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VOLUME:116 No.16, JANUARY 17TH, 2019
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‘Simple mistake’ at heart of trial
Crown claims key Smith witness got vital date wrong By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net THE Crown’s lead attorney in the extortion and bribery trial of Frank Smith has suggested that star witness Barbara Hanna’s indication that she met with the accused in March of 2016 after she was awarded a cleaning contract was nothing more than a “simple mistake”, stunning the court yesterday with the admission that the prosecution’s case was built around this error in the record.
According to submissions yesterday by Crown attorney Edward Jenkins, QC, despite her evidence that she first met Smith in March 2016 at the behest of former Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, months after her Magic Touch cleaning company was awarded a $500,000 annual contract from the Public Hospitals Authority, Hanna did in fact meet with Smith in March of 2015. The prosecution further indicated that this fact gives
THE Bahamas National Commission on Marijuana (BNCM) is expected to deliver its first draft to the government by April but any implementation concerning the “business of marijuana” could take years, rotarians were told yesterday. Dr Bridgette Rolle, deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of
SEE PAGE NINE
BACON RANCH
By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net
MINISTRY of Education officials were to meet with investigators of the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s Anti-Corruption Unit yesterday to discuss the parameters of a probe into suspected collusion among employees who are believed to have defrauded the government of almost $450,000. A high-ranking source in the Minnis administration confirmed the planned briefing yesterday, adding the government is taking this matter very seriously. However, no one has been fired as officials are said to be waiting on the outcome of the police investigation, which could take several weeks, the source said.
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
PRIME SUPPORTER FORMER Prime Minister Perry Christie was at the Frank Smith trial yesterday. Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff
DELINQUENT Bahamian borrowers have been warned to get their finances in order after the Central Bank selected the preferred bidder for this nation’s firstever Credit Bureau. Gowon Bowe, the Clearing Banks Association’s chairman, said that its creation “is going to be a tremendous shock” to Bahamians with poor credit histories who will face higher borrowing costs and find it harder to obtain loans. Mr Bowe said the bureau will drive home to deadbeat borrowers that “bad behaviour has real consequences” for their financial well-being. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
CAMPBELL APOLOGISES FOR RAPE REMARKS By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net
AFTER he was roundly criticised for his “unbelievable” remarks when questioned about a rise in reported rapes, Minister of Social Services Frankie Campbell has apologised for his “insensitive” comments. His statement came after former Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin described his remarks that
UNDER FIRE: Frankie Campbell rape is not a social services issue as “incredible” and activists questioned if he
was aware of the elements of his portfolio. “I am humbled at the opportunity to speak to mothers, fathers, women and girls, victims of rape, abuse and violence, and anyone else who may have been offended by a video recording of me that is in circulation,” Mr Campbell said in a statement issued last night. “I apologise for what seemed to be insensitive as
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BORROWERS: TIME TO PUT YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER
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Health, moved to temper expectations during a presentation by the commission at the luncheon meeting of the Rotary Club of South East Nassau at East Villa. Dr Rolle said: “I also want to make note that this would only be a first step in the process of this whole as you put it - the business of marijuana. “You have to start with a white paper of sorts and then it’s going to be years I suspect before we see any
L SOUR CE
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MARIJUANA MOVE COULD TAKE YEARS By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
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DIANE PHILLIPS THE POWER OF ONE CAN DO SO MUCH
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PAGE 2, Thursday, January 17, 2019
THE TRIBUNE
Happy 100th
HER Excellency the Most Hon Dame Marguerite Pindling, Governor General, visited centenarian Ophelia Munnings at her Blue Hill Estates home yesterday as she celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends. (BIS Photos/Letisha Henderson)
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, January 17, 2019, PAGE 3
No one fired yet over bonus scam as officials wait on police probe from page one Education Minister Jeff Lloyd is also said to be adamant that stealing will not be tolerated in his ministry and should be punished, The Tribune understands. Meanwhile Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle has said the Financial Crimes Unit of the Royal Bahamas Police Force received a complaint relative to the Auditor General’s probe sometime last year and that it was something his unit was looking into. On Tuesday, he told this newspaper it was not on the Anti-Corruption Unit’s radar, however he later attributed that position to a communication error. This week, The Tribune exclusively published Auditor General Terrance Bastian’s report into how honoraria and stipends were essentially abused in the Department of Education. This investigation unearthed “egregious acts” among some employees who were able to use an array of honoraria codes to perpetuate fraud to the tune of $448,230.68. The report covered the period from July 1, 2014 to February 28, 2018. It was not tabled in the House of Assembly even though logs show a receptionist in the lower chamber signed for and received it on September 13, 2018. What happened after it was accepted at the receptionist’s desk is also under investigation, according to House Speaker Halson Moultrie. Addressing the issue at Parliament just after he tabled the report - which he said was again received from the Office of the Auditor General yesterday morning before the sitting commenced - Mr Moultrie said there will be changes to how reports of this nature are handled. He said: “Because of reports that I’ve seen in the newspaper yesterday (Tuesday) and again today (Wednesday), I wish to address this matter. “And while this matter in my estimation is not earth shattering, it is a serious matter and deserves attention. “As I indicated, honourable members, you may have seen a story in the newspaper concerning an audit of the Auditor General that apparently was not tabled in a timely fashion. According to our ongoing investigation, this report was indeed sent to the Parliament by the Auditor General on September 13,
THE SPEAKER of the House of Assembly Halson Moultrie. Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff
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2018. The Auditor General has also been kind enough to supply us with a log indicating that the report was received at the receptionist’s desk and signed for by the receptionist. The report never reached the acting clerk of the Parliament and never reached the Speaker’s desk. However by some circumstance this report found its way to The Tribune newspaper and that is most unusual and most unacceptable.” He continued: “I wish to assure honourable members that the Parliament has already taken steps to avoid any such delay in future. We have spoken with the Auditor General and agreed upon a change in the protocol of how future reports will be handled. “One issue that we have resolved is that whenever there is an auditor’s report, we are requesting of the Auditor General to supply this Parliament with a minimum of 60 copies of that report so that all members of the House of Assembly and senators are able to receive their entitlement, which is an entitlement to every document tabled in this Parliament. “As this investigation is ongoing I wish to make no further statement on this matter.” During this special probe, Mr 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.
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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 $448,230.68 using the honoraria description WARNED it would
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
HOW The Tribune broke the story earlier this week.
While the director approved these payments, there was no accompanying be reasonable to ascertain formal approval from the that other unethical uses Ministry of Finance, Min- of other codes could have istry of Education and the been used,” the report, ‘AIRPORT’SofFIASCO Ministry Public service dated September 12, 2018 CAN’T BE REPEATED’ as is required. This meant noted. In one instance, it was there were no project justification letters including claimed that an assistant received 43 cost, financial clearance, accountant I SAW COPS WITH payments of virement of funds and honoraria MISSING MARVIN $125,505.82 in 44 months. appropriation transfer warrants provided by the At a separate time, another accountant received Department of Education. HACKERS HIT ZNS AND DEMAND RANSOM A virement is an admin- $61,113.18 in 32 instalments istrative transfer of funds in 20 months while those with a genfrom one part of a budget lesser jobs, including FACE-TO-FACE RESET to another. “Since staff eral service workerLIFEreceived UNDER THE of were able to perpetu- nine honoraria payments BAHAMIAN SUN $12,650 in 17 months. ate a fraud to the tune of 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
By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net
SEE PAGE THREE
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
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.
