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VOLUME:116 No.14, JANUARY 15TH, 2019

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: $1

H E A LT H : BREWING UP A CURE FROM THE BUSH

Auditors uncover $450k bonus fraud

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

A DAMNING report from the Auditor General’s probe into the Department of Education has uncovered collusion among employees to defraud the government of nearly $450,000 by manipulating a system for stipends and honoraria.

The report covered the period from July 1, 2014, to February 28, 2018, and was sent to the Ministry of Education in September last year but not tabled in the House of Assembly.

While a House official confirmed the report is expected to be tabled tomorrow, Education Minister Jeff Lloyd told The Tribune yesterday he had no knowledge of it.

CONCH CRISIS: WE WERE WARNED

Meanwhile, one official said there was a “shakeup” at the ministry in the aftermath of the report’s findings.

During this special probe, Auditor General Terrance Bastian said a team observed what appeared to be several irregularities perpetuated by staff members using an array of honoraria codes.

The report defines honoraria as being granted to officers who are required to perform extra duties in addition to their normal duties for a specified period.

While the director approved these payments, there was no accompanying formal approval from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education and the

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net

SEE PAGE THREE

‘AIRPORT’S FIASCO CAN’T BE REPEATED’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A CABINET minister yesterday estimated that an investment worth “tens of millions” is necessary to prevent a repeat of the Christmas “black eye” suffered by Nassau’s main gateway. Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business he had challenged all Lynden Pindling International Airport stakeholders “to do their homework to

improve the overall experience” following the delays experienced by aircraft and passengers alike.

Admitting that the Christmas period “wasn’t pretty”, Mr D’Aguilar said that among the reforms being eyed is a “slotting programme” where private planes are given specific takeoff and landing times during the airport’s three peak periods annually. Whether “optimal use” was made of runways over Christmas is also under review.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

I SAW COPS WITH MISSING MARVIN

A MAN says he was at the Central Detective Unit in December when he saw a “disoriented” Marvin Pratt - the missing man police have denied taking into custody. Full story - Page 5.

“THIS is not a surprise,” is how BREEF executive director Casuarina McKinney-Lambert responded to reports that The Bahamas’ conch population could be wiped out in ten to 15 years.

According to Ms Mckinney-Lambert, the environmental organisation has long been “sounding the alarm” about the reality of conch decline.

In an interview with The Tribune yesterday, she called for the country to “chart a new path” toward a more precautionary approach to sustaining resources.

To reverse the tide of low conch population in particular and spur increased reproduction, Mrs McKinney-Lambert suggested the implementation of “effectively managed” replenishment zones and for the nation to “address the issue” of illegal harvest by poachers and local fishermen alike.

SEE PAGE NINE

HACKERS HIT ZNS AND DEMAND RANSOM

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net HACKERS are demanding an $18,000 ransom from the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas after taking control of servers at ZNS. BCB chairman Mike Smith confirmed to The Tribune the organisation’s servers were hit sometime before noon yesterday forcing broadcasters to work

manually to deliver the evening news. He did not disclose the amount of the ransom, but sources at the organisation have confirmed the sum to be just

under $20,000. Mr Smith noted the hackers were internationally-based.

“Our servers have been hacked,” Mr Smith said, “and we’ve brought in the police and IT advisers and other people to seek to assist us, but we have a very serious problem where people are seeking to get a ransom.”

Mr Smith added: “All the servers are down, so

FACE-TO-FACE LIFE RESET UNDER THE BAHAMIAN SUN

SEE PAGE SEVEN

9 PIECE CHICKEN

50

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Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

• 1 Keel • 2 Ribs • 2 Wings • 2 Thighs • 2 Legs

SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Tuesday, January 15, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

Bahamas National Trust kicks off its 60th party

ABOVE: ERIC CAREY, BNT executive director.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

By RIEL MAJOR ENVIRONMENT Minister Romi Ferreira hailed the Bahamas National Trust as an inextricable part of his life’s work as the organization kicks-off year long celebrations for their 60th anniversary.

As of July 13, 2019, the organization will have officially existed for six decades.

Mr Ferreira said the BNT has been there from the very beginning of his career and he looks at it as an inextricable part of his life and career.

“I’m here to offer my profound congratulations to the Bahamas National Trust and the work that you do”, said Mr Ferreira.

Mr Ferreira said: “I do believe in my travels that one of the things we sometimes don’t appreciate is just how unique it is to have an archipelago of islands in the Atlantic Ocean. When you look at The Bahamas and you look at the fact that a country of 700 islands is actually very unique in the Atlantic Ocean and as such celebrating our protected spaces, celebrating our ocean assets, our land

assets it’s actually a fundamental part of who we are. “I think that nothing more than the environment has potential to bring us all together it is one of those things we all share and as I said many many times before. I offer my congratulations to the Bahamas National Trust I’m here to advise my unwavering support certainly for the rest of this term and as long as I have life in my body to do whatever needs to be done to advance your goals.”

Eric Carey, executive director, yesterday said the organisation celebrates not only the staff in Nassau but colleagues throughout the archipelago.

He also heralded conservation champions: people who have contributed to making conservation and the Bahamas National Trust the success that it is.

Mr Carey said: “Throughout the year we have a number of activities planned we have activities that are traditional that are going to amplified and improved and celebrated our 60th anniversary event but we also have new and exciting events, so we are going to ask you to watch our (social media pages) for updates.

ENVIRONMENT Minister Romi Ferreira at yesterday’s event.

“As we reflect on these accomplishments of this incredible organisation the BNT it’s worth noting that the creation of 32 national parks is huge. It’s an incredible accomplishment for a country…It is the most impressive by far in the region national park system and it’s growing.

In 2015 there were more areas we have now before the minister for consideration additional areas to help us achieve our 20

per cent of by 2020 challenge so it is growing. Our job is absolutely becoming more important.”

The 60th anniversary will begin with the annual Cuban Pig Roast on February 9, 2019 to raise funds for park infrastructure.

The Staniel Cay Yacht Club will host a new event to support the award- winning Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park on March 1 and 2. On April 27, 2019, the organisation will be having a free National Park Day for the community that will feature activities at the national parks throughout the country.

Janet Johnson, BNT President, said: “The BNT could not have achieved this longevity with the support of its stalwart members, its generous donors, its various partners, the corporate community and government. We want to celebrate with our supporters and the wider Bahamian community.

“The internationally respected national park system that the BNT manages belongs to the Bahamian people. We are only the caretakers...this milestone is just as much an achievement of the Bahamian people as it is of the BNT.”

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, January 15, 2019, PAGE 3

‘Shake-up’ at ministry in aftermath of report’s findings

Auditors uncover $450k bonus fraud

THE FIGURES IN THE REPORT WHICH HIGHLIGHT THE PAYMENTS from page one Ministry of Public service as is required. This meant there were no project justification letters including cost, financial clearance, virement of funds and appropriation transfer warrants provided by the Department of Education.

A virement is an administrative transfer of funds from one part of a budget to another.

“Since staff were able to perpetuate a fraud to the tune of $448,230.68 using the honoraria description it would be reasonable to ascertain that other unethical uses of other codes could have been used,” the report dated September 12, 2018 read.

In one instance an assistant accountant received 43 honoraria payment of $125,505.82 in 44 months. At a separate time another accountant received $61,113.18 in 32 instalments in 20 months while those with lesser jobs including a general service worker received nine honoraria payments of $12,650 in 17 months.

There were at least 12 instances where this happened. Auditors further noted a finance officer was signing on behalf of the head of department and authorised ten virements from the salary block totalling more than $2m for the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years.

There were also instances where auditors found that individual staff members received over $10,000 and as much $125,505.82 in honoraria payments in “unreasonable” time periods. A head of department also authorised $1.3m over two years.

“The department has an authorised budget amount of $4,000 per annum for the honoraria line item, which amounted to $16,000 for the period under audit,” the report read.

“This amount was consistently exceeded by the department and resulted in an overall expenditure of $448,230.68.

It further noted: “The $432,230.68 in excess of the approved budget was

derived from the accounting department utilising 18 item codes to pay themselves as well as other staff members with requisitions stating ‘payment for services rendered.”

When each year was analysed, there was significant cost over run. In 2014/2015 there was an excess of $5,055; 2015/2016 saw a difference of $73,131.38; 2016/2017 $252,745.83; 2017/2018 $101,298.47.

While the report does not name employees, it assigned letters to eight officers two of which received large cheques for $76,063.43 and the other $20,850 respectively. Auditors ultimately found that between these two officers $24,900 and $20,350 could not be accounted for.

