03182021 NEWS

OBITUARIES

THURSDAY NEW Crispy Chicken

i’m lovin’ it!

HIGH 82ºF LOW 71ºF

Monday,

February

CARS! CARS!

8, 2021

The Tribune Established

Being Bound To

Swear To The Dogmas

1903

Of No Master

The Tribune

Volume: 118 No.79, MARCH 18, 2021

L A T E S T

N E W S

CLASSIFIEDS

tise Call

To Adver

-2351

601-0007 or 502

Starting at

$33.60

ed

VAT includ

Established 1903

O N

T R I B U N E 2 4 2 . C O M

Biggest And Best!

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: PRICE–$1

‘THERE’S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT’ IT’S FINE

Medical staff lead the way and urge others to follow

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net MORE than 60 healthcare workers and senior executives from the Public Hospitals Authority received their first shots of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine at Princess Margaret Hospital yesterday, marking the official rollout of the country’s vaccination campaign against the deadly coronavirus.

This comes just over a week after the nation

received 20,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Indian government.

Yesterday’s vaccination session also follows the inoculations of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, Health Minister Renward Wells and other officials, who were among the nation’s first to receive the injections as a part of a pilot phase conducted at Loyola Hall on Sunday.

More than 100 people took part in that pilot.

SEE PAGE FOUR

THE Government was yesterday warned not to permit its latest tax reform initiative evolve into a pure “money grab” that to fund public sector expansion.

Both Robert Myers and Gowon Bowe, who each headed the private sector’s Coalition for Responsible

Taxation in the lead-up to VAT’s 2015 implementation, said the reform focus should be much wider.

Their comments came after Minister of State for Finance Kwasi Thompson disclosed in his Senate midyear Budget contribution the Government late last year began the process of initiating further tax reform studies.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net SOCIAL Services Minister Frankie Campbell said there were 382 reported cases of child abuse from January 2020 to February of this year.

He did not have a comparative analysis for previous years however Mr Campbell gave a breakdown of the numbers that showed neglect and sexual abuse were the most common types of abuse reported. He said the cases were reported to his ministry.

SEE PAGE SEVEN

FRONT PORCH

KWASI: TAX REFORM STUDY IS UNDER WAY

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

SCALE OF CHILDREN ABUSED LAID BARE

VACCINATE OR NOT? IT’S YOUR CHOICE BUT THE DECISION AFFECTS US ALL

PAGE EIGHT

DR CAROLINE Burnett-Garaway gives a thumbs up signal as she is vaccinated at yesterday’s session at Princess Margaret Hospital.

Photo: Racardo Thomas

CUT! ZNS STAFF WALK OFF THE JOB

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

SEVERAL dozen ZNS employees walked off the job yesterday to protest a salary deduction.

Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) president Dino Rolle, 54, said ZNS has “unilaterally” decided to deduct about $100 per month from salaries to

ZNS staff walk out in protest yesterday.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/ Tribune Staff cover health insurance copayment requirements.

Mr Rolle said ZNS needs the union’s consent to make the change but employees discovered this week that the money was deducted without their permission.

Under the new plans, employees must cover 20 percent of their insurance.

“That isn’t something that the members budgeted for,” Mr Rolle said. “That’s not something that they could afford.”

SEE PAGE THREE

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

PRISON OFFICERS OUT OF PATIENCE

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Department of Correctional Services officers yesterday protested in a show of frustration, which they claim has stemmed from years of neglect and “disrespect”.

Correctional Officers Staff Association president Hervie Culmer told The Tribune similar actions could persist for the remainder of the week, as officers were “tired” of their concerns falling on deaf ears.

SEE PAGE THREE

PAGE 2, Thursday, March 18, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Bethel: We followed the law on contracts

ATTORNEY General Carl Bethel.

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net ATTORNEY General Carl Bethel was adamant yesterday that government has followed the law regarding how contracts are to be awarded.

He was responding to Senator Dr Michael Darville who accused the Minnis administration of using Emergency Powers Orders to “keep secrets” on how public funds are being spent.

“I listened carefully to the Minister of State (Kwasi Thompson) trying to defend the government’s poor performance and much was said about the millions of dollars spent in the last six months,” Dr Darville said in the Senate.

“The truth of the matter is we have little alternative but to take his word

for what it is because after spending millions of dollars, we on this side have no way of knowing many of the details because they have used the emergency orders to keep secrets on what they are spending, what they are borrowing and more importantly who have benefitted from many of the contracts signed during this COVID-19 pandemic.”

Mr Bethel interjected, explaining what is laid out in the Emergency Powers Regulations.

He said: “The emergency regulations signed by the Governor General only require the publication of the details of procurement if an order has been made suspending procurement.

“Presently all government procurement is governed by law. It’s called the Financial Administration and Audit Act. The Public Finance

Management Act will in effect repeal and replace the Financial Administration and Audit Act. “So, the point is that notwithstanding whatever the members opposite may say, all procurement that has occurred throughout the pandemic has occurred in the ordinary course of business following the existing law.

