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HAMMER BLOW

Melia closes doors for two years laying hundreds out of work

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Melia Nassau Beach resort will stop operating for 24 months as it undergoes renovations, an action that could make more than 300 people redundant.

Yesterday, Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar called the announcement a “severe punch in the gut”.

Daniel Lozano, the resort’s general manager, said in a staff letter that operations at the resort will cease on March 1.

“It is our hope that with extending closure of the resort and undertaking a renovation, we are setting the stage for the successful opening of a brand-new resort, one that will

promote the much-needed economic relief and stability upon which all of us depend,” he said.

“The toughest part of our decision relates to those whom this decision impacts, which is you, our Melia family.

“We are wholeheartedly thankful to you who have been with us on this long and difficult journey, and we commend your strength, contributions and perseverance through the past 12 months. We look forward to the day when we unveil a new resort to distinguished and valued guests from all over the world, furthering the long-term economic health and prosperity of The Bahamas.”

SEE PAGE THREE

THE Fusion Superplex last night said 70 more workers will be recalled after the Government gave the go-ahead to re-open its cinemas, its top executive saying: “The staff want to bring champagne in.”

Carlos Foulkes, the cinema and entertainment complex’s chief executive, said both company and workers

were “celebrating” after the Prime Minister’s Office finally gave permission to re-open its main revenue generator almost 11 months after COVID-19 restrictions forced its closure.

He confirmed Fusion Superplex had immediately begun the process of recalling furloughed staff upon receiving the letter, dated February 12, 2021, and signed by the Prime Minister, yesterday.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net MEMBERS of the Rastafarian community want to see “special provisions” put in place for them as it relates to the manufacturing and cultivation of cannabis for medicinal use once legislation has been passed.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced earlier this month the government is currently completing legislation to legalise medicinal marijuana.

Speaking to The Tribune yesterday, head of the Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress (EABIC) Bahamas branch, Priest Rithmond McKinney said while the community supports the move, they want assurance Rastafarians will be a part of the marijuana industry when made legal, as they have suffered the most because of the criminalisation of the popular herb.

SEE PAGE SEVEN

...BUT FUSION GIVEN LIFELINE TO REOPEN

By NEIL HARTNELL and YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporters

RASTAS: WE WANT STAKE IN CANNABIS INDUSTRY

A YOUNG MAN ON A MISSION FROM living in childeren’s homes to being adopted and going on to become the first black head boy at St Leonard’s boarding school in Scotland - Karajayah Forbes-Schlagenhauf has his sights set on becoming Prime Minister of The Bahamas. See Face to Face on page eight for the full story.

SANDS - I’M SURE I’LL BE SELECTED

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

FORMER Health Minister Dr Duane Sands has expressed confidence that he will be ratified as the Free National Movement’s Elizabeth candidate for the next general election.

Since his resignation as Minister of Health last year, Dr Sands has been quite vocal against some

DR DUANE SANDS of government’s decisions, in particular the extension of the state of emergency, certain matters pertaining to the Ministry of Health

and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With election fever in the air, some observers have speculated as to whether Dr Sands will be among the incumbents who will not secure a nomination from the governing party.

They fear his reported strained relationship with party leader, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, will be to his detriment.

SEE PAGE FIVE

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

DEFENCE OFFICER ON RAPE CHARGE

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A ROYAL Bahamas Defence Force officer was yesterday charged with the rape of a female colleague.

Police said Renaldo Wilkinson, 35, had sexual intercourse with a 32-yearold woman marine without her consent on February 5.

Last week, the RBDF issued a statement stating SEE PAGE SEVEN

EVERYONE’S ASKING ‘WHEN WILL IT BE MY TURN?’

SEE PAGE NINE

PAGE 2, Tuesday, February 16, 2021

STEVEN Missick said he would give Nicole Martin a chance as candidate for the area. Photos: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

THE TRIBUNE

Moultrie? He neglects us

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

SOME Nassau Village residents have bad reviews about their current area MP Halson Moultrie while giving mixed opinions about the election hopefuls wanting to be their

representative.

While The Tribune canvassed the area yesterday, there was a large consensus that House Speaker Moultrie was not connected to the community and did not deliver meaningful changes that the area badly needs.

But it was not clear if the majority favoured the Progressive Liberal Party’s Jamal Strachan or former Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) president Nicole Martin, who is waiting to be ratified by the Free National Movement.

When comparing Mr Moultrie and Ms Martin, 36-year-old Armand Williams said he felt that the former union leader would be a better representative because she has a bond with the community while the current MP does not.

“He just neglects us,” he said. “I mean he just has us on the backburner. Whatever issue we have with him, he don’t approach the issue.

He don’t deal with the issue and the small matters. These ain’t like no big matters he can’t deal with himself.

“The way he was going about his duties could be done better. I feel like he should have a better bond with the people and not look at his position as just a position to be in Parliament.

“We have a UTU (United Through Us) that we do every Sunday and it’s a community event for the past month we’ve had the community event and we’ve not seen Moultrie to give not even a dollar.”

He highlighted issues in the area’s park, such as not having the keys for the facility’s bathroom to garbage being dumped behind.

Although he described Ms Martin as someone “wonderful” for the community, he took issue with her recent 41-second viral video that shows her dancing to “No Retreat, No Surrender” by dancehall artist Terror Fabulous as she says she is ready to be the next Nassau Village representative. He said this gave the impression that Nassau Village was a

ELRIC Collie said the electorate are going to vote out the FNM regardless of who runs in any constituency.

ARMAND Williams said he thinks Nicole Martin has a better bond with the community than Halson Moultrie. “gangster” place. good people by not proAnother resident, viding adequate jobs and 58-year-old Steven Mis- services because when you sick, is in support of Ms look at these areas the Martin and argued that she people are suffering and deserves a chance. sometimes it don’t take “I’m willing to go with you coming here and offerher any day. When she ing me a job, but you could comes here, I’ll sign right simply do (things) that now,” he said. “I see she could create an environwalk around and talk to ment that people feel as people and she comes here. though that they are home.

She showed love and fed “I think Mr Moultrie had the people and gave them a good plan to do some something to drink.” good things around here “Although I just met her, but at the end of the day I rather give her a chance. he found out that his hands He (Mr Moultrie) had his were tied because he was time and he just want to too politically intertwined talk to people now because and you had to go with the it’s almost voting time.” party thing.”

Another resident Elric He sees potential in Mr Collie said the electorate Strachan, however. wants the current prime Mr Collie added: “Jamal minister gone and are going Strachan personally I met to vote the Free National him once or twice, but Movement out regard- regardless of meeting him less of who runs in any I think that he offers someconstituency. thing to this area in terms He said: “The parties of youth. In terms of trying have been putting some to stimulate the youth. good people out there He comes from a humble and then the parties’ lead- background... and trying to ers have been doing some come to the area to work. things that contrary to the “Nicole Martin, she should’ve run in the last election and I think she would’ve made this area a better representative than the one who was here, but regardless of how much pull she thinks she has, she’s not going to win here.”

The 54-year old is a former Nassau Village resident, but although he no longer resides there, he visits regularly to see his THE CONSTITUENCY sign for Halson Moultrie in Nassau Village. children.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, February 16, 2021, PAGE 3

Melia closes doors for two years laying hundreds out of work from page one Mr Lozano said current employees will be invited to apply for a job when the resort reopens.

They will “be given every consideration and opportunity for employment,” he said.

Darrin Woods, president of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU), said Melia employs about 400 people, including management, and has a line staff of over 220 people.

“Most of (the employees) are in furlough, except a small crew. How that crew will be impacted still has to be fleshed out,” said Mr Woods.

Mr Woods said Melia’s action brings closure to employees, many of whom have sought severance packages for months after finding the government’s unemployment benefits to be inadequate.

“This brings closure to the employees out there,” he said. “They’ve been agitating for things to happen.

We’ve been trying for some time to get information from that company about when they will reopen but for a long time we couldn’t.

Now we know come March 1st the future of the employees will be set in stone.”

Mr Woods said the redundant workers will continue to receive unemployment benefits from the government.

“Some persons on social media or in the mainstream media have been advocating for unemployment assistance. With this decision

by Melia, our work begins to make sure they receive their entitlements. Prior to the letter (from Melia), we got the phone call indicating they spoke to government

THE ENTRANCE to Melia Nassau Beach pictured yesterday.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

officials at the highest level and explained what they will do. They have decided to close and pay the people out,” he said.

Melia’s action comes as the hotel industry staggers to reopen amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Atlantis welcomed 2,500 employees back to work in December but has announced two rounds of furlough activities since then.

Sandals Emerald Bay on Great Exuma and Sandals Royal Bahamian in New Providence plans to reopen to guests on February 24 and March 31 respectively.

Club Med’s Columbus Isle Resort in San Salvador has postponed its reopening until December 2021, with operators expressing concern about the lack of infrastructure on the island.

Mr D’Aguilar said the

impact of Melia’s closure is significant.

“No doubt it’s a solid punch in the stomach,” he said. “It’s throwing 300 persons out of work during a time when we’re already experiencing significant unemployment and underemployment in the tourism sector due to the pandemic.

Every job was important and while we understand the need to renovate and

refurbish, it is a gut punch by this announcement.

However, they are on the one side shutting down the Melia, but they are bringing on stream the SLS and the Rosewood (at Baha Mar).

“From a strategic and economic point of view, it makes sense for them to refurbish and renovate that hotel when their business is impacted by the coronavirus and their occupancy is

extremely low. You could’ve renovated that hotel and refurbished it by keeping it open but it’s always more costly and it’s always more difficult to do that and in this time of reduced occupancy, when you go out to market a hotel, it’s difficult to attract visitors to travel and it’s going to be doubly difficult to entice visitors to travel under all the drilling that goes on.”

officials that the Melia Nassau Beach Resort is suspending operations for 24 months, putting hundreds of employees out of work.

