Choose January '01archives:
NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
THE "BUT" FACTOR
This week, we return to the theme of
reaching for the middle and trying to convince those 2500
additional voters, or swing voters that the PLP needs to win 21
seats in the Assembly. Last week, we revealed that
statistics show that only 2500 votes separated the PLP from the
FNM in the last General Election to have won 21 seats and the
Government. The PLP's task since 1997 has been to try to
win over those 2500 souls.
It should be relatively easy and the problem is why have we not been able to convince those 2500 just yet. All about the country, there is a swing toward the PLP. For the first time in years, the people are actually listening to our arguments. This is because the Government is slowly self-destructing and has become so arrogant, a law unto itself, that there is a revulsion in the country to their behaviour.
Last week, we talked about those Black Bahamian businessmen who are PLP traditionally but take no active role in trying to get the PLP back to power because Hubert Ingraham facilitates them and does not interfere with them. To them it does not matter that the PLP is not in power. They get what they want anyway.
We now have a new theory and it comes from the impressionistic evidence of those who speak to this Senator about politics in the country today. It is called the "but" factor. Yes they agree the FNM is bad and not all it should be. Yes they agree that the FNM is selling the country. But they say Hubert Ingraham has done some good and that the PLP while making some changes still has a way to go.
We have to spend the year getting rid of that "but" factor. There should be unequivocal support for the return of the PLP. The national patrimony demands it. One friend is alarmed, to say the least, about the number of workers from developed countries who come here hating the natives but after realizing that this is such a nice rich place to be, go native, start dating the native girls and the next thing you know bingo they are here to stay. One has to be extremely careful with this argument because it may resound as racist, jingoistic and xenophobic. But the fact is there is a reaction setting in. The task of the PLP is to calm the waters, get rid of the "but" factor and win the Government.
We want to wish everyone a happy and prosperous New
Year. We had 45,845
hits on this site for the month of December up to 31 December
2000. Up to midnight 6 January 2001, we 6338 hits on this system
for a total of hits for the month of January.
PERMANENT LINKS
Mitchell Address to Senate: Why the PM is
the way he is
Mitchell speech to PLP
Convention 2000
Pindling & Me - A personal
retrospective on the life and times of Sir Lynden by Fred
Mitchell
Address to the Senate
Budget Debate / Haitian Issue
Address to the Senate Clifton Cay Debate /
Haitian Issue
Address to PLP Leadership meeting in
Exuma / Haitian Issue
Address of Sean
Mcweeney / Pindling funeral
Gilbert Morris on OECD Blacklist
Fred Mitchell Antioch College speech
The funeral coverage
For a photo essay on the funeral of Archdeacon William Thompson. Click here.
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 |
BATELCO'S
X-RATED GAFFE
The year was supposedly starting out
brand new and fresh for the Bahamas Telecommunications
Corporation, the company that has been on the selling block for
three years. This is the company that the Government has so
demoralized by its privatization policy that the services of
BaTelCo are shameful, but the fact is that it still has a
monopoly on telephone service in The Bahamas. BaTelCo
proudly announced and began distribution of its 2001 telephone
directory on Monday 2 January to the public. The public
seemed pleased and BaTelCo said that this was the second year in
a row that it had done the design and compilation work in-house
and completed the directory for delivery the first business day
of the year. The next day, however, things went horribly
wrong. The directory cover was promoting the age of new
technology and in one of the corners of the cover they had a
picture promoting websites as part of the new technology.
Instead of using BaTelCo's own website, they decided to use a
generic name using http://www.xxx.com. They thought that
this would not be a site used by anyone. But they could not
have been more wrong. It was a pornographic site, complete
with naked women, fellatio and naked, young teenage
girls. 
No wonder some customers were
happy. So the order went out to halt distribution.
The trailers were all taken to Perpall Tract and there BaTelCo
workers are going over the cover with markers and blotting out
the address. The Christian Council was furious and its
President Simeon Hall, not a man shy for publicity, went public
calling for heads to roll. We thought this was funny and we
wondered when he said that "heads" should roll, in
keeping with the pornographic theme, why he did not also say
"pardon the pun". The Guardian even had the
courage to embarrass BaTelCo and showed this picture of the gaffe
on the telephone cover. Michael Symonette, the President of
BaTelCo, held a press conference on Thursday 4 January (shown in
this Bahama Journal photo by Angelika Cartwright with executives
Leon Williams and Kirk Griffin) only to make the press more angry
when he simply read a two paragraph statement telling us what we
already knew and then refusing on the grounds of advice from his
lawyers to answer any questions. This is the new BaTelCo!
S. C. MCPHERSON TEACHER IS DISCHARGED
The hearing took ten minutes. At
about 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday 3 January, the day of the re-opening
of school, Rosalyn Astwood, client of this attorney, a member of
the Bahamas Union of Teachers, and teacher at S. C. McPherson
school charged with the manslaughter death of Shawn Evans one of
her students on 29 November 2000 appeared before a Supreme Court
judge. The details were apparent before we got there.
As a result of a review of the matter, the Director of Public
Prosecutions advised the court (Mister Justice Jon Isaacs) that
the Attorney General had decided to enter a writ of nolle
prosequi, and that the case would be discontinued against Mrs.
Astwood. She was therefore discharged and free to
go. This was a sensible decision. It took too
long to come and should have been done as soon as that ridiculous
verdict came back from the Coroner's Court on 29 November last
year. If you remember the case, Shawn Evans, a 12 year old,
died in September 2000 after being caned in the palm of the hand
with a jumbey switch about twelve inches long for talking in
class. Two children were caned. One survived
unharmed. The other had a latent heart disease known as
long Q T. syndrome that is an arrhythmia of the
heart. The teacher nor the principal of the school
was aware of the disease and that the child was at risk of sudden
death. The child died shortly after the caning. The
jury decided that Master Evans died of long QT syndrome
aggravated by unlawful force. The Magistrate and Coroner
Winston Saunders thought that he had no choice but to charge the
teacher with manslaughter. He did that. The country
was outraged. Cogent arguments were put forward from this
side that this was not a case where even if in law a case of
manslaughter had been made out, the state had a interest in
punishing the teacher. The jury should have come back with
a common sense verdict. Instead it came back with nonsense.
In the end the decision to discharge Mrs. Astwood is better for
the country and supports the authority of teachers in the school
system. Mrs. Astwood is pictured in this Bahama Journal
photo by Keisha Smith.
WHAT THE TEACHER HAD TO SAY
Rosalyn Astwood is the wife of Llewelyn Astwood. Mr.
Astwood, who is the owner and successor to the Fealy Demeritte
Funeral Home, stood by quietly in the Supreme Court as his wife
was discharged. Mrs. Astwood is an ordained Minister of Religion
and a strong believer in God. Following the order of the
Court, Mrs. Astwood and a small group of family and friends
gathered outside the Courthouse and held a brief prayer service
of thanksgiving. Outside the Courthouse she spoke for the
first time about her ordeal. She said that the period since
the verdict on 29 November had paradoxically been one of great
calm. She said that she had heard from so many praying
people and supporters that she did not know. This together
with the support of God gave her the strength and the courage to
continue. She thanked those persons for their
prayers. She said that she was praying for the family of
the late Shawn Evans as she had done and would continue to
do. It is expected that Mrs. Astwood can now return to the
classroom to continue her work.
PUBLIC
POLICY IN EDUCATION
The Penal Code in Section 97 (9) reads as follows: Force may be
justified in the cases and manner, and subject to the conditions,
hereafter in this title mentioned, on the grounds of any of the
following matters: … authority to correct a child, servant
or other similar person, for misconduct. Section 109 reads: A
blow or other force, not in any case extending to a wound or
grievous bodily harm, may be justified for the purpose of
correction as follows: (1) a parent may correct his or her
legitimate or illegitimate child, being under sixteen years of
age, or any guardian or person acting as a guardian, his ward,
being under sixteen years of age for misconduct or disobedience
to any lawful command… (4) a parent or guardian, or person
acting as a guardian, may delegate to any person whom he or she
entrusts permanently or temporarily with the governance or
custody of his or her child or ward all his or her own authority
for correction, including the power to determine in what cases
correction ought to be inflicted; and such a delegation shall be
presumed, except in so far as it may be expressly withheld, in
the case of a schoolmaster or person acting as a schoolmaster, in
respect of a child or ward. (5) a person who is authorized to
inflict correction as in this section mentioned may, in any
particular case, delegate to any fit person the infliction of
such correction. The policy of the law in the Penal Code is
clear. Corporal punishment can be used by a schoolmaster
and can be delegated by a parent or a schoolmaster to a
teacher. In Mrs. Astwood's case, counsel for the child
Shawn Evans argued that the use of force was not delegated to his
teacher Rosalyn Astwood because the Ministry has a policy that it
was only to be Administered by the headmaster or the senior
masters and mistresses. The jury ignored this fact that by
tacit authority and by practice all teachers had been using
corporal punishment to keep order in other classrooms and the
Ministry closed their eyes to the fact. Mrs. Astwood had
tacit authority. Now the Bahamas Union of Teachers
and the Ministry are in engaged in a review of the policy.
It is the view of this columnist that while this columnist is
opposed to corporal punishment, it is really a matter for the
family to decide. And in any case it cannot extend to
abuse. It must be used sparingly and only in situations
where the child under sixteen is able to understand why he is
being punished in that way. Further, the authority should
be delegated to all teachers to deal with the situation on
the spot in the classroom. That is the policy change that
the teachers want and that is what should happen. But we
should also know that this is contrary to the direction that the
civilized western world is going. We ought to move away
from it. But this is not the time for a cultural
revolution. This is a time to teach slowly but surely deliberate
change. The fact is that in the short term discipline must
be restored in the school. The youngsters must get the
message that they can not rule The Bahamas. The tail will
not be allowed to wag the dog.
NEW MINISTER OF EDUCATION COMING
On 2 January 2000, The Tribune ran a story that confirmed the
speculation in the country and earlier put by the Bahama Journal
and reported in this column that Dame Ivy Dumont is to leave the
Cabinet. The Prime Minister confirmed that Dame Ivy, the
Minister of Education is leaving the Cabinet. That might
explain why Dame Ivy seemed completely out to lunch during the
debate in the Senate on the package of financial and drug bills
rushed through by the Government. She left the Senate after
her contribution and did not return. Dame Ivy is past her 70th
birthday and this will be her third retirement. She was
first a public servant and retired from the Ministry of Works at
the level of Deputy Permanent Secretary. She then worked at
Trust Corporation of The Bahamas for ten years before joining the
FNM as Secretary General and then the Government as Leader in the
Senate, a post she has held since 1992. The Prime Minister
confirmed that she wanted to resign from last year but he had
persuaded Dame Ivy to return for at least a year and the year was
up on 31 December. For her part Dame Ivy confirmed the
retirement but said the PM would determine the date of the
announcement. The teachers are relieved in a sense that she
is going. She has not been an effective Minister.