“The pandemic regulations by the Governor General only require enhanced disclosure if the law governing procurement has been waived or pushed aside by order signed by the competent authority. That has not happened.

“I want to assure members opposite and the Bahamian people that so far as the Cabinet is aware all procurement has been carried out in compliance with the Financial Administration and Audit Act.”

RESOURCES COMMITTEE TO BEGIN MEETINGS SOON

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE Select Committee on Natural Resources hopes to begin holding public meetings as early as next month.

The group travelled to Grand Bahama on Tuesday for a three-day fact finding mission and is conducting meetings with environmental advocates, industry leaders, and businesspersons. Members are also viewing various sites of interest on the island, including Bahama Rock, and the Equinor oil spill in East Grand Bahama.

Grand Bahama is the second island that the committee has visited. The first was North Andros.

The committee is mandated to identify all the natural resources of the country and to investigate all matters related to natural resources. Funds derived from the country’s natural resources are to go to the Sovereign Wealth Fund for the benefit of the Bahamian people.

Chairman Michael Foulkes indicated that the members of the bipartisan committee, consisting of two members from the PLP, one independent MP, and four members from the governing party, are working well together.

“It bodes well for the committee and the Bahamian people because there is a lot of information out there,” he said.

Mr Foulkes stated that although the committee could be in Nassau to conduct these interviews and see documents, they “wanted to get on the ground as a committee and see the natural resources for ourselves and see them for the Bahamian people.”

After its Grand Bahama visit, the committee intends to visit Inagua, where salt is a big resource.

In addition to holding closed meetings, Mr Foulkes said the committee will soon hold public meetings with the people of the Bahamas.

He said the committee went to the House of Assembly for approval and hopes to start that next month.

“We got approval unanimously from the House of Assembly to give us the ability to have meetings where the media and the general public and persons can appear before the committee as witnesses and be a part of it.

“We are very excited about it; it is a very transparent process, and that is what we are doing,” Mr Foulkes added.

The committee submitted an interim report on December 16, and hopes to submit another interim report to update the public soon.

This comes after the group was granted its second extension to extend the life of the committee to September 1.

Mr Foulkes said that all members of the House of Assembly unanimously agreed to the extension that gives the committee another five months to complete its mission.

“We are very pleased about that because there is a lot of work to do and we are very serious about it,” he said.

“We have taken the solemn duty to find our natural resources and get as many facts as we can because this is a fact-finding committee. Our job is to get the facts and make recommendations to the House of Assembly.”

The committee was initially appointed from July to October 1 last year and previously received an extension to April 1.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, March 18, 2021, PAGE 3

CUT! ZNS STAFF WALK OFF THE JOB from page one

“Previously, employees weren’t required to get a co-pay for medical insurance. Rather than seeking our agreement – as they were advised to do by the Department of Labour when we met there about two weeks ago – the corporation sought to come out and run roughshod over members and take it directly out of their salaries.”

Mr Rolle said employees are not planning further work disruption but the union will challenge the deduction in court.

“My members can’t bear that burden and so we’re gonna seek the court to bring ZNS to stop their actions,” he said. “ZNS is one of those government sponsored entities where the salary isn’t a great amount.”

Mr Rolle claimed the deduction comes as ZNS continues to hire new workers.

“Part of the frustration of members, both the line staff and management, is

because ZNS’ management who is claiming to be cash strapped are continuously hiring staff as they seek to cut these people’s salaries,” he said.

He claimed that about a dozen people have been hired at the corporation in recent months.

He also said ZNS has justified the deductions by pointing to reduced subventions.

“The government continuously decreases subvention and then I guess because of the pandemic the revenue that they earned prior to it has seen some decrease as well,” he said.

Labour director John Pinder said yesterday that employers cannot deduct money from the salaries of employees without their consent.

“No employer has the right to take any deduction from your salary without your approval,” he said.

“So if employees didn’t agree, that’s an issue. My understanding was that they got approval from some employees, but

ZNS employees after walking off the job in protest yesterday. if members didn’t give industrial agreement them the right to take between the two parextra monies from their ties does not specifically salary then they ought address insurance but to make the necessary requires consultation adjustments.” involving the union before Mr Pinder said the changes can be made to

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff the benefits of workers. He come to some sort of agreesaid he recommended to ment,” he said.

ZNS that the BCPOU be Mr Pinder said he was properly consulted. informed ZNS introduced “Normally, the consul- deductions because of tation process involves an increase in insurance discussion where both sides premiums.

Prison officers out of patience from page one Their displeasure, Mr Culmer said, was made worse yesterday after repeated attempts to speak to National Security Minister Marvin Dames at the ministry were unsuccessful because he reportedly evaded the scores of officers who had congregated at the compound.

The officers began their protest at BDCS at around 8am but later moved to the Ministry of National Security at John F Kennedy Drive.

Once congregated there, Mr Culmer did meet with Mr Dames, but said the meeting was unfavourable. He claimed the minister had nothing concrete to say in response to their concerns. Officers are upset over the failure of officials to ensure officers have been confirmed as permanent workers and a lack of promotions, among other things.