The government’s emergency orders suspend Employment Act provisions, which mandate that companies must pay full severance to workers who have been sent home for 90 days, until a month after these powers expire. The latest extension thus takes the suspension through to June 23, 2021.

“With thousands more furloughed, this means that no hotel employee is eligible to receive their redundancy payment until at least the first week of July, barring another extension by the government,” Mr Mitchell said. “In the meantime, the National Insurance fund is challenged and the suffering among thousands of Bahamians continues.

“We call on the government again to bring this state of public emergency to an end so that thousands of Bahamians can receive some economic relief,” he said.

Last week, Mr Foulkes said the job market is better than it was in the early stages of the pandemic.

“The workforce in The Bahamas is approximately 220,000 workers,” Mr Foulkes said. “The last unemployment assistance number was around 28,000 or 30,000 – the unemployment assistance programme that National Insurance does in terms of the assistance the government is giving, it’s around 28,000 or 30,000 persons.

“Now if you figure that in terms of percentage it will come down to a low percentage compared to

220,000 workers but that is not the right way to do it because you have structural unemployment and there are a lot of other things that go into calculating what the

unemployment rate is.

“But since the pandemic started, I am confident based on the evidence that we see in the economy that the unemployment rate

has drastically come down because as you know everything was at a standstill and most of the businesses, they put their workers on temporary layoffs.

“That has now changed.

Most of the people are coming back to work so it’s very difficult to peg a percentage upon that,” Mr Foulkes said last week.

MITCHELL: HOW MANY ARE REALLY OUT OF WORK? PLP CHAIRMAN Fred Mitchell has called on the Minnis administration to be clear about the country’s unemployment rate after what he termed contradictions from Labour Director John Pinder and Labour Minister Dion Foulkes on the issue.

Mr Pinder recently estimated the unemployment rate is around 40 percent, however last week Mr Foulkes told reporters it is difficult to accurately state the country’s current unemployment rate, but said the figure has come down “drastically” since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I refer to a statement attributed to the director of labour, John Pinder, that appeared in a headline story in one of the local newspapers,” Mr Mitchell said.

“In it, Mr Pinder estimated the unemployment rate to be around 40 percent. This statement contradicts the labour minister’s assertion to the media a week earlier that unemployment was way down as most people were back to work.

“This is not the first time the labour director was at odds with his minister on government policy matters. Bahamians recall that recently the labour director told the media that employers should pay their employees redundancy packages due to them, but the labour minister said employees should not be paid.

“The government must come clean on and be clear about what their policies are and the facts on the unemployment rate.”

Mr Mitchell said the “confusion is further exacerbated” by yesterday’s announcement from hotel

PAGE 4, Tuesday, February 16, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

52 samples sent to be tested for new strains

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH officials are still waiting to receive the test results of 52 positive COVID-19 samples which were sent abroad to determine if any of the new coronavirus strains are present in The Bahamas.

More than 80 countries, including the US, have already detected COVID19 mutations, which were first spotted in the UK. Another strain out of South Africa is also said to have spread to some 30 countries. Meanwhile, in Brazil, a new coronavirus variant has also since been detected there.

Yesterday, the director of the National Reference Laboratory, Dr Indira Martin told The Tribune there is no evidence at the moment to suggest that any of the new strains are currently present in the country.

“We’re still waiting unfortunately so that’s pretty much the status,” she said when contacted by this newspaper. “It’s an arduous process I’d say — importing samples into another country so that creates some lags but I’m sure that once the results are available for my part, I will send them directly to the CMO (chief medical officer) and I know that she will probably make

the announcement.”

According to Dr Martin, 52 positive COVID-19 samples were sent to a reference laboratory in Brazil several weeks ago. It is not clear when test results will be released, but Dr Martin said officials are hoping soon.

“Well, the thing is PAHO is providing the countries in the region to get this genomic surveillance done so that’s their collective regional reference lab in Brazil and so in the end, we ended up sending 52 samples. We intended to send 40 but it ended up being more just to try and take best advantage of new opportunities as we don’t have the facilities in (the) country… but hopefully we’ll get it soon but on an ongoing basis, we are also continuing to survey samples as they come in.”

Last week, the country recorded a total of 83 new infections, with five of those cases said to have a recent history of travel. Thursday and Friday had the highest number of confirmed infections, with 21 and 27 cases reported for those days respectively. Three virus-related deaths were also confirmed by health officials.

Dr Martin said the recent uptick in cases last week was very concerning.

Asked if she thought any

of the new strains could be here in the country, she replied: “As long as the country is open, it’s always that possibility that it could be imported. We don’t have any evidence of it at the moment so I can’t speak to it but you’re right that those recent cases are a worrying indicator that we’re monitoring at the level of genomic surveillance as well and so we’re continuing to surveil using other mechanisms than PAHO going forward.”

The Bahamas does not have the capacity for the genomic sequencing that is necessary to determine if more infectious COVID-19 variants found abroad are present in the country.

However, Health Minister Renward Wells has previously said the government is currently looking at ways to secure the tools needed to do so.

Yesterday, Dr Martin added: “We’re exploring that as an option as well as other technical ways we can go about surveilling for these new strains that are not sequencer dependent because the problem is the availability of the DNA sequencing so we’re also looking into those alternatives which is PCR based technology going forward but I think that the initial samples that we sent will give us some insight into the last three of four months.”

TOTAL CASES

TOTAL DEATHS

8,376 179 NEWLY CONFIRMED CASES SUNDAY 6 CASES NEW PROVIDENCE GRAND BAHAMA

TOTAL TESTS

64,667

5 1

HOSPITALISED

14

CASES IN ICU

2

RECOVERED

7,020

SIX NEW CASES CONFIRMED ON SUNDAY

SIX new cases of COVID-19 were recorded on Sunday.

Five of the cases are in New Providence while one is in Grand Bahama.

The Ministry of Health said 16 cases are in hospital, two of which are in intensive care.

At last report, there were 1,124 active cases with 7,020

recovered cases.

One hundred and seventy-nine people have died from the disease while 15 deaths are under investigation.

A HELPING ARM

THE BAHAMAS Baptist Men’s group held a blood drive last week.

Photos: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

$1M COMPLEX ‘A SIGN OF INVESTOR CONFIDENCE IN GB’

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE new $1m Agora building complex that was officially opened in Freeport over the weekend signals the growing investor-confidence of local Bahamians in the Grand Bahama economy, Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Michael Pintard said.

Johniece Smith, a successful entrepreneur of several businesses, was commended by Mr Pintard for her “incredible” entrepreneurial spirit.

The single-story complex, situated at No 51 East Beach Drive, is expected to be ready for occupancy by the end of the month.

Agora (which means marketplace in Greek) will house her 10 businesses at the location, as well as three others.

Ms Smith owns the Meat Market & Chicken Depot,

Big John’s Restaurant Supplies, Nickels & Dimes Variety Store, All Service Auto Club, among several others.

The mother of three attributed her drive to succeed to her late father and businessman John Smith (owner of Lucaya Shipping Agency), who was a role model and major source of inspiration in her life.

Mr Pintard said that he is pleased with Ms Smith and all other entrepreneurs who are keeping the economy going.

“I want to congratulate Johniece on behalf of the Prime Minister of The Bahamas because she has done an incredible job over the years creating opportunities for GB,” he said.

“The truth is we are going through an extremely difficult time nationwide and globally. And when entrepreneurs show confidence in their country and their community by investing, it lifts the spirits of persons

and creates opportunities.

“And no matter how many programmes any government or non-governmental agency put in place to help people, citizens would rather create sunshine for themselves through having job opportunities. And so, it is the work of persons like Johniece Smith, and her incredible team…who are creating opportunities so that people are able to provide for their families with dignity.”

Ms Smith, CEO of Enaje Challis Group of Companies, started construction on the complex in 2017, but work came to a halt in September 2019 during Hurricane Dorian. However, work resumed and went into full force during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She was determined to keep pushing, despite the tough economy and the hardship brought on by the pandemic.

Valued at just over $1m, Ms Smith anticipates the

building will become the “ultimate marketplace” in Grand Bahama. “It will give customers a unique onestop-shop experience… So, we will almost be able to satisfy every possible need or desire of the average customer,” she said.

Being a successful businesswoman, Ms Smith is a big supporter of women empowerment. “I think I’m a great motivator for young females, especially young black females. If they simply put their trust in God, put their foot forward, and be prepared to put in the hard work they can achieve all their dreams.

“I think I am a clear example of what can happen through diligence and hard work. We are operating a total of eight businesses in Freeport,” said the CEO, who also revealed that her company has about five new projects on the table that are anticipated to open by the end of the year.

GRAND Bahama businesswoman Johniece Smith opens the $1m building complex which will house her ten businesses.

Photo: Denise Maycock/Tribune Staff

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, February 16, 2021, PAGE 5

Bannister concern at Holmes Rock delays

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

DEPUTY Prime Minister Desmond Bannister, who is also Public Works Minister, has expressed concern over the protracted construction and some technical issues at the new $12m Holmes Rock Junior High School in West Grand Bahama.

Mr Bannister – who toured the project last week with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis – said that “the project has been a challenge”.

“The challenge to this project has been the fact that two contractors were hired to do the job, and the work was really intersecting between them; that was a real challenge, in being able to get things done appropriately between them in the way that the work was set up,” he explained.

Under the Christie Administration, two government contracts were signed for the new junior high school in Holmes Rock on September 8, 2016, with Brickhouse Construction and RCL Construction.

The project was expected to be finished in 18 months.

