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Regional News
TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS
More than 40,000 live under the poverty line in the Bahamas CHILDREN under 14 have the highest poverty rate in the Bahamas as national statistics released earlier this week reveal more than 40,000 persons in the country (with a population of 382,600) live under the poverty line on less than $5,000 per year. Findings show that 12.8 per cent of the population is living in poverty with a 3.5 per cent hike in the annual poverty line since the last recorded study in 2001, from $2,863 to $4,247. Women represent 52 per cent of all poor persons, but have a lower poverty rate than that of men; however, women-led households have a higher rate of poverty at 9.7 per cent, than that of households headed by men at 7.9 per cent. The absolute poverty line is $11.64 per day, according to the Department of Statistics’ 2013 Household Expenditure based on socio-economic and demographic information collected from households throughout the country
last year. The poverty line represents the amount an individual needs to meet basic necessities, which were described as a combination of the minimum expenditure needed for a nutritionally adequate diet as well as the amount needed for basic nonfood necessities. Children under four had a poverty rate of 18.6; ages five to 14 had a poverty rate of 19.3; ages 15 to 19 had a poverty rate of 18 per cent; and ages 20 to 34 had a rate of 12.6 per cent. Adults 35 and older had a poverty rate of less than 10 per cent. Households living in poverty jumped from 5.3 per cent in 2001 to 8.7 per cent in 2013, the report continued, with 42 per cent of Bahamian households headed by women. According to HES data, the annual expenditure for Bahamian households is $53,124. Of this figure 30.5 per cent is spent on housing and utilities, 11.4 per cent on
transportation and 14.9 per cent on food and beverages. Large households with seven or more persons had the highest poverty rate, 32 per cent, with rates correlated to size. One person households had a 1.9 per cent rate, and households with four persons had a poverty rate of 9.9 per cent. Common-law households had the highest poverty rate at 17.9 per cent and widowed households the lowest at 5 per cent. According to the HES data, Haitian nationals had the highest poverty rate at 37.7 per cent, as well as Haitian-led households at 27.9 per cent. Bahamian nationals had a poverty rate of 11.1 per cent and nationals of Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States at 3.4 per cent. The poverty rate is reportedly highest in the Family Islands at 17.2 per cent, and the lowest in Grand Bahama at 9.7 per cent. The poverty in New Providence is at 12.6 per cent. (Tribune242)
Lawyers to act in N.S.A. spy row THE Bahamas’ Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell raised concerns before the Organisation of American States last week over reports that the NSA has been recording virtually every cell phone conversation in The Bahamas, emphasising that the allegations cannot go unanswered. His statements came as international reports emerged that the Bahamas government has directed its lawyers in the United States to represent its interests on “surveillance and privacy matters”. According to a post on The Hill, an American news website, the law firm Hogan Lovells has been directed to give advice and representation to the Bahamas government on “general diplomatic representation and foreign policy matters, US laws, regulations, policies and actions by US Congress, Executive Branch and US government agencies that may affect or relate to the activities and interests (of The Bahamas), including but not limited to surveillance and privacy matters…”. The website cites a federal disclosure document from the US Department of Justice, which The Tribune has seen, that was reportedly signed on May 30 by Hogan Lovells. When contacted by The Tribune for comment, Mr Mitchell declined to discuss the contents of the document saying that he had not seen it. He said that Hogan Lovells has been the “government’s lawyers for years.” Another government official told The Tribune that no instructions were
The Bahamas’Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell said that “in order to avoid any (misconceptions) about our friendship, there should be an explanation”.
