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I’m just looking r FAMILY WOMAN: I SEARCHED FOR MY MOM, I FOUNDfo MY my mom

VOLUME:118 No.29, JANUARY 5, 2021

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: $1

‘RESULTS AREN’T ALL THAT MATTER’

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson @tribunemedia.net

her biological mother I always felt like the various questions she has a black sheep.

ALL NICOLE Lightbourne or her life. extended “I never saw baby knows about her biologi “All cal family pictures of me in Laurie my life I dreamed a mother is her name “Laurie Brenne n...all the learns of early stages of life. I she Brennen”, she gave birth to was in my dreams. her was lost even though in 1984 at the Princess Marga- her plea “I always wonder what and conI did not show it. I looked ret Hospital and put her up like.

I am not ma for tact her with have mixed emotions her. adoption three years later.

I just want to know information. not knowing my birth After about 30 years withou and say t “I mother and family. second thank you for givin was her birth mother, Nicole chance in life. I love lives born on JanuI suffered from no matter with a void that she believe what the s will ary 15, 1984, to anger only ever be filled until she prob- I pray that you feel past w finds a woman named the sam lems. I blamed she said. her.

NICOLE LIGHTmy BOURNE, top, adopted Adoption is a topic not often Laurie Brennen in And if she is able to reun Princess Margaret Hospital mother and inset, one of talked about in the Baham for with her mother, she said everything the few pictures Yet there are hundreds of as. in Nassau Bahamas. She named these words for her: chil- me Edwina Brenne all she did of her as a child. dren in the country n. From hard even “We are birth to the age though I my parents was love me. I thing that not perfect. O who have either I can say you six, gave I live in Nassau was so mess up a strong me the best life ‘My parents been left orphaned woman. You w Bahamas with my that I could wish for.” inside,” she told through after the deaths made sure that adopte a lot I am guessi Tribune Woman.

Nicole’s adopted parents d of their parents parents.

Giving I was never In 1991 we moved did the best they could The effects of being knowin birth to a child a n or were given up to ensure uproot g where they are ed from one who home to the states where she was loved, adequa by their biological neglected and extremely hard a mother. tely taken and planted haphazardly in I began school and and never wanted for parents. showed me anything, anothe “I am hoping and praying th a new life there,” yet Nicole lived feeling r became even more Those given up you rejecte will give d. us a second chan love. It was clear when Nicole became she told Tribune for adoption by “My parents made sure that a in relationships with a bond th their parents end not enough for Woman. was never neglected and showedI mother.

She was affected majorly and can be rekindled. I love you an Nicole up like Nicole on a was me love. It was not me though, adopted in April of me though, someth enough for admitted to being scared and do not have any hatred in m quest to find them heart ing was miss- not knowin for you. I come to with a something 1987 in Nassau. To ing,” she said.

– a reunion that g how to properly open mind and heart. I just wa this day, she has no unfortunately never was missing.’

Rejection is a common emo- love them. to know the truth about me.

“I made many mistake clue why she was tion many D happens for some. adoptees feel. Like regarding my children what s you want a relationship with m given away.

Yet Nicole some cannot come Nicole can and my family? Many to I say history repeati nights “I do not have grips with believes she has to at least ng itself?” why they make any idea why I was Nicole said she believes reu- cried myself to sleep about you an attempt. So, sharing put up for given away by their had been I search for you because I her adoption and still in parents. niting with her mother will nee story made perfect sense as the blind “I always have questions help closure.” she in her make sense of life believes there could be chance to this day. Growing up know- my mind why now, lay me and what To contact Nicole Light ing I adopted was ridiculo usly to deserve getting thrown I do to rest some of the pain she bourne 786-250-8214 or emai away. experiences daily and settle lightbourne99 @gmail.com.

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Reporter acadet@ tribunemedia.net

“success” to officials being able to carry out the tests despite the ongoing pandemic, adding the focus should not be on the results.

“When we talk about the exams being a success, it is more than just looking at the students who got As, Bs, Cs, and Ds all right. We have to look at the mere fact that we were able to complete the examinations, administer the exam and complete it makes it a success,” said Assistant Director of Education Evelyn Sawyer.

Their comments come after the Ministry of SEE PAGE FIVE

IT’S the little things that can make a difference.

That’s the view of Latasha chan, who has been a schoolt Straeacher for more than 20 years, but who has now turned her talents to coaching and writng.

Md Strachan said from her hood, she connected with childthe gift and desire to teach, but it wasn’t until adulthood that she used skills to also become a profess her ional writer.

“I was always the person that classmates would ask to analyse the text or correct an essay, but that was as far as it went.

I really thought I was a creativ never e so even though people saw type, me as

someone gifted with words, I honestly had no plans to be a writer,” she said.

“Now, I realise that writing for me is just an extension of teaching and coaching. I refer to myself as student-teacher-coach because these are the roles that I flow the time, and I recognise that in all ing is one of the primary wayswritthat I communicate lessons to others,” said Ms Strachan.

She said her newest book venture titled The “Little” Project: Little Changes That Will Change Your Life is the result of a writing exercise that began about six years ago. She started bloggin g rational pieces and sharing inspithem through social media and email.

“Much of what I write is inspire by scripture, so this idea came d out of something I had learned from my

own time of studying the Bible.

I was reading the story of Widow of Zarephath, foundthe in 1 Kings chapter 17, and it struck me how much had change d her life once she had a shift in perspective about her resourc in According to the story she es. only had a little flour and oil left prepare what she fully expecteto to be her last meal on earth, d one that she would share with her son before giving up and dying.

“That last meal, howeve r, became the gateway to provision and a new life of miracle s when she agreed to make a meal for Elijah the prophet instead herself. That struck me becausof e so often when we have little left we become paralysed with fear SEE PAGE TEN

MORTGAGE APPROVALS TAKING UP TO 5 MONTHS

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A BAHAMIAN realtor yesterday voiced concern that renewed market “optimism” could founder over tightened bank lending policies that are taking up to five months to issue mortgage approvals.

Gino Maycock, a broker/ appraiser with Colonial Realty, told Tribune Business that such long wait times were creating “a level of uncertainty” over whether real estate transactions will occur and

purchasers can access the necessary financing to complete the deal.

With COVID-19 vaccines “on the horizon”, and the Bahamian economy slowly re-opening despite skyrocketing infection rates and lockdowns in major source markets such as the US and UK, Mr Maycock admitted there was a high chance that risk-averse commercial banks and other lenders could dampen a real estate rebound by further restricting mortgage lending.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

SEE PAGE EIGHT

‘ATLANTIS THE LIT TLE CHANGES THAT CAN MAKE A BIGDAY, ANOTHER DIFFERENCE FAILED TO FOLLOW ANOTHER BODY THE RULES’

Officials insist exams were success despite criticism over grades

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

EDUCATION Minister Jeffrey Lloyd yesterday staunchly defended the results of the 2020 national examinations, insisting the tests were a “success and remarkable accomplishment” despite the challenges of COVID-19.

Mr Lloyd defended this position while responding to public criticism regarding the examination results during a Ministry of Education press conference.

He was supported by other education officials, who attributed what they term as the 2020 exams’

HONOURING THREE SOULS IN RASTAFARI COMMUNITY

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

THE union representing hotel workers has claimed Atlantis management did not follow provisions set out in an industrial agreement regarding how employees are to be furloughed.

Darrin Woods, Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union president, told The Tribune that workers are now stuck on an “emotional rollercoaster” and have not had an opportunity to get mentally prepared for what could be several weeks at home because the industrial agreement was allegedly not followed.

SEE PAGE TWO

GOVT $200M CUTBACKS HIT CAPITAL PROJECTS

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A BODY is taken from a murder scene early yesterday morning in Kennedy Subdivision on Gilbert Street. According to sources, 23-year-old Justin Deveaux was shot dead. See page three for the full story. Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

DESPERATE TURNING TO ‘SEX SURVIVAL’

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

A SPOKESPERSON for the LGBT+ community says due to the COVID19 pandemic, many in this grouping have fallen on hard times sparking a proliferation in sex work.

This “survival sex” work, according to Alexus D’Marco, has been a means for some to acquire housing and put food on the

table when there is no other option available.

She highlighted the issue while announcing that the D’Marco Foundation is

launching its second safe house-to-house lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people who’ve been kicked out of their homes because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Asked about the affects COVID-19 has had on the LGBT+ community, she said: “There are a lot of persons who are unable to pay their rent.”

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

SEE PAGE FOUR

CAPITAL projects designed to stimulate the COVID-ravaged Bahamian economy have been placed “on hold” due to the Government’s $200m spending cutbacks, the deputy prime minister said yesterday.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

IT’S VITAL WE GET VACCINE PLANS RIGHT

SEE PAGE NINE

PAGE 2, Tuesday, January 5, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

‘ATLANTIS FAILED TO FOLLOW THE RULES’ from page one

Atlantis has said it is not closing, but as it is experiencing lower occupancy levels for January attributed to several factors – adequate airlift and a COVID-19 surge in key markets –- several divisions are on temporary furlough for a “few weeks”.

The Paradise Island resort said its team members and union were notified of the decision.

Yesterday, Mr Woods said while the union understands the current climate, there is a process that should be followed and respected.

This comes as several workers, who did not want to be named, said they understood the hotel’s position, but were having anxiety over taking care of

their families.

Employees returned to work on December 10, after the mega resort closed in March due to COVID-19 restrictions that affected travel and movement as well as a surge in cases in the United States and other key markets.

“Our industrial agreement calls for rotation and layoff and the process is once occupancy drops persons would then be working reduced days and from reduced days we go to week on, week off and then from that then they go to what they call furlough but our agreement calls it a lay off,” Mr Woods said.

“What they have in fact done is gone from low occupancy straight to layoff or ‘furlough’ as they call it.

Our concern is we believe that the employees should

be treated a little better than that.

“They would have gone back to work based on what would have been forecasted but if the forecast has dropped off then they have an obligation to follow what the process is and the process would then be to give the employees a time to mentally prepare for what is to come as opposed to them going to work and the manager coming to them on roll call and saying to them that as of next week you have to go home and we’ll call you or we don’t even know when we’ll call you.”

He continued: “We just got the communication from the hotel over the weekend. They called us and originally when they called us they called us – I think it would have been Thursday – to say that they

had to suspend some operations. So, we said to them put it in writing because we wanted something to refer to when we craft our response.

“Their thing is because of the decline in occupancy – remembering now that our industry is driven by occupancy and any time occupancy drops the process is that they would go to the reduced days and then so forth and so on for the mere fact that employees are then able to prepare themselves.”

Mr Woods described the situation as an “emotional rollercoaster”.

“It’s an emotional rollercoaster and that’s why I say we want to be able to be mentally prepared for what is coming,” he told The Tribune.

“What they would normally do on roll call is

they would say what the occupancy is for the week then in the employees’ mind they know what that means. It means reduced days. They know that it doesn’t mean that I go back on furlough not just like that because they know that there are some steps in between occupancy dropping and me being laid off.

“Now there is no set time to say well you have to be on reduced days for three weeks, four weeks, five weeks so you control what happens because you are the one who rostered.

“They need to treat the employees better than they are treating them because these are living breathing human beings. They are not inanimate objects that don’t feel, don’t think, don’t have no reaction, no emotion.

“The whole COVID

situation is enough that they have to deal with. We shouldn’t add anything else.”

Yesterday, some employees said they were feeling anxious.

“We just returned and I was feeling a sense of relief having things appear like they were headed back in the right direction,” one worker said yesterday. “But with the news of another lay off, it makes me nervous.

We are back to where we were months ago having to scrap. It’s honestly depressing to think of spending weeks at home when we want to be at work.”

Another employee added: “My concern is really my family. Taking care of them is what I’m worried about.”

Atlantis did not respond to the union’s criticism up to press time.

PAYMENTS BEING MADE AFTER DELAY IN UNEMPLOYMENT

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

AFTER a delay in the disbursement of unemployment benefits from the National Insurance Board, Minister for National Insurance Brensil Rolle confirmed to The Tribune that funds are now available and payments are being made.

Last week, some recipients of the unemployment benefit took to social media complaining about late payments. Yesterday morning, Island Pay, a company engaged by NIB to pay some of its customers, posted the following message on its Facebook page: “Dear valued customers, we truly understand that you are anxiously awaiting funds from the Government Unemployment Extension Programme.

At this point, we have not yet received the funds for disbursement. As soon as funds are received, our team is on standby to process and disburse them to you immediately.”

The Tribune contacted Mr Rolle who said the money would be paid out.

Mr Rolle said: “The issue has been solved.

The government’s assistance was a little bit late.

NIB got the funding today and payouts will be made immediately. These are assistance payments for people who are selfemployed, the people who didn’t make any contribution. Not the individuals who have contributed to NIB. These are persons who have received

assistance since March of last year.”

At the onset of the pandemic, when the country’s tourism-based economy came to a halt, the government covered people who were self-employed in the tourism industry. The government also gave assistance to those who were unemployed due to the pandemic, but never made any contributions to NIB. NIB received the funding for those categories of people from the government, so as not to stress its already stretched funds.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced last year that the unemployment benefit for these people, whose employment was affected by the introduction of the COVID-19 virus, would be reassessed in January of this year. Mr Rolle was asked about the cut-off date and he said he is not sure the payments will be continued after this month.

Mr Rolle continued: “The government has determined that when it did another assessment January was to be that date. January was the cut-off date given to us at NIB. The end of this month. The government would have spent nearly $100m of the public’s money on this project.

“So, once we have wrapped down this system, we have to cover all those persons to make sure they get the additional 13 weeks that the government has offered. So the payments were a bit late. We have acknowledged that and we have run the cheques and individuals will now get their cheques or we will make the deposits.”

SOME of those gathered yesterday to register before the January 15 deadline for pension verification.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

LONG QUEUES FOR PENSION REGISTRATION

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

PENSIONERS crowded outside the National Insurance Board’s headquarters yesterday for pension verification before the January 15 deadline to avoid interruption in benefit payments.

On its Facebook page, NIB posted a notice yesterday mentioning that face-to-face verification

remained suspended and pensioners were advised to verify via email at verification@nib-bahamas.com.

However, some pensioners who spoke to The Tribune seemed confused about the process and showed up in person to make sure they did not miss the deadline.