It has been four years, and the school is still not completed.

Mr Bannister, Public Works Minister in the Minnis Administration, said: “We have tried to

MINISTER of Public Works and Deputy Prime Minister Desmond Bannister.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff this will be a feeder school. High School). We have really work assiduously to bring it so much more work to do.”

“In Eight Mile Rock, we It is going to be really criti- worked to get this to where it to a completion because we know the importance of this have to do some things with cal to get things done here is, and we need to be able to and also because we have the school there because (at Holmes Rock Junior finish it and get it opened.”

While viewing the work, Minister Bannister saw some issues in the building that concerned him.

“I have seen some things that concern me which I will be looking at, especially with my technical people. I have been taking photographs of them, and so I am concerned about one or two little things that I am seeing,” he noted.

Brickhouse Construction was contracted to build a two-storey, 28,108 sq ft structure in the main building area, comprising an administration block, staff room and support spaces, student sickbay, computer classroom, library, 16 classrooms, covered walkways, four fire stairwells, and electrical rooms.

RCL was contracted to build a two-story, 10,095 sq ft structure in the main building area that comprises eight classrooms, four student restroom blocks, covered walkways, and breezeways adjacent to classrooms, in addition to other works.

In 2016, former Public Works Minister in the Christie Administration Philip ‘Brave’ Davis, had said the contracts had been costed at VAT-inclusive base sums of $5,761,735 each. Combined, therefore, the base project cost is $11,523,470. The government he said also set aside a provisional sum of $400,000 for statutory utilities for each contract.

SANDS - I’M SURE I’LL BE SELECTED from page one

“This is the ordinary process of application, nomination and ratification,” Dr Sands said. “I know there is a huge amount of interest and speculation being fuelled in social media, in particular, but I don’t expect other than to be ratified for the constituency of Elizabeth on the Free National Movement ticket.”

Asked if he feared not being nominated because he is allegedly not favoured by the party’s leader, he said: “I am not going to fuel that and add to the frenzy.”

Last week FNM Chairman Carl Culmer was asked about Dr Sands’ future and

he said the former health minister’s name had not yet come before the vetting or executive committees for consideration.

An FNM council member, speaking exclusively to The Tribune recently, accused Dr Minnis of “cherry picking” candidates outside of the normal selection process in order to weed out hopefuls and incumbents that he personally does not like. Mr Culmer has strongly denied these claims.

Asked what he would do if he is nominated, but not elected, Dr Sands said, “I will cross that bridge if I come to it. Bahamians have become riveted with the social media stories coming out of various media

houses, if that’s what you want to call them.

“All of whom are alleging this and alleging that and most of it is totally devoid of any truth. So I am not going to add any seasoning to that speculation. We will let this ratification and nomination process play out.”

For his part, Dr Sands told The Tribune his team has been working continuously in Elizabeth although some things were paused due to the pandemic.

He said, “We have been focused almost doggedly on food security over the last 12 months. We have done some home repair and reconstruction projects, but the types of things that we have done previously which

was back to school, and BGCSE and BJC preparation, we haven’t been able to do because we are not able to do face-to-face education.

“A lot of the projects of park redevelopment, green space redevelopment and elimination of dangerously overgrown spaces in the community are continuing.

All things that unfortunately, you would wish you didn’t have to do, but there are some people who, we believe to be outsiders, believe that they can just come into the area and just dump.

“So it’s continuing more of the same. I hope that the pandemic gives way so that we can actually focus on some other things, but

for right now it’s very challenging to divert funds to other areas when people are being challenged to eat.

So we are almost at 20,000 packs of groceries.”

Dr Sands was elected to represent the area in 2017 after losing his bid in the 2010 Elizabeth bye-election and again in the 2012 general election to former area MP Ryan Pinder.

Senator JoBeth Coleby-Davis will be representing the Progressive Liberal Party in Elizabeth during the next election.

Asked if he views her as a threat, Dr Sands said he is focused on his record and the work he has done in that constituency over the years.

“To be quite honest, I am

focused on my campaign and my record in Elizabeth,” he said. “I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to anybody else who chooses to enter the race. I wish her well and I am not somebody who believes in dirty politics, but at the same time, I have been working in this community for 10 years.

“So if she believes she can come in and convince the voters in the space of a few weeks that she is a better choice, then good luck to her. My focus and my emphasis is going to be on my record not only as a vocal member of Parliament, but also as minister.”

According to an FNM insider, the party’s council is set to decide Dr Sands’ fate early this week.

PAGE 6, Tuesday, February 16, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

The Tribune Limited NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”

LEON E. H. DUPUCH,

SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH,

jamaaltheartist@gmail.com

Publisher/Editor 1903-1914 Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt .

Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991

EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON,

C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B. Publisher/Editor 1972-

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Shirley & Deveaux Streets, Nassau, Bahamas N3207 TELEPHONES

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Melia shutdown is a disaster for its staff THE news about the Melia Nassau Beach Resort could hardly be worse – it will close down for two years.

The resort’s general manager yesterday said the resort would undergo renovations, “setting the stage for the successful opening of a brand-new resort”, but this is not some resort that is creaking at aged seams in dire need of a renovation. This is a shutdown until the far side of the COVID crisis – and it leaves more than 300 people without a job.

Those losing their jobs were told that they would “be given every consideration and opportunity for employment” when the resort reopens – but the reality is that people cannot wait two years and the resort will largely be starting from scratch on recruitment when it opens its doors again, if that even happens.

Those workers will have mortgages and rent to pay, school fees to pay, bills to keep their power on and food in the cupboard, and comes on top of being on reduced pay while on furlough. These employees are out in the cold, and there aren’t enough jobs coming back online in other resorts yet to give them the opportunities they need.

Melia itself might not even be returning, with Baha Mar chief Graeme Davis saying that “no decision has been made” on whether the Melia brand or its allinclusive model would be retained after the renovation.

In short, the future is up for grabs at Melia – but that leaves employees out in the cold.

The news comes against a backdrop of confusion from government officials over the state of unemployment in the country – with PLP chairman correctly pointing out the contradiction between Labour Director John Pinder estimating the unemployment rate at around 40 percent and Labour Minister saying that the unemployment rate has come down “drastically” recently.

Mr Mitchell said the government must come clean on the unemployment rate – and he’s right. Hiding from the true number doesn’t help anyone.

It is hard to see the Melia news as anything other than throwing the towel in until the tourism economy starts to build again. Executives will have done the maths, seen how much money is coming in, seen how much money is going out and decided it is best to close it all down and start afresh when the pandemic has

ebbed. It is a private business, and that’s their prerogative – the nation doesn’t have that option of skipping out and waiting for better times.

We need to know the real state of the nation – and we need to do our best to help all those in need get through it.

Jayah’s an inspiration For those looking for a ray of light amid these dark times, we suggest you turn to the story of Karajayah ForbesSchlagenhauf on page eight today.

Jayah, as he is known, had a tough start to life. He was separated from his family at the age of four and spent time in children’s homes. Sometimes he would spend his days crying at the homes as he dreamed of a better life that must have seemed impossible to reach.

But then came the change that has turned a life of adversity into a path of opportunity. He met Beat Schlagenhauf, an investment banker with clients in Lyford Cay, and Mr Schlagenhauf started to help Jayah and his family. At the time, he was living with his father and his siblings in a place with no light, no water and very little furniture.

When Jayah’s father left for the Turks and Caicos and left the children behind, Mr Schlagenhauf continued to help – and adopted the youngest two, including Jayah.

Jayah has now made a landmark of his own, becoming the first black head boy at St Leonard’s boarding school in Scotland.

In this column in recent times, we have written of the difficulties facing children who struggle to come out of school with basic skills. We have also written of the gang member who went to private schools and yet ended up in a life of crime. Each of those is a story of lost potential. In Jayah, we see the reverse – a child who faced the bleakest of futures, now living up to the potential he had inside him all along.

His sights are set on becoming Prime Minister one day, and who would bet against him?

Would that all our children were given the opportunity to live up to their potential. The Bahamas might one day need Jayah as a leader of the nation, but right now Jayah can be its inspiration. We need more like him.

Too hard to travel to Bahamas EDITOR, The Tribune.

YOUR recent story about the Bahamian stranded in Canada has once again shed light on the difficulties facing visitors and residents wanting to enter The Bahamas.

We keep hearing reports about the further delays in tourism rebounding. We have read about the major resorts putting all measures into place about testing for COVID-19. The major question is where will the tourists be to reopen the economy?

Absent from all these pronouncements is the reality that the entry rules are so harsh and time consuming that few people can or even want to complete them.

Even the most ardent friends of The Bahamas find it almost impossible to find test centres, wait at least two days for results, scan all this to Nassau with the forms for the Health Visa and then arrive within five days.

With tourism in such decline the few flights available make these requirements even more challenging to complete.

It is pointless for the Tourism Minister and staff to make hopeful statements about the revival of your most important economic business.

Until the rules are eased and the unnecessary delays caused by the Health Visa are eliminated there will be no rebound.

Can anyone seriously

imagine that cruise passengers would be willing to go through this process? It is difficult enough for land passengers.

Those of us who own holiday properties justifiably are angry that we cannot come and enjoy our stays due to the incomprehensible policies of your Government.

We understand the health pandemic is worrying Bahamians, but most passengers are willing to bring test results so people would not be arriving who are not well.

Common sense is required immediately.

MARK V JOHNSTONE Bedford, Massachusetts USA February 15, 2021.

We cannot afford to find oil EDITOR, The Tribune.

WITH a few notable exceptions, the oil industry subsidizes failures. In the most corrupt countries, like Nigeria, it has not cured but rather exacerbated corruption and wastage.