Zhivargo Laing, the Minister of State has been effectively
running the Ministry and the teaching establishment is not very
impressed. Teachers are generally horrified at the thought
of his getting the substantive job. They still think of him
as a little boy doing a grown-up's work. So the problem
will be the respect of the establishment in the post. Other
FNMs are saying that this is one of Ingraham's boys and such a
senior Ministry should not be given to an Ingraham
loyalist. It should be given to a true true FNM. We
will leave that fight to them. But suffice it to say that
the Ministry of Education needs new leadership that is actually
interested in the job and that can get the job done.
Neither Dame Ivy or Zhivargo Laing, unfortunately, fit that bill.
SUCKING
UP BY FNM PARLIAMENTARIANS
There is nothing that our dear beloved Prime Minister loves
better than the sucking up game that FNM MPs and Senators
play. Each is now looking more than ever for the Ministry
of Education job now that Dame Ivy Dumont is leaving the
position. And so it was that the Cabinet was supposed to
meet on Tuesday 3 January to discuss the nation's business.
And so that some more sucking up could be done. Come to
find out (as they say), the Prime Minister had repaired to Grand
Cay in the Abacos by himself to ponder the changes in the Cabinet
that are to be announced on Monday 8 January. When they are
announced we will immediately update the site. He has some
hard choices to make. One of them is to dump Frank Watson,
the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security who
has presided over a year of jail breaks and a murder rate that is
higher than it has ever been. Last year the country saw 72
murders for the year. Mr. Watson was also damaged by
allegations by the PLP's Bradley Roberts that Mr. Watson presided
over the establishment of a drug supported operation in Long
Island and did not stop it. Poor Cabinet members with Mr.
Ingraham in Grand Cay actually fishing and mulling were left as
they say (women excluded of course) holding their proverbial you
know whats in their hands, and wondering what to do with them.
A LAWSUIT AGAINST PLP MP
The Tribune on Thursday 4 January published a report that PLP MP
Philip Galanis has been sued as a result of work done while the
Managing Partner of the accounting firm Ernst and Young.
The allegation of fraud involves some 9.95 million dollars.
Mr. Galanis is the PLP's Spokesman on Finance. Also named
in the suit was his former firm Ernst and Young and Paul Clarke a
partner. The allegations are quite complicated. Mr.
Galanis said that he was aware of the suit but did not have the
details but would defend the suit vigorously. Of course you
know that anyone can sue you for anything and any allegations can
be made in a lawsuit so being sued is in and of itself no
disgrace.
NEW BILLS BROUGHT INTO FORCE
The following acts have been brought into force in The Bahamas as
part of the effort to get the country removed from the so-called
blacklist of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD). The Central Bank of The Bahamas Act; The
Banks and Trust Companies Act; The Criminal Justice
(International Co-operation) Act; The International Business
Companies Act; The Proceeds of Crime Act; The Financial and
Corporate Services Providers Act; The Financial Intelligence Unit
Act; The Financial Transactions Reporting Act; The Dangerous
Drugs Act. The Bahamas Government did a lousy job in
protecting this country's financial sector and adverse impacts
are expected. Right now the new laws impose a host of
complicated, tangled and foolish regulations that are mainly
bureaucratic. It will slow down the ability of someone to
open a bank account and to deposit money into their account.
HAITIAN BOAT PEOPLE SWAMPING US
The situation in Haiti continues to
deteriorate even though Jean Bertrand Aristide is expected to
take office as President in February. The election results
are said to have been corrupted and are not widely accepted by
Haitian elites and the world community. Nevertheless,
outgoing US President Clifton's administration has just concluded
an agreement with the Haitian Government that might provide some
600 million dollars in aid to them. Why is that important
to us? This week, the press carried pictures (see
Guardian photo by Donald Knowles shown 4 January) with 400
Haitians caught trying to enter The Bahamas. They were
detained and immediately transported to the detention centre in
New Providence. Two persons died aboard. There is to
be an inquest into the deaths and the others are to be
repatriated to Haiti. This situation is totally out of
control and the country is alarmed but the Government of The
Bahamas has no effective policy.
SAXONS
WIN JUNKANOO
Percy 'Vola' Francis has done it
again. He and his Shell Saxon Superstars from Mason's
Addition in New Providence won the New Year's Day Junkanoo
parade. The theme was 'Love Conquers All'. Valley Boys fans
were disappointed that they did not get the two straight
victories they were hoping for after the Boxing Day
victory. Congratulations to Vola. Attending Junkanoo
was his Royal Majesty King F. Ayi Foli-Bebe of Togo and
basketball great Michael Jordan. 
Michael
Jordan was reported to be playing five thousand dollar bets
during his stint here for the holidays. The press also reported
that Jamaica Opposition Leader Edward Seaga, US baseball player
Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez and Tiger Woods, the
golfer, were in Nassau for the holidays. Mr. Woods' hair was dyed
blonde for his time here. By the way, the King is said to
have given the gift of one million dollars to Myles Munroe's
Bahamas Faith Ministries. Vola is shown in a Tribune photo by
Omar Barr and the Saxons banner is from the Bahama Journal in a
photo by Peter Ramsay.
THE LAW ON COPYRIGHT AND THIS COLUMN
We reprint here what we believe to be the applicable law on
copyright with regard to this column and the use of information
and photos from the press. We will keep this policy as a
permanent click-on at the copyright notice at the top of the
column as of today. Section 57 Copyright Act: For the
purposes of this Part, "sufficient acknowledgement"
means an acknowledgement identifying the work in question by its
title or other description and identifying author. Section
59: Subject to section 60, fair dealing with a protected work- a)
for the purposes of criticism, comment, parody or review, or b)
for the purpose of reporting current events, does not infringe
copyright in the work so long as it is accompanied by sufficient
acknowledgement… Section 60: For the purpose of determining
whether an act done in relation to a work constitutes fair
dealing, the court determining the question shall take account of
all factors which appear to it to be relevant including- a) the
nature of the work in question; b) the amount an substantiality
of that part of the work affected by the act in relation to the
whole work c) the purpose and character of the use, including
whether such use is of a commercial nature for non-profit
educational purposes; and d) the effect of the act upon the
potential market for, or the commercial value of the work. We
trust that claimants will bear this in mind to avoid extortionate
claims being made for alleged infringements of copyright.
FORMER CHIEF JUSTICE DIES
We mark the passing of former Chief Justice of The Bahamas Vivian
Blake. Mr. Blake came to The Bahamas first as a counsel for
the late Sir Randol Fawkes who was charged for sedition in
1958. He successfully defended him. He struck a life-long
relationship with Bahamians after that. He came here to
serve as Chief Justice at the request of former Prime Minister
Pindling and retired to Britain after service here. He was
buried in Jamaica on Wednesday 3 January.
Back To The Top
CONDOLENCES TO SPARKMAN FERGUSON
Dr. Sparkman Ferguson, organist at the Anglican Cathedral in
Nassau and prominent dentist lost his brother and our good friend
Ivan Ferguson. Ivan was churched at Bethel Baptist Church on
Saturday 6 January. Our condolences to the family.
CONDOLENCES TO ZENDAL FORBES
We extend condolences to Zendal Forbes, President of the Union of
Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas (the COB Union) on the passing
of his father at the age of 88. The Rev. Charles L. Forbes
hailed from Driggs Hill, Andros. He was born in 1912 and
left eleven children and his widow. He was buried in St.
John's Baptist Churchyard on Saturday 6 January 2001.
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Honeywell Closing - Honeywell Pharmaceuticals, a major
manufacturing presence in Grand Bahama and owners of the former
Syntex property are to close shop. 160 people will be put out of
work by the end of March, 2001. The news of this closing comes
hard on the heels of word that Uniroyal, another major
manufacturing presence on Grand Bahama has begun decommissioning
its plant in preparation to close. These closings render the
heavy industrial area of Grand Bahama a virtual ghost town, with
all shut down with the exception of Freeport Power and Bahamas
Oil Refining Company (BORCO). Everywhere around town, families
were re-evaluating New Year's aspirations in the light of lost
salaries. It is a serious blow. Word on the street is that there
is a possible suitor interested in doing business with the BORCO
plant. Bahamians in the sector are keeping their fingers crossed.
Who Will Take Care of the Common Folk? - A correspondent for 'News From Grand Bahama' reports that among the 800 invited guests at the New Year's eve party at the Resorts at Bahamia were several of Grand Bahama's elected FNM MP's and several heads of local Government departments. In and of itself, this is not remarkable, but these people were all reportedly angling for 'favours' and disgracefully sucking up. These 'favours' are said to include various freebies like hams and turkeys, free airfare packages of fine wine & liquor at Christmas and free rooms when the 'need' arises. With the people's representatives so compromised, wonders our correspondent, "Who will take care of the common folk?" Well put, we say.
Closing Sunrise Highway - Battle lines are being drawn over the closure of that portion of Sunrise Highway (a main road in Grand Bahama) that runs through Resorts at Bahamia. The hotel's plans call acquiring the road and turning it into a man-made beach, complete with ocean water. The Minister or Tourism, C.A. Smith is said to be in support. The Coalition for Democratic Reform's (CDR) Forrester Carroll has hit the press vowing to fight any effort to take a public road and make it private.
Airport Company Steps Back - The Grand Bahama Airport Company has apparently stepped back from its insistence that officials of The Bahamas Government - Police, Customs and Immigration Officers - apply for security passes at Grand Bahama International Airport. The initial request started provoked a furious row with PLPs and CDRs who pointed out that the country could not have a private company approving or disapproving applications from officers of our Government. C.A. Smith, Minister responsible for Aviation was on the radio in Grand Bahama this week to explain the situation. Said one CDR, "He's a puppet, put up to apologize for the Airport Company. It's a disgrace and C.A. should know better."
Grand Bahama Sports Complex Locked - Sporting bodies on Grand Bahama are complaining that since Government took possession of the new Grand Bahama Sports Complex built by the Grand Bahama Port Authority, the complex has been locked on orders from the Minister David Thompson. One sportsman e-mailed in a nomination of the Minister for our 'Jackass of the Week' award, likening the Minister to someone with rooms in their homes which no-one is allowed to use. Said our complainant, "If kids can't use it for sports, the pigeons certainly will."