Pensioner Abraham Stubbs said: “I just came down to check to see whether I’ve gotten it done

here or to get information if not here, where?” He said his verification process took about 20 minutes.

Eugene Butler came with his sister and said he was told by friends about the deadline.

“If you don’t verify, well you wouldn’t get that money this month. You’ll have to get it when you’re verified – the following month probably,” he said.

“Everybody is trying to

get a few dollars so they can get to meet their needs – food wise and otherwise.”

NIB has also reminded customers that pension verification forms should be signed/certified by the following: attorney or counsel of the Supreme Court, any public officer above the rank of assistant head of department, bank manager, magistrate, justice of the peace, or an ordained minister of religion.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, January 5, 2021, PAGE 3

BULLET holes in a vehicle where a body was found on Whites Additions off Kemp Road.

Photo: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

Three men killed in less than 24 hours

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THREE people were killed in less than 24 hours in separate incidents in New Providence between Sunday and yesterday morning.

Only a few days into 2021, there have already been a spate of deadly shootings with five people killed so far for the new year. Since December 30, 10 people have been murdered.

The most recent three killings came after National Security Minister Marvin Dames highlighted a drop in murders, which most observers credit to the national lockdowns and other COVID-19 restrictions.

In the first incident, police were alerted to a shooting incident that occurred at the intersection of Sapodilla and Willow Tree Street, Pinewood Gardens shortly after 8pm on Sunday. Officers on their arrival found the body of a male slumped over in a white bus with apparent gunshot wounds.

Then shortly after 10pm on Sunday, police received reports of a shooting incident at Whites Additions off Kemp Road.

“Officers found the body of a male slouched over in a black vehicle with what appeared to be gunshot wounds,” police said.

A relative identified the victim as Robert McFarlane, 34, who has two children – a son around 11 and a daughter around four.

Hours later, police received reports of a shooting incident that occurred on Gilbert Street, Kennedy Subdivision, shortly before 4am yesterday. Officers found the body of a male lying on the ground unresponsive. According to

sources, the victim is Justin Deveaux, 23.

A woman who asked to be identified only as Ms Tousseint, a resident of the area for 30 years, said she heard gunshots around 2am yesterday.

“I sat down on my bed.

I ran looking for my children,” she told The Tribune yesterday. “I didn’t know who they was. I was thinking it was my children…

I think it was my children who they came to kill.”

She said her son opened the front door and he saw the body on their doorsteps.

The mother then instructed her son to call the police.

Police have not said if they suspect any of the recent killings to be related or revealed a motive for the incidents.

The Tribune previously reported that two men were found shot dead on Pitt Road on December 30, 2020 after 7am. Later that day, after 10pm, a man was shot at Malta Street and died shortly afterwards in hospital.

On Thursday, December 31, two homicides were reported: a man who died in hospital after being shot at Wilson Track around 8pm and another who died after being shot in the area of Rupert Dean Lane after 8pm. On Friday, January 1, a teacher was found shot dead at a school in Stapledon Gardens.

On Sunday, January 3, an Abaco teen was found shot dead at a shanty town residence. Her 13-year-old brother was also injured during the incident. A suspect was said to be in custody in relation to that investigation.

Anyone with information on these incidents or any other crime is asked to call police at 919, 502-9991 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 328-TIPS (8477).

A BODY is taken from a murder scene early yesterday morning in Kennedy Subdivision on Gilbert Street. According to sources, 23-year-old Justin Deveaux was shot dead.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

RESIDENT Ms Tousseint said she heard gunshots around 2am yesterday in the Gilbert Street area.

Photo: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

PAGE 4, Tuesday, January 5, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Desperate turning to ‘sex survival’ from page one

ALEXUS D’Marco warned yesterday of an increase in the number of members of the LGBT+ community turning to sex work to survive economic hardship during the pandemic.

14 NEW CASES IN PAST TWO DAYS FOUR new cases of coronavirus were recorded yesterday - with another ten on Sunday, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

There were three cases yesterday from New Providence and one from Bimini and Cat Cay. The Sunday cases are all New Providence residents.

The new figures pushed the nation’s count to 7,928.

Up to press time, ten people were in hospital with the virus, with one in intensive care.

There have been 175 COVID-19 deaths, with 15 under investigation.

Health officials have said they will not know until mid-January if

Christmas restrictions on gatherings will lead to a significant uptick in COVID-19 cases.

“We’ve not seen the uptick,” Health Minister Renward Wells said last week.

“You would see that in the numbers that have been reported so far. . .our numbers still look good and the virus has a 14-day incubation period, so whatever you do, you don’t see it for anywhere to seven to 14 days. So, we’d be looking maybe in the second week in January as to how and whether as a people, and I’m just staying in the Christmas season, whether we’ve been naughty or nice.”

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

“They are unable to access basic food needs so we try to provide and collaborate with other NGOs to provide direct food.

“COVID-19 has really impacted everyone, especially those who are already vulnerable. “:It’s like a double whammy.”

She also said: “There has been a lot of sex work going on especially among youth who are using survival sex as a means for a place to stay and food on the table. I have also recently found out that there are persons claiming to be youth mentors and pastors in the youth bracket taking advantage

of these individuals so we are trying to stand in the gap for our community as it rallies to that type of behaviour so they won’t have to be subject to that behaviour.”

Several years ago, the organisation founded a safe house in the eastern portion of the island, but that home was forced to close down because of funding challenges.

This time around, Ms D’Marco said the organisation is looking at several means to sustain the new safe house.

“This is our second safe house,” she said yesterday.

“The first one was about three years ago out east where we housed individuals whose parents put them out based on their sexual

orientation or their gender identity.

“The concept came from the need to stop them from walking Long Wharf, which is a known spot for sex work, especially for LGBTI persons. It came out of that need.

“We weren’t able to sustain the programme based on funding and not being able to provide the meals for the persons and so we had to end up transferring that safe house programme to Canada to a programme called the 519 programme in Canada.

“So, those persons who were a part of that first safe house programme were able to apply for asylum in Canada so it came out of that Junkanoo Beach project and eradicating

homelessness for our people.”

She continued: “This particular safe house because we are now registered in The Bahamas as a registered NGO, we are able to apply for grants and collaborate with the Ministry of Social Services.

“It’s helping us with the safe house and also we plan to sell meals to sustain the programme itself and the rent of the home. We have asked persons who can cook to support lunches. I also have a pending meeting with the ministry to discuss the way forward as it relates to the home.”

Currently she said the new facility will house four people, considerably less than the 16 who were living in the previous home.

TOTAL CASES

TOTAL DEATHS

NEWLY CONFIRMED CASES MONDAY 4 CASES

LATEST DEATHS

7,928 175

NEW PROVIDENCE BIMINI & CAT CAY

SUNDAY

3 1

10 CASES

NEW PROVIDENCE

TOTAL TESTS

53,127

• 61-year-old woman from Grand Bahama on November 12 • 59-year-old man from Grand Bahama on November 19 • 68-year-old woman from Grand Bahama on November 29 • 69-year-old woman from Grand Bahama on December 13

10

HOSPITALISED

10

CASES IN ICU

1

RECOVERED

6,260

Four deaths in Grand Bahama

BY DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama has recorded four more COVID-19-related deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

Three women and one man, ranging in age from 59 to 69 years, died

of COVID-19 between November 12 to December 13.

There are currently two hospitalized cases in Grand Bahama, and those patients have been classified as “moderately ill”.

Coronavirus infections on Grand Bahama, however, are low, with

Public Notice Public please be advised that the Saffrey Square Arcade walkway situated on East Street and Bank Lane will be closed to the general public on Saturday, January 9th, 2021 in order to retain legal ownership of the same.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

no new cases in the past two days. To date, a total of 1,141 COVID-19 cases have been recorded on the island of Grand Bahama.

The four deaths had been under investigation and have now been classified as COVID-19 related.

In November there were three deaths, including a 61-year-old female on November 12, 2020; a 59-year-old male on November 19; and a 68-year-old female on November 29. There was one death on December 13 of a 69-year-old female.

Minister of State for Grand Bahama Senator Kwasi Thompson was unable to comment on the COVID-19 deaths, however, he noted that COVID numbers are low on Grand Bahama.

He said: “Only the health officials can comment on the COVID deaths. I can only continue to thank the public for their compliance with the

health protocols.

“The numbers in Grand Bahama reflect that. Currently, the numbers are low.

“I am advised that only two COVID-related persons are in hospital, and no person is in ICU. However, this could change.”

Mr Thompson encouraged persons not to let their guard down, and continue to be diligent.

“The government continues to execute its strategy of assistance with food, unemployment assistance, and small business funding.

We also are completing final work on the Rand Hospital to fully rebuild our health infrastructure,” he said.

The COVID-19 protocols require persons to wear a mask in public.

People should also wash and sanitise their hands regularly with soap or hand sanitiser and practice social distancing.

Residents must also abide by the 10pm curfew.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, January 5, 2021, PAGE 5

‘Results aren’t all that matter’ from page one

Education released data last month that showed that national exam results worsened in 2020 compared with 2019, with fewer students achieving A, B and C grades and more students receiving D, E, F and G grades compared with the year before. Fewer students also sat the exams compared with the previous year .

The results have been heavily criticised, with Bahamas Union of Teachers President Belinda Wilson saying the national grades were not surprising and a result of a failed education system.

Yesterday, Mr Lloyd said while the country’s educational system is far from perfect, no one in the world can identify a perfect system especially in this current COVID-19 climate.

He said: “Perhaps some of you have heard the recent erroneous and misleading claims about the results of the 2020 national examinations. Well, I’m here today to set the record straight for those of you who want to listen to logical

EDUCATION Minister Jeff Lloyd yesterday. explanations. I’m the first to admit that The Bahamas’ system is not perfect. It has its share of challenges.

“I am also here to say that no one can identify any perfect education system. What they can find in education systems where students consistently perform well are these common denominators: the balance of political will, a bi-partisan shared vision for education, a high

level of school leadership, the support of key stakeholders, excellent teachers and students and parents who appreciate and support the importance of education.”

Statistics released by the ministry also revealed that 10,753 people sat the BJC exams, representing a 3.62 percent decrease from 2019.

Meanwhile, the number of students sitting the BGCSE exams declined by

5.9 percent, with 6,073 candidates registered for the 2020 exams compared with 6,454 in 2019.

Yesterday, Mr Lloyd attributed the decreased numbers to the exams being postponed in response to COVID-19, among other things.

Despite reduced participation last year, the minister highlighted that there was improved performance in 15 BGCSE test subjects, including auto mechanics, biology, bookkeeping and accounts, etc.

He also noted that English language and literature performance has not changed.

“This is progress and it is indeed encouraging and speaks to the resilience of Bahamian educators and students,” Mr Lloyd stressed yesterday.

Overall, Mr Lloyd said officials were pleased with the overall examination process – saying it is as a testimony to the resilience of Bahamians.

“I declare unequivocally that the entire examination exercise was a success.

It was worth the financial, emotional, mental, physical and psychological

cost,” he said.

“It was a remarkable accomplishment that has clearly disappointed a fair number of naysayers.

The task was what it has always been – to ensure that, upon completion of the examiner training, candidate sitting and the marking and grading of the numerous examinations, those who had opted to take them would receive valid and reliable results.”

Asked how officials were able to conclude that results were a success considering that the 2020 outcome worsened compared with 2019, Ms Sawyer replied Bahamians ought to look at the bigger picture and not just solely focus on the results.

She noted it was a great feat in itself that students were even able to sit the exams considering the extraordinary events of 2020.

She said: “A lot of our children do well but we always concentrate on what we consider to be the students who we say are doing poorly but when we consider what our children went through during 2020,

it was remarkable that they were able to write the examination.

“So, we really do not need to look at the grades which the children got, but look at the resilience of our children and what they were able to accomplish and this indicates it was a success.”

Yesterday, Mr Lloyd called for more unity and partnership from the Bahamian public, insisting education “is everyone’s business.”

“No one has the luxury to sit on the sidelines and complain, criticise or throw jeers. Everyone must get involved,” he added. “The question then to each of us is: are we all doing our part to ensure that these common denominators are a part of The Bahamas’ education system? That’s the question.”

The 2021 national examinations are expected to take place in their usual timeframe this year, with the minister telling reporters last month that Cambridge evaluators and assessors have been working to secure this year’s exams on time.

SOCIAL PROMOTION ‘WOULD BE TRICKY TO ELIMINATE’

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

IN response to the head of the Bahamas Union of Teachers calling for an end to “social promotion” in schools, a local education official suggested the “longstanding” process would be tricky to eliminate.

After the national examination results were released last week, BUT President Belinda Wilson called on the Ministry of Education to repeat the 2020 educational year for those who need it and stop social promotion in schools.

Education director Marcellus Taylor said the ministry does not share the union’s position concerning the matter while adding it has no plans to repeat the 2020 year.

He said: “As it relates to the social promotion issue, that is a long-standing conversation that’s

been had in The Bahamas and there’s a reason why it hasn’t gone away. We call it social promotion but it’s really an issue of automatic promotions and that is really the crux of that policy that has been long-standing.

“Because in order not to have that policy, you will then have all sorts of financial and resource constraints because once you start repeating people and they spend 13, and 14 and 15 and 16 years in schooling then you have to provide resources that extend beyond.

“The Bahamas is not the only country that does this.

Many countries do it.”

Social promotion is the act of promoting a student to the next grade regardless of whether they have performed poorly or learned what is required to move on.

Yesterday, officials also addressed concerns with

the ministry’s virtual learning system, which was said to have experienced some technical issues.

The Tribune was told that all students and teachers who tried to access the programme around 9.30am yesterday received “error” and “system maintenance” messages.

Responding to the complaints, Mr Taylor said the platform was a “work in progress”, adding there will be hiccups experienced from time to time.

He said: “We are working with a company called One on One and this is work in progress as we indicated on several occasions and that what we have is an LMS that is being customised for the Bahamian education system and that from time to time, there may be some hiccups along the way.

“We’ve made a lot of improvements to the system over the last several

months and most teachers are able to get on it most of the times and so, this is just something that we have to accept – moving an educational system from a completely face-to-face reality and taking it to a completely virtual platform in the short space of time that we did… will indeed have the residual challenges of refinement.”