In backward tribal kingdoms (like Saudi Arabia) it has deepened and hardened a primitive conservatism that stifles dissent and militates against any substantial movement of the population up the human development scale.

Why? Because of a phenomenon known to economists as “moral hazard”. This, basically, is where an ostensible blessing prevents a society from correcting underlying defects by sparing the leaders of that society the direct consequences of those defects.

So a governor of oilrich Delta Province in Nigeria can afford to simply dispense contracts and largesse, rather than actually construct refineries or improve infrastructure (keeping the country dependent and

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net poor), while a Saudi Prince can give cash grants to his subjects rather than fund structural change to an educational and social environment little changed in the last 500 years. The socalled “resource curse” is very real and there is nothing supernatural about it.

The exceptions that I speak of (Norway being the best example) are countries with strong civic cultures, advanced civil societies and deeply equitable wealth distribution systems.

Norway was already one of the most equal societies on earth before it discovered oil, which explains why oil wealth has flowed so naturally into enhancing the country’s social capital and with such broad results.

The Bahamas that local oil enthusiasts would like that industry to descend upon is a place where more than 70 percent of revenues are derived from taxes on the poor, while even the wealthiest individuals and

corporations pay zero taxes on income.

It is a country where the national airline reacts to falling revenues (because the people are broke and unemployed) by raising airfares on the poorest residents of the outer islands, while lowering them for the few foreigners well-off enough to travel amidst an economic meltdown.

It is a country that consistently ranks in the top ten most expensive countries on earth, yet in that grouping sits at the very bottom in terms of minimum wages (just over half of the next lowest, Japan) and is the only one that subsidizes a tax-free existence for the rich via taxes levied on the poor.

Anybody who thinks that oil revenues will do anything other than subsidise and cover for these deep structural defects by permitting our political class to avoid addressing them is unacquainted with Bahamian history.

ANDREW ALLEN Nassau, February 15, 2021.

Why is this allowed?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

FOLLOWING up on Diane Phillips’ column in today’s paper, Tell Me Why This is Allowed to Happen: Will the Department of Physical Planning explain why single-family zoned property off Village Road is being developed into a multi-building complex?

I am referring to work being done on property that lies between Harmony Hill and Breezy Hill Road on the eastern side of Village

Road, both of which are zoned for residential singlefamily use.

We are not aware of a change in zoning and Physical Planning has not convened a meeting to solicit the views of the residents.

In addition to the original home, one new home has been built and another is under construction.

A high wall that clearly doesn’t conform with the building code has been built on Harmony Hill shielding the new homes.

I understand the matter has been raised with the Department of Physical Planning and despite assurances the matter would be investigated, the building continues.

Why are Village Road residents being treated with such contempt?

We thought things had changed, or is it more of the same ‘ole?

NO HARMONY THE HILL Nassau, February 12, 2021

ON

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, February 16, 2021, PAGE 7

Rastas: We want stake in cannabis industry from page one THE government’s Economic Recovery Committee (ERC), in its report late last year, recommended all Bahamas-based companies involved in the production, manufacturing, sale and export of cannabis must have a “minimum” of 50 percent Bahamian ownership.

Priest McKinney said: “We’re hearing on the street and through the grapevine that it will only be for the elites and certain persons are only in motion so we’re waiting to see the outcome from the government.

“We’ve been victimised, profiled and incarcerated for years so we feel as though that we should be a part of the economic programme going forward and I think special provisions should be set for us because we’ve been saying for a very long time that this is something that’s good for the human body. So, we’re hoping and demanding our fundamental rights in the (medicinal) cannabis industry and when it comes to our sacramental rights.

“We declared repeatedly that we should be included and so we’re waiting to see and I think our community

will have a call on the Prime Minister so we can have some talks and they can tell us where we are in this whole industry going forward.”

He said the community also will be waiting to hear about business licence requirements pertaining to the medical cannabis industry.

He continued: “Concerning the export, we’re looking to that because it sounds very good but who all will be able to participate when it comes to exporting and doing this because you need to be certified and have the proper facilities… so we hope that the majority will be able to benefit for those who get into the business and we hope the small man can benefit.’”

As it relates to the issue of the drug being made legal for sacramental use, he said members are still anxiously waiting to receive word from the Prime Minister on the matter.

On Friday, Priest McKinney along with other spokespersons from the Rastafarian community met with Attorney General Carl Bethel and other officials to discuss the proposed legislation.

The group has been agitating for marijuana reform

for several years.

The Minnis administration has said it is working “aggressively” to have the records expunged for those found with small amounts of marijuana.

However, given officials’ promise, the religious leader questioned why young Bahamians are still being hauled before the courts for marijuana possession and burdened with criminal records.

He said: “We went to the AG’s Office on Friday because now for the last couple months, we feel like it’s a relentless campaign against the Rasta man now and they’ve been profiled and locked up for small amounts and people’s houses have still been wrecked and searched for small amounts of marijuana and they’re still being pulled before the courts. “. . .So we were saying for the last couple months to use your discretion seeing that something is coming and we was pleading on the Commissioner of Police and the Minister of National Security to really use some sort of discretion but that hasn’t happened so we went to the Attorney General and spoke to him about it and he said that’s something that they should look at it.”

PRIEST Rithmond McKinney.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

A YEAR BEHIND BARS FOR STEALING $1,500 MAN CLAIMED HE GROPED GIRL ACCIDENTALLY

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A SAN SALVADOR man who broke into a woman’s residence to steal nearly $1,500 was yesterday sentenced to a year behind bars.

Trevor Jones, 24, was arrested after he broke into Pamela Storr’s Queen’s Highway residence on February 8. He pleaded guilty to one count each of housebreaking and stealing when he appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes.

The prosecution said on the day in question, Ms Storr reported that

someone had broken into her home and stolen $1,470 out of her personal belongings. At the time, the woman told police she suspected that Jones was the culprit because she noticed him and his mother sitting in front of a bar next to her home. She said she knew he had a reputation for breaking into people’s homes and stealing things.

The court was told that when Ms Storr approached Jones, his mother begged her not to press charges and told her that they would pay back the stolen money. As a result of her complaint, Jones was arrested. In an interview with police at the San Salvador station, he

owned up to the offences.

Yesterday, Jones’ attorney told the magistrate his client pleaded guilty at his first opportunity because he was remorseful for his actions. He also said Jones was willing to pay the complainant back over a period of time and humbly asked the court to be lenient in sentencing the accused.

In response, Magistrate Forbes said while it was admirable that Jones was willing to reimburse the complainant, it would not alleviate Ms Storr’s immediate needs in view of the current economic climate.

As a result, he sentenced Jones to 12 months behind bars.

MAN ‘STOLE LIQUOR TO PAY FOR DRUGS’

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A 55-YEAR-OLD man who stole two bottles of liquor he claimed he planned to sell to support his drug addiction was yesterday fined $600.

Police arrested Lindon Johnson after he stole two bottles of Hennessy from the Restaurant Supply Store on Bay Street on February 11.

The court was told the store’s security guard caught Johnson stealing the two bottles, which were worth $110, and ordered him to hand them over. He then informed the store’s manager of the incident, who later reported the matter to police.

Johnson was arrested a short time later. During an interview with officers at a nearby station, he said he stole the liquor because he wanted to “get something he could sell to buy food and pay for his hotel room”.

However, after Johnson pleaded guilty to stealing during his arraignment, he told the magistrate he had a drug problem and stole the alcohol to get money to support his habit.

Last October, the accused was sentenced to six months in prison after he was caught attempting to steal hygienic products from Lowe’s Pharmacy.

At the time, police said Johnson had stuffed two packs of razors, four packs of women’s deodorant and six packs of Axe

deodorant in his shirt but was stopped by a security guard who detained him so police could search him and recover the stolen items.

According to the prosecution, Johnson was also convicted of another stealing offence in the recent past.

Magistrate Forbes told the accused that if he knew his drug problem was causing him to appear before the courts frequently, he should have taken the initiative to get help to change his behaviour.

As a result, he fined Johnson $600 or six months in prison. He also urged the accused to take advantage of the drug rehabilitation programme offered at the Department of Social Services.

PAIR CHARGED WITH ARMED ROBBERY

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN and teenager were yesterday charged in the Magistrate’s Court with armed robbery.

Billy Cejour, 20, and Antonio Paul, 19, appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes accused of using a silver coloured handgun to rob a woman of her Nissan Note, worth $4,800, along with

her Samsung cellphone, worth $200, on February 8.

Due to the nature of the charge, neither accused was required to enter a plea and the case was adjourned to April 19 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

Cejour and Paul were denied bail and remanded into custody until that time.

Yesterday, the prosecution alleged that Paul also stole another woman’s

$6,000 Nissan Note and $300 Samsung cellphone on January 11.

He is also accused of dishonestly receiving a 2010 Nissan Note from a third woman on January 14 despite the fact that he knew the vehicle had been appropriated through an offence.

Paul denied the allegations and that matter was adjourned to April 20 for trial.

DEFENCE OFFICER ON RAPE CHARGE from page one

the accused officer had since been relieved of his duties following the alleged incident, which took place in Mathew

Town, Inagua.

During his hearing before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt yesterday, Wilkinson was not required to enter a plea and the matter was adjourned to April 14 for service of a

voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

In the meantime, the accused was denied bail.

However, his attorney said he is in the process of applying to the Supreme Court for his client.

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A 27-YEAR-OLD man who claimed he accidentally groped a little girl in the back of a local food store because he was high on drugs was yesterday fined $1,000.

Aaron Coakley was arrested after he grabbed a 12-year-old girl’s buttocks at E & G Convenience Store on February 5. He pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault during a hearing before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis.

