from work. She did not appreciate their outrage. She was like Marie Antoinette who when they told the French empress that the people were protesting because they did not have bread, she said let them eat cake. Dame Ivy who is quite quick on her mouth with disdain and sarcasm, when asked by the press whether she stood behind the teacher, said that she stood neither in front of or behind anybody. The Ministry itself did not even have the courtesy to send someone to the Courtroom to monitor the situation, and knowing that discipline in the schools had been undermined by the hearing, they did nothing from a management point of view to shore up the system. For this the Minister ought to be condemned. It is most insensitive on the Ministry's part, and they ought to do something to repair their image. For her part Dame Ivy even refused to attend the meeting called for by the Union. She sent the Director of Education instead. Thankfully, the Union and the Ministry have now agreed on a joint committee to immediately review the disciplinary code and more importantly the level of health information available to schools.

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THE STATE OF HEALTH INFO IN THE SCHOOLS
S. C. McPherson School is a high school in The Bahamas with some 1200 hundred students. There is no nurse on staff and no medical assistance of any kind. Each day there are sick students, ranging from small cuts and bruises, to fainting to more serious disabilities including one additional case of Long QT syndrome, the heart disease which can result in sudden death and there are cases of diabetes and epilepsy. The Union of Teachers has been calling for years for a medical assistant on the staff of the school. This is important not only to deal with emergencies but with record keeping, so that there is a record of students who are ill and of who to contact and what to do. In the case of the death of Shawn Evans, this information proved woefully inadequate with the full extent of his problems not being known until after the death occurred. The Ministry of Education refused to listen to the Union on the point. Now maybe, they will listen.

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BUT SHAWN'S DEATH IS ALL ABOUT MONEY
Some have argued that the reason that the Ministry of Education was keeping a hands off attitude and not supporting their teacher is that they did not want to be stuck with the liability for the death of the student. Some have also argued that the reason that the mother is involved in the case is to collect money from the Ministry of Education as a result of the death of her son. The difficulty is that in this jurisdiction there is not much to collect in any event even if there is civil liability proven. Shawn was a child and the question will be what is the loss that can be computed in our law on damages. He had no income and his mother was not a dependent. The loss of prospects is not that of an adult who was working and made a contribution financially to his family. So virtually all that is collectible in this case may be funeral expenses so if mega bucks is what the mother expects, the mother is badly misled in the matter. Further, the Government is notoriously slow in paying anything. But what this columnist believes is that if the Ministry of Education had come up with some money before this matter went to the court, the matter would have gone away.

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SENATOR DARRON CASH MARRIES
This columnist remembers him when he was a young boy feeling his oats in 1986. He declared as President of the College of The Bahamas Union of Students (COBUS) that the students would come out in support of their teachers who had been summarily dismissed from the College as a result of an Immigration policy gone awry. He catapulted to national fame. Later he challenged the PLP in their home ground at a convention of the PLP Young Liberals. His future in politics was assured. In those days, we were pretty close. These we are not, and more's the pity. He is on the wrong political side and has made some calculating decisions typical of young persons like himself anxious to succeed with which we disagree, but that is his choice. Senator Cash was married on Saturday 25 November at the Golden Gates Assembly Church. Best man his good friend and president of the Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas, Zendal Forbes. Not present was his friend Minister of State for Education Zhivargo Laing and many of his fellow workers at Ernst and Young. He is to honeymoon in the Abacos. Cash got a boost from the Prime Minister (also attending the wedding) this week when in some otherwise negative results for Senator Cash (see following story) the PM told the country of his hope that Senator Cash would be elected to the House of Assembly in the next election. He said that Senator Cash had something to offer. This would seem to confirm the rumour that Senator Cash is to get the nomination for the Carmichael constituency succeeding Anthony 'Boozie' Rolle MP who will be retiring after the next election.

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SENATOR CASH'S SHOW PULLED
ZNS had a show on television and national radio featuring Senator Darron Cash. The show billed him as a neutral commentator with independent views. That seemed as foolish as anything this FNM Government has ever tried. Senator Melanie Griffin who is a PLP condemned the move in a letter to the press. She was ignored. Dr. Bernard Nottage raised the matter in the House of Assembly. He took the same tack as this columnist. We reported in this column (see column) that we disagreed because the Broadcasting Corporation was a publicly owned facility, paid for by tax dollars of all Bahamians not just FNMs and that in those circumstances Senator Cash should have no such programme. He could not be fair or independent. It was a contradiction in terms. Mr. Ingraham must be having a bout of conscience. As Minister for Broadcasting he has now ordered ZNS to remove the show saying that it was inappropriate for Senator Cash to have the show. In the earlier story, we talked about the disappointment in Senator Cash who has turned out be frighteningly calculating. (Don't worry folks, the feeling is quite mutual). Student Cash as he then was denounced Sir Lynden Pindling for being unethical. Yet when his time came, he did not understand the nature of unethical behaviour. If he had, he himself would have recognized that by accepting the programme he had done something which was just not right. You are supposed to know it. Now he ends up being repudiated by his own boss, a man who himself has a problem recognizing right from wrong.
 

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PM GETS IT WRONG ON DARRON CASH
The Prime Minister's explanation to the public about yanking Senator Darron Cash off the air was disingenuous. The point is the unfairness of allowing Senator Cash to have such a programme on a publicly owned station without allowing the Opposition to have the same opportunity.  Let's have a head to head and may the best opinion prevail.  But clearly the PM could not allow that because it would have given too much exposure to the Opposition forces.  So he yanks Senator Cash off the air, violating the young man's right to free speech.
 

RUNNING MON MARINA REOPENS IN GRAND BAHAMA
On Wednesday 29 November, there was a special opening in Freeport, the Running Mon Marina that had been put into receivership by Imperial Life was reopened under new ownership. The Prime Minister was there to do the honours. We remember years earlier Elon 'Sonny' Martin being snubbed by the then Prime Minister Lynden Pindling in the first official opening. Mr. Martin put his entire fortune at risk and got no support from the Ministry of Tourism. Hubert Ingraham turned up as an independent to open the facility in 1990. But when Mr. Ingraham became Prime Minister he did nothing to help his friend Sonny with what he really needed, that was Port of Entry status for the marina. As a result Sonny lost the place to Imperial Life. But Mr. Ingraham was happy and no doubt grinning to be there for the grand new opening. The marina has passed hands to a non-national, just another example of Mr. Ingraham's alienation from the Bahamian businessman.

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CHANGES AT SHELL BAHAMAS
We apologize to the people at Shell, the name of the head honcho in Barbados is Philip Snaith, not Peter Snell (don't know where we got that one from), since we know Mr. Snaith quite well. But there is more news. Andrew Kerr, the General Manger is leaving The Bahamas next March. The Retail Sales and Marketing manager Guierrmo Gonsalez is to leave this month. The company is seeking to bring in persons from the outside to replace those men. They also have plans to remove all the marketing, advertising and public relations strategy to Puerto Rico, thus overreaching the local executive in charge of the area Jerome Gomez. In addition, rents for Esso stations are doubling and Shell dealers are having problem making ends meet with the high rents as well. Several new dealers are thinking of leaving.  What's happening fellas?

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TROUBLE COMING IN THE ECONOMY?
The tourism sector is said to be in trouble. Tourism growth has been virtually stagnant in The Bahamas for the last ten years. The FNM has tried to focus on room nights but nothing beats more people. They have not been able to rise much above the level the PLP left in 1991. Further, new hotel construction is slowing down. A recession is on the way as construction generally is falling as are the reserves and bank liquidity. There are rumours aplenty about the financial health of a number of hotel projects including the Hilton British Colonial, Sun International and the former Princess properties in Freeport. There was also an announcement that the Uniroyal Chemical plant is Freeport is closing its doors. Things that make you go: hmmm!

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PRIME MINISTER ATTACKS LAWYERS
In the rush to bring the new bills to the House of Assembly to satisfy the developed countries that we are not taking away their tax revenues, the PM, the chief slave of the country, was asked by Bradley Roberts PLP MP whether or not the groups affected by one of the new bills which forces all financial service providers to disclose suspicious transactions to the Central Bank had been consulted.  The PM in his typical boorish fashion exploded: that he was not consulting them because they (lawyers and accountants) were the crooks that he was trying to get at.  The PM should know since he is a lawyer.  Strangely not a word from the Bar Association or the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
 

ADDRESSES BY PERRY CHRISTIE / BRADLEY ROBERTS
You can click here for the full text of the addresses of Bradley Roberts, chairman of the PLP and Perry Christie, the Leader of the PLP at the PLP's convention 2000.

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THE STATE OF THE DEFENCE FORCE
A visit to the Coral Harbour base of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force this week revealed a sad story. There are boats sitting in the water rusting and wasting away in the sun. The report is that only the two new 13 million dollar craft are up and running and some of the smaller boats. But in the main, the fleet is dead in the water. This is a great pity because there is so much work that the force can do. The reports say that the RBDF has become so unreliable as a partner for the US Coast guard that sometimes you can hear the traffic on the radio from the Coast Guard when they call for help saying: "I bet you they will say they have no boats". And right they are, the Force has no boats to assist in search and rescue. Oh by the way those 13 million-dollar craft, the two brand new ones, they can only go into two harbours in The Bahamas: Freeport and Nassau. They can't even dock at their base in Coral Harbour, the draft is too deep. In other words, they draw too much water. One example, when asked to do hurricane duty in Cat Island after Floyd in 1999, they had to dock 5 miles out from the shore and ferry supplies in on a smaller boat. The idea of getting the larger craft is that they can police deep waters for which The Bahamas has a responsibility as merchant shipping registrar to police for 200 miles around. But if drug smugglers come and go into the banks, the boats can't follow them there. Bah Humbug!

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ALFREDA RAHMING BURIED

Most of the Fox Hill community turned out yesterday for the burial of Mrs. Alfreda Rahming. Mrs. Rahming, mother of Fox Hill Member of Parliament Juanianne Dorsett was churched at Golden Gates Assembly in a service conducted by Pastor Ross Davis who was assisted by pastors from the Fox Hill community. She was 83. Mrs. Rahming was laid to rest at Mount Carey Baptist Church in Fox Hill.
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WORLD AIDS DAY
The Bahamas like other nations marked World Aids Day. The AIDS Secretariat announced that since the epidemic was tracked in 1985 some 7500 persons have been reported HIV positive in The Bahamas. Some 3,500 of those persons have died. The age category is from 15-44. It is the largest single killer amongst that age group. This year the focus in The Bahamas has been on young women. They say that teen-age girls are the most at risk. There has also been concentration on men who still refuse to wear condoms. Dr. Timothy Barrett said that men must learn how to say no to unprotected sex as well as women. Imperial Life Financial sponsored its annual red Ribbon Ball on Saturday 25 November to aid the Aids Foundation. They contributed $50,000 to the Foundation. The wife of the Prime Minister is the patron of the fund. The Bahama Journal photo shows the Prime Minister and his wife arriving at the ball.
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BAHAMIAN STUDENTS IN FILENES
Here is the photo we promised last week of the students that met this senator in Filene's store in Boston. The photo taken by Al Dillette shows the students two of whom are from St. Anselm's College in New Hampshire and a third from University in Iowa. Thanks for the photo. From left are Janine Outten, this columnist, Nadia Sweeting and Elon Joffre.

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BAHAMIAN HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALLER
Also from last week, promised photos of Bahamian High School footballer Eldin Ferguson III.Eldin and compatriot Rashad Butler play with the Dwyer Panthers. Eldin is pictured posing in uniform and with his parents Fox Hillian Eldin Ferguson Jr. and his wife Sharon, a former Miss Grand Bahama (1974) and Miss Bahamas (1975). Today, a proud father reports that "It's early morning and we are happy happy. #79 Rashad Butler and #88 Eldin again turned in stellar performances but the whole team was just great. My chest is still going down. Eldin caught two passes from quarterback #10 Danny Embick running the tight end route on defence... Eldin had several tackles including the opposing quarterback, also flushing him off route a number of times. Butler stood like a rock on the offensive line and was brought in to shore up the defence to hold on key defensive stops. The Bahamian sons did their part in a great team effort from the Dwyer Panthers football team.