Meanwhile, education officials are still aiming for a February resumption of face-to-face learning on several islands after health officials determine what sort of impact the holiday celebrations have had on the country’s COVID-19 situation.

“Our expectation and our hope is that somewhere in February that we will be able to go to face-to-face,” Education Minister Jeff Lloyd said yesterday.

“It is anticipated that over the next week or so we will have a clearer picture

of the consequences of this past holiday in terms of COVID cases and its impact on the healthcare system. And once that is assessed by the competent authority and the Ministry of Health officials, then the Ministry of Education will be properly advised in terms of those islands that do not have the benefit of face-to-face on when we will be allowed to do so.”

Government schools across the country reopened for instruction yesterday.

However, students in New Providence, Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma are not yet allowed to report to school for in-person instruction and are instead doing virtual learning.

Once the greenlight has been given, the minister said some public schools where there is a large student enrollment might have to adopt the blended learning model, which involves a mix of face-to-face and

virtual classes.

Mr Lloyd said: “Certainly, in some Family Islands, you can go faceto-face because they are able to observe the health protocols without difficulty.

In New Providence, as you would know, we have many large high schools – C R Walker, C V Bethel and Anatol Rodgers and so on.

“It may be difficult but not impossible for us to assess full face-to-face in those particular schools if the protocols that are now obtained that is six weeks and so on must be observed but at that time, whenever we are given the all clear, we’re going to make a decision whether it’s going to be full face-to-face.

“There may be some schools that can go face-toface. There may be other schools that will only be able to go blended and yet there may be some circumstances which must all be virtual.”

PAGE 6, Tuesday, January 5, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

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It’s not about the exam being held - it’s about the results THE Ministry of Education seems to want a participation prize.

After the national exam results came out, it was quickly clear that they were significantly lower than previous years.

That’s probably not a surprise, given the year we’ve been through, the switch to remote learning for students and perhaps the greater communications difficulties some students might have when wanting to ask a teacher for more help.

It’s even less of a surprise when you look at the number of students who were unable to log in to the virtual learning platforms for whatever reasons. Perhaps they didn’t have electronic devices they could use. Perhaps they didn’t even have power or internet because their family is having to scrap and save to pay every bill with more people out of work than ever.

So yes, it might be expected that there would be a drop in results – but the ministry appears to want to sell us a dinghy and call it a yacht.

“When we talk about the exams being a success,” says Assistant Director of Education Evelyn Sawyer, “it is more than just looking at the students who got As, Bs, Cs and Ds all right. We have to look at the mere fact that we were able to complete the examinations, administer the exam and complete it makes it a success.”

So just because you were able to hold the exams means that they were a success? How does that help the students coming out with lower grades and looking to compete in the education or jobs market against those with higher grades from earlier years?

That doesn’t look like much of a success to them.

Education Minister Jeff Lloyd talked about “misleading claims about the results” without specifying what those claims were, and pledged to “set the record straight” while declining to point out where the record was wonky.

He went on to fail to set any record straight but talked vaguely about how “no one can identify any perfect education system” while declining to note that there are a number of international measures that rank nations according to educational achievements or setting out which countries the government is learning from. He said students perform well where there are common denominators of “balance of political will, a bi-partisan shared vision for education, a high level of school leadership, the support of key stakeholders, excellent teachers and

students and parents who appreciate the importance of education”.

Frankly, that’s just a string of buzzwords that doesn’t detail how the government is helping to make these things happen. What’s happening to hire and train teachers? What’s happening to ensure parents are closely involved?

Honestly, what’s happening to reach those students who haven’t been logging on to take part in classes or to ensure those without electricity have a chance to join in?

Mr Lloyd went on to “declare unequivocally that the entire examination exercise was a success. It was worth the financial, emotional, mental, physical and psychological cost”.

The cost to who, Mr Lloyd? The cost to the futures of children whose resumé will look less impressive than that of their peers from a year earlier?

This talk of not focusing on the results is simply gaslighting. The results are what determine children’s futures.

Worse, without recognising that the children themselves are suffering a worse outcome, there will be no change for the next year’s students if we still find ourselves beset by COVID-19.

There are absolutely unique challenges that have been faced in staging these exams. But let’s not pat ourselves on the back simply for having shown up.

The results are the important outcome – because those shape the futures of our children.

Sex for survival

In a sad story today, we report that many members of the LGBTQI community are turning to sex work to make ends meet.

This so-called “survival sex” is exactly what it sounds like, people selling their bodies to be able to pay the rent or put food in the cupboard.

There will be some who shrug and dismiss it because this isn’t their community – but the truth is this will be happening in all communities. This year has hit people economically like no other, and desperation to survive is driving people to do things they might never normally contemplate.

It is a reminder to us all that those of us in a position to help must continue to do so. People are in need – anything we can do to lessen the desperation can make the world of difference.

Tourism Ministry deserves the blame EDITOR, The Tribune.

RECENTLY, your Tourism Minister declared that he is “not happy with the tourism arrival numbers” and that “we are a glimmer of our former self”.

Yet he and his Tourism staff refuse to accept any blame for the dire situation now facing the most important economic business of The Bahamas.

For many years I have conducted a travel agency in the Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania region.

Formerly Nassau and the out islands were an important part of our business, especially in the winter season. Yet it seems your Government is doing all in its power to discourage and deter tourist arrivals.

The red tape and rules are unbelievable. How could you ever expect prospective visitors would be willing to meet all these requirements just to have

a holiday in a warmer climate? It will become even more unbelievable to expect cruise passengers when that sector reopens to fulfill all the requirements.

It is not only difficult to enter but the hassles continue after arrival when more tests and even daily questionnaires have to be filled out online. Nearly all the population here is free from COVID-19 and are taking precautions. So why the overkill with rules?

As a regular reader of your newspaper I am also astonished at some of the nasty online comments from Bahamians themselves directed to the many concerned people who have complained about the entry problems. Unlike the USA and other countries where tourism is not a major part of the economy The Bahamas relies on tourism.

Do you want business or are you looking to a collapsed economy with mass

poverty and resulting social problems?

Currently we have no clients who want to book for The Bahamas as a result of your current rules. It is too time consuming and expensive for all the tests and the uncertainties about getting travel permission in time to travel. Why visitors cannot just bring a test seems far easier. Drop the complex Health Visa. That is why our clients are booking to the many other locations which are far easier to enter. From our premier destination last year to no bookings this year yet your Tourism Minister continues on the same stubborn path refusing to face reality. As a longtime friend of The Bahamas I hope things change very quickly for your sake.

WILLIAM G DAVIDSON Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

January 3 2021.

Improve the Civil Service EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE more things change, the more, unfortunately, they remain the same!

Today my Facebook feed sent me my Letter to the Editor memory from January 3, 2018, on the Commercial Enterprises Bill, 2017, and l could only sigh as l reread it since I was preparing to put pen to paper to address this year’s confusion surrounding applications for the Commercial Entities (Substance Requirements) Act, 2018 (CESRA).

Here we are, as Bahamians and business owners, at the beginning of 2021, once again sadly reflecting on how the “ease of doing business” remains an oxymoron, tethered by inefficiency as we continue to be frustrated, getting nowhere faster due to ‘gubment’s lack of proper preparation, communication, and common sense. As the pathetic cycle of same story, different day ‘gubment’ disservice rolls on, the mind boggles, and we continue to sigh, shake our heads, and put up with the crappy service meted out to us!

Well I, for one, am fed up with these constant ‘gubment’ regulations, forms, threats, and applications thrust upon us (usually at the last minute and mostly due to foreign demands) that have not been properly explained, prepared, nor organised for the public’s use.

REALITY CHECK ‘GUBMENT’: WE, YES WE, THE PEOPLE pay the civil service salaries, so treat us with the respect WE deserve as YOUR EMPLOYERS! We are tired of paying for mediocrity – we demand better – we deserve excellence! So work harder and smarter and get it right – the first time and every time!

This present CESRA application caught many businesses unawares last year when it appeared

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net suddenly as a Public Notice in the newspapers during the summer. My inquiries to several lawyers and accountants provided no clarification as they were as clueless as I was, so the quest for answers continued until a website link and confusing 12 page online ‘User Guide’ was provided by the Ministry of Finance.

Not surprisingly, and in true ‘gubment’ backwards and inefficient form, the necessary portal was still in beta testing mode so it was not properly operational before the Public Notice was published. So suffice it to say, that after being unsuccessful in applying following the User Guide instructions, I gave up in frustration!

Fast forward to December when the Public Notice had been published regularly and the business community started to panic in light of the approaching December 31 deadline along with threats of imposing non-compliance penalties (which also led to the popping up of private entities willing to assist applicants for a three figure fee). Since my online inquiries for assistance were not being answered, I had to resort to emails directly to the Ministry of Finance (and I thank that official who responded so promptly and effectively) in order to get proper access to the portal in order to complete the application, which, I am relieved to say, was successful.

We, the innocent small businesses in these islands, continue to be held hostage by these foreign finance entities who we have hooked up with, and we are made to suffer these insufferable forms and inconveniences because of guilty tax dodgers around the world who might

be using their substantial income for nefarious means! This is but another form of slavery in disguise!

Again I have to ask: where is our sovereignty, is this really worth it, and why does this have to be such a tedious process?

Having had to go through similar but even more angst earlier last year to complete registrations under the new Non-Profit Organisation Act – which was another saga of frustration – it really is unfair and unprofessional and unacceptable to be continually burdened with these ‘gubment’ inefficiencies! Enough is enough!

In the meantime, l sincerely wish to thank those (all too few) government departments, such as: Road Traffic at Fort Charlotte, Business License, and Passport Office, whose supervisors and staff members have risen to the challenge and are providing efficient and effective service as they are mandated to do! We, both the people and business owners, are most appreciative of your stellar efforts!

Why is this type of exceptional service not the norm rather than the exception?

‘Gubment’, please get your act together in 2021 and stop wasting our hard earned money to pay lousy staff for crappy service!

Take a hint from private enterprise and get rid of laziness and mediocrity in the civil service – set standards of excellence and use talented Bahamians to train, train, train – from the top down - to ensure that these higher standards are met! In addition, please consult beforehand with us, the people who have to use these services, and listen to and apply our constructive criticism for the better!

Bottom line: lmprove the civil service!

PAM BURNSIDE Nassau, January 3, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, January 5, 2021, PAGE 7

Man accused of killing mother of seven

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A 27-year-old man was yesterday charged with the death of a single mother-ofseven who was killed during an alleged domestic dispute in Abaco on Boxing Day. Barry Swain Jr appeared before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis charged with one count of manslaughter after he was accused of causing the death of Angelita

Pritchard on December 26.

Police said around 1pm that day, they were called to a home in Crown Haven where they found Pritchard’s lifeless body.

According to an initial report from police, additional inquiries revealed the woman “had an altercation with a male earlier that day” and was later found lifeless at her home with “injuries to the face”.

The victim had just

celebrated her birthday on Christmas Day, a relative told The Tribune.

During his arraignment, Swain Jr was not required to enter a plea and the case was adjourned to March 3 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

Due to the nature of the charges, the accused was denied bail and remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until that time.

He has a right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail.

JAILED FOR FOUR YEARS OVER UNLICENCED GUN

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A 23-year-old man, found with an unlicenced gun and over 50 rounds of illegal ammunition, was sentenced to four years in prison yesterday.

Police arrested Garth Armbrister after they found him with a multi-calibre rifle on January 2. The prosecution said police also recovered a black magazine with 18 live rounds of .223 ammunition, 12 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, 23 live rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and an empty 9mm magazine.

He admitted to all of the offences during a hearing before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt.

The court was told that officers found the

contraband after they executed a search warrant on Armbrister’s Kemp Road residence around 9am that day. The accused was arrested and taken to the Criminal Investigation Department, where he took full ownership for the rifle and live rounds of ammunition when questioned by police.

During his plea in mitigation, Armbrister’s lawyer asked the magistrate to consider the fact that his client entered an early guilty plea and accepted full responsibility for his actions. He also noted Armbrister was extremely remorseful for what he had done and insisted that he was embarrassed that he had to drag his family before the courts with him as a result of his irresponsible mistakes.

On the day in question, Armbrister’s mother and siblings were also arrested and charged with illegal firearm and ammunition possession as they were also in the home where the weapons were found.

However, after Armbrister admitted to the offences in court, the prosecution withdrew the charges against the rest of his family.

After listening to the facts, Magistrate FergusonPratt told Armbrister if he broke the law, he should expect to face the consequences. She also said it was very unfortunate that a young man with so much potential would make a wrong turn and bring shame to his family. As a result, she sentenced Armbrister to four years behind bars.

IN COURT OVER $5 OF HEMP

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

AN ABACO man who was found with a marijuana joint during the Christmas holidays has been placed on probation for three months.

Police arrested Neo Fritz Jr, 22, after they found $5 worth of Indian hemp on him on December 28.

He pleaded guilty to one count of possession during a hearing before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis.

YOUR

The prosecution said officers on mobile patrol in the Fox Hill area observed Fritz Jr driving west in a black Honda with no licence plate. They signalled him to stop and told him he would be searched for dangerous drugs and firearms.

During their investigation, officers found one silver foil wrap in Fritz Jr’s front right pants pocket. He was subsequently arrested and charged.

During the hearing, Fritz Jr’s counsel, Ian Cargill, told the magistrate his

client lived and worked in Abaco, but was visiting family in New Providence for the Christmas break. He insisted his client was sorry for his actions and said he took full responsibility for what he had done.

After listening to Mr Cargill’s plea in mitigation, Magistrate Rolle Davis placed Fritz Jr on three months’ probation and warned him if he appeared before the court during that time frame, he would be fined $200 or sentenced to 15 days in custody.

CHOICE FOR THE FAMILY WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/JOYFM1019

ANGELITA PRITCHARD

PROBATION FOR PUNCHING GIRLFRIEND IN MOUTH

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN who punched his girlfriend after he thought he saw her flirting with a lesbian in a local bar was yesterday placed on probation for a year.

Leon Chase was arrested after he punched his girlfriend in her mouth at the Crib Bar on January 1.

He pleaded guilty to one count of assault during a hearing before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis.