The court was told that the minor was standing at the back of the shop when Coakley walked up to her, hugged her and grabbed her behind. The prosecution said the little girl then pushed the accused away and went back to the front of the store to report the incident to her parents.

After they filed an official complaint, Coakley was arrested.

During the hearing, the accused told the magistrate he only committed the act because he was high on ecstasy and narcotics at the time.

As a result, Magistrate Rolle Davis accepted his guilty plea and fined him $1,000 or six months in prison.

Yesterday, a 26-year-old man also appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes for a similar offence.

Police said Jerome Russell Jr indecently assaulted a 13-year-old girl in Devil’s Point Cat Island sometime in August last year.

He denied the allegation and his case was adjourned to April 19 for trial.

In the meantime, Russell Jr was granted $5,000 bail.

PAGE 8, Tuesday, February 16, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Jayah overcomes adversity to make history at Scottish school W

HEN faced with the amount of adversity that Karajayah, affectionately called “Jayah” experienced in his life, one may have folded up, given up, or simply accepted the lot he had been handed in life. He could have chosen the mediocre route, just passing by doing whatever was required of him, allowing himself to stay stuck in a past that was so muddy it could have cemented his outlook on life forever.

But Jayah always had vision. He had a vision beyond his circumstances.

No matter how tough they were, he continued to see the bright days ahead in his future.

When I say tough, 18-yearold Jayah was first stripped from the arms of his mother and separated from his six siblings at the tender age of four. He was sent to Nazareth Children’s Home where he spent two years before being reunited with his mother. However two years later, Jayah would face the same fate. He was sent back to Nazareth and then on to the Elizabeth Estates Children’s home.

He was born in Freeport, Grand Bahama where his mother and grandmother cared for him, but coming to New Providence had its share of challenges for his family.

He spent many days crying at the children’s homes but he began to dream of a better life for himself and in this way, he could create a better way of life for his siblings as well, even though he is the youngest.

His passion for his family fuelled his dreams to be successful and get out of the home and become someone great.

Jayah had the kind of dreams that led to a twinkle in the eye and an attitude set apart from the rest. He knew that in order for him to get where he wanted to be, he had to live every day in the present.

Despite a difficult situation in the children’s home – and an even more difficult one when his father got all seven kids out of the home and tried to raise them alone – Jayah held on to his vision.

The abuse, injustice and degradation he faced caused him to look at the bigger picture. What is going on in this country to allow these things to happen to children?

Why did his mother not have access to more assistance? How can children be better protected? How many more children out there are suffering? What can be done to help them? These kinds of questions loomed in his mind until the vision became clear - Jayah wants to become Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. A lofty goal - but one he knows is achievable because he has read of many great world leaders who have risen above seemingly insurmountable odds.

Karajayah ForbesSchlagenhauf has already achieved greatness. His most recent achievement is the biggest to date. Five months ago, Jayah enrolled in St Leonard’s boarding school in St Andrew’s, Scotland. Just recently, he got the news that led him to break down in tears, thinking of all he went through, and all he could be. Jayah has been chosen by peers and faculty as the Head Boy – the first black to achieve this feat in the school’s 144-year history.

A very proud school headmaster, Dr Michael Carslaw had a courtesy call Zoom meeting with Minister of Education, Jeffrey Lloyd, Jayah and his adopted father, Beat Schlagenhauf. Tears even ran down Minister Lloyd’s face as he expressed such joy and pride that a young Bahamian was the one to make history at the school so far away.

He officially congratulated him in the House of Assembly last week, accompanied by a giant photo of this amazing and astute young Bahamian.

ABOVE: Jayah and Kaamanra.

RIGHT: Jayah and his adopted father, Beat Schlagenhauf.

BELOW: Jayah and Grace, Head Boy and Girl, with their Deputies at St Leonard’s School.

BOTTOM: St Leonard’s boarding school in St Andrew’s, Scotland.

“You have made history in a land far away from home, but you serve as an excellent ambassador of a very proud country and an inspiration to a large percentage of young people here at home,” Mr Lloyd told him in a letter.

St Leonard’s is an independent, co-educational boarding school. Accompanied by Head Girl Grace Adam and their team of deputies, Jayah will take on a number of important school responsibilities and act as an ambassador for the school. Dr Carslaw said he was delighted to have appointed Jayah from a “very strong field” of applicants and that he has been a “wonderful addition to the school”, hoping that he will inspire many of the younger students to “become global citizens in today’s everchanging world”.

The school’s historic campus in the heart of St Andrew’s, a seaside town, was founded in 1877. St Leonard’s was named Scotland’s Independent School of the Year in 2019 by the Sunday Times Good School Guide.

“I’ve had a difficult journey so far in my 18 years. The loss of my dear mother, Karen Yvette Russell-Forbes; being put into foster care... and then being adopted by an amazing human being and given a new path of possibilities I couldn’t have dreamt of in the darkest days.”

Jayah was attending Windsor School in Albany when the opportunity arose for him to go to St Leonard’s. Mr Gerry Young came to the Bahamas as the founding headmaster of Windsor School. He was returning home to Scotland to a new school, and Jayah was interested to know more.

Eventually, Beat decided to send Jayah to the boarding school, which became a history-making move.

“It has been an extremely interesting experience at St Leonard’s,” Jayah told me.

“I am currently a 12 year boarder following the International Baccalaureate

Career-Related Programme (IBCP). Moving from the Bahamas to Scotland – sun to snow... experiencing Scottish culture, boarding, and being a part of a completely new educational programne in the midst of a global pandemic.

“I instantly felt at home because of the homely welcome I received on my first day. I could not help but realize how resilient, courageous and adaptive everyone was... staff and schoolmates alike.

I knew right then that I was at the right place... a school that was viewed as home. St Leonard’s has over 37 nationalities and I am proud to be a Bahamian representative. I think I was chosen as Head Boy because I remained respectful and I made an impact on my schoolmates as well as the teaching staff.”

Prior to Windsor and St Leonard’s, Jayah first attended CW Sawyer, then Sandiland’s Primary, Yellow Elder, LW Young, Academia, Robert Land Military Academy in Canada, and Temple Christian High School. He is currently in grade 11 which is year 12 at St Leonard’s, and his final year will be year 13. Upon graduation, Jayah would like to attend University with his brother, Kaamanra Forbes-Schlagenhauf, who is currently attending Ecole Hoteliere Lausanne in Switzerland.

He wants to study law and hospitality.

But his ultimate goal is to return home, form his own party and become Prime Minister.

“It’s about time the country had a leader of the people and for the people,” Jayah

said. “The Bahamas is lacking young minds and it is time we, the younger generation, speak up and speak out for a better, stronger, brighter Bahamas.”

Jayah was fortunate to have been adopted by Beat Schlagenhauf. Beat had a long relationship with The Bahamas as an investment banker, with clients in Lyford Cay. But for 30 years, that was all he knew from visiting this country. When the financial landscape changed worldwide, many bankers had to change their mode of operation. Rather than being swept up in the changing tide, Beat opted for a simpler life, and he chose beautiful Bahamas.

When he moved here, he frequented the National Art Gallery as he is an art enthusiast. He asked then curator Amanda Coulson to show him the real Bahamas. She took him a short distance, right over the hill, to Hay Street.

There, he met community leader Valentino Scrooge Brown, and he also met Jayah’s father. He shared his plight of raising seven children whose mother had died.

He said they were living in a place with no light and water, and very little furniture.

Beat took to the children and began to help them.

Eventually, their father left for Turks and Caicos and they were on their own. Beat continued to assist them, eventually adopting the youngest two. He has since invested heavily in their education. He also supports several other Bahamian students educationally, and is a member of a number of

charities in the Bahamas, raising funds for the arts and education. His dream is to open an exquisite resort on the island of Eleuthera – one that will earn five stars as a touristic destination, honouring the nature, culture, and, above all, the people of the island.

Jayah and Kaamanra intend to lend their support to the project when they have completed their studies.

“I’ve had a difficult journey so far in my 18 years,” Jayah said.

“The loss of my dear mother, Karen Yvette Russell-Forbes; being put into foster care... and then being adopted by an amazing human being and given a new path of possibilities I couldn’t have dreamt of in the darkest days.”

“I would like to thank God, my mom, my adopted dad, my biological dad..., my church family, Andrea Lockhart, Barbara Moss, Shalimar Johnson, Shaquille Sands, Melissa Williams Rodriguez, Sandena Neely, and Felicity

Darville. I am especially grateful to Mr Young for the opportunity to attend St Leonard’s. I would also like to thank my grandmother, Josephine Russell, and my siblings, Karsten, Karsteeno, Kanraniah, Kistarra, Kanomera and Kaamanra.”

In 2018, Karajayah was selected as Youth Ambassador for the Bahamas to the United States. In 2019, he became faculty coordinator for Lend a Hand Bahamas.

In October of the same year, he won the Youth in Leadership award from the Ministry of Youth and also earned the coveted Director’s Cup. He represented the constituency of Englerston during Youth in Parliament in the House of Assembly. He also serves as Most Distinguished Youth Ambassador for the Kingdor National Parkinson’s Foundation. He is a devoted member of St Mary the Virgin Anglican Church, where he serves as an accolyte. His favourite quote is “lead the charge to put service above self at all times”.

THE TRIBUNE

HAVING written briefly about coronavirus vaccines only last month, I hesitate to return to the subject today. However, this column not only allows me to offer my own views on a range of issues but also provides an opportunity to articulate as best I can the concerns of other people whose voices do not get heard. At this stage of the virus pandemic, people are expressing anxiety about the urgent need for a vaccination programme here in The Bahamas - and it seems this is increasingly seen as the single most important issue facing the country at the moment.

