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NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE IN THE SCHOOLS
It is always difficult to predict
what will happen in one's life from week to week. But this week
in The Bahamas was particularly bizarre. A Coroner's Jury of six
women and one man, voted six to one to recommend that a teacher
Rosalyn Astwood be charged with manslaughter in the death of a
student who had a heart problem and whom she had given six
strokes with a stick in the palm of his hand. This comes in a
culture where corporal punishment is accepted as a form of
discipline by 99 per cent of the population, and where the
Ministry of Education for which she works closed its eyes to the
widespread use of corporal punishment in the schools by all
teachers.
It must be made clear that this writer does not believe in nor support corporal punishment, but as Attorney for the Bahamas Union of Teachers and the teacher, it was particularly outrageous to see a teacher pilloried by a dumb verdict. It was a system suddenly gone horribly wrong. The verdict came on Wednesday 29 December just about 2 p.m.
The reaction was immediate and swift in the teaching profession. Teachers had left their work and surrounded the Court as the verdict was read. They were off work the next day and the day after that. No school was taught throughout The Bahamas. The Minister of Education Dame Ivy Dumont showed no sympathy or concern for the teacher involved. The Ministry did not even have the common courtesy to attend the court hearing to monitor for themselves what the position was. They left the teacher to twist in the wind. The verdict was an outrage. The Prime Minister appealed for calm. Teachers broke out in tears in the courtroom, and declared that discipline in the schools was over.
We provide a full report of what happened in Nassau this week and throughout The Bahamas following the verdict.
This week the month of November ended with a total of 57301 hits on this site . The site had 2583 hits up to midnight the 2nd December on this site for the month of December. Please keep reading and thanks for reading.
PERMANENT LINKS
Pindling & Me - A personal
retrospective on the life and times of Sir Lynden by Fred
Mitchell
Address to the Senate
Budget Debate / Haitian Issue
Address to the Senate Clifton Cay Debate /
Haitian Issue
Address to PLP Leadership meeting in
Exuma / Haitian Issue
Address of Sean
Mcweeney/Pindling funeral
Gilbert Morris on OECD Blacklist
Fred Mitchell Antioch College speech
The funeral coverage
For a photo essay on the funeral of Archdeacon William Thompson. Click here.
e-mail timbuktu@batelnet.bs
| Site Links | |
| The PLP Position on Clifton | |
| www.johngfcarey.com | Thought provoking columns |
| http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/ | Canadian contacts Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
| http://members.tripod.com/~xtremesp/wolf.html | Bahamian Cycling News |
| http://www.bahamiansonline.com | Links to Bahamians on the web |
| http://www.bahamanet.com/JujuTree.cfm | Politics Forum |
THE
CORONER'S INQUEST
The facts go something like
this. A child by the name of Shawn Evans had a rare disease that
is unknown to the school's administrators and to his home room
teacher and his religious knowledge teacher. He was diagnosed in
1999 by pediatric cardiologist Dr. Jerome Lightbourne with a
disease called LONG QT syndrome. This is a heart arrhythmia that
can lead to sudden death, even with medication. It is a rare
disease, only some 227 cases of it known worldwide. Two cases are
in The Bahamas, one was Shawn Evans who died. The other is a
cousin who is also a student in the same S.C. McPherson School
that Shawn attended. Shawn's father died of a heart attack at the
age of 41. It is believed that the disease is hereditary. The
school had only been told by a note from the Doctor that the
child had Long QT syndrome and that he should refrain from
competitive sports and physical education. That note was
delivered to the school last year. The school changed principals
in 2000 and the new principal this year did not know, neither did
the teacher who has been charged with his death. The child was
making a nuisance of himself in the classroom on 19 September and
after a warning he and another student were punished. He received
six strokes with a small stick in the palm of his hand. He showed
no pain or discomfort. Shortly afterward the child fainted and
died. There were no emergency aids available at the school. No
one knew of the condition until the children told the teacher
that Shawn had fainted before in the swimming pool. On those
facts, no reasonable or sensible person should have come to the
conclusion that his teacher Rosalyn Astwood had the intention to
kill Shawn Evans. Yet that is what a jury seemed to recommend and
the Coroner subsequently charged the teacher with manslaughter,
releasing her on her own recognizance in the sum of one thousand
dollars. The Tribune photo shows Union President Kingsley Black
and this columnist announcing the verdict to teachers gathered
outside the Court.
THE PENALTY THE TEACHER FACES
The more you think about the verdict of that silly jury on Mrs.
Rosalyn Astwood, the S.C. McPherson teacher, the more absurd it
becomes. You have a teacher now facing life imprisonment
for something for which she had no responsibility.
NO
SCHOOL FOR THREE DAYS
The blame for all of this lies with Dame Ivy Dumont who has
turned out to be, despite her Christian leanings, an insensitive
Minister in the matter. No one from the Ministry came to the S.C.
McPherson School or to other schools where a crisis was invoked
by this verdict and the Minister nor her staff saw the crisis
coming. Teachers were traumatized. The way of discipline in the
schools was being challenged in a way they never expected. The
Ministry of Education has a written policy that corporal
punishment is reserved for the headmaster, and the senior masters
or mistresses, but the policy was widely practiced in the breach.
In fact Shawn's homeroom teacher testified that she never knew
such a policy existed. Rosalyn Astwood, the teacher now charged,
said that while she knew of a written policy, she also knew that
all teachers used corporal punishment that the Ministry and the
Principal knew that all teachers did and they closed their eyes
to its use by all teachers. There was in fact tacit permission
for corporal punishment to be administered by all teachers. This
was borne out by the testimony of students who said that Shawn
had been beaten before by his math teacher. Another student said
that she had been beaten by all of her teachers. The teachers
testified that as teachers sending students to the principal
proved to be impractical and that it undermined their sense of
control and their ability to control the class. Students took
being sent to the principal, to be a joke and more important than
that the headmaster was more often than not too busy to deal with
the matter. The Bahamas Union of Teachers headed by Kingsley
Black demanded an urgent policy review. Teachers were off their
jobs in sympathy with their colleague from Wednesday 29 November
to Friday 1 December. Mr. Black declared a work to rule in
sympathy by the colleagues of Ms. Astwood, starting Monday 4
December.
JANET
BOSTWICK'S ROLE
The result by the Corner's jury was absurd. It is difficult to
see how seven sensible people could come to such a silly verdict.
And yet that is what they did. Some say they were frightened by
the large crowds around the courtroom. Others say they were
confused by the directions given by the Coroner. Yet others say
they were trying to cut the baby in half, and in some ways may
themselves have been stunned by the reaction. Some say that the
vote was strictly on gender lines, with the six women voting to
condemn the teacher and the one man giving a sensible decision.
But now that the verdict is in, there are not many options to
avoiding a trial. The case now goes to the Attorney General Janet
Bostwick who under the penal code and the constitution has the
ultimate conduct of all prosecutions in the country. Like her
predecessor Sir Orville Turnquest who entered what is known as a
writ of nolli prosequi to end the prosecution of John Mosko who
was charged with the murder of a young Bahamian man in 1992,
Janet Bostwick can do the same. The Union called for quick action
to resolve the matter. Prime Minister Ingraham for once seemed
sanguine in his comments calling for calm, saying that teachers
should allow justice to take its course, that this was only one
step in the process and that they should operate in such a manner
that Mrs. Bostwick did not feel that she had a gun to her head.
From the legal side, there is no appeal from the Coroner. All
that is available is judicial review. That is not an adequate
remedy because one would have to show that something went
procedurally wrong or that the result was so unreasonable that no
reasonable tribunal could have come to such a conclusion. So
Janet must act and must act quickly to bring some sanity to the
system.
THE
ROLE OF THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
The Minister of Education is Dame Ivy Dumont. She has within her
Ministry a Minister of State Zhivargo Laing. Both of them seemed
completely bewildered and in the dark on this matter She
incredibly professed that she did not understand why the teachers
were off from work. She did not appreciate their outrage. She was
like Marie Antoinette who when they told the French empress that
the people were protesting because they did not have bread, she
said let them eat cake. Dame Ivy who is quite quick on her mouth
with disdain and sarcasm, when asked by the press whether she
stood behind the teacher, said that she stood neither in front of
or behind anybody. The Ministry itself did not even have the
courtesy to send someone to the Courtroom to monitor the
situation, and knowing that discipline in the schools had been
undermined by the hearing, they did nothing from a management
point of view to shore up the system. For this the Minister ought
to be condemned. It is most insensitive on the Ministry's part,
and they ought to do something to repair their image. For her
part Dame Ivy even refused to attend the meeting called for by
the Union. She sent the Director of Education instead.
Thankfully, the Union and the Ministry have now agreed on a joint
committee to immediately review the disciplinary code and more
importantly the level of health information available to schools.
THE
STATE OF HEALTH INFO IN THE SCHOOLS
S. C. McPherson School is a high school in The Bahamas with some
1200 hundred students. There is no nurse on staff and no medical
assistance of any kind. Each day there are sick students, ranging
from small cuts and bruises, to fainting to more serious
disabilities including one additional case of Long QT syndrome,
the heart disease which can result in sudden death and there are
cases of diabetes and epilepsy. The Union of Teachers has been
calling for years for a medical assistant on the staff of the
school. This is important not only to deal with emergencies but
with record keeping, so that there is a record of students who
are ill and of who to contact and what to do. In the case of the
death of Shawn Evans, this information proved woefully inadequate
with the full extent of his problems not being known until after
the death occurred. The Ministry of Education refused to listen
to the Union on the point. Now maybe, they will listen.
BUT
SHAWN'S DEATH IS ALL ABOUT MONEY
Some have argued that the reason that the Ministry of Education
was keeping a hands off attitude and not supporting their teacher
is that they did not want to be stuck with the liability for the
death of the student. Some have also argued that the reason that
the mother is involved in the case is to collect money from the
Ministry of Education as a result of the death of her son. The
difficulty is that in this jurisdiction there is not much to
collect in any event even if there is civil liability proven.
Shawn was a child and the question will be what is the loss that
can be computed in our law on damages. He had no income and his
mother was not a dependent. The loss of prospects is not that of
an adult who was working and made a contribution financially to
his family. So virtually all that is collectible in this case may
be funeral expenses so if mega bucks is what the mother expects,
the mother is badly misled in the matter. Further, the Government
is notoriously slow in paying anything. But what this columnist
believes is that if the Ministry of Education had come up with
some money before this matter went to the court, the matter would
have gone away.
SENATOR
DARRON CASH MARRIES
This columnist remembers him when he was a young boy feeling his
oats in 1986. He declared as President of the College of The
Bahamas Union of Students (COBUS) that the students would come
out in support of their teachers who had been summarily dismissed
from the College as a result of an Immigration policy gone awry.
He catapulted to national fame. Later he challenged the PLP in
their home ground at a convention of the PLP Young Liberals. His
future in politics was assured. In those days, we were pretty
close. These we are not, and more's the pity. He is on the wrong
political side and has made some calculating decisions typical of
young persons like himself anxious to succeed with which we
disagree, but that is his choice. Senator Cash was married on
Saturday 25 November at the Golden Gates Assembly Church. Best
man his good friend and president of the Union of Tertiary
Educators of The Bahamas, Zendal Forbes. Not present was his
friend Minister of State for Education Zhivargo Laing and many of
his fellow workers at Ernst and Young. He is to honeymoon in the
Abacos. Cash got a boost from the Prime Minister (also attending
the wedding) this week when in some otherwise negative results
for Senator Cash (see following story) the PM told the country of
his hope that Senator Cash would be elected to the House of
Assembly in the next election. He said that Senator Cash had
something to offer. This would seem to confirm the rumour that
Senator Cash is to get the nomination for the Carmichael
constituency succeeding Anthony 'Boozie' Rolle MP who will be
retiring after the next election.
SENATOR
CASH'S SHOW PULLED
ZNS had a show on television and national radio featuring Senator
Darron Cash. The show billed him as a neutral commentator with
independent views. That seemed as foolish as anything this FNM
Government has ever tried. Senator Melanie Griffin who is a PLP
condemned the move in a letter to the press. She was ignored. Dr.
Bernard Nottage raised the matter in the House of Assembly. He
took the same tack as this columnist. We reported in this column
(see column) that we disagreed because the Broadcasting
Corporation was a publicly owned facility, paid for by tax
dollars of all Bahamians not just FNMs and that in those
circumstances Senator Cash should have no such programme. He
could not be fair or independent. It was a contradiction in
terms. Mr. Ingraham must be having a bout of conscience. As
Minister for Broadcasting he has now ordered ZNS to remove the
show saying that it was inappropriate for Senator Cash to have
the show. In the earlier story, we talked about the
disappointment in Senator Cash who has turned out be
frighteningly calculating. (Don't worry folks, the feeling is
quite mutual). Student Cash as he then was denounced Sir Lynden
Pindling for being unethical. Yet when his time came, he did not
understand the nature of unethical behaviour. If he had, he
himself would have recognized that by accepting the programme he
had done something which was just not right. You are supposed to
know it. Now he ends up being repudiated by his own boss, a man
who himself has a problem recognizing right from wrong.
PM GETS IT WRONG ON DARRON CASH
The Prime Minister's explanation to the public about yanking
Senator Darron Cash off the air was disingenuous. The point is
the unfairness of allowing Senator Cash to have such a programme
on a publicly owned station without allowing the Opposition to
have the same opportunity. Let's have a head to head and
may the best opinion prevail. But clearly the PM could not
allow that because it would have given too much exposure to the
Opposition forces. So he yanks Senator Cash off the air,
violating the young man's right to free speech.