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JANET BOSTWICK SPORTING A COLLAR?
We said at the PLP's convention that Foreign Minister Janet Bostwick was asleep at the wheel on her job. We were speaking metaphorically, But now we understand that she is sporting neck brace, the result of an accident in her official car. Does that mean she was literally asleep at the wheel?

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BENCHMARK DECLARES A DIVIDEND
The head of Benchmark Bahamas Ltd., the mutual fund, has declared a dividend of 4 cents per share. Julian Brown is the founder and President. Benchmark is an open ended mutual fund, and its shares have been in the tank on the stock market for much of the year. At one point the value was at $1.01, which meant after commissions less than what stockholders had paid for it. But Mr. Brown persuaded the doubters to stay on and the stock has now rallied to 1.14. the stock was undervalued in the market anyway. It was a good performer but the stock was not popular because most Bahamians and the trading houses don't like the idea of it. But Mr. Brown has proven that he knows what he is doing and no doubt, others will now join in buying the stock and shareholders can see increases in stock value. Congratulations Mr. Brown. There is nothing like a dividend to keep a shareholder quiet. The return on investment for the year to September 13.5 percent.
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JOHN COX WINS CYCLE RACE
The Tribune showed this photo of this columnist's godson John Cox as he crossed the finish line in a cycle race earlier this year. The photo is by Filepe Major. But it was published because John won the last of cycle races for the year by the New Providence Cycling Association. He beat out veterans Baron 'Turbo' Musgrove and Tracey Sweeting. It was a thirty-mile race and he won it in one hour 24.05 seconds. Congratulations!

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JOHN COX'S MOTHER AND ME
And we show you the photo of John Cox's mother Setella with this columnist who is her godson at the International Food Fair as we appeared in October of this year at Nassau's Botanic Gardens. Behind her is her husband Georgie and in the red shirt is another godson of this columnist Adam Dillette, the son of the editor of this site. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.

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NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Schools At Standstill - Schools in Grand Bahama were at a standstill for two days this week as teachers stopped work in sympathy with their colleague Rosalyn Astwood charged in the death of student. (see story above). Grand Bahama teachers talking to our correspondent said they were surprised at the approach taken by Prime Minister Ingraham who accused teachers of going to the law of the jungle. Mr. Ingraham softened the approach, however, urging a wait and see attitude. Sources in the Grand Bahama teaching community suspect the hand of Mrs. Ingraham, herself a teacher. The issue is turning into a referendum on corporal punishment with most word on the street saying that absent corporal punishment you may as well turn school over totally to the children.

Bradley In Town - Bradley Roberts PLP MP for Grant's Town was in town this week on the COOL 96 public affairs radio show 'On Common Ground'. Roberts whose activist style of politics has made him a household name was well-received by the Grand Bahama audience.

Disgruntled Customs Officers - Bahamas Customs was hit with a two day sickout by officers this week in Grand Bahama and supervisors were seen manning the booths. Customs officers complain that they haven't received overtime pay since September. It is common in the Customs service for officers to depend on overtime to make ends meet. With The Bahamas highly dependent on customs duties for tax revenue and the Christmas season when most of these revenues are collected now upon us, one wonders at the wisdom of Government not to pay its principal tax collectors. What is curious is that Government charges cruise ship and airline companies the equivalent of overtime to be paid to customs officers working their entries. This money is often collected before the shift is over, so where is the money?

Trouble Brewing At Airport? - Our correspondent observed members of the Grand Bahama Taxi-Cab Union with camcorders this week at Grand Bahama International Airport as 'Our Lucaya' staged a soft opening of its Lucaya strip hotel. The camcorders we're told are to record courtesy busses of hotels - principally 'Our Lucaya' ferrying guests. Said one upset cabbie "They were supposed to be bringing us business, but all we see is them taking bread out of our mouths". The video shows a Dodge Caravan emblazoned with 'Our Lucaya' collecting passengers from the international arrivals terminal. Grumbled the cabbie and several fellow union members "It looks like Whampoa feels that since they own the harbour, they own the airport and they own the hotels, they think they own the town and all the people in it... We'll see."

Bahamia Group To Press - A news conference this week by the Bahamia Land & Homeowners Association headed by Mark Roberts. The Association confirmed reports on this site that they are running out of patience with what they see as intransigence and a failure to live up to promises by the Driftwood Group, new owners of the subdivision. An association spokesman said they were promised co-operation but are being stonewalled by Driftwood and threaten court action as a last resort. The new owners recently raised property service charges in the area by sixty percent over the protests of the home and land owners.

New Merc For 'Iron' Mike - 'Iron' Mike Edwards former regional vice chairman of the FNM deposed in the night of long knives at the recent party convention is tooling around town in a large new Mercedes Benz, reportedly smiling from ear to ear. Way to go Mike.


Designed and constructed by Al Dillette with Sebastian Curry  Banner Graphic by MikeTech Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume I  © Fred Mitchell 2000
While material on this web site can be used freely by other sections of the press, as a courtesy, journalists are asked to attribute the source of their material from this web site.

 

10th December, 2000 
This Week on fredmitchelluncensored.com

THE GANG OF FIVE WELLS HOLDS A NEWS CONFERENCE
JANET BOSTWICK FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS JANET BOSTWICK ON GIRLS WITH OLDER MEN
ALARM BELLS OVER THE MALE GRADUATES OF COB THE PRESSURE IS ON WITH DRUG BUSTS
DRUG MAN NINETY IN CHAINS ROBERTS RAISES ISSUES ABOUT DRUG BILL
US STATE DEPT. OFFICER CALLS ON FRED MITCHELL THE PM AND THE PARADISE ISLAND FAIRY TALE
JAMES HEPPLE'S TOURISM SITE BAHAMASAIR...THE BUS SYSTEM...MORE FM
FRANKLYN WILSON ON THE COUNTRY'S FINANCES BARRY MALCOLM GETS A NEW JOB
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA..  
   
   
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return to the top of the page.
Photo of Senator Mitchell by Peter Ramsay


NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

A STATE OF SIEGE

There must be some terrible pressures in this society. A lot of them seem to be financial. Many of them are political, but all of these fall under the rubric of social problems. Each morning from the balcony and well into the apartment you can hear the sounds of someone or some persons screaming from Montagu Bay at the top of their lungs into the morning darkness. The sounds start religiously, if you will pardon the pun, about 5 a.m. It is simply a voice or voices shouting : Alleluia! Alleluia! Over and over again.

Curiosity got the better of this columnist and so we went to explore what these sounds were about. And there they were in the shadows of the dawn. It looked like three women hugging, then shouting at the air: Alleluia! On another morning, one of them stood alone in the water shouting Alleluia at the sky over and over again.

There is a certain response to pressure . You look to the Almighty. But many people forget the admonition that faith without works is nothing. And so it is a little frightening to see this kind of pathology developing in a society, when along with faith what we really need is works.

The country seems a little shaky at the moment. There are 70 murders for the year and 78 traffic fatalities. At first the Government tried to play it down with the silly argument that apart from murder crime was down. Now they have a new tack. Every time the Deputy Prime Minister gets up, he says that fifty per cent of the murders are because of domestic violence. That says something else again. The Police have now responded by starting a domestic violence unit to deal with that aspect of crime.

Then there are those in the middle class that see their income under siege by debt, too much debt. They also see the financial services sector under attack and the Government does not know how to respond, except by buckling under to the pressure. The Government never thought for one moment that it would affect the national psyche, to be humiliated by their abject surrender in the face of what are unprecedented demands and interference in the affairs of The Bahamas by the international community.

Where was the stand for private property and the right to private property. All gone. No wonder it feels like we are in a state of siege.

This week we had hits 17364 on the site up to midnight 9 December for the month of December. Thanks for reading and keep on reading.

LOST: Fredmitchelluncensored.com columns for April, 2000. If anyone has a copy of these columns for the weeks 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th April, 2000; please e-mail us a copy of them.

 PERMANENT LINKS

NEW THIS WEEK - Mitchell speech to PLP Convention

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

THE GANG OF FIVE
The political story of the week must be that of the five members of the Free National Movement who are identified by the Bahama Journal in a lead story on Tuesday 5 December as amongst those who may make a break from the FNM to form a new political party and eclipse the PLP in the House of Assembly as the official Opposition. It even caused silly old Hubert Ingraham to make, you guessed it, a silly old comment. He said that the change of the Official opposition could not happen without his input. There's a novel idea.  But the story is this, says the Bahama Journal. Tennyson Wells, Pierre Dupuch, Lester Turnquest, Floyd Watkins and Anthony Miller, all FNM MPs disgruntled with the leadership of Hubert Ingraham want to break away. They would have more than the PLP now has in Parliament and therefore the Governor General would choose Tennyson Wells to be the Leader of the Opposition. Such a situation would be similar to when the defunct Social Democratic Party led by Norman Solomon was replaced by the then Free National Democratic Movement when James Knowles left the SDP to join the FNDM making the FNDM the new opposition. Later for the 1982 election the “D” was dropped from FNDM to become FNM. The Leader of the PLP was asked by the Journal to comment and he only laughed. He laughed for good reason. A political party requires more than crossing the floor. It requires organization. And such a situation would create an artificial official opposition. The real opposition would still be the PLP. But of course, it would give Mr. Wells the chance to be leader of something, and to appoint Senators and be consulted on matters affecting the country, get a $70,000 a year salary (as a rich man that means little to him, cocktail money), and maybe Hubert would like that to happen to try and destroy the PLP. But it cannot happen. The PLP will survive and the PLP will beat the FNM in the next election. For good measure though and for the record Pierre Dupuch immediately denied the story, and so did Tennyson Wells.

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WELLS HOLDS A NEWS CONFERENCE
Tennyson Wells, the would be leader of the FNM held a news conference with the other four members of the so-called Gang Of Five  - Wells, Pierre Dupuch, Lester Turnquest, Floyd Watkins and Anthony Miller, all FNM Members of Parliament who are on the wrong side of Hubert Ingraham. Mr. Wells and the others at a news conference Friday 8 December denied that he and the others intend to spilt from the FNM as a result of losing to Mr. Ingraham at the last FNM convention.  Mr. Wells said that the story published in the press this week about such a break was spread by "... mischief makers lurking in the political shadows" but other observers are more pointed. They ask for astute readers to look at the story in the Bahama Journal which started the whole thing. That provides the clue as to who may be behind the story of the break. The story ends up suggesting that Dion Foulkes, Minister of Labour and son of former Minister of Tourism and Ambassador Arthur Foulkes, is to become the eventual leader of the FNM with Tommy Turnquest, Minister of Immigration and son of former Deputy Prime Minister now Governor General Orville Turnquest as his deputy.  In this scenario Foulkes is to be prime minister and Tommy to be deputy prime minister. With a wink and a nod the wise pundits are saying, guess who planted the story? You whistle and we'll point. Mr. Wells threatened to expose the 'mischief makers' if they do not stop their campaign of 'misinformation'.
 

JANET BOSTWICK FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS
It is said that the devil finds work for idle hands to do. And nowhere was that more evident than when Janet Bostwick, the Attorney General and Minister of Foreign Affairs awoke from her sleep to suggest to Parliament that the death penalty should be effected on those who sell drugs to children. Now this is the same Janet Bostwick who when she was helping Hubert Ingraham to hang Thomas Reckley was standing outside the courtroom talking to this columnist and telling him that she believed that she would have to answer to her God for seeking to hang Mr. Reckley. Now she wants to hang drug traffickers. Such is the desperation of the Attorney General and her colleagues over crime and the need to impress the Americans. They will say any foolishness and do any nonsense. Mrs. Bostwick was speaking on Monday 4 December in the House on the Dangerous Drugs Act 2000. This Act is to impose penalties of up to forty years for trafficking and a $500,000 fine. Obviously passing a law is going to make a difference in the mind of Mrs. Bostwick. She was there spouting off pretty words about how they are coming after the ill gotten gains of the drug traffickers. She is a part of the Government that granted permission for 4 million dollars of duty free equipment to come into Long Island and were about to grant permission to build a hotel from what is believed to be drug money until Bradley Roberts of the PLP stepped in. Hypocrites are what she and her colleagues are. As for hanging, if she really believed that how come she as Attorney General, not some idle bystander, did not put that in the bill so we could debate that. Now she doesn't mean a word of it. All she is doing is posturing. Go back to sleep Minister! It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove that you are one.
 

