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400 jobs go at Memories Sunwing pulls out after failing to reach deal with landlord

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net HUNDREDS of hotel workers will be made redundant at the Memories Resort in Grand Bahama after the hotel operator, Sunwing Travel Group, and its landlord, Hutchison Whampoa, failed to reach an agreement over hurricane restoration at the beachfront resort in Lucaya.

This news brings a further blow to Grand Bahama, an island reeling from recent job losses and the destruction wrought by Hurricane Matthew last October.

Before these events, the island’s economy was already

lagging. Informed sources last night put the number of job losses at around 400.

In January, Sunwing and the government had agreed to co-invest sums to restore the damaged Memories property for reopening.

However, Sunwing reported that after it had “sought consent by the hotel owners for restoration, regrettably the owner attempted to impose exorbitant conditions that were totally unacceptable to Sunwing.”

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Sunwing said that the group was required to vacate the Memories Resort premises on January SEE PAGE SEVEN

SALE OF BAHA MAR HAS NOT YET BEEN COMPLETED

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHA Mar’s scheduled opening for April 21 was yesterday branded “a political ploy” after it was confirmed that the acquisition by Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) will not close until all construction work is completed.

Robert Sands, Baha Mar’s senior vice-president

of government and external affairs, told Tribune Business that CTFE had agreed “to take possession and operate portions of the resort” until its deal with the China Export-Import Bank could close.

Mr Sands’ comments came after Graeme Davis, CTFE (Bahamas) president, confirmed that Baha Mar will open without its sale being completed.

SEE PAGE SEVEN

DOUBLE THE BACON DOUBLE THE CHEESE

UP TO 500 WORK PERMITS APPROVED FOR CONSTRUCTION ON THE POINTE that the overall Bahamian to non-Bahamian labour ratio will represent 70 per cent of the total work force, the document said the government and the developers, through mutual agreement, may decide to vary the employment ratio if it becomes necessary for earlier completion.

SEE PAGE 15

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FORMER Prime Minister and Leader of the Free National Movement Hubert Ingraham called on Dr Hubert Minnis, Loretta ButlerTurner and others who are fighting in the party to find a way to put their differences aside or face the possibility of the Progressive Liberal Party winning the next election with a minority of votes.

Speaking to The Tribune yesterday, Mr Ingraham said if Prime Minister Perry Christie can work with those in the PLP who have openly challenged him for leader, he does not understand why the same thing cannot happen in the FNM. He stressed that the electorate likes to “punish” divided parties and the FNM will be at a “disadvantage” if members do not find a way to work together. He also said the FNM must find a way to make a deal SEE PAGE SIX

TWO YOUNG men died and police have a suspect in custody after a shooting incident early yesterday in Freeport, Grand Bahama.

According to Inspector Terecita Pinder, shortly before 1am, officers were called to the Logwood Road area where they discovered the bodies of two males with gunshot wounds at the Game Time Bar. SEE PAGE 15

“A BRIGHT smile and warm hug can make the difference”. Patricia Laing receives a welcome dose of her own medicine yesterday in becoming the first winner of the PHA Unsung Heroes Awards, a new initiative in a partnership between the Public Hospitals Authority and The Tribune. See pages eight and nine for the full story.

Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff

velopers of The Pointe, to facilitate the phased completion of the $200m Bay Street project.

The government, according to the development’s heads of agreement, will also grant 75 work permits for jobs requiring special skills and expertise where the developers feel Bahamians are not available.

While it is understood

By TANEKA THOMPSON Tribune News Editor tmthompson@tribunemedia.net

SUSPECT HELD AS TWO MEN SHOT DEAD IN FREEPORT

A HUG FOR A HERO

By KHRISNA VIRGIL Deputy Chief Reporter kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE Christie administration has agreed to approve between 400 and 500 work permits, in addition to the transfer of existing work permit holders from Baha Mar to Strategic Property Holding Ltd and Neworld One Bay Street Ltd, de-

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12-YEAR-OLD ACCUSED OF HAVING GUN IN SCHOOL

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net A 12-YEAR-OLD boy appeared in Magistrate’s Court yesterday facing a charge of possession of an unlicensed firearm after it was found on a junior school campus.

The juvenile, who cannot be named as he is under 18, stood before Chief Magistrate Joyann FergusonPratt with his parents and lawyer, Ian Cargill, to answer an allegation that he was found with the illegal item on Monday, January 30.

SEE PAGE TEN

PAGE 2, Thursday, February 2, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

Men wanted in murder probe +

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By DENISE MAYCOCK eyes and a medium brown Tribune Freeport Reporter complexion, with crew cut dmaycock@tribunemedia.net hair and a goatee.

Lucas Rolle is about six POLICE in Grand Ba- feet one inch tall and weighs hama have issued all points 160 pounds with a muscular bulletins for three Bimini build. He has dark brown men that they believe can eyes, a medium brown comhelp with an open murder plexion and crew cut hair investigation. and a moustache.

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Thursday, February 2, 2017, PAGE 3

Bostwick abandons appeal over ammunition conviction

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net FORMER Free National Movement Senator John Bostwick II abandoned his bid to appeal a conviction for possession of ammunition yesterday.

When the matter was called in the Court of Appeal, his lead lawyer Wayne Munroe, QC, informed Justices Dame Anita Allen, Stella Crane-Scott and Roy Jones that Bostwick II had filed a notice of abandonment of appeal which had already been drawn to the attention of the registrar the day before.

As a result, the appellate president, Dame Anita Allen formally dismissed his appeal and affirmed his conviction and the $15,000 fine imposed by then Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes.

Outside of the Claughton House building which houses the appellate court, Mr Munroe explained the rationale behind the move.

“As his lawyer, I gave him advice,” Mr Munroe said.

“Cases have to do not with what the state of affairs is but what the proof is and appeals have not to do with what the state of affairs are, but complaints about what happened below.

“It’s a decision that a litigant takes. We had an involved conversation. I was satisfied that it does not hamper anything he wishes to do with politics and we had a frank discussion and I can’t go into the details of it but the decision was arrived at. He’s decided to carry on with doing what he has to do and this matter is now behind him,” Mr Munroe added Bostwick II, when pressed, said the withdrawal was not an admission of guilt.

When asked if he still had political aspirations, he said: “Most definitely.”

FORMER Senator John Bostwick II with lawyer Wayne Munroe.

“The steps taken today have fully freed me to do what I have to do now, what must be done now, which is to fight for our country.

“It’s not a (slight) setback in that I am still able to offer myself and serving the country is what I really want to do, you know? So it is now to focus on what comes next and to leave this episode behind.”

The 45-year-old lawyer was convicted of the criminal charge in December 2015 but had sought to have the Court of Appeal quash the conviction concerning a magazine clip that was found in his luggage during a check by security at the Grand Bahama International Airport in May 2015.

Throughout his trial in Magistrate’s Court, Bostwick II maintained his innocence and claimed he was set up in a “vicious and diabolical” plan to tarnish his character and reputation.

He testified that he went

through the security checkpoints at the Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau without any incident on the day in question before proceeding to the departure lounge to await the flight. He was en route to Grand Bahama to attend a friend’s wedding.

He said when he arrived at the airport in Grand Bahama, he was approached by individuals and started talking to them.

He claimed that his bag was periodically between his shoulder and the ground prior to his arrival to the Our Lucaya Resort where he said he left the bag unattended in the room of the groom who was to be married on the resort property.

The bag was also left unattended in the rental car when visiting the groom’s new home on the island prior to his departure flight, he said.

Bostwick II said when he got to the airport, he was approached by people who said “they were excited to

meet the future prime minister.”

It was when he proceeded through the security screening after placing his backpack on the conveyor belt that airport security discovered the magazine clip.

However, then Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes rejected his claims that he was framed as “unconvincing and unbelievable” and highlighted inconsistencies between the former senator’s testimony concerning the day in question, surveillance footage and his statement in police custody.

Bostwick II was fined $15,000 for the offence. He is the son of John Henry Bostwick, QC, and former Foreign Affairs Minister and Attorney General Janet Bostwick, the first woman to be elected to the House of Assembly.

Bostwick II was sworn in as an FNM senator in February 2013. He was fired from the post in May 2014, shortly after he was arraigned.

He ran on the FNM’s ticket in 2012 as the standard bearer for Bain and Grants Town, but lost.

Article 48 (1) (f) of the Constitution notes that a person cannot be elected as a member of the House of Assembly who “is under sentence of death imposed on him by a court in the Bahamas, or is serving a sentence of imprisonment (by whatever name called) exceeding 12 months imposed on him by such a court or substituted by competent authority for some other sentence imposed on him by such a court, or is under such a sentence of imprisonment the execution of which has been suspended.”

Under the 2015 amendment to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, minor criminal offences remain on a person’s record for five

years from the date of conviction.

Garvin Gaskin, director of public prosecutions, and Cephia Pinder-Moss appeared for the Crown in

the brief appellate hearing yesterday.

Lisa Bostwick-Dean and Ryszard Humes also appeared with Mr Munroe in the matter.

PM PROMISES DISCLOSURE ON BANK AND RESOLVE

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Perry Christie last night said the government would soon make a full disclosure on the current affairs of Bank of The Bahamas and Resolve Bahamas.

Firing back at suggestions that such a disclosure would not come before the upcoming general election, Mr Christie said: “The elections are not in the near future.”

He made the declaration during the evening session of the House of Assembly.

“Let me say that we are

just about ready to come to parliament with respect to Resolve, its operations and with respect to the Bank of the Bahamas (BOB). We are going to make a full disclosure as to the current affairs and the outcome of Resolve,” he said.

Resolve is a state-owned and controlled company that was established in 2014 to assume liability for $100m of BOB’s non-performing commercial loans.

At the time, BOB had incurred losses in the previous two years, with its most recent quarterly report noting that its shareholders incurred $4.172m in “red ink”.

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THE TRIBUNE

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It’s time for the Opposition to get its act together WITH only three months away from a general election there is no unified opposition to challenge and defeat a government that does not deserve another five years in power. Already on the brink of disaster, five more years of PLP-ism will be the death knell of a Bahamas that we once knew.

Surprisingly, unlike the opposition, the PLP has succeeded in silencing dissent in its own ranks. They are now presenting promises that have already failed with the assurance that if given a second chance all will be well in the end. Although Bahamians always seem to fall for the bait when a good party is in the air, this time government cannot hide from the reality of the moment — failure. Crime is out of control despite the PLP’s promise that if they won the 2012 election, they had all the ingredients to remove the criminals.

Again despite dangling fancy figures before our eyes, they are trying to convince the populace that jobs have been created.

And while there is talk of more jobs our readers will learn in today’s edition of The Tribune that some 400 hotel workers will be jobless with the news that Memories resort in Grand Bahama will be closing.

However, with a bloated civil service, we see government’s fall-back strategy of using the civil service to create jobs to ease growing unemployment. This is an ageold custom of politicians securing votes by creating jobs for their supporters at taxpayers’ expense. As far back as 1988 this was a major problem. PLP Chairman Senator Sean McWeeney at a PLP convention that year pointed out that the civil service had too many “dead branches” that needed to be brought down. This has always been a heavy burden on the Bahamian tax payer.

And in the House yesterday the spending of VAT - another heavy financial burden — was still a hot item for debate. East Grand Bahama MP Peter Turnquest, was among those trying to trace the elusive VAT collection down the bottomless rabbit hole.

“The fact is that the public would know that since the government has come to office there has been an increase in the national debt to the tune of some $2bn,” said Mr Turnquest. “We also know that in excess of $1.3bn worth of VAT collections has been received by the Public Treasury.

We were told initially that VAT would be used to pay down on the debt. How is it that $1.3bn in VAT could be collected, yet the debt has increased by some $2b?”

So many questions, but no satisfactory answers. While the PLP has succeeded in silencing all dissent among its members, the FNM has shattered a once vibrant party with never-ending squabbles. Egos are getting in the way of unity and the country is suffering.