RUNNING
MON MARINA REOPENS IN GRAND BAHAMA
On Wednesday 29 November, there was a special opening in
Freeport, the Running Mon Marina that had been put into
receivership by Imperial Life was reopened under new ownership.
The Prime Minister was there to do the honours. We remember years
earlier Elon 'Sonny' Martin being snubbed by the then Prime
Minister Lynden Pindling in the first official opening. Mr.
Martin put his entire fortune at risk and got no support from the
Ministry of Tourism. Hubert Ingraham turned up as an independent
to open the facility in 1990. But when Mr. Ingraham became Prime
Minister he did nothing to help his friend Sonny with what he
really needed, that was Port of Entry status for the marina. As a
result Sonny lost the place to Imperial Life. But Mr. Ingraham
was happy and no doubt grinning to be there for the grand new
opening. The marina has passed hands to a non-national, just
another example of Mr. Ingraham's alienation from the Bahamian
businessman.
CHANGES
AT SHELL BAHAMAS
We apologize to the people at Shell, the name of the head honcho
in Barbados is Philip Snaith, not Peter Snell (don't know where
we got that one from), since we know Mr. Snaith quite well. But
there is more news. Andrew Kerr, the General Manger is leaving
The Bahamas next March. The Retail Sales and Marketing manager
Guierrmo Gonsalez is to leave this month. The company is seeking
to bring in persons from the outside to replace those men. They
also have plans to remove all the marketing, advertising and
public relations strategy to Puerto Rico, thus overreaching the
local executive in charge of the area Jerome Gomez. In addition,
rents for Esso stations are doubling and Shell dealers are having
problem making ends meet with the high rents as well. Several new
dealers are thinking of leaving. What's happening fellas?
TROUBLE
COMING IN THE ECONOMY?
The tourism sector is said to be in trouble. Tourism growth has
been virtually stagnant in The Bahamas for the last ten years.
The FNM has tried to focus on room nights but nothing beats more
people. They have not been able to rise much above the level the
PLP left in 1991. Further, new hotel construction is slowing
down. A recession is on the way as construction generally is
falling as are the reserves and bank liquidity. There are rumours
aplenty about the financial health of a number of hotel projects
including the Hilton British Colonial, Sun International and the
former Princess properties in Freeport. There was also an
announcement that the Uniroyal Chemical plant is Freeport is
closing its doors. Things that make you go: hmmm!
PRIME MINISTER ATTACKS LAWYERS
In the rush to bring the new bills to the House of Assembly to
satisfy the developed countries that we are not taking away their
tax revenues, the PM, the chief slave of the country, was asked
by Bradley Roberts PLP MP whether or not the groups affected by
one of the new bills which forces all financial service providers
to disclose suspicious transactions to the Central Bank had been
consulted. The PM in his typical boorish fashion exploded:
that he was not consulting them because they (lawyers and
accountants) were the crooks that he was trying to get at.
The PM should know since he is a lawyer. Strangely not a
word from the Bar Association or the Institute of Chartered
Accountants.
ADDRESSES
BY PERRY CHRISTIE / BRADLEY ROBERTS
You can click here for the full text of the addresses of Bradley Roberts, chairman of the
PLP and Perry Christie, the
Leader of the PLP at the PLP's convention 2000.
THE
STATE OF THE DEFENCE FORCE
A visit to the Coral Harbour base of the Royal Bahamas Defence
Force this week revealed a sad story. There are boats sitting in
the water rusting and wasting away in the sun. The report is that
only the two new 13 million dollar craft are up and running and
some of the smaller boats. But in the main, the fleet is dead in
the water. This is a great pity because there is so much work
that the force can do. The reports say that the RBDF has become
so unreliable as a partner for the US Coast guard that sometimes
you can hear the traffic on the radio from the Coast Guard when
they call for help saying: "I bet you they will say they
have no boats". And right they are, the Force has no boats
to assist in search and rescue. Oh by the way those 13
million-dollar craft, the two brand new ones, they can only go
into two harbours in The Bahamas: Freeport and Nassau. They can't
even dock at their base in Coral Harbour, the draft is too deep.
In other words, they draw too much water. One example, when asked
to do hurricane duty in Cat Island after Floyd in 1999, they had
to dock 5 miles out from the shore and ferry supplies in on a
smaller boat. The idea of getting the larger craft is that they
can police deep waters for which The Bahamas has a responsibility
as merchant shipping registrar to police for 200 miles around.
But if drug smugglers come and go into the banks, the boats can't
follow them there. Bah Humbug!
ALFREDA RAHMING
BURIED
Most of the Fox Hill community turned out yesterday for the burial of Mrs. Alfreda
Rahming. Mrs. Rahming, mother of Fox Hill Member of Parliament Juanianne Dorsett
was churched at Golden Gates Assembly in a service conducted by Pastor Ross
Davis who was assisted by pastors from the Fox Hill community. She was 83. Mrs.
Rahming was laid to rest at Mount Carey Baptist Church in Fox Hill.
Back To The Top
WORLD
AIDS DAY
The Bahamas like other nations marked
World Aids Day. The AIDS Secretariat announced that since the
epidemic was tracked in 1985 some 7500 persons have been reported
HIV positive in The Bahamas. Some 3,500 of those persons have
died. The age category is from 15-44. It is the largest single
killer amongst that age group. This year the focus in The Bahamas
has been on young women. They say that teen-age girls are the
most at risk. There has also been concentration on men who still
refuse to wear condoms. Dr. Timothy Barrett said that men must
learn how to say no to unprotected sex as well as women. Imperial
Life Financial sponsored its annual red Ribbon Ball on Saturday
25 November to aid the Aids Foundation. They contributed $50,000
to the Foundation. The wife of the Prime Minister is the patron
of the fund. The Bahama Journal photo shows the Prime Minister
and his wife arriving at the ball.
Back To The Top
BAHAMIAN
STUDENTS IN FILENES
Here is the photo we promised
last week of the students that met this senator in Filene's store
in Boston. The photo taken by Al Dillette shows the students two
of whom are from St. Anselm's College in New Hampshire and a
third from University in Iowa. Thanks for the photo. From left
are Janine Outten, this columnist, Nadia Sweeting and Elon
Joffre.
BAHAMIAN
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALLER
Also from last week, promised
photos of Bahamian High School footballer Eldin Ferguson III.
Eldin and compatriot Rashad Butler play
with the Dwyer Panthers. Eldin is pictured posing in uniform and
with his parents Fox Hillian Eldin Ferguson Jr. and his wife
Sharon, a former Miss Grand Bahama (1974) and Miss Bahamas
(1975). Today, a proud father reports that "It's early
morning and we are happy happy. #79 Rashad Butler and #88 Eldin
again turned in stellar performances but the whole team was just
great. My chest is still going down. Eldin caught two passes from
quarterback #10 Danny Embick running the tight end route on
defence... Eldin had several tackles including the opposing
quarterback, also flushing him off route a number of times.
Butler stood like a rock on the offensive line and was brought in
to shore up the defence to hold on key defensive stops. The
Bahamian sons did their part in a great team effort from the
Dwyer Panthers football team.
JANET
BOSTWICK SPORTING A COLLAR?
We said at the PLP's convention that Foreign Minister Janet
Bostwick was asleep at the wheel on her job. We were speaking
metaphorically, But now we understand that she is sporting neck
brace, the result of an accident in her official car. Does that
mean she was literally asleep at the wheel?
BENCHMARK
DECLARES A DIVIDEND
The head of Benchmark Bahamas
Ltd., the mutual fund, has declared a dividend of 4 cents per
share. Julian Brown is the founder and President. Benchmark is an
open ended mutual fund, and its shares have been in the tank on
the stock market for much of the year. At one point the value was
at $1.01, which meant after commissions less than what
stockholders had paid for it. But Mr. Brown persuaded the
doubters to stay on and the stock has now rallied to 1.14. the
stock was undervalued in the market anyway. It was a good
performer but the stock was not popular because most Bahamians
and the trading houses don't like the idea of it. But Mr. Brown
has proven that he knows what he is doing and no doubt, others
will now join in buying the stock and shareholders can see
increases in stock value. Congratulations Mr. Brown. There is
nothing like a dividend to keep a shareholder quiet. The return
on investment for the year to September 13.5 percent.
Back To The Top
JOHN
COX WINS CYCLE RACE
The Tribune showed this photo of this
columnist's godson John Cox as he crossed the finish line in a
cycle race earlier this year. The photo is by Filepe Major. But
it was published because John won the last of cycle races for the
year by the New Providence Cycling Association. He beat out
veterans Baron 'Turbo' Musgrove and Tracey Sweeting. It was a
thirty-mile race and he won it in one hour 24.05 seconds.
Congratulations!
JOHN
COX'S MOTHER AND ME
And we show you the photo of
John Cox's mother Setella with this columnist who is her godson
at the International Food Fair as we appeared in October of this
year at Nassau's Botanic Gardens. Behind her is her husband
Georgie and in the red shirt is another godson of this columnist
Adam Dillette, the son of the editor of this site. The photo is
by Peter Ramsay.
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Schools At Standstill - Schools in Grand Bahama were at a
standstill for two days this week as teachers stopped work in
sympathy with their colleague Rosalyn Astwood charged in the
death of student. (see story above). Grand Bahama teachers
talking to our correspondent said they were surprised at the
approach taken by Prime Minister Ingraham who accused teachers of
going to the law of the jungle. Mr. Ingraham softened the
approach, however, urging a wait and see attitude. Sources in the
Grand Bahama teaching community suspect the hand of Mrs.
Ingraham, herself a teacher. The issue is turning into a
referendum on corporal punishment with most word on the street
saying that absent corporal punishment you may as well turn
school over totally to the children.
Bradley In Town - Bradley Roberts PLP MP for Grant's Town was in town this week on the COOL 96 public affairs radio show 'On Common Ground'. Roberts whose activist style of politics has made him a household name was well-received by the Grand Bahama audience.
Disgruntled Customs Officers - Bahamas Customs was hit with a two day sickout by officers this week in Grand Bahama and supervisors were seen manning the booths. Customs officers complain that they haven't received overtime pay since September. It is common in the Customs service for officers to depend on overtime to make ends meet. With The Bahamas highly dependent on customs duties for tax revenue and the Christmas season when most of these revenues are collected now upon us, one wonders at the wisdom of Government not to pay its principal tax collectors. What is curious is that Government charges cruise ship and airline companies the equivalent of overtime to be paid to customs officers working their entries. This money is often collected before the shift is over, so where is the money?
Trouble Brewing At Airport? - Our correspondent observed members of the Grand Bahama Taxi-Cab Union with camcorders this week at Grand Bahama International Airport as 'Our Lucaya' staged a soft opening of its Lucaya strip hotel. The camcorders we're told are to record courtesy busses of hotels - principally 'Our Lucaya' ferrying guests. Said one upset cabbie "They were supposed to be bringing us business, but all we see is them taking bread out of our mouths". The video shows a Dodge Caravan emblazoned with 'Our Lucaya' collecting passengers from the international arrivals terminal. Grumbled the cabbie and several fellow union members "It looks like Whampoa feels that since they own the harbour, they own the airport and they own the hotels, they think they own the town and all the people in it... We'll see."
Bahamia Group To Press - A news conference this week by the Bahamia Land & Homeowners Association headed by Mark Roberts. The Association confirmed reports on this site that they are running out of patience with what they see as intransigence and a failure to live up to promises by the Driftwood Group, new owners of the subdivision. An association spokesman said they were promised co-operation but are being stonewalled by Driftwood and threaten court action as a last resort. The new owners recently raised property service charges in the area by sixty percent over the protests of the home and land owners.
New Merc For 'Iron' Mike - 'Iron' Mike Edwards former
regional vice chairman of the FNM deposed in the night of long
knives at the recent party convention is tooling around town in a
large new Mercedes Benz, reportedly smiling from ear to ear. Way
to go Mike.
NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
A STATE OF SIEGE
There must be some terrible pressures
in this society. A lot of them seem to be financial. Many of them
are political, but all of these fall under the rubric of social
problems. Each morning from the balcony and well into the
apartment you can hear the sounds of someone or some persons
screaming from Montagu Bay at the top of their lungs into the
morning darkness. The sounds start religiously, if you will
pardon the pun, about 5 a.m. It is simply a voice or voices
shouting : Alleluia! Alleluia! Over and over again.
Curiosity got the better of this columnist and so we went to explore what these sounds were about. And there they were in the shadows of the dawn. It looked like three women hugging, then shouting at the air: Alleluia! On another morning, one of them stood alone in the water shouting Alleluia at the sky over and over again.
There is a certain response to pressure . You look to the Almighty. But many people forget the admonition that faith without works is nothing. And so it is a little frightening to see this kind of pathology developing in a society, when along with faith what we really need is works.
The country seems a little shaky at the moment. There are 70 murders for the year and 78 traffic fatalities. At first the Government tried to play it down with the silly argument that apart from murder crime was down. Now they have a new tack. Every time the Deputy Prime Minister gets up, he says that fifty per cent of the murders are because of domestic violence. That says something else again. The Police have now responded by starting a domestic violence unit to deal with that aspect of crime.