The court was told Chase approached his girlfriend

in the bar and asked her why she was there and what she was doing talking to a “sissy girl”. The prosecution said an argument followed and Chase ended up punching his girlfriend in her mouth.

After she filed an official complaint with police, the accused was arrested.

In an interview with officers at the East Street South Police Station, he said his girlfriend had approached him that night and told him that the “sissy girl” liked her. Chase claimed when he left the bar and came back, he saw his girlfriend “up in the other woman’s face”

so he approached her and punched her in her mouth.

During the hearing, Chase was represented by attorney Ian Cargill.

He told the magistrate his client was sorry for his actions and only reacted in the “heat of the moment”.

He also said Chase and the complainant lived together.

He said the accused had already apologised to her.

As a result, Magistrate Rolle Davis placed Chase on probation for one year.

He warned him if he failed to be of good behaviour during that time frame, he would be sentenced to nine months on remand.

Funeral Service For DEACON HENRY “Charlie” ROLLE, 80 a resident of Haven Road, Rock Crusher & formerly of Mangrove Cay, Andros, will be held in Woodlawn Gardens, Soldier Road, on Thursday, January 7, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. Officiating will be Rev. Sanford Rolle, assisted by Min. Kimsley Ferguson.

Illustrious Henry Rolle will be sadly missed by his Wife: Carolyn Rolle; Eight sons: Clayton Rolle, Sanford (Denise) Rolle, Valentino (Talinda) Rolle, Presley (Sherene) Rolle, Horatio (Norma) Rolle, Junior Alexis, Michael Eugene and Expensor Eugene; One daughter: Donna Ramsey; Step children: Chris (Judy) Wallace, Egbert (Gresiel) Wallace, Wendy Eneas, Cindy Concepcion of Atlanta, Georgia and Mervin Wallace; Grand Children: Renaldo, Sanford Jr., Kia, Clayton Jr., Valvanique, Sanchez, Vashawn, Presley Jr., Vashti, Vandeisha, and Skylar; Five Great Grandchildren: Davian, and Kaden Rolle, Niko Smith Jr., Ni’Kyiah and N’Khari Smith. Five Sisters: Bessimae Rolle, Beverly Martin, Ophelia Rolle, Paula Saunders and Patricia Simmons; Six Brothers-in-law: Bishop Revy (Bernice) Francis, Alfred Morris, Carl Martin and Michael Simmons, Hiram and Osborne “Goose” Lockhart; Four Sisters-in-Law: Elisa Wallace, Morine Lesbott, Persis and Emmaline Lockhart and Sylvia Moxey; Nephews: Gary Bodie, Mario Rhaming, Marcian Laroda, Michael Simmons Jr., Livingstone, Edward, Ivan and Antonio Rolle, Lynden Curtis, Shawn, Marcus and Devard Francis; Nieces: Anastacia Gray, Darsial Burrows, Shannals Johnson, Tamika Bodie, Dina Rolle, Doretha Miller, Heather Bowe, Claudine Johnson, Adeneka Rolle, Sherece Curtis, Natasha Laramore, Alphanette Grant, Gail Charlow, and Florinda Francis. A Host of other relatives and friends including: The settlement of Mangrove Cay Andros, Pastor Salathiel Rolle and the Pinewood Gardens Church of God Family, Commonwealth masons and Order of Eastern Stars, The Progressive Liberal Party, Princess Margaret Accident and Emergency Department, King Solomon Roberts, Portia and Charlene Smith, Nurse Thelma Barnett and the Rock Crusher Community, Deacon Raymond Forbes and family, Thomas Basden and Family, Ervin Fernander and Family, Sidney Sylvester and Family, Agnes Nairn and Family, AnamaeMunnings and Family, Sunny Sturrup and The Rolle and Sturrup Families, The Church of God Sunday School Families, The Carmichael Road and South Beach Families, the Entire Haitian Community and many others too numerous to mention.

Friends may pay their last respects at Demeritte’s Funeral Home, Market Street, from 10-5:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

PAGE 8, Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Honouring three souls in the Rastafari community

THE TRIBUNE EMPRESS Prescola Linda Sampson.

T

HE Rastafari community has been rocked by a series of recent deaths.

These individuals were well-known in their respective rights not only as Rastas, but as people with great hearts and a love for their fellow man. They were bright lights and their transitioning from this Earthly plane has shocked all who loved them, and has resulted in a great deal of introspection and reevaluation for the Rasta community.

I begin my 2021 series of Face to Face by honouring these three souls, not only because of their value to their community, but because they were well known and loved by me.

Like many others, 2020 will be a year I won’t soon forget, but through it all, we must be thankful we are here to tell their stories and make sure their impact is not forgotten.

In the summer of 2020, the Rasta community said goodbye to a matriarch, Empress Prescola Linda Sampson. It was a heart wrenching farewell, as the 58-year-old leader was a teacher, mentor and inspiration to many. She was an activist for the rights of Rastas in The Bahamas and throughout the world, as well as an advocate for pan-African philosophy and cultural consciousness.

She believed in defending the poor and was vocal in her efforts to end the discrimination, prejudice and systemic exclusion they face.

During her Rasta journey, Empress Prescola was a pioneer who was instrumental in the establishment of a number of non-profit groups including: Daughters of Zion, Foundational Daughters and African Sisters for All Women (ASFAW). As ASFAW president, she led the successful theatrical production “A Tribute to

Black Queens and Goddesses”. The 2014 event was held at the Taxi Union building, East Street and then at Akhepran International Academy, Bernard Road. It is still being talked about today as the one of the best Afrocentric productions The Bahamas has ever seen.

“In the summer of 2020, the Rasta community said goodbye to a matriarch, Empress Prescola Linda Sampson. It was a heart wrenching farewell, as the 58-year-old leader was a teacher, mentor and inspiration to many.”

Empress Prescola was passionate about the welfare, protection and upliftment of women and children. She helped organize successful youth programmes, including “Youth Day” which the Bobo Shanti still uphold today. It is an opportunity for Rasta children to show off their talents and shine.

Traditionally, the children also receive gifts as a form of “Black Christmas” and it is held on the Bobo Shanti Christmas celebration on January 7, in tandem with Christmas Day in Ethiopia.

She also helped to organize many summer programmes at the Rasta camp, and the programmes still run today, with her daughters being instrumental in keeping the programmes alive. Children

learn African languages and history in addition to traditional subjects. She supported the Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress (EABIC, also known as the Bobo Shanti) and was a member of the church’s Woman’s Freedom Liberation League (WFLL), the Theocracy Reign Order of Nyahbinghi, and the Qubtic Church of the Black Messiah, led

by Pastor Anku Sa Ra. Her children’s heartfelt tribute hail her as a virtuous, hardworking mother who personified a “Queen Mother Warrior Goddess”.

They say that she truly lived to the mandate of: “The hungry fed, naked clothed, sick nourished, aged protected and infants cared for” as her reach extended far beyond her household.

Empress Prescola is survived by her sons Prescott Sampson-Ferguson, D’Andrew and Dereko Taylor; and daughters ASP Denika Sampson-Hooper, Nicole Sampson, Derekerah and Deree Taylor and nine grandchildren.

Then, on November 30, her dear friend and leader in the Rastafari community, Hon Priest Philip Nathaniel Blyden passed. It was another blow to the Rasta Community, as well as the Afrocentric, cultural and conscious community as he was not just a leader, but in many cases, he was the glue that held the community together. For example, he established the House of Rastafari (HOR). This umbrella organization brought together facets of the Rasta community or those affiliated with it. This was a monumental feat.

EMPRESS Jerdeisha Moxey

HON Priest Philip Nathaniel Blyden

Groups under the umbrella included: the Theocracy Reign order of the Nyahbinghi, headed locally by people like Priest Marcus, Ras Ean Maura, Elder Country and Jah Charlie; the EABIC, headed locally

by Hon Ambassador Priest Rithmond McKinney and Chairman Priest Jevon Thompson and founded by Rt Hon King Emmanuel Charles Edwards; Rastafari Development Union (RDU) under elder James Rolle; the African People’s Socialist Party (Uhuru Movement) headed locally by attorney Alex Morley and internationally by Omali Yeshitela; and the Hebrew study group under Prophets Daniel Cinque and Cecil Kohen came together for a common purpose of advancing the rights of the disenfranchised and stigmatized in the country.

They also came together for the unification and uplifting of the masses of black people to know and appreciate the heritage that was kept from them through slavery and the systemic oppression that followed.

As founder and chairman of the House of Rastafari, Jah Blyden, as he was affectionately called, successfully championed these rights locally and internationally. He sat on several global boards in relation to pan-African advancement, and he did so with finesse.

His death spurred tributes from around the world. He was public relations officer for the EABIC; member of the United Negro Improvement Association, Florida branch headed

by Jah Benton Curry; the Livity Global Council; the Bahamas Heritage Foundation Committee; the National Reparations Committee and more. As a pioneer in the Rasta movement in The Bahamas, he faced oppression and discrimination but chose to rise above it and persevere so that standards like the wearing of dreadlocks is as commonplace as it is today.

He was a well-loved and respected teacher of art and African history and culture at Akhepran International Academy.

He was a skilled artist, master carpenter, contractor, paralegal, and pastry chef. He lived his truth and walked in integrity. He died at age 62 and is survived by his daughter A Kenyatta Saunders, née Blyden and three grandchildren whom he adored.

During the last days of 2020, another bright star in the Rasta movement was called home. Empress Jerdeisha Moxey was a vibrant, cheerful and loving soul. She was extremely talented and well known for making one-of-a-kind outfits and accessories. I was fortunate to have been the recipient of one of her dazzling creations. She put her artistry to good use as she adorned family, friends and clients with apparel that stood out. She appreciated the natural resources of The Bahamas and sometimes incorporated raw materials like shells and straw in her outfits. One day, I saw her in such an outfit and photographed her for the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture’s calendar. Her photo received rave reviews.

Empress Jerdeisha was known for her radiant smile and bubbly personality. In all the years I knew her, I never saw her waver from the joyful person she was.

She was a clerical officer for the Ministry of Education for many years, and had moved to Tarpum Bay, Eleuthera a few years ago.

Her mother, also deceased, was the famous Jackie “Lil Stunt” Moxey, a softball player extraordinaire.

Jackie’s larger than life personality captivated those she met and her charity extended beyond the sporting community and her Chippingham community.

Empress Jerdeisha left us at the tender age of 34 and she leaves behind her loving husband, Ephraim Brice and adoring son, Emmanuel.

SISTER Iata I could not conclude this Rasta tribute without honouring Sister Iata, who passed away a couple years ago. She was a healer and spiritual guide for many.

Her regal and nurturing essence drew in many. She helped to guide and inspire people throughout the Caribbean and the world.

Although she was not born in The Bahamas, she frequented here because of her daughter Renee, better known as radio personality and Juicin for Life business owner “Natural Empress”, who lost her father on the same day.

Sister Iata truly lived out her purpose, as did all mentioned in today’s column.

They not only fulfilled what they believed in, they poured ceaselessly into the younger generation, and that is why they are still lauded and loved today.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, January 5, 2021, PAGE 9

IT’S VITAL WE GET OUR VACCINE PROGRAMME RIGHT AND LEARN HOW OTHERS HAVE FARED The Peter Young column IN a free society it is axiomatic that authority should be held to account.

Criticism of mistakes and failures should be encouraged, if only to prevent them in the future. So, on the thesis that it is the role of the Fourth Estate to scrutinise official policies and actions and to ask the tough questions, I return this week to the vexed issue of the coronavirus vaccine.

After the endless dark months – involving loss of liberty, restrictions and disruption, isolation and separation, economic damage and travel bans – vaccinations are the hot topic of major concern worldwide.

For, amid all the controversy and dispute surrounding the virus, there is one thing on which everyone can agree; namely, that vaccines are a pathway back to some sort of normality when people can start rebuilding their lives with confidence.

Following Britain’s success as the first country in the world to start – on December 8 – a vaccination programme using the Pfizer BioNTech product – the euphoria seems already to have dissipated somewhat with news of a row developing about how the doses should be administered.

Reportedly, the claims of 95 percent efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine were based on two doses being given with a gap of 21 days. But health officials have now suddenly decreed the second dose should be postponed for three months on the grounds that a single dose provides a degree of protection so the second jab can be given to somebody else, thereby saving more lives. Despite the apparent lack of scientific evidence demonstrating the extent of protection if the second dose is delayed

beyond 21 days, these officials claim this is a logical and fair decision given the limited availability of the vaccine, despite the manufacturer saying there are adequate stocks. In addition, the new AstraZeneca and Oxford University vaccine has now been approved for use in the UK starting yesterday and it is said supplies are readily available.

Even if it turns out a single jab is a lot better than no jab, many believe this is a bad policy because it creates unnecessary concern and uncertainty. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that there has been a fierce backlash, including among doctors who have criticised it as bizarre, grossly unfair

and ill thought out. They argue patients had already consented to a three-week vaccine schedule of two doses and it would be unethical for medical staff to renege on that – not to mention the logistical challenge of changing thousands of appointments – particularly when both Pfizer and AstraZeneca have denied there are supply shortages.

I have described this episode in some detail because to many people such confusion is both disheartening and alarming. As seen from here, it displays a troubling lack of judgement and provides another example of why the British government has been condemned for its claimed poor management of

the virus crisis. It also shows the importance of such decisions being overseen by government ministers who must be in control of policy.

The scientific advice based on data and fact is crucial, but only ministers can weigh the pros and cons and make judgements on a broader basis about such significant matters affecting millions of people. The UK is aiming, as a priority, to vaccinate more than 30 million of the most vulnerable people at risk and has already completed more than one million of that target.

Good management of the rollout of mass vaccination is vital as Britain’s coronavirus crisis deepens, with the number of cases being

driven up by a new, more infectious and transmissible variant – a second wave that started in London which is said to be out of control as it spreads throughout the country and may lead to a further lockdown.

Vaccination is, of course, similarly important for all other countries. Here at home, most people will surely hope those in charge will always take account of the bigger picture and not make similar mistakes. It should be so much easier to organise mass vaccination for such a relatively small population so that the apparatus of lockdowns and curfews can be dismantled.