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JANET BOSTWICK ON GIRLS WITH OLDER MEN
Janet Bostwick, the somnambulant Minister of Foreign Affairs and political chief of the Womens' Desk has another concern these days. She says that under age girls living with older men are a growing concern for the Government as it confronts problems arising from sexual permissiveness. So The Tribune reported in its edition of Monday 4 December. She was speaking at the AIDS Foundation and Disabled Persons Awareness Walk on Saturday 2 December in Nassau. That was all a part of AIDS awareness week. It has also been revealed that AIDS is on the rise in The Bahamas again for the first time in five years, with young girls being those at greatest risk. The Tribune captured a photo of Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie with some of the walkers that morning fully regaled: from left Rev. Simeon Hall, President of the Bahamas Christian Council, Dr. Perry Gomez, the AIDS czar in The Bahamas, The Leader of the Opposition and Dr. Richard Van-West Charles, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) representative in The Bahamas
 

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ALARM BELLS OVER THE MALE GRADUATES OF COB
This columnist has been saying for years that there is a public policy problem when the number of females in the College of The Bahamas outnumber the males in COB three to one. The mealy mouthed Nassau Guardian, edited by that former JACKASS OF THE WEEK Oswald Brown, managed to do something useful this week on Thursday 7 December when they ran a story that there were only 21 males among the 138 graduates of the College of the Bahamas. The males at COB have their own ideas about why that is so. They suggest that the males want to get into the work force and start working to earn money right away. They support the females in their quest through school. The difficulty is that intellectually and educationally the two groups are increasingly mismatched and it is causing social problems in the country. Could that be the source of the rise in domestic violence? Thirty years at least of the women's movement has led to a situation where everywhere you look there is positive reinforcement for women, but the boys don't have it.  And the Government is doing a great disservice by refusing to recognize that it is a problem and that it needs to be addressed.
 

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THE PRESSURE IS ON WITH DRUG BUSTS
You have never seen such activity in Long Island in quite a while. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security was down in Clarence Town, Long Island within the last week to inaugurate a squad of 28 Police reservists to augment the regular members of the Force in Long Island. There have been two substantial drug busts in Long Island and scores have been brought to Nassau for questioning. Long Island is a hot area. That is largely because of Bradley Roberts PLP MP talking about what is going on there. This week Bradley Roberts sounded the alarm bells again when he indicated that the other hot spot in the country is Sandy Point, Abaco. He accused the Prime Minister of knowing that drug trafficking was going on in Sandy Point. The Prime Minister is an interesting fellow. The Americans should ask him when they speak to him what was his opinion when he was a backbencher and PLP Minister about contributions made to his political war chest by persons known to be in the drug business in his constituency in Abaco. What words of comfort did he give or not give to those who helped organize and run his campaign in North Abaco who could well have been involved in the business? Did he know and how much did he know and when did he know it? It is all well and good to play sanctimonious in these meetings today but tell us the true story.
 

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DRUG MAN NINETY IN CHAINS
This week the Police had Samuel 'Ninety' Knowles in chains. He was before the Court of Appeal and was represented by Howard Hamilton QC and Philip Davis. Mr. Knowles was appealing his conviction and sentence for possession of marijuana with intent to supply for which he got 18 months. This was much to the chagrin of the U.S. Ambassador. The photo by Franklyn Ferguson is shown.  He was serving the sentence when he appeared in court on Monday 4 December. But the police appear to want him for other things and are glad they got him. They believe that there should be an exemplary sentence for that reason. The amount of drugs was relatively small; but they suspect certain cases of violence in the society are tied to activities close to him. The death in a hail of bullets in Freeport of drug kingpin Ben Beneby in October 2000 is said to have been part of a war for turf between the forces of Ninety and the forces of Beneby.  We await the Court of Appeal's decision with interest.
 

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ROBERTS RAISES ISSUES ABOUT DRUG BILL
Bradley Roberts MP, speaking in the House of Assembly, raised concerns abut the constitutionality of the provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Bill now before Parliament. The Bill brought to the Parliament under pressure from the US Government will allow for the police to seize moneys suspected of being the proceeds of drug trafficking and hold it for up to 96 hours. It will also allow a Magistrate to confiscate the property of drug traffickers convicted in the Courts. Mr. Roberts called for realistic legislation. He asked the Prime Minister whether or not the constitution is to be amended to accommodate provisions of the Bill that he was advised were unconstitutional.
 

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US STATE DEPT. OFFICER CALLS ON FRED MITCHELL
One of the incarnations of this columnist is as Official Spokesman on Foreign Affairs for the Opposition PLP. And in that connection, Desk Officer Carl Cockburn who runs the Bahamas Desk for the United States Department of State paid a courtesy call on this Senator together with Lee Martinez, the Political Officer of the US Embassy in. Nassau. This senator made the point to the officer in welcoming him that the PLP's central policy in foreign affairs is that the relationship with the US and The Bahamas is the primary relationship and we would do nothing to jeopardize that relationship. At the same time, however, we expressed the concerns of the Bahamian people and our constituents about the efforts by US authorities to pressure our financial sector. We spoke of a deep resentment about it. The Bahamas is also waiting with bated breath for the report of the Federal Aviation Administration on the Nassau International Airport.  It is widely expected to say that the NIA is so replete with problems that it is being downgraded to a category two airport. That means that all existing flight arrangements cannot be expanded. This affects the growth of tourism industry, and especially Bahamasair and private charters operating into the US from The Bahamas. More woes! But we have to admit that the airport is a total and absolute disgrace. The photo shows Lee Martinez, Political Officer Mr. Senator Mitchell and Desk Officer Carl Cockburn.
 

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THE PM AND THE PARADISE ISLAND FAIRY TALE
Hubert Ingraham was at it again. See him grinning from ear to ear and in the iron grip of Sol Kerzner, the Paradise Island magnate who has withdrawn from the world to become king alone on PI. The Tribune carried this photo on Friday 8 December. Interestingly enough there are three clerics behind the two men: two Archbishops (One Anglican and one Roman Catholic) and the President of the Christian Council. So was this all with the blessing of the Lord? So Sol and Ingraham would have it, one imagines. But we have to ask the question: do either of them actually believe in. God? Things that make you go hmmm! But now for the fairy tale. Mr. Ingraham said at the opening of the Ocean Club on Thursday night 7 December the following: “This investment has fuelled the single biggest development in Bahamian tourism and must be credited with energizing the regeneration of our once upon a time declining tourism and hotel sector... Since Sun International's arrival in. The Bahamas in 1993, the local tourism product has been taken from lacklustre and under-performing to the premier product of the region.“ One supposes that that is all well and good as far as it goes. But let's reveal some facts. First; until last year, the FNM's record in absolute numbers of tourists did not surpass the high of the PLP in its penultimate year in office in 1991. And even though those numbers have now been surpassed, the fact is that tourism growth is still stagnant. There is still an unprecedented tourism boom and hotel construction boom in the the United States but it has virtually come to a halt here. Sun is clearly in financial trouble, Grand Bahama's tourism is anaemic with its newest hotel owner apparently struggling to find money to invest in the completion of its projects. And the Clarion in New Providence and its owner who also owns the new Hilton British Colonial are all in need of capital. So where is the re-energisig? Also we cannot miss this opportunity to once again say that the reason that Sun was not invited here by the PLP was because sanctions by the Commonwealth prevented any investment by South Africans in the country. It should also be noted that throughout the hemisphere, tourism and hotel sectors were in. the doldrums. That did not turn around until after the Gulf war in 1991. The FNM came to office in mid 1992. So Mr. Ingraham don't take too much credit, In fact, don't take any at all.
 

JAMES HEPPLE'S TOURISM SITE

If you would like to know more about tourism in The Bahamas and how its has developed by numbers and some history, why not click on to a new site <www.jameshepple.com>. Mr. Hepple is Deputy General Manager of Tourism whose specialty is statistics. It is an excellent site, and with his permission we would like to make it a permanent link to our site. Perhaps this will help distill the Government's lies from the truth on tourism. He is pictured in The Tribune, published on Monday 4 December presenting a gift to the Emersons, a couple who has visited the Bahamas 40 times since 1968. To the left of the Emersons is Mary Morris, Chief Executive, Visitor Relations at MOT.
 

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BAHAMASAIR...THE BUS SYSTEM...MORE FM

Some news shorts. More FM led by General Manger Galen Saunders (pictured in.a Nassau Guardian photo) has announced that MORE FM is now utilizing its national licence. The other private national licence went to 100 JAMZ. None of them serve The Bahamas like 1540 AM of ZNS. The signal can now reach in addition to New Providence 70 per cent of Andros, Governors Harbour, Eleuthera and points north; Harbour Island, Spanish Wells and the Berry Islands. You will remember that the Government tried to force a marriage between Wendall Jones of Love 97 and the Saunders family for the one national licence. When it didn't work out, the Government gave Mr. Jones a private local licence for radio. He has been trying to get a national one ever since. No amount of sucking up to the Prime Minister has moved the policy.  Come on PM: Give the man the licence.... Bahamasair pilots have signed an agreement with Bahamasair that ends the industrial dispute. Whoopee, we'll all be able to shop until we drop in Miami. But see the story about the dropping reserves which follows below... Once again the Government is tinkering with the bus system. Controller of Road Traffic Brensil Rolle has commissioned a new bus depot and stopping area in the boondocks behind East Hill Street. He has also split the pick up points for east bound and west bound buses. Of course the bus drivers don't like it and are up in arms. But Mr. Rolle says most drivers are happy about it and there are only minor adjustments needed to make the system work.
 

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FRANKLYN WILSON ON THE COUNTRY'S FINANCES
Franklyn Wilson, the former Member of Parliament and Senator has raised the alarm again about the decline in the country's finances. As you know, the B dollar gets its value from the US dollar. The Central Bank maintains a reserve requirement so that there are US dollars in the Bank to back up the value of the B dollar. For every B dollar there is supposed to be one US dollar available to give credit overseas for the B dollar. When we spend a B dollar we lessen the reserve to the extent that this has to buy imports which is abut 70 per cent of the time. So to the question of the state of the economy. Mr. Franklyn Wilson points out in a letter to PLP Parliamentarians that in the most recent Economic Quarterly of the Central Bank, the bank points out that excess liquidity, i.e. the money banks have to lend creditors in the system has declined from 16 August 2000 at $156,000,000 to 25 October at $61,000,000. If the Government argues he says that this is only the usual cyclical declines for merchants to get Christmas inventory, he points out that the decline in 1999 over the same period in 2000 was 22 per cent but this year it is 52 per cent. But we can feel it in other ways. The number of people who come begging or looking for short time work. The defaults and delays in the paying of bills. The obvious fact that hotels and other major general construction has stopped. We also know that what helped to augment this inflow of capital that the FNM was boasting about was drug money. What has the FNM to say? Probably nothing!  Now the legitimate financial services sector is under siege. Ho hum another FNM day!
 

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BARRY MALCOLM GETS A NEW JOB

Barry Malcolm has quit his job with the Bahamas Financial Services Board to take a position as Executive Vice President of the Grand Bahama Port Authority. This is the job which most people think will lead to the eventual successor to Albert Miller as the Chief Bahamian in the company. We shall see, since Mr. Miller isn't likely to be going anywhere any time soon. But one thing about Malcolm, he sure knows how to manoeuvre.
 

NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
FNM Group's New Watchword - The new watchword among a certain group of FNMs in Freeport is that they're looking for 'fresh water'. These insistent pols are referring to FNM leader Ingraham and the fact that despite his victory at convention, they still hold hope that he will go before the next general election.