Then there are those in the middle class that see their income under siege by debt, too much debt. They also see the financial services sector under attack and the Government does not know how to respond, except by buckling under to the pressure. The Government never thought for one moment that it would affect the national psyche, to be humiliated by their abject surrender in the face of what are unprecedented demands and interference in the affairs of The Bahamas by the international community.
Where was the stand for private property and the right to private property. All gone. No wonder it feels like we are in a state of siege.
This week we had hits 17364 on the site up to midnight 9 December for the month of December. Thanks for reading and keep on reading.
| LOST: Fredmitchelluncensored.com columns for April, 2000. If anyone has a copy of these columns for the weeks 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th April, 2000; please e-mail us a copy of them. |
PERMANENT LINKS
NEW THIS WEEK - Mitchell speech to PLP Convention
Pindling & Me - A
personal retrospective on the life and times of Sir Lynden by
Fred Mitchell
Address to the Senate
Budget Debate / Haitian Issue
Address to the Senate Clifton Cay Debate /
Haitian Issue
Address to PLP Leadership meeting in
Exuma / Haitian Issue
Address of Sean
Mcweeney/Pindling funeral
Gilbert Morris on OECD Blacklist
Fred Mitchell Antioch College speech
The funeral coverage
For a photo essay on the funeral of Archdeacon William Thompson. Click here.
e-mail timbuktu@batelnet.bs
| Site Links | |
| The PLP Position on Clifton | |
| www.johngfcarey.com | Thought provoking columns |
| http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/ | Canadian contacts Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
| http://members.tripod.com/~xtremesp/wolf.html | Bahamian Cycling News |
| http://www.bahamiansonline.com | Links to Bahamians on the web |
| http://www.bahamanet.com/JujuTree.cfm | Politics Forum |
THE
GANG OF FIVE
The political story of the week must be that of the five members
of the Free National Movement who are identified by the Bahama
Journal in a lead story on Tuesday 5 December as amongst those
who may make a break from the FNM to form a new political party
and eclipse the PLP in the House of Assembly as the official
Opposition. It even caused silly old Hubert Ingraham to make, you
guessed it, a silly old comment. He said that the change of the
Official opposition could not happen without his input. There's a
novel idea. But the story is this, says the Bahama Journal.
Tennyson Wells, Pierre Dupuch, Lester Turnquest, Floyd Watkins
and Anthony Miller, all FNM MPs disgruntled with the leadership
of Hubert Ingraham want to break away. They would have more than
the PLP now has in Parliament and therefore the Governor General
would choose Tennyson Wells to be the Leader of the Opposition.
Such a situation would be similar to when the defunct Social
Democratic Party led by Norman Solomon was replaced by the then
Free National Democratic Movement when James Knowles left the SDP
to join the FNDM making the FNDM the new opposition. Later for
the 1982 election the “D” was dropped from FNDM to
become FNM. The Leader of the PLP was asked by the Journal to
comment and he only laughed. He laughed for good reason. A
political party requires more than crossing the floor. It
requires organization. And such a situation would create an
artificial official opposition. The real opposition would still
be the PLP. But of course, it would give Mr. Wells the chance to
be leader of something, and to appoint Senators and be consulted
on matters affecting the country, get a $70,000 a year salary (as
a rich man that means little to him, cocktail money), and maybe
Hubert would like that to happen to try and destroy the PLP. But
it cannot happen. The PLP will survive and the PLP will beat the
FNM in the next election. For good measure though and for the
record Pierre Dupuch immediately denied the story, and so did
Tennyson Wells.
WELLS HOLDS A NEWS CONFERENCE
Tennyson Wells, the would be leader of the FNM held a news
conference with the other four members of the so-called Gang Of
Five - Wells, Pierre Dupuch, Lester Turnquest, Floyd
Watkins and Anthony Miller, all FNM Members of Parliament who are
on the wrong side of Hubert Ingraham. Mr. Wells and the others at
a news conference Friday 8 December denied that he and the others
intend to spilt from the FNM as a result of losing to Mr.
Ingraham at the last FNM convention. Mr. Wells said that
the story published in the press this week about such a break was
spread by "... mischief makers lurking in the political
shadows" but other observers are more pointed. They ask for
astute readers to look at the story in the Bahama Journal which
started the whole thing. That provides the clue as to who may be
behind the story of the break. The story ends up suggesting that
Dion Foulkes, Minister of Labour and son of former Minister of
Tourism and Ambassador Arthur Foulkes, is to become the eventual
leader of the FNM with Tommy Turnquest, Minister of Immigration
and son of former Deputy Prime Minister now Governor General
Orville Turnquest as his deputy. In this scenario Foulkes
is to be prime minister and Tommy to be deputy prime minister.
With a wink and a nod the wise pundits are saying, guess who
planted the story? You whistle and we'll point. Mr. Wells
threatened to expose the 'mischief makers' if they do not stop
their campaign of 'misinformation'.
JANET BOSTWICK FROM THE SUBLIME TO
THE RIDICULOUS
It is said that the devil finds work for idle hands to do. And
nowhere was that more evident than when Janet Bostwick, the
Attorney General and Minister of Foreign Affairs awoke from her
sleep to suggest to Parliament that the death penalty should be
effected on those who sell drugs to children. Now this is the
same Janet Bostwick who when she was helping Hubert Ingraham to
hang Thomas Reckley was standing outside the courtroom talking to
this columnist and telling him that she believed that she would
have to answer to her God for seeking to hang Mr. Reckley. Now
she wants to hang drug traffickers. Such is the desperation of
the Attorney General and her colleagues over crime and the need
to impress the Americans. They will say any foolishness and do
any nonsense. Mrs. Bostwick was speaking on Monday 4 December in
the House on the Dangerous Drugs Act 2000. This Act is to impose
penalties of up to forty years for trafficking and a $500,000
fine. Obviously passing a law is going to make a difference in
the mind of Mrs. Bostwick. She was there spouting off pretty
words about how they are coming after the ill gotten gains of the
drug traffickers. She is a part of the Government that granted
permission for 4 million dollars of duty free equipment to come
into Long Island and were about to grant permission to build a
hotel from what is believed to be drug money until Bradley
Roberts of the PLP stepped in. Hypocrites are what she and her
colleagues are. As for hanging, if she really believed that how
come she as Attorney General, not some idle bystander, did not
put that in the bill so we could debate that. Now she doesn't
mean a word of it. All she is doing is posturing. Go back to
sleep Minister! It is better to be silent and be thought a fool
than to open your mouth and prove that you are one.
JANET BOSTWICK ON GIRLS WITH OLDER
MEN
Janet Bostwick, the somnambulant
Minister of Foreign Affairs and political chief of the Womens'
Desk has another concern these days. She says that under age
girls living with older men are a growing concern for the
Government as it confronts problems arising from sexual
permissiveness. So The Tribune reported in its edition of Monday
4 December. She was speaking at the AIDS Foundation and Disabled
Persons Awareness Walk on Saturday 2 December in Nassau. That was
all a part of AIDS awareness week. It has also been revealed that
AIDS is on the rise in The Bahamas again for the first time in
five years, with young girls being those at greatest risk. The
Tribune captured a photo of Leader of the Opposition Perry
Christie with some of the walkers that morning fully regaled:
from left Rev. Simeon Hall, President of the Bahamas Christian
Council, Dr. Perry Gomez, the AIDS czar in The Bahamas, The
Leader of the Opposition and Dr. Richard Van-West Charles, Pan
American Health Organization (PAHO) representative in The Bahamas
ALARM BELLS OVER THE MALE GRADUATES
OF COB
This columnist has been saying for years that there is a public
policy problem when the number of females in the College of The
Bahamas outnumber the males in COB three to one. The mealy
mouthed Nassau Guardian, edited by that former JACKASS OF THE
WEEK Oswald Brown, managed to do something useful this week on
Thursday 7 December when they ran a story that there were only 21
males among the 138 graduates of the College of the Bahamas. The
males at COB have their own ideas about why that is so. They
suggest that the males want to get into the work force and start
working to earn money right away. They support the females in
their quest through school. The difficulty is that intellectually
and educationally the two groups are increasingly mismatched and
it is causing social problems in the country. Could that be the
source of the rise in domestic violence? Thirty years at least of
the women's movement has led to a situation where everywhere you
look there is positive reinforcement for women, but the boys
don't have it. And the Government is doing a great
disservice by refusing to recognize that it is a problem and that
it needs to be addressed.
THE PRESSURE IS ON WITH DRUG BUSTS
You have never seen such activity in Long Island in quite a
while. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National
Security was down in Clarence Town, Long Island within the last
week to inaugurate a squad of 28 Police reservists to augment the
regular members of the Force in Long Island. There have been two
substantial drug busts in Long Island and scores have been
brought to Nassau for questioning. Long Island is a hot area.
That is largely because of Bradley Roberts PLP MP talking about
what is going on there. This week Bradley Roberts sounded the
alarm bells again when he indicated that the other hot spot in
the country is Sandy Point, Abaco. He accused the Prime Minister
of knowing that drug trafficking was going on in Sandy Point. The
Prime Minister is an interesting fellow. The Americans should ask
him when they speak to him what was his opinion when he was a
backbencher and PLP Minister about contributions made to his
political war chest by persons known to be in the drug business
in his constituency in Abaco. What words of comfort did he give
or not give to those who helped organize and run his campaign in
North Abaco who could well have been involved in the business?
Did he know and how much did he know and when did he know it? It
is all well and good to play sanctimonious in these meetings
today but tell us the true story.
DRUG MAN NINETY IN CHAINS
This week the Police had Samuel 'Ninety'
Knowles in chains. He was before the Court of Appeal and was
represented by Howard Hamilton QC and Philip Davis. Mr. Knowles
was appealing his conviction and sentence for possession of
marijuana with intent to supply for which he got 18 months. This
was much to the chagrin of the U.S. Ambassador. The photo by
Franklyn Ferguson is shown. He was serving the sentence
when he appeared in court on Monday 4 December. But the police
appear to want him for other things and are glad they got him.
They believe that there should be an exemplary sentence for that
reason. The amount of drugs was relatively small; but they
suspect certain cases of violence in the society are tied to
activities close to him. The death in a hail of bullets in
Freeport of drug kingpin Ben Beneby in October 2000 is said to
have been part of a war for turf between the forces of Ninety and
the forces of Beneby. We await the Court of Appeal's
decision with interest.
ROBERTS RAISES ISSUES ABOUT DRUG BILL
Bradley Roberts MP, speaking in the House of Assembly, raised
concerns abut the constitutionality of the provisions of the
Proceeds of Crime Bill now before Parliament. The Bill brought to
the Parliament under pressure from the US Government will allow
for the police to seize moneys suspected of being the proceeds of
drug trafficking and hold it for up to 96 hours. It will also
allow a Magistrate to confiscate the property of drug traffickers
convicted in the Courts. Mr. Roberts called for realistic
legislation. He asked the Prime Minister whether or not the
constitution is to be amended to accommodate provisions of the
Bill that he was advised were unconstitutional.
US STATE DEPT. OFFICER CALLS ON FRED
MITCHELL
One of the incarnations of this
columnist is as Official Spokesman on Foreign Affairs for the
Opposition PLP. And in that connection, Desk Officer Carl
Cockburn who runs the Bahamas Desk for the United States
Department of State paid a courtesy call on this Senator together
with Lee Martinez, the Political Officer of the US Embassy in.
Nassau. This senator made the point to the officer in welcoming
him that the PLP's central policy in foreign affairs is that the
relationship with the US and The Bahamas is the primary
relationship and we would do nothing to jeopardize that
relationship. At the same time, however, we expressed the
concerns of the Bahamian people and our constituents about the
efforts by US authorities to pressure our financial sector. We
spoke of a deep resentment about it. The Bahamas is also waiting
with bated breath for the report of the Federal Aviation
Administration on the Nassau International Airport. It is
widely expected to say that the NIA is so replete with problems
that it is being downgraded to a category two airport. That means
that all existing flight arrangements cannot be expanded. This
affects the growth of tourism industry, and especially Bahamasair
and private charters operating into the US from The Bahamas. More
woes! But we have to admit that the airport is a total and
absolute disgrace. The photo shows Lee Martinez, Political
Officer Mr. Senator Mitchell and Desk Officer Carl Cockburn.
THE PM AND THE PARADISE ISLAND FAIRY
TALE
Hubert Ingraham was at it again. See him
grinning from ear to ear and in the iron grip of Sol Kerzner, the
Paradise Island magnate who has withdrawn from the world to
become king alone on PI. The Tribune carried this photo on Friday
8 December. Interestingly enough there are three clerics behind
the two men: two Archbishops (One Anglican and one Roman
Catholic) and the President of the Christian Council. So was this
all with the blessing of the Lord? So Sol and Ingraham would have
it, one imagines. But we have to ask the question: do either of
them actually believe in. God? Things that make you go hmmm! But
now for the fairy tale. Mr. Ingraham said at the opening of the
Ocean Club on Thursday night 7 December the following: “This
investment has fuelled the single biggest development in Bahamian
tourism and must be credited with energizing the regeneration of
our once upon a time declining tourism and hotel sector... Since
Sun International's arrival in. The Bahamas in 1993, the local
tourism product has been taken from lacklustre and
under-performing to the premier product of the region.“ One
supposes that that is all well and good as far as it goes. But
let's reveal some facts. First; until last year, the FNM's record
in absolute numbers of tourists did not surpass the high of the
PLP in its penultimate year in office in 1991. And even though
those numbers have now been surpassed, the fact is that tourism
growth is still stagnant. There is still an unprecedented tourism
boom and hotel construction boom in the the United States but it
has virtually come to a halt here. Sun is clearly in financial
trouble, Grand Bahama's tourism is anaemic with its newest hotel
owner apparently struggling to find money to invest in the
completion of its projects. And the Clarion in New Providence and
its owner who also owns the new Hilton British Colonial are all
in need of capital. So where is the re-energisig? Also we cannot
miss this opportunity to once again say that the reason that Sun
was not invited here by the PLP was because sanctions by the
Commonwealth prevented any investment by South Africans in the
country. It should also be noted that throughout the hemisphere,
tourism and hotel sectors were in. the doldrums. That did not
turn around until after the Gulf war in 1991. The FNM came to
office in mid 1992. So Mr. Ingraham don't take too much credit,
In fact, don't take any at all.