From what I hear, many people would appreciate

an official update about moves to obtain a vaccine for local use. There are rumours The Bahamas may go for the AstraZeneca one because it is easier to transport, handle and store. That surely makes sense after its approval for use in Britain and in the knowledge that it can be trusted. It is also less expensive than others though there may be availability problems in supplying other countries. But cost should not be an issue, since it is in the interest of all to eradicate the virus everywhere, and various forms of financial assistance are available for countries whose economies have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic.

TO use the vernacular, prediction for the most part is a mug’s game. Who could have foreseen this time last year that 2020 would be dominated by a mysterious virus that would precipitate a global pandemic and create widespread, sustained misery while destroying so many people’s lives forever and turning the world upside down in the process. How different the picture appeared then as people looked forward optimistically towards the future. To cite just two examples among so many, who would have believed the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games would be cancelled – or, with a buoyant US domestic economy, who would have thought President Trump would fail to win a second term and end up losing to a Democratic contender who, as even his supporters admit, may have seen better days.

With so much uncertainty and unpredictability, is there any point in trying to probe into the future?

Probably not, but of one thing we can be sure. The effects of the pandemic will continue well into 2021 despite the current rollout of several different vaccines in a range of countries.

So, it is worth considering briefly how short-term disruption could mean long-term change and how certain geo-political trends may have been speeded up

by the COVID-19 crisis.

It is clear the larger countries, which are facing logistical problems of a huge vaccine rollout, will take time to complete mass vaccination. For example, in Britain an ambitious goal of two million per week means the programme will last at least until April.

So, starting under a cloud of rising cases and deaths, lockdowns and strict social distancing will continue in the UK in the immediate future. This means no early end to the decline of High Street retail buying and an increase of online shopping instead. As a consequence, companies like Amazon will thrive and create new employment. Working from home – at least part of the time – may become permanent as companies cut back on expensive office space in city centres. Less commuting will result in people dispersing around the country as the digital economy expands worldwide – if you can work remotely from 20 miles away, why not further afield?

But the general expectation is that Britain’s national economy is more robust than some maintain and its ability to bounce back should not be underestimated, particularly post-Brexit as the country works to reinvent itself as an independent global trading nation. Hosting the UN Climate Change

Conference and G7 Summit this year will also be significant.

As for geopolitical aspects, many commentators predict that before the end of the new decade China will overtake the US as the world’s largest economy, and the pace of this has quickened as a result of the pandemic and its damaging effect on the US economy. During the 20th century, America became the world’s richest economy and greatest democracy. In the 1980s and beyond, capitalist economies flourished – while collectivism failed and the Soviet Union collapsed – so that it was widely recognised that the market system was not only the surest but the only way to increase wealth and raise living standards.

However, what now looks to be particularly disturbing to Western pride and prestige – and is often ignored – is that, if China does overtake the US, for the first time in modern history the link between political freedom and economic prosperity will be broken. In the 21st century, the biggest economy will be a totalitarian state ruled by a Communist Party which is due to celebrate its centenary this year; and this could lead to claims that authoritarianism rather than a liberal democracy is the best way to grow and

manage an economy. Thus, in the coming decade there will be a continuing struggle between democracy and authoritarianism. But I imagine much will depend on the foreign policy pursued under a Biden presidency, operating - as he will be - within a Democratic Party that is moving to the Left.

As for The Bahamas, the immediate future will surely depend on bringing back mass tourism. But the country may also be faced with possible changes and restrictions in relation to traditional supply chains.

Accepting that the rest of the world does not owe us a living, the coming year ought to be a time to place a renewed emphasis on fundamental and meaningful diversification of the economy. But, first, the priority should surely be to roll out a vaccine and get the country back to some sort of normality – even if social distancing in one form or another may be here to stay.

A Russian linesman would have sorted it out for Greavsie years ago Football (known as soccer in America) is the most popular team sport in Britain where it is widely called the ‘beautiful game’.

It is little wonder, therefore, that for many years there was public dismay that one of the nation’s most famous footballing sons – the legendary

Jimmy Greaves who was renowned as the greatest goal scorer in English football history – had not been honoured officially as so many top sportsmen have been. Most recently, one thinks of tennis star Andy Murray and Bradley Wiggins, winner of the Tour de France, both of whom were awarded knighthoods. But there are also many others who have received an array of awards and been immortalised in statues.

The controversy has now re-emerged with the award in the New Year Honours of an MBE to ‘Greavsie’, as he is popularly known, while champion racing driver Lewis Hamilton has been given a knighthood. An MBE is considered at the lower end of the scale and many also think that this award has anyway come too late for a player who was in his prime as long ago as the 1960s. The general feeling seems to be he deserved a higher honour, not only for his outstanding achievements over a long period as a footballer in the top flight of the English game, but also for his contribution to the sport as a popular football commentator and pundit in a long-running television show.

He scored a recordbreaking 357 goals playing for famous teams like Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham, and also netted 44 goals in 57 appearances for

the national team, which was also a record. What is more, both records still stand.

It is said that a period of alcoholism was unrelated to the extreme disappointment of being injured before England’s victorious 1966 World Cup final against Germany and thus missing out on what should have been his crowning glory of a winner’s medal. Recovering from that, he then forged his successful television career. At his peak, he was an iconic and charismatic figure in the world of football – so skilled and dazzling on the pitch but also an affable and humorous individual off it who had time for everyone.

It remains puzzling why such a man, who in his day was cherished as a national treasure, was denied proper recognition at the time. Now aged 80, Jimmy Greaves has been in poor health since suffering a devastating stroke in 2015. He is confined to a wheelchair and his speech is limited. A shadow of his former self, he is barely recognisable and his condition is a sad reminder of how debilitating illness and the ravages of time can cruelly affect anyone. While any honour from The Queen should surely be appreciated by its recipient, many admirers of Jimmy Greaves believe the award now of an MBE is “too little, too late”.

88-YEAR-OLD Trevor Cowlett receives the Oxford University/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from nurse Sam Foster, at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, England, yesterday, on the first day of rolling out the newly approved jab in the UK. Photo: Steve Parsons/Pool Photo via AP

YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE

PAGE 20, Tuesday, January 5, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Five-month loan wait dampening realtor’s outlook

Union: Atlantis ‘threw deal out the window’

FROM PAGE 24

emergency powers for longer.

“I can only say that I would hope they would extend the emergency powers to protect jobs,” he told Tribune Business. “Even if the government is not paying a lot in unemployment benefit, which it isn’t, at least it protects the jobs. I don’t have a problem with that because people need their jobs.”

The government’s COVID-19 emergency powers suspend the Employment Act’s section 28 (c), which requires that an employee who has been sent home must either be recalled after 90 days (13 weeks) or terminated with due severance and other benefits.

Mr Goudie spoke as Darrin Woods, the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union’s (BHCAWU) president, slammed Atlantis for what he described as unilaterally altering the terms and conditions of his members in returning some of the recalled 2,500 workers to furlough status.

The Paradise Island resort made the move based upon “unfavourable occupancy forecasts” for January 2021, which have been worsened by inadequate airlift and soaring COVID-19 infection rates in the US, but Mr Woods argued that in so doing it had effectively torn up the two sides’ industrial agreement.

While the union and hotel industry have lacked a signed, recognised industrial agreement for years, they are operating as if the terms and conditions of the previous one are still in effect. Mr Woods argued that Atlantis had missed out several intermediate steps by immediately furloughing the impacted workers.

“They’ve thrown everything out of the window,” he told Tribune Business. “Our industry is run by occupancy, and persons are rostered by occupancy. Once occupancy drops below 65 percent and 55 percent, persons are supposed to begin working reduced days.

“Once occupancy goes down more, they are supposed to move from reduced days to one week on, one week off. Then, if it continues, you go to furlough. The reduced occupancies do not allow them to go directly to suspension or furlough.”

Mr Woods said if Atlantis planned to close a particular outlet, such as a restaurant, six and 13-week notices were required by the industrial agreement. He argued that the resort’s latest action represented its third unilateral variation of workers’ terms and conditions in a matter of weeks, following the Christmas bonuses and change in

fall into the non-performing loan category, banks are going to be even less willing to extend mortgages to anyone other than the most qualified applicants.

Mr Maycock told Tribune Business he had already witnessed banks increasing the sums that mortgage borrowers must pay as a downpayment on their purchase, with one client having to raise this from ten percent to 15 percent of the acquisition price.

“We’re going to experience some changes in the market, but don’t know what they are and how they are going to impact buyers and sellers,” he said of the mortgage market. “There’s

to COVID-19.”

Bahamas-based commercial banks have become especially risk averse to mortgage lending following the hit suffered in the aftermath of the 2008-2009 recession, when total credit in arrears peaked at $1.2bn.

Many lenders were stuck with distressed properties they could not offload due to the absence of qualified buyers, leaving a ‘bad loan’ overhang that lasted for almost a decade.

Now, as the industry grapples with COVID-19 loan deferrals and having to determine how many will

a chance there will be some changes to come, and we all have to wait and see.

“What we don’t know is the perspective of the lender.

There’s a chance they may revisit their lending policies.

What these new policies might entail is to be seen and heard. We’re hoping there are no changes, but there’s a good chance there may be after all we’ve gone through.

I have quite a number of transactions pending confirmation of [loan] approvals.”

The Central Bank recently revealed that mortgage and consumer loan delinquencies soared by $91.8m in two months with many Bahamian households and individuals unable to meet

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their debt servicing obligations, due to job and income losses, after loan deferral initiatives came to an end.

Mortgage loan delinquencies increased by a further $37.4m during November, although their consumer equivalent actually dropped by $3.6m. When added to the $58m rise in mortgage and consumer loan delinquencies from the previous month, this contributed to a more than $90m jump in a 61-day period.

“Banks’ credit quality indicators deteriorated during the month of November, reflecting a rise in short-term delinquencies, attributed to the negative effects from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, total private sector arrears grew by $45m (six percent) to $796.2m, elevating the relevant ratio by 80 basis points to 14.2 percent,” the Central Bank said.

“A breakdown by loan category showed that the growth in short-term arrears was led by mortgage delinquencies, which expanded by $37.4m (8.5 percent) to $476m, as the $41.3m (25.7 percent) rise in the shortterm segment outstripped the $3.9m (1.4 percent) falloff in non-performing loans.

“In contrast, consumer loan delinquencies declined by $3.6m (1.5 percent), owing to an $8.2m (8.3 percent) reduction in the 31-90 days category, which eclipsed the $4.6m (three percent) increase in the long-term segment.”

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

Interested persons can email their resume to humanresources@airportsbahamas.com by January 15th, 2021.

MARKET REPORT www.bisxbahamas.com

MONDAY, 04 JANUARY 2021

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX:

CLOSE

CHANGE

%CHANGE

YTD

YTD%

2092.32

-0.14

-0.01

-0.14

-0.01

(242) 323-2330 (242) 323-2320

BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 4.15 33.05 2.00 1.84 2.39 6.00 6.75 4.10 8.01 4.50 6.16 12.77 3.64 6.85 10.88 8.44 15.08 4.25 9.26 15.21

52WK LOW 3.13 22.65 0.67 1.62 1.67 5.00 6.00 2.70 4.75 3.50 5.90 11.06 2.10 4.60 9.60 7.50 13.00 3.25 8.15 14.00

PREFERENCE SHARES 1.00

1.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

1.00 10.00 1.00

1.00 10.00 0.90

SECURITY AML Foods Limited APD Limited Benchmark Bahamas First Holdings Limited Bank of Bahamas Bahamas Property Fund Bahamas Waste Cable Bahamas Commonwealth Brewery Commonwealth Bank Colina Holdings CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank Consolidated Water BDRs Doctor's Hospital Emera Incorporated Famguard Fidelity Bank Bahamas Limited Focol Finco J. S. Johnson

SYMBOL AML APD BBL BFH BOB BPF BWL CAB CBB CBL CHL CIB CWCB DHS EMAB FAM FBB FCL FIN JSJ

LAST CLOSE 4.15 32.12 1.62 1.84 1.67 6.00 6.61 2.99 4.75 3.59 5.90 11.26 2.41 6.75 10.39 8.40 13.75 3.94 8.50 15.20

CLOSE 4.15 32.12 1.62 1.84 1.67 6.00 6.61 2.99 4.75 3.59 5.90 11.26 2.38 6.75 10.26 8.40 13.75 3.94 8.50 15.20

1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

SYMBOL FBB22 BFHB

LAST SALE 100.00 100.00

CLOSE 100.00 100.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00

BAH29 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0307 BG0330 BG0407 BSBGR1180375 BSBGRS950320 BSBGRS950304

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 97.72 100.64 100.64

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 97.72 100.64 100.64

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Bahamas First Holdings Preference Cable Bahamas Series 6 Cable Bahamas Series 8 Cable Bahamas Series 9 Cable Bahamas Series 10 Colina Holdings Class A Fidelity Bank Bahamas Class A Focol Class B

BFHP CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA FBBA FCLB

CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI 100.00 100.00

52WK LOW 100.00 100.00

115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 102.00 97.72 100.64 100.64

104.79 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 97.72 100.64 100.64

SECURITY Fidelity Bank (Note 22 Series B+) Bahamas First Holdings Limited

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing) Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BGS: 2014-12-7Y BGS: 2015-1-7Y BGS: 2014-12-30Y BGS: 2015-1-30Y BGS: 2015-6-7Y BGS: 2015-6-30Y BGS: 2015-10-7Y BGRS FX BSBGR1180375 BGRS FL BSBGRS950320 BGRS FL BSBGRS950304

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 (0.03) 0.00 (0.13) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

VOLUME

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

EPS$ 0.239 0.932 0.000 0.110 0.070 1.760 0.369 -0.438 0.140 0.184 0.449 0.722 0.102 0.467 0.646 0.728 0.816 0.203 0.939 0.631 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

VOLUME

DIV$ 0.170 1.260 0.020 0.030 0.000 0.000 0.260 0.000 0.000 0.120 0.220 0.720 0.434 0.060 0.328 0.240 0.540 0.120 0.200 0.610 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

P/E 17.4 34.5 N/M N/M N/M N/M 17.9 -6.8 33.9 19.5 13.1 15.6 23.3 14.5 15.9 11.5 16.9 19.4 9.1 24.1

YIELD 4.10% 3.92% 1.23% 1.63% 0.00% 0.00% 3.93% 0.00% 0.00% 3.34% 3.73% 6.39% 18.24% 0.89% 3.20% 2.86% 3.93% 3.05% 2.35% 4.01%