Ingraham The Impatient - Parents are upset over what they took as an insult to their children by the Prime Minister during the recent opening of the new Grand Bahama Sports Stadium. The children were staging a performance specifically to welcome the Prime Minister to the podium when he cut short their parade saying he had a plane to catch. The children were told to sit down. Grumbling parents - staunch FNMs among them - were outraged at the perceived insult.

'Iron' Mike Hosts Big Party  - Pier One, the exclusive waterfront eatery perched at the mouth of Freeport Harbour was taken over with guests of former FNM Regional Vice Chairman Mike Edwards ordering surf & turf by the dozens.  The occasion was Mike's 38th birthday celebration. A virtual who's who of Grand Bahama politics and business turned up for the affair, among them PLP leader in the Senate Dr. Marcus Bethel, and PLP West End hopeful Senator Obie Wilchcombe. Later accused of mischief within the FNM, Mike said he was not about to break up what he made and isn't going anywhere... Happy Birthday Mike.

Looking For Seats - Word on the political beat in Grand Bahama is that Hubert Ingraham is looking to replace two sitting Grand Bahama MPs with Ingraham loyalists at the next election - assuming the FNM manages to hold the seats. Observers report that Marco City MP David Thompson was never more than scant inches away from Mr. Ingraham during the recent sports stadium opening leading to speculation that he is protecting his interests. There is one lady Ingraham loyalist in Grand Bahama who has been repeatedly promised a local nomination and this week the announcement came that Grand Bahama's Barry Malcolm has signed on with the Grand Bahama Port Authority. Things that make you go hmmm!

Las Palmas Deal Closed - Representatives of  more than one group of investors in Grand Bahama were chagrined this week as hotelier and controversial businessman Arne Pedersen, good friend of Minister of Tourism C.A. Smith closed the deal to buy Las Palmas hotel in Andros from the Government for $500.000. "Other people have offered the government as much as million and a half dollars" said one. Another potential buyer for Las Palmas complained "the furnishing in that hotel alone is worth over a half million."

Resorts at Bahamia Robbed - Our correspondent reports that Resorts at Bahamia's Country Club was robbed this week as an armed gunman jumped over the front desk to the cashier's behind. The criminal was said to have been disappointed at the amount of cash in the till... "It must be the off season" he grumbled. Reports are that renovation costs at the newly acquired property are running 100 percent over budget.

Bahamian Footballers Advance - Bahamian high school footballers Eldin Ferguson (from Grand Bahama) and Rashad Butler advanced with their Florida high school team the Dwyer Panthers to the state championship in Gainesville. The two played crucial roles in the team's finals victory over Tate high school for the trip to the championships. We encourage anyone with news of Bahamians overseas to e-mail us.

Flap Over Official IDs - Questions are being raised in Grand Bahama by the CDR's Rawle Maynard over the apparent insistence of officials at the harbour and the airport that Customs and Immigration officers apply for identification badges. Mr. Maynard calls it an 'assumption of authority'. More things that make you go hmmm!


 

 

17th December, 2000 
This Week on fredmitchelluncensored.com

JANET BOSTWICK DEFENDS HENRY  WHAT BRADLEY ROBERTS SAID ABOUT A LEXUS 
THE RIGHTS OF A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT  A QUESTION FOR MRS. BOSTWICK 
SUMMARY OF THE BILLS PASSED BY THE HOUSE  BOBBY BROWN AND WIFE WHITNEY HOUSTON VISIT 
THE US AMBASSADOR STEPS IN IT AGAIN  US AMBASSADOR LEAVING 
A GEORGE BUSH PRESIDENCY  BURNS HOUSE GETS A CURVE BALL
LADY PINDLING AND HER HUSBAND'S BOOK  A MESSAGE TO THE CDR BANQUET
A FINAL WORD ON FRANK AND JIMMY  MOULTRIE AT HOLY SPIRIT
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA..  
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return to the top of the page.
Photo of Senator Mitchell by Peter Ramsay


NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

THE QUALITY OF DEFENCE

Janet Bostwick, the person whom we like to call the somnambulant Minister of Foreign Affairs awoke from one of her periodic political sleeps this week for what has to be a most remarkable thing. There she was rising to the defence of her husband, the President of the Senate J. Henry Bostwick. Now the President Mr. Bostwick is not a political neophyte by any means, so one wonders what caused Mrs. Bostwick to rise to his defence.

This was a week for such defences. The week started off with Jimmy Knowles, the FNM MP for Long Island defending himself from the attacks of Bradley Roberts the PLP Chairman over Mr. Knowles' role as the Member of Parliament for Long Island. Then Frank Watson, the Deputy Prime Minister was not to be outdone; he got up and defended himself about his role in Long Island with regard to the anti-drug trafficking effort. He is also the Minister for National Security. He was helped of course by a front page photo of himself in the mealy-mouthed Nassau Guardian.

The Nassau Guardian has become whorish in its defence of the Free National Movement. All the gloves are off now, and there is no pretence about that newspaper being a newspaper anymore. It is a pure out and out propaganda rag for the Free National Movement. The editorials have lost any neutral tone or quality to them. They simply out and out attack the PLP in the most personal terms.

The Prime Minister in his own inimitable way had his own apology to make. He accepted that the country had made a mint off the IBC business, that the country (and by that one supposes it means he did) knew that we were making it off some bad money, but we did it anyway. But ever the contrite, while at the same time ever the bombastic, Mr. Ingraham promised that as of the passage of the new Financial Bills, he has started a new course for The Bahamas. We are going to clean up our act. That's a joke right?

The problem is that we still don't know what we are buying into. This week, we look at the legislation that is promised and has been passed in the House of Assembly and now in the Senate for consideration, and how it is likely to affect the course of the modern Bahamas.

One thing all of this defence has shown is that Bradley Roberts and the PLP have them on the run. The FNM once so secure in their majority, now look over their shoulder. We are coming to get them, and they had better keep running and run fast.

This week, we had 29857 hits on the site up to midnight 17 December. Please keep reading and thanks for reading.
 

LOST: Fredmitchelluncensored.com columns for April, 2000. If anyone has a copy of these columns for the weeks 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th April, 2000; please e-mail us a copy of them.

 PERMANENT LINKS

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

JANET BOSTWICK DEFENDS HENRY
Henry Bostwick was once a Leader of the Opposition. He has run for Parliament more times than you can shake a stick at from his earliest political days. He was a political dissident of the PLP, from the early days. He opposed the United Bahamian Party dread star in the old days. But nothing apparently caused his wife to come out in his defence like the allegation made from the floor of the House which suggested that a Lexus driven by him, a brand new Lexus of which he is justly proud was not simply that. So at least was the take of his wife, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Janet Bostwick. She attacked Bradley Roberts, the MP for Grants Town and Chairman of the PLP for making such suggestions. Here's what she is quoted as having said in the House: “Janet and Henry Bostwick have been the objects of attack by leading members of the PLP for more than some fourteen, sixteen years and you may ask why. It is because we both in and out of Parliament took very strong positions with respect to the leadership of that party as a result of damaging evidence emanating from the condemning report of the Commission of Inquiry which took place in 1983 and 1984.” According to The Tribune, Mrs. Bostwick confirmed that her husband drives a Lexus and that it was purchased in The Bahamas for a fair price. She said that she did not know about any stolen Lexus being under investigation for its importation into The Bahamas without paying customs duties. “I do know that customs duty was paid on it [the Lexus] What do you have to say about it Grants Town? And if you got something to say about it, say it out there not in here” By that she was daring Mr. Roberts to repeat the statements outside the House of Assembly. Well, all we say: things that make you go hmmm!

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WHAT BRADLEY ROBERTS SAID ABOUT A LEXUS
According to The Tribune of Friday 16 December, Bradley Roberts, the Chairman of the PLP, was speaking in the House of Assembly while wrapping up debate on Thursday 7 December on the Proceeds of Crime Bill. Mr. Roberts asked the Member for Yamacraw, who is Janet Bostwick and also the Attorney General if she knew about a Lexus that is being said to be one of the cars that is now the subject of the investigation concerning stolen high class cars that were imported without paying customs duties: “I ask that while the maximum leader [Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham] was saying at his convention that we should be good citizens, has he excluded his Attorney General from that statement? Was this one of the lawyers that he was taking about when he said he would not consult crooks about the Bills we are debating?”

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THE RIGHTS OF A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
Each member of the Parliament has certain powers, immunities and privileges conferred by law on them. The one that most affects the public is the right of free speech. There is often a debate about whether or not this privilege should be abridged to allow for Senators and Members of Parliament to be sued for libel for what they say about non-members in the House and in the Senate. In Britain they have been talking about allowing the public a right of reply in the House. There is no serious move toward abolishing the privilege. But it is always interesting to hear lame Members of Parliament like Janet Bostwick get up and dare other members to repeat what they say outside. How stupid can you get? That defeats the whole purpose of the immunity. The point is that the House and the Senate, together called Parliament are to be the highest forum in the land, where freedom of speech abounds without having to concern one's self about civil or criminal liability. The law says that nothing is actionable from what you say in the Parliament either in the criminal or the civil law. So poor Janet to dare Mr. Roberts to say outside what he said inside is a nonsense. The fact is that both she and her husband have the means to defend themselves. That is the argument the Americans use for their standard in libel cases --- you have to show malice to succeed in libel if you are a public figure. The courts there say that you have the ability as a public figure to defend yourself and your reputation in kind. Mrs. Bostwick simply has to answer the questions posed by Mr. Roberts or let it rest quietly. Certainly the country is talking about the Lexus.

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A QUESTION FOR MRS. BOSTWICK
There was a story run in The Punch, the popular twice weekly gossip rag. It was all the rage at the time. We forget which year. But the story is told how Members of Parliament could hear Hubert Ingraham and Henry Bostwick, Senate President arguing in the smoking room of the House of Assembly. And what did the Prime Minister threaten to do: he is reported to have told Senator Bostwick, the President of the Senate and owner of the Lexus car that he could write a letter to the Governor General on toilet paper and have Henry replaced in the Senate. Well quite apart from the disrespect that would show to the Governor General, the question we have is where was Janet Bostwick the wife of our esteemed Senate President when the Prime Minister threatened her husband with dismissal. There were no public protests by Mrs. Bostwick then. And the Prime Minister did not say his comments using the privilege of the House of Assembly, he simply abused the privilege of power. That's our PM for you. Mind you he would not try that move on someone like Senator Lynn Holowesko. And if you e-mail us, we'll tell why he wouldn't do so. A clue: he knows his 'betters'. But it only goes to show that Janet Bostwick is a puff of wind. She has plenty of mouth when it comes to an allegation about a Lexus for which duty may not have been paid, but when it really came to defending her husband's honour against a big bad bully, Janet Bostwick was yes you guessed it, asleep at the wheel.

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SUMMARY OF THE BILLS PASSED BY THE HOUSE
The Government went off to the US this week to have meetings with the Financial Action Task Force (FAFT) of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Miami to see if what has been done in terms of selling out the sovereignty of The Bahamas is enough to get us off this blacklist of the OECD. The interesting thing is that while The Bahamas has abjectly surrendered to this blackmail by these countries, no one is quite sure whether what we are doing is actually going to get us off this list. The Americans have made it plain to us that what they want to see is how it is enforced. And the US Ambassador speaking at the joint action task force on drug operations in The Bahamas was at it again, telling The Bahamas that so far so good but he wants to see the laws in action. But for your information here are the bills passed by the House and what they purport to do (the summary was provided by The Tribune's Tosheena Robinson on Friday 15 December):

Financial Intelligence Unit Bill - this will establish a unit of the Government that will collect financial information on accounts in The Bahamas on criminal financial offences. The Bill gives the power to the unit to freeze bank accounts for up to five days and to provide information to foreign financial intelligence units

The Criminal Justice International Co-operation Bill - this is to facilitate the full implementation of the Vienna Convention on drugs. This assists in criminal investigations across borders

The Central Bank of The Bahamas Bill - under this Bill the Central Bank Governor's powers will be considerably enhanced and made more independent of the Government.

The Banks and Trust Companies Regulations Bill makes it more difficult to get a licence in The Bahamas and countries overseas will be able to intervene directly in The Bahamas to police banks from their respective countries of origin while those banks are here in The Bahamas.

