The tribune review of 2016

PAGE 8, Friday, December 30, 2016 YEAR IN REVIEW 2016 TUESDAY

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By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net SHAUNAE Miller will have abiding memories of 2016, from having the honour of carrying the national flag at the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro to winning her first gold medal and becoming engaged to be married.

But the defining moment of the Bahamian track star’s stellar year came on a raindrenched August Monday night in Brazil, when Miller gave one of the great Olympic performances in the women’s 400 metres final, snatching the gold from American Allyson Felix on the line in a personal best time of 49.44 seconds.

In a record-breaking race, Miller, 22, crossed the finish line in the Olympic Stadium horizontally to hold off the strong challenge from the bemedalled Felix by just .07 of a second (49.51) to avenge her defeat at the World Championships in Bejing, China, the previous year. Jamaican Shericka Jackson had to settle for the bronze again in 49.85 in the epic one lap race, the first time the top three had dipped under the 50-second barrier and the next three under the 51-second mark.

But it was the manner of the finish and the dramatic images flashed around the world which will remain indelibly in the memory.

In the final few metres, and with Felix closing her down rapidly, Miller used her 6ft

SPOTLIGHT

ON

SHAUNAE MILLER

1in frame not just to lean or dip across the line but dived onto the track.

“I really don’t know what happened,” Miller told The Tribune after the race. “I just dug deep. To me this year has been all about fighting, so I knew I was just going to give it all I had and fight. And I felt like I did that and I left it all out there.”

It wasn’t an actual fist fight Miller was referring to.

It had a lot to be with some of the controversy she faced in the Bahamian training camp prior to the race when an issue that brewed over whether she should have been afforded the opportunity to run the 200m/400m double.

She had entered the Games as one of the top three ranked competitors in the world in both events, but she had only contested her specialty, the 400m, at the BAAA nationals in June at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium. Coupled with the fact that she had not indicated that she wanted to compete in the 200m in Rio, her spot was given to three other automatic qualifiers - Tynia Gaither, Anthonique Strachan and Sheniqua ‘Q’ Ferguson.

Although the rain which delayed the start of the epic 400m final had subsided,

SHAUNAE Miller with her gold medal at the Olympics.

Miller got out of the blocks ahead of the field and controlled the tempo until they came onto the home stretch as Felix made her comeback. As they approached the line, Felix surged slightly ahead but Miller did the unthinkable and ended up spreadeagled on the track.

Bewildered, she lay there for a while and did not realise she had won until she glanced at her mother, Maybelene, in the stands, urging her up to get up and celebrate.

“I’ve never done it before,” Miller said of the dive. “I have some cuts and bruises, a few burns.

It hurts. When I was on the ground, I didn’t know that I had won. I still don’t know what happened. I heard my mom screaming.

When I heard her screaming, I was like, ‘Ok, I had to have won the race’.”

If you think she was stunned, Felix was shocked. She missed out on her second consecutive coronation as Miller got to celebrate her first victory between the two at the senior international level.

“I wasn’t sure, no. I was just kind of staring up at the board trying to see what had happened,” Felix said.

“I didn’t know who won.

I didn’t see the dive until I saw the replay because I thought I had won it. I don’t think I ever quite had a year this tough.”

What a difference a year made as Miller had time to reflect on her second place at the World Championships in 2015, when Felix led from start to finish and ran away from the field. Miller was prepared for the much anticipated rematch this year and returned the favour.

“My body is kind of numb,” she said. “It’s all just burning right now.”

No doubt, the tension eased after she had the medal draped around her neck the next night at a ceremony that featured former national record holder Pauline Davis-Thompson, now an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) councilwoman as one of the presenters.

It was another historic

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SHAUNAE Mill won the Olympi er last night c gold medal in the 400m in the mos fashions - diving t dramatic of across the line in a tight finish to secure victory.

Her nearest rival, of the US, was clos Allyson Felix in the final 100m ing her down of Miller had poweredthe race after through the

first 300m - but in of the race, Mill the final steps er over the line to win threw herself hundredths of a secoby just seven Miller had been nd. tough lane - out drawn in a where she was una in lane seven ble to see most of her rivals behind her throughout the race.

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There had been conc of the race as heav erns ahead a delay - but Milly rain forced er shrugged off any worries to ing home the first win, bringOlympics for The medal of the Bahamas.

For full coverage and more dramatic of the race photographs, see Sports.

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night for all Bahamians in attendance.

But Miller had to face more controversy after the race, reading, watching and listening to commentary in the media and all over social networks about whether what she did was legal. The rules, however, were clear: “The first athlete whose torso (as distinguished from the head, neck, arms, legs, hands or feet) reaches the vertical plane of the closest edge of the finish line is the winner),” the IAAF pointed out in their guidelines.

So for the record, Miller did what she had to do to prevail.

The Bahamas was caught in another diving episode at the 2008 Olympics, when American David Neville did the same thing to deny veteran Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown a bronze medal in the 400m.

Still bruised and battered, Miller passed up a chance to come back four days later to run with the Bahamas women’s 4 x 400m relay team.

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The quartet of Lanece Clarke, Anthonique Strachan, Carmiesha Cox and Christine Amertil ran a national record of 3min 26.36sec for sixth place in their heat and 11th overall, three spots shy of making the final.

The team had been hoping to join the men’s squad of Alonzo Russell, Michael Mathieu, Steven Gardiner and Chris Brown as they brought the curtain down on Team Bahamas’ appearance at the Games with a bronze medal in the final of the men’s 4 x 400m final in a season’s best of 2 min 58.49sec behind the United States (2:57.30) and Jamaica (2:58.16).

With Miller’s gold and the relay team’s bronze, The Bahamas finished tied for 51st place in the medals table.

The medal was one of two things Miller had to celebrate at the Games.

She got engaged to her boyfriend Maicel Uibo, a decathlete from Estonia,

who she met while attending the University of Georgia. They have planned a wedding for February in Nassau.

And as she look forward to that important aspect of her life, Miller has indicated that she intends to pursue the 200m/400m at the World Championships in London in August.

She closed out her golden year by winning all six of her major international races, including Diamond League meets in Shanghai, Eugene and London.

While she did not contest the 200m in Rio, the Bahamas’ two-time Athlete of the Year for 2015-2016 had erased the previous national record held by decorated Bahamian sprinter Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, lowering it to 22.05sec in Kingston, Jamaica, on June 11.

However, Miller’s personal best of 49.44 in Rio was shy of the national record of 49.07 that Tonique Williams ran in Berlin, Germany, on September 12, 2004.

Landmark occasion as university is chartered

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net NOVEMBER 10 marked a landmark day for education in the country, as officials chartered the University of Bahamas (UB), making good on one of the many assurances given by the Christie administration on the 2012 campaign trail.

“This day has been long in coming,” Prime Minister Perry Christie said during the institution’s official Charter Day ceremony. “It has been in incubation for many a long year. But it has at last arrived.”

Often focused on his legacy, Mr Christie made it a point to enable all avenues that could lead to the expansion of tertiary level education once he was elected to office for a second, nonconsecutive term.

In 2002, shortly after coming to office during his first term, the Christie administration tasked the College of The Bahamas with preparing itself to become a university by 2007.

The government at the time stimulated several initiatives at the institution designed to ready it for the change.

According to officials, this university transition

SPOTLIGHT

ON

UNIVERSITY OF THE BAHAMAS

phase culminated in August, 2006, with the Council of The College of The Bahamas (COB) establishing an Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Governance.

The mandate of that committee was to propose the legislative framework for The University of The Bahamas.

The Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Governance Report - The Keva Bethel Report - was submitted in June, 2007.

With the defeat of the Christie administration in the 2007 general election came the first hurdle in the effort to establish the university. The incoming Ingraham administration advanced several initiatives related to the transition during its five-years in office, but never made any major strides toward a status change.

In 2012, the movement towards university status was given a fresh injection of energy through another mandate given to the college by the government to ready the institution to be-

come a university; thus, in July of the same year, the Council of The College of The Bahamas appointed a University Transition Secretariat (UTS).

In 2014, the Christie administration moved a resolution in the House of Assembly for the government to borrow $16.1m from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to assist in the institution’s transition to university status.

The grant was expected to cover 70 per cent of the $23.2m in costs to cover the first phase of COB’s transition - land acquisition and external works.

In September 2015, The Tribune reported exclusively how poor auditing practices at COB had prevented the institution from using the funds from the loan.

This newspaper reported at the time how the college was at least four years behind in audits when the Christie administration moved to borrow the funds.

Subsequently, the grant was cancelled and the

consistent with terms and conditions of the loan agreement, the request for proposal (RFP) selection process for design services was later “annulled.”

Despite the financial blow, the Christie administration again pressed on with its plans to advance the status of the nation’s leading tertiary level institution.

In a speech given during the institution’s transformational project launch ceremony in March of 2015, Mr Christie indicated that at the heart of his administration’s plans to improve the nation’s persistent issues was a strengthened and improved tertiary institution.

He said all improvements made at the institution would have lasting impressions on the country as it continued along the course of growth and development.

Mr Christie at the time noted that over his 40 years in public life he has seen many examples of strong universities being the driving force in developing the societies surrounding them.

When it initially proposed the transition process it had in mind for COB, the Christie administration lamented the reality that in a growing and developing nation like the Bahamas, scores of citizens and per-

manent residents unable to afford a university level education internationally had to go without.

The House of Assembly opened debate on a bill to establish the University of The Bahamas on July 13.

The milestone of November’s Charter Day, touted by many in government as the next logical step in national development, was best placed into context by UB President Dr Rodney Smith in a contribution to The Tribune’s “Gain An Edge” columns, in which he theorised the establishment of a university would help to strengthen the economy and offer the highest level of research to both the public and private sector, allowing millions of dollars spent on consultants to stay within the country.

The university has signed contracts in a $100 million project to build a 1,000bed, living and learning residential facility “that will include a cafeteria, fitness facilities, swimming pool, study rooms, more classrooms, retail spaces, a ball room and a parking deck,” according to Dr Smith.

Referring to the institution’s athletics components, Dr Smith revealed plans for the expansion of university facilities - a result of the

partnership between UB and the National Sports Authority.

That expansion will include a host of new opportunities for UB’s student athletes as it seeks membership in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

The NAIA is an athletic association that organises college and university level athletic programmes among small to mid-size institutions, primarily across the United States but also outside the US. It is expected that the institution, which critics say has long lacked enough money to fund expansion needs, will become a greater recipient of funds now that its ties to the government have been reduced.

Dr Smith has suggested to The Tribune that he expects more than $500m to be spent over the next several years to fund construction projects, technological upgrades and infrastructural developments.

Dr Smith is the eighth president of the institution, appointed in October 2014.

He was previously vicepresident of administrative services at Hampton University and initially served as COB president from 2004-2005.