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
“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
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
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THE TRIBUNE
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Good appointment - stop playing politics IN his first press conference for the new year, Opposition Leader Philip “Brave” Davis, gave tongue-in-cheek congratulations to a competent young Bahamian woman journalist who the Minnis government had just named as its Director of Communications. Although Mr Davis wished her good luck, he predicted that her presence would not boost the popularity of the Minnis government. Erica Wells Cox, who has had 23 years of experience in journalism, has been appointed to explain the plans and achievements – and even the failures – of the Minnis government. It is up to that government to attempt to match their election promises with the people’s dreams. Ms Wells’ job is to be the communications vehicle to keep the dialogue open between the two, and to help Bahamians understand what their government is trying to achieve. If the people don’t approve of what they hear, then it will be their turn to speak up. In other words she is to keep the dialogue open, using plain, simple English to explain the facts, and the reasoning behind the political decisions. In his press conference, Mr Davis insulted his listeners. He forgot –as most politicians do —that you can “fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” “Bahamians,” he said, “are once again faced with having to pay for another public relations salary out of the Public Treasury.“ “When I talk about yet another public relations salary out of the Public Treasury, I ought to note that we have always had a director of Bahamas Information Services and then we have appointed after the elections a press secretary and now have a director of communications. It seems we have two persons and another whole department under the guidance and control of the director of BIS doing the same job, all at the expense of us, the Bahamian people.” Yes, Mr Davis, and where were you when your party was spending millions of dollars– something in the region of a $4 million taxpayer-funded budget in one instance to promote your party’s “Stronger Bahamas” campaign. It was a foreign controlled campaign with many Americans on the payroll, but not a single Bahamian in sight. Where was your voice then, Mr Davis? It is certainly very loud now when a Bahamian — and a capable one at that — is involved. In 2015 Mrs Loretta Butler Turner, then FNM MP for Long Island, made her voice heard: “The use of a foreign firm in such an effort in no way helps to make the Bahamas stronger. Instead it sends money overseas that should have remained in the Bahamas, putting Bahamians first, circulating money in our local economy. This,” she concluded, “is yet another shameful abuse of the public purse by the PLP.” And remember the US media company Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly?
They were engaged by the Pindling government to help it win another Bahamian election. Manafort now sits in a US jail waiting to be called by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify in the investigation into the role that Russia might have played in the recent US election. No one heard a Bahamian voice protesting the millions of Bahamian taxpayers’ dollars going overseas to pay for this American company to spread election propaganda in our country. Then there were the millions spent on the Greensberg campaign, which critiqued for the PLP the reasons for the loss of the 2007 election. After the 2017 loss the Greensberg firm was back to point out that many similarities of the mistakes the PLP had made in the 2007 election were repeated in the 2017 election. In this election the PLP was wiped out, leaving only four PLP members in the House— Mr Davis being one of them to represent the Opposition. Again millions of taxpayer’s dollars were spent by Mr Davis’ party only to be told by Greensberg after the 2017 election catastrophe that “there is a perception among voters that the PLP has become more focused on doing things that benefit its own politicians than for the people.” We hope that the FNM will take note of this observation, because we have seen it raising its ugly head in certain areas of their government. At all times it must be remembered that the interest of the Bahamian constituent, regardless of party affiliation, comes before the interest of politicians. But for these two elections when millions of taxpayers dollars were being spent with foreigners, where was Mr Davis’ objecting voice? Mr Davis also attacked ZNS for not broadcasting a substantial portion of an interview he gave the network last month. He claimed senior ZNS officials directed subordinates “not to air opposition stories unless the government has responded.” If he wants to know how his own party shut the FNM out of ZNS studios while it was the government for a total of 35 years he only has to ask PLP Senator Fred Mitchell, who was not always Sir Lynden’s “blue-eyed boy”. However, when he was in Pindling’s good books he was in full control of ZNS and from 1977-79 he had authority to use a “hatchet” — and use a “hatchet” he did. Mr Mitchell has quite a story to tell, particularly when he and Pindling fell out and the “hatchet” was used against him. Neither party was right, but we would remind Mr Davis that what is “good for the goose, is also good for the gander.” If the FNM plans to succeed it has to rise above such pettiness and remember that we are all created equal with the right to equal opportunities, according to our individual abilities. Erica Wells Cox is a good appointment and — having had her initial training at The Tribune — we can say with confidence that she fully understands what fairness means. If given a chance she will do well.
Unions should have some perspective over Minnis bailout EDITOR, The Tribune THE Free National Movement (FNM) administration of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has taken plenty criticism for going out on a limb and purchasing the Grand Lucayan Resort for an estimated $65 million from Cheung Long (Ck) Property Holdings, a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa. The alternative would’ve been to stand idly by and watch 400 Grand Bahamians relegated to the unemployment line. The $65 million will be completely funded by the taxpayers of this country. With only the Lighthouse Pointe resort in operation, the FNM’s special purpose vehicle, chaired by Michael Scott, made the savvy decision to trim the resort’s bloated workforce. I commend the FNM for doubling the original payout proposal of $1.4 million to the 137 line staff, who have agreed to accept the VSEPs. The line staff members will now take home an average of $20,400, which is a bonanza in Freeport’s struggling economy. Initially, each of the line staff members were slated to pocket about just $10,200. This is the second time
LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net an FNM administration has doled out public funds to failed resort employees in Grand Bahama. During the last Ingraham administration, millions in severance packages were given to the displaced workers of the Driftwood Group’s Royal Oasis Resort. To the best of my knowledge, the state has yet to recoup that money from Driftwood. In all things considered, I believe that the Commonwealth Union of Hotel Services and Allied Workers (CUHSAW) and its attorney, Pleasant Bridgewater, as well as Obie Ferguson, of the Bahamas Hotel Managerial Association (BHMA), who currently represents the 90 managers who are leaving the resort, are in no position to play hardball by demanding more money from the Minnis administration. The 90 managers have been offered $2.7 million, which would round out to a hefty $30,000 apiece. Again, considering Freeport’s struggling economy, that’s good money to have. Ferguson’s counter
proposal of over $4million would increase the managers’ severance package by $14,000. As for the CUHSAW and Bridgewater, I believe they are requesting some back payments owed to line staff members who are staying put. Both unions seems to have conveniently forgotten where this money is coming from. Ferguson and Bridgewater and their respective union members have no leverage with which to use against Minnis. In this regard, whatever negotiations they will undertake would be coming from a position of weakness, considering the fact monies being allocated for them is coming out the treasury. Context is important. The two unions must have some perspective. Where was this hardline stance when the previous owners were treating staff members like doormat for years? The CUHSAW and BHMA should be thankful that the Minnis administration chose to bail out their members. Their members should take whatever is given to them and run with it.
Our next Chief Justice decision is a slam dunk Isn’t it best to rely on EDITOR, The Tribune
THERE has to be further concern that we are still without a confirmed Chief Justice - we hear from learned Attorneys and last week the plea from the currently Acting Chief Justice that this is untenable, but why does the Prime Minister continue to refuse to approve? We buried with all the trappings of a full State funeral the late Chief Justice Isaacs on September 7, 2018. That is now four months ago who for the Isaacs, confirmative
process the selection was obviously carried out and you would have had candidate one-two-three maybe four for the position so with the very sudden demise of Chief Justice Isaacs surely the appointment of a definitive new person as Chief Justice at the least should have been immediate no later than September, 2018? Has Article: 95(2) been complied with? Has the Judicial and Legal Commission acted as required? Further is it complaint with the Constitution that we
have for lengthy periods persons Acting in any appointment? Judges Permanent Secretaries - Directors, etc? This Chief Justice confirmation is a simple slam dunk decision – for Justice Isaacs the process was concluded very recently – whoever was the second choice simply should be appointed Chief Justice. To the PM’s spokesperson – your comment is flippant! W THOMPSON Nassau, January 13, 2019.
KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama. January 15, 2019
public to call police? EDITOR, The Tribune
THIS ShotSpotter Alert system the Minister of National Security talks about - searched high and low, I don’t see a RFP for that - was there one as is required? M Forbes’s letter caused me to Google the system… if it works as designed it could be possible that a patrol car will be close to a shooting location so close
it could put the police in danger and the public also as the criminals who had already used their firearms could get into a shout-out endangering the police and the public. What is the cost Minister, out of curiosity? Really isn’t relying on the public 911 call best? Curious - some months back RBPF Traffic Division were very proud of their new Radar Speed Guns…a
fury of action and bushcrack gone? Were they on trial? Speeding and driving texting and using cell - everyone seems to be doing it – was nearly hit twice. Am told cost to repair from fender benders going up and up. W ALBURY Nassau, January 14, 2019
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, January 17, 2019, PAGE 5
The wrong date Crown claims witness made a simple mistake
FORMER PLP Senator Frank Smith outside court with his wife; left, Leader of the Opposition Philip Davis arriving at court. from page one credence to Hanna’s claim that she was bribed and extorted by Smith to the tune of $5,000 per month for him helping her secure the contract. Mr Jenkins said the error, now clear to the prosecution, was left unchecked and not addressed for the entirety of the police’s investigation of Smith, his subsequent arrest, charging, and now trial. The admission shocked Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt, who is hearing the matter. Mr Jenkins was initially responding to the “no case” submissions by Smith’s defence team and spearheaded by Keith Knight, QC, Smith’s lead attorney. Mr Jenkins, in his opening statements, conceded that if Mrs Hanna’s account of when she first met Smith could not be taken at face value, he was of the view that the extortion charges against the accused should be dropped. He additionally remarked that if her remaining evidence of having to pay Smith was also not viewed as truthful, then the bribery charges ought to also be dropped. Following a short recess, the statement was
countered by Mr Knight almost instantly, when he asked the court to have its stenographer read aloud its record of the proceedings. Once Mr Jenkins’ statement was repeated, Mr Knight countered that he was in possession of evidence that directly contradicted the prosecution’s claim of when Mrs Hanna first met Smith. Mr Knight then presented Smith’s record of interview with police, highlighting several questions that clearly outlined that Mrs Hanna’s account of the ordeal reflected that they met in 2016 after the contract was awarded and not in 2015, prior to the awarding of the Critical Care Block contract. Referring to questions five, 10 and 11 asked of Smith during that interview, Mr Knight pointed out that Smith was only questioned on events that occurred in 2016 - with none of the questions mentioning occurrences in 2015. The questions, which were repeated in court yesterday, all refer to 2016. “These show equivocally that the meeting that (she) said took place in 2015 … did not take place,” Mr Knight told the court. “It is categorical that it was 2016,” Mr Knight added, saying there was no
need for the case to continue. “There is no need for tomorrow, Friday or Saturday.” In response, Mr Jenkins argued that the questions cannot be viewed as evidence, as the record of interview was never tendered into the case’s records. However, Mr Knight and Magistrate FergusonPratt countered that both a video record of the interview and testimony of Mrs Hanna claiming the date to be March 2016, had been entered. Magistrate FergusonPratt then sought a recess to review the arguments. During the recess she summoned both sides into a meeting in her chambers, returning nearly half an hour later to adjourn proceedings to today. It is alleged Smith, former PHA chairman, between April 2016 and April 2017, demanded and obtained $5,000 per month from Mrs Hanna, knowing he was not lawfully authorised to do so. He is also alleged to have attempted to extort another $5,000 from Mrs Hanna. And concerning the bribery charge, it is alleged that he solicited $5,000 a month from Mrs Hanna for helping her to get a PHA contract.
MURDER TRIAL ADJOURNED By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net
A CASE management hearing ahead of the murder trial of Leo Roderick Johnson has been adjourned until January 23. Johnson is accused of killing Ericka Fowler on August 19, 2006 in front of her children. A trial date has not been set in the longstanding matter. The case is being heard before Supreme Court Justice Renea McKay. As pre-trial discussions continue, the prosecution and lawyers for the accused were given time to negotiate outstanding issues between them. Fowler was a 33-year-old librarian and archivist at The Tribune when she was fatally stabbed, dying from injuries in the street in front of her Comet Terrace home on Golden Gates. Police said Fowler and a man argued in front of her home. She was attacked with
a sharp object which police believe to be a knife. Police found her with wounds about her body and several gashes to her throat. After the incident, a man fled the area in a black Nissan Sentra. Four of her five children along with her mother reportedly witnessed the crime. Johnson was charged with murder on August 24, 2006. The case was dormant until 2014 when a trial date was set for October 24, 2016 before then-Senior Justice Jon Isaacs. Former Chief Justice Stephen Isaacs, now deceased, later took over the case. In October 2016, Johnson tried permanently staying proceedings because of the ten year delay bringing the case forward, arguing his constitutional right to a trial within a reasonable time was breached. Justice Isaacs eventually ruled that “on a balance of probabilities, a fair trial can be had despite the delay and breach of the applicant’s constitutional right to a trial within a reasonable time.”
Photos: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff
PAGE 6, Thursday, January 17, 2019
THE TRIBUNE
Minnis right to go on EU visit, says Turnquest By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net DEPUTY Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest defended Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ travel to meet European Union officials after former Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell attacked the trip. Mr Mitchell said in a government that has a finance minister, a foreign affairs minister and a minister responsible for trade, Dr Minnis should not have made the trip. Meeting with European Union officials, none of whom are of equal rank to a prime minister, “makes our country look like a country of grovelling mendicants with our caps in our hands saying: ‘Please, sirs, we want some more’,” he said. Responding yesterday, Mr Turnquest said: “Whenever you are dealing with international organisations, there are different levels of conversation that you have. The prime minister has gone to solidify the position that The Bahamas government has put forth to clear up a few final issues that we have and he will make a report when he comes
HUBERT MINNIS, right, and AG Carl Bethel on their trip to Europe. back, but early indication is that it was a very successful trip. The technical people have already gone. We have satisfied the technical aspects of it. This is more of a diplomatic mission at this point, clear up a few points as I indicated.” Mr Turnquest said the country should not be worried. The EU and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development have put intense pressure on The Bahamas to reform its financial services sector or face blacklisting, prompting several pieces of legislation that have been passed in the last year. Mr Turnquest said: “We believe we are in good shape again. The assessments will come from external groups in a couple of weeks and we will know
whether we have satisfied their concerns or not. This is an evolving situation as we all know as it has been evolving for years and it will continue to evolve and as those challenges are put before us we’ll address them.” In a statement on Tuesday night, the Office of the Prime Minister said the nation’s leader had a constructive meeting with the European Commission where it discussed the country’s commitments. “Tuesday’s meeting between the prime minister and the director general is part of an ongoing process which included prior technical meetings,” the statement said. “It provided the opportunity for the prime minister to reaffirm the commitments of The Bahamas at the highest levels. “The meeting also allowed the attorney general to give an overview and discuss the new legislative regime with the director general. The director general welcomed and appreciated the presence of the prime minister and the significant commitment demonstrated on behalf of The Bahamas.”
DEPUTY Prime Minister Peter Turnquest.
‘OWNING GRAND LUCAYAN AN INVESTMENT IN OUR ECONOMY’
By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net
FINANCE Minister Peter Turnquest yesterday told critics that the government’s decision to temporarily own the Grand Lucayan was an “investment” toward the overall health of the economy. Critics, including Progressive Liberal Party leader Philip “Brave” Davis, have said the Grand Bahama resort is a “black hole”, citing the exorbitant costs of the purchase and operational expenses. The government has also committed itself to the payment of voluntary separation packages for line and managerial staff. The government spent $65m to buy the resort. It also costs more than $1m each month to run it. And earlier this week, The Nassau Guardian reported the government was considering doubling the payout for line staff. Line staff were originally to be paid $1.4 million, and $2.7 million was recommended for the managers. Mr Turnquest said: “Well again we are within our budgeted expenditure for this project. Certainly the goal is to sell it to a third party as soon as possible and that’s what we are focused on.
THE GRAND Lucayan Resort. “Again when we’re talking about people’s lives, when we’re talking about the economy of our second largest city, there is no such thing as a black hole,” Mr Turnquest said when he was asked pointedly if he considered the government’s purchase a “black hole”. “Spending without a plan is a black hole and the leader of the opposition can speak to that.” He continued: “But we have put forth a plan to the Bahamian people. We’ve put forth a plan to the employees of the Grand Lucayan and to the community of Grand Bahama, which is an important aspect of our overall economy. I don’t see that as a black hole it is an investment. “And we are doing
so with a clear goal and objective in mind, which we hope to be able to execute and finalise in short order.” Asked if the sale was expected to meet the government’s self imposed deadline of the first quarter of this year the minister said: “Well again I would leave that up to Lucayan Renewal Holdings Board because I’m not fully engaged in the discussions and negotiations that are going on and the persons coming to view the project. “I know that there’s continuous interest in the project and viewings of the property. To me it is still a very positive track that we’re on and hopefully we’ll achieve our objective in short order.”
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Thursday, January 17, 2019, PAGE 7
ANOTHER TECH COMPANY GETS GO-AHEAD TO OPERATE IN G BAHAMA By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
ANOTHER technology company has been approved by the government under the Commercial Enterprises Act to operate a software development firm in Grand Bahama. Minister of State for Grand Bahama Senator Kwasi Thompson announced yesterday the Office of the Prime Minister is pleased to welcome Dev Digital, a software development firm, to Freeport. “Today is another good day in Grand Bahama,” said Mr Thompson, who noted the company is in the final steps to obtaining its business licence from the Grand Bahama Port Authority. Dev Digital CEO Peter Markum, and other principals Burton Rodgers and Alan Cates attended the press conference.