“It’s been almost three years now and the promotion exercise has not been released,” Mr Culmer said following the protest yesterday. “The officers from the 2014, 2016 and the entire 2018 squads are still awaiting confirmations.

“The thing is the officers that were assembled outside the Ministry of National Security just wanted to hear from the minister. All they wanted was an update and the minister I guess he didn’t see fit to update any of us.

“The thing about it is a memorandum would have circulated showing that our counterparts at the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, they’re about to receive their funds from Hurricane Dorian and even has an effective date for their promotional exercise, which they received during the pandemic.

“And yet there is still no update on what’s the hold up with our promotional exercise.”

Asked what was the next step, Mr Culmer said: “There could be more of what we saw today. Currently we are headed back and I am going to update the body to what transpired because I got to see the minister but he had nothing concrete for me to go back and even tell the officers. So, from here on out it’s whatever they see fit.

“We are tired of being disrespected.”

At times the scene outside the ministry became heated, as officers shouted their concerns and called out to other officers of the armed forces guarding the building to summon Mr Dames. Due to the large crowd assembled, law enforcement guarding the building blocked entrances to the compound and did not allow anyone to enter

PRISON officers protest outside the Ministry of National Security yesterday.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff or re-enter the premises.

In another moment where tempers flared, the correctional officers were told that those with cars parked outside the area along the wall would be towed.

While most of the cars were moved voluntarily, there was an attempt to have at least one car forcibly removed.

Senior corrections officer Judy Whyms passionately laid out a laundry list of issues facing staff at BDCS daily.

“We ain’t only fighting for money,” she said. “We want to be safe. You cannot run a proper institution without a tribunal. We don’t have one. I’m a senior officer. I on retirement and I praise God for my 31 years and I refuse to go home and leave my subordinates suffering by their selves.

“I am prepared to sit in Central (Police Station) with them. I gave this country my guts. You see what I get? This is nothing. What Judy Whyms get?”

She also said: “These officers out here don’t get overtime.”

Ms Whyms further suggested that women officers

did not get adequate maternity leave.

“You can’t even have time, you understand me?

You leave your baby home for this country six weeks, ya lucky if you get 10 weeks and in the end you can’t even get a decent package.

“You have senior officers who walk out that jail. They gave their guts. They can’t get a proper thank you. Not even a 75 cents card.”

Members of the Democratic National Alliance along with Lincoln Bain and lawyer Maria Daxon of the Coalition of Independents supported the officers.

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

PAGE 4, Thursday, March 18, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

‘There’s nothing to worry about’ from page one PMH coordinator for patient registration and scheduling, Angelica Lockhart-Bastian told The Tribune yesterday morning that 50 healthcare workers and other hospital staff were expected to participate in yesterday’s vaccination process at PMH. However, a PHA official later confirmed to this newspaper that a total of 61 workers had actually received their first injections of the two-dose vaccine yesterday, a situation the official stressed was not because of low interest.

It is not clear when Grand Bahama will begin vaccinations. Other vaccination sites on New Providence will begin operations later this week. Asked how many frontline workers had been registered to date, Mrs Lockhart-Bastian was unable to say.

However, she said 170 people from various health departments, including PHA and Emergency Medical Services, had “expressed interest” to PMH on receiving the vaccines ahead of yesterday’s vaccination process.

Given the website to register to be vaccinated did not go live until Tuesday afternoon officials are happy with the numbers who instantly applied and were given the available times to come in to be vaccinated.

As days progress and other sites open the numbers should ramp up for those wanting to take the vaccine.

According to PMH Medical Chief of Staff Dr Caroline Burnett-Garraway a survey conducted by officials several months ago found that about 40 percent of healthcare workers at the facility wanted to be vaccinated.

Dr Burnett-Garraway

spoke to reporters after getting vaccinated. She was the first person in the medical group to be inoculated yesterday morning.

Describing the moment as “exciting,” Dr BurnettGarraway said she wanted to help lead the way forward and also encouraged others to take the vaccine when the opportunity becomes available.

“I feel privileged and relieved and I just wanted to set the example because people are reluctant, not sure and they’re waiting to see and (I just wanted) to set the example that it’s safe and that we should all take it,” she said.

“The benefits of taking this vaccine outweighs the chance of getting a little (blood) clot so I encourage everyone when your time comes, please get it and

protect yourselves.”

PHA Managing Director Catherine Weech and Deputy Director Lyrone Burrows were also among those who received the vaccine at PMH. Mr Burrows was in good spirits after his first shot.

Saying he believed the country’s vaccination campaign was off to a good start so far, Mr Burrows told reporters that officials are hoping to see an uptick in numbers in the days ahead.

“We’re hopeful that those persons who have booked their appointment do show up. We came off with a very good start and we anticipate that that will continue to accelerate in the days and weeks to come,” he noted.

He also said: “Based on the logistics, we anticipate that we will have more than sufficient time to be able

to distribute those vaccine and that we will have no challenges in terms of any wastage.”

PMH administrator Mary Walker also commented on the national vaccination process yesterday, telling reporters that officials anticipate that the local hospital can vaccinate up to a minimum of 120 workers a day.