YEAR IN REVIEW 2016

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, December 30, 2016, PAGE 9

Bahamas hit hard by Hurricane Matthew SPOTLIGHT

ON

HURRICANE MATTHEW

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A LITTLE more than a year after Hurricane Joaquin ravaged the southern islands of the Bahamas, Bahamians were struck in 2016 by Hurricane Matthew, an even more powerful storm.

The storm, which fluctuated between a category three and four as it barreled through the country, left damage worth more than $600m, government officials said.

It also prompted questions about whether the country is doing all it can to financially prepare and respond to hurricanes in an era of growing concern about climate change.

Hurricane Matthew formed as a tropical wave off the African coast in late September.

As it made its way through the Caribbean, it devastated Haiti, causing hundreds to die.

It struck the Bahamas between October 5 and 7.

While the Christie administration was criticised for inadequately warning Bahamians about Hurricane Joaquin in 2015, officials were eager to appear more organised ahead of Hurricane Matthew’s landfall, holding multiple press conferences full of sober warnings.

Prime Minister Perry Christie, at one point, warned that Hurricane Matthew could prove to be a defining event in the lives of Bahamians.

Of particular worry was the

impact the hurricane would have on southern islands like Long Island, Crooked Island and Acklins, which were devastated by Hurricane Joaquin and were still subject to restoration efforts even as Matthew headed towards the Bahamas.

However, the southern islands were spared the brunt of Matthew’s blow.

Instead, the northern islands of New Providence, North Andros and Grand Bahama, which were mostly untouched by Hurricane Joaquin, received Hurricane Matthew’s full force because the eye of the storm flew directly or nearly directly over them.

In fact, Hurricane Matthew was the first storm since 1929 to directly hit New Providence. The storm grew stronger as it passed northward through country, gaining strength from the country’s warm waters.

Rainfall of eight to 12 inches was projected to accompany the storm, prompting widespread evacuation of the southern portions of New Providence.

Despite this, more than 500 people were rescued from their homes in the eastern and southern parts of the island during the storm, according to Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade.

Areas like Yamacraw, Adelaide and South Beach experienced especially severe flooding, with the homes of many people in those areas rendered unusable until electricians deemed them safe to conduct electricity.

Almost every home in the western part of Grand Bahama was adversely affected by the storm as it flattened houses and tore roofs off buildings, leaving many without homes on an island that was struggling to rebound from the economic devastation wrought by Hurricanes Jeanne and Frances in 2004.

In fact, 95 per cent of buildings in the Eight Mile Rock and Holmes Rock areas in Grand Bahama received significant damage from the storm, officials said.

By year’s end, major hotels in Grand Bahama remained closed.

Nonetheless, no reports of serious injuries or death occurred as a result of the hurricane.

In the wake of the storm, long queues of people lined up at gas stations, ice depots and fast-food restaurants throughout the main population centres amid baseless fears that items were in short supply.

The Christie administration eventually placed an exigency order in the wake of Hurricane Matthew for 180 days, effective from October 7.

The order covers New Providence, Grand Bahama, the Berry Islands and North and Central Andros.

The cost of hurricane Matthew recovery efforts ignited a debate about fiscal prudence. The government was criticised, for instance, for lacking a “rainy day”

fund, whereby a portion of the annual budget would go toward annual funding natural disaster recovery efforts.

Late in 2016, when Standards & Poor’s downgraded the country’s credit rating to “junk” status, the issue of fiscal prudence with respect to natural disasters emerged again. Government officials, however, stressed that supposedly weak fiscal consolidation efforts owed to a need to borrow $150m in Hurricane Matthew recovery efforts, without addressing the question of whether a more pru-

dent model exists.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, the performance of Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) also sharpened into focus.

It took weeks for the power generation company to fully restore power to New Providence residents, prompting criticism.

In early October, Labour and National Insurance Minister Shane Gibson was appointed czar of Hurricane Matthew, mandated to ensure swift relief to those who required it.

PAGE 10 , Friday, December 30, 2016 YEAR IN REVIEW 2016

THE TRIBUNE

FNM divided and in disarray

By KHRISNA VIRGIL Deputy Chief Reporter kvirgil@tribunemedia.net ON December 7, the Free National Movement (FNM) etched its place in the annals of history, not as a party seemingly poised to take over governing this country, but as an organisation with a deep and incurable divide.

This rift within the party had been festering since the day leader Dr Hubert Minnis took over the reins of the FNM from former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham in 2012.

The party’s infighting spilled onto the pages of local newspapers for much of this year, before and after a bitter convention in July which left many bruised and battered.

However, just when the party seemed to unify, whatever little progress there was in this regard came to a screeching halt when the majority of the Opposition’s parliamentary caucus abandoned Dr Minnis as their leader in the House of Assembly.

The bold move that stunned Parliament and the country. Seven FNM MPs submitted a letter of no confidence in the Killarney MP to Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling.

The letter was read aloud in the House of Assembly

by Speaker Dr Kendal Major, catching Dr Minnis and other parliamentarians off guard. The letter revealed that among them, a vote was taken for Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner to become the new official Opposition leader in the House of Assembly.

The historic moment unfolded during a session in Parliament where it was expected that debate would begin on a series of financial bills. After delivering several announcements and without indication, Dr Major informed parliamentarians that he received a formal letter from the seven MPs. As he read the request to oust Dr Minnis, the letter’s contents triggered taunts and gasps from seated government members of Parliament.

SPOTLIGHT

ON

FNM PARTY DIVISION

Listening to the formal rejection of his leadership, Dr Minnis did not make eye contact with any of his colleagues seated on his side of the floor. Instead he showed no reaction, only from time to time staring at his notepad or raising his bowed head to glance at those seated on the government side.

“We have the solemn duty to most respectfully inform you that a majority of our caucus wishes to avail ourselves of the provisions outlined in Article 82 (4) of the Constitution of the Bahamas, and this to withdraw our confidence in Dr Hubert A Minnis as leader of the opposition,” Dr Major read.

“Your Excellency, as we know you are aware, our parliamentary democracy rests on the notion of confidence. A prime minister may continue to govern only insofar as he or she continues to enjoy the confidence of the House of Assembly.

Likewise, an opposition leader may continue to serve in this position only if he or she enjoys the confidence of his or her colleagues in the House. That being the case, we respectfully ask you to revoke the appointment of Dr Hubert A Minnis as leader of the opposition in accordance with Article 82 (4) of our Constitution.

“Furthermore, in revoking his appointment, we request that you consider not only the will of the majority of the parliamentary opposition’s caucus in the House of Assembly, but the wellbeing of our nation.

“We are deeply pained by the growing crisis of confidence that ails our beloved country.”

The letter adds: “In addition to good government by the executive, the Bahamas needs an effective and dutiful opposition that will work with Bahamians to develop a clear vision for the future, along with effective

solutions to the many problems affecting our country.

“In that spirit, our caucus will, once under new leadership, devote itself entirely to those priorities, doing whatever it can to ensure Bahamians can once again look to the future with confidence, assured of their safety and prosperity.

“Your Excellency, it is also our duty to inform you that in the interest of ensuring a seamless transition, our caucus has also voted to undertake its work in Parliament under the leadership of Loretta Butler-Turner.”

The signatories of the letter were: Mrs Butler-Turner, Central Grand Bahama MP Neko Grant, St Anne’s MP Hubert Chipman, North Eleuthera MP Theo Neilly, Central and South Abaco MP Edison Key, Montagu MP Richard Lightbourn and Fort Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins.

Foreshadowing these events was the party’s national convention. This event was a contentious battle between Dr Minnis and Mrs Butler-Turner for the leadership post.

Back in July the party called a convention after six the MP’s excluding Mr Key threatened Dr Minnis with a vote of no confidence unless he agreed to hold the event before the proposed November 2016 date.

Dr Minnis agreed and the party decided the convention would be held from July 27 to 29 at the Melia Nassau Beach Hotel. Ahead of the convention, it was revealed that former FNM Senator Dr Duane Sands would run on Mrs Butler-Turner’s ticket as deputy leader hopeful.

Both sides held competing campaign launches on the same day, with Dr Minnis drawing a bigger crowd.

However, Mrs Butler-Turner had more support from sitting FNM members of Parliament.

When the convention convened, it was bitter

THE REBEL SEVEN of Hubert Chipman, Edison Key, Richard Lightbourn, Loretta Butler-Turner, Neko Grant, Theo Neilly, and Andre Rollins.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff showdown and figuratively With chants of “Peter” regularities with the delegate the gloves came off. ringing through the conven- list and the election of delOn the second night, tion hall, an angered Mr Turn- egates. We concluded after FNM Deputy Leader Peter quest suggested that he had to consultation and deep reflecTurnquest, who was vying to “find a way to calm down”. tion, prayer and discernment keep his post, took an angry At the end of his speech, that we could not go forward swipe at Mrs Butler-Turner he returned to the fractured in good conscience with a amid fractious scenes at the nature of the FNM, calling process that proved undemoconvention, insisting “re- on delegates to make the cratic on a number of levels.” spect must be earned”. “smart and best choice” The pair believed they He targeted the Long Is- when voting on the leader- would never be able to reland MP, reprimanding her ship positions today. solve the problems if they for far exceeding her alloThat night Montagu MP allowed the process to concated 25-minute time slot.

Richard Lightbourn also found tinue, hence their decision In a two-minute diatribe himself in the hot seat after he to drop out, she said. preceding his prepared proposed to have a state-sponShe did not elaborate on speech, the East Grand Ba- sored sterilisation programme the irregularities with the hama MP said the FNM was for unmarried women with delegate list and the delnot built on the chaotic and more than two children as an egate selection process, but fractured practices on dis- anti-crime initiative. she described a series of perplay so far at the convention.

The comments were not ceived slights against herself “If you want respect, you received well, sparking and Dr Sands from Dr Minmust first show respect. Re- backlash and calls for his nis’ team that seemed to spect must be earned,” he resignation as a member of play a large role in her decishouted to resounding ap- Parliament. sion to quit the race. plause by hundreds of delWhile Mr Lightbourn Mrs Butler-Turner and egates. “The party I knew apologised for the remarks, her supporters were also way before I knew what poli- the party did not want to be upset when Dr Minnis tics was is nothing like this.” seen as adapting the same made his grand entrance Mr Turnquest empha- position and distanced it- into the ballroom moments sised that the unseemly self from his stance. before she was scheduled to scenes would be brought to After a dramatic two days speak, at which point chants an end on the last day of the of convention, Mrs Butler- of “Roc Wit Doc” erupted, convention, firmly implying Turner announced that she suspending the schedule. that an overwhelming vic- and her running mate Dr They also felt slighted when tory was on the way for him Sands dropped out of the they did not receive a copy of and Dr Minnis. leadership race in the early the convention programme Directly addressing Mrs morning hours of July 29 - until late in the night before Butler-Turner’s five-point hours before delegates were the first day of the convenstrategic plan she outlined about to cast their votes. tion, after which she learned earlier in the evening, he Following this decision, she’d have only ten minutes to contended that symbol of Mrs Butler-Turner later told speak, a fact organisers later the starfish, the logo of the reporters that Mr Turn- said was an error. plan and worn on a chain by quest’s public rebuke of She also said the people the Long Island MP at the her was the final straw that she selected to sit on the conconvention, did not matter. prompted their withdrawal vention committee never reMr Turnquest stated em- from the leadership race ceived their notifications. phatically: “The only sym- they once lobbied for.