For a moment, Bahamians rejoiced that the DNA and the FNM had at last formed a working partnership. It was the competition of the DNA, although winning no House seats in the 2012 election, that was blamed for the defeat of the FNM in that election. A sigh of relief was breathed when it was thought that by Mrs Loretta Butler Turner, having taken over the leadership of the FNM in the House and appointing Mr Branville McCartney of the DNA to the FNM seat in the Senate, had at least a working relationship with a former rival. We have now learned that this is not so. Mrs Butler-Turner’s belief that there was a coalition — the two parties retaining their separate identities, but work-

ing in unison — was not how DNA leader Branville McCartney saw the agreement.

To him it was a chance for him to get back into parliament – apparently forgetting that he was occupying an FNM seat.

It seems that every faction of the FNM is fighting — one making decisions without telling the other - each seemingly going their own way without consultation.

Really their behaviour is not fair to this country.

It is now time for these adults to come to grips with their ambitions.

Sit down together – leaving the great “I am” outside the door — and for once think of what, as a united team, they can do for their island nation.

They should select candidates for their abilities — all friendships aside — and the contribution that they can make to their islands.

On Tuesday, January 24, The Tribune published a letter by Luther McDonald.

We suggest that it be read and digested and acted upon. We agree that Bahamians deserve better than they are now getting.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” he wrote, “We need a “unity” government in which all sectors of the population can be represented. We need persons to serve not because of some claim to entitlement but because they have something to offer us. Who are not afraid to admit when they cannot do the job and are willing and able to surrender their positions should this be the case. We have too many people now in government who feel forced to compromise on principle because they cannot afford to lose their positions.

“I am not saying only rich people should serve but I do believe that no one should run who cannot afford to walk away on principle,” wrote Mr. McDonald. “Our earlier history abounds with people who though not rich took a principled stand even to their financial detriment. Carlton Francis is perhaps the foremost example of this,” he said.

He uses Brent Symonette as an example, although Mr Symonette is probably not interested, this is Mr McDonald’s assesment for Bahamians to consider.

“If you were to ask most of the intelligent and educated people in this country whether the best person to lead such a government was Brent Symonette the response would be fairly consistent. They would acknowledge that yes, he, a former Deputy Prime Minister is probably one of the savviest persons we have with the requisite experience in politics, government, business and law. He is intelligent and possesses keen judgment and intellect and a sense of compassion.

“He is financially independent and therefore less likely to be tempted by opportunities for personal gain in a leadership capacity. He has shown that he can and will walk away where principle and convention so dictate. He is probably best able to command the respect of the diverse talents (both black and white) this country has and desperately needs to come to the fore.

“Yet, these same educated and intelligent people will tell you, despite our supposed enlightenment and equality, he is white and the Bahamian people will never accept a white man especially one whose father led the old UBP regime. How horribly ironic that we eschew a competent, and arguably the best, candidate this country has to lead it, because of his colour. Is it 2017 or 1967?

Was the Quiet Revolution for naught? Can we finally be true to our motto ‘Forward, Upward, Onward Together’?”

Beyond the VAT

EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE explanation that Minister Halkitis gives for “ where da VAT money gone” may be adequate for the audience he addressed at the PLP convention, but his dismal attempt to sell that snowball to a listening public deserves all of the heat that it is getting.

Perhaps it was not supposed to get this far, but now he has brought up another question, “How smart are the PLPs who are supposed to have sense?”

He should have kept his mouth shut, if he was not

prepared to inform the taxpayers about their money, but I digress, he did say that he was speaking to a particular audience.

Even the person who holds the official office of Minister of Finance would have been careful about speaking about the VAT money, but then maybe not; as that minister attempted to do a comparison between himself and the first Prime Minister of this nation; he even stated that he wants to go beyond Pindling.

Exactly what that means has many Bahamians questioning the current Prime

Minister’s sanity. The only thing that he can go beyond the first Prime Minister is the time he has spent as an elected member, there is nothing else he can do or has shown us the ability to do.

Maybe he has been holding back on us as far as his abilities are concerned, perhaps he can take a shot at telling us where the VAT money went and clear up the mess that his junior minister has made.

EDWARD HUTCHESON Nassau, January 31, 2017.

Measure of success EDITOR, The Tribune.

I REFER to The Tribune’s article on Thursday, January 12, regarding Prime Minister Perry Christie, along with the more recent revelation that he wishes to hold onto the baton for a while longer. Whilst I have not walked in the man’s shoes, I am astounded that as this point in time he truly believes that he and the current administration have not only done an outstanding job, but have excelled to such an extent as to warrant running for another term in office.

Yes, sir, what an outstanding job you have done, that the country has been downgraded during your administration by Standard & Poor’s to “junk” status, and that we have narrowly missed facing a similar downgrade by Moody’s.

What an incredible feat your colleagues have undertaken to see us slip from 85 in 2012 to 121 on the ease of doing business index. Currently the Bahamas sits just above Egypt on this index.

To hold two referendums during your term and then go against the will of the people with respect to the gambling referendum; I congratulate you, sir. Your actions most certainly cry out for democracy.

You speak of using means and tools to which you have access to your full advantage in order to give the people access to information. Yet, we still do not have a Freedom of Information Act. How can we, the people, readily trust in the limited information that we do have access to when our Prime Minister has been quoted as saying that his colleagues must take maximum advantage in providing the people with information of what the PLP has done “without it being clouded by a political opinion and negative political conclusions, which will come about by people who are partial to their point of view.”

Am I not entitled to an opinion? Are your country folk not entitled to their own opinions? Or are you content in raising students to achieve a national average of D and below; arguably creating adults who do not have access to the means or skills to question information or an analysis presented to them?

So it seems, sir, that you agree that we should have access to information, but only to suit reinforcing a good public opinion when it serves your agenda. Sir, what an outstanding example you set for us and for our future generations. Or have I misunderstood your quote? Do only people who follow your agenda and fail to ques-

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net tion deserve information?

Are Bahamians, the very people who elected you to office, defined by their right to information based on the simple fact of whether or not they support your party?

The Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade recently celebrated the 26% decrease in serious crime statistics in 2016. I am baffled by such results, as by my accounts we have yet to learn about the life changing action plan for crime which was referred to so frequently last year. The plan, which promised to be shared, yet we remain waiting. So tell me, what is that plan, and what measures were put in place? What changes caused this decrease in serious crime to come about?

And while you’re at it, please explain what constitutes serious crime? Why is rape and unlawful sex recorded separately? How many calls to the police were not acted upon or not followed up on? Are unexplained deaths included in these figures? What about cases that haven’t been tried? If the court hasn’t ruled a death by murder, what category does this fall into in the statistics provided? It was mentioned that bodies are still in the morgue waiting to be processed but what failed to be referenced were how many bodies? If the numbers waiting to be reviewed is high enough, it could certainly affect the results. Which makes me wonder once the autopsies are performed whether we will receive updated information and the figures related to this?

How can serious crime be down when people are afraid to leave their homes?

How can serious crime be down when as soon as Hurricane Matthew subsided, there were reports of theft and individuals knocking on doors pretending to be the police? I have read more notices in the newspapers advising that the USA have issued travel advisories and warnings related to crime, and more articles in the newspapers of shots fired and lives lost than I care to remember.

I would applaud you and your government on the two Carnivals, which took place during your current term in office, but you have yet to advise how successful they were. Perhaps, instead, I should focus on the income generated, the cost savings made, the room nights achieved and the local artists celebrated, but how can I? We have not been given ac-

cess to this information. We are selling a foreign product with foreign headliners branded as Bahamian. Yes, sir, I agree that your government certainly put on a spectacle. We have yet to receive a budget, or an expenditure report on either carnival. I commend you, sir, on running such a tight ship.

Prime Minister Christie, you must be confident indeed on your successes thus far for a government colleague to even consider the idea of selling Bahamian sand to Florida, our competitor. You must be particularly confident when one considers that such a high percentage of our GDP is generated from tourism.

Clearly we have enough tourists that we can afford to give Florida sand to replenish their beaches, and thus enabling them to maintain or even increase their tourism trade. No doubt there is no need to consider the ramifications to our beaches, or the impact that it might have on our tourism if our beaches have less sand. No doubt you have a plan. In a world where there are finite resources, no doubt your colleagues weighed up the risks and environmental impact that this might have. Without access to information and transparency within the government, how can we trust that this was not just a vindictive rumour? How can we trust that the deal hasn’t already been signed?

In the same way, the fishing and farming partnership proposal with the Chinese, I’m sure was considered from every angle and was not considered on the basis of personal gain.

It would be naive to believe that the Chinese would travel halfway across the globe to help their friends in The Bahamas without it benefiting them in some way; particularly as they have been known to overfish their own seas.

Yes sir, I’m sure this was already considered and proved not to be the case.

It seems that the Government listened to the people and their uproars on this occasion, or so I hope. Yet the same cannot be said for so many Bahamians, including those attending We March Bahamas and the concerns which they have raised.

Baha Mar, BAMSI, Toggie & Bobo, issues regarding the Urban Renewal initiative I could go on…

It seems, sir, that our measures of success are at odds with one another. I wonder, what is in store for us next.

FP Nassau, January 19, 2017.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 2, 2017, PAGE 5

House uproar over VAT

By KHRISNA VIRGIL Deputy Chief Reporter kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

AMID calls for government transparency over value added tax (VAT) collections, a war of words erupted in the House of Assembly yesterday between government MPs and opposition forces that have rejected the Christie administration’s attempts to justify how the tax revenue has been expended.

The heated shouting match prompted Prime Minister Perry Christie to reveal to parliamentarians that he directed State Finance Minister Michael Halkitis to prepare a full explanation to address the nation’s lingering VAT concerns.

The completed explanation, Mr Christie said, will be publicised in every “nook and cranny” of the country. However, the prime minister did not say when the report will be finished or presented.

Mr Christie went on to explain that when the government reduced customs duty rates, 40 per cent of VAT revenue was earmarked to compensate for the duty reduction, adding that 30 per cent would go to national debt reduction.

Prior to Mr Christie’s attempt to justify his administration’s handling of VAT funds, Official Opposition MP Dr Andre Rollins and Free National Movement Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest took the government to task on the issue.

Mr Turnquest argued that Bahamians have a right to ask questions regarding VAT, while Dr Rollins questioned whether the government had erred in its tax collection projections and pinpointed the national debt increase by $2bn.

The argument also saw the government and opposition sides accuse the other of “intellectual dishonesty”.

The national debate regarding VAT was reignited last week after Mr Halkitis delivered a fiery speech during the PLP’s national convention about how the tax revenue was spent.

While the speech was well received by party supporters at the event, it fueled more questions regarding VAT. The argument in the House unfolded as debate began on the Freedom of Information Bill (FOI).

As he wrapped up his communication on the FOI Bill, Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald said in the name of transparency and accountability he had concerns about the misinformation on VAT circulating in the country.

“Mr Speaker, I want

MICHAEL HALKITIS, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance at the PLP convention. to make a few points this morning,” he said. “The first point is that last year June we had a debate in this place where we laid out the VAT and government revenue and expenditure.

“The summary of revenue is as follows, Mr Speaker: VAT represents 25 per cent of government revenue – $652m, 25 per cent Mr Speaker, import tax 13 per cent, excise - 11 per cent, property tax six per cent, other fees and services - 11 per cent. Twenty-five per cent of our government revenue comes from VAT. This ain’t no rocket science, it is laid out in the budget debate,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

“So 25 cents out of every thing the government spends on comes from VAT. Twenty cents out of every dollar the government spends comes from VAT. “I mean what’s so hard about that? A grade one student could understand that.

All the teachers, all the persons who are employed by government, all the roads, all the clinics, Bahamasair, Mr Speaker we subsidise.

Bahamasair that comes from VAT money, Water and Sewerage we subsidise, Mr Speaker. The scholarships that I have been able to double, (I have) been able to do that from VAT money. Twenty-five cents out of every dollar, Mr Speaker, the defence force boats…”

As the Marathon MP continued, a seated opposition MP shouted: “Loans, loans, loans, loans, loans!”