'Jit' Runs Out - Local FNM operative and Meritorious Member of that party's Council Kendal 'Jit' Culmer was on the radio this week trying his hand at rank revisionism. He maintained that the FNM had supported the country's move to independence all along! Luckily, COOL 96 FM had the good judgement to include the PLP's Calvin Kemp who set the record straight. Shame on you Jit for using that old dodge to try and get back on the Prime Minister's good side. You will remember that he was the one who is said to have accused Mr. Ingraham (in Council) of being the only one who prospered from the party coming to Government.
Vanity and Vexation - The group of politicos who meet regularly for breakfast was convened Christmas Sunday morning in Geneva's for their weekly chin wag when our friend F.A. Seymour struck a sombre note by railing that all is vanity and vexation and made them promise to renounce the sins of the flesh in the New Year. No more political talk was heard for the morning.
Swingers Win Junkanoo - The Swingers Junkanoo group
ended six years without a win by rushing to victory in the Grand
Bahama New Year's Junkanoo parade. This site's favourite Classic
Dancers behind Ken 'Motorboat' Ferguson finished a disappointing
fourth. Ah well, there's always next year.
NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
MIDDLE CLASS WORRIES
Her
name is Mrs. Robinson (not her real name of course) and she and her husband
live in a comfortable three bedroom two bathroom house in one of those
subdivisions for the upwardly mobile black Bahamian off the south of Prince
Charles Drive. She works as a medical assistant. Her husband
is a police officer. They are both in their early forties.
They have two children. They have a mortgage to pay. They voted for the
FNM in the 1997 election.
These are the people that Hubert Ingraham brought to the FNM. They and their parents had been PLP but by 1992 they were disillusioned and by 1997 they were fed up. But with Sir Lynden having left the scene, and Mr. Ingraham now refusing to leave the scene, their votes are up for grabs. They are not shy about saying so.
And why has it come to this so quickly for Hubert Ingraham? The wife gives the most considered arguments. She says that she is worried about what is going to be left for her two daughters. She fears that the Bahamian land will all be sold and out of the reach of their daughters. She says that education both in the private and the public sector is a disaster. And she says that crime is out of control. And the Government does not seem to know what to do. She says that expatriates seem to get all the jobs.
Now the big question: will the PLP get her vote? Her husband is certain, he will not vote for the FNM. She is less sure. She says that she is likely to stay home and not vote at all. She does not see an end in sight.
And so as the PLP designs its policies for the next General Election, that is the family that we have to keep in mind. They don't even have to be married family. There are plenty of "families" or aggregations with common goals for their lives, which centre around the same problems, fears and difficulties. The middle class is worried. It is up to the PLP to take full advantage of their concerns.
This week we had 11784 hits on
this site up to midnight 13 January. This makes a total of 18120
hits for the month and year. Thanks for reading and keep reading.
PERMANENT LINKS
Mitchell Address to Senate: Why the PM is the
way he is
Mitchell speech to PLP Convention
2000
Pindling & Me - A personal retrospective
on the life and times of Sir Lynden by Fred Mitchell
Address to the Senate Budget
Debate / Haitian Issue
Address to the Senate Clifton Cay Debate / Haitian
Issue
Address to PLP Leadership meeting in Exuma
/ Haitian Issue
Address of Sean Mcweeney / Pindling
funeral
Gilbert Morris on OECD Blacklist
Fred Mitchell Antioch College speech
The funeral coverage
For a photo essay on the funeral of Archdeacon William Thompson. Click here.
 |
 |
| Professor Gilbert Morris on the country's blacklisting | Coverage of Sir Lynden's death & funeral |
e-mail timbuktu@batelnet.bs
| Site Links | |
| The PLP Position on Clifton | |
| www.johngfcarey.com | Thought provoking columns |
| http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/ | Canadian contacts Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
| http://members.tripod.com/~xtremesp/wolf.html | Bahamian Cycling News |
| http://www.bahamiansonline.com | Links to Bahamians on the web |
| http://www.bahamanet.com/JujuTree.cfm | Politics Forum |
| http://www.jameshepple.com/ | Tourism Statistics |
10 JANUARY
1967
A
correspondent to this site said that he was speaking to a young Black Bahamian
who is 23 years old and ought to know but did not know what the significance
is of 10 January. It marks the day that the Black majority in the
country first wrested power from the white minority. Many people
are calling it Majority Rule Day. The Progressive Liberal Party's
Leader and the Party gathered in a series of events designed to celebrate
the day. 
First
Lady Pindling in this Peter Ramsay photo laid a wreath at the grave of
her late husband Sir Lynden O. Pindling. She said that this was her
first time on the anniversary without him but she was certain that his
spirit lives in The Bahamas. Perry Christie, the Leader of the Opposition
was shown by the press (see Tribune photo) at a graveside service marking
the day with about 200 supporters. Later in the evening, the PLP
gathered at Faith United Baptist Church in a service of thanksgiving and
heard a sermon by Bishop Samuel Greene, Superintendent of the Zion Baptist
Union. But the difficulty is that the celebration in this dispensation
is not a national one. It remains a partisan one. This is no fault
of the PLP in its present incarnation that has tried to encourage the Government
to create a national holiday on the day. But with the FNM being the
stalking horse for white privilege and elitism, it is difficult to get
their agreement. And so, there were no congratulatory or celebratory
remarks from the Prime Minister. The ever-voluble Leader of the Christian
Council, Rev. Simeon Hall said that the reason that the day does not have
national significance is because of cheap politics on the part of the Government.
But Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie described this year's occasion
as bitter sweet, having regard to the fact that Sir Lynden is no longer
with us.
AUDLEY
HANNA'S MAJORITY RULE CAMPAIGN
Former PLP Senator Audley Hanna is leading the campaign to make the
day 10 January a national holiday. He was interviewed by the mealy
mouthed Nassau Guardian for its Wednesday 10 January edition and they showed
a photo by Donald Knowles. Mr. Hanna, now back in the construction
business in Nassau, told the press that the people of the US celebrate
a holiday for Martin Luther King, the great civil rights leader, the same
should be for Sir Lynden and Majority Rule day. Last year Sir Lynden and
this columnist were the guests of Mr. Hanna at 10 January celebrations
at the famous Zanzibar in Grants Town. Mr. Hanna in a press statement
said that as part of his contribution to making it a holiday, all his staff
is granted a day off on the day without a loss in pay. Any staff
that has to work on that day will be paid double time as if it were a holiday
required in law. A great effort by Senator Hanna.
THE
YEAR-OPENING NATIONAL SERVICES
Nassau
in The Bahamas is still a quaint place in many ways. And part of
the quaintness of the town is the series of national services held mainly
in the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral to mark the opening of the work
year. The Judges start it with the Chief Justice leading the Judiciary
to the Anglican Cathedral. The service went on despite the boycott
of the President of The Bahamas Christian Council President, who is peeved
that the service is only held at the Cathedral. It is quite a spectacle
for the tourists to see these judges and lawyers all lined up on the streets
marching to church in gowns and wigs. The Chief Justice later inspects
the honour guard drawn up by the police and then gives an annual statement.
This Tim Aylen photo shows a part of the parade. The parade
shows the Provost Marshal, a.k.a. the Acting Commissioner of Police Paul
Farqhuarson leading the Chief Justice and the Justices of Appeal. It was
a showstopper on Bay Street with sales people running out of their stores.
The Police and the security forces of the country put on their own spectacle
last Sunday 7 January, also at the cathedral. They marched with the
police band at the lead, and headed again by the Commissioner, the Chief
of Customs, the Chief of the Prison, the Chief of Immigration to the Christ
Church Cathedral. Poor Simeon Hall, President of the Christian Council
must be apoplectic, but he did attend that service. Again the march
of the security forces from the Cathedral to Blue Hill Road, to Wulff Road,
east to East Street and then to the Police Barracks brought out a huge
crowd. The Police had all their cars and motorcycles in tow.
Quite a show! But what about the security implications of this in
The Bahamas today? A quaint show is one thing, and apparently it is a good
for morale of the Force and lends the force community support, but how
practical will this all continue to be putting all the chiefs at risk in
a march on the streets of New Providence? This columnist gave a lot of
tongue in cheek concerns for some of the gentlemen and ladies. It
was quite a long march, and even when some of them arrived at the Cathedral
on the short march from the barracks for the start of the service, they
look winded. But every one made it without incident. Congratulations
to the security chiefs for a job well done in 2000.
WHAT
THE WORTHLESS GOVT. SAID AT THE SERVICES
The Archbishop of Province of the West Indies Drexel Gomez was the
preacher at the service for the Police on Sunday 7 January and he preached
a sermon that sounded very much like something the PLP should adopt in
its platform. He said that the country is frustrated. But not to
be outdone Frank Watson, the Minister of National Security, who has presided
over a year of jailbreaks and 72 murders in the year 2000, said that God
is on our side. He certainly can't mean by that remark that God is on the
side of the FNM. He must be dreaming. Then there was her eminence
(yeah right!) Janet Bostwick, the somnambulant Attorney-General.
She managed to make it on the march from the courts behind the Chief Justice
to the Cathedral and back to give an address in the courts. The address
was one of high praise on 10 January 2001 for the Chief Justice.
She said that Dame Joan, the Chief Justice has been an activist for an
efficient and effective Judiciary though judicial reform. She congratulated
Senior Justice Emmanuel Osadebay, and Ricardo Marques, another Justice,
for hearing and disposing of civil appeals from Magistrates Courts.
Hundreds of them she said. She said that Dame Joan had disposed of
hundreds of criminal appeals. She said that through the work of Anita Allen
and Ricardo Marques, the backlog of probate applications had been relieved.
808 probates were granted and at the time of her address there were only
85 applications pending, with 42 inactive files. She said virtually
all the vacancies in the Judiciary have been filled. What she didn't
say is that they are bringing in yet another Judge from Jamaica Hugh Small
to sit on the Bahamian bench. She said that the Court of Appeal is
now fully functioning with five justices. But while she talked about efficiency,
nowhere did she talk about justice, and that is the whole problem with
the Judiciary in The Bahamas. Where does justice fit into this?
Further, what the hell is the Attorney General doing giving the summary
of the courts activities. Where was the voice of the Chief Justice?
It only shows again the rank interference of the Executive in the work
of the Judiciary in this country. The voice of the Judiciary should
be the Chief Justice and no other.
FRED
MITCHELL'S ANNUAL REVIEW OF JUDICIARY
This year as usual and for the eleventh time, this Senator stood under
the fig tree in front of the Supreme Court to deliver an annual review
of the Judiciary. It was started when this Senator was the head of
the political party Peoples Democratic Force (PDF) in 1990 as an alternative
to the bland recitation of statistics by the Judicial establishment.