This year was a tumultubol that matters tonight is She said: “After seven ous one for the FNM and this, the torch.” weeks of campaigning and has left many, including Mrs Butler-Turner’s trying to ensure a level and supporters, questioning camp was believed to be un- fair playing field, we came to whether the party will ever happy about chants of “Roc the realisation that the pro- unify and present a strong Wit Doc” during her speech cess was in fact full of some and unshakeable image. coming from Dr Minnis’ irregularities and deep strucThis uncertainty lingers supporters, claiming it was tural problems. This includ- now and will continue to do disrespectful. ed but was not limited to ir- so well into 2017 and beyond.

Discontent on the streets as protestors march

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net DISCONTENT with the Christie administration’s response to Hurricanes Matthew and Joaquin, two massive storms which made landfall in The Bahamas one year apart, quickly ballooned to the largest protest in the capital since the demonstration against the controversial sale of BTC back in 2011.

November 25 - the day after the American Thanksgiving holiday known as “Black Friday” - morphed into a local socio-political movement focused on bringing to bear systematic changes needed in The Bahamas.

Many of issues of concern among Bahamians prompted protestors to converge in downtown Nassau - chief among them being worries about Chinese investment in The Bahamas; crime; freedom of information legislation and transparency in government.

Community activist Ranard Henfield, founder and lead organiser of the Our Carmichael and Our Grand Bahama initiatives respectfully, via various social media outlets condemned the government’s performance and implored Bahamians to take a stance against poor governance.

Mr Henfield went on to float the notion that a progressive Bahamas could not be experienced under the thumb of a “power-centric government.”

As the idea garnered support, Mr Henfield aligned his community initiatives with several of the country’s leading civic organisations and the country’s two foremost umbrella unions.

We March Bahamas was launched shortly afterwards, a movement which spread on social media.

Through the organisation, Mr Henfield attacked the “gross levels” of power held by the Office of the Prime

SPOTLIGHT

ON

WE MARCH BAHAMAS

Minister (OPM), which he insisted could lead to The Bahamas’ demise if left unchecked by the people.

Mr Henfield urged voters to “see reality”, alleging that the OPM has through successive governments accumulated a level of power that could border on a dictatorship if left in “the wrong hands”.

Speaking exclusively to The Tribune at the time, Mr Henfield said he had to “ring the alarm”.

Further, the activist said while he was aware of the length of time it would take the seismic but necessary changes to show results, the road to that change needed to be initiated now.

Mr Henfield urged the implementation of term limits for the post of prime minister and the immediate removal of the Crown land portfolio from the nation’s leader.

Moreover, Mr Henfield recommended that the Bahamas should consider moving away from a democratic parliamentary style of governance to a republic, enabling a more shared level of power between the judiciary, legislative and executive branches of government.

Hoping that he could get several of these proposals reviewed for legislative consideration, We March Bahamas organisers issued a list of 23 non-partisan demands to Prime Minister Perry Christie and several of his Cabinet ministers on November 9, and again on November 22.

As the protest gained traction on social media, Mr Christie wrote to the organisers at what some called the eleventh hour.

In a statement, Mr Christie stressed that he was “painfully aware” that the coun-

try had suffered tremendous setbacks, but said help and relief were on the way.

He extended an invitation to meet with protest organisers, however that request was rebuffed.

‘Power of the people’ The massive movement saw at least a thousand protesters march from Arawak Cay to Rawson Square on November 25, with chants of “the power of the people is better than the people in power” tempered with the occasional singing of the national anthem.

“I am scared of crime here. I live in a gated community and I’m still scared to live there. I love fishing and I’m scared the Chinese will come in our waters and take all the fish away and we’ll have nothing,” stated Dylan Lightbourne, a university student and prospective first-time voter interviewed by The Tribune on the protest route.

“I don’t know much about politics but whatever they’re playing around with as their personal game, it’s not for the interest of the Bahamian people,” said Artis Miller, a senior citizen who endured the trek from the Western Esplanade to Rawson Square.

“Anybody can sign a deal now on behalf of the government and the prime minister is the leader. I don’t know but don’t give a **** about it. (Millions) went missing from Road Traffic and nobody has been prosecuted for it. And this is who you want running the country?” Mr Miller asked.

“I feel for the nation.

We’re in a dilemma. There has to be some accountability of some nature because as I see it everybody could

do as they feel and get away with it,” said protestor Eli Major.

“I’m afraid for the youngsters. The cost of living is over the youngsters’ head.

They can’t afford to purchase a piece of property in this town that is less than $60,000 today and your annual salary is less than $30,000?”

Some estimate that as many as 1,500 people took part in the protest with a smaller number of that group occupying Rawson Square for a period of 12 hours.

Pushback In the days that followed the protest, a war of words erupted over the actions taken specifically by Mr Henfield in the lead up to the historic protest, with some Cabinet ministers calling his refusal to meet with Mr Christie arrogant and disappointing.

Most notably, Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller slammed the activist for allowing the success of the march to inflate his ego, a claim Mr Henfield later rejected.

Mr Miller became so frustrated with the Our Carmichael founder, he dared the community activist to run as an independent candidate in the next general election, adding that he would pay the activist $1,000 for every vote beyond 200 he receives if he runs in the 2017 general election.

Mr Miller said Mr Henfield saw himself above the “democratically elected Parliament.”

He went on to blast the activist, calling him a “lost fool” who was out of his depth and needed to “wake the hell up”.

Mr Miller gave a directive to Mr Henfield: “Step up or shut up.”

Later brushing off the challenge, Mr Henfield told The Tribune he had no time to “squabble with a potcake”.

He criticised “career poli-

ticians” whom he said made an effort to drag down progressive Bahamians in hope of deflecting national attention away from the status of development in the country.

“They want you to get down and fight in the mud with them when you offer up national advice. I would be idiotic to argue back and forth with Mr Miller.

I am here, working from the community and I will not relent until we have the best possible government in place.

“They put their egos above people. I will not make that mistake and I am not running in any election.

I am not interested in his ego trip.”

In early December, We March Bahamas organisers in an attempt increase pressure on the government threatened to initiate a national strike if the prime minister skirted calls for a national address or declined to follow-up on protest demands.

However, National Congress of Trade Unions Bahamas (NCTUB) – one of the country’s foremost labour unions - newly elected President Bernard Evans later told The Tribune the union would not take part in any “national strike” instigated by organisers of We March Bahamas.

As a result, Mr Henfield was later forced to backtrack from his initial national strike comments and insist that he didn’t hold the power to “shut the country down” and that there was no national strike planned.

The ordeal showed the first crack in the We March Bahamas machinery. Mr Henfield later admitted in interviews that the struggle associated with the movement had started to take a toll on him.

He then advised the media that he would take a step back from the forefront of the movement, allowing other prominent supporters to step forward into the national spotlight.

In recent weeks, the We March Bahamas initiative launched the second phase of its national protest action - a series of think tank forums aimed at converting the support gathered through November’s march and occupation of Rawson Square into “tangible solutions”.

The “think tank” action plan, still ongoing, looks to structure ideas and concepts offered up by participants into legislative documents, which will ultimately be presented to the country’s legislature for consideration.

Shortly after its “Black Friday” march, the group announced plans for a second protest on January 9, the date the Majority Rule holiday was to be observed. The group had new demands that Parliament dissolve immediately and move the country into an earlier than expected election cycle.

However, in what was seen by some as a move from the government to stall the movement, the Cabinet Office recently announced a change to the observance date of holiday, moving it from Monday, January 9, to Tuesday January 10, the actual date of Majority Rule.

This action spurred the re-emergence of Mr Henfield who reassured the public that no matter what efforts the government attempted undertake, neither he nor the movement would relent.

The protest date was adjusted to reflect the change in the holiday.

“We will march whenever the holiday is and won’t be ignored,” Mr Henfield told The Tribune recently. “This time, there will be thousands more of us and we will march with the people’s platform on hand and will present the way forward for a united and prosperous country, in which we won’t be treated this way by another administration - ever again.”

YEAR IN REVIEW 2016

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, December 30, 2016, PAGE 11

The continued plague of crime

8 19 31 42 51 62 62 69 75 85 98 111

Crime warnings High incidents of shootings and armed robberies prompted several international crime warnings this year.

In June, the Canadian government warned its citizens to exercise a “high degree of caution� when travelling to the Bahamas to avoid falling prey to this country’s “high rates of crime.�

The advisory, posted on the Canadian government’s website www.canada.ca, said that while there was no nationwide advisory in effect for the Bahamas, its citizens should “exercise a high degree of caution� due to “high rates of crime, particularly in Nassau.�

A similar warning was given by the Canadian government in 2015.

As a result, Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr Hubert Minnis railed against the government for what he called its failure to impact the country’s crime rate. He said the government’s continued failures were threatening the tourism industry, “the lifeblood of our economy.�

In response, Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe said that all Bahamians should take the blame for the country’s “unacceptable� crime levels, which

Year by year 2010 94 2011 127 2012 111 2013 119 2014 123 2015 146 2016 111

Murders under the PLP since taking office May 7, 2012 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

70 119 123 146 111

Total

569

THE SCENE of the 110th murder of the year yesterda - after a body of a man was found in Yellow Elder near Tom “The Bird� Grant Park.

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and planned to acquire a helicopter for “rapid response� to serious crimes and patrol of hotspots, the commissioner’s 2016 policing plan says.

The RBPF also planned to continue saturation patrols in areas of high crime and extend the use of CCTV to help prevent crime.

The police force never acquired the rapid response helicopter and it is unclear if CCTV was expanded.

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January February March April May June July August September October November December

proached and opened fire.

In late November, a woman was shot dead as she pulled up to her home in the Chippingham area with relatives who had just returned from church when gunmen ambushed the family. She died with her Bible next to her, police said.

Four other persons, including an eight-year-old girl, were left in hospital after two armed men opened fire on their vehicle.

One of the victims, a 15-year-old boy, was chased by the shooters on foot through the area as he tried to alert neighbours about the incident, police said.

And in July, prominent psychiatrist Dr David Allen was the victim of a home invasion after three men armed with guns burst into his house on West Bay Street around 6.30am.

While unveiling his policing plan for 2016 in February, Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade admitted that 2015 was a “very difficult year filled with crime challenges� for the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF).