She told reporters: “We know that our total staff complement here at Princess Margaret Hospital is somewhere in the region of 1,800 but we also have the responsibility of vaccinating the EMS services as well as out supply management chain persons and the corporate office so that takes us over about 2,000 plus persons.

“A percentage of that we anticipate to want to be immunised in this first

wave. We looked at the appointment system when we had the trial on Sunday and we realised just how many people we could do in a given hour and as we planned out those appointment systems, we figured here — working efficiently — we can at minimum do 120 a day...it’s been a smooth process so far and everyone who has registered this morning has presented themselves in their appointment schedule time and they are being served.”

Chief telephonist at PMH Marina Laing also received her first vaccine shot yesterday which she hopes will allow her life to return to some normalcy. Mrs Laing said she has not been able to see her son or father for about a year due to the pandemic.

“I decided to get vaccinated because I have underlying issues and I would really love to travel,” she said. “I want to bring some normalcy in my life – visiting family members, especially my dad, he’s 88-years-old and I need to be around him to take care of him. I have a son in the United States. I would like to visit him so that is my reason to be vaccinated.”

Earlier this week, Dr Minnis said the country is “turning the corner” in the fight against COVID-19, adding that he feels confident that the majority of citizens will receive the vaccine.

This comes at a time when the AstraZeneca shots are being temporarily suspended in several European countries – including Germany, France, Italy and Spain – out of fears people who received it have had blood clots.

Officials from the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organisation have since defended the shot as safe, insisting that no direct link between blood clot symptoms and the vaccine has been established.

On Tuesday, Health Minister Renward Wells told reporters that if any Bahamian were to experience negative post vaccination side effects, the government will respond “immediately.”

Governor General Cornelius Smith is expected to receive his first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine at 8.30 am today. Meanwhile, former Health Minister Dr Duane Sands has booked his vaccine appointment for Friday, The Tribune can confirm.

An official said after yesterday’s exercise, PMH received more inquiries from interested people about getting the vaccine.

Yesterday, PAHO said the vaccine batches in Europe which are under question will not be distributed in this region. Officials also addressed fears over safety.

“PAHO needs to report that those two batches that are being reviewed in Europe are not going to be distributed through those that are allocated to the COVAX mechanism for this region which are produced in India and the Republic of Korea,” Dr Sylvain Aldighieri, PAHO’s incident manager for COVID-19, said during a virtual press conference.

“In addition to this, the surveillance mechanisms have not reported any warning signs in connection to the safety of the vaccine in the Americas where they are already administering the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“For that reason and taking into account that

the benefits of the vaccine exceed the risks, WHO (World Health Organisation) recommends to continue using the AstraZeneca vaccine to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Investigations are underway on the European cases and we do not anticipate an impact on the distribution through the COVAX facility.”

The Bahamas has also purchased vaccines through the COVAX facility, which are expected to arrive in the country soon.

Dr Aldighieri acknowledged the concerns of the European nations.

“We are aware, clearly, of the concerns as the result of some disorders in some countries in Europe within the context of the COVID19 vaccine administration,” he said. “Some European countries have halted the vaccine produced by AstraZeneca as a precaution.

“The world advisory

committee on vaccine safety with WHO is assessing the data that is provided by the European connection with two batches of the AstraZeneca vaccine that was manufactured and distributed in Europe. We are awaiting the final outcome of that assessment.”

Dr Carissa Etienne, PAHO director, gave an update on the number of infections and deaths in the region and warned that even though vaccines are now available, the virus continues to spread. She said not only are infections in the region rising but so are deaths.

“Over the last week, nearly 1.3 million people became sick with COVID19 in the Americas and almost 31,000 died because of this virus,” Dr Etienne said. “Today we’re seeing the virus pick up speed in about half of the countries in our region. The US and

Mexico are reporting a drop in new infections, while cases in Canada are accelerating – particularly among young adults ages 20-39.

“As new infections are decelerating in the Caribbean, many islands are reporting a rise in COVIDrelated deaths – including a doubling of COVID deaths in some islands. Cases are on the rise in many South American countries, like Uruguay, Ecuador, and Venezuela. In the last week, Paraguay’s health system issued an urgent warning as hospitals have filled with COVID patients.”

She added that data must continue to inform officials and implored regional governments to act at the first sign that infections are on the rise by implementing measures to slow down transmission.

As of yesterday, nearly 138 million doses of COVID vaccines have

been administered in the Americas – although just 28 million of these doses have taken place in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The much anticipated Johnson & Johnson vaccine was given its emergency use authorisation last week from the World Health Organisation, making it the fourth vaccine to be authorised by WHO. PAHO said by offering protection with just one dose, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine promises to accelerate vaccination efforts. PAHO also said COVAX has secured over 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in 2021 and up to 500 million through 2022, with doses expected to start arriving in the region in July.

Dr Etienne said this is not a time for countries to let their guard down, but instead to keep hope alive.

PICTURED clocwise from top left receiving their vaccinations are Catherine Weech, Lyrone Burrows, Marina Laing and Canon Sebastian Campbell.