It was also meant to show that the Judicial branch of the Government has
to be accountable to public scrutiny. The main thrust this year was
that the Judicial Branch is not fully accountable in this democratic society.
Jeanne Thompson who normally joins us under the tree was not able to be
there but Alfred Sears, attorney-at-law joined us, as did our political
colleague Calvin Brown. You may click
here for the full address. The photo is by Tim Aylen and if you wish
to get copies of the video please e-mail us. The price is $20.
JUDICIAL
SALARIES
The Judicial Review Commission, headed by Sean McWeeney, former Senator
and Attorney General, has reported. They presented the report to the Prime
Minister on 21 December at his office. Other members of the Commission
were retired Supreme Court Justice Joseph Strachan, CMG; lawyers Jeanne
Thompson and Brian Moree and Banker Sharon Brown. The Prime Minister
promised action on the report. Magistrate's salaries were not considered
because the act under which the review takes place does not permit it.
But the PM said that the Magistrate's salaries would be benchmarked by
what the Judges got. We don't know what's in the report but the talk
is that under the recommendations, judges salaries should rise to $100,000
per year from the present $70,000. That ought to get a few more Bahamians
interested. But the other public servants are vexed about the pension
provisions for Judges. They say that they have to work 30 years to get
a full pension but judges only work for five years to qualify. Oh
well! Perhaps the all-knowing Hubert Ingraham might try to persuade a few
more voters by fixing that problem. Remember the money! Remember
the money! You remember when he said that on the day of the police vote,
when he gave the police a raise on that day.
LORD
AND LADY MILLETT
The
couple has been having a great time over the past week in The Bahamas.
Lord Millett, is what is called in the UK a Lord of Appeal in ordinary
or for short a Law Lord. He is one of the judges of the top court
in the UK called the House of Lords and that court is our Privy Council,
also the highest court for The Bahamas. So at the invitation of Dame
Joan, the Chief Justice of The Bahamas, he and his wife were in The Bahamas
for a week. They left on Saturday 13 January after living at Lyford
Cay. Very impressed they were with Lyford Cay and the hospitality
generally of the Bahamian people, chauffeur driven car, police outrider.
Lord Millett even got to read a lesson at the service opening the Judicial
year. This puts a human face on these Privy Council judges who have
caused the policies in this country so much grief over the death penalty.
Grief which we well deserve. Lord Millett is pictured in this Bahama Journal
photo with who else but Hubert, the PM.
NASSAU
AIRPORT DOWNGRADED OFFICIALLY
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has officially downgraded
the airport at Nassau because of various problems. They have also
dictated a set of terms for our Government in order to get back to number
one status. The effect is mainly that Bahamian-licenced operators
will not be certified to fly into the US until the airport is back up to
scratch. But it also smacks of bullying tactics. They will
continue to licence their operators to come into The Bahamas. They have
dictated that the British Civil Aviation Authority advisors were to go
and they are gone. They have dictated changes in the law and Parliament
is to be brought back into session to make the changes. It will also
mean the purchase of US equipment and US consultants certified by the FAA.
So that means the Brits are out and the US is in. We are now fully
a client state. Things that make you go: hmmm!
APOLOGIES
We had our own set of gaffes. We kept calling US Ambassador Arthur
Schecter, William in past editions. Sorry about that Mr. Ambassador.
Mr. Schecter ends his tour of duty officially on 19 January and leaves
The Bahamas in March. Further we badly misspelled the name of the King
of Togo last week in our story SAXONS WIN JUNKANOO. The correct
name is: his Royal Majesty King F. Ayi Foli-Bebe of Togo. By the way the
King is to be married soon to former Miss Bahamas Richa Sands.
TRAFFIC
PROBLEMS
You may not remember, but we do. Hubert Ingraham told his convention
in November 2000 that one of the things that he had solved was the traffic
problem in New Providence. Look around, he said. We looked
around in New Providence and all we could see is traffic. Now comes
James Knowles, the Minister of Transport, speaking to the American Men's
Club only to confirm what we knew all along and that was that his Prime
Minister had misled us that he had solved the traffic problem. Mr. Knowles
under the shadow of the Ambassador Arthur Schecter (not William as we have
been saying over the past week, with grovelling apologies) promised that
the Government is embarking on the largest road improvement project ever.
He also promised a complete overhaul of the public bus system. And
why is he doing this? He gave these statistics: with 20 new vehicles
entering New Providence daily in 20 years an average day time trip will
be 4 hours… the average journey today takes one hour… with a resident population
of 175,00, there are 110,000 registered vehicles in New Providence.
Oh by the way, at last the Ministry has purchased the equipment to bring
in photo licences. They will be phased in as licences expire and
be available for one year or three years. Each year will cost the
same $15 dollars. There will be information on the driver available
to the police on the licences which will look like the Florida driver's
licence and will be credit card sized. No fingerprints will be on
the licence. You will remember that this new licence was promised by the
first FNM Minister of Transport in 1992. The licence will have info
encoded in a central data bank and the islands of Grand Bahama, Abaco,
Andros, Exuma, Eleuthera will be on line immediately with the others joining
later.
BATELCO
GAFFE REVISITED
Just
as we predicted, BaTelCo was back with its telephone directory (see lead
story last week). This time they have released the same directory
only they have marked the offending X rated web site off the front cover.
Many people thought that we were joking last week, when we said that all
BaTelCo would do is mark out the xxx.com site from the front cover of their
new directory with a black magic marker. So said, so done.
In fact The Tribune had a photo on the front page of their newspaper showing
a woman marking the site out with a magic marker. Many people thought
the whole recall was foolish. They commented that the kids had heard
about the whole gaffe on the radio so they had the address anyway… On another
BaTelCo note, one of the last decisions made by a jury of the Coroner before
the resignation of Winston Saunders was to find BaTelCo liable for the
death of the two linesmen that died in October of last year, Rollins and
Hanna. (See story fredmitchelluncensored.com 1st October). This should
make it easier for a civil action to be brought against the company that
has been reluctant to settle with the estates of the two men. The
jury just seemed to apply common sense. That tower could not have
collapsed had it not been for the negligence of BaTelCo. Some say
through back channels that BaTelCo had long been warned by the suppliers
of the Staniel Cay, Exuma tower, that the tower should come down.
It was long overdue for replacement.
SIDEBURNS
CARTOON
The BaTelCo gaffe was the subject of the Sideburns cartoon in The Tribune
of Tuesday 9 January. The cartoon is drawn by Stan Burnside. In it, he
has Prime Minister Ingraham in an obeah hat on the telephone speaking to
BaTelCo and assuring them that the gaffe of the X-rated website on the
cover of the telephone directory might have been worse, it could have been
Fred Mitchell's website he says to them. That was the first time
we had a good laugh form that strip in quite a while. Thanks Stan!
THE
BAHAMAS IS NOW A 'QUALIFIED JURISDICTION'
Just as the Americans use the expression World Series to describe their
national baseball championship, hyperbole is also used to describe a status
given by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for countries like
The Bahamas whose financial services sector administers bonds or securities
in American companies on behalf of non American clients. According
to the IRS, we are now a qualified jurisdiction. This means, according
to The Tribune 10 January, that our financial services companies will be
able to maintain the confidentiality of the identity of its non-US clients.
If we did not get the jurisdiction that would have meant that companies
would have had either to reveal the identity of its customers to the IRS
to prove they were not US citizens or the IRS would have withheld 30 per
cent of the interest income due on the securities. Either way would
have been a disaster. In fact though, most of the companies here
had already switched to a branch format from their home countries like
Switzerland that had the designation and they would have used their home
countries' qualification. Needless to say the persons who created
the crisis in the first place, the Bahamas Financial Services Board and
the Government, were busy shouting about how they solved the crisis.
The next step now is to get off the so-called Black List of the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). For that the hapless
Minister of Finance Bill Allen went down to Barbados to a conference with
the OECD. Lots of platitudes spoken and they now claim to have an
exist strategy from the list, and an arrangement that OECD in its harmful
tax initiative will level the playing field. What does it mean? They
do not intend to force income tax on us? Barbados has shown the way.
Their Prime Minister Owen Arthur says that his country will not be bullied
by these people who want to impose their tax systems on his country. We
in The Bahamas are acting like puppies with our tails between our legs.
BISX
FUTURE IN DOUBT
Next week we will present a full report on the speech of the chairman
of the Bahamas International Stock Exchange, given on the 21st December
2000 at the Annual General Meeting. Ian Fair, who is the chairman, indicates
that BISX's future is in doubt if the Government does not lend more support
to the venture. This means that the 5.375 million dollars in capital raised
to fund the start of BISX may all be lost.
MCKINNEY
BANCROFT HIRES SABOLA
At
the next session of Parliament, questions ought to be asked about how the
former President of the Court of Appeal and the former Chief Justice Joaquim
Gonsalves Sabola is able to take a consultant's job with the firm McKinney
Bancroft & Hughes. His daughter also works for the firm.
Sabola surfaced again after retiring two years ago at a party for Lord
and Lady Millett, the judge visiting here from the Privy Council.
He was shown on the front page of the Nassau Guardian with former Attorney
General Paul Adderley. This man should be ashamed to show his face
in this country. You will remember that he is the same fellow who
while Chief Justice of The Bahamas and sitting on a case involving The
Bahamas Government accepted citizenship from the Government of The Bahamas.
Even in the face of protests he continued to hear and rule in the case
involving the Methodist Church and the Government, subsequently reversed
by the Privy Council. Sabola was quoted in The Tribune 10 January
as encouraging persons at a seminar held by his new employers to familiarize
themselves with the 11 new statutes. The words are the same
kind of empty platitudes that often made up his judgements – more form
than substance. What he ought to do is go hide in a hole somewhere
and keep his damn mouth shut.
WHAT
JULIAN BROWN HAD TO SAY
Julian Brown, the head of Benchmark Securities
Ltd. told The Tribune in its Wednesday 10 January edition that while the
new statutes on the financial services sector are a lot to digest, the
changes are not really different from standard practices already being
done by most of the reputable financial institutions. He said: "I don't
really think the changes are going to uproot completely what we have been
doing. What it will do, however, is force us to be a little more proactive.
I'm not saying that they are onerous, but the changes have been sudden
and they have been voluminous."
THE
WAR AGAINST ROGER SMITH
The war continues between the Bahamas Lawn Tennis
Association (BLTA) and Bahamian former standout tennis pro Roger Smith.
Mr. Smith has been passed up for this year's captaincy of the Davis Cup
team for The Bahamas. This is part of an ongoing dispute between
the BLTA and Mr. Smith that has left a smear on tennis in The Bahamas.
Just why the antipathy is there, no one seems to be able to explain.