In six of the instances there were no signatures for the receipt of cash.

Auditors found that these payments were processed a number of ways including as honoraria, exam supervision fees, school quality assurance programme, security services contract, special employment projects, fees and other charges, and the national lunch programme among other things.

“It was further noted that there were payments made to some staff members that did not correlate to processed requisitions for example staff members received less or more than the amounts allocated on the requisition.

“An accounting staff member from another agency was allowed to perform accounting services during overtime hours and was paid $26,060 in honorarium payments for services rendered.”

The report said the majority of documentation received was incomplete meaning there were no minutes, justification letters, time sheets ad evidence of receipt of funds, adding one staff members receive $7,600 in cash for lifting and moving boxes.

In all, 93 requisitions were missing from the support presented for audit inspection.

“Payments related

to these requisitions amounted to $109,890.37.”

Requests for honoraria should be submitted to the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Public Service for approval. These requests are to be accompanied by a definition of scope of work; duration of the project, level of responsibility or expertise or role and position; hours or work either during or after normal work hours, the proposed fixed payment amount; and availability of funding in the relevant ministry or department budget.

In some cases honoraria can be granted for special projects and may be referred to Cabinet for approval.

A stipend, according to the report, is a predetermined amount of money that is provided periodically to help offset expenses.

They are often provided to those who are reassigned to assist in another government agency, nongovernment officers and individuals no on a government agency payroll.

In the completion of this special probe, the Auditor

General made several recommendations including immediate discontinuation of officers receiving cheques in their name in order to pay other officers in cash for services rendered.

He said once a budget is approved by Parliament, ministries and departments are only authorised to spend money consistent with the final appropriations for each line item.

This should be supported by executive management within the Department along with budget analysts in the Ministry of Finance reviewing significant escalations above the approved budget to ensure spending is appropriate.

Absence of this kind of continuous oversight the report said could cause malfeasance in other service related payments without the knowledge if responsible parties.

“Since staff were able to perpetuate a fraud to the tune of $448,230.68 using the honoraria description it would be reasonable to ascertain that other unethical uses of other codes

could have been used.”

The report also said: “We noted there are opportunities for improvement in strengthening the management of many areas with the DOE. Management has to ensure that the DOE has the appropriate level of skilled staff to achieve its goals in order to maintain a sound system of internal controls.

“Strong internal controls require continuous monitoring by management throughout the accounting process. This dictates that duties are appropriately segregated across the accounting staff to minimise the opportunities for collusion in the purchasing process.”

“Excessive honoraria payments in unreasonable and unrealistic time periods lends to overarching concerns relation to how the remuneration of $448,230.68 was determined. Management should ensure that there are documented measurements for all requests for overtime type payments.”

The report went on to

caution that although it was clear collusion occurred in manipulating the system around issuing honoraria payments, management should not allow trust to negate its role of providing oversight.

Last year two Ministry of Education employees were charged in a Magistrate’s Court with defrauding the ministry of nearly $7,000 in salaries over a five-month in July 2017.

A former chief clerk at the ministry doctored overtime records so a friend could get a pay increase was ordered to serve three months in prison for her crime.

Paulette Wilson, 60, doctored pay sheets for her longtime friend Andrew Bridgewater, increasing his take home pay from $130 per week to $691 weekly, resulting in Bridgewater being overpaid $6,657.12 between October 2015 and March 2016.

Bridgewater was sentenced to one year in prison for fraud by false pretences and conspiracy to commit fraud by false pretences.

PAGE 4, Tuesday, January 15, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

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How undocumented immigrants have become vital to US economy THE nation’s attention is once again focused on the southern border, where President Trump claims the US is facing a “crisis” over illegal immigration Immigrants play vital roles in the US economy, erecting American buildings, picking American apples and grapes and taking care of American babies. Oh, and paying American taxes.

My work as the director of the Cornell Farmworker Program involves meeting with undocumented workers in New York, and the farmers who employ them. Here’s a snapshot of who they are, where they work – and why Americans should care about them.

Pew Research Center estimates that about 11.3 million people are currently living in the U.S. without authorization, down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007. More than half come from Mexico, and about 15 percent come from other parts Latin America.

About 8 million of them have jobs, making up 5 percent of the U.S. workforce, figures that have remained more or less steady for the past decade.

Geographically, these unauthorized workers are spread throughout the US but are unsurprisingly most concentrated in border states like California and Texas, where they make up about 9 percent of both states’ workforces, while in Nevada, their share is over 10 percent.

Their representation in particular industries is even more pronounced, and the Department of Agriculture estimates that about half of the nation’s farmworkers are unauthorised, while 15 percent of those in construction lack papers – more than the share of legal immigrants in either industry. In the service sector, which would include jobs such as fast food and domestic help, the figure is about 9 percent.

Further studies show that the importance of this population of workers will only grow in coming years. For example, in 2014, unauthorised immigrants made up 24 percent of maids and cleaners, an occupation expected to need 112,000 more workers by 2024. In construction, the number of additional laborers needed is estimated at close to 150,000.

And while only 4 percent of personal care and home health aides are undocumented, the US will soon require more than 800,000 people to fill the jobs necessary to take care of retiring baby boomers.

Since agriculture is the industry that’s most reliant on undocumented workers – and it’s my area of expertise and research – let’s zoom in on it.

Overall, the agricultural industry in the United States has been on the decline since 1950. Back then, farming was a family business that employed more than 10 million workers, 77 percent of whom were classified as “family.”

As of 2000 – the latest such data available – only 3 million work on farms, and as noted earlier, an estimated half are undocumented.

Increasingly, dairy farms such as those in New York rely on workers from Mexico and Guatemala, many of whom are believed to be undocumented. Currently, there is no visa program for year-round workers on dairy farms, so the precarious status of these workers

poses serious concerns for the economic viability of the dairy industry.

In 2017 research conducted by the Cornell Farmworker Program, 30 New York dairy farmers told us they turned to undocumented workers because they were unable to find and keep reliable US citizens to do the jobs. That’s in part because farm work can be physically demanding, dirty and socially denigrated work. More importantly, it is one the most dangerous occupations in the US. A study commissioned by the dairy industry suggested that if federal labor and immigration policies reduced the number of foreign-born workers by 50 percent, more than 3,500 dairy farms would close, leading to a big drop in milk production and a spike in prices of about 30 percent. Total elimination of immigrant labor would increase milk prices by 90 percent.

The US fruit, vegetable and meat industries are similarly at risk, and without the help of unauthorized workers, production would drop and consumers would likely see higher prices. This has become of particular concern as immigration enforcement in agricultural communities intensifies.

Although the focus is usually on the southern border, what happens in the north matters as well, in part because the Border Patrol’s 100-mile jurisdiction means immigrants living in most of New England can be pursued anywhere. As such, the surge in immigration enforcement along the border with Canada in recent years has resulted in more farmworkers being deported.

It also has meant fresh produce has been gone unpicked, left to rot in fields.

One New York apple grower told us that due to labor shortages and dwindling prices for his red delicious variety, he plans to let his 100-year-old orchard go, because any investments in production would result in significant economic loss.

Judging by the pronouncements from the White House, you might think most people don’t realize how integral undocumented immigrants are to the U.S. economy. But in fact, polls suggest that Americans do understand this, and also don’t believe that immigrants take their jobs.

In a poll Cornell conducted in 2017, we asked New Yorkers, “How do you believe undocumented farmworkers impact local communities?”

About 75 percent of those we polled said they have “generally positive impacts,” up from 62 percent in 2008.

Of those who had a positive impression, most said it was because migrants fill jobs unwanted by citizens or provide essential farm help and keep prices low.

And national polling backs this up.

A 2016 Pew poll found that 76 percent believe undocumented immigrants are as honest and hard-working as U.S. citizens, while 71 percent said they mostly fill jobs that Americans aren’t willing to do.

Not only are there lots of reasons to care, the vast majority of Americans actually do.

By Mary Jo Dudley of Cornell University. This article first appeared on The Conversation.

Policing by PR is failing EDITOR, The Tribune IF THE stats from the police are correct we have to admit solely because of statistical elimination (in probability there are only so many people who will commit a murder and so many that will be victims) we see a limited reduction without considering the cases at the coroner which have not as yet been classified.

Why do the police think “policing by PR

- appearances on TV” will resolve our crime problem?

The minister on TV almost daily!

The police tell us they know where the pockets of criminal activity are and know the criminals! So why haven’t the Police eradicated the known criminal areas and element a long time ago?