PAHO URGES COUNTRIES TO CONTINUE VACCINATIONS

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

THE Pan American Health Organisation is urging countries currently administering the OxfordAstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to continue despite concerns from some quarters, saying the benefits outweigh any potential risk.

The vaccine became the subject of controversy when a number of European countries suspended administering the shot as a precaution after a small number of people developed blood clots. No evidence has been produced to support any link between the cases of blood cots being caused by use of the vaccine.

Last week, the Bahamian government received 20,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which were a gift from India.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, March 18, 2021, PAGE 5

$3m earmarked for GB hotel and airport

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net MORE than $3m has been earmarked for repairs to Grand Lucayan’s Lighthouse Pointe and the Grand Bahama International Airport, according to State Finance Minister Kwasi Thompson.

Speaking in the Senate yesterday, Mr Thompson said while the government continues to press forward to complete the Grand Lucayan deal with Royal Caribbean and ITM, there was a need to spend $1.6m to facilitate “pre-opening expenses” at Lighthouse Pointe.

The all-inclusive resort is expected to open on March 25. He made the comments during his contribution to debate on a compendium of finance bills that aim to boost transparency and accountability in government operations.

“We have also provided a budget of $1.6m, which has been approved for the pre-opening expenses again focused on just those immediate needs and repairs,” Mr Thompson said of the resort. “So, such repairs to the roof, air condition, maintenance, food and beverage outlets, the pool, interior, exterior, painting, freshening up the guest rooms, landscaping, inventory provisions are what is being done.

“We also continue to

THE GRAND Lucayan Resort, which has had money earmarked for repairs to its Lighthouse Pointe. press forward to complete the Grand Lucayan deal with Royal Caribbean and ITM. It has been a long and difficult road but we believe that it is in the best interest of the Bahamian people.”

Earlier in his contribution, the senator defended government’s purchase of the Grand Lucayan.

“As a government we saw the need to purchase the Grand Lucayan hotel in Grand Bahama to preserve jobs and preserve the physical plant. We refused

to allow it to go the way of Royal Oasis and I stand by the decision that we have made when it comes to investing in the people’s money, investing in the jobs and the lives and the livelihoods and the future of the people of Grand Bahama.

“Because every day we drive past the (International) Bazaar and every day we drive past the Royal Oasis; I am thankful every day that the government took the decision that it took. I am thankful that we

are on our way to a redevelopment of that property.”

Regarding the Grand Bahama International Airport, the state minister said acquisition of the property from the Hutchinson Group is in the “final stages” of completion.

He said after acquisition, a request for proposals will be issued globally to find the best partner to plan, develop, finance and operate a new airport.

The government has committed $1.5m to restore

some of the devastation caused to the airport by Hurricane Dorian.

“There is no quick or easy fix for this airport. It didn’t take us over night to get where we are and it’s not going to take us overnight to get us out of where we are.

“So, there is high interest.

We have agreed in principle to the terms of the transaction to acquire the airport and the legislation is now being amended for the Airport Authority to now own

airports in Grand Bahama.

“The airport will be transferred to the Airport Authority and the RFP that is being issues will allow for a special purpose vehicle to be created similar to the NAD transaction that will operate the airport as a fully owned Bahamian facility.

“There is already widespread global interest in partnering with the government to develop the airport and consistent with our government structure the RFP process will guide the decision of the best fit partner for the government of the Bahamas.

He continued: “I am pleased to advise that pending the redevelopment of the airport we have committed to spend $1.5m to restore some of the devastation at the airport.

“As persons may note a new facility has been expanded to allow for more persons to be accommodated at the airport but we are going to assist with the $1.5m in repairing the tower building, replacing the elevator system, creating office space at the old domestic terminal and repairing the current cargo building.

“Redevelopment will be planned with partners but the repairs will return operations to a more comfortable state.”

He further noted that a total of $4.5m has been spent on restoring 15 schools on the island.

‘WHY ARE WEDDING RESTRICTIONS STILL NOT RELAXED?’

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

ORGANISERS of the annual Bahamas Bridal Show are upset that COVID-19 restrictions on the wedding industry have not been relaxed, saying they have got no answers from the competent authority on the matter.

They say the wedding industry is currently operating at about 10 percent, lamenting it will take “at least three years” for businesses in the sector to recover.

Since March 2020, the wedding planning industry has been put on hold due to COVID-19 restrictions that rule against large gatherings. Many couples have continuously postponed their weddings with the hope that there would be good news the next time Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis addresses the nation on COVID-19 matters.

Upset about restrictions not being lifted during

a February 21 national address by Dr Minnis, the organisers, Tommy Stubbs and MaKeva Wallace, wrote a letter to his office pleading on behalf of those in the industry, but the letter went unanswered.

The organisers resent the letter, but again said there was no response from Dr Minnis so the group issued a press statement addressing the matter.

An excerpt from the statement read: “The annual Bahamas Bridal Show has been the voice of hundreds of vendors in the wedding and bridal industry throughout The Bahamas for more than 30 years. While we don’t speak for every wedding and social event supplier in The Bahamas, we do sympathise with all and wish them well.