The company has already hired three persons and is in the process of searching for a location for its office in Freeport. Mr Thompson said the Commercial Enterprises Act, recently passed by the Minnis administration, is significant in helping Grand Bahama become a tech hub. GIBC Digital was the first technology company approved by the government last year under the law and opened its offices last June. “Grand Bahama is experiencing significant benefits of the (law), and we are pleased that a company like Dev Digital has been approved to operate a full software development firm,” Mr Thompson said. “And we are pleased they are going to look to have a location in Grand Bahama.” According to Mr Thompson, the applications to operate under
the act are approved within 30 days as a result of the newly formed investment unit of the Bahamas Investment Authority in the OPM in Freeport. He noted that approval time is a significant improvement to doing business in the country. “The unit is set up to make the process of investment easier and to provide better service to Bahamian and foreign investors,” he said. “The unit is for the first time in Freeport (and) has been accepting and processing applications and drafting paperwork for approval, and Dev Digital was one that received assistance from one of the officers in Grand Bahama.” Dev Digital operates software companies internationally and is looking to establish a regional office in Grand Bahama. Mr Markum said that Dev Digital employs 135 people, with offices in the US, India, and
Zambia. “We decided we wanted a software company and we thought over the last few years we are going to take a global view. Today we are incorporated in India, and Zambia where we are working in education with many groups of professionals,” he said. Mr Markum explained that Grand Bahama was an ideal location and fit for their tech company because of its proximity to the US East Coast. “That was a big attraction to us,” he explained. “We have incorporated Dev Digital Bahamas; we don’t have investors - we have us. We run prison software in nine US states, and we run educational software,” he added. Mr Rodgers said Dev Digital is excited to be in Freeport. “We already have three persons working with the company before we got started, and we are in search of a location now for our office
here in Grand Bahama, and looking at staffing the business. “Hopefully, we will be starting in a matter of days,” he said, added that they would employ anywhere between 15 to 20 persons. “We are very conservative, and as the business grows we will bring on persons,” Mr Rodgers said. ‘The plan is to make this a regional office.” When asked about investment figures, Mr Rodgers said: “We do not have an actual figure to get the business going.” However, Mr Markum indicated that they did not want to come in making any big talks and promises that they could not deliver. “Our investment numbers are not going to be as big as others - we are a people’s business and… we don’t want to come in here and say we will do $20 million and say stuff that probably ain’t going to happen. So it is hard to say what it would be,” he said.
I’m sorry. I was insensitive Campbell apologises after he was roundly criticised for his ‘unbelievable’ remarks regarding rape from page one I responded to media personnel. I was merely trying to avoid what appeared to be encroaching on another minister’s portfolio. “I am fully aware of the duties and core functions of the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development which includes, but is not limited to, food assistance, shelter for all victims, including rape victims and victims of trafficking in persons, school and uniform assistance, the elderly, child protection, rehabilitation and persons with disabilities.” He said the incident caused persons to question his familiarity with the country’s 2015 strategic plan to address gender-based violence. He said in the six months he has held the post, he has met with various groups and NGOs in an effort to bring this very strategic plan to fruition. “I am committed, along with the ministry and its dedicated staff and all of our NGO partners, to honour, advance and promote all of the conventions to which the Bahamas is a signatory. “In pursuit of the commitment articulated during the 2017 Speech from the Throne, the government has indicated a zero tolerance against all rapes and violence. Efforts to prevent violence against women require determining and addressing violence at its root. The Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development, through its many departments does precisely this, through the provision of counseling and crisis intervention and prevention services. “As a husband and the father of one son and three beautiful girls for whom I want nothing but the best, as I do for all girls and women of our Bahamaland, this is more than just a job. “As I would have indicated while representing you at the Committee for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women and Girls (known as CEDAW), I give you my assurance that I remain committed to all of its articles not merely for the purpose of reporting internationally, but for the benefit, upliftment and improvement of our very own.” When contacted about
the backlash surrounding her successor yesterday, Mrs Griffin expressed shock at these comments. “I just thought it was incredible,” Mrs Griffin said. “First of all, I’m sure I heard him say that that was not a part of his portfolio…that social services is only supposed to be giving out social assistance. But you know that certainly is not the case. The Ministry of Social Services, through its Department of Gender and Family Affairs, has carriage for matters that affect women and girls, men and boys, and the family generally… And so I just found it incredible that the minister would say that. “The matter does fall under social services,” Mrs Griffin continued. “There is a criminal part to it that… must fall under the police. But then there’s a social aspect to it.” Likewise, Equality Bahamas Director and activist Alicia Wallace described Mr Campbell’s remarks as “unfortunate and unacceptable,” and also said a multi-sector approach is needed to combat this pervasive issue, which disproportionately affects women and girls. In a statement released yesterday, Ms Wallace said: “Equality Bahamas rejects the false barrier the minister attempted to construct between himself and rape, noting that rape is a social issue and relevant to everyone.” There was a six percent increase in rape across The Bahamas in 2018, with 55 incidents reported compared to 52 in 2017. In New Providence specifically, there was a 22 percent increase in rape, with 44 incidents reported in 2018 in comparison with 36 incidents in 2017. When asked by reporters on Tuesday if anything is being done by the Ministry of Social Services to prevent such incidents, Mr Campbell rebuffed reporters, insisting the alarming trend was not under his remit and going so far as to push reporters’ microphones away. “You’re talking about crime prevention,” Mr Campbell said when pressed further. “Social services is about poor people who need food, people who need social assistance. Let’s talk about that.
MINISTER of Social Services Frankie Campbell has apologised for his “insensitive” comments. Inset, left top, Melanie Griffin and, bottom, Alicia Wallace.
“You could see I’m trying to avoid that, I don’t avoid talking to you but I want to stay in my lane,” he added. Equality Bahamas said it was unfortunate Mr Campbell chose to put distance between his portfolio and the “pervasive issue of rape”. “Rape disproportionately affects women and
girls who should be prioritised by the Department of Gender and Family Affairs which is under the Ministry of Social Services and (Urban) Development. “Ministries need to work together, be fully aware of pressing issues, able to access and share information necessary to appropriately respond to
issues and queries, and to resist any desire or directive to operate in silos,” Ms Wallace said. “A multi-sectoral approach to violence against women and other issues of gender is critical. “Equality Bahamas calls on Ministry of Social Services and (Urban) Development to lead the government’s effort to
address issues of gender through the expertise of its staff and civil society partners. It reminds the minister of the years-old national gender policy and a gender-based violence report, following years of work by the National Task Force on Gender-Based Violence, that have not been implemented.”
PAGE 8, Thursday, January 17, 2019
THE TRIBUNE
ANONYMOUS doner gives $168,000 to five Bahamian charities. Pictured, from the left, are Eldri FergusonMackey, DPA partner; L Alexander Roberts, Ranfurly Home administrator; Philip Smith, Bahamas Feeding Network Executive Director; Diane Phillips, DPA president; Joseph Darville, Humane Society Grand Bahama President and Dr Colin Archer, Every Child Counts in Abaco representative. Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff
Never underestimate the Power of One L
ONG before he became the latest iteration of superhuman James Bond 007, actor Daniel Craig debuted in an often overlooked movie called The Power of One. The plot follows the story of a fiveyear-old English-speaking white child who, nearly abandoned after his mother suffers a nervous breakdown, is raised by a family very different from himself. Set in South Africa in the 1940s at the height of apartheid, the movie - also starring Morgan Freeman, John Gielgud and Stephen Dorff (of Blade fame) - traces the journey of little Peekay who through the toughest of times,
including prison, finds a way to succeed. He learns to play piano from another inmate. His boxing gets better as he grows from tough kid to feisty teen to young man. A newspaper calls him a boxing phenomenon and describes “the power of his punches” as extraordinary for a kid his size. Ignoring the controversy surrounding whether or not the author of the novel on which the movie was based really spent his
childhood in South Africa, the 1992 film gave depth and gravitas to the meaning of the power of one. Its star, a little boy who grows up simply declining to bow to convention, demonstrates a kind of courage that causes us to wonder what is it in his DNA that allowed him to rise above it all? Why is it that we do not find within ourselves the courage to detach from the expected when we know that we can do better if we do the thing least expected? The concept of defying convention fascinates me in a way I cannot explain, perhaps because I so rarely do it. Most of us are just plain obedient, we do what is expected and because we want to succeed we go above and beyond what is expected. We work on holidays. We scrub our baseboards because we think they need it though, truth be told, we would live just as good a life if we left a little dust on them. We roast a turkey or make a stew on Sunday when souse would have been so much easier. We drive ourselves because we do not understand the power of one and we fear the consequences of saying “Convention, be damned”. We also do not want to disappoint others who depend upon us and I suspect that is the main reason we do the expected. The cowardice we display is a reflection of the good in our conscience or as Shakespeare once declared, “Thus doth conscience make cowards of us all”. But suppose we used the power of one for good? Not for ourselves nor for the sheer desire to defy convention but to do the unconventional and make other lives better. Someone has just done exactly that. She gave away money, a lot of money, to feed the hungry, help the young whose parents are unable to care for them, nurture students with special needs and provide care and treatment for animals. The funds are going to Bahamian charities. You read about her in yesterday’s Tribune. But you will never know her name and I have never met her so please do not call me if you are reading this and thinking there may be something in it for you or the cause you represent.