Mr Fitzgerald continued: “But who pays the loans?

Twenty-five cents out of every dollar comes from VAT money. And, Mr Speaker, what gets me is that there are people who know better. The member for East Grand Bahama (Mr Turnquest) knows better, those who’ve been around, Mr

Speaker, know better.

“The government has one pot that the money goes into and one pot where we spend it. What’s so difficult about that ,Mr Speaker?

“Nobody asked where the excise money gone. Nobody asked where the duty money gone. Nobody asked where the company fees gone, (or) the tourism tax, the gaming tax, the motor tax, the property tax, the bank and trust company fees,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

“Nobody asked where that gone, so why you want to know where the 25 per cent gone and where the other 75 per cent gone to do. Everything the government touched it spends money on.”

Standing on a point of order, Mr Turnquest moved to clarify that the opposition did not vote in favour of VAT as was suggested by Mr Fitzgerald.

He argued that ahead of the government’s implementation of VAT, Bahamians were told that VAT revenue would be used to pay down the national debt.

However, he said, in recent days, Bahamians have learned that the collections went toward other purposes.

“I want to correct the minister,” Mr Turnquest said. “In his last statement he suggested (or) he outright said that the opposition voted for value added tax. The record would reflect, Mr Speaker that the opposition did not vote for value added tax.

“Further Mr Speaker, the member mentioned about all these other things that value added tax paid for.

Mr Speaker, the record will reflect that we borrowed $232m for boats,” Mr Turnquest added.

“You can’t stand here in this House and say that value added tax paid for boats. You can’t say that

Mr Speaker. You cannot say that VAT paid for these things that the Bahamian people know we borrowed money for and that we are paying the price for today.”

However, Mr Fitzgerald in response insisted that he did not intimate that the opposition voted in favour of VAT’s implementation.

He added that he had not berated Bahamians.

And as Mr Turnquest stood to interject, Mr Fitzgerald shouted: “I sat down ’til you finished, so you sit down ’til I’m finished.”

“Mr Speaker, I know why they are vex you know, because Minister Halkitis said that’s where the VAT money gone. I don’t know why he would apologise for that.

It’s simple, Mr Speaker, 25 cents out of every dollar collected is from VAT money. I’m going to say it 100 times until you get it inside your head,” he said.

For his part, Dr Rollins raised questions regarding the government’s revenue projections.

He said: “The fact is that the public would know that since the government has come to office there has been an increase in the national debt to the tune of some $2bn. We also know that in excess of $1.3bn worth of VAT collections has been received by the Public Treasury. We were told initially that VAT would be used to pay down on the debt. How is it that $1.3bn in VAT could be collected, yet the debt has increased by some $2b?

“Furthermore the litany of payouts that the minister of state for finance, who I’m quite surprised has been silent thus far in defending what he has said, he went through a recitation of things that supposedly VAT has been used to pay for when we all know that those things he indicated were paid for via loans by this very same House.

Furthermore Mr Speaker,

the minister for education whose portfolio does not cover matters of finance as far as we are aware has said that 25 per cent out of every dollar collected is coming from VAT. “The reality is if his numbers are correct that means that the treasury is collected at least $2.4bn a year, which means that we should be operating a surplus and not a deficit, which means

then that the budget that we came here to debate which says that they expect to collect $1.9bn is off by some $500m which is poor math.”

In his defence, Mr Halkitis said he planned to speak on VAT which he is to present in an upcoming session. He said while his convention speech has sparked national debate, he stood by every word made to PLP supporters last week.

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PAGE 6, Thursday, February 2, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

Ingraham: FNMs unite or face loss to the PLP from page one

FORMER Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham speaking to the media after registering to vote with his wife Delores at Government High School this week.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

with the Democratic National Alliance ahead of the next election.

“In my opinion the FNM needs to give focused attention to resolving the issues that divides its parliamentary group, so they can present a united front to the public of The Bahamas,” Mr Ingraham said. “If Perry Christie and Brave Davis, if Perry Christie and Bernard Nottage, Perry Christie and Alfred Sears can get along together in the PLP, I have no idea why Hubert Minnis and Loretta (ButlerTurner), Hubert Minnis and Hubert Chipman, Hubert Minnis and Richard Lightbourn can’t get along in the FNM’s tent.

“It seems to me to make sense to present the public with a united front, the public does not like divided parties. In fact they like to punish parties when they are divided and the extent to which the FNM can get itself together, put us in a position to be able to talk to the DNA, and if they are not talking any sense, the FNM has the opportunity now to take its Senate seat back from Mr (Branville) McCartney and proceed and tell the public why they can’t do a deal with them and why the public ought to focus its attention on voting for the FNM as an alternative to the PLP.” In December, Mrs Butler-Turner was appointed leader of the Official Opposition after she and six other FNM MPs wrote a letter of no confidence in Dr Minnis, who remains FNM leader.

She later appointed Mr McCartney to the Senate.

In response, Dr Minnis told the group to quit the FNM or face disciplinary action. Mrs Butler-Turner has since announced plans to run as an independent in the next election.

When asked if he agreed with the MPs’ decision, Mr Ingraham said: “I don’t even want to get into that part of it. That’s not the issue. The issue is they are where they are and they need to move from where they are to a point where they can present a united front to the public of The Bahamas.”

He added: “If they don’t (come together) they are at a disadvantage. That’s my opinion. I’m only giving my opinion. My opinion and $1.50 I guess will buy a cup of coffee.

“I think that they need to consider doing that. Find a means by which they can live together in harmony, just as the PLP has done and is doing. There are great differences between the PLPs whose names I called just now and Perry Christie and there (are) differences between Minnis and these other people, I just called their names. They have a common set of beliefs and they need to work towards dealing with that without allowing personalities and all these other things to get in the way.”

He also likened the fracture in the FNM to the uproar in the Republican Party over Donald Trump’s presidential run.

“The United States just elected Mr Trump, most of the Republicans did not want him and his political leadership,” Mr Ingraham said. “They are all together now. Same thing in the United Kingdom and else-

where in the world. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see that unless you are together you might end up with the opposition votes being split and the PLP winning the election with a minority of votes.

That could happen.”

Mr Ingraham resigned as FNM leader in 2012, after the party lost the general election. Dr Minnis has faced intense criticism since getting the job in 2012, with many saying he is inadequate, even though he has been voted into the post three times. On two occasions he was unopposed, with Mrs Butler-Turner dropping out of the race at the last minute in 2016. She lost her bid to unseat him in 2014.

When asked if he thought Dr Minnis has what it takes to be prime minister, Mr Ingraham was noncommittal.

“He has been elected leader of the FNM,” he said. “That is what the FNM wants and people have to decide whether they are going to vote for the FNM or not. It is too late to have changes now.”

As for whether he thinks the dissenting MPs can win their seats as independents, Mr Ingraham brushed off this question.

“It’s not a question of that. The FNM must make every effort to get everybody together and if at the end of the day it cannot get together, the FNM got to say you are either FNM or you are not FNM. “But there has to be reasonable efforts made to resolve the issues and to come together. It cannot be what’s happening now.

What’s happening now is not in the interest of the FNM in my opinion.”

have not been supporting the FNM for the last 15 or more years,” Mr Ingraham said.

“From 2002, 2001 they’ve been gone. They didn’t support the party in 2007, they supported the PLP. They supported the PLP in 2012.

It’s nothing. Whatever currency they had they already spent it on the PLP before.”

He added: “Tony Miller is a number one aide to Philip ‘Brave’ Davis. He’s a consultant in the Ministry of Public Works. And Mr Algernon Allen is chairman of Urban Renewal and he’s not doing that for nothing. He’s getting paid for it. It’s either $50,000 or $60,000 a year.

“In the case of Lester

Turnquest, Perry Christie did a favour for him when he was in office the last time that certainly I would not have done. He knows what that favour was and so does Perry Christie,” Mr Ingraham said, however he declined to reveal what the favour was.

Last Thursday, as the PLP’s convention was drawing to a close, former FNM Cabinet ministers Algernon Allen and Byron Woodside, former MPs Lester Turnquest, Anthony Miller and former FNM supporters Ivoine Ingraham, Peter Carey and Wellington Smith expressed their support for Mr Christie and the PLP.

FORMER FNMS ON PLP STAGE DISMISSED AS ‘NOTHING’

By TANEKA THOMPSON Tribune News Editor tmthompson@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Free National Movement Leader Hubert Ingraham yesterday dismissed the show of support by those former FNM members who joined Prime Minister Perry Christie on the stage at the final night of the Progressive Liberal Party’s convention as “nothing”.

Mr Ingraham, the coun-

try’s former prime minister, said three of the former FNMs had not supported his party for more than a decade. He also said one of them, Lester Turnquest, received a “favour” from Mr Christie during his first term in office and another, Anthony Miller, works as an aide for Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Works Philip Davis.

“Algernon Allen, Tony Miller and Lester Turnquest

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THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 2, 2017, PAGE 7

SALE OF BAHA MAR HAS NOT YET BEEN COMPLETED

from page one Mr Davis was reported

by PressToday to have told a visiting group of international journalists this week: “We’ve made

commitments to the islands of The Bahamas, to the Government and to the bank that we would open the project even before we close [the deal].

We will be opening the project on April 21 and it

will be in a phased manner. Our flagship property is going to be run by Grand Hyatt.”

Clarifying Mr Davis’s comments, Mr Sands confirmed that CTFE’s acquisition of Baha Mar

would only close once all construction was completed. This implies that the conglomerate’s deal with the state-owned China Export-Import Bank, as Baha Mar’s secured creditor, will likely only close in

late 2017.

Branville McCartney, the Democratic National Alliance’s (DNA) leader, seized on confirmation that Baha Mar’s purchase has yet to close to allege that Prime Minister Perry

Christie had misled the nation on the deal’s status. “It shows that they [the Government] are using this as a political ploy,” he said.

FULL STORY, SEE BUSINESS

400 jobs go at Memories from page one 29, and is now making arrangements to pay out applicable redundancy pay for its employees in the coming days.

Although saddened by the outcome, Sunwing said it intends to continue supporting Grand Bahama and its tourism economy, including its hotels through tour operators, Sunwing Vacations and US-based Vacation Express as well as by continuing its airlift programmes from Canada, and the United States in the summer, subject to conditions they are discussing with government.

Sunwing has contributed significantly to the economy of Grand Bahama, injecting some $140m annually, and creating over 1,500 jobs on the island.

After forging a partnership with the government in 2013, Sunwing Travel

Group commenced operations at the Memories Grand Bahama Beach & Casino Resort in 2014.

Sunwing also began weekly flights service from eight cities in Canada and daily flights from a variety of US cities.

The opening of the 492room resort coupled with Sunwing’s tour operator and airlift support led to the revitalisation of the island’s tourism sector, bringing over 100,000 incremental tourists annually on new flying programmes from Canada and the eastern US. On October 6, 2016, Hurricane Matthew caused significant damage to the Memories Resort and forced its closure.

Hutchison’s Grand Lucaya Resort, which comprises Lighthouse Point and Breaker’s Cay resorts, and Treasure Bay Casino, also sustained significant damage. While Lighthouse Point has reopened, Break-

er’s remains closed and the casino operators pulled out on December 4, terminating 140 casino workers. The press statement said: “Despite an immediate response from Sunwing Travel Group and the government of The Bahamas to secure alternative accom-

modations, protect flying, and expedite the necessary repairs, the hotel’s owner, Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa, did not agree to requests to restore the Memories.

“Since this event, the Sunwing Travel Group has taken on the significant fi-

nancial burden of compensating and re-protecting customers as well as running an air programme with limited accommodation options as a demonstration of goodwill and commitment to the people of Grand Bahama Island.”

Sunwing said that as part

of its ongoing commitment to Grand Bahama and its people, they are already developing plans in concert with government to return to Grand Bahama as a hotel operator and are optimistic that they will be in a position to announce details shortly.