“Today, we don’t anticipate a response from the competent authority to this statement either. We are now exhausted from begging for leniency and consideration as we are continuously ignored

throughout this pandemic.

“After the Prime Minister’s two most recent national addresses and remarks at the arrival of the first vaccine batch, we owed it to our business partners and brides and grooms to bring our concerns publicly for the final time.”

The organisers said at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, they understood the necessary protocol and supported most of the efforts. As a result, they postponed their annual showcase at Grand Hyatt Baha Resort with 52 vendors, to include some of the most prominent companies in The Bahamas.

They believe they have held off long enough.

“Our government has shown little concern about our wedding and bridal industry by their actions or for many couples who are waiting to plan their weddings with more than 20 persons,” the statement continued. “Our government told the country that its goals were to stop the spread of the virus, to

save lives and to prevent our health system from crashing.

“Then, the government asked us to be patient and wait for the vaccine. Other countries have had the vaccine for months. Looking at the case numbers and circumstances since last year, we believe the country met those goals since January.

Persons who don’t know anything about our line of business will never understand the importance of our industry and the great losses endured since March 2020.”

The organisers noted that while people need to always be cautious about COVID and everything else that is deadly, they cannot continue to live in fear as livelihoods disappear with no compensation in sight.

The statement continued, “Protocol decisions have been unfair to us. We have not been given a fair

fighting chance to save our businesses. No one in government seems interested in protecting the country’s vital and multi-milliondollar wedding and bridal industry.

Attendees at weddings are at 20 since January 20, 2021. It was zero to 20 attendees, for the most part, since March 2020.

“This represents about 10 percent of business operations. Suppliers are trying to sell current inventory at bargain prices to settle bills and don’t know when they’ll be able to replace inventory as needed. Our struggling businesses are at flexi hours and days while staff (are) sharing days and work hours.

“Most of our wonderful, obedient vendors and engaged couples have lost their patience and confidence in government as it will take at least three years to recover, if ever, for most of (the) businesses in our

industry. Our landlords and creditors have shown mercy and we thank them.”

The Bridal Show organisers are insulted that the Prime Minister would make reference to having Junkanoo soon “instead of focus on more important priorities,” to include a way for the wedding and bridal industry to resume safely.

“A government shouldn’t have so much power to restrict businesses for one full year while business owners face mounting expenses,” the statement said. “It has shown a total disregard for legitimate, hard-working business owners in our industry.

“Based on what has been granted to other businesses and industries, we simply want to know why we have not received permission to expand our operations to cater to those clients who wish to have more than 20 persons.”

PAGE 6, Thursday, March 18, 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-

Published daily Monday to Friday

Shirley & Deveaux Streets, Nassau, Bahamas N3207 TELEPHONES

News & General Information Advertising Manager Circulation Department Nassau fax Freeport, Grand Bahama Freeport fax

(242) 322-1986 (242) 502-2394 (242) 502-2386 (242) 328-2398 (242)-352-6608 (242) 352-9348

WEBSITE, TWITTER & FACEBOOK www.tribune242.com

@tribune242

tribune news network

Trust the medics as they lead the way HERE’S the good news – the vaccinations are under way.

Leading the way, healthcare workers and hospital executives received their first shots of the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine yesterday, with other senior officials such as Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and Health Minister Renward Wells having already had their jabs on Sunday, It is early days, of course. More than 60 PHA staff got their shots yesterday, and it is expected that pace will increase significantly as the vaccination rollout proceeds.

The important thing is that the people we know and trust with our health are showing the way.

These are the people we live with, the people we go to with our medical problems, the people we acknowledge as experts in the medical field – and they trust the vaccine and are putting it in their own arms.

There are two challenges ahead for the vaccine rollout – the logistics of making sure the jabs reach people’s arms wherever they live and at a good pace, and ensuring people trust the vaccine.

That second one can be the trickier one. There are all kinds of scare stories being shared that give people pause – but seeing medics trust the medicine will go a long way to helping build that trust.

As well as trust, we should also remember we have a responsibility. This is a voluntary vaccination – but let’s be straight about that, as people umm and ahh over whether or not they should take the vaccination they remain both at risk and a risk for spreading the virus.

As our columnist Front Porch points out today, it’s not just about you, but about everyone you come into contact with.

So if you don’t take the vaccine, that means you’re fine with remaining a higher risk to your grandmother or your elderly uncle. It means you’re an increased risk for passing the virus on to your friends. You become more of a threat to your children by choosing not to take the virus.

As Archbishop Patrick Pinder points out: “This is to protect the health of the recipient, the health of all those with whom the recipient comes into contact

and especially to protect the most vulnerable for whom infection with this virus could mean serious illness, hospitalisation or worse.”

That’s the harsh truth – but let’s also consider the flip side for a moment.

Every person who does get the vaccine makes it that little bit harder for the virus to take hold, to find a way to reach others. You can save people’s lives just by getting the jab and stopping the virus from spreading because of you.