She is a stranger to The Bahamas but she is proof that the power of one is real and can make a difference. We all have the power to make a difference. Because one of my pet peeves is illegal signage on trees and utility poles or snipe signs stuck in the ground that junk up the road and clutter the environment, I have picked up the phone and called those who post such signs on many an occasion. I am proud to give them my name and explain, in case they just did not think about it, the difference the sign makes in changing the beauty of a space. I also tell them it is illegal to post signs for which there is no permit or to post any sign on a utility pole which is the property of the Ministry of Works or a utility company. Most people are surprised. Sometimes they do remove the signs on the very day I call as happened last week when a new landscape company put up a sign on Eastern Road. As a result of the proprietor taking my call and removing the sign that same evening, I am meeting with them to see if I can engage their services or refer business to them. Respect is a two-way relationship. The power of one phone call took very little courage yet netted a positive outcome. Sometimes you can demonstrate the power of one just by withholding business as I have with others whose attitude in a place of business is so poor that I refuse to return and encourage others to take their business elsewhere. It is not always as easy as a phone call or a refusal to return. The hardest task in exercising the power of one is attempting to stop abuse when you see it happening, a mother who is yanking a toddler by the arm or pinching them, a father yelling at his son, “You so stupid, boy, you ain’t never gonna amount to nuttin.” What is the son supposed to believe? Maybe the power of one means we do have to step up, speak out and interfere with others’ lives, accept life is not just about ourselves but about the world around us. Finding the courage takes courage itself.
BEFORE he becane 007, actor Daniel Craig appeared in a film called The Power of One.
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, January 17, 2019, PAGE 9
from page one
For his part, Bishop Hall reiterated his interest in the plant’s regulation was pastoral, adding that he hoped national discourse could be respectful and civil like the forums he witnessed during his work as a member of the regional commission. CARICOM’s Regional Marijuana Commission (RMC) presented its report on the social, economic, health and legal issues surrounding marijuana in the region last year. When the body was formed in 2014, state-level consultations on the subject were also due to run concurrently. Yesterday, rotarian Reginald Saunders asked: “How do you ensure as a commission that the decisions made are free of special interest that may cloud the process or impede work of commission?” Mr McCartney replied: “The role of the commission is just to make recommendations to the government. Final implementation of that report whether they accept or reject any of our recommendations will be dependent on the government, Cabinet in particular in the first instance. “Our role is just to gather the information. Our doors will be open to accept the information and views of anyone who wishes to present before us and as a result of our consultations, our discussions, our deliberations, make recommendations. The final decision will be the government’s if it’s legalised, or we’re allowed to get into that industry: how its regulated, and how its managed, will be a decision of the government of The Bahamas.” Rotarian Peter Bates said: “Marijuana, like anything else, needs to be thoroughly understood but people will abuse it no matter what. But right now it’s illegal and we have huge amounts of people being ruined by bad marijuana, bad use, unregulated use, and the stigmas associated with it.” He added: “So I would hope that the whole study of what happened before and after prohibition is studied and that we understand we can’t control the human race. We were given our freedom in the garden and some people don’t know what to do with it.”
Marijuana commission admits any changes could be years away kind of implementation that speaks to the economic issues surrounding cannabis.” Dr Rolle, Southeast Nassau Club president, heads a threemember secretariat formed by the BNCM, which is reportedly comprised of 23 diverse and passionate “experts”. Public consultation could start as early as next week in Abaco as the commission aims to complete its objectives for research and widespread stakeholder engagement over the next three months. BNCM co-chairs Quinn McCartney and Bishop Simeon Hall yesterday outlined the commission’s objective and scope, defining the group’s mandate as “codifying the view of Bahamians on all things related to marijuana, and to make recommendations to the government of The Bahamas on positions related to the legal, social, medicinal and ceremonial (religious) issues as they relate to marijuana.” Mr McCartney said co-chairs were tasked by Health Minister Dr Duane Sands to ensure consultation was widespread enough to allow for all views to be heard; and for the resulting policy position to be a “reflection of the truth, and not emotions”. The former assistant commissioner of police said the BNCM may put forward recommendations for an implementation timeline but stressed the government had the final say on how the matter would progress beyond its report. In order to meet its ambitious timeline, the commission plans to break into six subcommittees to conduct research on medicinal, recreational, and ceremonial use; legal/regulatory issues, including potential impact on criminal justice system; industry/economic implications; and education/ public relations to help frame national dialogue. Key stakeholders, who will participate in closed meetings with the commission, were yesterday identified as: members of the religious community, including Rastafarians; health care professionals and NGOs responsible for care like the Cancer Society; law enforcement; social services; judiciary and legal professionals;
prisoners and youth held in juvenile detention; educators and sporting bodies. Mr McCartney also noted the commission intends to hold a special forum for youth. As for the wider public, the commission intends to launch a website, and maintain a presence on popular social media platforms with plans to conduct a “comprehensive and widespread” national survey. Mr McCartney explained participants will be able to complete the survey online or in person, adding its methodology will be
GUN OWNERS URGED TO RENEW LICENCES By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net MORE than 700 licenced firearm holders were registered in 2018 on Grand Bahama and police are urging those who have failed to the meet the deadline for renewal of their licences to do so immediately. Det Sgt Bradley Lewis, of the Firearms Licence Office at the Central Detective Unit in Freeport, said that all gun licences expired on December 31, but there then was a 14 day grace period to comply. “So far, more than 50 percent of persons who are firearm licence holders in the GB district have renewed their licences, but we have a number of persons still outstanding,” Sgt Lewis reported. “The 14 day grace period would have ended Monday, January 14, so persons will have to pay a late fee of $50 starting January 15,” he explained. “So we encourage all persons who have not come in to renew their firearm licence to come in and do so because right now their firearm is unlicensed.” “We had more than 700 firearm holders. I want to remind persons that if you have a family member who is the holder
of a firearm licence who would have died, the licence cannot be transferred from one person to the next, you have to apply to have a licence for that firearm. If a firearm licence holder has died, Sgt Lewis said that family members must turn in the firearm to the Firearm Licence Office in and apply for a licence for that same weapon. Sgt Lewis also stressed that all licenced shotguns are for hunting and should not be kept in a person’s vehicle but should be kept in a locked safe when not in use. “When darkness falls it should be in a safe and persons are in violation when driving around with it at night,” he explained. The licence fee for a shotgun and rifle is $150 and $300, respectively, and persons would have to pay an additional $50 late fee if they missed the licencing deadline. When asked about business owners having firearms at their place of business, Sgt Lewis advised that guns are only licenced for hunting and businesses should contract armoured services to transport their money to the bank. Sgt Lewis said anyone over the age 18 with a clean police record and no criminal convictions can apply for a firearm licence.
crafted to meet internationally accepted standards to produce reliable data. He furthered the commission will seek out Public Domain President M’wale Rahming for a presentation on a commissioned survey published last year, which found overwhelming support for medical marijuana among Bahamian residents across demographics of age, gender and income. Town meetings and other open forums will be held on several islands, with New Providence saved for last, Mr McCartney said.
“While the commission considers the CARICOM Commission’s report, and regional and international developments,” Mr McCartney said, “I wish to emphasise that our intent is to come to a position that is best suited for The Bahamas. “We recognise that we are a small country, and that any recommendations that we make will have significant impact on this and future generations. After all things are considered, the national interest of The Bahamas will supersede any personal positions or beliefs any of us may have.”