PAGE 8, Thursday, February 2, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

THE FIRST PHA Unsung Heroes Award is presented to Patricia Laing on Wednesday. From left, Vernon Davis, PHA patient representative; Elizabeth Dupuch Carron; Herbert Brown, managing director of the Public Hospitals Authority; Patrica Laing, patient relations supervisor in the Accident and Emergency department at Princess Margaret Hospital; Denise Sherman, PHA patient representative; and Robert Carron, president of the Tribune Media Group.

Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff

Tribune and PHA unite to honour health heroes AN AWARDS programme to recognise and reward excellence, care and compassion in the Bahamas health care system launched yesterday as part of a ground breaking public-private partnership between the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) and the Tribune Media Group.

The Unsung Heroes Awards will identify and publicly honour those PHA employees who have gone “beyond the call of duty” in providing levels of care and compassion throughout the islands, in the authority’s two hospitals (Princess Margaret and Rand Memorial), Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre and its 108 clinics and agencies.

Nominations of employees for the monthly award will be made by co-workers and by patients and visitors.

The winner each month will receive a cash prize, dinner for two, a framed certificate and a bespoke recognition pin. An annual winner, selected from the monthly champions, will be announced and honoured at a gala dinner at the end of the year. The January winner is Nurse Patricia Laing, Patient Relations Supervisor

in the Accident and Emergency department at Princess Margaret Hospital, and nominations are open for February.

The prestigious awards programme is part of a partnership between the PHA and The Tribune announced last month to advance the fight against paediatric diseases in the Bahamas, an alliance local health officials said will have a “significant impact” on the delivery of paedi-

atric care throughout the public healthcare system.

Its aim is to raise awareness about and subsequently battle various diseases, such as Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), Leukaemia, Diabetes and Cancer.

Herbert Brown, managing director of the Public Hospitals Authority, welcomed the awards programme. “The PHA Unsung Heroes Awards is a magnificent opportunity to celebrate and reward, on a national platform, those persons who on a daily basis perform their duties in the most unselfish and professional manner,” he said.

“Even more, it is an opportunity to engage the public’s critique at every level of stewardship in healthcare across our country, the end result of which can only further serve to embolden those of us in healthcare to provide excellent service.

“At the heart of what we do across our public institutions and clinics and agencies is the common thread ‘Working Together for Best Quality Healthcare’. In fact, it is our mantra and it promotes the tenets of teamwork and service excellence. What this award does is elevate that to the national level. It also endorses the abundant qualities of public-private partnerships in nation building. The Public Hospitals Authority is happy to join its brand with The Tribune Media Group and the Aidan Roger Carron Foundation in highlighting those who may often go unnoticed in their daily service to our nation.”

Brainchild The partnership is the brainchild of Robert Dupuch Carron, president of the Tribune Media Group, and his wife, Elizabeth, whose infant son Aidan has fought successfully against HLH, a deadly auto-immune disease. In July, the seven-month-old contracted a high fever following vaccinations and had to

be medically evacuated to Florida for specialist treatment.

Though recovering well after five months in the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, Aidan’s plight prompted the Dupuch Carrons to establish the Aidan Roger Carron Foundation and forge a partnership with the PHA to ensure that what happened to their son does not happen to other familes.

According to Mr Dupuch Carron, the aim of the partnership with the PHA is to create “compelling, engaging multi-platform educational campaigns that inform, educate and empower our parents and citizens”; diagnose, track and treat auto-immune diseases with “state-of-the-art equipment and treatment protocols” and “access to leading health professionals from around the world”; and to establish “global partnerships with world-class institutions,” such as Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in South Florida.

Key to the effectiveness of the partnership, officials said, was the Dupuch Carron family’s “historic” consensual release of Aidan’s confidential medical records, which senior health officials called an “unprecedented and generous act which undoubtedly will help to achieve positive health outcomes for other families in the years to come”.

As well as the release of Aidan Carron’s records, Frank Smith, the PHA Chairman, announced the initiatives, including releasing information on the top ten diseases afflicting children and pregnant women nationally, fund raising campaigns for telehealth (accessing expertise abroad) and for equipment, and publicly recognising those individuals who have gone “beyond the call of duty” in providing levels of care and compassion through the islands via the PHA Unsung Heroes Awards.

Mr Dupuch Carron said the initiative “is about bringing together partners from all walks of life with a common goal of transforming our approach to paediatric healthcare, so that no child is left behind.

It is also about recognising and saluting all those who, without their extraordinary efforts, many other children would not be here.”

Criteria The criteria for nominees for the monthly PHA Unsung Heroes Awards encompass exceptional success in an area or aspect of work including consistent and outstanding performance; demonstrating initiative for personal development and professional knowledge while maintaining the highest standards of relationships with patients, staff and the community; consistent and outstanding leadership, actively promoting and encouraging colleagues to deliver a high standard of service; consistently high standard of service delivery to internal and external customers; achievement in promoting links with the community or enhancing the reputation of the PHA in it; and noted participation in community health activities at various levels.

The attributes which make an employee suitable for nomination include attitude, drive to succeed, overall work quality, an exceptional act of service and willingness to go the extra mile.

Nomination forms and full criteria for eligibility and selection can be found on the PHA website (phabahamas.org) or submitted via email to or obtained from Human Resources. They will also be available to patients and visitors at all facilities. Nominations must be submitted by the last day of the month and an independent selection committee will judge the entries.

Employees can only win one monthly award per calendar year.

THE AIDAN ROGER CARRON FOUNDATION THE Aidan Roger Carron Foundation has been formed with the aim of transforming paediatric care in The Bahamas.

Aidan Carron was seven months old when he contracted a secondary and potentially deadly auto immune disease, Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), last July after a “catch up” administration of his vaccinations.

He developed a fever of 107.1F (41.6C) and had to be rushed by air ambulance to the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, where he spent more than five months being treated with blood tranfusions, chemotherapy, steroids and antibiotics.

His parents, Robert and Elizabeth Dupuch Carron, have said they do not want other Bahamian families to

suffer the same experience and have agreed to release Aidan’s confidential medical records to allow physicians, nurses and researchers detailed insight into the diagnosis, testing and treatment of life-threatening diseases. In January The Tribune Media Group, the Public Hospitals Authority and the Foundation announced a partnership to advance the fight against

paediatric diseases.

The Foundation’s mission statement is “Together we can fight HLH, Leukaemia, Cancer, Diabetes, obesity and other paediatric diseases by utilising worldclass partnerships, creative multi-platform educational campaigns, state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment and treatment protocols, whilst recognising the ‘Unsung Heroes’ in our nation.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 2, 2017, PAGE 9

‘IT’S THE SMILE,’ SAYS DEBUT WINNER OF AWARD HONOREE Patricia Laing said “This isnt an award for me, just helping one person is an award, it is what i do”.

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net THE first winner of the PHA Unsung Heroes Award is veteran nurse Patricia Laing, who health officials praised yesterday as a stellar practitioner for her years of committed and noteworthy excellence.

Nurse Laing was presented with the award for January by Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) Managing Director Herbert Brown, who described her as “one of our bright lights”. Robert Dupuch Carron, president of the Tribune Media Group, and his wife Elizabeth, co-founders of the Aidan Roger Carron Foundation, were on hand for the presentation as organisation partners with the PHA in a public-private partner-

ship which aims to improve paediatric health care in The Bahamas.

Nurse Laing, who began her nursing career in 1972, now operates as Patient Relations Supervisor in the Accident and Emergency Department at the Princess Margaret Hospital.

Well versed in nursing, she claimed that the approach she takes to her post is and has always been driven by the idea that everyone deserves to have the best day possible when in her presence.

She told The Tribune

that she has always strived to bring comfort to those surrounded by illness and despair.

“It is the smile,” she said.

“I have always wanted people to feel good when all signs have pointed to them or given them a reason to feel otherwise. That is why I have always made it a point to share hugs, feel you, touch you, let you know in your moment of sadness or grief that someone is there for you.

“I never viewed my position as a job or work. It has always been about making

the lives of those I come into contact with better.”

Nurse Laing said modestly that the award confirms a belief that she has always held that “a bright smile and warm hug can make the difference”.

“It is how you answer the phone, open the door, greet someone,” she said. “Those were my rewards, if I am allowed to say that. Now while this award is special and surprising, it lends to the fact that what I do does mean something to the people that come in contact with me.”

The PHA Unsung Heroes Award is a monthly recognition, given to employees in the Public Hospital Authority who have made extended and noteworthy contributions to the health services industry in The Bahamas. It carries a

Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff cash prize, dinner for two, a framed certificate and a bespoke recognition pin.

An annual winner, selected from the monthly champions, will be announced and honoured at a gala dinner at the end of the year.

Presenting Nurse Laing with the inaugural award Mr Brown said she personified the indelible attitude toward patient care and health services that he thought ought to be the norm delivered in The Bahamas. He said at the heart of what officials attempt to deliver across public institutions is the common thread of “working together for the best quality healthcare”; asserting that Nurse Laing has adopted that principle as a personal mandate.

“Nurse Patricia Laing is one of our bright lights in the Public Hospitals Author-

ity,” Mr Brown said. “As the Patient Relations Supervisor in the Accident and Emergency Department at the Princess Margaret Hospital, Nurse Laing is often a first point of contact for many of our patients and their families. Her reputation in this role has been nothing short of stellar. She continues to go above and beyond each and every day, and many of our commendations have one single thread: ‘Nurse Laing made me feel like I was the most important person in the hospital’.

“When ‘service above self’ touches our clients in this way then we call it heroic. Nurse Patricia Laing is most certainly a hero.”

The Unsung Heroes Awards are open to employees of the PHA, with nominations now open for February.

PAGE 10, Thursday, February 2, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

12-year-old accused of having gun from page one After confirming the age of culpability, the chief magistrate proceeded to read the charge and particulars to him and his parents.

“It is alleged that you on Monday, January 30, (were) found in possession of a component of a firearm to wit: a Jimenez Arms 9mm pistol s/no 053934, while not being the holder of a special licence in the prescribed form, from the Licensing Authority, authorising you to possess the same,” the docket read.

According to initial police reports, “as a result of a professional intervention by school officials,” officers went to a junior high school’s temporary location off Tonique Williams-Darling Highway on Monday, where they allegedly uncovered the weapon on school premises.

The pistol reportedly did not have a firing pin and/or ammunition.

“Talk to your parents and then tell me what is your

plea,” the chief magistrate told the accused yesterday. After brief consultation, the juvenile said: “Not guilty.”

There was contention on whether the minor could be granted bail given the nature of the offence and provisions of the Child Protection Act. “Do I have any authority under the Bail Act to grant him bail? In as much as I am moved to, I am a creature of statute,” the chief magistrate said.

After a 10-minute recess, the chief magistrate deferred the matter to 3.30pm and allowed the boy, who began to cry, to be released to the custody of his parents until then.

When the matter resumed yesterday afternoon, the chief magistrate was convinced that the Child Protection Act, the particulars of the offence and the Bail Act allowed for the juvenile to get bail.

As a result, the boy was released on a $1,000 bond and told that he would appear before a juvenile panel on February 20.

A JUVENILE was arraigned at Magistrates Court yesterday for firearm possession.

Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff

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for Melia Nassau Beach on from several schools sharThursday, February 9, is ing her inspirational story expected to draw a capac- and life lessons. ity audience as Mrs Schloss, Among the sponsors are now 87, recounts her rivet- Aetos Holdings, Andbank ing story from a childhood Private Bankers, Ansbachof innocence to the anguish er Bahamas, the Bahamas of Auschwitz and on to a Ministry of Tourism, Bank life filled with meaning and J Safra Sarasin (Bahamas) purpose as wife, mother, Ltd, Bank Julius Baer, Digrandmother, author and ane Phillips & Associates, humanitarian.