Dangerous Drugs Bill - This is to increase fines and prison terms. On summary conviction (by a magistrate) you can get five years in jail or $500,000 fine. In the Supreme Court the maximum fine of $750,000 or forty years

Financial Transactions Reporting Bill - This is to facilitate the so called know your customer rules, already in place in most banks but they will now become law not just at the request of the Central Bank. Further, this is a companion to the Financial Intelligence Unit Bill.

Proceeds of Crime Bill - Under this bill the power to confiscate the proceeds of crime including buildings, boats, cars and those items passed on to others is now to be vested in a Magistrate in addition to the power already vested in the Supreme Court

International Business Companies Act ( IBCs) This bill requires new registration and disclosure requirements for these companies. You have to disclose the beneficial owners and bearer shares are to be abolished. The Prime Minister expects a drop in revenue of 20 million dollars as a result of this.

Financial and Corporate Services Providers Regulations Bill - lawyers, accountants and business managers who want to incorporate and manage IBCs have to get a licence from the Government to do so.

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BOBBY BROWN AND WIFE WHITNEY HOUSTON VISIT
Despite all the bad news for Sun International and their credit rating, Sol Kerzner, the whiz who created a billion dollar empire on little Paradise Island, was having a whale of a time with his lovely wife last week. The occasion, the official opening of the 100 million-dollar renovated Ocean Club. Guests of honour the Browns aka Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston. And the pictures on the front page showed they were having a jolly good time. But Senator Obie Wilchcombe speaking in the Senate on Tuesday 14 December told the country that he was concerned that here were two people who were cocaine users, openly known, who were allowed into The Bahamas. Mr. Brown, the popular American singer, was convicted and served jail time for cocaine use. Ms. Houston has admitted publicly to having a habit. They also have a stormy marriage and they apparently take that reputation and trouble wherever they go. There are some stories we would like to know about what really happened on Paradise Island while they were here. Senator Wilchcombe said that while the US was excluding Bahamians from coming to their country because of a cocaine conviction we were glorifying a convict for cocaine on the front page. Things that make you go hmmm!

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THE US AMBASSADOR STEPS IN IT AGAIN
Our friend the United States Ambassador despite friendly advice and warnings from the Leader of the Opposition was at it again. This time he was speaking in support of Janet Bostwick, the sleep at the wheel Minister of Foreign Affairs, for the death penalty for drug traffickers. The difficulty one has with these interventions of the US Ambassador is that they are clearly tendentious. He makes official statements at a joint meeting of the operations of The Bahamas and the US on drug interdiction. He says that the Government is doing a great job co-operating with he US. He says that he recognizes that people want him to take his nose out our business, but he sticks in it anyway. What he says now can no longer be seen as personal interventions but as official US policy, that is, hostile to those who oppose the FNM. The fact is Janet Bostwick's Government has been inept in the extreme on these matters. Look at the mess we are in with this financial blacklist. How can a Government that is getting all this pat on the back from the US land us so deep in the doodoo? How can the US Ambassador supporte the death penalty for drug traffickers or least the call for it by the Foreign Minister without first examining whether or not Janet Bostwick is a mere bystander? She is part of a Government that has bills before Parliament now but no where does it say anything about the death penalty for drug traffickers. So that means that she let a whole bill on drug trafficking be drafted in her office and pass the Cabinet but not a peep about her pet peeve, the death penalty for drug traffickers. Come Mr. Ambassador, think again.

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US AMBASSADOR LEAVING
The United States Ambassador to The Bahamas William Schecter is to leave The Bahamas at the pleasure of the new President of the United States when Bill Clinton vacates office to George Walker Bush on 20 January. Mr. Schecter is the most voluble Ambassador since Carol Boyd Hallet was accused by the PLP of deliberately siding with the FNM opposition as it then was and helping them to overthrow the PLP in 1992.

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A GEORGE BUSH PRESIDENCY
Bahamians have been for the weeks since the election in the US on 7 November at once annoyed and amused at the inconclusive Florida election. The final result seemed even more ludicrous. The Supreme Court of the United States, dominated by Republican appointed judges, made a decision to deny the counting of the votes of thousands of people mainly from the Black community of the United States. That signalled to many Bahamians that racism is on the rise again in the US. But others were happy that Bush won, for business reasons. They think that with Bush in office, the Republicans will reverse much of this intrusion into the private affair of their citizens abroad that has come under the Democrats. The wish is that our financial services sector will be saved. Don't hold your breath. One gets the impression that this is civil service driven and Bush won't have the clout to change any of this because of the close election. And so many of us who are enamoured of the US system are now ashamed at the blatant biases and politics of that system, a system that discounted the votes of Blacks in a state run by the President-elect's brother and ultimately decided by a Court which was filled with appointees of the party that has won. It will be interesting to see who the new Ambassador to this country will be.

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BURNS HOUSE GETS A CURVE BALL
You may remember the news at the start of the year, Burns House bought Butler and Sands, their main competitor in the liquor business in The Bahamas. There is now a virtual monopoly in the liquor business. First the good news, that makes Tiger Finlayson perhaps the richest Black man in the country. He has now appointed his son Mark Finlayson to be the company's president. General Bahamian Companies the owner of these companies has just declared a dividend of $1.17 per share to its shareholders of record. Last time we checked ABDAB, the holding company for all the brewery related businesses, also majority owned by Tiger was trading at 37 dollars per share. So from all accounts they are doing well. Now comes a curve ball. The Chairman of the Licencing Authority deferred dealing with the licences of all the outlets of the Butler and Sands company. The reason says the Chairman at a meeting on Thursday 14 December of the Authority, the company changed hands, the beneficial owner changed hands and the Licencing Authority was not told. That may be a breach of the law. Their lawyers Sean McWeeney, former Attorney General and Michael Barnett, former Bar President, were asked to return next week to show cause why the licences should not be cancelled. This spells a spot of trouble because Butler and Sands under Tiger decided to franchise out the store operations to small businessmen. They have already done so, apparently without reference to the Authority. The results would be catastrophic if cancellations follow. Perhaps the Licensing Authority will let common sense prevail. But now, we must not let these monopolies as a matter of policy be acceptable.

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LADY PINDLING AND HER HUSBAND'S BOOK

Kelly's Home Centre hosted Lady Marguerite Pindling to a special promotional session at the Centre last week. She autographed copies of her husband's collection of speeches as edited by Patty Roker. The picture of The Tribune published on Friday 15 December shows Lady Pindling with Nancy B. Kelly, Vice President of Kelly's.

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A MESSAGE TO THE CDR BANQUET
The Charter Banquet of the Coalition for Democratic Reform (CDR), headed by PLP-elected MP Dr. Bernard Nottage was held at the  Superclubs Breezes Hotel on Cable Beach on Thursday 14 December.  Raynard Rigby, an attorney, was invited to the banquet, and here’s what he had in part to tell them: “For the benefit of CDR, I stand here this evening and advise that after careful review and analysis of the political environment, it will be morally convenient for the CDR to explore the options of joining or being joined by one of the major political  parties or by a sizeable amount of parliamentarians who are inclined to cross the floor.  This is not an idealistic vision but one that is fostered on the practical and pragmatic understanding of Bahamian politics and that calls for leaders to be both mature and sensible.”  Now just what does that mean? Things that make you go hmmm!

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A FINAL WORD ON FRANK AND JIMMY
They had a good rant. The lingo these days calls it venting. That's all it could be because their words ring hollow and their actions say even more about their ineptitude and ineffectiveness as public servants. But they were all in the House this week: Frank Watson, the Deputy Prime Minister under fire from Bradley Roberts MP for being a hopeless Minister of National Security. He stands accused of knowing that his nephew might have been involved in a drug driven enterprise in Long Island. James Knowles, the MP for Long Island and hopeless Minister of Transport, stands accused by Bradley Roberts MP PLP of being involved in protecting a family enterprise that might also have been involved in drugs, and allowing a drug driven operation to flourish in Long Island. Algernon Allen, stands accused by Bradley Roberts MP PLP of working as a lawyer in abject complicity, with a known drug trafficker. They were all hollering this week. Mr. Watson said that the criticism was most unfair and that it really hurts (poor baby). Mr. Knowles said that Mr. Roberts shouldn't talk because his son died in a drug plane when it crashed so he can't talk (that's like I got last on you). Mr. Allen said that he was exonerated by the Commission of Inquiry in 1984 (of course, we know that what the Commission says and what the public believes are two different things). The beautiful big picture that the JACKASS OF THE WEEK Ossie Brown, Editor of the Nassau Guardian, had on the front page of Mr. Watson can't help him. He is sinking down, down, down and so is the FNM. Good bye boys. Hope you do well, but we are coming to get you. By the way the erstwhile Jackass of the Week, published an editorial this week in which he said that the Government should pass a new rule to limit Bradley Roberts time to speak in the House. But get this even if Bradley Roberts had just five minutes that is enough for time for him to say again what he called Mr. Oswald Brown, editor of the Nassau Guardian, a reprobate.
 

MOULTRIE AT HOLY SPIRIT

Reverend Father James Moultrie is the new Rector of the Anglican Church of The Holy Spirit in Chippingham, Nassau. Father Moultrie was instituted at a service of celebration Tuesday evening 12 December. Congratulations to Father Moultrie. He is shown in this Tribune picture with Archbishop Drexel Gomez who was the chief celebrant at the service.

NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
FNM Conflict - The new Regional Vice Chairman for the FNM in Grand Bahama Alex 'Fire' Pratt is feeling his oats. Reports are that Pratt mounted a failed attempt to fire Stephanie Ferguson, known to be one of the most capable administrators that party has in Grand Bahama. Weeks ago, we reported that Ingraham loyalists were having second thoughts about replacing 'Iron' Mike Edwards in the post now held by Pratt. Further reports say that no less a person than Prime Minister Ingraham had to 'rebuke' Mr. Pratt for what was described as 'over enthusiastic bashing' of Mr. Ingraham's enemies on the FNM Council. Pratt was reminded that 'We all is one'. Yeah, right.

Bahamia News Conference - In an apparent response to public mutterings over its programme of renovation, the Resorts at Bahamia, formerly Princess Properties, held a news conference in Grand Bahama this week. The thrust of their news was that yes, renovations though behind schedule are continuing, yes, despite what the public's suspicions are, the funds of the renovations are in place, but there will be layoffs next year; perhaps more than the ten percent originally forecast. We'll watch and see.

Smoke & Mirrors - In politics, there is an adage that goes 'Trouble begins when you begin to believe your own press releases'. Such was the story which unfolded during a Christmas visit by one of our correspondents and his family to the Port Lucaya Marketplace. This is the shopping area which is located across from the new 'Our Lucaya' hotel and modelled after New Orleans' famed Bourbon Street. By all accounts it is supposed to symbolize the 'return' of Freeport to success and profitability. Yesterday Saturday 16 December, scant days before Christmas, the place was like a ghost town. Merchants in store after store were torn between trying to sell our correspondent (the only potential customer in sight) something and launching into political complaints about the FNM.

Fred Duncombe Dies - Condolences to the family of Fred Duncombe, 88, who was buried yesterday in Bimini. Mr. Duncombe was father of Dr. Paul Duncombe and Carol, Mrs. Arthur Sherman and grandfather to Sonya Seymour.


 

24th December, 2000 
This Week on fredmitchelluncensored.com

THE BILLS TO BAN THE BLACKLIST BAHAMEN WELCOMED BACK HOME
BAHAMA JOURNAL REPORTS CABINET RESHUFFLE SOL KERZNER AND INGRAHAM'S BOYS
ESCAPE OF CUBAN PRISONERS AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ON WORK TO RULE
NO GROUPERS FOR CHRISTMAS? APOLOGIES TO FRANKLIN FERGUSON
POLICE HAVE A SPEED CRACKDOWN ALBERT MILLER INSPECTS POLICE RECRUITS
SIMEON HALL ATTACKS BRADLEY ROBERTS REVEREND HALL AND THE JUDICIARY
CENTRAL BANK ISSUES COINS OF GOLDEN GIRLS ALL THE BEST FOR THE SEASON
AND MY MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA..
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return to the top of the page.
Photo of Senator Mitchell by Peter Ramsay


 

NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

A PATHETIC LITTLE MAN

Darron Cash, the FNM Senator, has engaged in a series of actions that can best be described as those of a total political prostitute. We are sorry to say it, but the facts are the facts. This Senator has told the man on at least four occasions that he ought to recognize that certain things in life are sacred. One of them is pre-existing friendships with people. And what goes on in that life should not be used as part of the political leverage you employ even after you have parted company.