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

INTEREST Prime + 1.75% 6.25%

19-Oct-2022 30-Sep-2025

6.95% 4.50% 4.50% 6.25% 6.25% 4.50% 6.25% 4.25% 5.22% 4.31% 4.30%

20-Nov-2029 15-Dec-2021 30-Jul-2022 15-Dec-2044 30-Jul-2045 26-Jun-2022 26-Jun-2045 15-Oct-2022 13-Oct-2037 25-Sep-2032 25-Sep-2030

MATURITY

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.37 4.43 2.13 198.39 176.73 1.69 1.85 1.77 1.24 8.39 10.26 7.23 12.80 12.81 10.81 10.00 8.98 11.79

52WK LOW 2.11 3.30 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.65 1.79 1.75 1.05 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57 9.88 8.45 11.20

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund Leno Preferred Income Fund Leno Growth Fund Leno Diversified Fund Leno Global USD Bond Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Equities Sub Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - High Yield Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Alternative Strategies Fund Colonial Bahamas Fund Class D Colonial Bahamas Fund Class E Colonial Bahamas Fund Class F

NAV 2.37 4.43 2.13 198.36 173.98 1.69 1.79 1.77 1.05 8.39 9.88 7.23 12.33 12.80 10.20 N/A 9.28 11.86

YTD% 12 MTH% 3.76% 4.43% 1.54% 2.56% 2.12% 2.59% 1.65% 2.39% 4.34% 9.82% 1.65% 1.95% -3.06% -2.22% 0.80% 1.17% -12.30% -11.81% 0.64% 0.98% 1.19% -3.63% 4.20% 5.04% 2.63% 7.68% 3.68% 3.93% -4.89% -4.62% N/A N/A -0.50% 3.70% -3.80% 4.10%

NAV Date

31-Oct-2020 31-Oct-2020 30-Oct-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 31-Oct-2020 31-Oct-2020 31-Oct-2020 31-Oct-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020 30-Sep-2020

MARKET TERMS

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00

YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price

52wk-Hi - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks

Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity

52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks

Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity

Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume

Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price

Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume

Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week

Change - Change in closing price from day to day

EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths

Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today

NAV - Net Asset Value

DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months

N/M - Not Meaningful

P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings

TO TRADE CALL: CFAL 242-502-7010 | ROYALFIDELITY 242-356-7764 | CAROLISLE 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225 | BENCHMARK 242-326-7333

FROM PAGE 24

when gratuities will be paid to a bi-weekly basis.

Many observers will argue that the union’s position is unrealistic given the unique demands and strains imposed by COVID-19, as companies such as Atlantis focus on survival and battling to revive their business given the devastation inflicted by the past nine months.

Mr Woods, though, said the BHCAWU “know the environment we’re in”, and that its main complaint - like those of other trade unions - was that Atlantis was failing to consult with it before changing employee terms and conditions.

He added that the hotel union initially found out about the furloughs from members who were informed by management, and then received a phone call from Atlantis on Thursday.

Formal written notification was only received from the resort on Saturday, and the BHCAWU was yesterday still working on its formal response.

Mr Woods said “a large percentage” of Atlantis employees had been affected by the move to bi-weekly gratuity payments, rather than receiving this money after their shift had ended, as it imposed “a different financial strain” on tipped workers to make ends meet as they awaited the funds.

“They’re putting everything in this suitcase with COVID-19 on it, and it’s difficult to zip the suitcase because they’re putting everything in it,” he told Tribune Business. Asked how the hotel union planned to respond, Mr Woods said: “We’re addressing this through the proper channels so we can’t be accused of being irresponsible, but there’s only so much employees can bear.

“These are human beings and they should be treated as such. You can’t treat them as objects with no emotion, no feelings. That’s all we’re asking. The only thing we can do is follow the process, file whatever disputes we need to file, and hope help comes for the employees.

“It’s not the greatest way to start 2021. We’re continuing where we left off last year. At some point you can do what you want, but not as long as you want, and you will have to give an accounting. There’s a day of reckoning coming.”

Mr Woods also argued that resorts such as the British Colonial Hilton and Ocean Club, the latter of which recently terminated 90-plus employees, had breached the Government’s Emergency Orders by going to full severance rather than placing these workers on temporary furlough.

He said these provisions were designed for the employer’s benefit, rather than the employee’s, as the former did not have to pay workers their redundancy pay and other benefits even though many had asked for it.

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that LOVELYNE LORMEUS, of Irish Spring Court off Plantol Street, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 5th day of January 2021 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

THE TRIBUNE

Stimulus setback FROM PAGE 24

administration was aiming to slash $100m apiece from both its capital and recurrent (fixed cost) spending after 2020-2021 first quarter revenues came in $68m below projections while spending soared.

These cuts were cited as essential to keep the government on track for a record $1.327bn deficit, as forecast in the May budget, but they also give Bahamians an early insight into the harsh austerity measures - likely involving new and/or increased taxes and spending cuts - that will be necessary in coming years to cope with the debt blowout produced by COVID-19 and Hurricane Dorian.

Public works projects are usually among the first to feel the impact from such expenditure slashes, as Mr Bannister acknowledged. This means that their impact, in terms of providing employment for Bahamians and “putting money on the ground” amid COVID-19, where it is spent by these workers in local communities with the likes of “Mom and Pop” stores, will now be blunted.

The government’s original capital works budget, set at $151m for 2020-2021, was already well short of the $500m annual allocation that the deputy prime minister previously said was necessary to cure The Bahamas’ infrastructure deficit.

He yesterday conceded that the latest spending cuts are

a further setback to efforts to close this gap.

“I think you are well aware of the need to improve infrastructure throughout the country,” Mr Bannister replied to Tribune Business. “We are a tourism destination. We have to keep infrastructure safe and beautiful, and for many years we didn’t keep up as we should have. The opportunity now was to be able to seek to do that.

We’re not going to be able to do that the way we would have liked.”

Chester Cooper, the Opposition’s deputy leader and finance spokesman, has repeatedly accused the Minnis administration of starving public infrastructure of much-needed capital upgrades by repeatedly

slashing capital spending to stay in line with its fiscal deficit and debt targets.

The government’s Fiscal Strategy Report pledged that its goal is to keep capital expenditure “at a minimum of two percent of GDP” over the mediumterm, a figure that is equivalent to around $200 per year - a sum well short of the $500m ideal advocated by Mr Bannister.

“After peaking at 3.8 percent of GDP in 2020-2021, capital outlays are forecast to recede to 3.4 percent in 2021-2022 as the need for immediate fiscal stimulus lessens with the expected gradual reflation of the economy,” the report said.

“In the outer three years of the medium-term framework, the assumption is

Tuesday, January 5, 2021, PAGE 21 that capital spending would level-off and stabilise at two percent of GDP with the government making much greater use of private capital to facilitate infrastructural development through mutually beneficial public-private partnership (PPP) arrangements.”

It remains to be seen, though, just how much the government is prepared to cut back capital spending and infrastructure works with a general election at most 15 to 16 months away.

The prime minister’s recent frequent Family Island visits for contract signings and public infrastructure openings indicate he is very much in campaign mode.

“We’ve done a considerable amount of work, and when the opportunity comes the ministry will be ready again,” Mr Bannister said.

“We’ve done two large capital projects in Long Island, where the first bridge was built in the country since the 1980s. And we’ve finished the Monument Road.

“We’ve finished the bridge in Spanish Wells, the Russell Island Bridge, and will be there next week.

We’ve finished the London Creek bridge in Andros, and that bridge will shortly be opened also. The Staniard Creek bridge is almost finished, as is the airport in the Berry Islands. We have a little bit of work left to finish that by this year.

“The gymnasium in South Andros is almost finished, and we expect it to be completed this year. That will be the prototype for other islands as we go. We’ve been going through the islands as we’ve been going along,” he added.

“We’ve done a number not even mentioned yet, and are working around these constraints to complete any projects that have been started and to plan for next year to see how we can continue with developments that are spread all over the country.”

PM pushes overhaul over land ownership FROM PAGE 24 through different ways to advance the same thing. It seems as if people realise what did work in the 1980s and 1990s does not work today, so they’re changing their method. Hopefully the government and Attorney General’s Office are mindful that the situation can repeat itself in a different form.”

Mr Bethel last year confirmed an internal government probe was being conducted into how a deed purporting to transfer ownership of a 1,000-acre western New Providence land parcel - including the upscale Lyford Hills and Serenity subdivision - was accepted for recording in the Registry of Records when it was defective” and non-compliant with the law.

However, he this week said that the government, in response to the scam at Sir Lynden Pindling Estates and countless others like it, was seeking to push ahead with legislation to create a land registration system in The Bahamas.

Mr Bethel, disclosing that the Attorney General’s Office had almost finished work on the proposed Bill, said switching to such a system was easier than trying to reform the existing Quieting Titles Act to prevent its exploitation by

attorneys and their unscrupulous clients.

“A lot of it turns on the Quieting Titles Act,” the attorney general told this newspaper. “The Quieting Titles Act has been the source of much injustice and claims of injustice over the decades. To try and amend that to stop the crooks, it would be quite an undertaking.” Such reform efforts, he added, dated back to the Pindling administration, but had never been brought into law.

Instead, Mr Bethel said: “What the government intends to do is move to a system of land registration. We have a Bill that we have been working on that is basically finished, and the prime minister has indicated he wants to proceed with that.

“Starting in the developed areas, and moving to the Family Islands, every scrap of land will be registered on a registry. It’s where the owner of record will be recorded in the land registry as owning that land.

It will give greater security over titles with respect to land ownership. The Prime Minister has recently asked me to do that.”

Mr Bethel said all charges, such as mortgages, and claims relating to every piece of land in The Bahamas would be recorded in such a registry. However, mapping and registering every parcel of land in the

Bahamas, and the different types of ownership such as commonage and generational land, would likely be a mammoth undertaking requiring decades of work.

The attorney general acknowledged that a body would need to be created to oversee this process, with multiple technical staff hired to perform the necessary work, while a disputes resolution panel would also be required.

There will also be much scepticism as to whether a land registration system will ever get off the ground.

For the last Ingraham administration led similar efforts almost a decade ago to develop a three-strong package of Bills that would have overhauled the existing system.

These Bills - the Land Adjudication Bill, the Registered Land Bill and the Law of Property Bill would also have created a land registry in The Bahamas, and given commercial and residential real estate buyers greater certainty that they had good title to their properties.

A land registry would contain all information relating to a specific parcel of land in one database, including its location, dimensions, ownership interests and all encumbrances, such as mortgages and other liens/charges.

Moving to a such a system - and registration system

- would remove the need for attorneys to conduct expensive, time consuming title searches that are sometimes prone to error, and move the Bahamian real estate market away from being based on “first to record” title deeds.

Many have referred to the present system as “a lawyer’s dream”, with attorneys earning a set fee - normally equal to 2.5 percent of the purchase price - for conducting title searches and providing “opinion on titles”. Those not employed in the legal profession find it virtually impossible to navigate the system as structured and perform their own title searches.

Courts at all levels of the Bahamian judicial system have previously warned how the present system is wide open to abuse. Appeal Court justice, Stella Maureen Scott-Crane, warned in a 2016 ruling that the Bahamian court system was susceptible to being “an unwitting pawn” in the commission of land thefts/ frauds.

She said the Quieting Titles Act, in particular, was effectively being employed as a tool to steal land, given that “material facts” relating to title applications were often hidden from the courts.

Ruling on a familyrelated land dispute in Exuma, Justice CraneScott wrote that the case

NOTICE

NOTICE

ESTEY INTERNATIONAL LTD.

WINDSPOINT INTERNATIONAL LIMITED

Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

Registration Number 167,693 B (In Voluntary Liquidation)

Notice is hereby given that the above-named Company is in dissolution, commencing on the 22nd day of December, 2020.

Articles of Dissolution have been duly registered by the Registrar.

The Liquidator is Richard L. Broughton, No 6 Bosham Close, Camperdown Heights, P.O. Box SP-63801, NP, The Bahamas.

Persons having a Claim against the above-named Company are required on or before the 19th day of January, 2021 to send their names, addresses and particulars of their debts or claims to the Liquidator of the Company, or in default thereof they may be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made before such claim is proved.

Dated this 5th day of January, 2021 Richard L. Broughton Liquidator

“exemplifies the kinds of egregious abuses - ranging from the fraudulent concealment of material facts to the deliberate manipulation of the statutory requirements of the Quieting Titles Act - which can occur in the course of quieting proceedings...

“Where material facts, such as the existence of adverse claimants, are deliberately suppressed and concealed, and where additionally, the petitioner knowingly represents to the court - as required in section 5 - that ‘full and fair disclosure’ has been made, the court may nonetheless unwittingly become a pawn in a fraud and deception...”

This is exactly what happened in the Sir Lynden Pindling Estates matter.

Two “front men”, John Sands and Thaddeus Johnson, were put forward to claim some connection to the targeted property, such as having farmed it in the past. They were controlled by the scheme’s architects, who stayed out of the picture until the title certificate was obtained.

To obtain a title certificate via the Quieting Titles Act, parties using this mechanism must advertise their move in the official government gazette (newspaper) so that neighbouring landowners and others who may claim ownership of

the subject property are informed and can contest the move.

This was not done in either the John Sands and Thaddeus Johnson cases, with the perpetrators falsely certifying to the Supreme Court that this process was followed so they could obtain title certificates to a property already owned by Arawak Homes.

Once the title certificates were in their possession, those behind the Sir Lynden Pindling Estates fraud immediately “washed” or laundered the title through a series of transactions that on-sold it to companies such as Horizon Systems, Bahamas Variety Company and CB Bahamas.

They then started selling the property to unsuspecting low income Bahamian buyers, often for prices below market value, who did not equate “a sweet deal” with a potential scam.

Many were also suckered in by relatives who vouched for the bona fides of those promoting the scheme, while others did not think to - or could not afford to - hire attorneys to conduct title searches on the property.