He said last year was a “terrible and disgraceful� year with the country experiencing record numbers of murders, rapes and armed robberies. Commissioner Greenslade vowed to make 2016 a “safer� year for Bahamians and tourists.

The commissioner said the policing priorities for 2016 would remain the prevention and detection of crime, reducing the fear of crime and removing dangerous weapons, mainly firearms, off the streets.

As part of its crime detection efforts, the RBPF would further develop and properly staff an AntiGang Unit; aggressively target active criminals and monitor prolific offenders;

HIGH LOW

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Month Total

MURDER RATE

ON

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2016 Murder totals month by month

SPOTLIGHT

have sparked repeated visitor advisories.

Mr Wilchcombe said while the tourism economy continues to grow, the repeated advisories issued by other countries because of high levels of crime will eventually impact the success of the tourism market.

He was also adamant that while violent crimes are a challenge, the Bahamas has the lowest levels of criminality against tourists.

One month later, the United States Embassy released a security message urging its citizens and US visitors in Nassau and Paradise Island to exercise heightened personal security awareness, pointing out that armed robberies and violent crime remain primary criminal threats.

The security message was the second advisory issued by the local mission in 2016 and notes that the embassy has received reports of a significant increase in armed robberies throughout New Providence in the preceding six months. The warning came days after the Bahamas government issued its own travel advisory warning Bahamians, particularly young men, to be compliant and exercise extreme caution when interacting with American police due to escalating tensions over recent fatal police shootings in the US. However, embassy spokesperson David Allen insisted at the time that there was no link to the July 8 advisory sent out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He explained that the embassy had recently put its staff and their families on alert due to increasing reports of armed robberies, and as such was legally required to issue a similar message to its citizens.

In late November, the US Embassy issued another warning, this time advising its citizens to avoid the Sand Trap on West Bay Street because of its alleged “ongoing association with known criminal elements.� This came more than a week after a woman was shot dead and two other people were injured at the venue.

Despite the crime warning being released in July, there were no reported murders for that month.

Police Chief Superintendent Clayton Fernander, the officer-in-charge of the Central Detective Unit (CDU), told The Tribune that the lack of murders in July - a rarity given the usual crime trends, was due to “collective teamwork

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By SANCHESKA DORSETT Tribune Staff Reporter sdorsett@tribunemedia.com  ALTHOUGH homicides trended down in 2016 compared to the previous year, killings and other serious crimes continued to be a point of major concern, with many citizens fed up with frequent brazen murders and other senseless crimes.

When The Tribune went to press, the homicide count according to this newspaper’s records stood at 111 for the year, compared to the 146 homicides police recorded in 2015 - the highest ever in the history of the Bahamas. Police recorded 123 homicides in 2014, 119 in 2013, 111 in 2012, 127 in 2011 and 94 in 2010.

Still the year was punctuated by horrific incidents of violence that saw men, women and children injured.

In the middle of September, two men were killed and a child was shot after three gunmen ambushed a group of people standing outside a home off Peardale Street, near Wulff Road around 7.30pm.

The men were standing outside a home and the boy, said to be eight-yearsold, was reportedly walking home from a nearby water pump when they were shot.

In mid-October, a man was murdered and children injured after three gunmen opened fire on the vehicle they were in on Amos Ferguson Street, off Cordeaux Avenue.

On the scene, police said five children were in a white Toyota Corolla with the victim when a black car ap-

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KILLER STATISTIC THA T DAMNS THE GOVERN MENT

UNDER

THE PLP

(A NEW RECORD)

2012

70 MURDERS

By KHRISNA VIRGIL Tribune Staff Repor ter kvirgil@ tribunemedia.net

2013

FREE National Movement (FNM) Leader Hubert Minnis yesterdDr chided the “do nothingay Christie administration � allowing crime to skyrockfor et to a combined 491 killings over the last four years, cording to The Tribunace’s records.

With nearly a year left fore the next genera bel election, Dr Minnis lament the country’s current ed of control� situation “out as reflected on the Progrehe ssive Liberal Party’s (PLP) infamous murder posters , which were erected during the 2012 election season .

The billboards were placed in several popula r locations across New Providence and read “Unde r the FNM government 490-plu s murders�. evidence of a severe However, according failure. “Crime is completely statistics gathered by to out this of control,� Dr Minnis newspaper, murders said. under “They have no this PLP administration control on in crime and this do nearly four years are about government has nothing to surpass the more failed us than on the most basic 490 homicides that issue and place in the five years took that is protecting our citiunder zens. the previous FNM admini s“This do nothing tration. govFrom May 7, 2012 - when ernment has mothers, fathers, sisters, brother the PLP won the election s, families living in fear. and - to December 2012 They there promised jobs and were 70 recorded murder to solve In, 2013, police recordes. crime among other things, d but it was because and 119 murders. In 2014 only 2015, police recorde and because they wanted to win d 123 the election at all and a record 146 murder costs. s “Those murder posters RODNEY MONCUR with FNM respectively.

Secretary General Michael were proof that they Foulkes.

The murder count will for do anythin g to win an elec2016 up to April 3 stands at tion.�

33, according to The He added: “I would une’s records, meanin Tribpreg 491 fer to lose an election homicides have occurre , than under this administration d to lose a country. They prethree years and 11 monthsin fer to lose the country rather than an election.

Dr Minnis claimed this .

By AVA TURNQUEST is SEE PAGE SIX Tribune Chief Repor ter aturnquest@tribuneme dia.net

119 MURDERS

2014

123 MURDERS

2015

146 MURDERS

2016

33 MURDERS

TOTAL

491 MURDERS *SINCE MAY 7, 2012

RODNEY MONCUR IN BID TO

By KHRISNA VIRGIL Tribune Staff Repor ter kvirgil@ tribunemedia.net

GENERAL ELECTION

BE FNM CHAIRMAN

across the board from law enforce- the ment� on a “daily basis,� as public to continue to assist well as officers taking Com- us,� Chief Supt Fernander missioner Greenslade’s said in November. “You know the persons GOVERNMEN T DEFENanMASSIVE CROO 2016 policing plan “to DS KED ISLAND FINANCIAL SERVICE INDUSTRY FRED SMITH FILES LIBEL FIRESout ‘UNDERthere SUIT are commitCONTROL’ who other level.� AFTER ‘DISCONCERTING’ LEAK AGAINST MINISTER MITCHELL ting these crimes.

They are And to cap off the “excellent work� by both po- your brothers and sister lice officers and members and cousins. You know they of the community, Chief are involved in criminal acSupt Fernander said police tivities so please speak to were also “locking up some them. This is our country people� and “getting some and we cannot let a handful of individuals destroy it.� good convictions in court.�

This year also saw several During the budget debate in the House of As- police officers discharged sembly in June, National from the RBPF for various Security Minister Dr Ber- infractions.

In January, a woman nard Nottage said crime Nassau & Baham a Islands’ Leading Newsp aper was down 29 per cent at the police constable was distime compared to the same missed after she was involved in a brawl with sevperiod last year.

The Bain Town & Grants eral of her colleagues at the Town MP stressed that the funeral of a fellow police government will not be sat- officer.

And in May, two other isfied until a much more police officers were also disdramatic reduction in violent crime occurs even as missed from the force and he released statistics that charged before the courts indicate crime is trending where they pleaded guilty to stealing three Samsung downward. phones after responding to a break in at the Bahamas ‘Safe’ place In November, despite re- Telecommunications Comcording three murders and pany (BTC).

In July, two officers were several “serious� shootfired after they were coning incidents in 48 hours, Chief Supt Fernander said victed of stealing nearly the public has “no need to $22,000 from a man during be afraid� and insisted that a traffic stop in Grand Bathe Bahamas is still a “safe� hama.

The men appeared beplace. fore the RBPF’s Court of However, he acknowledged at the time that there Inquiry Tribunal where was a problem with drug they were convicted and discharged dealers starting “turf wars� subsequently from the police force. in communities over unIn September, another resolved conflicts and proofficer was fired after he lific offenders getting bail, which contributes to the allegedly failed a “random drug test� and was seen by crime rate. “No one is above the law, detectives “wearing gang we want to assure members colours at a gang function.�

Commissioner Greenslade of the public that the enis expected to hold his annual tire country is safe. We are out here, we will make this meet the press event and uncountry safe and its citizens veil his crime plan for 2017, in and its tourists. We need January.

THE government yesterd fended its financial service ay deindustry after the country was a popular tax haven in indenti fied as national data leak thata major interthe offshore dealing documented s of the world’s wealthy elite.

Minister of Financ Hope Strachan said the ial Services ing� leak challenged “disconcertthe validity of international work and financial centres, but maintained that the local industry was a compli ant jurisdiction.

Mrs Strachan said will closely monitor her ministry the investigation as it was still too early to determine if the data leaks that have been SEE PAGE THREE

only candidates.

Speaking to The Tribun e moments after officially offerin g himself to contest the FORM ER Democratic National Al- FNM post, Mr Moncur criticised the liance (DNA) candid and the govern ate for Bain Town Liberal Party (PLP), ing Progressive and Grants Town Rodney Moncur saying neither organisation had present believes he is the best ed adequate National Movement choice for Free strategies to prevent crime or pin down (FNM) chairman issues because the party lacks “a fighting ma- derers within the law that prevent murchinery� and needs from being executed. more people who “connect� to grassro Last night, the party ots Bahamians. release d a statement announcing that The nomination process the FNM for a new pleased FNM chairman ended to announce that nomine was es for Mr Moncur and former yesterday, with the position of chairm an included only cal Government SidneyMinister of LoCollie as the SEE PAGE SIX

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Repor ter rwells@ tribunemedia.net

THE four massive edly burning in Crookefires reportwell over a week have d Island for pressed but not fully now been reaccording to Crooke extinguished, d Island and Long Cay Administrator Francita Neely.

Addressing concerns over the potential loss of proper escalation of the fires, ty and the Mrs Neely said yesterday efforts by residents in recent days have yielded positive results.

She told reporters on the island, along that officials with ers from the Royal Baham firefightForce, were able to controlas Police the four separate blazes that were threatening communities on the island.

Residents in Major’s Cay, Colonel SEE PAGE 10

By LAMECH JOHNS ON Tribune Staff Repor ter ljohnson@tribunemedi a.net

A QUEEN’S counse suit for libel against l filed a civil Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitche ll yesterday over the latter’s statement on a pending judicial review that implied that the high-profile lawyer was dishonest and a liar.

In a writ filed in Court by Fred Smith the Supreme - who is seeking $3 million aggrava ted, exemplary and punitive damages is accused of libel by - Mr Mitchell tarnishing the reputation of Mr Smith as a result of a statement given by minister for publication the cabinet ruary 15 edition of The in the FebTribune.

Mr Mitchell at the time had dismissed Mr Smith’s fears that the Immigration Depart ment’s actions would spark a second homeowners SEE PAGE SIX

Grand Bahama hit with setbacks in 2016

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama is again facing significant economic setbacks.