JAMES HEPPLE'S TOURISM SITE
If you would like to know more about tourism in The Bahamas and
how its has developed by numbers and some history, why not click
on to a new site <www.jameshepple.com>.
Mr. Hepple is Deputy General Manager of Tourism whose specialty
is statistics. It is an excellent site, and with his permission
we would like to make it a permanent link to our site. Perhaps
this will help distill the Government's lies from the truth on
tourism. He is pictured in The Tribune, published on Monday 4
December presenting a gift to the Emersons, a couple who has
visited the Bahamas 40 times since 1968. To the left of the
Emersons is Mary Morris, Chief Executive, Visitor Relations at
MOT.
BAHAMASAIR...THE BUS SYSTEM...MORE FM
Some news shorts. More FM led by General Manger Galen Saunders
(pictured in.a Nassau Guardian photo) has announced that MORE FM
is now utilizing its national licence. The other private national
licence went to 100 JAMZ. None of them serve The Bahamas like
1540 AM of ZNS. The signal can now reach in addition to New
Providence 70 per cent of Andros, Governors Harbour, Eleuthera
and points north; Harbour Island, Spanish Wells and the Berry
Islands. You will remember that the Government tried to force a
marriage between Wendall Jones of Love 97 and the Saunders family
for the one national licence. When it didn't work out, the
Government gave Mr. Jones a private local licence for radio. He
has been trying to get a national one ever since. No amount of
sucking up to the Prime Minister has moved the policy. Come
on PM: Give the man the licence.... Bahamasair pilots have signed
an agreement with Bahamasair that ends the industrial dispute.
Whoopee, we'll all be able to shop until we drop in Miami. But
see the story about the dropping reserves which follows below...
Once again the Government is tinkering with the bus system.
Controller of Road Traffic Brensil Rolle has commissioned a new
bus depot and stopping area in the boondocks behind East Hill
Street. He has also split the pick up points for east bound and
west bound buses. Of course the bus drivers don't like it and are
up in arms. But Mr. Rolle says most drivers are happy about it
and there are only minor adjustments needed to make the system
work.
FRANKLYN WILSON ON THE COUNTRY'S
FINANCES
Franklyn Wilson, the former Member of Parliament and Senator has
raised the alarm again about the decline in the country's
finances. As you know, the B dollar gets its value from the US
dollar. The Central Bank maintains a reserve requirement so that
there are US dollars in the Bank to back up the value of the B
dollar. For every B dollar there is supposed to be one US dollar
available to give credit overseas for the B dollar. When we spend
a B dollar we lessen the reserve to the extent that this has to
buy imports which is abut 70 per cent of the time. So to the
question of the state of the economy. Mr. Franklyn Wilson points
out in a letter to PLP Parliamentarians that in the most recent
Economic Quarterly of the Central Bank, the bank points out that
excess liquidity, i.e. the money banks have to lend creditors in
the system has declined from 16 August 2000 at $156,000,000 to 25
October at $61,000,000. If the Government argues he says that
this is only the usual cyclical declines for merchants to get
Christmas inventory, he points out that the decline in 1999 over
the same period in 2000 was 22 per cent but this year it is 52
per cent. But we can feel it in other ways. The number of people
who come begging or looking for short time work. The defaults and
delays in the paying of bills. The obvious fact that hotels and
other major general construction has stopped. We also know that
what helped to augment this inflow of capital that the FNM was
boasting about was drug money. What has the FNM to say? Probably
nothing! Now the legitimate financial services sector is
under siege. Ho hum another FNM day!
BARRY MALCOLM GETS A NEW JOB
Barry Malcolm has quit his job with the Bahamas Financial
Services Board to take a position as Executive Vice President of
the Grand Bahama Port Authority. This is the job which most
people think will lead to the eventual successor to Albert Miller
as the Chief Bahamian in the company. We shall see, since Mr.
Miller isn't likely to be going anywhere any time soon. But one
thing about Malcolm, he sure knows how to manoeuvre.
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
FNM Group's New Watchword - The new watchword among a
certain group of FNMs in Freeport is that they're looking for
'fresh water'. These insistent pols are referring to FNM leader
Ingraham and the fact that despite his victory at convention,
they still hold hope that he will go before the next general
election.
Ingraham The Impatient - Parents are upset over what they took as an insult to their children by the Prime Minister during the recent opening of the new Grand Bahama Sports Stadium. The children were staging a performance specifically to welcome the Prime Minister to the podium when he cut short their parade saying he had a plane to catch. The children were told to sit down. Grumbling parents - staunch FNMs among them - were outraged at the perceived insult.
'Iron' Mike Hosts Big Party - Pier One, the exclusive waterfront eatery perched at the mouth of Freeport Harbour was taken over with guests of former FNM Regional Vice Chairman Mike Edwards ordering surf & turf by the dozens. The occasion was Mike's 38th birthday celebration. A virtual who's who of Grand Bahama politics and business turned up for the affair, among them PLP leader in the Senate Dr. Marcus Bethel, and PLP West End hopeful Senator Obie Wilchcombe. Later accused of mischief within the FNM, Mike said he was not about to break up what he made and isn't going anywhere... Happy Birthday Mike.
Looking For Seats - Word on the political beat in Grand Bahama is that Hubert Ingraham is looking to replace two sitting Grand Bahama MPs with Ingraham loyalists at the next election - assuming the FNM manages to hold the seats. Observers report that Marco City MP David Thompson was never more than scant inches away from Mr. Ingraham during the recent sports stadium opening leading to speculation that he is protecting his interests. There is one lady Ingraham loyalist in Grand Bahama who has been repeatedly promised a local nomination and this week the announcement came that Grand Bahama's Barry Malcolm has signed on with the Grand Bahama Port Authority. Things that make you go hmmm!
Las Palmas Deal Closed - Representatives of more than one group of investors in Grand Bahama were chagrined this week as hotelier and controversial businessman Arne Pedersen, good friend of Minister of Tourism C.A. Smith closed the deal to buy Las Palmas hotel in Andros from the Government for $500.000. "Other people have offered the government as much as million and a half dollars" said one. Another potential buyer for Las Palmas complained "the furnishing in that hotel alone is worth over a half million."
Resorts at Bahamia Robbed - Our correspondent reports that Resorts at Bahamia's Country Club was robbed this week as an armed gunman jumped over the front desk to the cashier's behind. The criminal was said to have been disappointed at the amount of cash in the till... "It must be the off season" he grumbled. Reports are that renovation costs at the newly acquired property are running 100 percent over budget.
Bahamian Footballers Advance - Bahamian high school footballers Eldin Ferguson (from Grand Bahama) and Rashad Butler advanced with their Florida high school team the Dwyer Panthers to the state championship in Gainesville. The two played crucial roles in the team's finals victory over Tate high school for the trip to the championships. We encourage anyone with news of Bahamians overseas to e-mail us.
Flap Over Official IDs - Questions are being raised in
Grand Bahama by the CDR's Rawle Maynard over the apparent
insistence of officials at the harbour and the airport that
Customs and Immigration officers apply for identification badges.
Mr. Maynard calls it an 'assumption of authority'. More things
that make you go hmmm!
NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
THE QUALITY OF DEFENCE
Janet Bostwick, the person whom we like to call the somnambulant Minister of Foreign Affairs awoke from one of her periodic political sleeps this week for what has to be a most remarkable thing. There she was rising to the defence of her husband, the President of the Senate J. Henry Bostwick. Now the President Mr. Bostwick is not a political neophyte by any means, so one wonders what caused Mrs. Bostwick to rise to his defence.
This was a week for such defences. The week started off with Jimmy Knowles, the FNM MP for Long Island defending himself from the attacks of Bradley Roberts the PLP Chairman over Mr. Knowles' role as the Member of Parliament for Long Island. Then Frank Watson, the Deputy Prime Minister was not to be outdone; he got up and defended himself about his role in Long Island with regard to the anti-drug trafficking effort. He is also the Minister for National Security. He was helped of course by a front page photo of himself in the mealy-mouthed Nassau Guardian.
The Nassau Guardian has become whorish in its defence of the Free National Movement. All the gloves are off now, and there is no pretence about that newspaper being a newspaper anymore. It is a pure out and out propaganda rag for the Free National Movement. The editorials have lost any neutral tone or quality to them. They simply out and out attack the PLP in the most personal terms.
The Prime Minister in his own inimitable way had his own apology to make. He accepted that the country had made a mint off the IBC business, that the country (and by that one supposes it means he did) knew that we were making it off some bad money, but we did it anyway. But ever the contrite, while at the same time ever the bombastic, Mr. Ingraham promised that as of the passage of the new Financial Bills, he has started a new course for The Bahamas. We are going to clean up our act. That's a joke right?
The problem is that we still don't know what we are buying into. This week, we look at the legislation that is promised and has been passed in the House of Assembly and now in the Senate for consideration, and how it is likely to affect the course of the modern Bahamas.
One thing all of this defence has shown is that Bradley Roberts and the PLP have them on the run. The FNM once so secure in their majority, now look over their shoulder. We are coming to get them, and they had better keep running and run fast.
This week, we had 29857
hits on the site up to midnight 17 December. Please keep reading
and thanks for reading.
| LOST: Fredmitchelluncensored.com columns for April, 2000. If anyone has a copy of these columns for the weeks 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th April, 2000; please e-mail us a copy of them. |
PERMANENT LINKS
Mitchell speech to
PLP Convention 2000
Pindling & Me - A personal
retrospective on the life and times of Sir Lynden by Fred
Mitchell
Address to the Senate
Budget Debate / Haitian Issue
Address to the Senate Clifton Cay Debate /
Haitian Issue
Address to PLP Leadership meeting in
Exuma / Haitian Issue
Address of Sean Mcweeney /
Pindling funeral
Gilbert Morris on OECD Blacklist
Fred Mitchell Antioch College speech
The funeral coverage
For a photo essay on the funeral of Archdeacon William Thompson. Click here.
e-mail timbuktu@batelnet.bs
| Site Links | |
| The PLP Position on Clifton | |
| www.johngfcarey.com | Thought provoking columns |
| http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/ | Canadian contacts Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
| http://members.tripod.com/~xtremesp/wolf.html | Bahamian Cycling News |
| http://www.bahamiansonline.com | Links to Bahamians on the web |
| http://www.bahamanet.com/JujuTree.cfm | Politics Forum |
| http://www.jameshepple.com/ | Tourism Statistics |
JANET
BOSTWICK DEFENDS HENRY
Henry Bostwick was once a Leader of the Opposition. He has run
for Parliament more times than you can shake a stick at from his
earliest political days. He was a political dissident of the PLP,
from the early days. He opposed the United Bahamian Party dread
star in the old days. But nothing apparently caused his wife to
come out in his defence like the allegation made from the floor
of the House which suggested that a Lexus driven by him, a brand
new Lexus of which he is justly proud was not simply that. So at
least was the take of his wife, the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Janet Bostwick. She attacked Bradley Roberts, the MP for Grants
Town and Chairman of the PLP for making such suggestions. Here's
what she is quoted as having said in the House: “Janet and
Henry Bostwick have been the objects of attack by leading members
of the PLP for more than some fourteen, sixteen years and you may
ask why. It is because we both in and out of Parliament took very
strong positions with respect to the leadership of that party as
a result of damaging evidence emanating from the condemning
report of the Commission of Inquiry which took place in 1983 and
1984.” According to The Tribune, Mrs. Bostwick confirmed
that her husband drives a Lexus and that it was purchased in The
Bahamas for a fair price. She said that she did not know about
any stolen Lexus being under investigation for its importation
into The Bahamas without paying customs duties. “I do know
that customs duty was paid on it [the Lexus] What do you have to
say about it Grants Town? And if you got something to say about
it, say it out there not in here” By that she was daring Mr.
Roberts to repeat the statements outside the House of Assembly.
Well, all we say: things that make you go hmmm!
WHAT
BRADLEY ROBERTS SAID ABOUT A LEXUS
According to The Tribune of Friday 16 December, Bradley Roberts,
the Chairman of the PLP, was speaking in the House of Assembly
while wrapping up debate on Thursday 7 December on the Proceeds
of Crime Bill. Mr. Roberts asked the Member for Yamacraw, who is
Janet Bostwick and also the Attorney General if she knew about a
Lexus that is being said to be one of the cars that is now the
subject of the investigation concerning stolen high class cars
that were imported without paying customs duties: “I ask
that while the maximum leader [Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham]
was saying at his convention that we should be good citizens, has
he excluded his Attorney General from that statement? Was this
one of the lawyers that he was taking about when he said he would
not consult crooks about the Bills we are debating?”