According to a report in The Tribune on February 12, officials anticipate that 100,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will arrive in the country ‘sometime between now and the end of the second quarter of the year through the World Health Organisation’s COVAX

Tuesday, February 16, 2021, PAGE 9

facility’. Some people consider this is too imprecise since it could mean a delay until as late as June. So, while understanding the government’s wish to work through the WHO, it might be useful to look at how other countries are coping with the problem in case we might be able to benefit from their experience.

Take Britain, for example, which has suffered one of the highest death rates from COVID-19 in the world. The government has been under fire for its claimed poor handling of the virus crisis. The litany of complaints includes moving from one lockdown to another with measures that have crippled the economy and seriously affected civil liberties without stopping transmission of the virus.

Then there was the bad policy of chucking people out of hospitals and into nursing and care homes and the government’s obsession with protecting the National

THERE’S ONLY ONE QUESTION ON EVERYONE’S LIPS WHEN WILL IT BE MY TURN? The Peter Young column Health Service while other medical treatment that people desperately needed was cancelled. But, finally, with a vaccination programme which began on December 8 last year, the overall situation is improving; not least because, with considerable foresight,

NEVER HAVE SO FEW HAD THE POWER OVER SO MANY THE big tech companies appear to be under particular scrutiny at present. It is said pioneers of the Internet saw it as a way to share information widely without government control or the potential editorial bias of newspapers, and it is certainly the case that digital technology has brought about a revolution in how people acquire information so that facts across the whole spectrum of human knowledge are literally at our fingertips.

The so-called tech giants – Amazon, Apple, Google, Twitter, Facebook and Microsoft – maintain they are not ‘publishers’ but ‘content providers’ and cannot be held accountable for what millions of users choose to post. They therefore receive special immunity from liability because, as I understand it, US lawmakers believed they would be neutral platforms. But, by their nature, they now exert massive control over the lives of members of the public so that as well as being a force for good they can also become a vehicle for discord and distrust because of their all-pervading power and their potential misuse of it as monopolies.

Reportedly, at some point, as their power grew while becoming the principal source of information for the world, the tech giants made a conscious

decision that they were no longer going to remain a neutral forum. In the words of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, they have more control and power over information than any entity in history, and they are now engaged in censoring and banning individuals or groups that they disagree with on the basis of certain self-determined standards.

The inevitable consequence is that they have become platforms that exercise political bias and this tends to favour the Left while targeting conservative views - including conservative media organizations and journalistic output - so that those on the Right are silenced and those on the Left are not. It is because of this power and influence they are seen by some as a threat to democracy.

There is no space today to examine the complex issue of free speech and all its ramifications. But, in the colourful words of one commentator, what this whole issue is about is a handful of Silicon Valley billionaires taking it upon themselves to censor and influence the institutions of US democracy – including, of course, the permanent suspension of former President Trump’s Twitter account which seems to have brought the issue to a head.

In effect, the online giants now enjoy power

and influence in public life above and beyond anything held by big corporations in the past. They can make or break a president, but none was elected to office and, what is worse, they are unaccountable. Some say this a recipe for tyranny. To quote Ted Cruz again, he is recorded as almost snarling at the CEO of Twitter : ‘ Who the hell elected you and put you in charge of what the media are allowed to report’.

Thus, as long as the spoken and written word is within the law -- for example, in relation to defamation, hate speech, profanity, obscenity, decency and classified information, amongst others – critics ask on what basis should those who control the platforms on the Internet have the right to exercise censorship by judging what information should be made publicly available.

There are those who consider the World Wide Web needs to be regulated more and mechanisms and protocols put in place to prevent the spread of so-called fake news and misinformation alongside protections for legitimate news, though how to determine the difference will be fraught with difficulty. Many disagreed with what Trump had to say, but, as the elected President of the United States it was important that he should be heard by the people.

US POLITICS SHOWS ITS NASTY SIDE IN RECENT days, so much has been said and reported about the shortlived Senate impeachment trial of former President Trump, which ended on Saturday with his acquittal, that any further comment on the merits of the opposing cases would be superfluous. That said, I imagine most people would agree that the process has damaged the reputation of the US body politic as well as the image of the country as the cradle of democracy and a model of good governance. In the circumstances, I wonder whether others might agree, too, that since the outcome was predictable - given the balanced make-up of the Senate and the need for a two thirds vote to convict - the whole trial turned out to be something of a meaningless exercise amid allegations of vengeance and vindictiveness.

The assault on the Capitol on January 6 was a terrible and unprecedented event which has been unreservedly condemned by all. What is more, I believe Trump’s incendiary language in his speech

to supporters earlier in the day was both unwise and reckless. But proving that he incited the assault is another matter altogether, particularly after he had specifically called for a ‘peaceful and patriotic’ demonstration.

It is the case, of course, that divisions within the country as a whole have always been there to a greater or lesser extent - as evidenced most recently by the violent Black Lives Matter demonstrations and riots of last summer - and Trump’s stance and actions in relation to so many controversial issues over the last four years have hardly helped to heal such divisions. But, following last November’s election and Trump’s accusations of fraud, they have become even wider and deeper.

What struck me forcibly at the conclusion of the impeachment proceedings was the sheer nastiness of politics in the US which have always had a reputation for rough and tumble but now seem to have sunk to a new low. The deep antipathy between Democrats and Republicans is there for

all to see and it seems little effort is made to disguise it.

The bitterness and rancour shown by Democratic leaders after losing their second impeachment case against Trump, as well as the stridency of their language in condemning and vilifying him, were pretty shocking.

The vitriol and vituperation has been extreme and they have personally denounced Republican Senators for voting to acquit instead of respecting their right to do so.

For admirers and lovers of America - and I count myself among them having been at school in Massachusetts as an exchange student and a frequent visitor over the years both on business and to see friends - it is deeply disillusioning and depressing to see the country’s national politics in such disarray together with the lowering of standards of respect and civility in political discourse.

President Biden claims to want to unite the country.

Now that the Democrats hold both the White House and Congress, perhaps the first step in such a process should be to rein in his own governmental colleagues.

substantial numbers of vaccine doses from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna were ordered in advance.

At the beginning, the British government set itself a target of vaccinating 15 million of the most vulnerable by the middle of February. Happily, this has been met and is being hailed as a considerable achievement. Interestingly, the four priority groups established were: being 70-years-old or over, frontline health and social care workers, care home residents and those at a very high risk of severe illness from coronavirus – and now the stage has been reached that people in their 60s are being offered the vaccine and those over 70 who have not yet received a jab can go online or telephone to book an appointment. As far as I can gather, nobody will yet say for sure but the presumption is that there must be a link between these 15 million jabs (and mounting by the day) and a current drop in the number of UK infections and deaths - in particular, deaths among the over-85s have fallen at twice the rate among younger people.

Despite the continuing controversy about quarantine for those arriving in the UK - with new regulations coming into force yesterday - Prime Minister Boris Johnson is now saying he is cautiously optimistic about being able to loosen the lockdown restrictions soon and, in particular, open schools on March 8. Apparently, a detailed plan - dubbed a ‘roadmap to freedom’ - will be published on February

22. While he has lauded the UK’s achievement in developing a vaccine, substantially increasing coronavirus testing (now being done door-to-door) and making supplies of PPE readily available, the latest good news is that British scientists are reported to be developing a “universal mutation-proof COVID jab” that they claim should beat all variants of the virus.

To add to the optimism, the Health minister has predicted that by September, after all adults have been offered the vaccination, coronavirus will be a disease the UK can live with like the flu. It will be a treatable illness, though some people will remain more vulnerable than others.

Taking account of all this and the progress other countries are making in relation to vaccinations – for example, the US which, according to the latest figures has distributed about 70 million doses and administered more than 50 million – it is clear mass vaccination is the way forward to beat the virus. However, it seems likely that social distancing precautions will have to remain in place for the foreseeable future so there is still no immediate prospect of regaining all the freedoms we once took for granted.

From what I hear, a major worry for some people is that, as other countries accelerate their vaccination programmes, future international travel may be limited to those who have received the required dose.

As everyone knows, the US now demands from those entering the country

evidence of a recent negative virus test together with a period of quarantine. A demand for proof of vaccination could easily follow, especially because of the good progress of its own vaccination programme, and the same could apply to other countries – for example, Spain has already said that this summer it will accept without quarantine visitors from Britain who have ‘vaccine passports’.

Of course, with excessive worldwide demand there is pressure on the various vaccine providers to maintain adequate supplies. But, given the small population of The Bahamas, it is hard to believe that an adequate number of doses cannot be acquired at short notice and given to most of the adult population despite the logistical problems of organising vaccinations around the Family Islands.

According to published data, the AstraZeneca vaccine is priced at less than $5 per dose. But the question of cost should not anyway be a factor because the richer countries, who have already carried out so many of their own vaccinations, have made it clear that it is in the interest of the whole world to contain the virus in order to lift travel restrictions. So, international funding assistance in various different forms is widely available. It seems that many realise the difficulties of dealing with this huge issue. But, since mass vaccination is essential to restoring the country to some form of normality, many hope that this can be achieved sooner than is predicted at the moment.

PAGE 10, Tuesday, February 16, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

WHO AUTHORISES ASTRAZENECA EMERGENCY USE TORONTO Associated Press

THE World Health Organization has granted an emergency authorisation to AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine, a move that should allow the UN agency’s partners to ship millions of doses to countries as part of a UNbacked programme to tame the pandemic.

In a statement yesterday, the WHO said it was clearing the AstraZeneca vaccines made by the Serum Institute of

India and South Korea’s AstraZeneca-SKBio. The WHO’s green light for the AstraZeneca vaccine is only the second one the UN health agency has issued after authorising the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in December. Yesterday’s announcement should trigger the delivery of hundreds of millions of doses to countries that have signed up for the UN-backed COVAX effort, which aims to deliver vaccines to the world’s most vulnerable people.