More than two months after Hurricane Matthew, over 1,000 hotel rooms are still out of commission on the Lucaya strip, and the island’s only casino has closed.

Tourist arrivals by air and sea are at an all time low. Whatever progress had been achieved in the past 12 years in the tourism sector was wiped away on October 6 when Matthew pummeled the island.

The 528-room Breaker’s Cay Hotel at the Grand Lucayan Resort and the 500room Memories Resort in Lucaya are closed due to extensive hurricane damage, and there is no definite date of when the resorts will reopen.

Although the Grand Lucayan’s 190-room Lighthouse Point resort has reopened, it is a much smaller property and hundreds of hotel workers remain unemployed.

On December 4, the Treasure Bay Casino called it quits and closed its doors, leaving 150 out of work.

Business is slow at the Port Lucaya Marketplace for many shops and stores, which rely on guests from the hotels.

The island’s economy experienced a similar setback in 2004 when the Royal

SPOTLIGHT

GRAND BAHAMA

Oasis Resort and Casino property in Freeport closed because of extensive damage caused by Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne.

At the time, 1,000 hotel rooms and 1,500 hotel and casino jobs were lost. The nearby International Bazaar was also severely impacted by the closure, and has not been able to recover since.

Although the island had not fully recovered from the 2004 storms, it had come a long way by 2016.

In January, total arrivals were up at 71,969, an increase of 5.6 per cent over January 2015, according to the Ministry of Tourism’s January 2016 preliminary figures.

At the time, sea arrivals were up 10.5 per cent at 61,358, and air arrivals were slightly down at 10,611, compared to 12,636 in January 2015.

In October of this year, the island suffered a major decline in total arrivals, which were down to 12,348, an 82 per cent drop compared to the 69,073 arrivals in October 2015.

A US travel advisory and warning had been issued on October 19, warning US citizens of conditions in The

ON

Bahamas post-Matthew.

On the positive side, Sunwing resumed service to the island from Canada on December 17. Guests are being accommodated at the allinclusive Viva Wyndham Fortuna Beach Resort.

The airline, which began services to Grand Bahama in 2014, operated direct weekly air services to the island from six cities across Canada, from Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Edmonton, along with year round flights from Toronto.

In 2015, Sunwing commenced services from several US cities, including Houston, TX; Baltimore, MD; Cincinnati and Columbus, OH; Nashville, TN: Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, PA. The Sunwing Travel Group is the operator of the Memories Resort. The hotel - which provided employment for some 800 Bahamians - had expected to reopen by mid December; however, repairs have not yet started at that property.

Setback Peter Turnquest, a Grand Bahama businessman and member of Parliament for East Grand Bahama, has said that the island would

now likely have to endure a recovery period similar to the one it went through following Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004, two back-to-back storms that left the island “on its knees.� “Commerce in Grand Bahama has suffered a significant setback,� he told Tribune Business recently. “It will be awhile before we get back into the swing of things and contribute to the economy.�

Mr Turnquest said the island has suffered “a significant blow to the economy.� “If we can’t get the hotels up and running quickly that becomes an issue. Getting the properties back on line, and people back to work, that’s the most important thing here, so they can generate income and rebuild.�

In August, the government passed legislation – the Grand Bahama Investment Incentive Bill 2016 – to reinvigorate the economy by extending tax concessions granted under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement 1955, such as real property tax, real property levy, personal property tax, capital levies on taxes on captioned gains or capital appreciation and a zero tax regime in respect of the earnings of the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s licensees.

Minister for Grand Bahama Dr Michael Darville had said that the passing of the legislation paved the way for an injection of half

a billion dollars into the economy of Grand Bahama over the next decade.

As a result of the bill’s passage, Hutchison Whampoa is now proceeding with a $280m expansion of the Freeport Container Port.

The bill also allows the lifting of the exclusivity for the ports of entry creating opportunity for the creation of a new $250m cruise port in East Grand Bahama.

Grand Bahama’s industrial sector was not unscathed. The Freeport Container Port – one of the largest employers on the island - was also significantly impacted by the storm.

The company sustained tremendous damage to equipment, which has resulted in a 70 per cent loss in container business. During a recent downsize exercise, 20 workers were laid off and voluntary separation packages have been offered.

Several capital works projects that had commenced on the island before the storm have also been delayed, including new the fire station on Settler’s Way, new seawall at Smith’s Point, the new bridge causeway at Fishing Hole Road, and a construction of new primary school in Holmes Rock.

In March, Dr Darville had reported that over 180 new businesses were open, 30 of which were a direct result of government’s duty-free concessions in East and West Grand Bahama.

He reported that the businesses created approximately 200 new jobs, and injected over $74m into the local economy.

It not known how many of those businesses have survived post Matthew.

In November, 30 new jobs were created when NewCo, the country’s second cellular services provider, opened its national service call centre located in Freeport, Grand Bahama. The new mobile service provider has installed 22 cell sites in Grand Bahama, and is moving to install more sites in East and West Grand Bahama.

Despite the island’s setbacks, particularly in the tourism sector, one hotelier is optimistic about tourism on Grand Bahama.

Grand Bahama Island Tourism Board Chairman Russell Miller, owner of Castaways Resort, has said that there is great opportunity to rebuild, improve and enhance the island’s tourist product.

He said that tourism stakeholders are busy meeting and discussing plans to relaunch the island. “We are in discussion with the Ministry of Tourism to have a relaunch of Grand Bahama early next year when all the products are back in place, and up and running so we can get the message out that Grand Bahama is open for business and we welcome visitors to come back to our shores,� he said recently.

PAGE 12 , Friday, December 30, 2016 YEAR IN REVIEW 2016

THE TRIBUNE

The Bahamas votes NO

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

MORE than a decade after voters rejected the 2002 constitutional referendum, the Christie administration brought a similar vote to the electorate only to see it fail.

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) strongly opposed the 2002 referendum, which dealt with gender equality among other issues, while it was in opposition. Now in office for a second, non-consecutive term, the Christie administration sought to give women and men equal rights under the Constitution.

After numerous delays and accusations of a lack of public education and discourse on the matter, the vote was held in June - however all four questions were soundly rejected.

Some saw it as a referendum on the government, others feel the vote failed because the issue had been dwarfed by concerns about bill four and fears it could open the door to gay marriage.

During the summer of 2014, Prime Minister Perry Christie tabled the four Constitutional Amendment Bills in the House of Assembly, which had to be passed by three-quarters of support in both houses of Parliament for a referendum to be held.

The first bill would have enabled a child born outside The Bahamas to a Bahamian woman and a nonBahamian father to have automatic Bahamian citizenship at birth.

The second bill would have allowed a Bahamian woman who married a foreign man to secure for him the same access to Bahamian citizenship that a Bahamian man has always enjoyed under the Constitution in relation to his foreign wife.

The third bill sought to remedy the one area of the Bahamas’ Constitution that discriminates against men based on gender. Presently, an unmarried Bahamian father cannot pass his citizenship to a child born to a foreign woman.

The bill would have given an unwed Bahamian father the same right to pass citizenship to his child that a Bahamian woman has al-

SPOTLIGHT

ON

EQUALITY REFERENDUM

ways had under the Constitution in relation to a child born to her out of wedlock, provided proof of paternity.

There was concern in some quarters that bill four, which sought to end discrimination based on sex, could pave the way for gay marriage. The government had repeatedly said this concern was unwarranted.

In February of this year, Fort Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins predicted that the gender equality referendum would become “a victim of the extreme unpopularity” of the Christie administration and that he fully expected it to fail.

Stating that he has always held the view that women’s rights are human rights and that women ought to be treated as equal to men under the law, Dr Rollins said the push for gender equality was being used as a political tool by the PLP because of the looming general election.

He suggested that the government delay the vote until after the 2017 election, with a promise from all political parties that the referendum would be held within 90 days of the next election.

However, a month prior to the suggestion by Dr Rollins, Chief Justice Sir Hartman Longley urged at the opening of the new legal year that equal rights for Bahamian women should not be delayed, saying this would be unfair.

“As I listen to the public discourse on the issues, I think it is unfair, for the reasons being given, that Bahamian women and those who support them are finding opposition to legislation which is primarily intended to level the playing field and correct an historical anomaly,” the chief justice added.

“I say it is unfair because it appears that Bahamian women and those who support them are being asked, in some cases, by their opponents to either guarantee or prove beyond reasonable doubt that the proposed constitutional changes would not lead to the recognition or validation of

same sex marriages before they support the bills. No one can give that assurance or guarantee. Anyone who has traversed constitutional law would know that the legal landscape is littered with examples of language in a constitution when construed broadly and purposively as constitutions are construed, leading to unintended consequences becoming the law, although it may not necessarily lead to them.”

‘Hidden agenda’ As the referendum approached, much of the discourse shifted to fears of a “hidden agenda” being pushed by the government in support of gay marriage.

These fears may have been inadvertently heightened when, less than five weeks prior to the June 7 referendum, the group Bahamas Transgender Intersex United (BTIU) made its debut at a press conference calling for equal rights for transgender Bahamians.

The group was accused of attempting to hijack the gender equality vote even though they stated that their call for rights and the referendum were two entirely separate matters.

This prompted Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller to forcefully denounce the growing transgender community in this country while urging people to financially contribute to having this sect of society exiled to their own private island to ensure “they stay out of the way” of generations of Bahamians who were depending on the success of the June 7 referendum.

A surprising detractor of the referendum was former Court of Appeal President Dame Joan Sawyer. She claimed that the Christie administration was using the vote as a “ruse” to implement lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in order to conform to international human rights policies.

In a speech at a Bahamas Bar Association forum this year, Dame Joan suggested that the government’s ag-

NO Campaign supporters at Grace Community Church during the referendum live broadcast. wholeheartedly as a man turn of events later in the with three sisters. I strongly year, Mrs Butler-Turner was believe that they should be part of a move to oust Dr equal in every way to me as Minnis as leader of the Ofcitizens of this country,” Mr ficial Opposition, and was Mortimer said this year. voted by the majority of the “I also believe in having FNM’s MPs to replace him. a forum for criticisms and In mid-December, she opposing viewpoints but appointed controversial the tone that has been set talk show host Rodney at times has been really dis- Moncur and Democratic couraging with the open sex- National Alliance Leader ism, xenophobia and homo- Branville McCartney to the phobia that has allowed Senate. to enter the conversation Mr Moncur, a justice of through the radio waves and the peace, was a vocal opsocial media has exposed a ponent of the referendum, side to our country that is calling the exercise “witchcompletely heartbreaking. craft” and erecting a billHistory has taught us that board outside his office nothing good comes out of urging people to vote ‘no’ to fear and those who engage all four questions. Mr Mcin fear-mongering lead us to Cartney initially expressed a path of destruction.” objection to the fourth referendum bill before later Rejection withdrawing support for the On June 7, more than entire process.