THE
RIGHTS OF A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
Each member of the Parliament
has certain powers, immunities and privileges conferred by law on
them. The one that most affects the public is the right of free
speech. There is often a debate about whether or not this
privilege should be abridged to allow for Senators and Members of
Parliament to be sued for libel for what they say about
non-members in the House and in the Senate. In Britain they have
been talking about allowing the public a right of reply in the
House. There is no serious move toward abolishing the privilege.
But it is always interesting to hear lame Members of Parliament
like Janet Bostwick get up and dare other members to repeat what
they say outside. How stupid can you get? That defeats the whole
purpose of the immunity. The point is that the House and the
Senate, together called Parliament are to be the highest forum in
the land, where freedom of speech abounds without having to
concern one's self about civil or criminal liability. The law
says that nothing is actionable from what you say in the
Parliament either in the criminal or the civil law. So poor Janet
to dare Mr. Roberts to say outside what he said inside is a
nonsense. The fact is that both she and her husband have the
means to defend themselves. That is the argument the Americans
use for their standard in libel cases --- you have to show malice
to succeed in libel if you are a public figure. The courts there
say that you have the ability as a public figure to defend
yourself and your reputation in kind. Mrs. Bostwick simply has to
answer the questions posed by Mr. Roberts or let it rest quietly.
Certainly the country is talking about the Lexus.
A
QUESTION FOR MRS. BOSTWICK
There was a story run in The Punch, the popular twice weekly
gossip rag. It was all the rage at the time. We forget which
year. But the story is told how Members of Parliament could hear
Hubert Ingraham and Henry Bostwick, Senate President arguing in
the smoking room of the House of Assembly. And what did the Prime
Minister threaten to do: he is reported to have told Senator
Bostwick, the President of the Senate and owner of the Lexus car
that he could write a letter to the Governor General on toilet
paper and have Henry replaced in the Senate. Well quite apart
from the disrespect that would show to the Governor General, the
question we have is where was Janet Bostwick the wife of our
esteemed Senate President when the Prime Minister threatened her
husband with dismissal. There were no public protests by Mrs.
Bostwick then. And the Prime Minister did not say his comments
using the privilege of the House of Assembly, he simply abused
the privilege of power. That's our PM for you. Mind you he would
not try that move on someone like Senator Lynn Holowesko. And if
you e-mail us, we'll tell why he wouldn't do so. A clue: he knows
his 'betters'. But it only goes to show that Janet Bostwick is a
puff of wind. She has plenty of mouth when it comes to an
allegation about a Lexus for which duty may not have been paid,
but when it really came to defending her husband's honour against
a big bad bully, Janet Bostwick was yes you guessed it, asleep at
the wheel.
SUMMARY
OF THE BILLS PASSED BY THE HOUSE
The Government went off to the US this week to have meetings with
the Financial Action Task Force (FAFT) of the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Miami to see if
what has been done in terms of selling out the sovereignty of The
Bahamas is enough to get us off this blacklist of the OECD. The
interesting thing is that while The Bahamas has abjectly
surrendered to this blackmail by these countries, no one is quite
sure whether what we are doing is actually going to get us off
this list. The Americans have made it plain to us that what they
want to see is how it is enforced. And the US Ambassador speaking
at the joint action task force on drug operations in The Bahamas
was at it again, telling The Bahamas that so far so good but he
wants to see the laws in action. But for your information here
are the bills passed by the House and what they purport to do
(the summary was provided by The Tribune's Tosheena Robinson on
Friday 15 December):
Financial Intelligence Unit Bill - this will establish a unit of the Government that will collect financial information on accounts in The Bahamas on criminal financial offences. The Bill gives the power to the unit to freeze bank accounts for up to five days and to provide information to foreign financial intelligence units
The Criminal Justice International Co-operation Bill - this is to facilitate the full implementation of the Vienna Convention on drugs. This assists in criminal investigations across borders
The Central Bank of The Bahamas Bill - under this Bill the Central Bank Governor's powers will be considerably enhanced and made more independent of the Government.
The Banks and Trust Companies Regulations Bill makes it more difficult to get a licence in The Bahamas and countries overseas will be able to intervene directly in The Bahamas to police banks from their respective countries of origin while those banks are here in The Bahamas.
Dangerous Drugs Bill - This is to increase fines and prison terms. On summary conviction (by a magistrate) you can get five years in jail or $500,000 fine. In the Supreme Court the maximum fine of $750,000 or forty years
Financial Transactions Reporting Bill - This is to facilitate the so called know your customer rules, already in place in most banks but they will now become law not just at the request of the Central Bank. Further, this is a companion to the Financial Intelligence Unit Bill.
Proceeds of Crime Bill - Under this bill the power to confiscate the proceeds of crime including buildings, boats, cars and those items passed on to others is now to be vested in a Magistrate in addition to the power already vested in the Supreme Court
International Business Companies Act ( IBCs) This bill requires new registration and disclosure requirements for these companies. You have to disclose the beneficial owners and bearer shares are to be abolished. The Prime Minister expects a drop in revenue of 20 million dollars as a result of this.
Financial and Corporate Services Providers Regulations Bill - lawyers, accountants and business managers who want to incorporate and manage IBCs have to get a licence from the Government to do so.
BOBBY BROWN AND
WIFE WHITNEY HOUSTON VISIT
Despite
all the bad news for Sun International and their credit rating, Sol Kerzner,
the whiz who created a billion dollar empire on little Paradise Island, was
having a whale of a time with his lovely wife last week. The occasion, the official
opening of the 100 million-dollar renovated Ocean Club. Guests of honour the
Browns aka Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston. And the pictures on the front page
showed they were having a jolly good time. But Senator Obie Wilchcombe speaking
in the Senate on Tuesday 14 December told the country that he was concerned
that here were two people who were cocaine users, openly known, who were allowed
into The Bahamas. Mr. Brown, the popular American singer, was convicted and
served jail time for cocaine use. Ms. Houston has admitted publicly to having
a habit. They also have a stormy marriage and they apparently take that reputation
and trouble wherever they go. There are some stories we would like to know about
what really happened on Paradise Island while they were here. Senator Wilchcombe
said that while the US was excluding Bahamians from coming to their country
because of a cocaine conviction we were glorifying a convict for cocaine on
the front page. Things that make you go hmmm!
THE
US AMBASSADOR STEPS IN IT AGAIN
Our friend the United States Ambassador despite friendly advice
and warnings from the Leader of the Opposition was at it again.
This time he was speaking in support of Janet Bostwick, the sleep
at the wheel Minister of Foreign Affairs, for the death penalty
for drug traffickers. The difficulty one has with these
interventions of the US Ambassador is that they are clearly
tendentious. He makes official statements at a joint meeting of
the operations of The Bahamas and the US on drug interdiction. He
says that the Government is doing a great job co-operating with
he US. He says that he recognizes that people want him to take
his nose out our business, but he sticks in it anyway. What he
says now can no longer be seen as personal interventions but as
official US policy, that is, hostile to those who oppose the FNM.
The fact is Janet Bostwick's Government has been inept in the
extreme on these matters. Look at the mess we are in with this
financial blacklist. How can a Government that is getting all
this pat on the back from the US land us so deep in the doodoo?
How can the US Ambassador supporte the death penalty for drug
traffickers or least the call for it by the Foreign Minister
without first examining whether or not Janet Bostwick is a mere
bystander? She is part of a Government that has bills before
Parliament now but no where does it say anything about the death
penalty for drug traffickers. So that means that she let a whole
bill on drug trafficking be drafted in her office and pass the
Cabinet but not a peep about her pet peeve, the death penalty for
drug traffickers. Come Mr. Ambassador, think again.
US
AMBASSADOR LEAVING
The United States Ambassador to The Bahamas William Schecter is
to leave The Bahamas at the pleasure of the new President of the
United States when Bill Clinton vacates office to George Walker
Bush on 20 January. Mr. Schecter is the most voluble Ambassador
since Carol Boyd Hallet was accused by the PLP of deliberately
siding with the FNM opposition as it then was and helping them to
overthrow the PLP in 1992.
A
GEORGE BUSH PRESIDENCY
Bahamians have been for the weeks since the election in the US on
7 November at once annoyed and amused at the inconclusive Florida
election. The final result seemed even more ludicrous. The
Supreme Court of the United States, dominated by Republican
appointed judges, made a decision to deny the counting of the
votes of thousands of people mainly from the Black community of
the United States. That signalled to many Bahamians that racism
is on the rise again in the US. But others were happy that Bush
won, for business reasons. They think that with Bush in office,
the Republicans will reverse much of this intrusion into the
private affair of their citizens abroad that has come under the
Democrats. The wish is that our financial services sector will be
saved. Don't hold your breath. One gets the impression that this
is civil service driven and Bush won't have the clout to change
any of this because of the close election. And so many of us who
are enamoured of the US system are now ashamed at the blatant
biases and politics of that system, a system that discounted the
votes of Blacks in a state run by the President-elect's brother
and ultimately decided by a Court which was filled with
appointees of the party that has won. It will be interesting to
see who the new Ambassador to this country will be.
BURNS
HOUSE GETS A CURVE BALL
You may remember the news at the start
of the year, Burns House bought Butler and Sands, their main
competitor in the liquor business in The Bahamas. There is now a
virtual monopoly in the liquor business. First the good news,
that makes Tiger Finlayson perhaps the richest Black man in the
country. He has now appointed his son Mark Finlayson to be the
company's president. General Bahamian Companies the owner of
these companies has just declared a dividend of $1.17 per share
to its shareholders of record. Last time we checked ABDAB, the
holding company for all the brewery related businesses, also
majority owned by Tiger was trading at 37 dollars per share. So
from all accounts they are doing well. Now comes a curve ball.
The Chairman of the Licencing Authority deferred dealing with the
licences of all the outlets of the Butler and Sands company. The
reason says the Chairman at a meeting on Thursday 14 December of
the Authority, the company changed hands, the beneficial owner
changed hands and the Licencing Authority was not told. That may
be a breach of the law. Their lawyers Sean McWeeney, former
Attorney General and Michael Barnett, former Bar President, were
asked to return next week to show cause why the licences should
not be cancelled. This spells a spot of trouble because Butler
and Sands under Tiger decided to franchise out the store
operations to small businessmen. They have already done so,
apparently without reference to the Authority. The results would
be catastrophic if cancellations follow. Perhaps the Licensing
Authority will let common sense prevail. But now, we must not let
these monopolies as a matter of policy be acceptable.
LADY PINDLING
AND HER HUSBAND'S BOOK
Kelly's Home Centre hosted Lady Marguerite Pindling to a special promotional
session at the Centre last week. She autographed copies of her husband's collection
of speeches as edited by Patty Roker. The picture of The Tribune published on
Friday 15 December shows Lady Pindling with Nancy B. Kelly, Vice President of
Kelly's.
A
MESSAGE TO THE CDR BANQUET
The Charter Banquet of the Coalition for Democratic Reform (CDR),
headed by PLP-elected MP Dr. Bernard Nottage was held at
the Superclubs Breezes Hotel on Cable Beach on Thursday 14
December. Raynard Rigby, an attorney, was invited to the
banquet, and here’s what he had in part to tell them:
“For the benefit of CDR, I stand here this evening and
advise that after careful review and analysis of the political
environment, it will be morally convenient for the CDR to explore
the options of joining or being joined by one of the major
political parties or by a sizeable amount of
parliamentarians who are inclined to cross the floor. This
is not an idealistic vision but one that is fostered on the
practical and pragmatic understanding of Bahamian politics and
that calls for leaders to be both mature and
sensible.” Now just what does that mean? Things that
make you go hmmm!
A
FINAL WORD ON FRANK AND JIMMY
They had a good rant. The lingo these days calls it venting.
That's all it could be because their words ring hollow and their
actions say even more about their ineptitude and ineffectiveness
as public servants. But they were all in the House this week:
Frank Watson, the Deputy Prime Minister under fire from Bradley
Roberts MP for being a hopeless Minister of National Security. He
stands accused of knowing that his nephew might have been
involved in a drug driven enterprise in Long Island. James
Knowles, the MP for Long Island and hopeless Minister of
Transport, stands accused by Bradley Roberts MP PLP of being
involved in protecting a family enterprise that might also have
been involved in drugs, and allowing a drug driven operation to
flourish in Long Island. Algernon Allen, stands accused by
Bradley Roberts MP PLP of working as a lawyer in abject
complicity, with a known drug trafficker. They were all hollering
this week. Mr. Watson said that the criticism was most unfair and
that it really hurts (poor baby). Mr. Knowles said that Mr.
Roberts shouldn't talk because his son died in a drug plane when
it crashed so he can't talk (that's like I got last on you). Mr.
Allen said that he was exonerated by the Commission of Inquiry in
1984 (of course, we know that what the Commission says and what
the public believes are two different things). The beautiful big
picture that the JACKASS OF THE WEEK Ossie Brown, Editor of the
Nassau Guardian, had on the front page of Mr. Watson can't help
him. He is sinking down, down, down and so is the FNM. Good bye
boys. Hope you do well, but we are coming to get you. By the way
the erstwhile Jackass of the Week, published an editorial this
week in which he said that the Government should pass a new rule
to limit Bradley Roberts time to speak in the House. But get this
even if Bradley Roberts had just five minutes that is enough for
time for him to say again what he called Mr. Oswald Brown, editor
of the Nassau Guardian, a reprobate.