Imagine, just imagine, if we could be the first nation in the world to be fully vaccinated. Imagine the headlines around the world. Imagine what that would do for our society, our tourism industry, and our economy.

That could be attainable – we don’t actually need a huge number of vaccines in comparison to other, more populous countries. Can we achieve it? Perhaps, perhaps not. But wouldn’t it be wonderful to put the world of lockdowns and curfews behind us? We could lead the way – and there’s one simple way to do that: Trust the medics. They’ve got the jab. Follow their lead.

Labour unrest

Probably the last thing the government needs as we glimpse light at the end of the pandemic tunnel is the return of problems with labour relations.

Yesterday saw two protests – one from officers at the Department of Correctional Services, and one from staff at ZNS. Each group has different issues, but each talks of not being heard. Prison officers say they are tired of complaints falling on deaf ears, while ZNS staff report a unilateral decision to impose salary deductions for health insurance.

Throw in a backdrop of a countdown to the next election and that’s bad news all around for a government looking to win a second term.

Of course there are always two sides to disputes – but the very least there should be is communication with staff.

You can’t promise to listen to people on the election then not listen when you’re in office. If you do, you can’t be surprised at the outcome.

Readers have say on issues in the news READERS have been posting their views on the stories making the news on tribune242.com.

After Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said he still plans to institute term limits, Moncurcool said: “Nelson Mandela was the only leader who ever gave up power voluntarily. He could have kept it but he walked away after one term. That is a leader.

“No PM in the Bahamas will ever bring a Bill for term limits because once they get there the power goes to their heads.

“If Minnis was serious about term limits he would do it and not talk about doing it. Just like he could draft a disaster bill in months, he could do the same for term limits. Talk cheap, money buy land.”

Harbour Island resort operators warned the government it will hurt “the goose that laid the golden egg” if they try to make the island a cruise tourism destination.

That prompted Sickened to say: “They don’t have

infrastructure for 900-day guests? During regatta I’m pretty sure more than that show up for the entire long weekend? Something doesn’t add up.”

ThisIsOurs responded to that with: “Regatta is once, maybe twice, a year?

I agree with the locals you will change the atmosphere completely with an influx of low spending tourists. Sure someone will make money but what makes the place – peace, tranquility and remoteness – will be gone. I swear we have no idea what we have which is why we consistently chip away at and destroy it.”

ScubaSteve asked: “Is this some type of sick joke?

Is today April Fool’s Day? The whole point of visiting the Out Islands is the fact that the cruise ships DON’T visit them. What percentage

of the entire population of HI believes this is a good idea and would approve it?

Yes, I’m sure there might be a few that are excited about it and would approve.

But, if I had to wager . . .

I’m guessing easily 75 percent or more would NOT approve this new strategy.”

Proudloudandfnm said: “When we lost our hotel in Freeport all we had left was cruise ships. Daily sales were practically zero with just cruise passengers. The only benefit of cruise lines seems to be departure tax.

So these Harbour Island folk have a point. The cruise lines offer no benefit to locals, so their cons far outweigh their pros. Government needs to listen to these people and respect their concerns.”

Economist said: “Any cruise line will ruin Harbour Island’s economy. They will scare away the very people who contribute to Harbour Island’s success.”

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

Anonymity of civil servants EDITOR, The Tribune.

ONE of the principles of the Westminster system is that civil servants should remain anonymous. This anonymity is necessary to protect public officers from public ridicule and abuse when acting on behalf of the government.

Cabinet Ministers are supposed to defend and shield public officers by accepting responsibility for their action or inaction.

That is why I was shocked when I read the press statement issued on Friday by the Attorney-General, and Government Leader in the Senate, the Hon Carl Bethel. In the press statement Senator Bethel, hopefully unintentionally, blames the Senate Clerk, David Forbes, for not sending out the notice on time in order for the Senate to have the requisite quorum for the Senate to meet and transact business. This is most disingenuous and unfair to Mr Forbes. The contents of the Senate’s leader are evidence enough that the blame for the confusion was not the fault of the Senate’s Clerk.

Senator Bethel admits that the Senate had been adjourned to Monday, March 15, but that in the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, March 9, it was agreed that the meeting should be moved forward to Friday, March 12. He also advised Senator the Hon Kwasi Thompson who is Minister of State for Finance and who sits in Cabinet to stand in for him at Friday’s Senate meeting. Now, if the good Senator Thompson

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net was present in the Cabinet meeting when the decision was made to change the date of the Senate meeting, and he was asked by the Senate’s Leader to stand in for him, why didn’t Senator Thompson attend the Senate’s meeting on Friday?

Who is to blame for that?

The procedure for advising Senators of Senate meetings is as follows: The Senate Leader, Carl Bethel, is responsible for advising the President of the Senate, Dr Mildred Hall-Watson, of the date and time of the next Senate meeting. The Senate President will then direct the Clerk to send out the necessary notice to Senators informing them of the date and time of the Senate meeting. From what I heard the Clerk did not receive the instructions from the President of the Senate until after 6pm on Thursday, March 11, and the requisite notice was sent out promptly after that.

Who is to blame for that?