60 percent of voters overMrs Butler-Turner had whelmingly rejected the openly campaigned for the four bills just as had been referendum to pass. done in the 2002 constituReacting to criticism over tional referendum which her appointment of Mr saw 66 percent of 87,961 Moncur, Mrs Butler-Turner voters reject the removal told reporters that Senaof gender discrimination, tor Moncur was among the among other issues, from “best” this country had to the constitution. offer as she defended her While Prime Minister appointment of the comChristie refused to resign munity activist. over the second failed refShe insisted that she reerendum under his term, spected him for publicly Long Island MP Loretta stating his contentious poButler-Turner, in June, told sitions when others were this newspaper that Free not bold enough to do so National Movement (FNM) and said it was “reprehensiLeader Dr Hubert Minnis ble” and “frightening” that should accept some respon- there were those on her side sibility for the referendum’s who secretly campaigned failure. against these issues she and However in a stunning Mr Moncur differed on.

gressive support for the YES Bahamas campaign was a push to ensure that all Bahamians are “in step” with LGBT rights as prescribed by the United Nations.

According Dame Joan, the four referendum bills were being presented in a certain manner to dupe voters. She claimed that matters of citizenship that were contained in the first three bills were being masqueraded as the crux of the vote as a way to misguide voters away from the intentions of bill four.

She stressed that the government could make the necessary changes proposed by the referendum without a public vote.

A few pastors from the group Save Our Bahamas were also instrumental in stoking fires against the referendum, hosting town hall meetings urging people to vote no against bill four in particular. However some pastors who attended the meetings calls for a no vote across the board.

Still there were some who supported the vote.

Among them was Kareem Mortimer, an award winning filmmaker, who gave his full support for all four referendum bills and expressed concern for the country’s future and its international reputation should the bills fail to pass due to confusion and bigotry towards some sects in society.

“I support all four bills

A change of management, but blackouts continue

By SANCHESKA DORSETT Tribune Staff Reporter sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE American company PowerSecure taking over the generation, distribution and transmission of electricity at the former Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC), the electricity supplier continued to be plagued with multiple island-wide blackouts this year.

And though government officials have said the cost of electricity has dropped since May 2012, many consumers do not feel as though BEC’s transition to Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) has brought them lower power bills.

In May, the government announced it had selected PowerSecure International as the new management company for BEC, giving it a fiveyear contract to oversee generation and transmission/distribution.

Two months later, in July, the government signed a transition services agreement with PowerSecure for management of the utility provider.

At the time Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said the agreement was “another important step forward towards reducing the cost of electricity and increasing the reliability of power in the Bahamas.”

The government also paid PowerSecure nearly $1million to develop a plan to lower electricity costs, increase energy security and reliability, and increase competitiveness as a country.

BEC was then changed to BPL and a new board

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BLACKOUTS AND BPL

of directors was appointed.

Former BEC Executive Chairman Leslie Miller reprimanded the Christie administration for surrendering the day-to-day management of BPL to PowerSecure, insisting that the move could hurt the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) in the next general election.

Less than one month after officially taking over management of the entity, BPL CEO Pamela Hill wrote to the government requesting a rate increase. The proposed increase to the ‘base rate’ portion of customers’ BPL bills, which is supposed to cover its operating expenses, and generate cash flow and profit, was said to be intended to finance investment in equipment and infrastructure upgrades exactly what is required to deal with the frequent outages and ‘blackouts’.

The government rejected the proposed rate increase.

BPL’s transmission problems began in June when the entity began intermittent load shedding. At the time, Ms Hill said a lack of proper maintenance as well as extreme heat was putting immense pressure on BPL’s aging generators.

She acknowledged that power cuts this year had been more frequent than last year, but said BPL was looking to bring in additional rental generators to help with reliability.

The island was plunged into darkness two days after the company began load shedding. At that time, the island-wide outage was blamed on a cable fault.

The outage caused several government offices to close for the day, including the Passport Office and the Road Traffic Department and also caused some banks to temporally suspend their services.

The Tribune also received reports that several planes were stuck on the tarmac unable to take off and planes were also circling the Lynden Pindling International Airport unable to land because of power issues at the Airport Control Tower.

Prime Minister Perry Christie later admitted that the management of BPL failed to adequately anticipate the challenge of generating electricity during the summer months and prepare for it. However, Mr Christie did not secondguess his government’s decision to hire PowerSecure to manage BPL. The first set of rental generators arrived in August, however Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEWU) President Paul Maynard said at the time that the site for the engines had not been prepared and the generators would “probably not be installed for another couple weeks.”

In September, after a summer plagued with

blackouts, BPL promised the rental generators would be in place in the coming days, hopefully bringing an end to frequent power outages in New Providence.

BPL did not reveal how much the company paid for the rental equipment.

Between October 5-7, Hurricane Matthew devastated parts of the Bahamas and BPL warned that it could “days or even longer” before power is restored to all BPL customers.

Many complained about the drawn out time it took BPL to restore power to residents in the capital city and hit out at the utility provider for not moving faster.

On October 26, Ms Hill said that electricity was restored to approximately 98 per cent of customers in New Providence, with the help of local contractors, CARILEC teams, and PowerSecure and the Family Islands were completely restored.

After the storm, BPL also temporarily suspended disconnections on overdue accounts in an effort to provide relief to customers, according to Corporate Communications Manager Arnette Ingraham.

Mrs Ingraham told The Tribune earlier this year that BPL had extended the payment deadline for this billing cycle to give customers “more time to pay.”

However, in November, BPL resumed disconnections of past due accounts but Mrs Ingraham said the company was only “disconnecting accounts with outstanding balances prior to Hurricane Matthew”.

She said customers with an overdue balance from August’s billing period or prior “are subject to our

usual disconnection practice”.

Customers began complaining of “price hikes” in their electricity bills in November, with some persons claiming their bills doubled, despite frequent power cuts.

Mr Miller accused BPL of “increasing customers’ light bills” to pay “millions of dollars” to foreigners who came to help restore power after Hurricane Matthew.

In a press statement, the power provider claimed there was no rate increase but said the company estimated the October bill because employees were working to restore electricity service to customers post Hurricane Matthew and therefore the November bill “the actual meter reading of the account.”

However, customers were not buying the explanation.

Margot Nairn, a 15year resident of Millennium Gardens, questioned whether BPL had been using someone else’s billing history to calculate her household’s usage.

“I really am outraged,” she said, “15 years in my house and I’ve never seen this kind of bill. My bill is usually between $200 and $300 per month give or take. But my last bill was $550. I’m not able to make sense of this at all.”

Asked whether she would query the bill with BPL, Ms Nairn said she intends to do so, but she doesn’t have much hope that anything will be done.

Despite the use of rental generators, the island experienced another blackout in early November.

BPL blamed the outage on generator challenges at the Clifton Plant. The outage

prompted Ms Hill to ask the public for “patience” as the utility provider begins “much needed” upgrades and “investments” in its system.

Ms Hill said she knows it has been “extremely frustrating” for customers having to endure frequent power outages and blackouts but she said during the next four to six months, customers can expect to see significant changes in the system that will lead to reliability, especially during the summer months.

She said BPL will focus most of its efforts on upgrades and repairs at the Clifton Pier Plant to ensure that Summer 2017 will be much better than this past summer - which was plagued with power outages.

Ms Hill remained tight lipped on how the cash strapped company will pay for the upgrades but she said it will cost around “10 per cent or so of the total value of investment we already have in our fleet.”

“Over the coming few months, you can expect to see additional investment in the system, so we will be strengthening those cables, underground cables, overheard lines, transmission and distribution systems and certainly our plant at Clifton, in both generation and training,” she said.

Despite its challenges, Mr Davis recently said he has “no regrets” handing over the day-to-day operations of the utility provider to PowerSecure.

Mr Davis told The Tribune he thinks BPL is “meeting its mandate” and blamed the constant power outages on “aged machines.”

YEAR IN REVIEW 2016

THE TRIBUNE

BAHA Mar pictured earlier this year during a tour by Prime Minister Perry Christie.

Friday, December 30, 2016, PAGE 13

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

Baha Mar: A Tale of Two Visions

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

BORN out of one administration and redefined by another, the beleaguered $3.5bn Baha Mar project has been tethered to the country’s economic outlook - and the aspirations of its political leaders, for nearly a decade.

The troublesome project ballooned from an ambitious $1.2bn venture, to a formidable $2.6bn horse race, finally reaching its current manifestation as a $3.5bn behemoth that has radically tested public confidence in both foreign direct investment and the government. Further still, the belaboured process has amplified intolerant and xenophobic attitudes toward foreign workers as opportunistic political hopefuls capitalise on the misguided frustrations of a job-hungry electorate.

As a guest on a local radio talk show in December, Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader Branville McCartney encouraged voters to work together regardless of political affiliation to unseat the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), if they did not want Mandarin to become the country’s primary language.

Mr McCartney was not the first to prey on the state-acknowledged bigotry that has bizarrely conflated itself with increased calls for transparency and accountability in governance, the FNM has intimated for much of this term that the Christie administration was actively subjugating Bahamian interests to that of China’s for personal gain.

But would China have left such an acrimonious taste in the mouths of Bahamians had the project leapt off the drawing board and into full occupancy when and as it was originally envi-

SPOTLIGHT

BAHA MAR

sioned, when the first heads of agreement was signed between the government and joint-venture partners Baha Mar Resorts (developer Sarkis Izmirlian) and Harrah’s Entertainment in 2005? Harrah’s was a 43 per cent partner in the joint venture.

Under the terms of the 2005 agreement, Baha Mar was given 18 months to produce satisfactory evidence that it was able to invest $400m of its own resources into the project; that it had secured financing; that it had obtained commitment of the involvement of a world-class hotel and casino operator; and to prepare and deliver detailed plans a specifications of the project along with a starting date.

Missed targets However Baha Mar would not meet those targets by October 2006, and instead returned to the government in early 2007 with plans to expand the project and take total investment from $1 billion to $2.6 billion. With that increase, also came requests for increased concessions to the tune of $255.6m.

On a radio talk show, former PLP Cabinet minister Vincent Peet said it was Harrah’s that pushed for the doubling of the investment when it entered into the JV with Baha Mar. Mr Peet was minister of financial services and investment, and was very close to the early negotiations.

According to documents tabled in Parliament by then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, the Christie administration was

ON

still working to finalise an agreement days before the 2007 general election. Mr Ingraham told parliamentarians in March 2008 that while he was confident that Harrah’s would be able to foot its part of the hefty bill, he was still skeptical of Baha Mar’s ability to secure financing. He underscored that Harrah’s had no legally binding commitment to the Bahamas, noting that all of their agreements were with Baha Mar. As he moved a resolution in March of that year to authorise the treasurer to transfer certain lands and buildings on West Bay Street to Baha Mar Resorts Ltd, Mr Ingraham said that it appeared that operators were constantly moving the goal post for the proposed development. The land transfer was conditional upon Baha Mar meeting its benchmarks within a year’s time, March 2009.