John Farrington has instead been given the captaincy of the team to play
against Peru from 9-11 February later this year at the National Tennis
Centre.
MIKE
JORDAN'S CELEBRITY TOURNAMENT
Michael Jordan appears to be more or less a fixture
in The Bahamas these days, at least since Christmas. And we are happy
to have him. Apparently he dumps five thousand-dollar bets at the
Paradise Island casino. But more importantly he is here organizing
a celebrity tournament in golf to mark the re-opening of the Paradise Island
golf course on 15 January. According to the Tribune of Thursday 11
January in addition to Mr. Jordan, former basketball great Charles Barkley,
Johnny Bench former Red's catcher in baseball), Roger Clemens also of baseball,
Wayne Gretzky of hockey, John Elway and Dan Marino of football are all
to be here for the tourney. Permit us an observation though about
what Sol Kerzner is doing over at P.I. He is creating a high priced subdivision
over at P.I. and inviting in mega-rich Black US stars to buy. Easy
enough to sell one thinks, since this is a Black majority country.
Problem is that these rich folks have no contact with us poor folk. The
$25,000 to the Bahamas Cancer Society is a good start, but a drop in the
bucket, really, when one considers its source. When Oprah came to The Bahamas
or more correctly Paradise Island, she ensconced herself at P.I. and in
her public comments did not seem to have a feel for how the other half
lives at all or an interest. But you know that's how it is when you
are from a certain social class. It only goes to show that colour
often has nothing to do with it.
WINJIE
MICHAEL JORDAN?
Last year we reported that the casino dealers
at Paradise Island have a nickname for Michael Jordan, the basketball star
ensconced at the Ocean Club and a high roller at that. Last week,
Mr. Jordan who is doing a celebrity golf tournament for charity at PI enhanced
his reputation for thriftiness after allegedly winning $600,000.
The dealers complain that he left no tips... so as they say: "No one is
checking for him!" That and other stuff left the organizers of the
tournament begging for Bahamians to come and see the tournament. Mr. Jordan
was pictured in the press (The Tribune) on Saturday 13 January giving a
$25,000 donation to The Bahamas Cancer Society. Imagine that, after
winning $600,000. But, you know, it's his money.
THE
SPELLING BEE
Two students were profiled by the Nassau Guardian
as winners of the Kingsway Academy Spelling Bee in their 10 January edition.
We show the photo that the Guardian showed with Kellen Knowles and Chelsea
Cartwright who finished first and second respectively. Congratulations!
NEWS
FROM GRAND BAHAMA
News from Grand Bahama will return next week.
NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
SORRY BOSS! I CAN’T MAKE IT TO WORK
On Friday 19 January, the sign in
front of the US chain Hooters said: ‘Hooters is closed until
further notice’. So the manager, a man in his thirties we
would say, was asked by this columnist what does that mean?
Because Hooters is a new restaurant and one was afraid that it
was about to close. His answer was this: the morning cook called
up and said that his son had to go to hospital and he would be
late. But he never showed up at all for the day. The result, the
restaurant was closed for the day.
The manager adds with a wry grin, but when it comes time to give
that pay cheque, you, as the employer had better not be late. He
added but the young people don’t care. They just want the
pay cheque but they don’t think about the consequences of
their casual decisions on work or rather not to work.
In a law firm, an employer reports a particularly bad Thursday.
Three male law clerks don’t show up for work. One
doesn’t show up because his stomach was hurting. Another
doesn’t show up because he has a toothache. A third just
doesn’t show up. He calls after the starting time to say
that he can’t make it into work. No explanation. No phone
contact. No nothing. And when each is asked about it, they think
that what they have done is perfectly okay.
For a man in his forties, almost fifties who rarely misses a day
of work on a day, it also seems that younger workers are ill far
too many times with sickness that are self-inflicted. Bad
stomachs, daylong colds, headaches, and accidents.
But perhaps God smiles on this writer. Knock on wood and thank
the Lord! But it is a source of exasperation to many employers,
the down time of workers in The Bahamas. Some argue that
productivity is too low. That younger people in this country seem
to have so many physical and social problems that affect their
ability to productively work from sun up to sundown. Just getting
out of bed in the morning seems to be a problem. Arriving to work
on time, another major problem.
But this is a worker’s market and so they do what they like
when they like, knowing that employers have little choice.
Because replacements may be worse. So we just plod along and
thank God that we have the ones we have. And it’s sad to
say, it’s the guys again that are the problem. But we have a
responsibility to keep trying and training. After all, they are
the future, whether we like or not. And one day, we have the hope
that they will get it.
This week we have 35,497 hits on the site for the month of January
up to midnight 20 January. Thanks for reading and please keep
reading.
PERMANENT LINKS
Mitchell Address to Senate: Why the PM is
the way he is
Mitchell speech to PLP
Convention 2000
Pindling & Me - A personal
retrospective on the life and times of Sir Lynden by Fred
Mitchell
Address to the Senate
Budget Debate / Haitian Issue
Address to the Senate Clifton Cay Debate /
Haitian Issue
Address to PLP Leadership meeting in
Exuma / Haitian Issue
Address of Sean
Mcweeney / Pindling funeral
Gilbert Morris on OECD Blacklist
Fred Mitchell Antioch College speech
The funeral coverage
For a photo essay on the funeral of Archdeacon William Thompson. Click here.
e-mail timbuktu@batelnet.bs
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FREEPORT COUNCIL CHANGES ITS
TUNE
Our friend in Grand Bahama thought that
the Freeport Council had at last found the - shall we say –
testicular fortitude to stand up to the Grand Bahama Port
Authority. The problem: the foolish idea advanced by the new
owners of the former Princess Hotels in Freeport to create an
artificial beach in the middle of what is now West Sunrise
Highway between the two hotels. For some reason the original
owners of the properties build the darn thing in a tourist resort
in the middle of the island and so it has no beach. If you live
there, you have to be bussed to a beach. The new owners want to
solve that problem by digging into the aquifer and creating one.
The community is in an uproar. But as usual, its political
representatives both local and national have not voiced the
concerns of their constituents, so careful are they not to offend
the principals of the Port. Usually, Council meetings and
parliamentary policies are influenced by whether or not the Port
Authority is going to continue with those political donations. So
it was a surprise when Burton Miller (shown at left with a
British official in this file photo), the Chief Councillor
announced at the meeting two weeks ago that he was opposed to the
foolish artificial beach idea. Well not so fast. Our friend has
found out that Mr. Miller was called in by the principals of the
Port. It is alleged that Edward St. George laid down the law,
read the riot act. So that the original questionnaire that was
supposed to go out, is not in the same form and not with the same
content. So much for the courage of the first convictions. But
let us predict, just as with the sealing up of the beach at
Princess Isle. This idea of an artificial beach cannot fly. Most
people are saying it's just a scheme by the new owners of the
hotel who don’t have the money to refurbish the place. When
the community opposes it and the Government turns it down, they
will then pack up their georgie bundles and say they can’t
make it in the hotel without it. An easy way to exit from a bad
investment. And no one suffers but the Bahamian people. You saw
it here first folks.
GEORGE W. BUSH IS PRESIDENT - WELL!
This is a curious time. Most black
Bahamians supported Al Gore, and felt that a biased Supreme Court
that stopped the counting cheated him out the presidency of the
United States. The feeling in the country is that Black voters
were disenfranchised in Florida and that was what caused Bush to
‘win’. So many of us are smarting about that. But there
are also quite a few who think that the issue is a dead one.
George Bush is the President and that the Republicans will be
better for The Bahamas and its financial services sector that was
attacked so mercilessly under the Clinton administration. They
see only good things coming out of Bush. One of his dad’s
old pals and former Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady is living
out at luxurious Lyford Cay, and the old man has been to visit
Lyford Cay many times since he lost the Presidency. So for this
small country we shall keep our fingers crossed that the new
President is good for business in The Bahamas. "After
all", they say in answer to the critics who think Bush and
his guys are racists, "he has appointed three Blacks to high
level positions in his administration. What more do Black people
want?" Things that make you go: hmmm! (Miami Herald
photo)
POOR
JESSE JACKSON
Many people think that the Rev. Jesse Jackson, one time aide to
the late Rev’d. Dr. Martin Luther King and now civil rights
activist, is nothing more than an empty sloganeer as in
‘from the outhouse to the White House’. But they gave
grudging kudos as he pulled off a number of foreign policy feats
that the US Government did not seem to be able to manage. Now he
is the laughing stock of many again. This time, he has really
gone and done it; or has he? He has announced that he fathered a
child now 20 months old with a woman that worked in the
Washington DC office of his civil rights organization. It is even
said that he took her to the White House with him in December
1998. The joke is that Rev. Jackson was counselling the President
when his wife and the world caught him cheating with Monica
Lewinsky. By the way, old Bill has now settled everything and put
it behind with a last minute deal with the independent counsel to
avoid indictment and being disbarred. Good man! The question is
what were Jesse and Bill really talking about in the White House?
Perhaps they were exchanging notes. But more seriously, this
would not cause a single blush in The Bahamas. It is a common
occurrence amongst preachers, politicians and all the rest of us.
Out of wedlock pregnancies for married men, for old men for young
men are as common as grass and there appears to be no moral
stigma too it. So it was interesting to spot the reaction of a
young man as he was shown the news. His response was why does he
have to step down from private life? That question spoke volumes
about the state of ethics in this country. Maybe they are right,
it is much ado about nothing. Do you think so? You have to admit,
though, that Jesse is in a funny predicament.
INGRAHAM’S END OF YEAR SPEECH
Instead of just announcing the promised Cabinet changes, the
bloody Prime Minister wasted the time of the country last Sunday
evening with a speech to mark the changing of the old year to the
new year, a full two weeks after it took place. By the way
whenever the Cabinet changes are announced we will update the
site immediately at the top of the site. From all accounts, it
was a big snooze. This columnist certainly was not going to stay
up to watch the process of self-praise by the Prime Minister with
his bad pronunciations. Literally he had nothing to say. But just
a few tidbits. First, he tried to titillate us with the thought
that maybe he won’t break his promise after all and run for
a third term. He said that this was his next to last New Year's
address to the nation. Then he admitted that the economy was
moderating. Translate, we are headed for a bust again. Remember
how the budget was supposed to be in surplus for the first time
ever. Well, the PM says out of his own mouth that the revenue
under performed for the last quarter by three million dollars. A
sign that we are in trouble. Then he said the currency reserves
at the Central Bank are down by 99 million from the same time
last year. But he added quickly that they are twice as high as
they were in 1992. (Don’t blame me, blame the PLP again!)