Oracle Capital Advisors It is, say organisers, a sto- Ltd, Restaurants Bahamas ry of the indomitable power Ltd, SYZ Wealth Manageof the human spirit. ‘Be- ment and Union Bancaire yond the Diary’ is the third Privee (UBP). historic programme in six “The support we’ve reyears hosted by the Nassau ceived has been humbling Jewish community. and inspiring,” Rabbi Blum“We are delighted that ing said. “It’s a sign of the so many sponsors have generous spirit these spestepped forth allowing us to cial men and women have. bring this historic event to They care deeply about the the Bahamas,” said Rabbi betterment of our entire Sholom Bluming. “Every- community and the educaone we mentioned it to was tion of children and adults eager to be part of such a alike. Without their support, moving and inspiring even- events like this would not ing and especially pleased be possible. Many of these to partner in the separate same sponsors have also suppresentation to students.” ported similar programmes Prior to the public event, in the past and we are eterMrs Schloss a nally1 grateful to PM them for LCF-2017 will Generalmake 3x8-BW-TRIB.pdf 1/6/17 9:34 private presentation at the their continued contribution Melia to over 600 students to the Bahamas.”

The first two programmes, a Schindler’s List survivor and an Israeli fencer from the 1972 Munich Olympics, drew standing room only crowds.

“Eva Schloss is one of the last remaining Holocaust survivors. She will tell her unforgettable story, through the eyes of her best friend and classmate, Anne Frank, then through her own lens as a prisoner and finally through the heart of a woman whose courage and compassion could not be dampened as she emerged to live a rich and full life of inspiration to others,” said the Rabbi. “Eva, who became Anne Frank’s stepsister after her father married Anne’s mother following the death of their respective spouses, will motivate all of us. Given world events today the message of respect and tolerance is so timely and important for all of us to hear.”

The programme on February 9 starts promptly at 6.30pm followed by a questions and answers session.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 2, 2017, PAGE 11

Debate begins on long-awaited Freedom of Information Bill

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net THE House of Assembly began debate on the longawaited revamped Freedom of Information Bill, despite continued push back from civil society and opposition factions over the bill’s contents and potency.

A Freedom of Information Act was passed by the Ingraham administration shortly before the 2012 general election but did not have an enforcement date.

When the PLP assumed office, the government said the legislation would need significant changes.

In December 2016, Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald tabled another version of FOI legislation.

However, the bill debated on Wednesday presented several “big changes” when compared to its predecessors, according to Mr Fitzgerald, the minister with responsibility for FOIA. The Marathon MP asserted that this incarnation of FOI is vastly better than the “woefully short” aspirations of the legislation passed in 2012 - a piece of legislation he said the former administration “rushed” through Parliament to gain political points.

Mr Fitzgerald said the current PLP administration has done its due diligence

JEROME FITZGERALD, MP for Marathon, pictured at the PLP convention.

Photo: Shawn Hanna to ensure that this current incarnation of the legislation is capable of standing in contrast to similar documents enacted across the world, contending that the changes made by the Christie administration would “stand up to any scrutiny”.

The Marathon MP said the government had considered all recommendations and applied the new legislation to every respectable benchmark it could find.

“I intend to show this morning that this FOI Bill, which will become an act, has had the input of the

public and we are taking it very seriously,” he said as debate on the legislation began.

“We have benchmarked (this bill) against many other FOIA’s around the world and against the OAS (Organisation of American States) for best practices, Mr Speaker, and on all accounts, Mr Speaker, I want to make this clear, on all accounts, Mr Speaker, this is a FOI Bill that stands up to any scrutiny, anywhere in the world, Mr Speaker, and can be benchmarked against any piece of FOI

legislation anywhere in the world; and is something we should be proud of, Mr Speaker.”

The new bill, according to Mr Fitzgerald, will expand the right of access to information to bodies who have had a nexus with The Bahamas.

Additionally, the act will expand the class of accessible documents to include factual and statistical policy documents; narrow the class of exempted information; makes recommendations for a stand alone whistle-blowers legislation; review the Official Secrets Act; repeal the veto power of the minister as put forth in the previous bill; repeal the information commissioner’s right to rule, allowing for a person to appeal for the right to certain pieces of information; and lastly, add a public interest test to gauge the want for other pieces of information.

Noting these changes, Mr Fitzgerald stated: “Mr Speaker, the bill seeks to reinforce and give effect to certain fundamental principles underlining the system of constitutional democracy.

“And that is as I said before, governmental accountability, transparency and public participation in national decision-making by granting the public a general right to access to records held by public authorities, of course subject to certain exemptions.”

Public push back Earlier this month, the Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG) said many recommendations from civil society on how to improve the Freedom of Information Bill had been disregarded by the Christie administration.

Addressing these claims yesterday on the floor of the House, Mr Fitzgerald denied that the Christie administration turned away any recommendations or input into the process, going as far as to say that he was “disappointed” at the level of public involvement once the government invited input.

Mr Fitzgerald said the level of involvement by all of these civic groups that claimed they wanted input into the process made him “unsure” over whether the groups in question actually cared.

He added that many of the groups that had the opportunity to speak up during the process opted not to, choosing to instead play the matter up in the press as the government attempting to strong-arm them into a bill that didn’t benefit the Bahamian people - a direct jab to the We March Bahamas movement, Mr Fitzgerald later admitted.

Mr Fitzgerald said for this very reason he rebuffed several invitations to meet with or appear in front of groupings interested in discussing the bill because he didn’t

want to give the impression that there was political sway over the consultation process, adding that the Christie administration wanted the best bill it could get.

The government concluded the public consultation process on the bill last December.

On Wednesday, representatives from the coalition of groups working for a strong, fair Freedom of Information Act sat in on segments of the debate at the House of Assembly.

Matt Aubrey, executive director of ORG, said there is still work to be done to achieve the group’s four priority amendments - the selection process for the information commissioner to be independent of political influence; sufficient access to information about entities that receive substantial public funding; removal of all deterrents for those seeking information and the inclusion of all deliberative processes in which individual ministers, Cabinet or government committees receive opinions, advice or recommendations.

Mr Albury added that if civil society is successful in driving forward this effort for a selection committee for the information commissioner, it could open the door for more open, unbiased appointment processes across the board.

Debate on the bill resumes on February 8.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS LAUNCHES NEW E-PASSPORT SYSTEM THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs has officially launched its new polycarbonate e-passport system.

The launch of the system took place last Thursday at the Passport Office on Thompson Boulevard.

Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Frederick Mitchell said this new system would expedite the processing of passports, noting: “I look forward to greater customer satisfaction as a result of faster pro-

cessing times.”

Mr Mitchell said that the customer can apply online, and that the system is coordinated with other government agencies.

According to Chief Passport Officer Clarence Rus-

sell II, Family Islands will not be disadvantaged, as the system will be launched in several islands as well. It will address all customers, including those who are shutins in New Providence and the Family Islands as they

would be served by the Passport Office’s mobile unit.

The new e-passport features 50 pages - previously passports contained 25 pages. Mr Russell said that this is particularly advantageous to frequent travellers

as it reduces the need for constant renewals.

The cost of the passport remains the same at $50 for adults, and $25 for children.

It is anticipated that the online passport system will be completed by July 2017.

PAGE 12, Thursday, February 2, 2017

Painful numbers for The Bahamas T

YPICAL Bahamians, like citizens everywhere, take little interest in the numbers underlying their country’s successes - or failures.

Certainly the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) enthusiasts carousing at the recent convention would not have listened to tedious statistics; what they wanted, and got, was Perry Christie’s cheerful face telling them that all would be well under his continued leadership. Many of them were middle-aged, or older. Perhaps a younger audience, more alert to current realities and facing an uncertain future, would have shown greater scepticism. They would have had many good reasons.

I heard Dr Jonathan Rodgers, professional ophthalmologist and amateur economist, give a speech recently about the risks of Bahamian dollar devaluation. He expertly covered all the technical factors leading to a devaluation,

Nassau Life

By RICHARD COULSON

and correctly warned that our Central Bank (like any other) would not give advance notice of the dire event. But his advice how a Bahamian should take protective steps was meaningless: buy foreign assets or convert Bahamian currency into US dollars. For most of us, under current exchange controls that’s a non-starter that can only be done in limited amounts incurring fees, taxes and application redtape. The only solution is abolition of most exchange controls, just as Margaret Thatcher abruptly decreed for the UK in 1979, with the encouragement of a shrewd Chancellor of the Exchequer, who correctly predicted no financial catastrophe.

Sterling was repatriated

and new funds were invested - and incidentally the Bank of England could dismiss the 25 per cent of its staff devoted to enforcing exchange control. Bahamians presently holding foreign accounts as a safety net would bring them home if they were assured of the flexibility to re-invest outwards at their option.

Widespread concern about the use of Value Added Tax (VAT) proceeds, now totalling nearly $1 billion annually, is justified, but the arguments have been misconceived. Despite some woolly promises about reducing debt, it was always intended that VAT receipts be paid into the Consolidated Fund, as are other state revenues. Once

THE TRIBUNE

THE PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party 2017 convention at the Melia Nassau Beach Resort.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff that’s done, every dollar is ell’s speech at the PLP Con- reduce interest charges on fungible and it’s pointless vention raises new alarm about $3 billion residential to ask that it be traced to about staffing inflation. He mortgages outstanding, and debt reduction or any other proposes ballooning his decisions about new investspecific expenditure. VAT Immigration Department ment are never made bedollars are inextricably from 300 to 900 officers cause of a half per cent decommingled with loan dol- while their headquarters on cline in the prime rate. End lars. The questions should Hawkins Hill is notorious result: thousands of bank be: are the individual ex- as a centre of slow-motion depositors are sure to lose penditures necessary and paper-shuffling, lost files income, with no certainty are the funds and cash that of enjoying lower mortgage being effi- ‘Totalling now gets “mis- costs or seeing new investciently spent? placed”, a ment growth.

These are about $2 billion and consequence Even in the US, abyshard ques- implacably growing, made easier mally low deposit rates tions, but not unfunded pension by official have stunted any reasonintended for refusal to ac- able return from bank deMr Halkitis. obligations of public cept cheques posits. But that country has They should ministries and the or credit a dynamic capital market be put to the National Insurance cards. giving savers a huge range responsible Perhaps of alternative investments, departmen- Board will reach a the most in publicly traded stocks, tal ministers, crisis point requiring prominent bonds, commodities, real and ultimate- massive taxation or elephant in estate, gold and currencies. ly the Prime the room, In the Bahamas we have Minister. Just bond borrowing, or although few similar choices. Bonds a few of them a drastic default in invisible in rarely come to the marare: Prime ket, and despite the hard pension payments - the • Have BaMinister’s work of BISX executives the one consequence euphoric hamasair’s to publicise investment in new aircraft that might cause Obie bloviations, corporate shares, few equishrunk the is the threat ties actively trade and repannual $20m Ferguson to actually arising from resent but a small fragment Government call a general strike unfunded of our productive economy. subsidy? instead of just talking pension ob- Despite owning over 40 per • Are eight ligations of cent of BISX, Government $15m gun- about one.’ public minis- shows little interest in proboats needed tries and the moting that body by, for exfor a Defence Force that National Insurance Board. ample, suspending business battles ragged Haitian refu- They are mentioned every licence fees for BISX-listed gees who never shoot back, year, given corrective lip companies. poaching fishermen, or drug service and then ignored.