If there is an area in Black Village surround it - and with a house to house search eliminate the criminal activity - go back

two-three days after and do the same. Repeat this in every Police known area of criminal activity - Commissioner your people tell us you know the where and who? There is no excuse unless you really don’t?

We don’t need drones shots potter we need basic police work, cut the PR and television appearances. Cut the politics also.

W THOMPSON Nassau January 10, 2019

We are in a right mess over honours EDITOR, The Tribune

JUST why do our politicians refuse to comply with what is so obvious - time and time again contradiction in action and process.

Which awards system is legally correct?

The Bahamas is a ‘realm” country that is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth is Queen of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

We have had for generations since colonisation the privilege to receive honours of Her Majesty and past monarchs.

So in the Ingraham initial term he created what could only be called a Mickey Mouse honours system only to be awarded I believe once then dying - along comes the last Christie government and under the influence of Fred Mitchell - Rev Sebastian Campbell legislation was approved to create a Bahamas Honours Awards only to be amended by the now Minnis government. It is interesting Fr Campbell serves as an honorary consul for a foreign government.

So New Years, 2019 the Minnis government decides

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net well why not let’s award under the Queen’s Honours system - one Dame - one cheap man’s knighthood, CMG and lower honours but one must ask has The Bahamas obtained approval from Buckingham Palace so that Her Majesty’s representative, our Governor General can firstly be The Chancellor of these new Bahamas Awards Orders and secondly to continue to award both the Honours of Her Majesty and the new Bahamas Awards? Does the Queen know of the existence of these new Bahamas Orders?

Other realm countries like Australia - Canada and New Zealand have their own Honours BUT appropriate UK legislation was approved to create them - records do not show any such similar for The Bahamas.

Release from OPM Minnis indicating he has all the authority needed to

award both the Honours of Her Majesty and the Honours of The Bahamas - I really wonder if the PM knows or has examined this as this is not on the face of the issue legal to say the least.

In the issue of Orders of Official Precedence an awardee of the Honours of Her Majesty do they come first over the Bahamas Awards? Yes because it is of the Head of State but more seriously the Minnis government threw on the position of Governor General a position which I suggested without approval of Buckingham Palace or the Court of St James, London that makes the Bahamas Honours void.

Oh what a mess these politicians create - please Attorney General give an opinion on this at your earliest opportunity?

Can the OPM release the exchanges with Buckingham Palace recognising the establishment of these new Honours.

K SANDS Nassau January 10, 2019

Rushing gets you nowhere except annoy the public EDITOR, The Tribune SIRENS flashing lights are supposed to be an exclusive area for fire, ambulance and police patrol vehicles and police outriders in an emergency or escorting a VIP if anyone does not know even those.

Vehicles have to comply with the speed limits on the sections of the roads they are passing on and naturally they must not endanger the driving public.

We were promised this practice would stop.

Quite often a black SUV

has been seen as it flashed past on Prospect Ridge and Saunders Beach…to us a Ford SUV - I suspect the Minister and that is the Minister of National Security as it is always between Prospect Ridge and Saunders Beach.

Is he very unpunctual or just showing off? One big ego trip?

Early in the mornings, traffic is heavy, add a vehicle with siren blasting wanting to get to downtown faster than anyone else endangers the driving public – speed limits even

in emergencies must be adhered to.

The public still waits for a response on the BMW with CD plates - is that vehicle authorised to use a siren and flashing lights?

Are all CD licenced vehicles permitted to use sirens?

New Providence is 27x7…believe me, rushing gets you nowhere except annoying the patient driving public.

L RUSSELL Nassau January 10, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, January 15, 2019, PAGE 5

I saw Missing Marvin at the police station, claims witness

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net A MAN says he was at the Central Detective Unit on December 8 when he saw a “disoriented” Marvin Pratt - the missing Gambier Village man who police have denied ever taking into custody.

The man, who described himself as having been “in and out” of jail over the years, spoke to The Tribune anonymously yesterday.

Though he revealed his identity to this newspaper, he was adamant it not be disclosed for fear of retaliation.

He has given his account to Rights Bahamas, the human rights group representing Mr

Pratt’s family. The Tribune understands there is an ongoing effort to convince him and others to identify themselves for the legal case the humanitarian group is building.

The man claimed he was in CDU on drug related matters.

He said he identified Mr Pratt because the pair “go way back” and were students together at AF Adderley High School.

“He could be walking at night and I would know him,” he said.

“I know him like a brother.”

“I saw (officers) carrying him in the backroom. He was handcuffed.

My girlfriend was in the lobby area when Barbara Saunders (Mr Pratt’s mother) came asking for him. I got out that same day.”

He claimed two men carried Mr Pratt to what seemed to be the cell block, a “stubby” officer and a “slim” officer, both wearing plain clothes.

He said he saw Mr Pratt for about ten seconds. He said he was handcuffed to a bench downstairs in CDU when he saw Mr Pratt around 9pm that night. He claimed Mr Pratt looked beaten and disoriented.

“He looked like he was out of it, like he wanted to die right there and then if you ask me,” the man said.

Rights Bahamas filed a writ of habeas corpus in the Supreme Court last month seeking to compel police to produce Mr Pratt.

A neighbour of the family, Rose Francis, alleged in an affidavit that she was walking home on Holly Hock Road on December 5 when she saw officers arrest Mr Pratt.

Ms Saunders, in her affidavit, alleges a friend of the family who works in the forensics unit of the police force told her he saw Mr Pratt in custody and he “appeared battered and bruised”.

Rights Bahamas has not secured a date for the habeas corpus hearing. The slowness of the court has frustrated the family.

Ms Saunders said each day she grows more agitated by the disappearance of her son. She has printed and distributed fliers alleging that a

“conspiracy of denial” explains his disappearance.

When police found a badly decomposed body off the East West Highway in December, she went to the morgue to check if it was her son. “A man who I think was a police officer told me go to the commissioner and tell him give me my son because they know where he is,” she said.

“They tell me the body that they found been there was there for at least four or five months so that ain’t my son.”

Yesterday, Chief Superintendent of Police Solomon Cash said the body found is so badly decomposed police cannot ascertain an identity. He said DNA test results are pending.

HAITIAN WOMAN SENT HOME AFTER SHE USED FAKE VISA

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

A HAITIAN woman was ordered to be deported yesterday after she confessed to trying to enter the country last week with a fake Bahamian visa.

Chansolme native Ketteline Saint-Juste was charged before Magistrate Kara Turnquest-Deveaux over allegations she was found in possession of a fraudulent Bahamian visa on January 8.

The 34-year-old was caught trying to pass an immigration checkpoint with the forged document, after having landed on a flight from Cap Haitien.

According to a summary of the facts read off by immigration prosecutor

HOW The Tribune reported the story yesterday.

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE Royal Bahamas Police Force will leave no stone unturned in its probe of Junkanoo bribe claims, according to Chief Superintendent of Police Solomon Cash.

He said yesterday: “We got a report about some improprieties with the judging of the Junkanoo parades and we are in the process of commencing an extensive investigation, then we will be able to identify or conclude whether we have officials who did commit an offense.” The claims stem from several recordings of calls from a purported female judge to George “Bommer” Armbrister, a costume designer for the Genesis Junkanoo group.

The claims also involve WhatsApp messages that purport to show at least one judge disclosed her score card sheet to a member of a category A group before the parade New Year’s Day parade ended, a violation of rules.

Junkanoo groups named in the recordings have declined to discuss the matter.

A public relations official for the Roots group said the organization did not have a comment at this time. Saxons legend Percy “Vola” Francis, one of the most famous Junkanoo aficionados, described

Lucien Emmanuel, at around 1:46pm, a Pineapple Air flight arrived at the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) from Cap Haitien with two crew members and 19 passengers on board.

Saint-Juste presented herself for permission to legally enter the Bahamas as a visitor in booth number 17. However, immigration officers noted the Bahamian visa in question, which bore the number V0676302, was darker in colour than it usually is.

The immigration officer that was processing Saint-Juste subsequently contacted the Consular Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to confirm the authenticity of the visa in question. About

20 minutes later, an MOFA official confirmed visa was never issued by the MOFA and was fraudulent.

Saint-Juste was subsequently cautioned and arrested in connection with the charge she was arraigned on yesterday.

She was subsequently turned over to the Department of Immigration’s Enforcement Unit for further processing.

Saint-Juste, with the aid of a translator, admitted to the crime and agreed with the facts as read. Magistrate Turnquest-Deveaux subsequently thanked her for not wasting the court’s time by pleading guilty, and ordered her to be turned over to immigration officials and subsequently deported.