Mr Ingraham noted that notwithstanding the outgoing Christie administration’s “public pontification and pronouncements,” the former administration was very concerned about the developer’s financial capability to undertake the project.

He tabled a letter dated February 20, 2007 from Sir Baltron Bethel, former lead negotiator for the government, to developer Sarkis Izmirlian, in which Sir Baltron said the government had not received satisfactory evidence that Baha Mar had obtained “adequate” financing for the project.

Then Minister of Education Carl Bethel, tabled a letter dated January 25, 2006 from Mr Izmirlian to the government, stating

that the Christie administration had not kept all of its promises. Mr Izmirlian insisted that he would have to inform partner Harrah’s and hotel brand Starwood that the Bahamas government had failed him, if the master plan for the project, and supplemental heads of agreement, were not finalized.

“The reality is,” Mr Ingraham said, “that it is questionable as to why the government of the Bahamas, after having entered into the first generous deal with Baha Mar, would entertain them coming back to say they are going to double their investment without first of all satisfying itself as to why they didn’t do the first deal.”

“In total, Baha Mar came back and asked the government for $255.6m in cash in order for them to carry out its $2.6 billion project.”

At this time, Baha Mar’s planned opening was pegged for late 2011.

Mr Ingraham continued: “There is a high expectation by the Bahamian public and the members here about the Baha Mar project and it is our hope that it would come about. But I do not want to oversell hope. We will do all we can to facilitate it, but I do not want to oversell it.”

In response to the tabling, Perry Christie, then leader of the Official Opposition, and his opposition members criticised the selective release of correspondence between the developer and the government.

“My government tried to create a good feeling factor in the country where investors would see that this is a place where government changes do not affect the economy of The Bahamas,” Mr Christie said at the time.

“The Ingraham administration has an obligation to ensure that that is right. We are not heading in the right direction when you start taking papers out of com-

munications and files to the prime minister and putting them in the newspaper.

“You are embarrassing investors. Because you see, in a democracy, my side will win again. And if you suddenly position investors to be anti one side, then that permeates downwards, and that is what we tried to avoid.

“Confidentiality must be protected at all times,” Mr Christie added.

The announcement of Harrah’s withdrawal from the deal, which came one day after the tabling of those documents, emboldened his point.

However for its part, Harrah’s said it terminated its involvement because it had lost confidence in the ability of the joint venture to complete the project as it was initially envisaged.

Harrah’s departure has been widely considered the first major blow to the project, and the country’s investor confidence ratings.

Harrah’s stated: “Unfortunately, it has taken Baha Mar Development Company longer to organise the project than anticipated, and circumstances have changed such that it is simply not prudent to move forward.

“We do not have confidence that the proposed joint venture could successfully complete the project as originally contemplated, and accordingly we believe it could prove harmful for all to move forward.”

While Harrah’s was quick to clarify that Mr Ingraham’s commitment to the project and its economic potential was sound, the abrupt turnaround came just one month after its vice-chairman, Charles Attwood, approved the terms of the projects supplemental heads of agreement with the government. Some have pointed out that the multibillion dollar company changed ownership days after that deal was signed, and

it had likely tipped stacked scales with warning signs of a global recession looming.

Mr Izmirlian would not seal a deal with China Export Import Bank for project financing, with China Construction America as the general contractor, until 2010.

But that ill-fated marriage soured and ultimately descended into a public spectacle that pit the government between the China state-owned bank and construction firm, which was rapidly working to secure its own in-country projects, and the developer.

The Ingraham administration was voted out of office in 2012, with the sprawling $3.5bm project seemingly poised to become either an economic panacea or a larger-thanlife sized lesson in opportunistic governance.

In the face of repeated construction delays, arguably a critical blow after Mr Izmirlian spent years wrangling all the necessary financing and government approvals, the 2012 Christie-administration declared that the project was “too big to fail.”

Meanwhile, amid resistance from all stakeholders to assume accountability, the property tumbled into insolvency and Mr Izmirlian was shut out from the negotiating table.

As pundits, both at home and abroad, observed the property’s sale to a Bahamian subsidiary of Hong Kong-based conglomerate Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) in December 2016 - and with it the renewed promise of remobilisation some attest that the current manifestation is no more than the sum of its parts.

As the country shoulders its economic burdens into the New Year, it remains to be seen whether the megaresort’s storied opening will be a victory for the country, or a veiled, long-winded concession.

Rise in phobia over Chinese involvement

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THIS year, the phobia over China’s influence in the Bahamian economy seemed to reach a crescendo.

The Nassau Guardian reported in November that the government gave the green light to its embassy in China to pursue a possible agriculture and fisheries partnership with the Chinese that would purportedly pump $2.1 billion into the Bahamian economy over 10 years.

The proposal would involve incorporating 100 Bahamian companies with each one to be owned 50-50

by China and Bahamians.

Pushback to reports of the proposal was fierce

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CHINESE INFLUENCE

from the government.

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister V Alfred Gray said in a statement that the report was false, but a subsequent letter published by the Nassau Guardian proved that he indeed gave the Bahamian embassy in China the go ahead to pursue talks over the proposal.

The Free National Movement (FNM) eventually called on Mr Gray to rescind the authorisation he gave to Bahamas Ambassador to China Paul “Andy” Gomez to have talks on the

proposal.

“Gray approved and authorised negotiations to give away the rights to fish our waters to the Chinese,” Sidney Collie, FNM chairman, said to the press.

“So why would we need Chinese experts to tell Bahamians how to fish? We have been fishing these waters for decades.”

“It doesn’t take much work to understand the Chinese have been irresponsible fishermen destroying ecosystems round the world with their fishing

practices,” he added.

In the House of Assembly in late November, Prime Minister Perry Christie said that if such a plan came before Cabinet, it would be “rejected outright.”

“We are fundamentally opposed to foreign fishermen in Bahamian waters and that is why Bahamian fishermen today are saying this is the best year they have had in many a year because of the defence force being able to protect our waters,” Mr Christie said.

“We are not going to compromise and no discussion will lead to a conclusion that this government would have contemplated or agreed for that to happen.”

“But a minister in association with anyone could explore opportunities of

The Bahamas, but he has to bring that as a proposal to his colleagues who have to make a determination as to whether they will agree.”

“The government of The Bahamas did not agree to any such proposition, did not consider any such proposition, it did not come before the government as a proposal and it would not have reached the government because it would have rejected outright.”

“We do not do that in The Bahamas; we do not do it.”

“The government of The Bahamas has worked out no arrangement with the Chinese government, Chinese companies, in furtherance of any memorandum or exchange of memoranda between the minister of agriculture,” Mr Christie stressed.

“Specifically, the government of The Bahamas has never been put in a position to give consideration to any agreement and as far as the record would reflect, the only memorandum of understanding signed by the Chinese government and the Bahamian government was done by the Free National Movement.”

Nonetheless, a ‘Black Friday’ protest took place in November over many issues, including concern over the purported Chinese proposal and Chinese investments in general.

Concern over the issue of Chinese influence and investment has no doubt put another blight on the Christie administration and will no doubt factor into some voters’ minds come Election Day in 2017.

PAGE 14 , Friday, December 30, 2016 YEAR IN REVIEW 2016

THE TRIBUNE

Legal battle that led to right to privacy debate

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net THE conclusion of a yearlong investigation into allegations that Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard contracted two men to harass, intimidate, cause physical harm and property damage to four directors of the Save The Bays (STB) organisation and several others became the start of a legal battle in 2016 which saw a pivotal moment in history regarding the judiciary’s protection of a citizen’s constitutional right to privacy.

On March 9, hedge fund billionaire Louis Bacon, lawyer Fred Smith, QC, Save The Bays directors Joseph Darville and Romauld Ferreira, and Reverend C B Moss, who is not a part of STB, filed a writ in the Supreme Court against Mr Nygard and lawyer Keod Smith alleging that the defendants orchestrated a two-and-a-half-year campaign of fear and violence to allegedly “kill or scare off” activists the designer saw as opponents to development plans for his Lyford Cay property.

The fall out from the court action ensnared politicians from both major parties, prompted a resignation from political office and raised concerns about campaign financing.

The 400 pages of documents and 19 videos detailed the findings of a team of retired FBI and Scotland Yard professionals and Bahamian investigators, who investigated the allegations of Livingston “Toggie” Bullard and Wisler “Bobo” Davilma.

Bullard and Davilma identified themselves as high profile gang members in court documents and alleged that Mr Nygard gave them a “hit list” of people to murder or “send a message” to - with Mr Smith and Mr Bacon topping the list as the “worst of all”. Others on the list included lawyer Pericles Maillis and Tribune Business Editor Neil Hartnell.

Covert video recordings purported to be discussions between Mr Nygard, Bullard and Davilma were also filed along with the court action.

From these videos, one can glean some insight into Mr Nygard’s relationship with Prime Minister Perry Christie and Deputy Prime Minis-

SPOTLIGHT

ON

SAVE THE BAYS ROW

MINISTER of Education Jerome Fitzgerald accused Save the Bays of seeking to ‘overthrow’ the government under the guise of being an environmental group. ter Philip Davis.

In a video recording on May 10, 2015 between Mr Nygard, Bullard and Davilma, the fashion mogul lambasts Mr Christie for making “fake promises” over the issuance of a lease for which he had received authorisation nearly 25 years ago.

Bullard and Davilma also alleged they were sent to Mr Nygard by Mr Davis to protect the billionaire’s local interests as a major campaign backer of the Progressive Liberal Party, according to court documents.

Bullard and Davilma were tracked down with the help of then Free National Movement Senator Michael Pintard and former FNM Senator John Bostwick, who alerted Mr Smith that the men were behind the protests against STB. After his involvement in the investigation came to light, in mid-March Mr Pintard resigned as chairman of the (FNM) and as a senator after criticism that he did not take the allegations to police.

However the FNM was not out of the spotlight. On March 21, FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis admitted to The Tribune that he had met with Bullard three times in 2015, but claimed the two men did not discuss the al-

legations against Mr Nygard.

Dr Minnis told The Tribune that Bullard, his constituent in Killarney, contacted him to pass on a warning to Mr Pintard that he was about to be allegedly “set up” by a high-ranking member of government and others.

“One of the chaps, ‘Toggie’, called me, a constituent, and said to me that Michael Pintard is going to a meeting and (a member of government) going to set him up,” Dr Minnis said earlier this year. “He stopped by me and said the same thing. I called Pintard and told him.”

“His exact words were ‘Pintard is going to a meeting, warn Pintard not to go because (name omitted) and them trying to set him up’.

That would have been the end of it.”