MOULTRIE AT
HOLY SPIRIT
Reverend Father James Moultrie is the new Rector of the Anglican Church of The
Holy Spirit in Chippingham, Nassau. Father Moultrie was instituted at a service
of celebration Tuesday evening 12 December. Congratulations to Father Moultrie.
He is shown in this Tribune picture with Archbishop Drexel Gomez who was the
chief celebrant at the service.
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
FNM Conflict - The new Regional Vice Chairman for the FNM
in Grand Bahama Alex 'Fire' Pratt is feeling his oats. Reports
are that Pratt mounted a failed attempt to fire Stephanie
Ferguson, known to be one of the most capable administrators that
party has in Grand Bahama. Weeks ago, we reported that Ingraham
loyalists were having second thoughts about replacing 'Iron' Mike
Edwards in the post now held by Pratt. Further reports say that
no less a person than Prime Minister Ingraham had to 'rebuke' Mr.
Pratt for what was described as 'over enthusiastic bashing' of
Mr. Ingraham's enemies on the FNM Council. Pratt was reminded
that 'We all is one'. Yeah, right.
Bahamia News Conference - In an apparent response to public mutterings over its programme of renovation, the Resorts at Bahamia, formerly Princess Properties, held a news conference in Grand Bahama this week. The thrust of their news was that yes, renovations though behind schedule are continuing, yes, despite what the public's suspicions are, the funds of the renovations are in place, but there will be layoffs next year; perhaps more than the ten percent originally forecast. We'll watch and see.
Smoke & Mirrors - In politics, there is an adage that goes 'Trouble begins when you begin to believe your own press releases'. Such was the story which unfolded during a Christmas visit by one of our correspondents and his family to the Port Lucaya Marketplace. This is the shopping area which is located across from the new 'Our Lucaya' hotel and modelled after New Orleans' famed Bourbon Street. By all accounts it is supposed to symbolize the 'return' of Freeport to success and profitability. Yesterday Saturday 16 December, scant days before Christmas, the place was like a ghost town. Merchants in store after store were torn between trying to sell our correspondent (the only potential customer in sight) something and launching into political complaints about the FNM.
Fred Duncombe Dies - Condolences to the family of Fred
Duncombe, 88, who was buried yesterday in Bimini. Mr. Duncombe
was father of Dr. Paul Duncombe and Carol, Mrs. Arthur Sherman
and grandfather to Sonya Seymour.
NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
A PATHETIC LITTLE MAN
Darron Cash, the FNM Senator, has engaged in a series
of actions that can best be described as those of a total political prostitute.
We are sorry to say it, but the facts are the facts. This Senator has told the
man on at least four occasions that he ought to recognize that certain things
in life are sacred. One of them is pre-existing friendships with people. And
what goes on in that life should not be used as part of the political leverage
you employ even after you have parted company.
Apparently, while adept intellectually, he is a little too impish to recognize that fact. He appears to be socially retarded and things like loyalty to friends appears not to matter in the face of political ambition. And so he has now become a total out and out hatchet man for the Prime Minister. The little puppet in the Senate, who can be counted on a like a jack in the box and like a jackass to jump up and defend when no defence is needed.
And so it was this past week, that it came to pass that he rose again to defend his dear Prime Minister. The reason he said was that he did not like the way this Senator described his Prime Minister as having as serious inferiority complex when it comes to dealing with people who are the descendants of the slave masters. The facts are the facts. There is no answer to it, and the evidence is there for all to see. It is a pity that PM has such a complex when he is on the face of it so successful at so many things.
But Mr. Ingraham does not have to defend himself, he has the Senate idiot to jump and amuse his fellow Senators. They and all the FNMs in the Senate know which Senator was responsible for him being where he is, for what he is today and for shaping his political personality, for helping to project him on the public stage. Actually it is amusing to watch him at work. He can't help himself. For this Senator it is like looking in a mirror. And that is a source of embarrassment to Senator Cash, he recognizes that he is trying so hard to be the very man he is attacking. To do that he has to try to destroy this Senator. So he gets up to defend the Prime Minister by launching into a bitter, sarcastic and cowardly attack on this Senator. It is almost as if he is using it as an exorcism.
Poor man! We feel sorry for him. But as one of his fellow FNM Senators said in the Senate on Thursday 21 December, a loose goat does not know how a tied goat feels. Senator Cash as you know from last week's story has just gotten married. Maybe he ought to go home to his wife and take his petty little frustrations to that altar in the privacy of his home.
Today is Christmas Eve. It does not feel very charitable to this Senator. But Bahamians are pleased because the 'cold' weather has come. The temperature is in the 60s at night. That means we get to put on our 'good' clothes. The wife of H. Campbell Cleare III, the lovely Sharon and their daughter celebrated their birthdays at a party at his West Bay Street home on Friday 22 December. Sorry we couldn't make it but we are sure a good time was had by one and all.
This week we had 8,033
hits on the site up to midnight 23 December, making it 37,890 hits for the month of
December. Thanks for reading and keep reading.
| JUNKANOO RESULTS:
1st Valley Boys 2nd One Family 3rd Roots 4th Saxons 5th Music Makers |
| LOST: Fredmitchelluncensored.com columns for April, 2000. If anyone has a copy of these columns for the weeks 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th April, 2000; please e-mail us a copy of them. |
PERMANENT LINKS
Mitchell speech to PLP Convention
2000
Pindling & Me - A personal retrospective
on the life and times of Sir Lynden by Fred Mitchell
Address to the Senate Budget Debate
/ Haitian Issue
Address to the Senate Clifton Cay Debate / Haitian Issue
Address to PLP Leadership meeting in Exuma / Haitian
Issue
Address of Sean Mcweeney / Pindling
funeral
Gilbert Morris on OECD Blacklist
Fred Mitchell Antioch College speech
The funeral coverage
For a photo essay on the funeral of Archdeacon William Thompson. Click here.
e-mail timbuktu@batelnet.bs
| Site Links | |
| The PLP Position on Clifton | |
| www.johngfcarey.com | Thought provoking columns |
| http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/ | Canadian contacts Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
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| http://www.jameshepple.com/ | Tourism Statistics |
THE BILLS TO BAN THE BLACKLIST
The Senate was called back into session by the Government this week on Wednesday
20 and Thursday 21 December. The reason: to pass nine bills (see last week's
story) to get The Bahamas off the so-called financial blacklist of the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Opposition objected to the manner
and method by which the bills were being brought to Parliament. After the full
debate on the Bills on Wednesday, the Government announced that the Bills would
have to be amended further but that they didn't know what the amendments would
be so the Senate would have to return on the Thursday in order to complete its
work. On Thursday 21 December the Senate reconvened and the amendments were
still not ready. In fact it turns out that they were still being drafted. The
draftsman Feisal Mohammed was still writing away when there was a power failure
at his office in the Attorney General's Chambers. That required him and his
staff to move down to the House of Assembly on late Thursday afternoon to use
the printing equipment there. Then the legislation had to be reviewed by the
Prime Minister who then okayed it. The Cabinet did not get a chance to see it,
but it became law anyway. It was an incredible exercise. The Senate was suspended
indefinitely at 4 p.m. and we all had to cool our heels until 7 p.m. when the
amendments were ready. The House of Assembly that had earlier been adjourned
to 21 February is to be recalled by the Speaker next Wednesday 27 December to
deal with the Senate's amendments. This was a wholly incompetent way to do business.
This Senator did not support any of the measures, because he refuses to sign
on to anything that he does not have a chance to properly study and understand.
In any event, the Government is acting in too much haste without exploring other
avenues to deal with the problem.
BAHAMEN WELCOMED
BACK HOME
Senators stood outside on the balcony of the Senate and
waved and joined in the "Woof! Woof! Woof!" from their popular song
'Who let the dogs out?' as the parade passed by with scores of well wishers
welcoming the Bahamian pop group Bahamen back to town on Thursday 21 December
after a successful five month tour of the United States and Europe. We must
all know how successful the group is with a Billboard Award for the song, the
song being described as the summer anthem of the US, and the song being a great
commercial success with it going triple platinum. They performed the song on
Jay Leno's Tonight Show on NBC in America and during the US World Series Baseball
Game. Bahamians are yet again made proud by the success of our citizen's abroad.
The group's success was being compared to that of the Golden Girls who won the
gold medal in the 4 by 100 relay in Sydney in September of this year. We congratulate
Isiah Taylor and the other eight members of his band for their shining success.
Nassau Guardian photo.
BAHAMA JOURNAL REPORTS CABINET RESHUFFLE
Those of you who have good memories will remember that last year this time there
was all this speculation about Mr. Ingraham shuffling his Cabinet and shuffle
it he did. One of the Ministers that he sacked was Earl Deveaux, then Minister
of Agriculture, he said that Mr. Deveaux would remain out of the Government
with the mandate to create a new Ministry of the Environment and then rejoin
the Cabinet in September 2000. That month has passed and no one recalled the
promise. Now the Bahama Journal speculates again that Dame Ivy Dumont is at
last to retire from the job as Minister of Education. She has barely been functioning
there for at least the past half year. But they say that she has been waiting
for her eight years to be up before she retires from office. She will then qualify
for a Parliamentary pension. This will be Dame Ivy's third retirement one as
a public servant, another as an officer of Trust Corporation of The Bahamas
(now S.G. Hambros) and now as a Minister of the Government. What a lucky dame?
In any event, it is time for her to go, the Ministry of Education is in terrible
shape, with teachers in revolt over her weak leadership of the Ministry. Of
course the institution will be no better if the leadership of the Ministry devolves
to Zhivargo Laing the now Minister of State. People still regard him as a little
boy and this will be reinforced by the fact that the Director of Education Iris
Pinder, sister of insurgent FNM leadership candidate Tennyson Wells MP, used
to be Mr. Laing's teacher in high school. There is also dissatisfaction with
the Leadership of the Ministry of Labour. The Minister Dion Foulkes is a nice
guy but the complaint is that his leadership has been ineffectual and the unions
see him as unable to deliver on the promises made to them. But a word of advice
to our dear Prime Minister, you may shuffle the deck as much as you like. You
have a weak deck, a shallow deck, and shuffle as you might; the PLP plans to
defeat you in the next election and by God's help we shall.
SOL KERZNER AND INGRAHAM'S BOYS
The mogul of Paradise Island treats the PLP with absolute contempt and disdain
and perhaps he might argue that the feeling is mutual. But we have no particular
disdain for him. We just don't like the fact that he has the Government of The
Bahamas by the short and curlies. Mr. Kerzner was shown taking ministers of
the Government around his new property, the one that Whitney Houston and her
cocaine husband Bobby Brown helped to open last week. The property was the Ocean
Club. One hundred million dollars have been spent there and the Ministers of
Immigration (Tommy Turnquest) Labour (Dion Foulkes) and Economic Development
(Carl Bethel ) were all there inspecting the property. Once again Mr. Kerzner
was dressed in short sleeves and a pair of blue jeans and the Ministers were
walking around in their coats. Compare and contrast this to the time when the
Duke of Edinburgh visited, Mr. Kerzner was dressed to the nines in his suit.
Only goes to show what respect there is for the Ministers of the Government.
In the background was Ed Fields PR rep for the company, who is also the brother
in law of the Minister for Immigration Tommy Turnquest. Mr. Turnquest told the
press that he was happy with the investment and that the investment had opened
up new job opportunities for Bahamians. He felt satisfied that his department
was pursuing the best policies for the Bahamian workers, giving them an opportunity
to be trained in new fields, presumably by those who get work permits. One thing
with the FNM they are inventive if nothing else. How their immigration policy
can be said to help is quite an incredible argument. Anyway they must know.
The importance of a photo shown by The Tribune was the troika of FNM Ministers
that appeared. Messrs. Foulkes, Turnquest and Bethel were present and accounted
for. The latest talk about of FNM circles is that Ingraham has now settled on
a succession. Mr. Ingraham is to run again. He will then set up Tommy Turnquest,
also son of the Governor General, to succeed him. Carl Bethel is to be the Deputy
to Mr. Turnquest and Dion Foulkes is to be the organizer on the ground. Obviously
whoever is spinning this scenario hasn't talked to Mr. Foulkes who only last
week had been accused by the Tennyson Wells forces of planting a story in which
Mr. Foulkes emerges as Mr. Ingraham' s successor. Well we shall see. You know
the story: the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
ESCAPE OF CUBAN PRISONERS
The Progressive Liberal Party led by its Leader Perry Christie held a press
conference following a tour of Her Majesty's Prison on Monday 18 December. The
reason was that 8 more Cubans had escaped from the detention centre, bringing
to almost 70 the number of Cubans who escaped from the prison. After the last
escapes both the Director of Immigration and the Superintendent of the Prison
were "promoted" to office jobs shortly thereafter. The two events
were never officially linked. The PLP called for an investigation and the Ministry
of National Security said it would conduct one but its own and not the external
investigation that the PLP has called for. The new detention centre is now said
by the Ministry to be ready although Bradley Roberts MP told the House of Assembly
last week that this was misleading because the new centre still has no electricity.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ON WORK TO RULE
Roscoe Perpall, the President of the Air Traffic Controllers announced this
week that there is a work to rule on at the airport with immediate effect. Passengers
now experience considerable delays getting into and out of Nassau. For Bahamasair
passengers it is even worse, since they continue to have serious equipment problems.