Swain charged with one count each of possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply and conspiracy to possess dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

According to reports, shortly after 8pm on the date in question, Drug Enforcement Unit officers, acting on information, went to a residence on St. Bart’s Road, Golden Gates, where they met a male standing near a white van.

Upon seeing the officers, the male ran from the yard, making good his escape.

Officers subsequently

conducted a search of the van and recovered 19 crocus sacks and one taped package of suspected marijuana weighing 545 pounds, with an estimated street value of $545,000.

Two men who were at the residence were taken into custody.

Given Newton’s and Knowles’ not guilty pleas, the matter was adjourned to April 5 for trial. Bail was denied and they were both remanded into custody in the interim. They have a right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail.

JUNKANOO-GATE: WE WILL LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED, PAIR DENY PLANNING TO SUPPLY PROMISE POLICE $500,000-WORTH OF MARIJUANA the matter as “real serious” but said he would stay out as officials seek to bring clarity to the issue.

The Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence is taking the allegations seriously in part because JCNP chairman Silbert Ferguson is convinced some of the calls originated ahead of the New Year’s Day parade from inside the JCNP’s Norfolk House location on Frederick Street, access to which is tightly controlled by the parade management team and reserved for parade operators and judges. Officials assemble there two hours before the parades to receive their packages and materials.

Judges are only then told which categories they will assess. The random selection process and the late delivery of assignments are intended to impede corruption.

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

TWO men yesterday denied planning to distribute over $500,000 worth of marijuana they were allegedly caught with last week.

Nheru Newton, 44, and Ernest Knowles Jr, 22, both entered not guilty pleas to allegations they were caught with $545,000 worth of drugs on Wednesday, January 9.

They were arraigned before Acting Deputy Chief Magistrate Subusola

PAGE 6, Tuesday, January 15, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

4,000 adults to take part in health investigation

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net OFFICIALS are targeting approximately 4,000 adults in the 2019 STEPS health survey, which began in select Family Islands yesterday.

The survey confidentially collects information on health habits and the prevalence of risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in The Bahamas for people aged 18-69.

The survey is expected to commence in the capital on January 21, and last through March as it is simultaneously carried out in Grand Bahama, Abaco, Eleuthera, Exuma, Cat Island and Inagua.

Health Minister Dr Duane Sands yesterday said the findings of the survey should be released “sometime in April” when “the fieldwork, data cleaning and analyses have been completed”.

He also explained the survey, which is voluntary, will be carried out over three steps at the homes of those who participate, noting the process is expected to take one hour to complete.

As a part of step one, participants will be required to answer a series of questions, while step two will focus on measurements such as weight, height, hip and waist circumference, blood pressure and heart rate readings.

For step three, Dr Sands said: “At another visit, the interviewer will collect a urine sample as well as take a finger prick blood sample which will be tested for blood, fats and sugar.”

The health minister noted a similar announcement was made in October 2018, but said that launch experienced challenges and thus was temporarily delayed.

When asked for specifics on the issue, Dr Sands told The Tribune: “We had a challenge with the supply of necessary testing items from our supplier. And that would have created a huge logistic challenge with completing the STEP survey in the method that we needed to.

“It was an issue that was beyond their control, but we agreed to delay it so that it could be done in the manner prescribed.”

Dr Pearl McMillan, acting Chief Medical Officer, added the people

who will conduct the survey have already been identified and trained. She also said they have a method by which they will determine the exact homes to visit and requested that residents participate in the survey.

“We want a sample which is representative of The Bahamas. And so the islands selected and the persons selected on those islands are intended to give a representative cross samplings of Bahamians and Bahamian behaviour,” Dr Sands added.

In an effort to garner support for the exercise, Dr Sands on Monday highlighted projections made during the 2007 CARICOM meeting with heads of governments in Trinidad, where it was stated that by 2030, the rate of people dying from NCDs would increase by 300 per cent.

“The World Health Organisation estimates that by 2020, NCDs will be responsible for more than 60 per cent of deaths worldwide,” he added, noting in The Bahamas has already exceeded this figure, with 74 percent of local deaths resulting from an NCD in 2018.

“In simple terms,

WE want a sample which is representative of The Bahamas, says Health Minister Dr Duane Sands.

Bahamians have a 17 percent chance of dying prematurely from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or chronic respiratory illnesses; almost two percentage points higher than the rest of the region,” he said.

“We have all heard or read or been taught that NCDs are directly linked to our lifestyle choices,” Dr Sands continued. “This is a

fact that cannot be altered, denied, ignored, rebuked or prayed away.”

“We believe this study will have significant value in charting our course in the health sector and as a nation. Its findings will, in part, map our collective progress related to the specific NCD risk factors.

“Of interest, it will also break new ground, generating novel baseline data

on national salt intake and oral health practices; as well as determining our population’s specific risk for cardiovascular disease.

“Findings from this study will enhance our ability to report on several local and international indicators such as those in the NCDs global monitoring framework and for the sustainable development goals,” he said.

TAKE YOUR EDUCATION SERIOUSLY, URGES SENATOR

By KATHRYN CAMPBELL

SENATOR the Hon Jamal Moss yesterday appealed to C V Bethel Senior High School students to cherish their opportunity to receive an education and take it seriously as it is a consequence of Majority Rule.

He addressed the school’s assembly on the topic ‘The Significance of Majority Rule – Its Significance to The Bahamas’.

“Students let me remind you that the quality of education

you’re receiving is a result of Majority Rule. Education for the black majority was not a priority for the ruling oligarchy and so access to secondary and tertiary education was severely limited. Most black Bahamians had to leave school at the age of 14,” said Mr Moss. “After Majority Rule was achieved, education became a top priority and the doors were opened for Bahamians to receive secondary and tertiary education at home. So please don’t take your education lightly; value it, and if

you’re not serious about it, get serious.”

Majority Rule Day is recognised in The Bahamas on January 10 and commemorates the day in 1967 when the black majority living in The Bahamas won a national election and had their numbers fairly reflected in the way that parliament was constituted.

In his address, Mr Moss outlined key events in the road to Majority Rule including the Burma Road Riot, formation of the Progressive Liberal Party,

the General Strike, the right for women to vote for the first time and Black Tuesday.

He remarked that without Majority Rule, The Bahamas would not be the “vibrant” country that it is today and independence would only be a dream. He said Majority Rule changed this and opened the door to provide bright, new prospects for the future.

Mr Moss recalled his appointment to the Senate following the 2017 General Election. “Who would have ever

Memorial Service For

Dr. Leonard Jason McCarroll

thought that a barefoot boy, the child of a maid and a construction worker, would become an Honourable Senator?”

He said his appointment is the result of the struggle of ancestors who fought against racial discrimination and inequality.

Mr Moss reminded the students that what happened for him could also happen for them. “Students, hold your head up high and embrace your “Promised Land” of opportunities. Be the positive change your country needs. Be a part of building a positive Bahamas.”

NOTICE Dear Valued Client, Please be advised that COLINA GENERAL INSURANCE AGENTS & BROKERS LTD WILL BE CLOSED ON Tuesday, January 15, 2019 for a staff training exercise.

Normal operations will resume at 9:00am on Wednesday, January 16, 2019.

of Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas, who died at Doctors Hospital, Collins Avenue, Nassau, will be held at St. Andrews Presbyterian Kirk, Nassau on Saturday, January 19th, 2019 at 11:00 a.m.

Rev. Bryn McPhail will officiate.

Dr. McCarroll was a well known and respected General Practitioner.

Dr. McCarroll is survived by his wife, Morfydd McCarroll; three sons, Nicholas, Sean and Jason McCarroll; daughters-in-law, Philippa, Sophie and Natacha McCarroll; three grandsons, Toby, Rory and Jude McCarroll; two granddaughters, Zoe and Scarlett McCarroll; a brother, Dermont McCarroll; a brother-in-law, Kenneth Rowlands and his wife Rita and numerous friends and patients.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Cancer Society of The Bahamas, P. O. Box S.S.-6539, Nassau.

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For your convenience, our Payment Centre at Carmichael Road is open to the public on Saturdays from 8:30am – 12:30pm.

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THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, January 15, 2019, PAGE 7

Honest officers should be paid a bonus for turning down bribes, says former senior policeman

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net LAW enforcement officers have more incentives to look the other way, according to former Royal Bahamas Police Force Assistant Commissioner Paul Thompson, who yesterday recommended “honest officers” be paid bonuses for turning down bribes.

Mr Thompson made the suggestion during an appearance on The Guardian Radio talk show, Real Talk Live with guest-host Howard Grant, insisting local law enforcement officers are being offered substantial bribes to compromise their posts.