But the best was his syrupy praise for Dame Ivy Dumont who he
confirmed is leaving the Senate as the Government leader and the
Cabinet. He says that she wanted to leave last year but he
persuaded her to stay on, and it been a long year for her, but
the time he claims has been short for him. He said that Dame Ivy
has given valued counsel and she had been a surrogate mother to
him. This columnist took his violin and began to play. Read the
following story for the possible real reason that some say Dame
Ivy stayed.
THE REAL STORY ON DAME IVY’S
RETIREMENT
Never mind all that syrupy nonsense the
Prime Minister spoke in his address about the valuable counsel of
Ivy Dumont as Minister of Education and how she longed to leave.
Remember this. In order to qualify for a pension under the
existing law at the level of the ministerial salary, you need
eight years of service. That eight years is now done. So she can
get the full ministerial pension. Could that be the reason that
she stayed on for the extra year? What we now know is why the
Ministry of Education was adrift during the last year. Her mind
was on leaving the job, not staying on the job. The question now
is who will get the job? Dion Foulkes and Carl Bethel are
positively salivating at the possibility of getting a real
Ministry at last. But waiting patiently in the wings is the
forever-young Zhivargo Laing, the only Minister of State,
previously called Minister in training by the Prime Minister. He
wants to graduate. He has been in ministerial school too long.
But some are worried that his former teacher Iris Pinder who is
now the Director of Education will have too much control over him
if he got the job. But we shall see.
PROBLEMS IN THE SCHOOLS
Three girls are to charged for injuring a teacher at the L. W.
Young High School on Bernard Road in New Providence. The incident
happened on Monday 15 January. The teacher has lost sight in her
right eye. She was hit in the back and in the eye. The
teacher’s name is Jacqueline Roker. It is believed that the
Ministry of Education is going to come down hard on the students
as a result of this. The main perpetrator according to the Bahama
Journal of January 19-21 is to be expelled from the school. The
student 15-year-old Niquel ‘Kissey’ Brown comes from
Kemp Road with a history of discipline problems. The question is
whether she should have been in this school at all. She was
unrepentant. Here is what she told the Journal: "We
continued to exchange words but I did cuss her out. Ms. Roker
(the teacher) then walked towards her car. At the time children
had crowded the area either to leave the school or chat on the
school premises. So someone must have hit her in her back because
she turned around, dropped all of her books and ran towards me. I
think because she and I had an argument earlier she ran towards
me and slapped me and when I made an attempt to hit her the
senior master held me back. She came again to hit me and that
when I was able to pull one my hands back and her face was right
there. It was a lucky blow that hit her right there." And
that is a student in school. The Ministry is being blamed now by
the Bahamas Union of Teachers for fostering an atmosphere where
teachers are being challenged by students as a result of the case
of Roslyn Astwood who was charged with manslaughter when, after
beating as student in the palm of his hand, the student with an
undisclosed heart illness died. Their lack of support for
teachers is causing general chaos in the schools. Tried as he
might to sound powerful and mighty, poor Minister of State
Zhivargo Laing just doesn’t have the authority to bring it
off. Dame Ivy, his boss, is going off into the sunset. So what do
we have? Drift, drift and more drift. But teachers should be
advised that in law, regardless of the Ministry’s polices,
you have a right to use force in self-defence. You should use it
where appropriate. The tail will not be allowed to wag the dog.
Fifteen year old kids will not be allowed to put adult teachers
in fear. But clearly, our schools need a lot of work on our kids.
GET REGISTERED SAYS DPM WATSON
There he was, the Deputy Prime Minister
together with Errol Bethel, the Parliamentary Commissioner, and
he was tweaking the public about an early election in order to
get people to go and register. Much talk about the Prime Minister
may have to call an early election so we should get registered.
This must have been a pure pleasure for the man Frank Watson who
last year as Minister of National Security presided 
over 72
murderers and two hundred jailbreaks at the Prison. The public
has been slow to register. It is believed that there are 120,000
potential voters and so far only 14,000 of them have come
forward. But the PLP clearly believes an election is in the air.
It has ratified two more candidates and is moving to complete
them all by the end of February. Mr. Watson even managed to get
the ubiquitous and voluble President of the Christian Council
Rev. Simeon Hall to show up with other pastors in tow to register
to vote. We show the Bahama Journal photo. Well, we registered. Please go out and register. It is
the only way to remove this wicked FNM Government.
BEC UNION CHIEF IN DISPUTE
We don’t know whether or not Charles Rolle is really
suspended. Does the Union executive have the power to do so? What
we know is that the press has been reporting that he has been
suspended as President of the Union and there are charges and
allegations of money going missing. Mr. Rolle was truculent, he
said that the executive does not have the right to suspend him.
Charles Rolle made his reputation by facing down the Government
in the public square in March 2000 in a demonstration over the
sale of BaTelCo. By the way, the Government is saying that
BaTelCo will be sold by April of 2001. That must be, let’s
see… the tenth deadline!
PETER NYGAARD: THE SHOW OFF
He is a strange egg: this Peter Nygaard. He has the strangest
looking house in Lyford Cay, living out in the lap of luxury in
tree houses. Luxurious tree houses. Anyway, Mr. Nygaard a
Canadian millionaire and supposed inventor of the panty hose, is
in a dispute with the Bahamas Amateur Athletic Association
(BAAA). According to The Bahama Journal 19-21 January, he
promised to put up $150,000 if the BAAA would match it to help
the Olympic effort. The BAAA raised the money, Mr. Nygaard gave a
cheque but the Journal says Mr. Nygaard immediately put a stop
payment on the cheque and the cheque presumably bounced. Tut!
Tut! Now what do you suppose that is about. Stay tuned for more
from the tree house!
ARTHUR FOULKES NEW BROADCAST CHAIR
There could be no clearer sign of the Foulkes ascendancy in this
FNM dispensation than the appointment of Arthur Foulkes,
Ambassador to Cuba and China, resident in The Bahamas to the
position of Chairman of the Broadcasting Corporation. He replaces
Desmond Edwards, the former Senator dumped last year in the New
Year’s re-shuffle. Mr. Edwards did not seem to know or care,
that the Prime Minister to whom he is so faithful had dumped him.
Rumour has it that Ingraham has given him the nod for the
Englerston seat. The whole Board was replaced. Mr. Foulkes said
he had some ideas about how to improve the station. How about
selling the whole damn kit and caboodle? The new members of the
Board at ZNS are Ehurd Cunningham, a consultant to the Ministry
of Finance; Archdeacon Keith Cartwright; Banker Paula Harris and
Accountant Tracey Knowles. Alfred Stewart is Chair of the College
of The Bahamas Council and Ishmael Lightbourne is the Chairman of
the Public Hospitals Authority.
TIGER FINLAYSON STRIKES BACK
Butler and Sands was purchased by one of Garret ‘Tiger’
Finlayson’s companies last year. The licensing Authority did
not like it and asked when the licences were being renewed on
behalf of the franchisees for Butler and Sands to show cause why
their licences should not be cancelled. Chairman of the Authority
Conrad Knowles did not like the explanation provided by Tiger's
attorneys former Attorney General Sean McWeeney and former Bar
President Michael Barnett. He refused to renew the licences.
Tiger was furious. His lawyers ran off to court the next morning
and got a temporary order staying the decision of the Authority
until the matter is fully litigated. The decision of the
Authority was silly and appears vindictive. No doubt, Hubert
Ingraham is behind it somewhere lurking in the background,
jealous because another Black man has more money than him. We
hope that ultimately the thing will be reversed. But of course,
we continue to be concerned about the development of a monopoly
in liquor sales in The Bahamas.
SHERATON GRAND FOR SALE?
The Tribune of Friday 19 January, reports that the Sheraton Grand
Hotel on Paradise Island is now on the market for sale. The
property is next door to Atlantis on Paradise Island and sits on
Cabbage beach, one of the most beautiful in the country. It
should be an easy sale. Unless Sol Kerzner their next door
neighbour has run out of money, he will probably buy it. The
Grand was closed for most of last year, following Hurricane Floyd
in 1999 for a ten million-dollar refit. So it should be a good
buy. What’s to happen to the employees though?
PARADISE FISHERIES ANNOUNCES BOARD
Anthony McKinney lives in the Fox Hill constituency. He is a hard
worker and has built up his fisheries company over the years to a
successful business. It is hoped that one day, the company will
go public. But for now he has announced an impressive Board of
Directors. They are Louis Dames, David Reynolds, Michael
Cunningham, Peter Cardone and Wendell Raeburn. Anthony McKinney
is the brother of Protocol Officer Andrew McKinney.
CANADIAN CHARGED WITH FORGERY
It was an usual sight in the Bahamas, a Canadian charged with
fraud. Usually when it comes to those type folk, it is all hushed
up and the person quietly spirited out of the country. One
wonders what the fellow did to offend the Gods. He was charged
with 65 counts of forgery and fraud on Thursday 18 January. His
name is Dennis Sutton. He is out on $250,000 bail. His offence
was allegedly setting up IBCs that were being submitted to the
registrar as coming from particular law firms when they were not.
NEWS
FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Local & Central Government On Collision Course?
- The people of Grand Bahama have been asked by Local Government
for their opinion on the proposed creation of a man made beach in
the public road which bisects the property of Resorts at Bahamia,
formerly Princess Hotels now owned by the Driftwood Group. At a
Council meeting attending by one of our correspondents, all
Councillors were reportedly opposed to the move with two
exceptions. Minister of Tourism C.A. Smith also strongly supports
the move. The Council voted to take an opinion survey. The
Freeport News carries a public questionnaire on the matter.
Chief Councillor Burton Miller is said to have noted that people
in authority too often do what they think is good without asking
the people what they want.... The stretch of road in question has
been public since the early days of Freeport. As reported above,
the proposed questionnaire was circulated at the Council meeting
but was changed to reflect 'suggestions' made after the Chief
Councillor was summoned to the office of a senior official in the
Grand Bahama Port Authority. Drawings of the proposed man-made
beach unveiled at the meeting show provision for an entire arcade
of retail space, right next to the existing Freeport
International Bazaar. If this comes to pass, one wonders what
will become of Bahamian jobs and investments in the Bazaar. If
the survey determines that Grand Bahamians are against the move,
there is talk that the Council might find itself in the position
of having to challenge the central Government on the legality of
taking the public road private. During the Council meeting,
someone wondered aloud whether or not the Government can sue
itself.