PAGE 10, Thursday, January 17, 2019 By Robert Hodierne Chair and Professor of Journalism, University of Richmond SA THI QUY was 43-years-old on the morning of March 16, 1968, when Americans came to her hamlet near the coast of the South China Sea in what was then South Vietnam. “The first time the Americans came, the children followed them. They gave the children sweets to eat. Then they smiled and left. We don’t know their language – they smiled and said OK and so we learned the word OK.” “The second time they came, we poured them water to drink. They didn’t say anything.” “The third time they killed everyone.” The name of her hamlet was My Lai. If Americans remember that name at all, they most likely remember that something dark and awful happened there. They are probably fuzzy on the details. Maybe they remember some grainy colour photographs of Vietnamese bodies piled in a ditch. Or a lieutenant named Calley. But on this 50th anniversary of what happened in that Vietnamese hamlet, it is worth recalling the grotesque details, in the hope that doing so will help prevent a future My Lai. It is still an unsettled question about what, exactly, the troops of the Americal Division were ordered to do and who, exactly, issued the orders. What is settled is that for four hours that morning, American young men went on a rampage of killing and rape. When they finally broke for lunch, the Americans had butchered 504 Vietnamese old men, women, children and babies. No military-aged men were killed. Only one weapon belonging to the Vietnamese was found. Sometimes, the soldiers shot Vietnamese one at a time. Sometimes they herded them into ditches and machine-gunned them down in groups. Sometimes it seemed as if the Americans were making a sport out of it. One soldier threw a wounded elderly man down a well then dropped a grenade in after him. A soldier bayoneted an old man to death. Another soldier was armed with an M-79 grenade launcher. Other soldiers testified at Army hearings that the man was frustrated that he hadn’t been able to use his weapon, so he herded some women and children together, backed off and fired several explosive rounds into them. Other soldiers with pistols killed those who were only wounded. In a better-disciplined outfit, the officers in the field would have stopped such violence. But in this outfit, officers took part in the killing. According to testimony from his men, one company commander, Capt. Ernest Medina, shot and killed a wounded and helpless woman. Lt. William Calley grabbed one woman by the hair and blew her brains out with his .45-caliber pistol. Then he shot to death an infant she’d been carrying. In total, Calley is thought to have killed or ordered killed more than 100 civilians. It is worth noting the massacre may never have come to light if it weren’t for a soldier who was an aspiring journalist. Ronald Ridenhour served in the Americal Division in Vietnam at the time of the massacre but was not present
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My Lai 50 years on: Crimes committed by American soldiers must not be forgotten
THE CLEVELAND Plain Dealer, Nov. 20, 1969. at My Lai. Ridenhour got wind of it, interviewed men who had been there and wrote his findings in a letter to 30 members of Congress and the Pentagon. As the story started to break – mostly due to the efforts of young investigative reporter Seymour Hersh – another soldier who had been in My Lai published the colour photos that are the best documentation of the horror at My Lai. I covered Vietnam for two years as a photojournalist and was in Vietnam when the My Lai story broke. I remember that I was stunned. I’d seen villages burned and Vietnamese pushed around,
but nothing even approaching My Lai. In the wake of all that bad publicity, the Army appointed a highly decorated and well regarded three-star general, Lt. Gen. William R. Peers, to investigate the cover-up. Over four months, he and his staff took sworn testimony from about 400 witnesses. The transcript runs to 20,000 pages. Ten years ago a sharp producer in London, Celina Dunlop, found out that the testimony had been tape-recorded. I worked on a two-part BBC radio documentary about My Lai, using those tapes. It was the first time I’d heard the voices of the men who took part,
LT. William S Calley in November 1969, with newsmen at Ft. Benning, Georgia, where he was charged with premeditated murder of approximately 100 Vietnamese civilians.
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describing what they had done and seen. Their voices haunt me. I used voices to write a play about the massacre – called simply enough, “My Lai” – and in doing so, read all 20,000 pages of their testimony. No writer could do better than their simple, direct description of the horror they let loose on that village. There were really only three Americans who behaved heroically that day. Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson was flying a small scout helicopter with two crewmen, Glenn Andreotti and Lawrence Colburn. They witnessed the massacre from above. When they saw American troops advancing toward a group of old men, women and children, Thompson landed his helicopter between the soldiers and the civilians and ordered his crewmen to shoot the Americans if they opened fire on the civilians. He called other choppers to evacuate the civilians. For that, Thompson was shunned by fellow officers for years afterward. What isn’t usually written about at My Lai are the rapes. While the exact number may never be known, the Americans raped at least several dozen women and girls, some as young as 12. And then murdered and mutilated many of them. One soldier, Dennis Bunning of Raymond, California, testified that a sergeant “took one girl there, and drug her into a compartment, like in a hootch there, you know, and hootches don’t have doors or nothing, and you could see, and he raped one girl inside there. And then there was
three other guys and one girl all at one time. … A guy would just grab one of the girls there and in one or two incidents they shot the girls when they got done.” Pham Thi Tuan, who lived in My Lai, told a documentary filmmaker, “Over there a naked woman who had been raped and a virgin girl with her vagina slit open. We don’t know why they behaved liked that.” And that, finally, is the question that is most vexing. How could American boys behave like that? How could they behave like Nazi and Japanese soldiers in World War II? One excuse frequently offered is that the unit had been hard hit and was in some sort of shock. In fact, the unit had only been in Vietnam for three months and had never been in a firefight. Before My Lai, only five men from the unit had been killed, all by mines or snipers, at a time when Americans were losing 15-20 men per day. Another excuse is that the men were subpar, draftees, the bottom of a rapidly emptying barrel. But that’s not true either, according to an Army investigation. By every measure – intelligence, education, physical fitness – they were typical of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who never engaged in such behaviour. In the end, Peers, who headed the investigation, concluded the massacre was a failure of leadership, from the commanding general on down. He concluded that 28 officers and enlisted men had committed war crimes – murder and rape – or conspired to cover up the crimes. But in the end, only 14 officers were charged. And only Calley was convicted. President Richard Nixon, bowing to public pressure from those who believed Calley was a scapegoat, commuted his life sentence. He spent three and half years confined, most of that time under house arrest. Nixon wouldn’t even allow Peers to call it a massacre. The massacre became, instead, “a tragedy of major proportions”. The darkest side of American exceptionalism is the belief that somehow we are more moral than others and that our troops would never slaughter innocents civilians. Americans need to understand that in every war in the history of humankind, soldiers commit hideous acts. Even our troops. It is inevitable. Americans need to be prepared to share the moral responsibility for those crimes when we send our young men and women off to fight wars on our behalf. theconversation.com
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Thursday, January 17, 2019, PAGE 11
GB SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS CALL IN LEGAL COUNSEL By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
TERMINATED public school bus contractors in Grand Bahama have retained legal counsel to sue to the government over terminating their contracts that would have expired in 2020. At a press conference held on Wednesday by Kevin Ferguson, Malvina Albury, Marvin Williams and Jason Laing, it was stated that QC Anthony McKinney and QC Wayne Munroe had been retained to seek justice on behalf of the terminated school bus drivers in Grand Bahama and Abaco. Mr Ferguson said they are seeking retribution for lost revenue and damages. “We will continue to fight, he said. While persons may think it is about money, it is
not about money for men and my colleagues, it is the principle. “The fact that the PLP, whom this People’s Time government made the whole country and world believe was corrupt, would have honored the contracts that the FNM would have given in 2009 for five years. “ Mr Ferguson claims that during that time the FNM had given school bus contracts to a select group who got five years contracts that were not terminated by the PLP, which extended most of them. “As Bahamians, we are entitled to get what we were promised throughout the campaign. We want our prime minister who shouted from every podium at every rally and every house meeting that it was the People’s Time and that his government will stamp out corruption, will be
transparent and accountable, to start doing things now. “PLPs, DNAs, independents, and especially FNMs are all hurting in Grand Bahama. That is why I believe that MPs in Grand Bahama and the Minister for Grand Bahama have been forced. Prime Minister, you said if any of your ministers messed up their gone. Please show us something that you promised. Be accountable, and honest for the sake of the Bahamian people,” he said. “We don’t expect these ministers in GB to tell the truth because they are a bunch of desperados hiding from their supporters here on Grand Bahama. But sir, we need for you to be the most honorable at this time. We need the truth sir,” appealed Mr Ferguson. Mr Ferguson is questioning the validity of the Ministry of
University did not provide enough training, says union
UNDER attack: University of The Bahamas president Rodney Smith. THE union representing lecturers at the University of The Bahamas has hit out at the institution’s president Rodney Smith, who blamed late submission of grades by faculty as one of the reasons for long registration lines earlier this month. The Union of Tertiary Educators of the Bahamas (UTEB) said it “is gravely concerned” about Dr Smith’s remarks, claiming the university’s new data management system was introduced without proper employee training, which led to teachers not being able to access the system to input grades. In a statement released yesterday, UTEB said Dr Smith failed to acknowledge the challenges plaguing the system’s implementation. For two days earlier this month, hundreds of angry UB students suffered under the sweltering sun as they queued for hours in an effort to submit payments and complete registration for the spring semester. At the time, Dr Smith said increased enrolment, students seeking deferred payment plans and teachers submitting grades late contributed to long registration lines and mass confusion at the institution. “After careful investigation into the matter UTEB would like the general public to be fully aware of the real issues,” the union noted in its statement. “UB recently introduced a new academic and financial data management system called Banner. The system was introduced without provision of adequate employee training. In addition, the trial period was too short and issues within the system were not resolved prior to roll out. These included faculty not being able to access the system to put in grades, students’ transcripts not reflecting courses completed, lack of access to register new students and billing errors. “The president is well aware of the myriad problems that UB has been experiencing with this new system. In spite of this, he has frequently heralded it as one of the major upgrades of the university.