Apparently, while adept intellectually, he is a little too impish to recognize that fact. He appears to be socially retarded and things like loyalty to friends appears not to matter in the face of political ambition. And so he has now become a total out and out hatchet man for the Prime Minister. The little puppet in the Senate, who can be counted on a like a jack in the box and like a jackass to jump up and defend when no defence is needed.

And so it was this past week, that it came to pass that he rose again to defend his dear Prime Minister. The reason he said was that he did not like the way this Senator described his Prime Minister as having as serious inferiority complex when it comes to dealing with people who are the descendants of the slave masters. The facts are the facts. There is no answer to it, and the evidence is there for all to see. It is a pity that PM has such a complex when he is on the face of it so successful at so many things.

But Mr. Ingraham does not have to defend himself, he has the Senate idiot to jump and amuse his fellow Senators. They and all the FNMs in the Senate know which Senator was responsible for him being where he is, for what he is today and for shaping his political personality, for helping to project him on the public stage. Actually it is amusing to watch him at work. He can't help himself. For this Senator it is like looking in a mirror. And that is a source of embarrassment to Senator Cash, he recognizes that he is trying so hard to be the very man he is attacking. To do that he has to try to destroy this Senator. So he gets up to defend the Prime Minister by launching into a bitter, sarcastic and cowardly attack on this Senator. It is almost as if he is using it as an exorcism.

Poor man! We feel sorry for him. But as one of his fellow FNM Senators said in the Senate on Thursday 21 December, a loose goat does not know how a tied goat feels. Senator Cash as you know from last week's story has just gotten married. Maybe he ought to go home to his wife and take his petty little frustrations to that altar in the privacy of his home.

Today is Christmas Eve. It does not feel very charitable to this Senator. But Bahamians are pleased because the 'cold' weather has come. The temperature is in the 60s at night. That means we get to put on our 'good' clothes. The wife of H. Campbell Cleare III, the lovely Sharon and their daughter celebrated their birthdays at a party at his West Bay Street home on Friday 22 December. Sorry we couldn't make it but we are sure a good time was had by one and all.

This week we had 8,033 hits on the site up to midnight 23 December, making it 37,890 hits for the month of December. Thanks for reading and keep reading.

JUNKANOO RESULTS:

1st Valley Boys

2nd One Family

3rd Roots

4th Saxons

5th Music Makers

 
LOST: Fredmitchelluncensored.com columns for April, 2000. If anyone has a copy of these columns for the weeks 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th April, 2000; please e-mail us a copy of them.

 PERMANENT LINKS

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
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http://www.bahamiansonline.com Links to Bahamians on the web
http://www.bahamanet.com/JujuTree.cfm Politics Forum
http://www.jameshepple.com/ Tourism Statistics

THE BILLS TO BAN THE BLACKLIST
The Senate was called back into session by the Government this week on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 December. The reason: to pass nine bills (see last week's story) to get The Bahamas off the so-called financial blacklist of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Opposition objected to the manner and method by which the bills were being brought to Parliament. After the full debate on the Bills on Wednesday, the Government announced that the Bills would have to be amended further but that they didn't know what the amendments would be so the Senate would have to return on the Thursday in order to complete its work. On Thursday 21 December the Senate reconvened and the amendments were still not ready. In fact it turns out that they were still being drafted. The draftsman Feisal Mohammed was still writing away when there was a power failure at his office in the Attorney General's Chambers. That required him and his staff to move down to the House of Assembly on late Thursday afternoon to use the printing equipment there. Then the legislation had to be reviewed by the Prime Minister who then okayed it. The Cabinet did not get a chance to see it, but it became law anyway. It was an incredible exercise. The Senate was suspended indefinitely at 4 p.m. and we all had to cool our heels until 7 p.m. when the amendments were ready. The House of Assembly that had earlier been adjourned to 21 February is to be recalled by the Speaker next Wednesday 27 December to deal with the Senate's amendments. This was a wholly incompetent way to do business. This Senator did not support any of the measures, because he refuses to sign on to anything that he does not have a chance to properly study and understand. In any event, the Government is acting in too much haste without exploring other avenues to deal with the problem.

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BAHAMEN WELCOMED BACK HOME
Senators stood outside on the balcony of the Senate and waved and joined in the "Woof! Woof! Woof!" from their popular song 'Who let the dogs out?' as the parade passed by with scores of well wishers welcoming the Bahamian pop group Bahamen back to town on Thursday 21 December after a successful five month tour of the United States and Europe. We must all know how successful the group is with a Billboard Award for the song, the song being described as the summer anthem of the US, and the song being a great commercial success with it going triple platinum. They performed the song on Jay Leno's Tonight Show on NBC in America and during the US World Series Baseball Game. Bahamians are yet again made proud by the success of our citizen's abroad. The group's success was being compared to that of the Golden Girls who won the gold medal in the 4 by 100 relay in Sydney in September of this year. We congratulate Isiah Taylor and the other eight members of his band for their shining success. Nassau Guardian photo.

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BAHAMA JOURNAL REPORTS CABINET RESHUFFLE
Those of you who have good memories will remember that last year this time there was all this speculation about Mr. Ingraham shuffling his Cabinet and shuffle it he did. One of the Ministers that he sacked was Earl Deveaux, then Minister of Agriculture, he said that Mr. Deveaux would remain out of the Government with the mandate to create a new Ministry of the Environment and then rejoin the Cabinet in September 2000. That month has passed and no one recalled the promise. Now the Bahama Journal speculates again that Dame Ivy Dumont is at last to retire from the job as Minister of Education. She has barely been functioning there for at least the past half year. But they say that she has been waiting for her eight years to be up before she retires from office. She will then qualify for a Parliamentary pension. This will be Dame Ivy's third retirement one as a public servant, another as an officer of Trust Corporation of The Bahamas (now S.G. Hambros) and now as a Minister of the Government. What a lucky dame? In any event, it is time for her to go, the Ministry of Education is in terrible shape, with teachers in revolt over her weak leadership of the Ministry. Of course the institution will be no better if the leadership of the Ministry devolves to Zhivargo Laing the now Minister of State. People still regard him as a little boy and this will be reinforced by the fact that the Director of Education Iris Pinder, sister of insurgent FNM leadership candidate Tennyson Wells MP, used to be Mr. Laing's teacher in high school. There is also dissatisfaction with the Leadership of the Ministry of Labour. The Minister Dion Foulkes is a nice guy but the complaint is that his leadership has been ineffectual and the unions see him as unable to deliver on the promises made to them. But a word of advice to our dear Prime Minister, you may shuffle the deck as much as you like. You have a weak deck, a shallow deck, and shuffle as you might; the PLP plans to defeat you in the next election and by God's help we shall.

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SOL KERZNER AND INGRAHAM'S BOYS
The mogul of Paradise Island treats the PLP with absolute contempt and disdain and perhaps he might argue that the feeling is mutual. But we have no particular disdain for him. We just don't like the fact that he has the Government of The Bahamas by the short and curlies. Mr. Kerzner was shown taking ministers of the Government around his new property, the one that Whitney Houston and her cocaine husband Bobby Brown helped to open last week. The property was the Ocean Club. One hundred million dollars have been spent there and the Ministers of Immigration (Tommy Turnquest) Labour (Dion Foulkes) and Economic Development (Carl Bethel ) were all there inspecting the property. Once again Mr. Kerzner was dressed in short sleeves and a pair of blue jeans and the Ministers were walking around in their coats. Compare and contrast this to the time when the Duke of Edinburgh visited, Mr. Kerzner was dressed to the nines in his suit. Only goes to show what respect there is for the Ministers of the Government. In the background was Ed Fields PR rep for the company, who is also the brother in law of the Minister for Immigration Tommy Turnquest. Mr. Turnquest told the press that he was happy with the investment and that the investment had opened up new job opportunities for Bahamians. He felt satisfied that his department was pursuing the best policies for the Bahamian workers, giving them an opportunity to be trained in new fields, presumably by those who get work permits. One thing with the FNM they are inventive if nothing else. How their immigration policy can be said to help is quite an incredible argument. Anyway they must know. The importance of a photo shown by The Tribune was the troika of FNM Ministers that appeared. Messrs. Foulkes, Turnquest and Bethel were present and accounted for. The latest talk about of FNM circles is that Ingraham has now settled on a succession. Mr. Ingraham is to run again. He will then set up Tommy Turnquest, also son of the Governor General, to succeed him. Carl Bethel is to be the Deputy to Mr. Turnquest and Dion Foulkes is to be the organizer on the ground. Obviously whoever is spinning this scenario hasn't talked to Mr. Foulkes who only last week had been accused by the Tennyson Wells forces of planting a story in which Mr. Foulkes emerges as Mr. Ingraham' s successor. Well we shall see. You know the story: the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

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ESCAPE OF CUBAN PRISONERS
The Progressive Liberal Party led by its Leader Perry Christie held a press conference following a tour of Her Majesty's Prison on Monday 18 December. The reason was that 8 more Cubans had escaped from the detention centre, bringing to almost 70 the number of Cubans who escaped from the prison. After the last escapes both the Director of Immigration and the Superintendent of the Prison were "promoted" to office jobs shortly thereafter. The two events were never officially linked. The PLP called for an investigation and the Ministry of National Security said it would conduct one but its own and not the external investigation that the PLP has called for. The new detention centre is now said by the Ministry to be ready although Bradley Roberts MP told the House of Assembly last week that this was misleading because the new centre still has no electricity.

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AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ON WORK TO RULE
Roscoe Perpall, the President of the Air Traffic Controllers announced this week that there is a work to rule on at the airport with immediate effect. Passengers now experience considerable delays getting into and out of Nassau. For Bahamasair passengers it is even worse, since they continue to have serious equipment problems. The Nassau International Airport is a mess, worse than it has ever been. The FNM has no vision to putting back in order any time soon.

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NO GROUPERS FOR CHRISTMAS?
Leon Smith is a Long Island man who lives in the Valley, now retired, and spends a lot of time down at the Nassau fish market and docks. He says this year groupers are not going to be around for sale because for some reason when the fishermen went to their usual places around new Providence, Cat Island and Long Island, all the fish had flown the coop. Gone! But where to? His theory is that they had passed that way in their schools before the fishermen got there. He also says that spearing of fish may cause schools not to return to those spots. But he argues it's probably that the fishermen got there late for the annual aggregations. Another more scientific theory of a possible shortage in the market and one about which fishermen are raising hell is that the Department of Fisheries declared no take zones for the three weeks of the full moon just before Christmas. They can now start fishing again. That was to prevent the fishermen from raiding the spawning aggregations of grouper as they have been in the past. The Bahamas is said to have the last major fishery of grouper in the Caribbean that has not been fished out. But whatever the case, it looks like groupers are going to be scarce this year. One hopes that this does not lead the fishermen to fish for square grouper. Those who don't know what that is e-mail us and we'll tell you.

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APOLOGIES TO FRANKLIN FERGUSON
There were several photos used in a piece last month on this web site from the swearing in of the new US Ambassador to Benin Pamela Bridgewater in Washington D.C. Ms. Bridgewater used to be the Deputy Chief of Mission to the Bahamas and many persons from this country travelled there for the swearing in. The photos were wrongly attributed to The Tribune. The story and information compiled were wrongly attributed to The Tribune. The story was compiled and the photos taken by Franklyn Ferguson. They appeared in The Tribune. We offer our apologies for failing to attribute correctly the story and photos.