Dr Minnis’ admission prompted criticism from some who wondered why he waited so long to reveal this information, and even caused some in his own party to question if there was more to the story.

Privilege As the controversy over the allegations grew, Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald accused STB of being a political organisation seeking to “overthrow” the Progressive Liberal Party government under the guise of being an environmental group. In the House of Assembly in March, Mr Fitzgerald read private emails from STB members and others, which he said bolstered his claims.

There was concern for the far-reaching implications the MP for Marathon’s action would have for a country that prides itself on being a safe financial haven.

However, later speaking outside Parliament, Mr Fitzgerald warned members of the environmental group to “batten down” because a “category five” hurricane was on its way, as he threatened to table “every single” email and bank statement in his possession if needed to protect his integrity and par-

liamentary privilege.

Additionally, Fred Mitchell claimed in Parliament in March that some $8.25m has been filtered through various organisations connected with STB – locally and internationally - from 2013 to 2015.

The fallout led STB to obtain an injunction from Supreme Court judge Justice Indra Charles in April barring any further action

by Parliament concerning the private emails pending the outcome of constitutional motion on whether parliamentarians can use their privilege to disclose confidential information of private citizens.

The legal action, which was brought

by Save The Bays; Zachary Bacon, the brother of Louis Bacon, a resident of Lyford Cay, Mr Smith and Ferron Bethell, was heard in May and relied on the affidavit of STB’s Communications Director Paco Nunez who detailed the statements of the two MPs as proof that they were in possession of private emails.

Mr Nunez noted that the tabled documents did not disclose “how, or when, or the identity of the person from whom the second respondent obtained the tabled documents.”

Ruling In a landmark ruling on August 2, Justice Charles declared that Mr Fitzgerald was not legally justified when he tabled the private emails of the environmental action group and therefore could not be protected by parliamentary privilege. She ruled that the Marathon MP’s actions were an infringement of the constitutional rights of the applicants and ordered Mr Fitzgerald to pay $150,000 in damages for the breach.

Mr Fitzgerald was permanently banned from disclosure and publication of any further material belonging to STB and was ordered to delete all electronic and hard copy material within 14 days.

Justice Charles said it was unquestionable that a resident’s private and confident correspondence should not be the subject of public discussion and scrutiny, let alone in the House of Assembly.

“The courts are given an exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate in and to supervise breaches of the Constitution by the executive and the legislature,” Justice Charles said.

“Parliament cannot change the scope or divest the court of its ‘original jurisdiction’ by legislation. In addition, it is for the court and not Parliament to decide on the scope and application of parliamentary privilege,” she added.

“As a general rule, the court should not meddle in the internal affairs of Parliament and should leave it to regulate its own internal affairs. The court also recognises that the authority and dignity of Parliament would be seriously compromised if it were to interfere arbitrarily in the internal procedures of Parliament.

“But if a person alleges that his/her constitutional rights have been or are being infringed in order to establish that infringement, the court would be entitled to carry out an inquiry to determine whether there was indeed a breach.

“It is axiomatic that, a man’s private and confidential correspondence, precious to his heart, should not be the subject of public discussion and scrutiny.

The second respondent (Mr Fitzgerald) made unsubstantiated allegations about the first applicant (STB) which he portrayed as a moneylaundering organisation.

“These statements are regrettable since it had nothing

to do with the mid-term budget debates which were ongoing at the time,” the judge stressed.

Justice Charles ruled against STB in its case against Mr Mitchell concerning breach of the group’s constitutional rights, ruling that it had not made out a case in this regard.

A month later, in September, Mr Fitzgerald and Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson filed an appeal of the landmark ruling and fine on the grounds that Justice Charles was “wrong,” and “erred in fact and in law” in her ruling.

There was also a move by the House of Assembly’s Committee on Privilege to probe Justice Charles’ ruling.

However, on November 30, Parliament’s Chief Clerk Maurice Tynes confirmed to The Tribune that the Committee on Privilege has decided to postpone its probe into this matter until the Court of Appeal makes a ruling on Mr Fitzgerald’s appeal.

While it remains to be seen in 2017 whether the Court of Appeal and possibly the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council will uphold the ruling of Justice Charles, it cannot be denied that the judgment was a decisive point in 2016 and Bahamian history regarding the limits of Parliament’s privilege against a citizen’s constitutional rights notwithstanding the circumstances from which the case originated.

Rocky path to Freedom of Information

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net THE path to legislating freedom of information in the Bahamas has been quite the political revolving door.

Under the carriage of Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald, the Marathon MP that thought it prudent to sit on a heavily downplayed, arguably suppressed, report into a gas leak that impacted his constituents, the bill was tabled on December 14 after numerous delays and just five months ahead of the next election. The tabling was surely a triumph for Mr Fitzgerald, who promised the bill would make its entrance in Parliament before the end of the year. But for advocates that have watched progress stall out under two different administrations, the reaction amounted to ‘meh’.

Debate has not yet begun on the legislation and it is unclear when the bill will be passed in Parliament.

Discussing the issue of transparency on a radio talk show back in September 2011, then Health Minister Dr Hubert Minnis vowed that the Free National Movement (FNM) administration would bring the legislation to Parliament before the end of its term. He argued that there was still time to enshrine the party’s election campaign promise into law.

Dr Minnis admitted at the time that one failure of the Ingraham-led administration was the lack of communication with the public. He was speaking in the context of his ministry’s investigation into the dengue fever outbreak, and acknowledged that Bahamians were frustrated by the inconvenience of ongoing road works and the perception that the government is not interested in their concerns.

“I think that we are listening to the people,” Dr Minnis said in 2011, “but I think our public relations is poor. I would be the first to admit that. Both in the FNM, the government, and the ministries. We may not have explained to them appropriately what is happening therefore it will be the perception that if

SPOTLIGHT

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LEGISLATION I don’t know then you can’t be listening to me.”

He continued: “We are employed by the people, we have a five-year contract and every five years we go back to the people and seek employment. As employees it is essential that we listen to the people.”

On March 28, 2012, then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham abruptly suspended the House of Assembly in a move that shocked opposition members. Parliament had been suspended until May 22; however, Mr Ingraham said that he planned to dissolve the House on or before May 2. During the less than twohour session, parliamentarians passed the Freedom of Information Act. But there was no enactment date, because I guess not even the FNM genuinely believed the party would be returning to office after May 2012. So in walked the Christie-administration and out went the legislation to be reviewed, and ultimately scrapped for a brand new draft.

To be fair, legislators have reworked the bill so much that it casts a shadow on its predecessor.

And many have insisted that the proof of the pudding will be in the eating; but let’s just call a spade, a spade, the Bahamian people have been at the kitchen table watching successive governments make this pudding and sing its praises for more than two decades. We’re hungry, no, we’re “hangry”. We are intimately informed on the process, and lately, its been feeling a lot like the only transparency and accountability we will ever get from government will be on the planning stages of a bill meant to enforce transparency and accountability.

On the defensive over the muchanticipated Freedom of Information Act, Prime Minister Perry Christie recently called criticism over his administration’s lengthy

track to tabling the legislation unfair.

Speaking in December, Mr Christie noted that “final discussions” on the draft bill had just been completed as he pushed back against ridicule from Free National Movement members over the bill’s stalled pace.

The government has often pointed to the extensive consultation process as the major factor on the timeliness of tabling the legislation, however Mr Fitzgerald revealed as he tabled the bill that public participation was largely “disappointing”.

“The committee and I were very disappointed by the lack of involvement and response from the public with regard to the FOIA bill,” Mr Fitzgerald told the House of Assembly, “disappointed, the meetings were not well attended at all”.

Mr Fitzgerald also noted that online participation was also low, but went on to exalt the process.

“We live in a democracy where people want to have more input on governance and how the country operates,” he said, “on the one hand that is very positive, but you cannot rush it. If you want me to bring a bill I could bring one within a couple months. I can tell you that having gone through the consultative process and all the bench markers it would not have been as strong a bill as it is now, nor would it have the level of support that it has from those involved in the process.

“As a minister and government we have intentionally ensured that we did not get involved in the process apart from ensuring at the end of the day it was something that was workable. So, yes, I wish it was sooner, we all do, but I can tell you one thing, there will not be an argument or criticism that we did not do it the right way.”

Mr Fitzgerald said: “We all wish it was sooner but it’s a process, but as opposed to the bill they (the

IN 2011, Dr Hubert Minnis vowed that the FNM administration would bring Freedom of Information legislation to Parliament before the end of its term.

FNM) put in place, it took us after considering that and the committee a year and a half just to make the recommendations for the changes.

Then it took another year and a half to two years to consult widely, that’s just the nature of it. These are Bahamians who are doing it not us.”

But even if we distance ourselves from the exhausting political rhetoric and focus purely on logistics, there is still much to be desired of this legislative schedule that conveniently pivots this bill as an endof-term cramming session.

And what do we make of a twoyear consultation process that still falls short on considering recommendations?

In spite of the government’s highly touted consultation process for its Freedom of Information Bill, more than 20 civil society organisations have declared the document tabled in the House of Assembly a “missed opportunity”.

That grouping included: Citizens for a Better Bahamas, Our Carmichael, The Organisation for Responsible Governance, We The People, Save The Bays, The Abaco Chamber of Commerce, The Nassau Institute, reEarth, HeadKnowles Foundation, Grand Bahama Human Rights Association, Waterkeepers Bahamas, The Bahamas Press Club, The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers’ Con-

federation, It’s Our Turn, Young Marine Explorers, Civil Society Bahamas, The Bahamas Retailers Federation, The Coalition to Save Clifton, Rise Bahamas, Citizens for Justice and BREEF. In a joint statement, the groups noted that while the government adopted several suggestions collected during public consultation earlier in the year, it abstained from taking on any of the major concerns raised by civil society.

Three main areas that the group found the bill was still lacking included: the selection process of the information commissioner, the scope of public authorities subject to the bill, and the long time limits for making information accessible.

The CSO collective urged Bahamians and residents to get informed and pressure their MPs to advocate for more amendments when the bill is debated.

Matt Aubry, executive director of the Organisation for Responsible Governance, said: “Our neighbours in Jamaica, The Cayman Islands and Trinidad & Tobago have all enacted FOIAs. The Bahamas needs to catch up.

“A ‘true’ FOIA will benefit and protect citizens, residents, private businesses, civil society organisations, and ultimately, our country.

It will give us the right to important information about our country and give us the power to expose misconduct.

“We must all work together for a bill that better reflects the accountability and transparency we want for the Bahamas.”

I close with a quote from former Jamaican Senator and Gleaner Editor Hector Wynter.

At the close of a three-day press seminar in 1986, he said: “In journalism, there are tenets common to all nations as are democracy and its concomitants of freedom and individual human rights, but there are bound to be certain variations according to the cultural environment.”

He said: “Yet cultural environment must never be used as an excuse or licence for the denial of freedom.”