Responding to a caller who raised concerns with the level of corruption in which presentday enforcement officers are involved, Mr Thompson said that he, on several occasions, recommended to a former Police Commissioner that officers be paid for every bribe he or she turned down.

He said: “I recommended when I was on the force, the Commissioner disagreed, if somebody hands a police officer a bribe of $1,000 to let them get away with something; the police officer arrests the man…”

The host interjected: “And takes the bribe?”

Mr Thompson responded: “No. He arrests him. He arrests him with the bribe. I am saying the force should reward that police officer.”

The host again interjected: “With $1,000 themselves?”

Mr Thompson responded: “(Yes), that would encourage police officers to continue to do well. People would be scared, you’d be scared.”

In a later interview with The Tribune, Mr Thompson added: “It’s just commonsense, Here

FORMER Assistant Commissioner Paul Thompson when he celebrated his 90th birthday in 2017. we have officers who are being offered these bribes, in some cases every day. How long before you think it would be before that man would look at it and say, they

paying me just as much or more for less than a day’s work?”

He continued: “When I was on the force, we had this officer down in San Salvador, he was working

‘MINNIS TRIP MAKES US LOOK LIKE GROVELLING MENDICANTS’

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party chairman Fred Mitchell.

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party chairman Fred Mitchell says Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ trip to Brussels to meet with highlevel European officials is “quite strange” and makes the country look like “grovelling mendicants”.

Mr Mitchell questioned why the prime minister made the foreign trip when his administration contains a Finance Minister, International Trade Minister, Foreign Minister and ambassador to the European Union.

“The announcement tonight that the Prime Minister is to fly to Brussels to meet with “ high ranking European Officials” is quite strange,” Mr Mitchell said Sunday in a press statement.

“How is it that a Prime Minister who has a Finance Minister, an International Trade Minister, a Foreign Minister and an ambassador to the European Union so lowers himself to meet with European Union officials...no one of equal rank of a prime minister.

“This makes our country look like a country of grovelling mendicants with our caps in our hands saying:

HACKERS HIT ZNS AND DEMAND A RANSOM from page one

everything you do with a computer, you cannot do. We have some real veterans here so everything is being done pretty much manually as much as we could. We have a lot of people advising us as to how we should move forward.”

ZNS aired an half-hour Northern station newscast at 6.30pm yesterday.

Up to press time, Mr Smith said officials were still trying to determine what could be accessed and how long the national broadcaster would be offline.

‘Please sirs we want some more’.”

The prime minister and delegation left for Belgium yesterday morning to hold bilateral talks with highranking officials of the European Commission.

The discussions will focus on matters relating to the fulfilment by The Bahamas of its commitments to the EU, and how those commitments will be implemented by the financial services sector of The Bahamas.

Prime Minister Minnis will also promote recent initiatives by the government in the financial services sector, and will outline recently passed legislation and a new framework aimed at strengthening industry regulations and protecting the financial services’ competitive edge as a leading international financial centre.

The delegation is comprised of Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Carl Bethel, QC, Viana Gardiner, COO, Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit, Stephen Coakley Wells, advisor to the Minister of Finance and Wendy Warren, CEO, Caystone Group.

there for many years and he had applied for a vacation. We sent a younger police who was working his way up the chain down there to hold on for him.”

“In no time he found himself in a spot where he was given a gold Rolex watch and $2,000 in cash to allow two Colombians and an American to fly a plane into the airport late at night.

“That young officer, still being relatively new and unquestioning in his duty, tried day after day for a while to get to me. He didn’t trust the phones because he thought the switch-board operator was in on the scheme.

“He finally got to me and told me about the scheme. We brought him to Nassau, he showed us the watch and the cash and told us everything. We were able to set-up a sting and catch those involved,” he said.

Mr Thompson told The Tribune that almost all of the country’s major law enforcement agencies are rife with stories like that.

Mr Thompson asserted that it is unconscionable to expect officers to constantly say ‘no’ in a society built on financial gain.

“When I presented the idea the first time, I was told it would set a bad precedent. Look at where we are at now,” Mr Thompson said.

“Everywhere you look, there is something untoward happening. If police officers are given an incentive to do the right thing, they would do it. I’m not talking about big money, maybe a percentage of what they were offered. I’m talking about some money in their hands as a way of saying ‘thank you for remaining true to us’. It would encourage them to do the right thing.

“I see it as cutting out corruption. I see it as rewarding our hard-working men and women and telling them ‘thank you’.

“If this was implemented today, tomorrow we’d have more tickets written up, more criminals turned in,” Mr Thompson claimed.

PAGE 8, Tuesday, January 15, 2019

A

THE TRIBUNE AUTHOR and therapist Rosalyn Palmer

PRIL 30, 2017 will always be one of the most memorable dates in my life. I was in London accepting my certificates from one of Britain’s top therapists, Marisa Peer, in Hypnotherapy and Rapid Transformational Therapy. Her techniques were life changing for me. After experiencing the success of her therapy in my own life, I enrolled in her school with the goal of helping others and, on that date, I graduated. It was an honour to have been taught by Marisa Peer, best-selling author, motivational speaker, leading celebrity therapist and pioneering hypnotherapist trainer who was named Britain’s best therapist by Tatler magazine. Hypnotherapy allows a therapist to utilise hypnotic techniques to help people heal from a wide range of personal issues, while rapid transformational therapy allows a client to have massive success in overcoming their problems from the very first session.

While taking the course in London, I had the pleasure of meeting Rosalyn Palmer. Ros, as she is affectionately called, was a previous graduate and was there to assist in the preparations for our final exams and to help the students out wherever she was needed.

I had heard so much about her. Being the first Bahamian to complete the course, facilitators told me they had heard so much about The Bahamas from Ros, who was a part of the team. Ros had done a good job of sharing the joys of Bahamian living and I was welcomed with open arms. Ros and I hit it off immediately and we spoke at length about my beloved country. As a practising therapist, it seemed the time she spent living here was indeed therapy for her, helping her through a time in life when she needed the kind of inspiration The Bahamas offers to overcome cancer.

Ros recently launched her book: Reset! A Blueprint for a Better Life and as we discussed the book, it gave us a chance to talk about how therapy – and the joys of Bahamian living – have helped to improve our lives and put us in the position to be successful therapists today.

Powerful and motivating, Ros’ book guides readers through a journey of self-discovery. She says she gained clarity through her remarkable life experiences. It’s a self-help book for those who don’t like self-help books or those who do but are still feeling deflated.

Ros understands as this was the blueprint for her own life when she was a boss of an award-winning PR Agency in London. Her clients included the motivational gurus of the time such as Tony Robbins, Edward de Bono and Robert Holden. Yet she was like her own archetypal client of today – “stressed out, burnt out and hiding behind a mask”. She is candidly open about her own story that includes outward success, her early years as a grocer’s daughter and comprehensive school kid to a time when her life imploded with cancer, divorce, bereavement, redundancy, financial loss and more. Coming through it, and now as a therapist, Ros offers the reader accessible solutions to everyday challenges.

Ros grew up in Nottingham in the middle of England with her parents and one sister: “My early years were spent living above my parents’ shop as I was a grocer’s daughter, and my father’s family were the linchpin of the community with their shop and food deliveries for many decades. I went to a large state school but was very driven and was always in the school plays, on outwardbound courses, on the honour roll

Life reset under the Bahamian sun and so forth. In 1977, I was chosen as the Girl Guide representative for the whole of my county of Nottingham to meet the Queen during her Silver Jubilee visit.”

Shortly thereafter, Ros was given her own radio show and her love for media was born. Today, she is an experienced writer, journalist and broadcaster.

“So, off I went to the bright lights of London where I studied for a degree in English literature,” she recalls. “Graduating in the early 1980s, I fell into a career for which I had no understanding; that of public relations and with some time also spent in publishing and marketing, I soon found myself working at the leading United Kingdom PR company of its day, Lynne Franks PR. I remember going on the Orient Express on my second day and working for the likes of the Rolling Stones and other celebrities… and royalty.”

Ros’ life was about to become even more colourful: “At this time I met my future husband, Mark and started in 1988 to visit Nassau where his family lived.

We visited every Christmas and in 1989, we went to Abaco for our honeymoon. In 1991, we started our own PR company - Rosalyn Palmer PR. That grew quickly to become one of the best in the UK. We continued to visit The Bahamas as often as we could while living in central London. Visits were mostly to Nassau where his parents lived, but we also made trips to Harbour Island, Grand Bahama and Andros.”