“Countries with no access to vaccines to date

will finally be able to start vaccinating their health workers and populations at risk,” said Dr Mariângela Simão, the WHO’s Assistant-Director General for Access to Medicines and Health Products.

The coronavirus has infected more than 109 million people and killed at least 2.4 million of them.

But many countries have not yet started vaccination programs and even rich nations are facing shortages of vaccine doses as manufacturers struggle to ramp up production.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has already been authorised in more than 50 countries, including Britain, India, Argentina and Mexico.

It is cheaper and easier to handle than the PfizerBioNTech vaccine, which needs deep-cold storage that is not widespread in many developing nations.

Both vaccines require two shots per person, given weeks apart.

Last week, WHO vaccine experts recommended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people over age 18, including in countries that

have detected variants of COVID-19.

But that was contrary to the recommendation from the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said countries that had identified a virus variant first seen in South Africa should be “cautious” in their use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, suggesting that other shots be prioritized instead.

The AstraZeneca vaccine forms the bulk of COVAX’s stockpile and concerns were recently raised after an early study

suggested it might not prevent mild and moderate disease caused by the variant first seen South Africa. Last week, South Africa scaled back its planned rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine, opting instead to use an unlicensed shot from Johnson & Johnson for its health care workers.

COVAX has already missed its own goal of beginning coronavirus vaccinations in poor countries at the same time that shots were rolled out in rich countries.

Millions without power in Texas amid snow storms AUSTIN, Texas Associated Press

A FRIGID blast of winter weather across the US plunged Texas into an unusually icy emergency Monday that knocked out power for more than two million people, shut down grocery stores and air travel and sent cars skidding on dangerously snowy and slick roads.

The worsening conditions halted the delivery of new COVID-19 vaccine shipments. Massive power outages across Houston included a facility storing 8,000 doses of Moderna vaccine, and health officials scrambled to find takers at the same time authorities were pleading for people to stay home.

Temperatures nosedived into the single-digits as far south as San Antonio, and homes that had already been without electricity for hours had no certainty about when the lights and heat would come back on,

VEHICLES drive on snowy roads yesterday as winter bites in Spring, Texas.

Celsius) rain to the southern Plains as the state’s overwhelmed (38-degree and was spreading across power grid throttled into summers.

The storm was part of a the Ohio Valley and to the rotating blackouts that are typically only seen in massive system that brought Northeast. The Southwest 100-degree Fahrenheit snow, sleet and freezing Power Pool, a group of utilities across 14 states, called for rolling outages because the supply of reserve energy had been exhausted. Some utilities said they were starting blackouts, while others urged customers to reduce power usage.

“We’re living through a really historic event going on right now,” said Jason Furtado, a professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, pointing to all of Texas under a winter storm warning and the extent of the freezing temperatures.

In Houston, where county leaders had warned that the freeze could create problems on the scale of massive hurricanes that slam the Gulf Coast, one electric provider said power may not be restored to some homes until Tuesday.

More than 500 people were hunkering down at one shelter, but Mayor Sylvester Turner said other warming centers had to be shut down because those locations, too, lost power.

State officials said soaring demand and cold weather knocking some power stations offline had pushed Texas’ system beyond the limits.

“This weather event, it’s really unprecedented.

We all living here know that,” said Dan Woodfin, senior director of system operations at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. He defended

Photo: David J Phillip/AP preparations made by grid operators and described the demand on the system as record-setting.

“This event was well beyond the design parameters for a typical, or even an extreme, Texas winter that you would normally plan for. And so that is really the result that we’re seeing,” Woodfin said.

The largest grocery store chain in Texas, H-E-B, closed locations around Austin and San Antonio, cities that are unaccustomed to snow and have little resources to clear roads. The slow thaw and more frigid lows ahead was also taking a toll on Texas’ distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

State health officials said Texas, which was due to receive more than 400,000 additional vaccine doses this week, now does not expect deliveries to occur until at least Wednesday.

The weather also put existing vaccine supply in jeopardy. Rice University on Monday abruptly began offering vaccines on its closed Houston campus after Harris Health System told the school it had about 1,000 vaccines that “were going to go to waste,” said Doug Miller, a university spokesman. “The window was just a couple hours.

They have to take care of it quickly,” Miller said.

A Harris County Public Health facility storing the vaccines lost power between 1am and 2am yesterday and its backup generator also failed, said Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo.

Caught without enough groceries on hand, Lauren Schneider, a 24-year-old lab technician, walked to a Dallas grocery store near her home Monday morning dressed in a coat, hat and face mask. Schneider said she didn’t feel comfortable driving with the roads covered in snow and ice. She said she hadn’t seen a serious snowfall in Dallas since her childhood.

“I really didn’t think it’s would be this serious,” said Schneider.

Teresa and Luke Fassetta, trundling through the snow carrying grocery bags, said the store lost power while they were shopping.

The couple said they lost power overnight, then got it back around 9am, and they were hoping it would still be on when they arrived home.

If not, Teresa said, “we just have a bunch of blankets and candles and two cats to keep us warm.”

Several cities in the US saw record lows as Arctic air remained over the central part of the country. In Minnesota, the Hibbing/ Chisholm weather station registered -38 degrees Fahrenheit (-39 degrees Celsius), while Sioux Falls, South Dakota, dropped to -26 Fahrenheit (-26 degrees Celsius).

In Kansas, where wind chills dropped to as low as -30 degrees Fahrenheit (-34 degrees Celsius) in some areas, Gov Laura Kelly declared a state of disaster.

Most government offices and schools were closed for Presidents Day, and authorities pleaded with residents to stay home. Louisiana State Police reported that it had investigated nearly 75 weather-related crashes caused by a mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain in the past 24 hours.

“We already have some accidents on our roadways,” Kentucky Gov Andy Beshear said during a morning news conference. “It is slick and it is dangerous.”

Air travel was also affected. By midmorning, 3,000 flights had been canceled across the country, about 1,600 of them at Dallas/Fort Worth International and Bush Intercontinental airports in Texas. At DFW, the temperature was 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 degrees Celsius) — three degrees (-16 degrees) colder than Moscow.

COMMISSION TO PROBE US CAPITOL ASSAULT WASHINGTON Associated Press HOUSE Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that Congress will establish an independent, September 11-style commission to look into the deadly insurrection that took place at the US Capitol.

Pelosi said the commission will “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex… and relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power”.

In a letter to Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said the House will also put forth

supplemental spending to boost security at the Capitol.

After former President Donald Trump’s acquittal at his second Senate impeachment trial, bipartisan support appeared to be growing for an independent commission to examine the deadly insurrection.

Investigations into the riot were already planned, with Senate hearings scheduled later this month in the Senate Rules Committee. Pelosi, D-Calif, asked retired Army Lt Gen Russel Honoré to lead an immediate review of the Capitol’s security process.

In her letter yesterday, Pelosi said, “It is clear from his findings and from the

impeachment trial that we must get to the truth of how this happened.”

She added, “As we prepare for the Commission, it is also clear from General Honoré’s interim reporting that we must put forth a supplemental appropriation to provide for the safety of Members and the security of the Capitol.”

Lawmakers from both parties signaled that even more inquiries were likely.

The Senate verdict Saturday, with its 57-43 majority falling 10 votes short of the two-thirds needed to convict Trump, hardly put to rest the debate about the Republican former president’s culpability for the January 6 assault.

SPORTS PAGE 11

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2021

‘Staying at home wasn’t a problem for me’

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

espite the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, Shaunae MillerUibo admitted that she didn’t have any problems making the adjustment as she prepares for the trek towards the postponed 2020 Olympic Games.

“I won’t say it was difficult for me. I’m more of an indoor person, so staying at home wasn’t a problem for me,” said Miller-Uibo about changes that sporting athletes have had to endure since the pandemic struck last March, leaving the sporting world in a topsy turvy circle.

“The most difficult thing was not being able to train

D

so much, but we got a lot of virtual stuff done and we were able to work on a lot of things.

“We still got a lot of time trials in practice and our coach was able to put on a few meets for us, so it wasn’t that bad.”

The reigning Olympic and Commonwealth Games 400 metre champion was addressing the international media via Zoom over the weekend regarding the upcoming season and the delayed Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, July 23 to August 8.

She acknowledged the fact that it was difficult for her not being able to return home to the Bahamas during the height of the pandemic, even though she was right in Florida training.

SHAUNAE MILLER-UIBO speaks during a press conference at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Staten Island, New York, on February 13.

“I couldn’t see them in person, but I was able to FaceTime my family every day,” she said. “So that was kind of difficult for me, but

I had my husband there with me, so it was pretty good.

“The pandemic wasn’t hard for me because I’m

more of an indoor person, so it was more just kicking back and relaxing until training starts. That was my everyday routine.”

She noted, however, that her husband Maicel was able to create an at-home gym that gives her space to train. She stated that she only gave her opinion on where exactly it should be located.

If there was one thing that really disturbed her during the pandemic, it was the loss of her pet dog.

Miller-Uibo almost came to tears and was too composed to talk about it.

She did talk about her training sessions and how she was able to rebound from her stunning defeat to Salwa Eid Naser from

SEE PAGE 15

Beal gets the best of Wall as Wizards defeat Rockets 131-119 WASHINGTON (AP) — Bradley Beal scored 37 points in an entertaining matchup with ex-teammate John Wall, and the Wizards beat the undermanned Houston Rockets 131-119 last night in Wall’s return to Washington.

Wall, traded in December for Russell Westbrook and a first-round pick, had season highs of 29 points and 11 assists for the Rockets, who were missing leading scorer Eric Gordon along with Victor Oladipo, Christian Wood and P.J. Tucker.