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POLICE HAVE A SPEED CRACKDOWN
There is a weekly competition in The Bahamas of a macabre nature. The competition is between traffic fatalities on the one hand and murders on the other. So far this year there have been 74 traffic fatalities in The Bahamas with the majority of them (49) in New Providence. There have been 72 murders in The Bahamas this year, with the latest victim being that of an 82-year-old prominent citizen of the Abacos, Lucien Stratton. You only have to have been on the streets of Nassau this past week to realize the unbelievable nightmare traffic has become on this island. There are 130,000 cars and counting on this island with completely inadequate roads. Distances of a mile or two are talking forty-five minutes to an hour to travel. But the other problem is speeding and bobbing weaving in and out of traffic mainly by young men in souped up cars. The police have announced a crackdown and were out in force on the Cable Beach strip with speed guns, trying to slow the public down. Compare the 74 deaths in traffic fatalities this year to 37 in 1998 and 59 in 1999. A footnote to this story, the Prime Minister at his convention in November of this year claimed that his Government had solved the traffic problem in Nassau. Using his party's convention theme he said: " Look around! It's all about you." The PLP responded that we are looking around and all we see is traffic jams and traffic fatalities.

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ALBERT MILLER INSPECTS POLICE RECRUITS
The country's eyebrows were raised when the front page of the Nassau Guardian carried a photo of Albert Miller, the Co-Chair of the Grand Bahama Port Authority inspecting the graduating recruits of the Royal Bahamas Police Force on Thursday 21 December. The story is that the new Acting Commissioner of Police invited Mr. Miller to come and speak to the graduation. Mr. Miller is a former Deputy and Acting Commissioner of Police. His nickname is 'The General'. He did not get the job of Commissioner of Police because he had the wrong politics shortly after the PLP came to power in 1967. He was a protégé of Roy Solomon, one of the United Bahamian Party ministers. So he left the force in 1969 to take up residence in Freeport where he has risen to lofty heights. But his first love has always been the police force. He was always willing to offer his assistance and political support to successive police commissioners. This has not always been welcomed. The Acting Commissioner Mr. Farqhuarson has actively courted the support, thus the inspection of the guard. According to the Nassau Guardian the first female drill sergeant in the Royal Bahamas Police Force Inspector Carolyn Bowe accompanied Mr. Miller.

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SIMEON HALL ATTACKS BRADLEY ROBERTS
The Rev. Simeon Hall is perhaps the most voluble Leader of The Bahamas Christian Council in its history. Barely a day goes by before some photo or story appears in the press or on TV with his name and picture. Last week, he started a political row of sorts by issuing a statement calling on Bradley Roberts MP for Grants Town (PLP) to take up the mantle of the anti-alcohol fight as well as the anti-drug fight. Mr. Roberts as you know has been embroiled in a row with the Government over their ineptitude in fighting drugs. The comment was so timed that it was clearly designed to be a partisan political intervention and that is how we took it. The comment in and of itself is not inappropriate for a leader of the Christian Council but coming as it did in the middle of this fight it was certainly FNM inspired. Rev. Hall, even if he did not intend it, has come down on the side of the FNM . They have been trying to find a way to blunt Mr. Roberts' effectiveness so they take his association with the liquor merchant Burns House as his Achilles heel. The problem with this argument is that liquor is a legal substance and Mr. Roberts is not the only public figure involved in the liquor business. Stafford Sands who the FNM put on the ten-dollar bill was a liquor merchant. Sir Roland Symonette, the former Premier was a liquor bootlegger. Simeon Hall said nothing when the Government announced their photos on the currency. Then there is Neko C. Grant an FNM MP who is the Chief Operating Officer of Burns House. Dwight Sawyer is the Chairman of the FNM and he works for Bacardi, the main liquor manufacturers in The Bahamas. Rev. Hall should think twice before issuing such a tendentious statement again.

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REVEREND HALL AND THE JUDICIARY
Reverend Simeon Hall had yet another salvo in the press this week. This time he announced that he will be boycotting the annual service by the Judiciary in Christ Church Cathedral because it is held in the Anglican Cathedral. He thinks that as a matter of fairness it ought to be rotated amongst churches. He wrote a letter to Members of Parliament seeking their support. This seems quite a non-issue however.

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CENTRAL BANK ISSUES COINS OF GOLDEN GIRLS
The Central Bank of The Bahamas has minted two new coins of the five women who won for The Bahamas its first gold track and field medal at the Sydney Olympics in September 2000. They are known collectively in the country as the Golden Girls. The names: Pauline Davis Thompson, Eldece Clarke-Lewis, Savatheda Fynes, Chandra Stirrup and Debbie Ferguson. One coin will be pure silver with a face value of $40. The other is to be pure gold with a face value of $250. The ten-dollar coin retails for $40 and the $250 coin retails for $400.
 

ALL THE BEST FOR THE SEASON
The Junkanoo groups are all ready. The draw has taken place. The Saxon Superstars, led by Percy 'Vola' Francis will be the lead group in the annual Boxing Day parade on Bay Street on Tuesday 26 December. The parade begins at 1 a.m. and tickets for the bleachers are all sold out. The Valley Boys who have not won first prize for at least three years are predicting that they will take the festival's top prizes on Boxing Day and on New Year's Day. But all the other groups say the same thing. More importantly for the Valley is the talk around the Junkanoo community of leadership problems in the Valley. But you know how propaganda is. It is a wonderful business this Junkanoo. We are certainly sorry that Archdeacon William Thompson's untimely death by murder will not allow him to see this festival in the flesh. He loved Junkanoo. He was an incontrovertible Saxon Superstar. Well, time passes and Junkanoo endures. We remember Archdeacon Thompson, Sir Lynden Pindling and all the many others who we lost this year.

AND MY MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY
Lilla Angelina Mitchell, mother to this columnist, would have been 78 years old today. She died 4 May 1999. May she rest in peace!

NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Congratulations Karen & Raoul - Congratulations to our friends Raoul and Karen (nee Wallace) Armbrister. The two were recently married. Best Wishes for lifelong happiness to them both from all their friends at fredmitchelluncensored.com

Christmas Shakedown - Major businessmen in Grand Bahama are complaining that FNM begging is so bad this Christmas season that it's beginning to affect the bottom line. One businessman told our correspondent "Except for Neko (Grant FNM MP Lucaya) and Lindy (Russell FNM MP EMR) these guys are really shaking us down." The businessman continued that "It's so bad now that even the generals are demanding this and that". Another businessman asked fredmitchelluncensored to "call on Hubert to put a stop to this... it's just unconscionable!" We agree. The Prime Minister needs to rein in this embarrassing behaviour. In particular, we understand that a major hotelier and a large purveyor of fresh fruit and vegetables have considered taking the whole month of December off in order to escape next year if the FNM is still in Government. Shame!

The Editor of the site and his family are on leave from the island for the Christmas holidays. A full-featured News From Grand Bahama segment upon his return in the New Year.


 

 

31st December, 2000 
This Week on fredmitchelluncensored.com
BRADLEY ZINGS THEM AGAIN FRED MITCHELL'S SENATE REMARKS
THE BAHAMAS FACING A MONEY CRISIS CAN THE GOVERNMENT MAKE ENDS MEET?
OTHER SIGNS OF MONEY TROUBLE TEACHERS STRIKE IN THE CARDS
JANET BOSTWICK’S APOLOGY AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS END WORK TO RULE
RICHARD DEMERITTE JR. MURDER CASE THE JUNKANOO RESULTS IN CONTENTION
WHAT ABOUT THE CENSUS RESULTS? TOP ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
BURNS HOUSE NAMES FINANCIAL CHIEF CITIBANK CLOSES NASSAU BRANCH
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA..
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return to the top of the page.
Photo of Senator Mitchell by Peter Ramsay


 
 
 

NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

ATTRACTING THE MIDDLE GROUND

Some friends were gathered at their annual Christmas celebration - a small private gathering.  And they are all well to do, in control Black Bahamian professionals.  And the question came up: why would these types not actively support the return of the PLP to office?  One theory is that it does not matter to them.  Hubert Ingraham, political swine that he is, is accommodating to their interests.  They are not offensive to his and so they largely get what they want.  So whoever the Government is they win.

And in a way that is how the PLP lost power and why the PLP remains out of power. It lost the middle ground.  The statistics provided to us based on the last General Election results show that only 2500 votes separated the PLP from the Government of The Bahamas.  Put another way, if the PLP had obtained 2500 more votes, they would have gotten 21 seats in the last General Election and the Government of the country.

Who are those 2500 votes?  They are the young voters who came onto the rolls for the first time in 1997 and they are that middle ground of professionals to whom it suddenly did not matter who was the Government.  They had a Government that did not actively bother them even though they were PLP and that accommodated their requests.

This time is a little different.  The FNM, headed by Hubert Ingraham has become an active menace to this society.  It has managed to offend every constituent group from union leaders to businessmen, to young professionals and to the working class.  Each has a gripe about arrogance and how the Government just seems to be out of touch with reality.

But one has the impression that people are still searching for the PLP to rediscover itself.  So that means the year 2001 must be the year for working to recover the middle ground.  We have to convince those Black Bahamian lawyers sitting in McKinney Bancroft and Hughes, those Black Bahamian Doctors with their secure practices on Collins Avenue, Shirley Street and in Delancey Town to reconsider the PLP as the organization that will best protect theirs and the national interest.  This columnist thinks that we are close but as they say, close isn't good enough.  We have to win, and a miss is as good as a mile.

This week we  had 6,829 hits on this site up to midnight 30 December.  This is the final column of the year.  We thank you for the most successful year ever.  That makes a grand total for the month up to midnight 30 December of 44,719 hits on the site and for the year 2000 a grand total of 611,056 hits for the year, compared to 203,231 hits for the year 1999.  This year is a real year to say that an era has ended.  We lost Sir Randol Fawkes, the father of Labour.  We lost Archdeacon William Thompson, the moral conscience of a nation for a generation.  Sir Lynden Pindling the father of the nation also passed away.  Many others have gone on to their reward. We miss them all from the national stage. Have a blessed New Year, filled with prosperity and happiness.

NOTE; We have recovered thanks to one of our avid readers the columns of 2, 23 & 30 April.  If anyone has downloaded any of the other columns from April 2000, we have lost them in the archive and are seeking to recover either a hard copy or an electronic version.
 

RESULTS
2001 New Year's Junkanoo Parade in Nassau:
1. Saxons
2. Valley Boys
3. Roots
4. One Family
5. Music Makers
6. Barrabas and the Tribe


 PERMANENT LINKS

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

BRADLEY ZINGS THEM AGAIN
The House of Assembly met again on Wednesday 27 December 2000 to okay the amendments to the package of financial bills passed by the Senate last week.  These are the same Bills that the Cabinet did not see before they were approved by Parliament.  Discussed over coffee in Comfort Suites with the PM, Ronnie Knowles, Bill Allen and Rhonda Bain, then sent to the Senate for passage.  Interesting way to do business.  Bradley Roberts told them that the FNM had atheistic views because they brought Parliament back during the height of Christmas.  Algernon Allen went ballistic and the House had to be suspended in the row.  The matter has been referred to the Committee on Privileges. Mr. Allen claims that the word atheistic is unparliamentary language.  Give me a break.  The entire remarks of Mr. Roberts can be obtained by clicking here.
 

FRED MITCHELL'S SENATE REMARKS
Several folks have asked for the full remarks of this Senator about Hubert Ingraham in the Senate at its last meeting in December.  We are happy to oblige. It puts into the public domain the theory of why our Prime Minister behaves the way he does to the detriment of the country. Please click here.
 

THE BAHAMAS FACING A MONEY CRISIS
The financial and political community was all-abuzz with gossip. Not about the tiresome financial blacklist but this time something more pressing and close to home.  The Government, it is said, had to go to the market to borrow 14 million dollars to find money to pay the salaries of civil servants for the month of December.  This is believed to be a first for the FNM government in its second term.  Then the story is that the liquidity situation has deteriorated so rapidly over the past three months that the Royal Bank of Canada that is the Government's principal banker had to bring in ten million dollars from outside the country in order to meet the Government's demands.  This is all unsubstantiated but the last time you heard this kind of stuff was in the last years of the PLP administration. It warrants some explanation from the Government and its hapless Minister of Finance William Allen.