UTEB is very disappointed that during the entire Banner roll out process, there has been a lack of involvement of experts in the field that exist within the faculty branch of the university. Notwithstanding the existence of computer information systems programmers at the university and a cadre of talented professionals both full time and adjunct, the university is yet to engage their services or seek their involvement in addressing the problems which continue to arise with use of this Banner system. “What Dr Smith failed to acknowledge is that the new Banner system implementation and roll out has been plagued with challenges including unplanned deregistration of 300 students during the beginning of the Fall 2018 semester (and) failure to attach teaching faculty to their assigned classes in a timely manner, resulting in them not being able to interact online with
students or access students in the system even up to the final examination period.” UTEB said during the two days of confusion, students suffered in the hot sun “without access to seating or water” and “there was no leadership shown by the senior administration” of UB. UTEB also said: “The preparation made by their team was inadequate. Staffing levels were inadequate. Organisation of activities was poor.” The union said rather than blame faculty, Dr Smith “ought to examine his inner-circle style of management and be more inclusive of his faculty who appear to only exist on the fringes of his visioning.” The statement continued: “While Dr Smith continues to talk inclusion and collaboration, he practices separation and a mantra of divide and conquer. This approach is disruptive and non-sustainable.”
Education’s statements that indicated new contracts were issued at considerable savings to the government when at least five of the terminated contractors had the lowest bids on their routes. Mrs Albury said she was contracted school bus driver in the City of Freeport since 2014 said the government should have allowed their contracts to continue until 2020 when it would have expired. She claims that the Minister of State for Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson, and vice chairman of the FNM David Thompson owe the Bahamian people an apology for intentionally misleading and deceiving them over the termination of their bus contracts. She claims that when her contract was terminated, an FNM member that was given a bus contract came asking to lease her bus.
Jason Laing, a contractor school bus driver in East End, said that although he was the lone bidder on route five his contract was still terminated. He claims that persons whose names were not recorded at the bid opening were able to receive contracts, such as Carlton Roberts, who was given the contract for route 5 when he never bid on that route. Mr Laing asked why didn’t the bus contracts go out to tender as required by government policy. He also questioned why was only a select group of cronies invited to bid and how were they chosen. “How is it that persons who bid on a contract to receive $6,000 and $7,000 a day payment awarded a contract? Can they afford…to pay that kind of money for a bus contract? He asked Education Minister Jeff Lloyd.
PAGE 12, Thursday, January 17, 2019
THE TRIBUNE
DOCTORS Hospital celebrated the promise of a new year by proudly welcoming two precious new lives into the world. Through its partnership with Lowe’s Wholesale Drug Agencies Ltd, Doctors Hospital presented the first baby girl and baby boy born in its facility in 2019 with special gift baskets overflowing with baby products. On January 2, Miranda and Damaine Pratt of Abaco were thrilled to welcome their daughter, Ariya Monae Pratt, into the world. Mrs Pratt said of her experience” “It was truly a stress-free stay. The nurses were great and everything was on time.” Just eight hours later, Natasha Adderley and Donald Adderley Sr of New Providence welcomed their son, Donald Adderley Jr. Mrs Adderley was also pleased with the care she received. She said, according to a press release from the hospital, “The nurses were extremely helpful and I had an awesome experience.” Doctors Hospital strives to make sure that each maternity patient has that same quality experience and ensure
Two New Year babies welcomed into the world that patients are given the best care, the hospital noted. “Each mother-to-be is assigned a dedicated nurse who is a trained, experienced midwife,” said Patricia Brown, the maternity room coordinator for the hospital. “Throughout their stay, the nurses take time with the parents to teach topics related to caring for their infants. Our nurses cover everything from bathing the baby and changing diapers to bottle and breast feeding. We make sure that new parents know the basics before they leave the hospital.”
GN 2166
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, January 17, 2019, PAGE 13
PLP’S CHAIRMAN CRITICISES THE LACK OF SUPPORT FOR VENEZUELA’S NEW PRESIDENT By RIEL MAJOR PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party chairman and Senator Fred Mitchell has criticised the country’s decision to vote against the recognition of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro’s second term. The Permanent Council of the Organisation of American States approved the resolution against the legitimacy of Mr Maduro’s new term on January 10, following a vote supported by 19 member states. Mr Mitchell, former foreign affairs minister, said The Bahamas typically abstained from this type of resolution as it is generally viewed as interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country. According to the OAS, six members voted against, and there were eight abstentions and one member was absent. “Typically, The Bahamas would abstain from such a vote,” said Mr Mitchell, “because the arguments in the past has been that this will be seen as an interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela, not withstanding the issues connected with the elections and the protest in the country.” He continued: “The
PLP chairman Fred Mitchell elections did take place and there is a de facto regime in charge in Venezuela. The Bahamas has now voted with other countries to say we do not recognise the election which took place and we do not recognise the second term of Maduro in Venezuela.” In June last year, the OAS General Assembly declared Venezuela’s May 20 election lacked legitimacy and failed to comply with international standards. Its January 10 resolution highlighted the alleged illegitimate electoral process, and deep concerns about the “worsening political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela resulting from the breakdown of democratic order and serious human rights violations in that state.” It called for national dialogue on a new presidential
elections that had the participation of all political actors, and guaranteed a free, fair, transparent, and legitimate process with international observers. This week, Mr Mitchell said: “The Bahamas needs an explanation from our government as to why they thought it was important enough to do this, as supposed to joining what would be the usual position of our country in positions like this which is either to abstain, or to be absent from the vote, or to vote against. So we are asking from the PLP side for the foreign minister to give us an explanation as to why this vote took place.” He said: “It is a very serious thing when you say you don’t recognise a country’s internal dealings and does it now mean that the next step is that we are going to break diplomatic relations with Venezuela because that seems to be the logical step given what has happened.”
POLICE HUNT ARMED ROBBERS
NEW Providence police are searching for two men responsible for an armed robbery that occurred yesterday. According to reports, shortly after midnight, two men were standing outside a bar on McCullough Corner, when they were approached by two armed men, one dressed in dark clothing and the other in camouflage clothing, who held them at bay and robbed them of cash, cell phones and other personal items, before firing their weapons and running away. No one was injured. Investigations are ongoing.
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DEATH TOLL IN KENYAN HOTEL ATTACK CLIMBS TO 21 NAIROBI Associated Press
THE death toll from an extremist attack on a luxury hotel and shopping complex in Nairobi climbed to 21, plus the five militants killed, police said yesterday in the aftermath of the overnight siege by al-Shabab gunmen. Two people accused of facilitating the attack were arrested. The number of those killed at the DusitD2 complex rose with the discovery of six more bodies at the scene and the death of a wounded police officer, said Joseph Boinnet, inspectorgeneral of Kenyan police. In a televised address to the nation earlier in the day, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that the all-night operation by security forces to retake the complex was over and that all of the extremists had been killed. “We will seek out every person that was involved in the funding, planning and execution of this heinous act,” he vowed. In an attack that demonstrated al-Shabab’s ability to strike Kenya’s capital despite setbacks on the battlefield, extremists stormed the place with guns and explosives. Security camera footage showed a suicide bomber blowing himself up in a grassy area in the complex, the flash visible along with smoke billowing from the spot where he had been standing.