Houston dropped its sixth straight.

Westbrook had 16 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds for his sixth triple-double of the season — his first in a Wizards win — and 152nd of his career.

Davis Bertans added 18 points on 5-of-6 3-point shooting for Washington, which won consecutive games for the first time this season.

KNICKS 123, HAWKS 112 NEW YORK (AP) — Julius Randle scored

WIZARDS guard Bradley Beal (3) passes against Rockets guard John Wall (1) during the first half last night in Washington.

a season-high 44 points, making a career-best seven 3-pointers and leading New York past Atlanta for its third straight victory.

Randle added nine rebounds and five assists, finishing one point shy of his career high.

MARK ST FORT DOMINATES WITH 38 POINTS, NESBITT IN THE WIN COLUMN

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

was released after just two games with the club. He went on to sign with the Niigata Albirex where he had MARK St Fort’s transi- his most productive stretch tion to the Japanese B2 of the season where he was League has been a wel- the team’s leading scorer in come change to the veteran four games. swingman.

Through 12 games he St Fort had his most averaged 10.6 points and dominant game of the 3.8 rebounds per game on season - 38 points and 70 percent shooting from eight rebounds - to lead the the field and 43 percent Fukushima Firebonds to a shooting from three point 109-95 win over Ehime OV. range. He then went on to He shot 8-12 join the Aishin Sea from the field, 3-7 Horses for a brief from three-point two-game stint and range and was a was released after perfect 13-13 from two games. the free throw line.

Most recently, he The sixth spent seven games ranked Fukushima with the Hiroshima improved to 18-18 Dragonflies for a on the season, seven game stretch. ranked sixth in the He spent last league standings. season in Japan’s Since he signed third division, the NESBITT with the club in JanB3-League with the uary, St Fort has appeared Saitama Broncos where he in eight games averag- averaged 17.9 points and ing 13.5 points and 5.4 9.8 rebounds per game. rebounds per game on 69 In Brazil’s Novo Baspercent shooting from the quete Brasil (NBB), David field. He has signed with Nesbitt and his Minas Belo five different clubs across Horizonte club got back two leagues in Japan this into the win column after season. their season high 16-game St Fort began the year win streak came to an end in the B1-League with SeaHorses Mikawa but SEE PAGE 15

RJ Barrett added 21 points and rookie Immanuel Quickley had 16 for the Knicks.

Trae Young had 23 points and eight assists for the Hawks, who dropped their fourth straight and seventh in the last eight games.

BULLS 120, PACERS 112, OT INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Zach LaVine scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter to help Chicago force overtime, and the Bulls then pulled away from Indiana.

Chicago had lost 10 straight against Indiana and eight straight on the road in the series.

Domantas Sabonis scored 25 points and Malcolm Brogdon had 23 for the Pacers, who had won two in a row.

SEE PAGE 13

LASHANN SCORES 31, EARNS MVP AWARD, JONQUEL ON COURT

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net LASHANN Higgs earned another weekly MVP award for Pajariel Bembibre in Spain’s Liga Femenina Endesa while Jonquel Jones and UMMC Ekaterinburg returned to Russian Premier League play.

Higgs finished with 31 points and seven rebounds Sunday in a 79-75 win over Promete for Bembibre’s first two-game winning streak of the season. She scored nine in Thursday’s 68-65 win over Ensino.

Higgs shared the league’s weekly honour for the second time this season and lead’s the league with four weekly honours despite her team’s 6-17 record.

HIGGS Through 24 games, Higgs is averaging a team leading 16.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in her rookie season of pro basketball.

“So it’s just a matter of progressing through that physicality and becoming more efficient,” she said to The Tribune earlier this season. “Through the season, it can be mentally and physically taxing. But you just have to take good care of your body and just continue to work hard, bring what you learn in practice into the games.”

Jones and UMMC Ekaterinburg continued their Russian Premier League dominance with a 91-61 win over MBA to improve to a league-leading 14-0 on the season.

Jones finished with 11 points, five blocked shots and five rebounds.

SEE PAGE 15

SPORTS

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, February 16, 2021, PAGE 15

NESBITT from PAGE 11 last month. Following a 96-94 loss to now top ranked Flamengo on January 31, Minas reopened the second half of the season with a 91-70 win over Campo Mourao and an 83-67 win over Pato Basquete to restart their win streak. Against Campo, Nesbitt finished with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists. He had just four points in limited minutes against Pato. At 18-2, Minas is just 0.5 games behind Flamengo at 19-2.

In his first year with the club, Nesbitt ranks third on the team in scoring at 12.3 points per game and second in rebounding at 5.9 boards per game. He is also shooting 57.3 percent from the field and 45.3 percent from three-point range.

Nesbitt is tied for the team lead with 34 made three pointers and 50 made free throws.

After an opening night loss, Minas reeled off 16 consecutive wins before their second loss of the season.

Nesbitt now turns his focus to the Bahamas senior men’s national team and the FIBA AmeriCup qualifiers. He plans to join the team in Puerto Rico for this window’s matchups against the United States (February 19) and Puerto Rico (February 20).

LASHANN from PAGE 11

Through nine Premier League games, the Connecticut Sun centre has averaged 19.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game on 66 percent shooting from the field, 44 percent from three-point range and 82 percent shooting from the free throw line.

Just over a month ago UMMC Ekaterinburg advanced to the FIBA EuroLeague Quarterfinals.

They finished 6-0 in Group C and became the second club to clinch a spot in the Quarterfinals.

Through six EuroLeague games thus far, Jones is averaging 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. She is also shooting 74 percent from the field and a league leading 62 percent (8-13) on three point field goals.

The Quarterfinals will take place in March and will be played over two legs in single venue hubs. The winners will advance to the Final Four in April.

SHAUNAE MILLER-UIBO during a press conference at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Staten Island, New York, on February 13.

SHAUNAE from PAGE 11 Bahrain at the 2019 World Championships. The 26-year-old Miller-Uibo had an impressive showing with the limited amount of meets last year and has also started this year off with two record-breaking performances.

Her latest came on Saturday at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in New York where she clocked a world-leading time of 50.21 seconds in the 400 metres.

It turned out to be another North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) and Bahamian national record, shattering the previous mark of 50.34 that was established by Christine Amertil on March 12, 2006 at the World Indoor Championships in Moscow, Russia.

With the time, Miller-Uibo moved up to eighth on the world indoor all-time list.

The feat came a week after Miller-Uibo posted a national record of 22.40 at the American Track League #2 in Fayetteville, Arkansas on January 31, erasing Pauline Davis-Thompson’s previous mark of 22.68 at the World Indoor Championships on March 11, 1995 in Barcelona, Spain.

“Coach (Lance Brauman) was really happy with the 22 last

weekend. Our main goal is just to go out there and get a test at it,” Miller-Uibo reflected. “We were really happy with it. It was a little tricky getting a feel of the turns indoors, but it went pretty well.

Our main focus this year is the 200m and getting a new title, so we will see how it goes.”

As a team, Miller-Uibo said she will continue to consult with her coach and leave the final decision to him as to whether or not she will compete in the 400 at the games.

“The main focus for me will be the 200,” she said.

With the limited schedule of events contested last year due to the pandemic, Miller-Uibo said she was able to concentrate a lot more on her training and it’s paying off big dividends, as evident by her performances.

“This year we’ve been working on our base and getting a lot stronger, working a lot harder in the gym and just trying to progress as best as we can.” she pointed out.

“I’ve been working a lot on my technique, trying to clean it up a bit. I’m trying to be a better athlete and try to work on the different areas that you don’t focus on all season.”

So far it has been working to perfection for Miller-Uibo.

She admitted, however, that although she had a great

performance in the indoor 200m, she’s grateful that she came through injury free, considering that there were some concerns about how well her 6-foot, oneinch frame handled the steep curves on the one-lap 200m track.

“We went out there the day before to get a feel for it and I felt like I almost fell a few times,” Miller-Uibo stated. “But coach (Brauman) told me not to worry about it.

“So I went out there and said if I fall, I fall. In the end, I was still mindful of the turns. It’s a different feeling, obviously it was difficult to run with the steep turns, but I managed to run through it.”

One of the questions MillerUibo was asked was whether or not the pending investigations on Naser have any effect on being upgraded from silver to gold.

“I try not to focus on it. It was a big shocker, but this case is in the hands of CIS, so I’m not focusing on the past,” she said.

“I’m just focusing on this season and being a better athlete this year.”

Although she believes that she has grown, Miller-Uibo still feels that her measure can only be achieved if she can get the opportunity to attempt the 200/400m again at a major competition like she did at the 2017 World Championships.

“It is a pretty difficult feat doing the 200/400 double. It’s been very difficult for years. I think only two other people have actually completed the double successfully,” said Miller-Uibo who, in her first attempt at the 2017 Worlds in London, slipped and fell to fourth place in the 400m, only to come back and get a bronze in the 200m.

“It’s not an easy one. That’s why we were hoping that they would have at least cleared up the schedule so that we could at least focus on both separately, but that’s what’s so difficult about that.”

There’s also been the issue of her competing in the multiple heptathlon event. Once the Olympics is over and done with, Miller-Uibo said she might consider the event.

If there’s any consolation, she would have the support and background from her husband, Maicel Uibo, who is one of the world’s best decathletes, the equivalent to the women’s competition.

“We were looking more for an off year, but because of circumstances, we won’t have an off year right now,” she said. “So I have to go and talk to coach (Brauman) and see how he feels. But yeah, that’s still on.”

In the meantime, Miller-Uibo just wants to enjoy the unusual times she finds herself training and competing in as she works towards becoming an Olympic champion again.