Driftwood Lays Off 75 More - Despite repeated denials, speculation continues that the Driftwood Group is experiencing serious financial difficulties with its acquisition of the former Princess Properties. The resorts, now called Resorts at Bahamia, announced the layoff of a further 75 people this week. Disgruntled workers told one of our correspondents that it is believed that the hotel had to wait for income from the holiday season in order to pay the laid off workers their severance money. In its initial layoffs, Driftwood paid severance monies in weekly installments over an extended period. The projected 10 percent figure of staff who were initially supposed to have been affected by staggered layoffs has been passed. Renovations at the properties have been going slowly and inside reports say that staff at all levels have been told they are to lose benefits which they enjoyed for many years. Observers are warning that Resorts at Bahamia seem to be a prime candidate for some sort of bailout. We shall watch carefully.
'Iron Mike & His Friends - Tongues in the political community were doing overtime this week as a photograph appeared in the newspaper with former FNM Northern Region Vice Chairman 'Iron' Mike Edwards surrounded by some of his erstwhile political enemies. The occasion was the groundbreaking of Mike's new $70 million housing development project. Among those in the photo with Mike were Deputy Prime Minister Frank Watson, Minister of Housing (and Mike's mentor) Algernon Allen and Neko Grant MP, Chairman of the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation. Said one politico, "With the exception of Neko, they were all trying to make up to him for the backstabbing he took at the last FNM convention." Mike was deposed in a night of long knives. Those who moved against him have been saying quietly for some time that it was a mistake to have replaced him with Alex 'Fire' Pratt who has - by all accounts - been a disaster in the post.
Sports Minister Backtracks - Heads of
sporting organizations and physical education teachers were all
called to a meeting last week with Minister responsible for
Sports David Thompson to repudiate the widely held notion
(carried on this site) that the Ministry was preventing wide
usage of the new Grand Bahama Sports complex. Minister Thompson
who was said to be in hot water with his boss over the issue,
reportedly didn't even show up until the meeting was almost over,
but dispatched civil servants instead to face the music. There
was much talk and many apologetic smiles to say that indeed the
Ministry encourages the wides possible use of the complex... Our
initial story was followed by floods of correspondence from the
Grand Bahama sporting community nominating the Minister for the
honour of, you guessed it: Jack... of The Week. We have adopted a
wait and see attitude. Meanwhile, reports say that persons
unknown simply ignored the Ministry and cut the locks to the
complex. The Minister was reported to have been seen circling the
gates in his government-issue limousine from a safe distance.
NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
HOW LUCKY SOME PEOPLE ARE
It seems like yesterday as this writer remembers Saturday morning mass at St. George’s Church in the Valley. Across the street from the church was Campbell Cleare who served around the alter. The big boy in the neighbourhood was Dr. Ronald Knowles, now the Minister of Health. It was an idyllic time of church homework for Fr. Granger, the late dean William Granger of the Cathedral. Bishop Michael Eldon was the hero of every little boy in the neighbourhood. Wanted to have those shoes with buckles that he brought back from England. A comfortable time. No worries.
In contrast picture a kid born in a family island, into humble circumstances in a neighbourhood that even in his own island was considered the lowest of the low. And like so many others came to town to follow a parent because there was no work and the family had broken up. He followed a pattern of deprivation, loneliness and admiring things that other people had but could not get.
There are legions of these young people, men and women. And many of them dreamed that one day they would be rich and happy and in those same idyllic circumstances into which this writer had been born. Their good fortune came because in the Anglican Church, in the Catholic Church, in the Baptist Church and other churches, there were men and women of good will who “adopted” their cause and with the assistance of these persons of goodwill, the lives of these young people were transformed, enriched immeasurably.
By all means their path to success was not the traditional path. But knowing men like Fr. John Calnan, Canon E.W.G. Holmes, Canon Milton Cooper, many men and women got a start because of their goodwill.
And so in today’s dispensation, we want to say to all those who are young and think that they are unlucky because circumstances are not exactly as they would have it, think again. A drunk told this writer last Friday that every day above ground is a good day. Amen to that. And we ought to all count our lucky stars for the people who care for us, and take an interest in us in the traditional and non-traditional ways. That’s just the way it is. Many of us just don’t know how lucky we actually are.
This week, we had hits on this site bringing the total for the month of January to hits. Thanks for reading and keep reading.
NEW THIS WEEK - 11th
Review of the Judiciary
PERMANENT LINKS
Mitchell Address to Senate: Why the PM is the
way he is
Mitchell speech to PLP Convention
2000
Pindling & Me - A personal retrospective
on the life and times of Sir Lynden by Fred Mitchell
Address to the Senate Budget
Debate / Haitian Issue
Address to the Senate Clifton Cay Debate / Haitian
Issue
Address to PLP Leadership meeting in Exuma
/ Haitian Issue
Address of Sean Mcweeney / Pindling
funeral
Gilbert Morris on OECD Blacklist
Fred Mitchell Antioch College speech
The funeral coverage
For a photo essay on the funeral of Archdeacon William Thompson. Click here.
|
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| 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 |
INGRAHAM CAN’T DECIDE
It has been a long month that the Prime Minister has been mulling over these Cabinet changes. He just can’t decide. The Cabinet changes were promised before Christmas and the latest deadline was at a raucous meeting of the FNM’s National General Council on Thursday 25 January in which he threatened that anyone who tries to go for the leadership, he will cut off their hands. We have told his colleagues that Mr. Ingraham can’t help himself. He is a total Pindling protégé. And one can only recall the line that he delivered to his Council and compare it to the line that late Sir Lynden told one of his backbenchers who refused to pull back a report condemning one of his Ministers. He told the backbencher: " You cut off my hands, I will chop off your legs". That backbencher lost his nomination for Parliament. So Mr. Ingraham was certainly waiting to deliver the same line to his own group. Now he is really a bigger boss. This writer told FNM friends that Mr. Ingraham can’t help himself. He has to move against Tennyson Wells MP, Pierre Dupuch MP, Floyd Watkins MP, Lester Turnquest MP and Anthony Miller MP. Mr. Ingraham has to prove that he has the same power as Pindling did and can act to remove these men from the body politic. The five men met at lunch at Montagu Gardens and were caught on camera doing so by The Tribune ( see photo) on Wednesday 24 January. They each said that they would be running again and that they did not intend to leave the FNM. They ought to know, of course, that Mr. Ingraham is now developing two FNM parties, one loyal to him and another that will support what the newspapers are now calling “the dissident five”. Never the twain shall meet. Mr.` Wells and his group ought to be acting fast to cut a deal with Perry Christie the Leader of the PLP to shore themselves up. They could well find themselves in the same position as the dissidents in the PLP in 1977, stripped of their nominations and forced to run as independents, only to lose miserably in their constituencies. With all this intrigue, no wonder the PM can’t make up his mind about the Cabinet. (The PM told his Council on Thursday 25 January 2001 that he will make the changes in the Cabinet public by Wednesday 31 January). We will update the site on Wednesday when the announcement is made.
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THE RUMOURS ON CABINET CHOICES
What is being said is that Mr. Ingraham can’t make up his mind. He wants to show the young Turks in the Cabinet: Dion Foulkes, Zhivargo Laing and Carl Bethel that they are rewarded for their service to him during the times of crisis. So what’s in store for them, the rumours are that big promotions are in store. But on the other hand, Mr. Ingraham is not certain how the FNM stalwarts will take it. And so here are the picks of the pundits: Zhivargo Laing, who has the blessing of the outgoing Minister of Education Dame Ivy Dumont is to get a promotion to a full Minister of Education. Dion Foulkes and his family are expecting to get a big promotion for him, but the sources tell us that with the promotion of his dad Arthur Foulkes to the post of Chair of the Broadcasting Corporation , it is unlikely that anything further will be done for the Foulkes Family. Sources say that Carl Bethel is to become the Attorney General. The Americans have been complaining that Janet Bostwick is not doing her work as AG because she has too much to do between being Minister of Foreign Affairs and AG. Tommy Turnquest is to move from Immigration on to Tourism. C.A. Smith is to go back to Immigration. Not decided what to do with Frank Watson, the Deputy Prime Minister also known as the Minister of murders and jail breaks. There were 72 murders and 200 jailbreaks last year. Mr. Watson is the Minister of National Security. What do these promotions all have in common? We have unquestioning Ingraham loyalists. Both the Education Ministry, Tourism and AG’s office will now be in the direct control of the Prime Minister who will no longer have to worry about any mature distinctions being made between what is politic and what is acceptable as a state institution. He will say it to these boys and they will do it. If Tommy goes to Tourism, it will be clear that he is doing the tour of the major political portfolios and being prepared for even higher office. But you know, the best-laid plans of mice and men and you know the rest.
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DAME IVY’S FAREWELL
One thing the so-called retirement of Dame Ivy Dumont the ineffective Minister of Education will show you and that is Bahamians will use any excuse for a party. This week it has been party time at the Ministry of Education. Dame Ivy Dumont is on what is being called pre-retirement leave. Now this is an amazing thing! No one has ever heard of a politician being on pre-retirement leave. What it means is that she has not worked in her office officially since the beginning of December. As Tennyson Wells pointed out to the press, there was no acting Minister in the mean time. But the whole concept is silly, since each Minister serves at the whim, of the Prime Minister. First the school children were taken out of school on Monday 22 January and made to perform in the Kendal Isaacs Gym for the outgoing Minister. One public official from the Ministry of Education got caught up in the party moment and claimed that Dame Ivy during her tenure as Minister of Education brought the young people of The Bahamas to heights that they had never attained before. Then the Prime Minister sent an invitation to this Senator as one imagines he did to others to attend a luncheon at Paradise Island no less for a living legend. Who could the Prime Minister be talking about? You guessed it-Dame Ivy. This is all nonsense. We get carried away in hyperbole. As they’re celebrating, the people in Spanish Wells were in a big row because the children have had what the parents told the press was a chronic shortage of teachers and they accused the Government of practicing racial discrimination against them in not taking the matter seriously. The Minister of State Zhivargo Laing denied that there was a crisis and said that there was no racism involved in the policies of the Ministry toward Spanish Wells. The parents were furious. Mr. Chuck Pinder of Spanish Wells that has an all white population was quoted by The Tribune on Friday 26 January as saying: “ We have a lot of angry parents here because of what we heard the Minister saying on TV. If the Minister is calling us liars, that is a blow below the belt. ” And then one has only to remember chaos in the schools not even three weeks ago over the charging of Rosalyn Astwood, the teacher for the manslaughter of a 12 year old boy who died from an illness, not disclosed to the school at the time. Dame Ivy did not support the teachers in their efforts to maintain discipline amongst the children, that collapsed in the schools after that verdict by the Coroner’s jury on 29 November. The event triggered a work to rule that did not end until well after school opened this term. So yes we have much to celebrate about Dame Ivy and her term one supposes but the Bahamian people have only one sure thing to celebrate and that is the fact that she will no longer be the Minister of Education.