given from the Attorney General’s Office in relation to the matter. Hogan Lovells has represented the government on various issues over the years. However, according to international reports, this is the first time the firm has expanded its focus to represent the Bahamas on “surveillance and privacy matters.” A little over a week ago, documents released by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden alleged that the NSA has been recording every cellphone conversation in The Bahamas and keeping those recordings for up to a month. While speaking in Paraguay before the OAS last Wednesday, Mr Mitchell called for full disclosure on the issue. “In order to avoid any (misconceptions) about our friendship, there should be an explanation,” Mr Mitchell said. “The Bahamas wishes to underscore
the most worthy principles of this organisation, as expressed in the OAS charter: that international law is the standard of conduct of States, the primacy of sovereignty, maintenance of territorial integrity, freedom from undue external intrusion and influence, safeguarding the rights of our citizens, and a reaffirmation of the importance of good faith for relations.” “This framework and mutual respect for these tenets which allows for a hemisphere to coexist peacefully and progress together and which helps to avoid moral double-mindedness and selective application of these principles, which can unnecessarily hinder harmony amongst states and in the multi-lateral sphere.” Mr Mitchell told the delegates that they “will be aware of the challenge the Bahamas faces now where our citizens are questioning what these high ideals of territorial integrity, sovereignty and respect for the rule of law actually mean in practice.” “On May 19, news reports across the globe reported that an action occurred which violated the rights of Bahamians and visitors to our shores to their privacy. Indeed, The Bahamas is not the only country who has suffered this alleged activity. We have engaged at a bilateral level to determine the truth or accuracy of these reports, and continue to do so. Cooperation in international fora requires an interdependent context. Whether we are large or small, rich or powerful, we depend on each other.”
June 14 - 20, 2014
Devaluation of Barbados dollar looming says former PM THE Barbados dollar, the third highest in the English-speaking Caribbean, could soon be devalued, according to former Prime Minister Owen Arthur, who wants government to tell the people what the country faces. Arthur made the comments Sunday night against a backdrop of Barbados last week suffering a downgrade from Ba3 to B3 by international financial rating agency Moody’s, and amidst government’s cost-cutting efforts to tame a runaway deficit. “Our fiscal situation at its worst should have been five percent of GDP,” Arthur said, adding, “But the government and [Finance Minister] Sinckler reported to parliament that it was 11, so it is twice as bad as its worst case scenario. “Moody’s is telling us that it had to downgrade Barbados by three notches because the Central Bank has been printing money and it is undermining and threatening the stability of the Barbados dollar.” The Barbados dollar at a fixed rate
Former PM Own Arthur said that Barbados’s fiscal situation is at its worst.
of US$0.50 cents is number three in the region behind the Cayman Islands and Bahamas dollars in that order. Arthur’s comments came one day after Prime Minister Freundel Stuart had likened the Moody’s report to “garbage.” Arthur urged the prime minister to seek advice before speaking on such matters to avoid bringing his office into disrepute.
T&T Minister: New mapping system to locate children at all times A NEW mapping system to help pinpoint the exact location of children at all times was announced on Thursday morning by Minister in the Ministry of the People and Social Development, Vernella AlleyneToppin. At the time, Alleyne-Toppin was paying a courtesy visit to the relatives of murder victims nine-year-old Jadel Holder and 15-year-old Jamal Braithwaite, at their home at Petunia Avenue, Morvant. Alleyne-Toppin expressed
condolences to the grieving relatives, including the boys’ mother Michelle Holder, for their loss and officially informed them that the Government would be prepared to provide assistance and counseling to the family. Holder accepted the offer from the Minister, saying she was very “happy and thankful” for the offer and the gesture of kindness. Speaking to members of the media following the visit, Alleyne-Toppin revealed the news of the mapping system.
Barbados PM explains unemployment through Caribbean slave history BARBADOS’S Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has cited traditional high Caribbean unemployment as a reason for current challenges to the National Insurance Service (NIS) fund that pays relief benefits to workers who lose their jobs. Derek Osbourne, an actuary at the Bahamian company, Horizonnow Consultants, who conducted an actuarial review of the NIS Unemployment and Severance Funds in 2013, was last week reported to have warned in his submission that unless government urgently injects money into the NIS Unemployment Fund, it would struggle to pay benefits in two years. “Employment has always been an issue here in the Caribbean. One of
the features about Caribbean history after about 450 years to 500 years, is that we’ve only had full employment in the Caribbean during the days of slavery,’ Stuart said. He added that the region has struggled to create economies capable of absorbing its available workforce through employment. He said for this reason, “the unemployment fund has always been the most challenged of our funds because unemployment, in these islands in the Caribbean, Barbados included, has always been a challenge. “There has never been a time in the history of the Unemployment Benefit Fund in Barbados when it was not under challenge.”