The very structure of dealers wielding only hand- Totalling now about $2 bil- such fees imposes a reguns before surrender? lion and implacably grow- gressive brake on business • Why are crucial parts ing, unless funded or re- success. Since they are of the Critical Care Block organised by well-known computed mainly on gross still not functioning and means they will reach a revenues, they cut into net the Exuma Clinic still crisis point requiring mas- income and in some cases closed after construction sive taxation or bond bor- extinguish any profit marcosting $14m? rowing, or a drastic default gin whatever. The official • Do the substantial in pension payments - the view finds income tax inconsulting fees and other one consequence that might compatible with the Baorganizational costs of Na- cause Obie Ferguson to ac- hamian image. In reality, tional Health Insurance in- tually call a general strike business licence fees are an dicate any improvement in instead of just talking about imposition far worse than affordable health care? one. income tax, just disguised • What do we gain from And yet nothing is on the under a misleading name. the fee (never disclosed) table, even in an election Our present system should paid to the US company year. be called a tax on capital, PowerSecure to “manage” In the face of these po- the favourite wealth-killing our electricity supply? litically-charged issues, we device of all socialist re• Above all, do we get can even question the Cen- gimes. any value from the steadily tral Bank’s monetary deciOur Freedom of Inforgrowing Civil Service? sion to reduce bank rate mation Act is now before Apparently 4,500 jobs by half of one per cent. At Parliament. If enacted and have been added in this first glance it looks like a publicised in effective form, administration to an esti- good step to stimulate our I hope it will cause our citimated total of over 41,000, slow-moving economy, by zens to scrutinise the underan increase of over 10 per lowering borrowing costs. lying facts of our potentially cent, with no evidence of But consider the actual dynamic economy, rather wider scope or efficiency consequences. According than just listen to political of services. The state phi- to Bank statistics for mid- bluster. It’s good that Baha losophy of retaining pub- 2016, companies and indi- Mar is soon coming on lic employees, no matter viduals were holding about stream, but we need more how incompetent, must be $3.6 billion of savings or than that to avoid damage reconsidered. If pressed, fixed-term deposits. In- from further downgrades. many Government work- stantly, banks reduced their ers could find private em- prime rate by the same half • Richard Coulson is a ployment, supported by a of one per cent, wiping out retired lawyer and investcompassionate severance about $18m annually of de- ment banker born in Nasscheme that in the long positors’ income. My own sau and from a long line of run would cost less than bank cancelled the tiny Bahamians. He is a financontinuing a bloated pay- interest it had been pay- cial consultant and author roll. ing on demand deposits. of A Corkscrew Life - adIn these days of belt-tight- But banks and insurance ventures of a travelling fiening, Minister Fred Mitch- companies will be slow to nancier.

Centre for Learning Ltd. Located Jean St.(opposite Prince Shopping Centre) Gleniston Gardens

Charles

Re: Registration for School Year 2017-2018 Begins Wednesday, February 1, 2017 For K2-K4 Registration Fee paid at the Bank with Bank receipt supplied by the school Payment by cheque can be made at school

Mrs. Roxanne Chipman Director (242) 364-3176

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 2, 2017, PAGE 13

McCartney says no close link with Butler-Turner

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net DEMOCRATIC National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney yesterday insisted that there is “no relationship” between his party and Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner, as he suggested that the latter’s own comments over the past week of her own political future effectively rule out any talks of an existing coalition or otherwise with the DNA. Although acknowledging the “simple” arrangement between himself and Mrs Butler-Turner to have him appointed in December as leader of opposition business in the Senate, Mr McCartney suggested that this was the extent of “any type of relationship” between the two.

He added: “That’s how it is.”

To drive home his point, Mr McCartney referred to two previous instances where Mrs Butler-Turner made public statements about joint political endeavours with other persons or entities, only to have them refuted by the other party she said was involved.

In December, Mrs Butler-Turner was appointed Official Opposition leader after she and six other MPs expressed no confidence in Free National Movement Leader Dr Hubert Minnis. She later appointed Mr McCartney as leader of opposition business in the Senate. The appointment signalled Mr McCartney’s return to Parliament after losing his Bamboo Town seat in the 2012 general election.

A few weeks later, Mrs Butler-Turner indicated that she was forming a “very powerful and bold” coalition with Mr McCartney and the DNA, and that the coalition would “change

LORETTA Butler-Turner with Branville McCartney. the direction of the coun- mature political statements, try.” However, Mr McCart- and speaking on behalf of ney refuted her statements the other six members witha day later that, stating that out prior consultation. the only conversation they When asked about the had “was about my becom- status of their relationship, ing a senator.”

Mr McCartney responded: In January, she con- “What relationship? What firmed to The Tribune that relationship?” she would be running as He added: “Listen, you an independent candidate would have seen comments in the next election. And made by (Mrs Butleron Monday, The Tribune Turner) herself over the revealed the contents of a past couple of weeks. Last leaked confidential email week, Mrs Butler-Turner sent out by Mrs Butler- said she was going to run Turner, which outlined that as an independent. Monshe is laying the foundation day’s headline was that she for an “organic grassroots was getting together with movement” inclusive of the the other six members and other six dissident FNM some other groupings I MPs. would imagine to form this That too was refuted grassroots, as they say, orby one of the FNM MPs, ganisation to contest. That however, who ultimately was Monday. accused Mrs Butler-Turner “Yesterday we read in the of repeatedly making pre- same paper that (one of)

‘MINNIS SHOULD BE ASHAMED FOR PICKING PINTARD’

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

DEMOCRATIC National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney yesterday said Free National Movement Leader Dr Hubert Minnis should be “ashamed of himself” for ratifying former FNM Chairman Michael Pintard, suggesting that the Killarney MP has a warped sense of “transparency”.

However, Mr McCartney said Dr Minnis’ decision to ratify Mr Pintard “shouldn’t be a surprise” to those who have bought into Dr Minnis’ repeated calls for transparency in governance, pointing to Bamboo Town MP Renward Wells now being “all crease up” under Dr Minnis despite the latter doggedly insisting for Mr Wells’ resignation because of his controversial signing of a $650m letter of intent while a member of the governing party.

Mr Pintard, the FNM’s standard-bearer for Marco City in Grand Bahama, was one of six election candidates ratified by the FNM on Monday night. This came nearly a year after Mr Pintard had resigned from both of his posts as FNM chairman and senator almost a year ago for his involvement in reportedly uncovering an alleged murder plot, claimed to be connected to Lyford Cay billionaire Peter Nygard.

During a press conference yesterday at DNA headquarters, Mr McCartney chided Dr Minnis for opting to ratify Mr Pintard, suggesting that such a deci-

sion runs contradictory to Dr Minnis’ many calls for transparency from the governing PLP. Another instance Mr McCartney said demonstrates his point, is Dr Minnis being allegedly involved in a conflict of interest because he benefitted financially from renting to the Public Hospitals Authority while a Cabinet minister under the previous Ingraham administration.

Dr Minnis’ company, Leechez Investments Ltd, was awarded a two-year contract with the PHA to lease its Stat Care building in 2005. The contract continued during Dr Minnis’ tenure as minister of health, and as of 2015 was still valid. Dr Minnis has said he disclosed the contract while in office and said he had directed the PHA to find another landlord. “This shouldn’t be a surprise regarding Dr Minnis you know, when he talks about transparency and the like,” Mr McCartney said of Mr Pintard’s ratification. “(Dr Minnis) couldn’t tell the difference between him and his company leasing from the government when he was a Cabinet minister.

“He was the minister of health, renting to his department. And he continues to rent that way. And he still doesn’t - I guess, understand - that you at least need to disclose it. He didn’t.”

But before this Michael Pintard thing, he had Renward Wells. The largest scandal, $650m, Renward Wells, that same MP for Bamboo Town. Renward Wells who Minnis put on

the House of Assembly table and said he is calling for Renward Wells’ resignation, and he would not rest until he gets that man’s resignation, because Renward Wells had not told us about the circumstances surrounding the Letter of Intent (LOI).

“Couple months later, Renward Wells was all crease up under Dr Minnis, all crease up under him, and then Minnis turn around and said ‘you don’t need to know public about the LOI. I know and I’m satisfied.’ That’s the kind of leader you want? “…He should be ashamed of himself.”

Mr McCartney also criticised Dr Minnis’ leadership abilities, charging that the FNM is no longer “a factor” in the country’s political landscape and is now a “scrap group,” echoing Agriculture Minister V Alfred Gray’s sentiments on Tuesday that Dr Minnis had “overseen the greatest destruction of a political party in the history of politics.”

However, Mr McCartney did not stop short of castigating the PLP, whom he said has “destroyed” The Bahamas. “...I share the view that there’s no more FNM as it used to be. I think most FNMs would share the same view too. You go ask them. But Perry Christie has singlehandedly destroyed this country. The PLP has destroyed this country, and we’ve seen it from the economy, from the downgrades, crime, mismanagement, wastage, corruption, and the list goes on and on.”

those six persons did not know about what she was talking about. The same situation when it was said that we were forming a coalition with her, and I came out the following day and said well, with respect I don’t know anything about that. That’s how it is. There’s no relationship.”

Mr McCartney then went on to explain how the arrangement with him and Mrs Butler-Turner “works in the political realm,” and the significant role it played in the DNA securing a seat in the upper house of Parliament.

“She has taken the leadership of the FNM in the

House of Assembly,” Mr McCartney said of Mrs Butler-Turner. “She is the leader of (the) opposition in the House of Assembly. Not of the FNM anymore though, because she is not a part of the FNM. She has stepped down from the FNM. “The other members, they still there with the FNM unless something has happened and I don’t know about it. But they’re still there, they’re still FNM members. Dr Minnis has lost his spot as the leader of the opposition.

The DNA leader now has a place in the upper house called the Senate, as the leader of opposition busi-

ness in the Senate.

“So having said that, what has transpired, at the beginning of this administration, the DNA had no position in Parliament, no seats in Parliament. Now the seat that the DNA leader holds in the houses of Parliament, ranks priority over the leader of the FNM. Historic. We continue to be history makers,” Mr McCartney said.

“So the relationship, any type of relationship that’s there, she holds the leader of opposition (post) in the House of Assembly, I hold, as the DNA leader, leader of opposition business in the senate. Simple.”

PAGE 14, Thursday, February 2, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

Campaign launched to spoil ballots in protest

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net AN activist and two scholars are campaigning for eligible but decidedly unregistered Bahamian voters to spoil their election ballots as a form of protest, instead of abandoning the democratic process altogether.

Led by women’s rights activist Alicia Wallace, with the support of prominent University of the Bahamas professors Dr Nicolette Bethel and Dr Ian Strachan, the campaign had a soft launch on social media this week.

Ms Wallace maintained that the movement did not intend to persuade registered voters from properly marking their ‘X’ in support of a candidate or party, but to provide an alternative route for many Bahamians that have signalled their reluctance to take part in the process.

“We want people to register to vote,” Ms Wallace said. “We haven’t named any adversaries at all. We’re proponents of the people and we stand with giving people an option that gives them a voice and one that we can quantify.

“Our target audience is the group of people that have decided that they will not register to vote because there is no option that appeals to them, there is no candidate or party that they are prepared to support with their ‘X’. We’ve

SOME of the signs on show at the We March Bahamas protest.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff chosen that group of people because we want to ensure they still have a voice that they can use and that they can make a statement that says I do care about my country and the direction it takes.

“I care enough to tell you the options that you put before me are inadequate. We want to put the power back in the hands of the people, even if they feel powerless. What we want to see is people actually making the effort, towing the line to register to vote and showing up to make that statement instead of staying at home and having it misconstrued or spun as voter apathy,” she said.

Voter apathy has been a lagging concern for the gov-

ernment, with numbers still trailing significantly behind figures for this same time last election season despite multiple satellite locations and increased public outreach.

It has been theorised that registration will increase dramatically once the Constituencies Commission report has been finished.

Crisis However, Ms Wallace maintained that the stalled pace was not indicative of disinterest in the process but disillusionment. She forecast that spoilt ballots will spark the type of public dialogue needed to impact the current electoral system in which voters have no direct impact on the process

of party leader selection, and the link between voting for an MP but not a prime minister.

In a blog post on Tuesday, Dr Strachan underscored that the country was facing an “unmistakable crisis of representation”. He called for the return of credibility to public affairs, and urged ordinary citizens to realize their political power.

“This general election will be the first in our nation’s history in which the register of voters shrinks rather than grows,” he said.