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

LEGAL NOTICE International Business Companies Act (No.45 of 2000)

Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

Registration Number 51,367 B (In Voluntary Liquidation)

PORTOGALO INVESTMENT FUND LTD. (the “Company”)

Notice is hereby given that the above-named Company is in dissolution, commencing on the 18th day of December, 2020.

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138 (4) of the International Business Companies Act, (No.45 of 2000) PORTOGALO INVESTMENT FUND LTD. (the “Company”) is in dissolution. The date of commencement of the dissolution is December 31st, 2020. Ida Walkyria da Costa Breyer is the Liquidator and can be contacted at Av. Lucio Costa 3600, B1, Apt 1801, Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro,CEP 22630-010, Brazil. All persons having claims against the above-named company are required to send their names, addresses and particulars of their debts or claims to the Liquidator before January 29th, 2021.

Articles of Dissolution have been duly registered by the Registrar.

The Liquidators are Lucia E. Broughton of No 6 Bosham Close, Camperdown Heights, P.O. Box SP-63801, NP, The Bahamas and Antony Garner-Hillman. Persons having a Claim against the abovenamed Company are required on or before the 19th day of January, 2021 to send their names, addresses and particulars of their debts or claims to the Liquidator of the Company, or in default thereof they may be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made before such claim is proved.

Dated this 5th day of January, 2021 _______________________________ Lucia E. Broughton Liquidator

In Voluntary Liquidation

Ida Walkyria da Costa Breyer Liquidator

PAGE 22, Tuesday, January 5, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

New Year’s occupancies at 90-100% in Out Islands

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net BOATING traffic drove New Year’s occupancies at Family Island resorts as high as 90-100 percent, hotel managers said yesterday, but New Providence properties did not fare as well.

Natajia Miller, general manager at Embrace Resort on Staniel Cay in the Exumas, told Tribune Business it was “extremely busy” over the holiday season’s final weekend. She added: “Especially when it comes to yachts, there were so many yachts in the

harbour here that at night it looked like almost twinkle, twinkle little star, like when you see all of the yacht lights. It was very helpful to give us a boost.”

Embrace has suffered its share of COVID-19 hardship, with occupancy levels dwindling to as low as 15 percent compared to 70 percent at the same point in 201. Ms Miller, though, said occupancies for New Year’s Eve were 100 percent, which will enable the property to “go into 2021 with some cash in hand”.

Business volumes were driven largely by yachts and private pilots, as well as regular seasonal visitors

to Embrace Resort, but they are now starting to “drop off” as the Bahamian tourism industry moves into the traditional January lull prior to the peak winter season ramp-up that normally begins in February.

Chris Morris, the Cape Eleuthera Resort and Marina’s general manager, said he was “slammed and it was beautiful”, but does have “some gaps to fill” now that the Christmas season is over.

“We had a wonderful New Year’s event with some music, fireworks and a bonfire. There were a lot of boats in the marina, and I think we were probably at

Retailers describe Xmas as ‘terrible’

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

SEVERAL retailers yesterday described Christmas sales as “terrible” following a COVID-19 plagued nine months when they earned little to no revenue to cover their fixed costs.

Nicole Aranah, Lorene’s Department Store’s operations manager, said that while Christmas 2020 had been satisfactory it was not on par with prior years due to restrictions on how many customers could be in-store at any one time. She said Palmdale performed best out of the chain’s four locations because it “carries everything” whereas the others focus on specialised items.

Ms Aranah added that COVID-19 restrictions had dampened much of 2020 for retailers, saying: “You’re talking from March until September where retail

businesses did not have any money coming in. But yet we paid out because you still have to pay your bills.

“Most retail stores order their goods six months in advance. So you’re basically looking at from January to May, goods were ordered.

So they had to be paid for, even though we weren’t open.”

Ms Aranah said Lorene’s simply cancelled many orders once it realised that COVID-19, and associated restrictions, were likely to last for some time and eliminate much of the backto-school shopping season that the retailer relies upon so heavily.

Jack Moree, owner/operator of Sandys Department Store, said: “Name me one retailer who had a good Christma. Nobody could do anything with COVID-19.

It was terrible, not good.”

Along with “losing Christmas”, Mr Moree said he also lost the

back-to-school season but is “hopeful” that when schools reopen in February, as announced by Jeffrey Lloyd, minister for education, “customers will buy uniforms and they will come, because we lost the entire last year”.

Mr Moree added: “We ordered what we normally order for Christmas, but the customers just didn’t have the money. We have the stock. The only good thing about it is we don’t have to order for this year.”

John Cathapoulis, general manager of John’s Shoe Store, said of Christmas: “Things went as well as to be expected. We didn’t under order and we didn’t over order; we are just fine.

We have no problem with our inventory levels now.

So it’s pretty good.”

He added, though, that there was a “significant drop off” in sales compared to 2019 but is still “happy” with what he got.

POSITION VACANT Airport Authority Financial Accountant – Accounts Department KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: • Prepares monthly and annual financial and other statements by collecting data; analyzing and investigating variances; summarizing data, information and trends.

• Manages and guides accounting staff by coordinating activities and responds to financial inquiries by gathering analyzing and summarizing and interpreting data.

• Manages the accounts payable and accounts receivable function inclusive of overseeing collections of unpaid invoices and providing timely aging reports to Financial Controller.

• Oversees the reconciliation of all bank accounts and provide cash management direction as needed.

• Guides Accounting Internal Audit staff ensuring compliance to Accounting Policies and Procedures.

• Provides financial advice by studying operational issues, applying financial principles and practices and developing recommendations.

• Assists in external audit requests to ensure timely submissions to external auditors, and finally at Board and Cabinet level.

• Maintains company chart of accounts, creating new accounts, as necessary.

• Recommends financial actions by analyzing accounting options.

• Maintains accounting controls by preparing and recommending policies and procedures of the related department divisions (i.e. Internal Audit, etc.).

• Updates job knowledge by keeping current with financial regulations and accepted practices; participating in educational opportunities and reading professional publications.

• Assists and acts as a Relief for the Financial Controller and other team members as required to ensure goals/objectives are met, optimizing a smooth-running department.

• Assists in managing timely preparation of budgeting/forecasting information and ensures effectively communicated to managers and process owners for proper accountability.

KEY SKILLS: • Budgeting/Forecasting expertise.

• Customer-oriented and employee relations.

• Leadership/communication skills.

• Proficiencies in IT Applications (including Microsoft Applications – Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access, etc.); as well as other Company Software Systems (i.e. SAGE, ISL Payroll, etc.)

• Analytical ability to create unique solutions designed to yield revenue growth, cost reductions, profitability benefitting Company.

• Close/timely monitoring & management of Cash Flow and Working Capital requirements.

• Adherence to deadlines is a must.

QUALIFICATIONS: • Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting • Must have a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation • Must have a minimum of five (5) years post qualification experience in various areas of Finance and Accounting. Experience at an audit firm is a plus.

• Experienced in working with Accounting Software is essential.

Interested persons can email their resume to humanresources@airportsbahamas.com by January 15th, 2021.

90 percent occupancy,” he said.

But, after Sunday’s “mass exodus” of guests following the New Year celebrations, Mr Morris said he now has to “go back to the drawing board” after the holidays attracted a “blend” of yachting visitors and repeat guests who were not deterred by having to comply with the COVID19 health protocols.

“Boaters definitely drive our business,” Mr Morris said. “I mean, we’ve got 47 slips over here and the ability to handle up to 200 footers. That’s our gravy train. You don’t pay for the power, the water, the

linens, the housekeeping.

They pay for all that and that’s a fixed asset. So it’s nice to have as many boats here as possible.”

New Year’s Eve was not so rosy, though, for New Providence resorts. Muna Issa, SuperClubs Breezes managing director, said: “As was to be expected, this past Christmas and New Year’s were nowhere near past Christmas and New Year’s. We are hopeful that, with the vaccine roll-out starting, by June we should start to see a significant uptick in arrivals.”

Philip Smith, the Compass Point Resort’s general manager, said:

“Our occupancy is really low. Nothing happened, and really we got a few guests but nothing to speak of.”

Compass Point has no plans to make its staff redundant or put them on furlough at this time.

Instead, they have reduced the working hours and housekeeping staff are rotating between the resort and the restaurant for the time being until business returns.

Mr Smith added: “We are hopeful that by the summer things will start to pick up again.”

Chamber chair: ‘Challenges’ remain on substance reports

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net THE Chamber of Commerce’s chairman yesterday welcomed the one-month “substance reporting” deadline extension provided to corporate Bahamas but argued that technical challenges remain.

Khrystle Rutherford-Ferguson told Tribune Business that while it was “indeed welcome news” that the government has extended the Commercial Entities Substance Requirements (CESRA) Act filing to January 31, several obstacles remain to be overcome.

“Notwithstanding the challenges that they had, many companies still tried as best as they could to use the portal and to register. However, there were issues with the portals that presented challenges for them,” she said.

“We’ve been in communication with the Ministry of Finance, we’ve spoken to the persons concerned and with responsibility for the portal, and expressed some of the challenges that were being faced.”

Mrs Rutherford-Ferguson continued: “One in particular is the tab that’s supposed to allow persons to register. What’s supposed to happen is if you are a business that is a VAT registrant, you use your VAT portal to register for CESRA. “Once you go into your VAT portal, there is supposed to be a tab that allows you to register for CESRA as opposed to going through a different mechanism to get an EIN (Employer Identification Number), which would not apply to the Bahamian businesses that are VAT registrants.”

Too often this “substance reporting” registration ‘tab’ is not present, which businessmen such as Rick Lowe, Nassau Motor Company’s director/operations manager, have already complained about to this newspaper.

KHRYSTLE RUTHERFORD-FERGUSON Accountants last week urged the government to extend the deadline for corporate Bahamas to meet substance reporting requirements amid a lastminute rush from stunned firms racing to comply. The government acceded to this within hours of the New Year’s start.

Mrs Rutherford-Ferguson said the last-minute rush only added to the confusion for many companies, and this was why the Chamber had pushed for the extension in addition to the technical challenges faced by the private sector.

The Ministry of Finance, in a release dated March 26, 2020, initially said companies with a financial year-end of June 30, 2019, would have 12 months in which to file declarations confirming they have a physical presence in The Bahamas and are conducting active business. This meant a June 30, 2020, “substance reporting” deadline for those companies.

This was subsequently changed to an end-September deadline, and then year-end 2020 before being pushed back again to endJanuary 2021. “Reports submitted by January 31 will not incur a penalty,”

the Ministry of Finance said in its latest guidance.

“Sole proprietorships do not need to submit an economic substance report. Companies and partnerships submit their economic substance reports by registering for an entity identification number (EIN) and completing the relevant economic substance form via the economic substance reporting portal: https://substancereporting.revenue.gov.bs.

“The public is reminded that there is no need to request an EIN for a company or partnership that already has a Taxpayer Identification Number. Sole proprietorships do not need to submit an economic substance report.”

Penalties for noncompliance range from administrative fines of $150,000, or $1,000 per day for ongoing non-compliance, and these will not be incurred for companies submitting their “economic substance reports” by month’s end as the Ministry of Finance sought to unclog the log jam caused by hundreds of companies seeking to file at the last minute this past December.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, January 5, 2021, PAGE 23

BID TO ADDRESS HEALTH COSTS BY THREE CORPORATE GIANTS IS OVER INDIANAPOLIS Associated Press

A HEALTH care venture conceived by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan to attack soaring costs is dissolving.

Haven, which was formed in 2018 by the three US corporate giants, will cease operations by the end of February, a company spokeswoman said yesterday. She gave no reason for the dissolution of the venture.

The independent company was created to focus on improving the care delivered to employees of those businesses while doing a better job of managing the expense. But benefits

JOHN ROLLE

Central Bank governor granted second term THE government has renewed John Rolle’s appointment as Central Bank of The Bahamas governor for a second five-year term that began on New Year’s Day. The extension, which takes

experts expected any plans developed by Haven to become widely adopted by other companies if they proved effective in controlling costs.

News of the venture’s creation nearly three years ago sent a brief shudder through the stocks of health insurers that manage employer-sponsored coverage.

But the Boson-based venture has been largely silent since naming a high-profile CEO — Harvard professor, author and surgeon Dr Atul Gawande — and then announcing its name in 2019.

Gawande departed last May. Employer-sponsored insurance covers about 157

Mr Rolle’s tenure through to end-2025, will also see him serve as chairman of the Central Bank’s Board of Directors and chairman of the Deposit Insurance Corporation.

million people, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s nearly half the total US population and the biggest slice of the country’s patchwork health insurance market.

Health care costs have grown faster than wages and inflation for years, stressing families and employers.

Haven’s founders cautioned from the outset that the company had a tough task, and they didn’t expect quick solutions.

They had several priorities for the company. They wanted it to look for ways to help employees make better choices for their care and give them the best options available.

THE WEATHER REPORT

5-Day Forecast

TODAY

ORLANDO

High: 69° F/21° C Low: 44° F/7° C

TAMPA

TONIGHT

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Clouds and sun

Clear to partly cloudy

Partly sunny and pleasant

Mostly sunny and nice

Mostly cloudy, a couple showers

Mostly sunny and beautiful

High: 76°

Low: 63°

High: 73° Low: 64°

High: 75° Low: 67°

High: 77° Low: 65°

High: 75° Low: 62°

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

75° F

62° F

77°-65° F

79°-66° F

76°-64° F

76°-64° F

High: 69° F/21° C Low: 47° F/8° C

The exclusive AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature® is an index that combines the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation, pressure and elevation on the human body—everything that affects how warm or cold a person feels. Temperatures reflect the high and the low for the day.

N

almanac

E

W

ABACO

S

N

High: 73° F/23° C Low: 61° F/16° C

7-14 knots

S

WEST PALM BEACH High: 71° F/22° C Low: 50° F/10° C

7-14 knots

FT. LAUDERDALE E

W

FREEPORT

High: 73° F/23° C Low: 52° F/11° C

N

S

E

W

High: 71° F/22° C Low: 61° F/16° C

MIAMI

High: 73° F/23° C Low: 53° F/12° C

7-14 knots

KEY WEST

High: 69° F/21° C Low: 60° F/16° C

ELEUTHERA

NASSAU

High: 76° F/24° C Low: 63° F/17° C

Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021

High: 77° F/25° C Low: 64° F/18° C

N

uV inDex toDay

The higher the AccuWeather UV IndexTM number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.

tiDes For nassau High Today

Ht.(ft.)