Having won several prestigious awards including PR Week Award for Best Small UK PR Agency and runner-up in the Women into Business Awards, Ros found herself exhausted and life became very difficult to juggle after having children. She and her

husband managed to negotiate a sale of the business in 2000 and were planning their next move in life when they found out that Mark’s father, Ken Palmer, was seriously ill with a heart condition. When his father died, Mark started spending long chunks of time in Nassau looking after the family concerns and business. Later that year, Ros and the children joined him in Nassau, expecting it to take about a year while all legal and financial issues were concluded.

“We moved after a first rental to an old house on the sea front at Cable Beach (no longer there) right by Sandals,” Ros told me. “I became involved with voluntary work at the church (New Providence Community Church) and I was very fit with running on the Cable Beach track and going to the gym. I built up a new friendship base via a book club (held above Swiss Bakery) and a writing group and from some friends already made who were into conservation and nature and who showed me much of the island.

We attended a lot of charity functions and events and my children went to school in Nassau. The one year turned into two and then my father had a stroke back in the UK, so I spent a lot of time flying back to the UK to help with his care.”

S

IX months later, Ros was given the shocking news about her own health. It was the day before Good Friday when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She had a mammogram just a month earlier and was given the all-clear, but says she felt a lump almost immediately.

Although she was feeling in good health on the whole, in hindsight she realised her immune system was running down. She described herself as “super-fit” and would run five kilometres every morning and would go to the gym but for the past few months, she

had noticed that she was having to break her run with intermittent walking because she was tired.

“Even when I went for the ultrasound I was thinking it was probably just a cyst,” Ros said.

“But the nurse grabbed my hand and said: ‘Live every day as if it’s your last!’ And I was like, ‘Oh God, is this something serious then?’ I hadn’t even taken anyone to hospital with me. They asked me to come in the next day for a biopsy. Four days later I was told that it was cancer.

“I was in complete shock. The next day we went away on holiday to Tarpum Bay in Eleuthera.

I went to a church service and it was all about death; it was Good Friday and all of a sudden I thought: ‘Oh, my God, I’m going to die.’ I couldn’t stop crying. I had youngish kids at the time so I had to be really practical and we had to look at lots of options really quickly. We did a lot of research and I ended up going to the Moffitt Cancer Centre in Tampa, which was absolutely outstanding. Three weeks later, I was on the operating table. My initial diagnosis of invasive lobular carcinoma, was not good. My Bahamian doctor advised a double mastectomy and the Moffitt carried out further tests. They have one of the most advanced breast MRI machines in the world and found five lumps in addition to the one confirmed as cancer across both breasts.

They recommended double mastectomy, chemo and radiation treatment. Because of my young kids (who were back in The Bahamas) I had an appointment with the plastic surgeon straight away and the operation was booked in for a few days.

“I suddenly started to feel very bulldozed by it all. I went to a church in Tampa and passed out. I later found out that all the people in my home church in The Bahamas had been praying for me at the same time. I came out of the church and thought: ‘I just don’t think all those other lumps are cancer.’ I had a complete certainty about it. So I rang the hospital and they said they’d biopsy each new lump one after the other.

Ros enjoying life when she was in The Bahamas

They said that if all five were not positive then I would have defied all odds. And basically I did defy the odds. I had five biopsies and every one came back negative.

I had a lumpectomy and brachytherapy radiation.”

Following a chance conversation at a party, the Palmers moved to Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera and rented a ten-acre organic farm on Banks Road which, at the time, belonged to Ian Goodfellow who had moved his operation to Nassau. For two years they lived on the land and sea. Ros distilled Noni juice. She meditated, read, watched positive movies. She considers it “one of the most amazing and uplifting times” of her life – even with two hurricanes - and she recovered fully. She recalls the kindness of the Bahamian people and how people helped to take care of her children “with no complaints” when she went for her early cancer treatments.

“I loved walking on the pink sandy beaches, picking up sand dollars and sea cookies and I knew where to find sea glass and make mosaics,” she said. “I connected to many artists and started to paint Bahamian scenes, and I sold five paintings in a gallery in Harbour Island. I would go with friends up and down the island to walk the beaches or do yoga on the beaches. When I was recovering from the cancer I’d walk and swim in the sea with my potcake Tarpum. I loved the farm as we had (before the hurricane) soursop, cherries, breadfruit, coconuts, finger bananas and veg and I’d buy a bushel of mangoes from Mr Pinder from Spanish Wells. I loved the sea, especially the Atlantic as it was more wild and unpredictable. I used to snorkel and the fish I’d see were amazing sea creatures; although I didn’t mind the sharks, I was scared of the barracuda!”

Sadly, six months after Ros’ diagnosis, her mother was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Her illness, her father’s illness and then her mother’s illness put too big a strain on her marriage and she says she was unable to continue in my marriage or living in The Bahamas and she ended up returning to the UK. She misses the sea and, for this reason, she lives right by a river and walks along its banks every day. What she doesn’t miss, she says, are the mosquitoes and the humidity.

All of these experiences and more led her to publish her book that is already gaining recognition. Reset! A Blueprint for a Better Life received high commendations in the self-help book category of the prestigious Janey Loves awards and is now shortlisted for the Soul & Spirit Awards. The book is available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

To learn more, check out www. rosalynpalmer. com, www.resetyourjoy.com, on Facebook at rosalynpalmertrusttransformation or Instagram at rosalynpalmertrusttransform.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, January 15, 2019, PAGE 9

Conch crisis: We were warned from page one

“(Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation) BREEF has been sounding the alarm about the situation with conch for decades, including the “Nassau Grouper and Queen Conch status and management options” report in 2002,” Mrs McKinney-Lambert said.

“This is a very vulnerable species whose populations have collapsed throughout the region.

We want to make sure that this doesn’t happen here. Conch populations are below the threshold for reproduction in much of The Bahamas and this is of major concern to us, fishermen and anyone else who likes conch.

“If there aren’t enough adult conch in an area, they will not reproduce. Effectively managed replenishment zones are needed to help restore conch populations. We also need to address the issue of illegal harvest- both by poachers and by people who are illegally taking juvenile conch.

“We need to give more detail regarding the fisheries regulation

of a “well-formed flaring lip” to specify that the lip needs to be at least the thickness of a penny.

Finally, we should absolutely not be exporting conch out of The Bahamas. (Queen) Conch is a protected species under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).”

On Sunday, Agriculture and Marine Resources Minister Michael Pintard said he would “aggressively engage” stakeholders regarding conch conservation, including starting dialogue on a possible conch season.

Mr Pintard said measures his ministry will be “strongly recommending” will include implementing a minimum lip thickness for conch to be harvested, considering ending conch exports, increasing equipment and personnel available to “ensure compliance” with fisheries laws, and encouraging more participation in the fight against “illegal, unreported, and unregulated” fishing practices.

However, when The Tribune canvassed vendors at Arawak Cay and Potters Cay Dock on Friday to learn their views on these dire

research findings, the majority of the vendors interviewed dismissed the study’s findings, with some describing it as “impossible”.

When asked about this reaction, Mrs McKinney-Lambert said: “I think that it’s important for people to realise that there have been warning signs for many years - this is not a surprise.

“We have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of other countries towards population collapse, which is basically what we have been doing, or chart a new path and take a precautionary approach to sustaining our resources.”

“I’m pleased that the minister

WORK ON INSTALLING GUARD AT SMITH’S POINT HAS BEGUN

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

were eager for the road to is one of several capital be reopened. works projects that is being However, Mr Lewis at undertaken by the governthe time indicated that ment in Grand Bahama.

INSTALLATION of the they were waiting for the In West Grand Bahama, the guard railing on the newly arrival of the guard rail- $6.5 million Fishing Hole built seawall at Smith’s ing to ensure public safety causeway, the $25 million Point has started. to the motoring public, new government complex The road has been and asked the public for in Eight Mile Rock, and the closed to the public for a little more patience. construction of the new $12 the past two years due to The Smith’s Point settle- million school in Holmes construction and unsafe ment is known for its weekly Rock are some of the other conditions to motorists. fish fry on Wednesdays. projects.

While installation is not yet Area residents are very The new fishing hole complete, parliamentary eager for the road to be causeway will resolve years secretary in the Minis- reopened, saying it is vital of flooding issues at the try of Works Iram Lewis to their livelihood as many narrow strip of road at said the second shipment of them own and operate Hawksbill Creek that conof railing is on the way. small bars and restaurants nects Freeport and West “We are extremely happy in the seaside community.