“I believe there is no way to avoid the conclusion that most who refuse to register are unhappy with the choices before them. They do not want Christie, they do not want Minnis, they do not want McCartney, or anyone else who has emerged thus far and applied for the job of prime minister.”

He argued that the failure of political parties to successfully replace political leaders has resulted in “widespread disenchantment and resignation.”

“I have absolutely no doubt that if the processes by which leaders are selected by the political parties were more fair, open, participatory and transparent, instead of rigged, opaque and corrupt, the population would have choices they can believe in running for prime minister and voter registration levels would not be so incredibly low,” he said.

Dr Strachan outlined three main goals for such a protest: to allow citizens

greater participation in the selection of MP candidates and party leaders; mandate political parties be regulated by law, and an Independent Electoral Commission for campaign finance disclosure and fair and transparent party elections; the strengthening of the Public Disclosure Act and the Prevention of Bribery Act. “Spoiling the ballot sends the nation and the watching world a clear, unmistakable message that a sizable portion of the country demands better representation and will not settle,” Dr Strachan said.

“Critics will say we are being reckless, that we will cause a bad leader to be elected instead of their lessbad leader. They will say the stakes are high in the country and every vote is needed to fix what’s wrong.

The stakes are high. And that is why we must rid ourselves of illusions and strike at the root.”

“Once the election has passed and the smoke has cleared, then it will be time to plan, organise and agitate forcefully and methodically for the electoral changes we want to see. We have nothing to lose,” Dr Strachan added.

For her part, Mrs Bethel framed the exercise as “Seeding the Revolution”, suggesting that spoilt ballots could engender greater accountability in governance and future electoral reform.

In a blog post published yesterday, she posited that

the low registration numbers are a red flag that something is fundamentally wrong with Bahamian democracy.

Pointing to the recent figures, she proffered that the outcome of the general election will likely depend on which mainstream political party is most successful in getting its base to turn up at the polls. “(Low voter registration) It also opens the door for an increase in governmental abuses,” she wrote.

“The less involved in the democratic process the population becomes, the less accountable officials and politicians have to be.

And as of this moment, no matter what the turnout, the next government will be elected by a minority of Bahamian citizens. Minority rule, welcome back home.”

Mrs Bethel continued: “You won’t change the outcome of this election if you register and spoil the ballot instead of sitting this one out.

But you will send a message to whichever minority government is elected in May. And it’s this: We are watching, we will hold you accountable. We reject the bad choices you gave us. Do better.

“Don’t think the strategists are not watching. They are paying very close attention,” she wrote. “Voter apathy will send the message that Bahamians don’t care what they do. But a spoiled ballot, even if the counts are not released to the public, will tell a very different tale.”

BOSTWICK URGES YOUNG TO REGISTER AND VOTE FOR THEIR INTERESTS

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER senator yesterday urged young people to register for the upcoming general election to vote in a

government that would represent their interests.

John Bostwick II spoke to the media outside of the

Court of Appeal moments after he withdrew his appeal against a conviction for possession of ammunition concerning a magazine clip that was found in his luggage during a check by security at the Grand Bahama International Airport in May 2015.

The move - which he said was not an admission of guilt and would not hinder his future political aspirations - would allow him to give full attention to his efforts to fight for a better country.

When asked his thoughts about low voter registration numbers, the We March organiser said: “I am praying, I am praying, and I am asking and I am posting.”

He added: “I am calling to this born free generation, they’re referred to as Millennials, these people who are born Bahamian, this is the first time in our history, in our short history, that we are the voting majority.

“The next government will be a government chosen by us and I pray that it

will be a government that looks like us. That is made up of us and so for the Millennials, 76 per cent plus of the next electorate, please go out and register. This is our chance to take our country and we must take our country.”

More than 90,000 people have registered to vote at this point, according to National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage, however registration has been sluggish over the past few months.

The 2012 voter registry consisted of 172,000 voters.

Last week, Prime Minister Perry Christie, shortly after being re-elected party leader of the Progressive Liberal Party, told The Tribune that he is not yet ready to set an election date as the pace of voter registration was still too slow.

On Tuesday, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham encouraged Bahamians to register notwithstanding the inconveniences they are facing, saying this is a very important exercise and is the only opportunity

that Bahamians have to determine the party they would like to govern the country. He made the comments shortly after he and his wife Delores registered to vote at the Government High School in Yellow Elder Gardens.

In the May 2012, general election, the Progressive Liberal Party won 29 of the 38 seats in Parliament to the Free National Movement’s nine though figures released by the parliamentary registration office showed the PLP received 75,806 votes while the FNM secured 65,518 votes - a disproportionately small difference when judged against seats won.

The Democratic National Alliance, despite not securing any seats in Parliament, received 13,186 votes.

When asked yesterday if there was any political party he was offering himself for in the future, he said: “That is not yet certain.”

“So the answer to that is no, no particular party, not at present time, not certain.”

EXTENDED WORK NOTICE NEW PROVIDENCE

Shirley Sloop The Water and Sewerage Corporation advises the public, its customers and the residents of Shirley Sloop that the Corporation will commence improvement works on Thursday, February 2, 2017, for period of seven days.

During this period there may be an interruption in the water supply between the hours of 9:00am and 3:00pm.

The Corporation apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciates your support as we work to improve our level of service.

Tel: (242) 302-5599 or Toll Free (242) 300-0150 Find out more on

or our website www.wsc.com.bs

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 2, 2017, PAGE 15

SUSPECT HELD AS TWO MEN SHOT DEAD IN FREEPORT

​ HE SCENE outside the Game Time Bar on Logwood Road, Freeport, in the early hours of Wednesday.

T transported to the Rand Tribune understands Grand Bahama is in police from page one Memorial Hospital, where they were Joseph Bain Jr custody assisting with the he succumbed to his inju- and Stefon LaFrance and investigation into this matEMS personnel were ries. that one was from Hunt- ter. called but one man died on While the victims have ers.

The killings take the tothe scene and the other was not been identified, The A male resident of tal number of murders in

2017 in the country to 16, according to The Tribune’s records. They are the first of the year in Grand Bahama.

Police are appealing for

Photo: Vandyke Hepburn/BIS anyone who may have any information to call the Central Detective Unit Office at 350-3107 thru 12, 911/919 or your nearest police station.

Up to 500 work permits approved for construction on The Pointe from page one According to the agreement dated June 18, 2015, the government has also agreed to spend $1.5m over a three-year period to promote The Pointe under an arrangement that is to be concluded by developers and the Ministry of Tourism.

It is further noted that a completion date of April 1, 2017 is expected. However, in the event that the developer is unable to complete the components of the project, then the government is at liberty to proportionately reduce concessions, incentives, and benefits enjoyed by the developer.

But if the government is at fault for the delay, the date is to be extended beyond the first day of April by the amount of time that elapsed between the third quarter of 2015 and the actual date by which the developer is able to commence its obligations.

The document revealing the agreement was tabled in the House of Assembly

by State Minister of Investments Khaalis Rolle nearly one year after construction on the development began and amid repeated calls by numerous opposition MPs for it to be made public – with the number of work permit holders and concessions chief among concerning factors.

However, Mr Rolle tabled the agreement in response to a request made by Leader of the Official Opposition Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner.

“It is acknowledged by

the government of the Bahamas that the developer either directly through a designated subsidiary or affiliate may act as developer’s representative for the supervision and execution of the development,” the document read.

“Further it is acknowledged by the developer that contracting with Bahamians in connection with the construction of the development and in the operation of the hotel is of paramount importance to the government.

“The developer accordingly undertakes that during the course of the construction of the development it shall subcontract approximately 40 per cent of development work to local Bahamian contractors in various classifications.

“The owner further undertakes that post completion, it will require and employ approximately 500 employees in the management, operation and maintenance of the development.”

It continues: “The developer shall make every effort to fill as many jobs as possible with Bahamian citizens.

The government recognises however that due to the development of the proposed high rise structures and the tight schedule to complete the development, non-Bahamian labour with special skills and expertise that are not readily available in the Bahamas.

“The government agrees to facilitate between 400 and 500 work permits to qualified persons on a short term basis or on a longer term depending on the job

classification and the ability of the owner to find and or train suitable candidates for such jobs. It is understood and agreed that the workforce employed by the Bahamian subcontractor are part of the overall Bahamian to non-Bahamian labour ratio and Bahamians will represent 70 per cent of the total labour requirement for the development.

The parties through mutual agreement may vary their employment ratio if it becomes necessary for earlier completion.”

Concessions The Pointe is subject to all concessions permitted to hotels under the Hotels Encouragement Act as it relates to the development.

“Provided however that no subsequent amendment of the Hotels Encouragement Act shall operate to terminate or reduce any concession of Approval grant under, or by virtue of, this agreement.

“Exemptions do not extend to private residences and other components of the development which are not a part of the Hotels Encouragement Act. “Exemption from payment of customs duty on materials relating the development (including surveying materials and engineering materials) furnishing, equipping and completion of the components of the development, being the hotel and related facilities, including the marina, parking garage, qualifying hotel villas and condo-hotel stores, and which qualify for concessions under the Hotel Encouragement Act.

“The developer and the government, through the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Financial Services and the Department of Customs will put in place a system to adequately monitor the exemption from customs duties as set forth in this heads of agreement and expedite the importation of all the foregoing.”

Villas or condominiums, which are privately owned, placed in the general hotel rental pool for a minimum of nine months a year will also be granted exemption from the payment of customs duties on imports, maintenance, improvements and real property tax while such homes are in the gen-

eral hotel rental pool and provided they are placed in the general hotel rental pool prior to construction, the document read.

It added that privately owned residences which are not in the general hotel rental pool must pay all taxes and do not qualify for concessions and benefits.

The Pointe is also responsible for the costs and fees associated with the Environmental Impact Assessment and the preservation of antiquities.

The developers have agreed to provide approximately 200 jobs for Bahamians during the peak of construction and support approximately 500 permanent jobs upon completion.

These jobs are in addition to the 277 employees presently employed at the existing Hotel and Centre of Commerce.

The Pointe will consist of an up-market resort, including an eight-story condominium hotel, which will not exceed the highest point of the existing hotel roof line; and beachfront villas and spa, retail shops, a multi-purpose performing centre, night club with rooftop bar, movie theatre with up to six screens and restaurants.

The parking garage is newly opened and consists of approximately 900 parking spaces and 50,000 square feet of retail and office space.

PAGE 16, Thursday, February 2, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

THE OFFICIAL launch of the first essay writing competition headed by former British High Commissioner Peter Young. The competition was held at Anatol Rodgers High School and included students from government sectors and private.

Photos: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff

The write way for students

STUDENTS taking part in the essay competition.

UP TO 50 students from nine different New Providence Schools took part in an inaugural business studies essay writing competition yesterday at the Anatol Rodgers High School.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the Nassau Institute and the Templeton Foundation Essay Competition of 2017 was open to senior high school business studies

sau Institute to the Templeton Foundation for its support and to the Ministry of Education for its approval and assistance.

He also thanked those involved in organising the competition, in particular the Officer responsible for Business Studies at the Ministry, Gwendolyn Johnson, and praised the work of two teachers at the Anatol Rodgers High School, Sa-

pupils in public and private schools who were required to write, in their own words, about a topic in the book ‘Economics in One Lesson’ by the famous American economist Henry Hazlitt.

Proposed by The Nassau Institute and sponsored by the Templeton Foundation, the event was organised in conjunction with the Ministry of Education.

Prizes for the best essays

were a Laptop, Iphone and Kindle(Fire) as well as inscribed trophies and a certificate of attendance for all participants.

The competition was spearheaded by former British High Commissioner Peter Young in his capacity as a director of The Nassau Institute.

Speaking to The Tribune, Mr Young expressed gratitude on behalf of the Nas-

mantha Keziah Knowles and Lakell Johnson, who were directly responsible for the detailed arrangements.

He thanked as well Perry Cunningham, Principal of Temple Christian High School and President of the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools, for agreeing to the participation of these schools and Dr Michael

Duff, of Temple Christian High School, for arranging this.