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APOLOGIES OT TELFORD GEORGES
Telford Georges is the former Chief Justice of The Bahamas. He is living in splendid retirement in Barbados overlooking the sea. But alas his name came up in this column by way of the annual review of the Judiciary (click here to see it) . It was said that the troika of Sabola, Carey and Georges, were rude to counsel during their stints as Presidents of the Court of Appeal. Joyce Georges, wife of the great man sent an e-mail to say that her husband was never President of the Court of Appeal. And in any case was always civil to counsel. True! True! The name that should have been there was Kenneth George, not Georges. We have made the correction and we make the apology.
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A FASCINATING MURDER CASE
Jacqueline Robinson, a Bahamian doctor who was working at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario for about six months was arrested on 30 December at the Lester Pearson Airport of Toronto, Canada during a routine customs check. The authorities discovered that there an outstanding warrant for the arrest of Dr. Robinson. The warrant was outstanding for 16 years. The story is that Dr. Robinson shot Dr. Henry Lloyd Garvey of Maryland in the groin. It is alleged that they had a relationship. He was a married man. She was convicted of the shooting but the man later died and she was charged with second-degree murder. Dr. Robinson had left the US jurisdiction and according to her family was not allowed to return. She was out on bail pending appeal. The US authorities declared her a fugitive. For sixteen years no one discovered it. The Princes Margaret Hospital Authorities did not know, neither did the Canadian hospital in which she worked. Now she sits in a Toronto in jail awaiting extradition. Many think that the murder rap won’t stick, since the evidence is old and the memories of witnesses have faded. She is the daughter of George Robinson, the owner of the Base Road Bar in Nassau. We wish the best to their family in this difficult situation.
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CONGRATULATIONS TO SEAN FARRINGTON
Coalition for Democratic Reform (CDR) activist Sean Farrington has been appointed Director of Engineering for Harbourside Resort at Atlantis. It is a hotel at marina side at Atlantis. The soft opening is scheduled for February. Mr. Farrington is a 16 year veteran of the Ministry of Housing as a project architect before joining Sun International. He will have 11 employees reporting to him. Gus Robert’s photo of Sean Farrington is shown. Mr. Farrington is a former neighbour of this writer in Centreville. Knew him from he was a little fellow. He is big guy now with his own wife Ingrid and daughter. Best to him!
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THE FORMAL ANNOUNCMENT OF A ROYAL WEDDING
The country and particularly the young ladies are all a twitter as the news that was revealed first in this column was confirmed. His Majesty King Ayi Foli-Bebe, the symbolic and traditional king from Togo, West Africa of the Ayigbe people of Togo, Benin and Ghana, is to marry Miss Richa Sands, former Miss Bahamas 1992/93. The photo by the Bahama Journal is seen..
Miss Sands is a member of the congregation of Bahamas Faith Ministries, that is led by Dr. Myles Munroe and Dr. Munroe made the announcement. The wedding is scheduled for Saturday 28 April at the Hilton British Colonial, where her future husband expects to made an investment. The current owner is looking for capital. Miss Sands was given an unusual engagement ring according to the press liaison for the wedding Philip Miller, also a BFM member. Mr. Miller is also the protocol officer for the wedding. The ring features a large sapphire stone set in a sea of sparkling diamonds. The King is said to be a born again Christian. According to the press release, King Ayi is the symbolic head of the Guin people who inhabit the southern regions of Togo, Benin and Ghana; and he is the great great grandson of King Agbanon the First , who negotiated with Queen Victoria of England, in 1852, for the abolition of the slave trade. ( Maybe he can do something about Hubert Ingraham our new slave master). The news was greeted by congratulations for Miss Sands as a lady who has done well. There were the skeptics who warned about African men and their many wives. Many wanted to know whether this King had plenty money. Well whatever. We wish all happiness and health, and certainly hope that they have good pictures and pretty babies.
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NATIONAL HEROES DAY
The National Heroes Day Committee headed by Rev. Fr. Sebastian Campbell held a brief memorial service at the statue of Sir Milo to mark the passing of the late national hero Sir Milo Butler. It was the 11th time that such a memorial has been held . Sir Milo died on 22 January 1979. It marks the last time that the service will be held in that way because the Committee has decided that its aim has been accomplished to create a National Heroes Day Holiday. A wreath will still be laid annually by Sir Milo’s statue and a service of memoriam will be held at St. Matthew’s the late Governor General’s home church. Sir Milo Butler is the quintessential national hero. He began his a career in politics opposing the late Sir Harry Oakes in 1937. He was defeated but succeeded the next year when a bye-election was held. He lost again in 1949 but was re-elected as a PLP in 1956 and served until 1973 when he became the nation’s first Bahamian Governor General. A big man. He left a legacy of challenging authority on behalf of his people. Our photo shows the brief ceremony in the Square. The National Heroes Day celebrations began in 1990 when this Senator was head of the Peoples Democratic Force (PDF), a now defunct political party.
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BENCHMARK SHARES AT AN UNDERVALUE
Talk about an under performing stock? We just can’t understand it. We thought that Benchmark would be up around two dollars per share by now, having been purchased for one dollar at the start of last year. But alas not. If we sold the stock at close of trading on Friday, we would have actually taken a bath, what with opportunity costs factored in and commissions. Perhaps the President of Benchmark needs to publicly address the issue of the stock price. But the fact is that the stock is sound stock, and we wonder why it continues to under perform in the market. A dividend was declared late last year. The profit for the fund continues to be high and the total package is liquid and sound. Julian Brown, the President of Benchmark reported that at year's end 2002, the fund had a net earning of $ 957,312 or 23 cents per share. Benchmark’s weighted average return on equity for the period was 24 per cent and return on assets 23 per cent. So let’s go market, this stock needs a bump. Perhaps its because many Bahamians don't understand what a mutual fund does.
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CONGRATUALTIONS OT PAUL MCWEENEY
The Bank of The Bahamas has announced that Pauline Dean Allen , Managing Director of the Bank of The Bahamas, has retired. That’s interesting ( as of 31 December). Why such a young woman would be retiring is quite something we’d like to know. But anyway, the person replacing her is Paul McWeeney, the younger brother of our buddy and former AG Sean McWeeney. Mr. McWeeney is the son of Thelma and the grandson of the late Pearl Cox. He began his banking career at Chase Manhattan in 1981. He expects to bring ATMs to Bank of The Bahamas and concentrate on electronic banking. There is plenty of speculation in the market that the Bank of The Bahamas can’t last on its own and eventually it must be eaten up by Commonwealth Bank. We’ll see what Mr. McWeeney does. But in the meantime., good luck!
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CHILD ABUSE A NATIONAL PROBLEM
According to The Tribune Friday 26 January, 17 cases of sexual abuse involving children under 15 have been reported to the Social Services Department this year alone. According to Cheryl Grant at the AG’s office, the office is going to crack down on sexual offenders. The police issued their own warning last year in which they said they have to issue guidelines to young men still in their teenage years about the lawfulness of sex with a woman under sixteen. It was leading to many charges of rape against teen-age boys who would plead ignorance. The Bahama Journal reported in its Thursday 25 January edition that the mother of a 14-year-old girl was charged with failing to report the abuse of her daughter. The daughter was taken away from the custody of the mother. The mother is 31. Her 41-year-old companion was charged with unlawful sexual intercourse.
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BLACKLIST REVIEW
The Bahama Journal reports in its Thursday 25 January edition that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will review the progress made by The Bahamas and 14 other countries on the blacklist for facilitating money laundering at meeting in Paris from 31 January to 2 February. Don’t hold your breath though. William Allen, the hapless Minister of Finance, has already told the country that he does not realistically expect any change of our blacklist status until June 2001.
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THE PLP’S SOUTH ANDROS RACE
This Senator visited the South Andros constituency, a seat once held by the former Prime Minister Sir Lynden O. Pindling. The occasion was to attend the memorial service for the father of Zendal Forbes at St Luke's Baptist Church in Driggs Hill. It also gave an opportunity to talk to the various generals and assess the strength of the party in that constituency. The constituency is geographically diverse. It includes the Fresh Creek area, the Mangrove Cay settlements and the settlements of South Andros. The PLP is in search of a candidate and Perry Christie the Leader of the PLP is attempting to settle on a figure. The newspapers began the week with a series of leaked stories about a row that occurred in the PLP's council meeting on Thursday 18 January . The alleged antagonist Whitney Bastian, the now PLP NGC member for the constituency. The Candidates Committee of the PLP rejected Mr. Bastians’ request for a nomination. Perry Christie, Leader of the PLP told the press on Monday 22 January that Mr. Bastian will not be the nominee for the PLP. Mr. Bastian told The Tribune that he is prepared to go it alone, and throughout South Andros you cans see signs of a candidacy as an independent for Mr. Bastian with the star as his symbol. Mr. Bastian challenged the constitutionality of the PLP seeking to discipline him for his purported run as an independent so long as there is not a disciplinary committee. But the public attack on the PLP by Mr. Bastian on Monday 22 January in the press is only likely to fuel the fires of the group in the PLP that wishes to be done with him. Mr. Bastian has as sizeable number of adherents in the constituency. But none of the major parties have started to campaign in the area just yet and we know the runner always looks like he is running fast when he is alone. Stay tuned!
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LADY PINDLING VISITS MABEL WALKER
The parents, teachers and students of the Mabel Walker Primary School paid tribute to the late Sir Lynden O. Pindling in song and recitation at a special assembly at the school on Thursday 25 January. The Tribune photo shows a part of the visit. Lady Pindling thanked the children for their tributes. She told the students that her husband had fought so that they could have a society free of discrimination.
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MORE STRIKES
Bus drivers began the week in Nassau, threatening a sick-out because of low fares and being moved to a depot behind the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that they say has cut their revenues by 35 per cent. At week’s end, Nicholas Jacques, leader of the drivers said that the PM had intervened and they would have talks on Monday 29 January.The Water and Sewerage Corporation Union leader Hudley Moss has said that workers there will withdraw their enthusiasm and institute an overtime ban because of the foot dragging by the Corporation in signing a contract. Mr. Moss is the one Union leader to hold out against the Prime Minister's demand for a five-year deal. The Prime Minister has a visceral hatred of Mr. Moss… The air traffic controllers are in a dispute with the Government again. Roscoe Perpall, their President, says that the controllers are going to refuse to use their own cars to drive to the tower because they are being unnecessarily harassed by security. They have demanded a bus to transport them to the tower and a meeting with management. Three-hour delays were reported on some domestic flights on Friday 26 January by the Bahama Journal but the paper also reported that the dispute appears now to have been settled.
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