Grand Bahama. Booths that we are in the final The $4.8 million seawall also have been built for fishstages of the project,” he and road repaving pro- ermen and seafood vendors. said when contacted by The ject is being carried out All Bahamas ConstrucTribune yesterday.

by Waugh Construction. tion (ABC) company was “Once they are on the For many years, Smith’s awarded the contract under island we will continue Point has been exposed the former Christie adminwith the installation.” to coastal erosion, leav- istration in December 2015.

During a visit to the area ing the community Top Notch Construction on Monday, more than vulnerable to storm surges Company was awarded the half of the railing has been during hurricanes. $25million contract for the installed on the seawall, Residents living in the area governmentcomplexinEMR. starting at the eastern are relieved that the seawall The new $12m Holmes end of the settlement. has been completed and Rock Junior High School In late December when The that the community is now project is under conTribune visited that area, protected from any further tract with Brickhouse residents said they were erosion.

Construction and RCL pleased with the seawall but The seawall project Construction.

(Michael Pintard) is taking this issue seriously for the benefit of current and future Bahamians,” Mrs McKinney-Lambert added.

“Nobody is disputing that in many places where conch were once abundant, they are now much more difficult to find. It’s important to use strong science combined with local knowledge for good decision-making.

“We have had a lot of Bahamian BREEF students assist with surveys carried out by Community Conch and the Shedd Aquarium, and have been doing conch education in schools since BREEF’s early years.”

In a press release earlier this

month, the Chicago-based Shedd Aquarium group revealed its research on more than 3,000 conchs at 42 survey sites throughout The Bahamas between 2009 and 2017. The findings show that not only are the numbers of adult conch decreasing, but the densities of legal-to-harvest queen conch are now far below the established minimum threshold for reproductive success, except in the most remote areas.

Additionally, the research showed that viable fishery for queen conch in The Bahamas might only last another ten to 15 years, unless significant measures are taken to cut fishing pressure.

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PAGE 10, Tuesday, January 15, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

US government shutdown – a Trumpian catastrophe for everyone THE present shutdown of a large part of US Government operations is no minor blip in how the country is run. With 800,000 civil servants abruptly without pay for a period entering its third week, it is a selfimposed disaster previously unknown in the nation’s history. Bahamians should not kid themselves into believing we will be exempt from this catastrophe in the world’s largest economy, our neighbour and main source of our tourism and commerce.

Nor can we ignore that this calamity must be blamed strictly on President Donald Trump and his obsession with building “The Wall”, a sop to his ego with no function in solving immigration problems or defending national security. There is no need to list here the many policy mistakes he has committed ever since his inauguration, or the racial and anti-feminist prejudices he has displayed from far earlier. They have been amply documented for public consumption.

Some Bahamians preferred him to Hillary Clinton. That may have been a rational choice at election time, but his record to date must be giving his local believers serious doubts.

His latest threat to declare a “national emergency” to obtain funds for the Wall without Congressional approval will create an unprecedented dispute over basic principles of the US Constitution. In the history of American presidents, Trump is not just different, but unique – a true outlier from all the previous 44 men who have led the nation, well or poorly, to survive for 243 years. Although I have no professional training in human psychology, Christian

ethics, marital relations or sexual priapism, I cannot accept that public performance as a statesman is totally divorced from private behaviour, particularly when it no longer remains “private”. They must be related.

Consider the hard facts of his personal life: Aside from Ronald Reagan, he is the only president who has been divorced (twice), and Reagan’s one re-marriage was a firm romance that lasted to his death.

Only two presidents were chronic “womanisers”, Jack Kennedy and Bill Clinton, neither of whom advertised the habit, while Trump has been blatant about his affairs and his cavalier attitude towards the female sex.

All the presidents chose mates from solid American background, several of whom were remarkable women who provided strong support or became intellectual or charitable leaders in their own right, such as the wives of FDR, LBJ, Ford and Carter while Laura Bush is a professional librarian who saved her husband from alcoholism.

Which of Mr Trump’s three “ladies” whom he chose to marry can even approach these qualities?

Mr Trump’s personal style and approach to the presidency is so eccentric and

impulsive that one could take odds that he will serve only one term, if that: * He could simply get fed up with the effort and resign. * He could suffer a fatal stroke. * He could be declared unfit under the 25th Amendment and removed. * He could be impeached. * He could lose support of his base and the Republican presidential nomination.

* He could be defeated in the 2020 general election. * He could be assassinated by a crazed fanatic.

The final alternative would be a dark day, bringing unpredictable political turmoil to the US , but the other six possibilities would simply mark the welcome end of a bizarre interlude that could lead to a brighter national future.

Our financial services – change, not crisis WE have recently seen alarming and conflicting press reports about the health of our financial sector. On the one hand we read about the $200 billion decline in banking assets over the last six years, and the end of IBCs (International Business Companies) linked with new legislation imposed by the EU and OECD. Former Central Bank Governor James Smith mentions a “death knell”, backed up by financial executive Paul Moss. On the other hand, Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest reassures us there’s still plenty of business for traditional IBCs, as long as they remain “passive”.

Let’s separate apples from oranges. “Banking assets” are only relevant for the age-old commercial banking business of lending against deposits. They have been shrinking for many reasons, but we can be well served with just three foreign-owned (Canadian) and two locally owned banks, surely adequate for a population of 400,000, without the useless addition of Bank of Bahamas, whose struggling business and staff should be sold to a stronger operative. There’s no evidence for the stated fear that foreign banks will squeeze out local ones – it has not happened to date. What’s needed is more efficiency by the whole commercial banking sector, whose bureaucratic and dilatory ways infuriate its customers.

Commercial banking is only one segment of our total financial services sector, which includes private banking and related trust administration; securities dealing;

on the bewhigged ceremonial of English traditions, our economy loses million dollar fees to practitioners in the fly-speck of Road Town, Tortola.

The future of IBCs is a side issue. While many thousands were incorporated, they were always ingenious legal fictions that bought little tangible wealth or employment to The Bahamas.

We can see that thousands have already been liquidated, a process that will continue as their utility becomes doubtful. Even if a “passive” IBC is non- taxable, why go to the trouble of registering for a business licence and preparing financial statements when its affairs can be conducted by a domestic company with a local office and dedicated personnel and no threat of retaliatory measures?

The future of the Bahamian economy lies with businesses, including lawyers, accountants and financial advisers who have firm “boots on the ground” here while serving both local and foreign markets. A good example is Cloud Carib, a Bahamian IT communications company with its active base at Sandyport and a growing network of international branches —a template for hi-tech start-ups based in Grand Bahama.

MINISTER of Finance Peter Turnquest reassures us there’s still plenty of business for traditional IBCs. investment management and business and may in fact enhance here, they have encouraged multipartner legal factories in Cayman, counselling; direct and captive it and add to local employment.

Unfortunately, we have Bermuda, BVI and elsewhere insurance; mutual fund administration; corporate services and special dropped the ball on other financial that attract lucrative fee-earning transactions; accountancy, com- services. Many years ago the PLP services for cross-border deals, puter and IT services; even ship and government took steps that closed hedge fund management and aircraft registration and (maybe our captive insurance companies, financial holding companies for someday) international arbitration. causing their move to Bermuda major clients. While our Bar We maintain a good grip on and becoming its second largest Council and Association focus private banking, trusts and invest- industry with highly profitable ment management, with many international links that can never smaller firms, both bank and be recaptured for The Bahamas.

Over many years, the blind non-bank, both local and foreign owned, active in this field with the obduracy of our legal community THE recent news that Netherlands (alone) will place us on a blacklist growth of “family offices”. The (with a few honourable excepCentral Bank’s recent sensible tions) has made us a back-water simply because we do not levy an income tax of at least 9 percent, must decision to permit multi-currency in international business.. By be forcefully opposed, as an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. business by any financial insti- imposing a “closed shop” against Fortunately, we don’t do much business with that little country, who tution will not drive away this foreign lawyers setting up practice seems to defy broader EU policy.

PS

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, January 15, 2019, PAGE 11

HANDS OFF OUR LOGO, WARNS PLP CHAIRMAN MITCHELL

By RIEL MAJOR PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party chairman Fred Mitchell said yesterday the party is working to have its official symbols trademarked due to flagrant abuse and misuse.

He also warned candidate hopefuls they must secure permission from party trustees before using symbols as they canvas for support.

The advisory was included in a public statement, which also warned vendors and service providers over the unauthorised

use of its official symbol and letter design.

Mr Mitchell said: “There has been a lot of abuse... for example there has been an anti-PLP campaign by people connected with Save the Bays. They have been misusing and abusing the PLP sign so that’s why we are in the process of getting it trademarked to protect the ownership of it and to prevent that sort of thing from happening.”