Low

Ht.(ft.)

12:14 p.m.

-----

2.6 -----

6:07 a.m. 0.1 6:42 p.m. -0.2

Wednesday 12:58 a.m.

1:12 p.m.

2.5 2.5

7:11 a.m. 0.2 7:37 p.m. -0.3

Thursday

2:00 a.m.

2:13 p.m.

2.7 2.4

8:19 a.m. 0.2 8:34 p.m. -0.4

Friday

3:02 a.m.

3:16 p.m.

2.8 2.3

9:28 a.m. 0.1 9:32 p.m. -0.5

Saturday

4:04 a.m.

4:19 p.m.

3.0 2.3

10:33 a.m. 0.0 10:31 p.m. -0.6

Sunday

5:03 a.m.

5:19 p.m.

3.1 2.3

11:34 a.m. -0.2 11:28 p.m. -0.7

Monday

5:58 a.m.

6:16 p.m.

3.2 2.3

12:30 p.m. -0.4 ---------

sun anD moon Sunrise Sunset

6:56 a.m.

5:35 p.m.

Moonrise Moonset

none 11:43 a.m.

Last

New

First

Full

Jan. 6

Jan. 12

Jan. 20

Jan. 28

CAT ISLAND

E

W

High: 79° F/26° C Low: 66° F/19° C

N

S

E

W

6-12 knots

S

4-8 knots Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

Statistics are for Nassau through 1 p.m. yesterday Temperature High ................................................... 81° F/27° C Low .................................................... 61° F/16° C Normal high ....................................... 78° F/25° C Normal low ........................................ 66° F/19° C Last year’s high ................................. 86° F/30° C Last year’s low ................................... 71° F/22° C Precipitation As of 1 p.m. yesterday ................................. 0.00” Year to date ................................................. 0.00” Normal year to date ..................................... 0.18”

They also wanted Haven to develop better programs for improving health and dealing in particular with obesity and smoking, which account for chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease and depression.

A Haven spokeswoman said the company made progress in a number of areas.

It started new designs for health care benefits that eliminated patient outof-pocket payments like deductibles and coinsurance and encouraged access to primary care.

She said Haven also identified areas for cutting prescription drug costs and “tackled issues relate to fraud, waste and abuse”.

ANDROS

SAN SALVADOR

GREAT EXUMA

High: 80° F/27° C Low: 67° F/19° C

High: 79° F/26° C Low: 68° F/20° C

N

High: 77° F/25° C Low: 65° F/18° C

E

W S

LONG ISLAND

tracking map

High: 80° F/27° C Low: 69° F/21° C

6-12 knots

MAYAGUANA High: 80° F/27° C Low: 71° F/22° C

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures

CROOKED ISLAND / ACKLINS

are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

RAGGED ISLAND High: 79° F/26° C Low: 71° F/22° C

GREAT INAGUA High: 81° F/27° C Low: 71° F/22° C

N

N E

W

E

W

H

High: 80° F/27° C Low: 70° F/21° C

S

S

4-8 knots

4-8 knots

marine Forecast ABACO ANDROS CAT ISLAND CROOKED ISLAND ELEUTHERA FREEPORT GREAT EXUMA GREAT INAGUA LONG ISLAND MAYAGUANA NASSAU RAGGED ISLAND SAN SALVADOR

Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday:

WINDS NW at 7-14 Knots NNW at 6-12 Knots N at 6-12 Knots NE at 6-12 Knots W at 6-12 Knots N at 6-12 Knots S at 6-12 Knots NNE at 7-14 Knots NNW at 7-14 Knots N at 6-12 Knots NW at 7-14 Knots NNE at 6-12 Knots NW at 4-8 Knots NNE at 6-12 Knots S at 4-8 Knots N at 6-12 Knots NW at 4-8 Knots NNE at 7-14 Knots S at 4-8 Knots N at 7-14 Knots NNW at 6-12 Knots NNE at 4-8 Knots NW at 4-8 Knots NNE at 7-14 Knots NW at 6-12 Knots NNE at 6-12 Knots

WAVES 2-4 Feet 4-7 Feet 1-2 Feet 1-2 Feet 1-3 Feet 3-5 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-3 Feet 2-4 Feet 3-5 Feet 2-4 Feet 3-5 Feet 0-1 Feet 1-2 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-3 Feet 0-1 Feet 1-2 Feet 2-4 Feet 3-6 Feet 1-2 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-2 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-2 Feet 2-4 Feet

VISIBILITY 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 5 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles

WATER TEMPS. 77° F 76° F 77° F 76° F 79° F 79° F 78° F 78° F 77° F 77° F 77° F 78° F 79° F 79° F 80° F 81° F 80° F 80° F 79° F 79° F 77° F 77° F 80° F 80° F 79° F 79° F

business@tribunemedia.net

TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021

$3.98

Five-month loan wait dampening realtor’s outlook

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN realtor yesterday voiced concern that renewed market “optimism” could founder over tightened bank lending policies that are taking up to five months to issue mortgage approvals.

Gino Maycock, a broker/ appraiser with Colonial Realty, told Tribune Business that such long wait times were creating “a level of uncertainty” over whether real estate transactions will occur and purchasers can access the necessary financing to complete the deal.

With COVID-19 vaccines “on the horizon”, and the Bahamian economy slowly re-opening despite skyrocketing infection rates and lockdowns in major source markets such as the US and UK, Mr Maycock admitted there was a high chance that risk-averse commercial banks and other lenders could dampen a real estate rebound by further restricting mortgage lending.

“I’m actually quite optimistic on the outlook with a vaccine on the horizon, and the hotels and countries gradually opening up,” he told this newspaper. “The interest in sales and rentals hasn’t changed a whole lot since COVID. Demand and interest has not really gone anywhere. It’s kept steady.

Buyers want to buy and sellers want to sell.

“The only challenges we have had were with the timeframe the banks were taking to process and confirm approvals for mortgages and loans. We went from a norm of seven to 14 days to... I’ve had a client of mine waiting for as much as three to four months for an approval. It was kind of crazy there. In some cases we’ve experienced up to the five-month mark.

“It’s a delay more than anything,” Mr Maycock said of the impact. “For the purchaser they have to keep resetting the whole transaction just to avoid losing their deposit, and for the seller they keep on asking: Will it happen? Is it going to happen? Do I have to put it back on the market? Will it get the same, a better or lower offer?

“I wouldn’t use the word ‘unrest’, but there’s a level of uncertainty around whether the transaction will occur or fail..... The only real change was the banks; the terms and conditions, and the willingness to lend on the base and premise they once did prior

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$3.91

$4.02

Stimulus setback

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

C

APITAL projects designed to stimulate the COVID-ravaged Bahamian economy have been placed “on hold” due to the government’s $200m spending cutbacks, the deputy prime minister said yesterday.

Desmond Bannister, who is also minister of works, told Tribune Business that a mix of large infrastructure projects and communitybased initiatives have either been postponed or halted to contain the government’s fiscal deficit within the 20202021 budget’s $1.327bn goal.

While declining to identify the larger public sector works projects that have been impacted, or their total value, Mr Bannister voiced optimism that his ministry will still be able to “create opportunities for Bahamians” and provide an economic boost - albeit one that is more muted - during the final six months of the present fiscal year.

“It has impacted us in that we’ve put a number of stimulus initiatives on hold,” the deputy prime minister replied, when asked by this newspaper whether public works projects have been hit by the Ministry of Finance’s bid to slash a further $100m

• Capital works ‘on hold’ over $200m cutbacks • DPM: Many projects waiting till next budget • Effort to close infrastructure deficit impacted

DESMOND BANNISTER from the government’s capital spending.

“The smaller ones have gone ahead, the sidewalks etc, but the larger ones have been put on hold until such time as we get the kind of funding we need to move ahead with them. Any project that has not started, we are not going to start them until such time as the new budget is passed.”

Asked to identify which projects have been postponed and/or halted, Mr Bannister declined to go into specifics but added: “There are any number of them. There are lots of projects we have planned as stimulus initiatives

throughout the country....

“There are any number of small capital works projects that have had to be stopped. Many of them are community-based projects.

We’ve been working to improve parks and the like, and many of those projects are projects are going to be put on hold.

“I think the reality is that 2020 was such a difficult year, where people lost their lives and have been hospitalised, that we all have to make our sacrifices. We at the ministry (of works) understand that we have to sacrifice like everybody else in the country,” he continued.

“The government intends, as much as it possibly can, to still stimulate the economy.

I anticipate, notwithstanding, the projects held off or put back, we are still going to have a chance to create some opportunities for Bahamians. I believe we are still going to have a chance to do that.”

The deputy prime minister’s comments are the first public confirmation of how the government’s plans to provide some stimulus to the depressed Bahamian economy have been thrownoff course by the ongoing financial constraints related to COVID-19 uncertainty.

Senator Kwasi Thompson, the newly-appointed minister of state for finance, said in the aftermath of the 2020 Fiscal Strategy Report’s release that some $75.8m in unplanned COVID-19 assistance and previous lockdowns had forced the government to target $200m in extra spending cuts over the final six months of the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

He added that the Minnis

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PM pushes overhaul over land ownership

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE prime minister wants to create a land registration system in The Bahamas in a bid to eliminate the abuses and “injustice” suffered by thousands of Bahamians under the present opaque order.

Carl Bethel QC, the attorney general, told Tribune Business he had been asked by Dr Hubert Minnis to move ahead with legal reforms that would ultimately result in the ownership “of every scrap of land” in The Bahamas being recorded on a central database accessible to all citizens and residents.

This, he argued, will provide “greater security of title” for land and property owners, while helping to prevent the recurrence of scams such as that which occurred at Sir Lynden Pindling Estates. The government was forced to

• AG: Plans for land registration system • Quieting Titles hard to make ‘crook-proof’ • Developer: Scammers changing methods

CARL BETHEL QC

FRANON WILSON

intervene and pay “several million” in taxpayer dollars to secure hundreds of homeowners who purchased lots from fraudsters who did not own the land they were selling.

However, Franon Wilson, president of Arawak Homes, which multiple court rulings have

confirmed as the legitimate owner of the 156-acre tract involved in that affair, urged the government to act quickly and close all possible legal loopholes given that land scammers already appeared to be changing their tactics.

He said they were no longer seeking to dupe the

Supreme Court into issuing Certificates of Title via fraudulent abuse of the Quieting Titles Act, but were instead increasingly attempting to have deeds that “vested” and transferred real estate ownership to them recorded in the Registry of Records by the Registrar General’s Department.

“What we are seeing now is that the sort of people who started the issue, in terms of going to court and getting a fraudulent Certificate of Title for the Pinewood Gardens area (Sir Lynden Pindling Estates), have changed their method,” Mr Wilson said.

“They are using the Registrar General’s Department

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$3.84 Disclosure ‘deluge’: Over 17,500 meet substance demand

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net CORPORATE Bahamas faces a “deluge” of disclosure demands, an accountant is warning, with thousands of companies yet to meet “substance reporting” demands imposed by the government.

Philip Galanis, the HLB Galanis managing partner, told Tribune Business the Bahamian private sector is “in a new era of extremely extensive disclosure” as the Ministry of Finance last night confirmed more than 17,500 corporate entities had met the previous year-end deadline imposed by the Commercial Entities (Substance Requirements) Act 2018.

“It’s amazing,” he said.

“We’ve entered into a new period of extensive disclosure by companies and non-profits. A few weeks ago we had the situation with non-profits having to file a declaration, and now we have the same situation with companies.

“They’re being faced with this deluge of information filing. We seem to be in a new era where companies have to keep records up-to-date, and be aware of what the requirements are for this annual event.”

Mr Galanis said he had spoken to his colleagues in the British Virgin Islands who had also been “working feverishly” to ensure their corporate clients also met the year-end deadline for its version of the Commercial Entities (Substance Requirements) Act. The Bahamian law, passed as part of legislation to meet the European Union’s (EU) demands that Bahamasbased companies have a physical presence and conduct real business, earning income and making expenditures in this nation, requires all incorporated entities and legal partnerships to complete a so-called “substance reporting form” and obtain an “entity identification number” (EIN).

The Ministry of Finance, in its statement last night, said much of corporate Bahamas has work to do to meet the extended end-January 2021 deadline for completion of this filing. It added that the penalties for non-compliance have also been suspended.

“Over 17,500 entities have successfully completed their 2019 reporting under the new Act, which was due at the end of 2020. However, that leaves thousands of companies and other entities that still must meet their reporting obligations under the new legislation,” the Ministry said, adding that the Department of Inland Revenue has added “dedicated staff” to process filings.

Union: Atlantis ‘threw deal out the window’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE government was yesterday urged to extend the COVID-19 temporary worker furlough beyond end-February as the hotel union accused Atlantis of “throwing our industrial agreement out the window”.

Peter Goudie, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) labour specialist, told Tribune Business he believed the government would have little choice but to extend its emergency powers beyond the end of January to prevent mass redundancies occurring throughout the Bahamian economy.

Arguing that many employers would likely be unable to afford to pay terminated staff what they are due under the Employment Act anyway, due to months

• Unhappy over furlough move’s handling • Govt urged to extend temporary lay-offs • Resort ‘putting it all in COVID suitcase’

PETER GOUDIE

DARRIN WOODS

of pandemic-related devastation, Mr Goudie said: “I’m sitting here on January 4 wondering if the government is going to extend the emergency powers.

“I’d hate to see a whole load of people made redundant, and I don’t know if employers can afford it.

It’s tough out there. The

problem is we’ve never been in these damn waters before, and we don’t know where we’re going. I don’t have the answer, and you don’t either.”

The temporary lay-off, or furlough period, during which companies can send employees home without paying full severance pay or

other benefits expires some 30 days after the emergency powers end. The latter is currently due to expire at end-January, which would give employers until the end of the following month to decide whether to recall or fully terminate the thousands still on furlough.

With vast swathes of the Bahamian economy, including many in the hotel and tourism sector, cruiserelated businesses and the entertainment sector (bars, nightclubs and cinemas) still closed under the government’s COVID-19 orders, Mr Goudie urged it to protect both jobs and businesses by extending the

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