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Two US servicemen and two civilians killed in Syria blast BEIRUT Associated Press
TWO US service members and two American civilians were among those killed in an explosion while conducting a patrol in Syria yesterday, the U.S. military said, an attack that came less than a month after President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw troops from the war-torn country. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the morning attack, which local groups said killed 16 people in the US-patrolled town of Manbij. The claim calls into question Trump’s claim that IS has been defeated in Syria — his stated reason for pulling 2,000 American troops out of the country. “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” Trump tweeted in December in announcing his intention to bring back US troops “NOW.” Vice President Mike Pence repeated the claim yesterday, saying the Islamic State “caliphate has crumbled” and the militant network “has been defeated.” His comments in a speech at the State Department came shortly after the US military announced that American soldiers were among those killed in Manbij. US Central Command said one of the civilians was employed by the Defense Department and the other was a contractor. The names of the American victims were being withheld until their families could be notified. Video released by local activists and news agencies showed a restaurant that suffered extensive damage and a street covered with debris and blood. Several cars were also damaged. Another video showed
THE DAMAGED restaurant where an explosion occurred, in Manbij, Syria yesterday. a helicopter flying over the area. Defense Jim Mattis. Since then, US A security camera showed a busy officials and Trump himself have street, and then a ball of fire engulf- suggested the withdrawal would ing people and others running for be slower than initially believed. White House national security cover as the blast went off. Trump’s shifting timetable for adviser John Bolton said two conpulling US troops out of Syria, a ditions would have to be met, country he described as “sand and including the protection of Amerideath,” has left allies and other ca’s local Kurdish allies in northern players in the region confused and Syria, and the total defeat of IS. Last week, the US military began jockeying for influence over a withdrawal strategy that appeared to be pulling out equipment from the northeast into neighboring Iraq. a work in progress. Critics have said a pullout was No troops are known to have withpremature, that IS was still not drawn yet. Manbij is highly strategic: It is defeated and a withdrawal could lead to a power vacuum that would the main town on the westernfuel even more violence. It also led most edge of Syrian territory held to the resignation of Secretary of by the US-backed Syrian Kurds,
running along the border with Turkey. Mixed Kurdish-Arab Syrian forces liberated Manbij from the rule of the Islamic State group in 2016 with help from the US-led coalition. But Kurdish control of the town infuriated Turkey, which views the main US Kurdish ally, the YPG militia, as “terrorists” linked to Kurdish insurgents on its own soil. The town has been at the center of tensions in northern Syria, with the militaries of two NATO members, the US and Turkey, on opposing sides. The two sides began joint patrols around Manbij in November as part of an agreement for easing tensions between the two allies.
STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH UNDER THREAT Founded in 1948, St Andrew’s has a long and proud tradition of providing the highest quality education to our students. St Andrew’s is accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS), the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), and was the first school in The Bahamas to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) and Diploma (IBDP) Programmes. We are a diverse community of international and Bahamian life-long learners. The School invites applications from qualified and experienced Bahamian candidates and Permanent Residents for the following teaching vacancies with effect from August 2019. Primary School Vacancies Teachers qualified to teach Kindergarten - Grade 5 Learning Support Teacher
Secondary School Vacancies Chemistry Teacher Geography Teacher History Teacher Learning Support Teacher Mathematics Tecaher Physical Education Teacher Head of Academics Head of Student Support
GENERAL INFORMATION Candidates must be qualified teachers (holding a minimum of a bachelor’s degree or equivalent and a teaching qualification) with at least two years teaching experience. For the primary role, previous experience teaching the Primary Years Programme is an advantage. Candidates must have experience working with students with diverse learning needs and abilities. Applications from teachers with experience in an independent and/or international school are particularly welcome. APPLICATION PROCESS Interested candidates should submit their application by email to sandrews@standrews.com. Please save your application as one pdf document entitled ‘Application from your name’. All applications MUST include the following: • Letter of Application. One page. • Curriculum Vitae. No longer than two pages and should include the contact details of at least three references. One of these should be your current line manager. We will seek your permission before contacting referees. • A recent photo Failure to provide all this information may result in your application not being considered. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If you have not heard from us within four weeks of making an application, please assume your application was unsuccessful. The closing date for applications is Monday, 28th January, 2019. Short listed candidates will be invited to interview at the School. No applications will be considered after the closing date. St Andrew’s School Business Office P.O. Box EE 17340 Nassau, The Bahamas Email: sandrews@st-andrews.com Fax: 1 242 324 0816 For more information please see the School’s website www.standrewsbahamas.com
WASHINGTON Associated Press
THE partial government shutdown threw a prime Washington ritual into question yesterday as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked President Donald Trump to forgo his Jan. 29 State of the Union speech, expressing doubts that the hobbled government can provide adequate security. Republicans saw her move as a ploy to deny Trump the stage. In a letter to Trump, Pelosi said that with both the Secret Service and the Homeland Security Department entangled in the shutdown, the president should speak to Congress another time or he should deliver the address in writing. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen denied anyone’s safety is compromised, saying both agencies “are fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union.” Inviting the president to give the speech is usually pro forma, and Pelosi issued the invitation in routine fashion, in consultation with the White House, several weeks ago. But with the shutdown in its fourth week, the White House and Democrats in a stalemate and the impasse draining the finances of hundreds of thousands of federal employees, little routine is left in the capital. Pelosi left unclear what would happen if Trump
insisted on coming despite the welcome mat being pulled away. It takes a joint resolution of the House and Congress to extend the official invitation and set the stage. “We’ll have to have a security evaluation, but that would mean diverting resources,” she told reporters when asked how she would respond if Trump still intended to come. “I don’t know how that could happen.” She added: “This is a continuation of government issue that we have the proper security for such an event.” She was referring to an occasion that brings all three branches of government together in the same room — the president, members of Congress and the Supreme Court justices who attend. To Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the matter was less about security than about Pelosi feeling she has the upper hand in the budget standoff. “She’s talking about canceling the State of the Union — this is not somebody who’s feeling any pressure,” Johnson said. “I think Republicans are getting the lion’s share of the pressure.” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said he hopes Trump will proceed with his speech. Pelosi is “censoring this vital message for transparent political purposes,” he said.
MAY WINS NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE, BUT POWER FADING LONDON Associated Press BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament yesterday to remain in office — but saw more of her power ebb away as she battled to keep Brexit on track after lawmakers demolished her European Union divorce deal. May won a narrow victory, 325 votes to 306 votes, on an opposition motion seeking to topple her
government and trigger a general election. Now it’s back to Brexit, where May is caught between the rock of her own negotiating red lines and the hard place of a Parliament that wants to force a radical change of course. After winning the vote, May said she would hold talks “in a constructive spirit” with leaders of opposition parties and other lawmakers, starting immediately, in a bid to find a way forward for Britain’s EU exit.
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, January 17, 2019, PAGE 15
EDUCATION THE KEY FOR 2019 JUNIOR JUNKANOO PARADE By RIEL MAJOR THE National Junkanoo Committee announced yesterday this year’s Junior Junkanoo parade will commence on January 31 at 6pm on Bay Street. The parade will bring together 20 schools from across the Bahamas under the theme “Education is key”. Tickets can be purchased starting Friday at the cost of $10 at the Ministry of Education. Dereka Deleveaux Grant, deputy director of culture, said the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture’s aim is for Junior Junkanoo to provide an avenue for school children and young people to participate in this long-standing cultural tradition. Mrs Grant said: “Tickets are $10 for our bleacher seats and we’re considering $3 standing room entry fee because we are providing a lot of security, so we want to make sure that persons are there who want to be there for the right reasons.” Kishlane Obrien, co-chair of the National Junkanoo Committee, said: “We are going back to Bay Street and the lights and the glitz and the glamour of what you will experience will be phenomenal so please come and support our youth. There will be seating for everyone because if you don’t buy a ticket you are welcomed to bring a chair and you can stand along the parade route, but it will be so exciting.” Rhoda Jackson, acting permanent secretary, said Junkanoo is the strongest expression of Bahamian cultural heritage. “A heritage which is passed on by those who have (spent many years) developing the art of Junkanoo and bringing it to what it is today,” she said.
“Our responsibility is to ensure this legacy continues and is shared with our children of today who become our leaders of tomorrow.” Family Island parades will take place as early as January 26 in Grand Bahama and March 16 in Inagua. Lead sponsors for the parade include SOL Petroleum Bahamas Limited, the title sponsor, John Bull and Mobile Assist. A representative from each sponsor expressed
their excitement about being a part of the Junior Junkanoo parade. Donovan Moxey, chief executive officer of Mobile Assist, said a Viewer’s Choice Award will be available for viewers to vote on during the parade. Viewers will be able to select their favourite group on a free mobile app. He said when the voting time begins, viewers will be able to vote in four categories which are best costume, best performance, best bellers and
FUN at a previous Junior Junkanoo.