The Nassau International Airport is a mess, worse than it has ever been. The
FNM has no vision to putting back in order any time soon.
NO GROUPERS FOR CHRISTMAS?
Leon Smith is a Long Island man who lives in the Valley, now retired, and spends
a lot of time down at the Nassau fish market and docks. He says this year groupers
are not going to be around for sale because for some reason when the fishermen
went to their usual places around new Providence, Cat Island and Long Island,
all the fish had flown the coop. Gone! But where to? His theory is that they
had passed that way in their schools before the fishermen got there. He also
says that spearing of fish may cause schools not to return to those spots. But
he argues it's probably that the fishermen got there late for the annual aggregations.
Another more scientific theory of a possible shortage in the market and one
about which fishermen are raising hell is that the Department of Fisheries declared
no take zones for the three weeks of the full moon just before Christmas. They
can now start fishing again. That was to prevent the fishermen from raiding
the spawning aggregations of grouper as they have been in the past. The Bahamas
is said to have the last major fishery of grouper in the Caribbean that has
not been fished out. But whatever the case, it looks like groupers are going
to be scarce this year. One hopes that this does not lead the fishermen to fish
for square grouper. Those who don't know what that is e-mail us and we'll tell
you.
APOLOGIES TO FRANKLIN FERGUSON
There were several photos used in a piece last month on this web site from the
swearing in of the new US Ambassador to Benin Pamela Bridgewater in Washington
D.C. Ms. Bridgewater used to be the Deputy Chief of Mission to the Bahamas and
many persons from this country travelled there for the swearing in. The photos
were wrongly attributed to The Tribune. The story and information compiled were
wrongly attributed to The Tribune. The story was compiled and the photos taken
by Franklyn Ferguson. They appeared in The Tribune. We offer our apologies for
failing to attribute correctly the story and photos.
POLICE HAVE A SPEED CRACKDOWN
There is a weekly competition in The Bahamas of a macabre nature. The competition
is between traffic fatalities on the one hand and murders on the other. So far
this year there have been 74 traffic fatalities in The Bahamas with the majority
of them (49) in New Providence. There have been 72 murders in The Bahamas this
year, with the latest victim being that of an 82-year-old prominent citizen
of the Abacos, Lucien Stratton. You only have to have been on the streets of
Nassau this past week to realize the unbelievable nightmare traffic has become
on this island. There are 130,000 cars and counting on this island with completely
inadequate roads. Distances of a mile or two are talking forty-five minutes
to an hour to travel. But the other problem is speeding and bobbing weaving
in and out of traffic mainly by young men in souped up cars. The police have
announced a crackdown and were out in force on the Cable Beach strip with speed
guns, trying to slow the public down. Compare the 74 deaths in traffic fatalities
this year to 37 in 1998 and 59 in 1999. A footnote to this story, the Prime
Minister at his convention in November of this year claimed that his Government
had solved the traffic problem in Nassau. Using his party's convention theme
he said: " Look around! It's all about you." The PLP responded that
we are looking around and all we see is traffic jams and traffic fatalities.
ALBERT MILLER INSPECTS POLICE RECRUITS
The country's eyebrows were raised when the front page of the Nassau Guardian
carried a photo of Albert Miller, the Co-Chair of the Grand Bahama Port Authority
inspecting the graduating recruits of the Royal Bahamas Police Force on Thursday
21 December. The story is that the new Acting Commissioner of Police invited
Mr. Miller to come and speak to the graduation. Mr. Miller is a former Deputy
and Acting Commissioner of Police. His nickname is 'The General'. He did not
get the job of Commissioner of Police because he had the wrong politics shortly
after the PLP came to power in 1967. He was a protégé of Roy Solomon, one of
the United Bahamian Party ministers. So he left the force in 1969 to take up
residence in Freeport where he has risen to lofty heights. But his first love
has always been the police force. He was always willing to offer his assistance
and political support to successive police commissioners. This has not always
been welcomed. The Acting Commissioner Mr. Farqhuarson has actively courted
the support, thus the inspection of the guard. According to the Nassau Guardian
the first female drill sergeant in the Royal Bahamas Police Force Inspector
Carolyn Bowe accompanied Mr. Miller.
SIMEON HALL ATTACKS BRADLEY ROBERTS
The Rev. Simeon Hall is perhaps the most voluble Leader of The Bahamas Christian
Council in its history. Barely a day goes by before some photo or story appears
in the press or on TV with his name and picture. Last week, he started a political
row of sorts by issuing a statement calling on Bradley Roberts MP for Grants
Town (PLP) to take up the mantle of the anti-alcohol fight as well as the anti-drug
fight. Mr. Roberts as you know has been embroiled in a row with the Government
over their ineptitude in fighting drugs. The comment was so timed that it was
clearly designed to be a partisan political intervention and that is how we
took it. The comment in and of itself is not inappropriate for a leader of the
Christian Council but coming as it did in the middle of this fight it was certainly
FNM inspired. Rev. Hall, even if he did not intend it, has come down on the
side of the FNM . They have been trying to find a way to blunt Mr. Roberts'
effectiveness so they take his association with the liquor merchant Burns House
as his Achilles heel. The problem with this argument is that liquor is a legal
substance and Mr. Roberts is not the only public figure involved in the liquor
business. Stafford Sands who the FNM put on the ten-dollar bill was a liquor
merchant. Sir Roland Symonette, the former Premier was a liquor bootlegger.
Simeon Hall said nothing when the Government announced their photos on the currency.
Then there is Neko C. Grant an FNM MP who is the Chief Operating Officer of
Burns House. Dwight Sawyer is the Chairman of the FNM and he works for Bacardi,
the main liquor manufacturers in The Bahamas. Rev. Hall should think twice before
issuing such a tendentious statement again.
REVEREND HALL AND THE JUDICIARY
Reverend Simeon Hall had yet another salvo in the press this week. This time
he announced that he will be boycotting the annual service by the Judiciary
in Christ Church Cathedral because it is held in the Anglican Cathedral. He
thinks that as a matter of fairness it ought to be rotated amongst churches.
He wrote a letter to Members of Parliament seeking their support. This seems
quite a non-issue however.
CENTRAL BANK ISSUES COINS OF GOLDEN GIRLS
The Central Bank of The Bahamas has minted two new coins of the five women who
won for The Bahamas its first gold track and field medal at the Sydney Olympics
in September 2000. They are known collectively in the country as the Golden
Girls. The names: Pauline Davis Thompson, Eldece Clarke-Lewis, Savatheda Fynes,
Chandra Stirrup and Debbie Ferguson. One coin will be pure silver with a face
value of $40. The other is to be pure gold with a face value of $250. The ten-dollar
coin retails for $40 and the $250 coin retails for $400.
ALL THE BEST FOR THE SEASON
The Junkanoo groups are all ready. The draw has taken place. The Saxon Superstars,
led by Percy 'Vola' Francis will be the lead group in the annual Boxing Day
parade on Bay Street on Tuesday 26 December. The parade begins at 1 a.m. and
tickets for the bleachers are all sold out. The Valley Boys who have not won
first prize for at least three years are predicting that they will take the
festival's top prizes on Boxing Day and on New Year's Day. But all the other
groups say the same thing. More importantly for the Valley is the talk around
the Junkanoo community of leadership problems in the Valley. But you know how
propaganda is. It is a wonderful business this Junkanoo. We are certainly sorry
that Archdeacon William Thompson's untimely death by murder will not allow him
to see this festival in the flesh. He loved Junkanoo. He was an incontrovertible
Saxon Superstar. Well, time passes and Junkanoo endures. We remember Archdeacon
Thompson, Sir Lynden Pindling and all the many others who we lost this year.
AND MY MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY
Lilla Angelina Mitchell, mother to this columnist, would have been 78 years
old today. She died 4 May 1999. May she rest in peace!
NEWS FROM GRAND BAHAMA
Congratulations Karen & Raoul - Congratulations to our friends Raoul
and Karen (nee Wallace) Armbrister. The two were recently married. Best Wishes
for lifelong happiness to them both from all their friends at fredmitchelluncensored.com
Christmas Shakedown - Major businessmen in Grand Bahama are complaining that FNM begging is so bad this Christmas season that it's beginning to affect the bottom line. One businessman told our correspondent "Except for Neko (Grant FNM MP Lucaya) and Lindy (Russell FNM MP EMR) these guys are really shaking us down." The businessman continued that "It's so bad now that even the generals are demanding this and that". Another businessman asked fredmitchelluncensored to "call on Hubert to put a stop to this... it's just unconscionable!" We agree. The Prime Minister needs to rein in this embarrassing behaviour. In particular, we understand that a major hotelier and a large purveyor of fresh fruit and vegetables have considered taking the whole month of December off in order to escape next year if the FNM is still in Government. Shame!
The Editor of the site and his family are on leave from the island for the Christmas holidays. A full-featured News From Grand Bahama segment upon his return in the New Year.
NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
ATTRACTING THE MIDDLE GROUND
Some
friends were gathered at their annual Christmas celebration - a small private
gathering. And they are all well to do, in control Black Bahamian
professionals. And the question came up: why would these types not
actively support the return of the PLP to office? One theory is that
it does not matter to them. Hubert Ingraham, political swine that
he is, is accommodating to their interests. They are not offensive
to his and so they largely get what they want. So whoever the Government
is they win.
And in a way that is how the PLP lost power and why the PLP remains out of power. It lost the middle ground. The statistics provided to us based on the last General Election results show that only 2500 votes separated the PLP from the Government of The Bahamas. Put another way, if the PLP had obtained 2500 more votes, they would have gotten 21 seats in the last General Election and the Government of the country.
Who are those 2500 votes? They are the young voters who came onto the rolls for the first time in 1997 and they are that middle ground of professionals to whom it suddenly did not matter who was the Government. They had a Government that did not actively bother them even though they were PLP and that accommodated their requests.
This time is a little different. The FNM, headed by Hubert Ingraham has become an active menace to this society. It has managed to offend every constituent group from union leaders to businessmen, to young professionals and to the working class. Each has a gripe about arrogance and how the Government just seems to be out of touch with reality.
But one has the impression that people are still searching for the PLP to rediscover itself. So that means the year 2001 must be the year for working to recover the middle ground. We have to convince those Black Bahamian lawyers sitting in McKinney Bancroft and Hughes, those Black Bahamian Doctors with their secure practices on Collins Avenue, Shirley Street and in Delancey Town to reconsider the PLP as the organization that will best protect theirs and the national interest. This columnist thinks that we are close but as they say, close isn't good enough. We have to win, and a miss is as good as a mile.
This week we had 6,829 hits on this site up to midnight 30 December. This is the final column of the year. We thank you for the most successful year ever. That makes a grand total for the month up to midnight 30 December of 44,719 hits on the site and for the year 2000 a grand total of 611,056 hits for the year, compared to 203,231 hits for the year 1999. This year is a real year to say that an era has ended. We lost Sir Randol Fawkes, the father of Labour. We lost Archdeacon William Thompson, the moral conscience of a nation for a generation. Sir Lynden Pindling the father of the nation also passed away. Many others have gone on to their reward. We miss them all from the national stage. Have a blessed New Year, filled with prosperity and happiness.
NOTE; We have recovered thanks to one of our avid readers the columns
of 2, 23 & 30 April. If anyone has downloaded any of the other
columns from April 2000, we have lost them in the archive and are seeking
to recover either a hard copy or an electronic version.
|
RESULTS
2001 New Year's Junkanoo Parade in Nassau: 1. Saxons 2. Valley Boys 3. Roots 4. One Family 5. Music Makers 6. Barrabas and the Tribe |
PERMANENT LINKS
Mitchell speech to PLP Convention
2000
Pindling & Me - A personal retrospective
on the life and times of Sir Lynden by Fred Mitchell
Address to the Senate Budget
Debate / Haitian Issue
Address to the Senate Clifton Cay Debate / Haitian
Issue
Address to PLP Leadership meeting in Exuma
/ Haitian Issue
Address of Sean Mcweeney / Pindling
funeral
Gilbert Morris on OECD Blacklist
Fred Mitchell Antioch College speech
The funeral coverage
For a photo essay on the funeral of Archdeacon William Thompson. Click here.
 |
 |
| Professor Gilbert Morris on the country's blacklisting | Coverage of Sir Lynden's death & funeral |
e-mail timbuktu@batelnet.bs
| Site Links | |
| The PLP Position on Clifton | |
| www.johngfcarey.com | Thought provoking columns |
| http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/ | Canadian contacts Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links |
| http://members.tripod.com/~xtremesp/wolf.html | Bahamian Cycling News |
| http://www.bahamiansonline.com | Links to Bahamians on the web |
| http://www.bahamanet.com/JujuTree.cfm | Politics Forum |
| http://www.jameshepple.com/ | Tourism Statistics |
BRADLEY
ZINGS THEM AGAIN
The House of Assembly met again on Wednesday 27 December 2000 to okay
the amendments to the package of financial bills passed by the Senate last
week. These are the same Bills that the Cabinet did not see before
they were approved by Parliament. Discussed over coffee in Comfort
Suites with the PM, Ronnie Knowles, Bill Allen and Rhonda Bain, then sent
to the Senate for passage. Interesting way to do business.
Bradley Roberts told them that the FNM had atheistic views because they
brought Parliament back during the height of Christmas. Algernon
Allen went ballistic and the House had to be suspended in the row.