Mr Young also said that he wished to recognise the assistance of retired teacher Richard Adderley in arranging appropriate meetings with the Ministry of Education at the outset of the project.

A prize giving ceremony will be arranged later this month.

MAJORITY OF READERS DO NOT THINK PLP PARTY IS IN STRONGER POSITION SINCE CONVENTION IN The Tribune’s latest online poll, we asked readers if they thought the PLP was in a stronger position after the party’s convention.

At the time of going to press, the majority of those voting – 75 per cent – did NOT think the party was in a stronger position. Twentyfive per cent disagreed.

After former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham encouraged Bahamians to register to vote, John said: “Former president, George Bush, said when less people register it means less people will be voting. With 88,000 registered voters this averages to around 2,000 per

constituency. And since the number of persons actually voting will be less it means a very small percentage of the population will be choosing the next government. This is not a good thing. Many Bahamians are frustrated with politics in The Bahamas and still feel betrayed after the present government acted contrary to the outcome of the gaming

referendum. The internal battle and eventual separation of Loretta Butler and her following of the FNM did not help and so there is a great need like statesmen like Hubert Ingraham to come forward and restore confidence in the Bahamian people. Maybe even to get Rodney Moncur to tell his followers to register even if they don’t plan to vote.”

Publius referred to Mr Ingraham’s mentioning of the Constituencies Commission’s report: “How ironic. Back in the day, Ingraham would say ‘you can change the lines but you can’t change their minds’, meaning that regardless

of the boundaries, the Bahamian voters know what they want to do and who they will vote for. Now all of a sudden, the reason that over 100,000 people have not yet registered is they are waiting on ‘the lines’.

Surely Ingraham knows better than that. If Bahamians will vote PLP, FNM, DNA or whomever, they will do so no matter what constituency they wind up in once the lines are finalised. Bahamians know that the election is now a heartbeat away. They still are not budging. If Ingraham really believes that over 100,000 Bahamians have not registered yet because they are waiting on a report, he is out of touch. I think he knows better, but is choosing not to say.”

And, in response to RBC’s chief regional economist Marla Dukharan accusing the Bahamas of squandering the Caribbean’s “most successful Value-Added Tax”, Well_ mudda_take_sic said: “The simple truth is the Bahamas must now rely on external debt (debt denominated in currencies other than the Bahamian dollar) to fund its deficits and this is a most perilous situation for us in terms of our ability to maintain the ‘one for one’ peg of the Bahamian dollar to the US dollar going forward. Yes indeed, Christie has run our national ship upon the treacherous rocks and the bilge pumps are now overwhelmed by the amount of water being taken on. We are sinking fast with no life vests on board . . . and many of us can’t even swim!”

• Don’t miss your chance to join the debate on tribune242.com.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 2, 2017, PAGE 17

PRESIDENT Donald Trump pauses during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington yesterday.

Trump suggests sending US troops into Mexico WASHINGTON Associated Press

PRESIDENT Donald Trump warned in a phone call with his Mexican counterpart that he was ready to send US troops to stop “bad hombres down there” unless the Mexican military does more to control them, according to an excerpt of a transcript of the conversation obtained by The Associated Press.

The excerpt of the call did not detail who exactly Trump considered “bad hombres”, nor did it make clear the tone and context of the remark, made in a Friday morning phone call between the leaders. It also did not contain Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s response. Mexico denies that Trump’s remarks were threatening.

Still, the excerpt offers a rare and striking look at how the new president is conducting diplomacy behind closed doors. Trump’s remarks suggest he is using the same tough and blunt

talk with world leaders that he used to rally crowds on the campaign trail.

Eduardo Sanchez, spokesman for Mexico’s presidential office, denied the tone of the conversation was hostile or humiliating, saying it was respectful.

“It is absolutely false that the president of the United States threatened to send troops to Mexico,” Sanchez said in an interview with Radio Formula on Wednesday night.

A White House spokesman did not respond to requests for comment. The Mexican Foreign Relations Department had earlier told The AP: “The negative statements you refer to did not occur during said telephone call. On the contrary, the tone was constructive.”

The phone call between the leaders was intended to patch things up between the new president and his ally.

The two have had a series of public spats over Trump’s determination to have Mex-

ico pay for the planned border wall, something Mexico steadfastly refuses to agree to.

“You have a bunch of bad hombres down there,” Trump told Pena Nieto, according to the excerpt given to AP. “You aren’t doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isn’t, so I just might send them down to take care of it.”

A person with access to the official transcript of the phone call provided only that portion of the conversation to The Associated Press. The person gave it on condition of anonymity because the administration did not make the details of the call public.

The Mexican website Aristegui Noticias on Tuesday published a similar account of the phone call, based on the reporting of journalist Dolia Estevez. The report described Trump as humiliating Pena Nieto in a confrontational conversation.

Mexico’s foreign relations

department said the report was “based on absolute falsehoods.”

Americans may recognise Trump’s signature bombast in the comments, but the remarks may carry more weight in Mexico.

Political analyst and former presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar notes Pena Nieto had enjoyed an apparent spike in his low approval levels, as Mexicans rallied around him for publicly challenging Trump in the border wall dispute.

The latest remarks could undercut that, if Pena Nieto is viewed as “weak,” he said.

Trump has used the phrase “bad hombres” before. In an October presidential debate, he vowed to get rid the US of “drug lords” and “bad people”.

“We have some bad hombres here, and we’re going to get them out,” he said.

The phrase ricocheted on social media with Trump opponents saying he was denigrating immigrants.

Trump’s comment was in

line with the new administration’s bullish stance on foreign policy matters in general, and the president’s willingness to break longstanding norms around the globe.

Before his inauguration, Trump spoke to the president of Taiwan, breaking long-standing US policy and irritating China. His temporary ban on refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, aimed at reviewing screening procedures to lessen the threat of extremist attacks, has caused consternation around the world.

But nothing has created the level of bickering as the border wall, a centerpiece of his campaign. Mexico has consistently said it would not pay for the wall and opposes it. Before the phone call, Pena Nieto canceled a planned visit to the United States.

The fresh fight with Mexico last week arose over trade as the White House talked of a 20 percent tax on imports from the key

US ally to finance the wall after Pena Nieto abruptly scrapped his Jan. 31 trip to Washington.

The US and Mexico conduct some $1.6 billion a day in cross-border trade, and cooperate on everything from migration to anti-drug enforcement to major environmental issues.

Trump tasked his sonin-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner — a real estate executive with no foreign policy experience — with managing the ongoing dispute, according to an administration official with knowledge of the call.

At a press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May last week, Trump described his call with Pena Nieto as “friendly”.

In a statement, the White House said the two leaders acknowledged their “clear and very public differences” and agreed to work through the immigration disagreement as part of broader discussions on the relationship between their countries.

PAGE 18, Thursday, February 2, 2017 THE annual Global Leadership Conference Simulcast (LEAD 2017) in celebration of “World Leadership Day” will be hosted by the University of The West Indies Open Campus Bahamas (UWIOC) on February 8.

The Conference, sponsored by HR. com, the largest online network of human resources professionals, will feature 14 renowned global leaders including Immaculée Ilibagiza, world renowned Rwandan genocide survivor, author and speaker, who will share their personal stories.

LEAD2017 (Leadership Excellence And Development) is a speaker platform which showcases successful global leaders from various disciplines whose aim is to inspire leadership development in all persons while promoting the benefits of commitment, perseverance, education, collaboration and ethics as core principles of successful leadership. The UWIOC will live stream the event - from Nashville, Tennessee, under the theme, “A World Inspired” - at its Village Road site and is currently registering persons interested in attending.

Dr Barbara RodgersNewbold, Country Head for the UWIOC, described the “LEAD2017” Leadership simulcast as one of the events planned as part of the ongoing professional development and outreach initiatives at the campus.

She said that one of the undergirding principles of the UWIOC is to provide a high quality education along with professional development opportunities to underserved communities outside the constraints of the conventional brickand-mortar classrooms.

Among the broad themes to be addressed by the presenters are Women in leadership; Corporate and Political Leadership; Educational Leadership; Youth and Sports Leadership; and Leadership by DifferentlyAbled Persons.

THE TRIBUNE

Leadership conference to be held

DR BARBARA RODGERS-NEWBOLD, Country Head for the University of The West Indies Open Campus Bahamas Dr Rodgers-Newbold said she encourages managers, organisational leaders, civic and union leaders, teachers, community and youth groups and all persons aspiring to become leaders to take advantage of this opportunity and register for this one-day summit, which will be presented in a TED TALK-like format. The speakers will include Bill Clement, twotime Stanley Cup champion; Dr Jen Welter, the first female NFL coach; Dr Nathan Hiller, the Academic Director of the Florida International University’s Centre for Leadership; Molly Fletcher, one of the first female sports agents and hailed by CNN as the “female Jerry Maguire”; Pandit Dasa, Meditation Teacher and Well-Being Expert on the Principles of Mindful Leadership; and

Spencer West, Humanitarian, ME to WE Inspirational Speaker and doubleamputee.

Since its inception in 1948, the University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students.

Today, UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus.

Interested persons should register at the UWIOC on Village Road, visit http://eventbrite. com/e/31304299001 for more details, contact the UWI Open Campus’ office at 323-6593 or 323-1175 or email at: Bahamas@open. uwi.edu

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PAGE 20, Thursday, February 2, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

MATT Rowland speared this nice Mutton Snapper near Nassau.

KENITH Deveaux on the Mahi Mahi near Cape Eleuthera. year,” he said. blue Marlins to huge MutPre- and post-tourna- ton Snappers, friendly peoment packages range from ple and the most beautiful $595 triple or quadruple oc- destination in the world,” cupancy for a three-nights he said. stay to $1,370 single ocTournament sponsors cupancy for a seven-nights are the Ministry of Tourstay including tournament ism, Turbo USA, Nautical registration, hotel accom- Ventures, Costa, Fishbrain, modations at the Flamingo Balearia Bahamas Express, Bay Hotel and Marina, Pompano Ford, Flamingo round-trip transportation Bay Hotel and Marina, for the angler and his/her Sands Beer and H Forbes kayak from Port Everglades Charter. to Grand Bahama, a cockFor registration details tail reception and awards visit www.extremekayakdinner. fishing.com.

Joe Hector, of Extreme Keep checking the BaKayak Fishing Interna- hamas Sport Fishing Nettional and organiser of the work (BSFN) expert page event, said he is particu- for fishing reports throughlarly pleased with the rapid out the Bahamas: this will growth of the tournament. be helpful in tracking the “The Bahamas Extreme “hot spots” and providing Kayak Fishing Tournament advice on gear and fishing truly is the gold standard for methods being used. kayak fishing in the world, For a sample of the specas it provides everything tacular fishing to be had in into one great getaway; fun The Bahamas, expert adand family adventures, awe- vice, tournament dates and some fishing from white and results, informative features and photo galleries visit the BSFN page at tribune242. com or www.bsfn.biz.

LEON with a nice Yellowfin Grouper.

PAUL CATES, of Spanish Wells, hauls in this big LOCAL boy Sean Bowe gets in on the Mahi Strawberry Grouper by hand line.

Mahi action near Highbourne Cay, Exuma.

AROUND 300 people are expected to particpate in the Extreme Kayak Fishing Tournament in Grand Bahama from April 20 to 23, an event which combines big game fishing with kayaking for a $10,000 prize.

Fish caught during the tournament will be given to the Grand Bahama Children’s Home, Flamingo Bay Hotel and Marina, and volunteers assisting with the project.

According to Richard Treco, Senior Manager of vertical markets for the Ministry of Tourism, “this event, now in its fourth year, has gained tremendous interest and notoriety for anglers and sporting enthusiasts from throughout the USA, Canada, China and Brazil. We have seen the competition grow each year from 40 anglers in our inaugural year in 2014 to some 280 participants last

BSFN slideshows can be found on USA Today’s website in the Travel section at experience.usatoday.com.