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CAN THE GOVERNMENT MAKE ENDS MEET?
One of the points that this Senator raised in the debate on the financial bills that are meant to solve the blacklist problem, was what was to happen to the Minister of Finance's projection of a surplus of one million dollars in the country's annual budget in his budget presentation last year.  Now that all turns out to be fanciful.  We pointed out at the time that the budget surplus depended on amongst other things a contribution of five million dollars from the EEC.  So if that one gift were not forthcoming the Finance Minister's projections would be totally off. The Prime Minister told the country in the debate in the House before Christmas that he expects 20 million dollars to be lost in revenue with the advent of the new IBC legislation.   So imagine what that will do to the budget surplus.  There is no surplus. And to think Bill Allen got a knighthood for that.

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OTHER SIGNS OF MONEY TROUBLE
Franklin Wilson, the Chairman of Arawak Homes Ltd. and former MP and Senator for the PLP, has done an analysis of the financial reports of the Central Bank as at 6 December 2000.  It shows a worrisome trend.  It shows an economy steadily going in reverse.  The fact is that as at 6 December the liquidity in the system that is the excess of the reserves that was available for lending stood at 31.9 million dollars.  Guess what that can be compared to: 1991 and the last budget under the PLP's administration.  On 31 December of that year the liquidity stood at 31.7 million.  So the situation is in fact worse today than it was under the PLP in 1991.  At that time the Central Bank had put in place stringent measures to slow down the expansion of consumer credit.  What has our Finance Minister to say?   Our loudmouth Prime Minister; what does he have to say? The difference may be that the total reserves today stand at 341 million whereas in 1991 they stood at 173 million, but we must not take that in isolation.  One must look at the trend.  It has been downward consistently since August of this year.  And as we pointed out in a previous column the downward trend cannot be attributed only to the normal run down caused by merchants ordering Christmas inventory.  When you compare with last year's, the decline over the same period was 22 per cent as opposed to 52 per cent this year. One theory is that the drug money has been chased out of the banking system.  That in fact it was drug money that was propping up the economy.  Now that this has been scared out of the normal economy into the underground, the country is headed toward an economic slide.  Things that make you go hmmm!

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TEACHERS STRIKE IN THE CARDS
Kingsley Black, pictured, was furious.  He is the President of the Bahamas Union of Teachers.  The no good worthless Ministry of Education issued letters on 8 December telling the teachers that their pay will be docked for the three days in which they stood up in solidarity with their colleague Rosalyn Astwood who was charged in a Coroner's Court with manslaughter back in November 2000.  The teachers are now on break and school is scheduled to resume on 3 January.  Attorney General Janet Bostwick who has had the transcript of the case in her possession from Christmas Eve has not yet made a decision and as usual is dragging her feet in what is a clear case of a Coroner's jury coming to an absurd verdict.  But Mr. Black told the Ministry that if they proceed to cut the salaries of teachers then the work to rule would be tightened.  The teachers in Grand Bahama want to go on strike.  Mr. Black is riding a tiger.  His members are totally fed up with the Minister's attitude.  He also pointed out that the Ministry of Education owes teachers moneys.  Mr. Black said: “It is cold and heartless for the Ministry of Education to cut teachers’ salaries in January for the demonstration of solidarity with Sister Astwood – a distinguished member of the profession – when tens of thousands of dollars are owed to teachers nationwide in salary and arrears, pension benefits, allowances, fees for marking GLAT, BJC and BGCSE examinations, and increment recovery mess-up.”  He demanded the Ministry apply the same level of efficiency it used in sending out the notice of salary cuts, to expediting the payment of all moneys owed to teachers for periods of up to three years. This columnist supports that demand of Mr. Black and also demands that the Attorney General make a quick decision before mayhem breaks out in the schools.
 

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JANET BOSTWICK’S APOLOGY
The poor Bostwicks.  It appears that the question asked by Bradley Roberts PLP MP In the house of Assembly last week about the stolen high priced car racket set the cat amongst the pigeons.  If you read the column of 17 December, you will see the whole story.  Mrs. Bostwick sought and obtained an apology from The Tribune and Niki Kelly in the most grovelling terms to herself and her husband.  The Tribune was fully contrite about how Mrs. Bostwick was not dragging her feet in charging the persons who brought in the high priced stolen cars and did not pay customs duty.  She revealed that the police have only charged one person, the other persons are believed to have skipped town.  On the car, a Lexus bought by her husband she got Niki Kelly and The Tribune to apologize for their comments about the stolen car and the connection to the investigation and the innuendo that duty had not been paid on the car owned by her husband.  But what was interesting was in her report to Parliament on Wednesday 27 December. In reporting the matter to Parliament, she did not supply any documentation to back up what she was saying.  All she did was read the Tribune’ groveling apology.  House members ought to demand the documentation: the serial number of the car, the history of the car, the price, who the dealer was and how much duty she paid on it and when.  Only then will the public be satisfied with her explanation. Only then will she have carried out her responsibility to Parliament.

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AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS END WORK TO RULE
The airport is also a buzz with rumours and counter rumours and some truth.  First the facts as we know them.  The Minister of Tourism C.A. Smith flew into town and met with the Air Traffic Controllers and asked them to call off their work to rule.  This is the height of the tourist season and both American Airlines and US Air were threatening to stop all flights after one US Air flight was made to sit on the ground for two hours before being allowed to take off.  The US Air spokesman said that the flight to its destination was only one hour and fifty minutes and the plane spent two hours waiting on the ground.  The air traffic controllers got an immediate promise from the Minister to act to solve their problems, the chief amongst which was that in a windowless room (the airport control tower); the air conditioning had been inoperable for six weeks.  But then other fast breaking developments came along.  Two high ranking officials of the Department of Civil Aviation were sent packing in an enforced vacation.  There are stories going around of allegations of bribery and corruption.  No one has been told what the true story is.  What we know is that the next most senior officers in the department were superseded by their junior who is now Acting Director of Civil Aviation, jumped from number five in the Department to number one.  The explanation given to those who were superseded: the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the USA told us to appoint the man that is now there.  If this is true, this is yet again another example of how the Government allows people from the outside to dictate the choices made by a sovereign Government.  The Bahamas has become a fully client state.  The follow up to this is that Parliament is to be called back again for yet another special session to consider amendments to the Civil Aviation Act that the American FAA has demanded.  The Prime Minister said that in response to pressure from the FAA, The Bahamas has severed its relationship with the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).  He said that no matter what we did the Americans always found something wrong with it, so they have decided to turn to the FAA. There is a story coming out about Jamaica and Butch Stewart and Air Jamaica.  It is claimed that Air Jamaica was having tremendous problems with their airline in the US shortly after they decided to buy Airbuses from the European consortium.  If they had bought Boeing aircraft they were told they would not have the problems.  It took some high level lobbying to stop the undue pressure from the FAA.  Looks like the same story here.  The air traffic controllers say that now that the British advisors have been kicked out, American advisors have taken their place and immediately started recommending American consultants who were immediately hired by the Government.  They also recommended buying American radar equipment, which is also to be bought. Things that make you go hmmm!

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RICHARD DEMERITTE JR. MURDER CASE
Winston Saunders, the Coroner, is about to leave office.  His last official day is 31st December.  He has wound up a vexing case.  That is the case of the murder of Richard Demeritte Jr., otherwise known as Ricky.  A nicer kid you never met.  Just qualified with the world as his oyster.  He happened, it appears, to fall in love with a woman who was loved by someone else to the point of obsession.  The Coroner's jury did what a Magistrate at a preliminary inquiry refused to do for reasons of insufficient evidence in 1993.  The Coroner's jury has recommended that Arthur Swann Jr., a former police officer, be charged with murder.  Mr. Swann, who seemed to have a bright future on the Force in Nassau at one point, is now serving time in a federal jail in Ashland, Kentucky in the United States. The jury accepted the theory of a lover's triangle.  It appears that Mr. Swann may have killed the younger Mr. Demeritte out of jealousy for his affections toward Mr. Swann's former girlfriend.  This verdict must be an enormous relief to the long suffering parents Richard Demeritte, former Ambassador and Auditor General and his wife Ruth Demeritte. But it is also the story of tragedy for another family, the Swanns of Ridgeland Park in Nassau.  It is a no win situation.  Just very very sad.

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THE JUNKANOO RESULTS IN CONTENTION
Well you guessed it.  Despite the fact that the Junkanoo results were widely accepted by the public.  The Roots Junkanoo group, originally a breakaway from the Valley Boys, is dissatisfied with the results of the Junkanoo contest on Boxing Day and has announced at a press conference that the judging was unfair and that the Junkanoo Committee favoured the Valley Boys and Saxons over other groups.   Leslie Johnson who spoke for Roots told the press that most of the judges are either retired Valley members or retired Saxon members. If that is so then one wonders how on earth the Saxons managed to secure a fourth place this time.  No doubt the boys from Masons Addition are furious because of the fourth place finish but there was no public carping.  Every year it is a ritual of Junkanoo, just like the ritual of Miss Bahamas, someone was cheated. Oh well!  Brian Gibson who is the Chairman of the National Junkanoo Committee told the press that “Groups were asked to have an observer present to oversee the judging and scores coming in without being tampered with.  Not one group sent an observer.  Maybe they thought it wasn't important to have one.”  Perhaps the Roots group might learn from Al Gore's cheated loss in the US General Election. At a certain point, you just let it go.  Can you imagine now a Court setting aside the Valley's victory and saying let's have the Junkanoo contest again?  By the way, Gus Cooper, who has had heart bypass surgery, is back as the King of Junkanoo.  He said that he was supremely confident that he could do it again after three successive years of losses and he did.  Now folks are saying that he has had his big comeback and perhaps this is the time once and for all to let younger leadership take over the Valley. Mr. Cooper's Valley Boys won with the theme: “A Mystical Journey into the Orient”.  He appeared as a Confucian type Character in traditional Chinese dress and reedy beard.  He had a slow dance which some said was specifically designed not to tax Mr. Cooper's energy.  Whatever it was, it worked and the only group that does not appear to have accepted the victory is the breakaway group Roots.  For the record, the results of the 2000 Boxing Day Junkanoo parade were: 1st Valley Boys, 2nd One Family, 3rd Roots, 4th Saxons and 5th Music Makers.

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WHAT ABOUT THE CENSUS RESULTS?
The Americans have released their initial census data, pegging their population at 281,000,000 an increase of 13.2 per cent over 1990 and largely driven by immigration from the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia.  The Bahamas did its census in May.  We have still not heard what the results are of the blessed thing.  There are only 300,000 of us to count.  What could be taking so long?

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TOP ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
The Bahamas Amateur Athletic Association (BAAA) held a banquet on Thursday 28 December.  It was its first ever awards banquet for Track and Field. It was held at SuperClubs Breezes.  The winners for male and female athlete of the year were declared.  Male Athlete of the Year was Avard Moncur who ran his heart out even though the team was short of men and just missed winning a medal at Sydney in September 2000.  The female athlete of the year, while missing from the banquet because of the flu, was none other than the great Pauline Davis-Thompson.  Congratulations to them both.

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BURNS HOUSE NAMES FINANCIAL CHIEF
Philip Kemp has been named Chief Financial Officer of the liquor merchant Burns House Limited.  Mr. Kemp is also CFO for Commonwealth Brewery.   He is a former employee of the Royal Bank of Canada and a graduate of the University of Western Ontario.  Congratulations to Mr. Kemp, remembering him from his days as a student at Western.  A good example for others to follow.

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CITIBANK CLOSES NASSAU BRANCH
The little branch of Citibank, the one American bank still struggling as a clearinghouse bank in this market, has been closed.  All the branch's activities are to be concentrated at its main branch on Thompson Boulevard. The bank never seemed to make it in the public's imagination, and it loan's collections policies don't endear it to the public.  Nevertheless, Citibank says that it is not closing its operations here.  The branch at Frederick Street in Nassau will continue as an ATM unit.

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NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
The Editor of the site and his family are on leave for the Christmas holidays. A full-featured News From Grand Bahama segment upon his return in the New Year.