“You have to have permission to use symbols that are owned by the PLP. We also want to be sure that

people aren’t using it to run up debts without having the proper authority.

“And to (ensure) the people who are involved

in the nominating process don’t give the impression that the party has already decided that they are a nominee. So that is why

we issued these general guidelines as to how the symbols ought to be used.

It is not a very difficult thing if you want to use the symbol you just ask the secretary general and she’ll give you authority if it is appropriate.”

The chairman said the candidate process started three months ago but noted the process could take several months up to a year. He said: “The candidates committee has to first receive the advice from the various branches…Some branches, like North Abaco, and a

number of other (branches) have several people interested in nominations so the branches has started inviting people to come by, who want to run, to speak to the branch.

“The branch should be observing their conduct in the community, how close they are with the community, what their programmes and policies are, there ability to work with a team. At the end of the process (they) make recommendations to the cabinet’s committee as to who they would like their nominees to be.”

Children’s home enjoys a boost THE Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated donated $25,000 to the Ranfurly Home for Children during its national executive board meeting last week.

The sorority staged its national meeting at Baha Mar - the first time the event has been hosted outside of the United States.

The conference brought more than 300 Zetas, and, in keeping with the sorority’s philanthropic mission, a significant contribution was made to the children’s home.

“We would like to thank the sorority for the donation as this amount of money will go towards the initiatives we have established for 2019 and beyond,” Kristy Kemp, a member of the Board of Directors of the home, said.

There are three local chapters of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated in The Bahamas – Theta Epsilon Zeta Graduate Chapter (New Providence), Rho Upsilon

Zeta Undergraduate Chapter (University of The Bahamas) and Beta Alpha Mu Zeta Graduate Chapter (Grand Bahama).

Margaret Johnson-Rolle, Theta Epsilon Zeta Chapter’s President said: “They chose to do more than just bring 300 plus sorors to our shores. They wanted to do something that would etch a stamp in the minds of the Bahamian society and did so by choosing The Ranfurly Home for Children and giving this large donation. We know the donation will go a long way.”

Sorority president Valerie Hollingsworth-Baker said.

“Wherever there is a Zeta Chapter, we will do our best to give in those communities. When I became president in July last year, I told those gathered that we needed to move to see our international sisters. And so I am proud that we made it to The Bahamas,” she continued, “and I am proud that we were able to make this donation possible. We hope that it makes the lives of the children at the home much better.”

During the national conference, board members held talks on the roadmap to their celebration of 100 years of existence

LAWANDA HARPER, Kristy Kemp, Valerie Hollingsworth Baker and Michelle Porter-Knowles, abover. Left, Valerie Hollingsworth Baker meets Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis. in June of 2020. A Centennial launch reception was held on Friday, January 11, featuring a Junkanoo presentation by the Colours Entertainment Junkanoo Group.

In a press statement yesterday, the organisation heralded its innovation that has led to a number of firsts. It was the First

National Pan-Hellenic Council organization to centralise its operations in a national headquarters; the first to charter a chapter in Africa; the first to form auxiliary groups; and the first to be constitutionally bound to a fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated.

“The sorority takes

pride in its continued participation in transforming communities through volunteer services from members and its auxiliaries. Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated has chartered hundreds of chapters worldwide and has a membership of more than 100,000,” the press statement added.

PAGE 12, Tuesday, January 15, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

DEATH PENALTY FOR CANADIAN ESCALATES CHINA-CANADA TENSIONS TORONTO Associated Press

A CHINESE court sentenced a Canadian man to death yesterday in a sudden retrial of a drug smuggling case and Beijing said that it has denied a Canadian diplomatic immunity, ratcheting up tensions since Canada’s arrest of a top Chinese technology executive last month.

A Chinese court in northeastern Liaoning province announced that it had given Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, pictured right, the

death penalty, reversing an earlier 2016 ruling that sentenced him to 15 years in prison. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strongly condemned Monday’s proceeding, suggesting that China was using its judicial system to pressure Canada over the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. In his strongest comments yet, Trudeau said “all countries around the world”

should be concerned that Beijing is acting arbitrarily with its justice system. “It is of extreme concern to us as a government, as it should be to all our international friends and allies, that China has chosen to begin to arbitrarily apply a death penalty,” Trudeau said.

Further escalating the diplomatic rift between the two countries, a Chinese spokeswoman said earlier Monday that Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat taken

into custody in apparent retaliation for Meng’s arrest, was not eligible for diplomatic immunity as Trudeau has maintained.

A senior Canadian government official said Chinese officials have been questioning Kovrig about his diplomatic work in China, which is a major reason why Trudeau is asserting diplomatic immunity.

Kovrig, a Northeast Asia analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank, was on a leave of absence from the Canadian government at the time of

his arrest last month. The court gave no indication that the death penalty could be commuted, but observers said Schellenberg’s fate is likely to be drawn into diplomatic negotiations over China’s demand for the release of Meng.

“Playing hostage politics, China rushes the retrial of a Canadian suspect and sentences him to death in a fairly transparent attempt to pressure Canada to free the Huawei CFO,” Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said in a tweet.

Trump: I’ll never back down in shutdown fight WASHINGTON Associated Press WITH the government mired in shutdown week four, President Donald Trump rejected a shortterm legislative fix and dug in for more combat yesterday, declaring he would “never ever back down.”

Trump rejected a suggestion to reopen all government departments for several weeks while negotiations would continue with Democrats over his demands for $5.7 billion for a long, impregnable wall along the US-Mexico border. The president also edged further away from the idea of trying to declare a national emergency to circumvent Congress.

“I’m not looking to call a national emergency,” Trump said. “This is so simple we shouldn’t have to.”

No cracks were apparent in the president’s deadlock with lawmakers after a weekend with no negotiations at all. His ruling out the short-term option proposed by Republican Sen Lindsay Graham removed one path forward, and little else was in sight. Congressional Republicans were watching Trump for a signal for how to move next, and Democrats have not budged from their refusal to fund the wall and their demand that he reopen government before border talks resume. The impact of the

I’M not looking to call a national emergency, says President Trump 24-day partial government closure Trump spent the weekend in was being felt around the coun- the White House reaching out to try. Some 800,000 federal workers aides and lawmakers and tweeting missed paychecks, deepening anxi- aggressively about Democratic foes eties about mortgage payments and as he tried to make the case that unpaid bills, and about half of them the wall was needed on both secuwere off the job, cutting off some rity and humanitarian grounds. He services. Travellers at the Atlanta stressed that argument rduring a airport, the nation’s busiest, dealt speech at a farming convention in with waits of more than an hour New Orleans, insisting there was yesterday as no-shows by security “no substitute” for a wall or a barscreeners soared. rier along the southern border.

Trump insists he has the power to sign an emergency declaration to deal with what he says is a crisis of drug smuggling and trafficking of women and children at the border.

But he now appears to be in no rush to make such a declaration.

Instead, he is focused on pushing Democrats to return to the negotiating table — though he walked out of the most recent talks last week — and seized on the fact that a group of House and Senate Democrats were on a retreat in Puerto Rico. Democrats, he argued, were partying on a beach rather than negotiating — though Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer were not on the trip.

He left their session at the White House last Wednesday after Pelosi told him she would not agree to fund the border wall even if he reopened the government. He called the meeting a “total waste of time”.

White House officials cautioned that an emergency order remains on the table. Many inside and outside the White House hold that it may be the best option to end the standoff, reopening the government while allowing Trump to tell his base supporters he didn’t cave on the wall.

Richard Coulson - Page 10

POLISH MAYOR DIES AFTER BEING STABBED WARSAW, Poland Associated Press

THE popular liberal mayor of Poland’s port city of Gdansk died yesterday after being stabbed at a charity event by an ex-convict with a history of violent crime. The killing plunged the politically divided country into shock and grief and brought Poles into the streets for solemn vigils in a rare show of national unity.

Pawel Adamowicz, 53, died from the wounds inflicted by a 27-year-old man who stormed the stage on Sunday evening while the mayor was addressing an audience during the “Lights to Heaven,” the finale of a nationwide fundraiser for sick children.

Adamowicz had just expressed gratitude to the “generous” crowd, adding: “This is a wonderful time of sharing good things. You are dear. Gdansk is the most wonderful city in the world. Thank you!”

That’s when the assailant rushed up and stabbed him three times, then grabbed a microphone to tell the audience that he acted in revenge against the country’s main opposition party, Civic Platform, which Adamowicz was a member of for many years but left it in 2015.