The matter has been referred to the Committee on Privileges. Mr. Allen
claims that the word atheistic is unparliamentary language. Give
me a break. The entire remarks of Mr. Roberts can be obtained by clicking
here.
FRED
MITCHELL'S SENATE REMARKS
Several folks have asked for the full remarks of this Senator about
Hubert Ingraham in the Senate at its last meeting in December. We
are happy to oblige. It puts into the public domain the theory of why our
Prime Minister behaves the way he does to the detriment of the country.
Please click here.
THE
BAHAMAS FACING A MONEY CRISIS
The financial and political community was all-abuzz with gossip. Not
about the tiresome financial blacklist but this time something more pressing
and close to home. The Government, it is said, had to go to the market
to borrow 14 million dollars to find money to pay the salaries of civil
servants for the month of December. This is believed to be a first
for the FNM government in its second term. Then the story is that
the liquidity situation has deteriorated so rapidly over the past three
months that the Royal Bank of Canada that is the Government's principal
banker had to bring in ten million dollars from outside the country in
order to meet the Government's demands. This is all unsubstantiated
but the last time you heard this kind of stuff was in the last years of
the PLP administration. It warrants some explanation from the Government
and its hapless Minister of Finance William Allen.
CAN
THE GOVERNMENT MAKE ENDS MEET?
One of the points that this Senator raised in the debate on the financial
bills that are meant to solve the blacklist problem, was what was to happen
to the Minister of Finance's projection of a surplus of one million dollars
in the country's annual budget in his budget presentation last year.
Now that all turns out to be fanciful. We pointed out at the time
that the budget surplus depended on amongst other things a contribution
of five million dollars from the EEC. So if that one gift were not
forthcoming the Finance Minister's projections would be totally off. The
Prime Minister told the country in the debate in the House before Christmas
that he expects 20 million dollars to be lost in revenue with the advent
of the new IBC legislation. So imagine what that will do to
the budget surplus. There is no surplus. And to think Bill Allen
got a knighthood for that.
OTHER
SIGNS OF MONEY TROUBLE
Franklin Wilson, the Chairman of Arawak Homes Ltd. and former MP and
Senator for the PLP, has done an analysis of the financial reports of the
Central Bank as at 6 December 2000. It shows a worrisome trend.
It shows an economy steadily going in reverse. The fact is that as
at 6 December the liquidity in the system that is the excess of the reserves
that was available for lending stood at 31.9 million dollars. Guess
what that can be compared to: 1991 and the last budget under the PLP's
administration. On 31 December of that year the liquidity stood at
31.7 million. So the situation is in fact worse today than it was
under the PLP in 1991. At that time the Central Bank had put in place
stringent measures to slow down the expansion of consumer credit.
What has our Finance Minister to say? Our loudmouth Prime Minister;
what does he have to say? The difference may be that the total reserves
today stand at 341 million whereas in 1991 they stood at 173 million, but
we must not take that in isolation. One must look at the trend.
It has been downward consistently since August of this year. And
as we pointed out in a previous column the downward trend cannot be attributed
only to the normal run down caused by merchants ordering Christmas inventory.
When you compare with last year's, the decline over the same period was
22 per cent as opposed to 52 per cent this year. One theory is that the
drug money has been chased out of the banking system. That in fact
it was drug money that was propping up the economy. Now that this
has been scared out of the normal economy into the underground, the country
is headed toward an economic slide. Things that make you go hmmm!
TEACHERS
STRIKE IN THE CARDS
Kingsley
Black, pictured, was furious. He is the President of the Bahamas
Union of Teachers. The no good worthless Ministry of Education issued
letters on 8 December telling the teachers that their pay will be docked
for the three days in which they stood up in solidarity with their colleague
Rosalyn Astwood who was charged in a Coroner's Court with manslaughter
back in November 2000. The teachers are now on break and school is
scheduled to resume on 3 January. Attorney General Janet Bostwick
who has had the transcript of the case in her possession from Christmas
Eve has not yet made a decision and as usual is dragging her feet in what
is a clear case of a Coroner's jury coming to an absurd verdict.
But Mr. Black told the Ministry that if they proceed to cut the salaries
of teachers then the work to rule would be tightened. The teachers
in Grand Bahama want to go on strike. Mr. Black is riding a tiger.
His members are totally fed up with the Minister's attitude. He also
pointed out that the Ministry of Education owes teachers moneys.
Mr. Black said: “It is cold and heartless for the Ministry of Education
to cut teachers’ salaries in January for the demonstration of solidarity
with Sister Astwood – a distinguished member of the profession – when tens
of thousands of dollars are owed to teachers nationwide in salary and arrears,
pension benefits, allowances, fees for marking GLAT, BJC and BGCSE examinations,
and increment recovery mess-up.” He demanded the Ministry apply the
same level of efficiency it used in sending out the notice of salary cuts,
to expediting the payment of all moneys owed to teachers for periods of
up to three years. This columnist supports that demand of Mr. Black and
also demands that the Attorney General make a quick decision before mayhem
breaks out in the schools.
JANET
BOSTWICK’S APOLOGY
The poor Bostwicks. It appears that the question asked by Bradley
Roberts PLP MP In the house of Assembly last week about the stolen high
priced car racket set the cat amongst the pigeons. If you read the
column of 17 December, you will see the whole story. Mrs. Bostwick
sought and obtained an apology from The Tribune and Niki Kelly in the most
grovelling terms to herself and her husband. The Tribune was fully
contrite about how Mrs. Bostwick was not dragging her feet in charging
the persons who brought in the high priced stolen cars and did not pay
customs duty. She revealed that the police have only charged one
person, the other persons are believed to have skipped town. On the
car, a Lexus bought by her husband she got Niki Kelly and The Tribune to
apologize for their comments about the stolen car and the connection to
the investigation and the innuendo that duty had not been paid on the car
owned by her husband. But what was interesting was in her report
to Parliament on Wednesday 27 December. In reporting the matter to Parliament,
she did not supply any documentation to back up what she was saying.
All she did was read the Tribune’ groveling apology. House members
ought to demand the documentation: the serial number of the car, the history
of the car, the price, who the dealer was and how much duty she paid on
it and when. Only then will the public be satisfied with her explanation.
Only then will she have carried out her responsibility to Parliament.
AIR
TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS END WORK TO RULE
The airport is also a buzz with rumours and counter rumours and some
truth. First the facts as we know them. The Minister of Tourism
C.A. Smith flew into town and met with the Air Traffic Controllers and
asked them to call off their work to rule. This is the height of
the tourist season and both American Airlines and US Air were threatening
to stop all flights after one US Air flight was made to sit on the ground
for two hours before being allowed to take off. The US Air spokesman
said that the flight to its destination was only one hour and fifty minutes
and the plane spent two hours waiting on the ground. The air traffic
controllers got an immediate promise from the Minister to act to solve
their problems, the chief amongst which was that in a windowless room (the
airport control tower); the air conditioning had been inoperable for six
weeks. But then other fast breaking developments came along.
Two high ranking officials of the Department of Civil Aviation were sent
packing in an enforced vacation. There are stories going around of
allegations of bribery and corruption. No one has been told what
the true story is. What we know is that the next most senior officers
in the department were superseded by their junior who is now Acting Director
of Civil Aviation, jumped from number five in the Department to number
one. The explanation given to those who were superseded: the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) of the USA told us to appoint the man that
is now there. If this is true, this is yet again another example
of how the Government allows people from the outside to dictate the choices
made by a sovereign Government. The Bahamas has become a fully client
state. The follow up to this is that Parliament is to be called back
again for yet another special session to consider amendments to the Civil
Aviation Act that the American FAA has demanded. The Prime Minister
said that in response to pressure from the FAA, The Bahamas has severed
its relationship with the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
He said that no matter what we did the Americans always found something
wrong with it, so they have decided to turn to the FAA. There is a story
coming out about Jamaica and Butch Stewart and Air Jamaica. It is
claimed that Air Jamaica was having tremendous problems with their airline
in the US shortly after they decided to buy Airbuses from the European
consortium. If they had bought Boeing aircraft they were told they
would not have the problems. It took some high level lobbying to
stop the undue pressure from the FAA. Looks like the same story here.
The air traffic controllers say that now that the British advisors have
been kicked out, American advisors have taken their place and immediately
started recommending American consultants who were immediately hired by
the Government. They also recommended buying American radar equipment,
which is also to be bought. Things that make you go hmmm!
RICHARD
DEMERITTE JR. MURDER CASE
Winston Saunders, the Coroner, is about to leave office. His
last official day is 31st December. He has wound up a vexing case.
That is the case of the murder of Richard Demeritte Jr., otherwise known
as Ricky. A nicer kid you never met. Just qualified with the
world as his oyster. He happened, it appears, to fall in love with
a woman who was loved by someone else to the point of obsession.
The Coroner's jury did what a Magistrate at a preliminary inquiry refused
to do for reasons of insufficient evidence in 1993. The Coroner's
jury has recommended that Arthur Swann Jr., a former police officer, be
charged with murder. Mr. Swann, who seemed to have a bright future
on the Force in Nassau at one point, is now serving time in a federal jail
in Ashland, Kentucky in the United States. The jury accepted the theory
of a lover's triangle. It appears that Mr. Swann may have killed
the younger Mr. Demeritte out of jealousy for his affections toward Mr.
Swann's former girlfriend. This verdict must be an enormous relief
to the long suffering parents Richard Demeritte, former Ambassador and
Auditor General and his wife Ruth Demeritte. But it is also the story of
tragedy for another family, the Swanns of Ridgeland Park in Nassau.
It is a no win situation. Just very very sad.
THE
JUNKANOO RESULTS IN CONTENTION
Well you guessed it. Despite the fact that the Junkanoo results
were widely accepted by the public. The Roots Junkanoo group, originally
a breakaway from the Valley Boys, is dissatisfied with the results of the
Junkanoo contest on Boxing Day and has announced at a press conference
that the judging was unfair and that the Junkanoo Committee favoured the
Valley Boys and Saxons over other groups. Leslie Johnson who
spoke for Roots told the press that most of the judges are either retired
Valley members or retired Saxon members. If that is so then one wonders
how on earth the Saxons managed to secure a fourth place this time.
No doubt the boys from Masons Addition are furious because of the fourth
place finish but there was no public carping. Every year it is a
ritual of Junkanoo, just like the ritual of Miss Bahamas, someone was cheated.
Oh well! Brian Gibson who is the Chairman of the National Junkanoo
Committee told the press that “Groups were asked to have an observer present
to oversee the judging and scores coming in without being tampered with.
Not one group sent an observer. Maybe they thought it wasn't important
to have one.” Perhaps the Roots group might learn from Al Gore's
cheated loss in the US General Election. At a certain point, you just let
it go. Can you imagine now a Court setting aside the Valley's victory
and saying let's have the Junkanoo contest again? By the way, Gus
Cooper, who has had heart bypass surgery, is back as the King of Junkanoo.
He said that he was supremely confident that he could do it again after
three successive years of losses and he did. Now folks are saying
that he has had his big comeback and perhaps this is the time once and
for all to let younger leadership take over the Valley. Mr. Cooper's Valley
Boys won with the theme: “A Mystical Journey into the Orient”. He
appeared as a Confucian type Character in traditional Chinese dress and
reedy beard. He had a slow dance which some said was specifically
designed not to tax Mr. Cooper's energy. Whatever it was, it worked
and the only group that does not appear to have accepted the victory is
the breakaway group Roots. For the record, the results of the 2000
Boxing Day Junkanoo parade were: 1st Valley Boys, 2nd One Family, 3rd Roots,
4th Saxons and 5th Music Makers.
WHAT
ABOUT THE CENSUS RESULTS?
The Americans have released their initial census data, pegging their
population at 281,000,000 an increase of 13.2 per cent over 1990 and largely
driven by immigration from the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia.
The Bahamas did its census in May. We have still not heard what the
results are of the blessed thing. There are only 300,000 of us to
count. What could be taking so long?
TOP
ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
The Bahamas Amateur Athletic Association (BAAA) held a banquet on Thursday
28 December. It was its first ever awards banquet for Track and Field.
It was held at SuperClubs Breezes. The winners for male and female
athlete of the year were declared. Male Athlete of the Year was Avard
Moncur who ran his heart out even though the team was short of men and
just missed winning a medal at Sydney in September 2000. The female
athlete of the year, while missing from the banquet because of the flu,
was none other than the great Pauline Davis-Thompson. Congratulations
to them both.
BURNS
HOUSE NAMES FINANCIAL CHIEF
Philip Kemp has been named Chief Financial Officer of the liquor merchant
Burns House Limited. Mr. Kemp is also CFO for Commonwealth Brewery.
He is a former employee of the Royal Bank of Canada and a graduate of the
University of Western Ontario. Congratulations to Mr. Kemp, remembering
him from his days as a student at Western. A good example for others
to follow.
CITIBANK
CLOSES NASSAU BRANCH
The little branch of Citibank, the one American bank still struggling
as a clearinghouse bank in this market, has been closed. All the
branch's activities are to be concentrated at its main branch on Thompson
Boulevard. The bank never seemed to make it in the public's imagination,
and it loan's collections policies don't endear it to the public.
Nevertheless, Citibank says that it is not closing its operations here.
The branch at Frederick Street in Nassau will continue as an ATM unit.
NEWS
FROM GRAND BAHAMA
The Editor of the site and his family are on leave for the Christmas
holidays. A full-featured News From Grand Bahama segment upon his return
in the New Year.