Senator Bethel attempted to shift the blame to the Clerk in the press statement by suggesting that he sent a note since on Tuesday requesting that the date of the Senate meeting be brought forward to Friday, March 12, instead of Monday March 15. Who did he send the note to?

Was it the Senate President or was it sent to Mr Forbes?

Senator Bethel suggests that he sent it to the Clerk and blames the Clerk for

not sending the notice out until 6:44pm on Thursday.

Mr Forbes denies that he ever received a note from Senator Bethel on Tuesday.

Even though the notice was not sent out until Thursday evening there was sufficient time for the Senate to have had a quorum on Friday. All The government leader or the President had to do was direct the staff to contact the Senators by telephone.

I do not know if this was done. As a rule, convention, or just good politics the government should never depend on the opposition to make up a quorum.

Mr Forbes is the Clerk of both the Senate and the House of Assembly. As such, he is the Clerk of the Parliament and the institution of Parliament ought to protect its Clerk from political attacks. That is why I was happy to hear the Speaker as head of the legislative branch speak out publicly in the House on Monday in support of the Clerk of Parliament. All of the politicians involved, including Senator Bethel, Senator Hall-Watson and Senator Kwasi Thompson – should speak out clearly and apologise for the public perception that was created in the Attorney-General’s press statement. They should do so in order that Mr Forbes and his reputation do not remain under that proverbial bus where they were so callously and insensitively thrown.

MAURICE TYNES Nassau, March 15, 2021.

What next to ban?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

POSSIBLY stranger things can happen, however, in the House of Assembly members may not use the word Devaluation – an economic descriptive word used globally by all regulatorybanking institutions and financial commentators.

What next? What next will we ban?

If Minister Campbell does not understand what the term means then suggest he at the least Googles the word or consults with the Acting Financial Secretary or a financial adviser.

This is total lunacy and how the Speaker accepted this is incredible.

So we pass three-four Bills yesterday to make us try to look clean, but the issue is when will Government get around to writing the required regulations for all of these Bills....if we take the slowness of the Public Information Act that has taken four-plusyears. The regulations for these Bills will probably be passed in 2024...two years into the next Parliament....

Surely this is not more campaigning?

MP for Centreville, Chipman has to be congratulated

for bringing to the House the fact that far too many financial reports required under law, have not been tabled. Surely Mr Speaker needs to censor and insist these reports are tabled.

Murders — improved statistics of Murders the Minister was quick to fanfare that — refused to associate the reduction with the six-month long curfew but now quiet as a church mouse with a murder-a-day when curfew is raised. Politics again.

JEROME HUTCHINSON Nassau, March 16, 2020.

THE TRIBUNE

REPEAT OFFENDER CONVICTED AGAIN OVER STEALING

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

AN ex-convict who was released from prison for good behaviour was yesterday sentenced to five years behind bars after he repeated the same offence that had landed him in prison in the first place.

Police arrested Brunaro Moxey, 28, after he stole a $50 jacket, $600 pair of Gucci shades and $83 in cash from a woman’s parked vehicle on March 15.

He pleaded guilty to trespassing and stealing when he appeared before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis.

The court heard the complainant contacted police around 3.40 that morning to report that someone had broken into her Kia vehicle, which was parked in front of her Blair Estates residence.

When officers responded to her complaint, the woman informed them that the person had stolen her jacket and designer sunglasses out of the car.

The prosecution said officers found Moxey walking in the area a short time later. He was subsequently arrested and taken to the Fox Hill Police Station.

When he was questioned he owned up to the offences. He also told officers he was walking in the area when he saw a car parked in front of a yard with its door open. He

said when he noticed the vehicle was not locked and secured, he opened the door and stole the items.

The court was told that Moxey had been found guilty of housebreaking and stealing in 2017 and had most recently been convicted and sentenced to one year in prison for stealing in August 2020.

However, Moxey was released before his latest sentence was completed after receiving the Governor General’s pardon.

Yesterday, Moxey begged the magistrate for leniency and asked him to give him a fine instead of a custodial sentence as he had just been released from prison “because of good behaviour”. Moxey said he only committed the offences because he got cold while he was walking so when he saw the jacket, he decided to grab it. He claimed the Gucci shades and $83 cash were in the pocket of the garment.

In response, Magistrate Rolle Davis noted Moxey’s previous convictions and said it appeared that he was a “common thief”. As a result, he accepted his guilty pleas and sentenced him to five years at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

“Having been convicted on four occasions other than this conviction, the court is of the view according to the penal code, that the penalty should be doubled,” he said. “The court must protect society from this individual.”

PAIR CAUGHT FIGHTING IN ROAD OVER CELLPHONE

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

TWO men who were caught fighting in the road over a cellphone in the early hours of the morning were yesterday warned to keep the peace.

Lynden Farrington, 26, and Kenneth Clarke, 28, were arrested after police caught them fighting near a local bar around 3.10am on March 14.

The court was told officers arrested the men after they noticed the pair assaulting each other in the Baillou Hill Road north.

Farrington and Clarke were then taken to the Central Police Station where they were interviewed by officers a few hours later. When questioned, Clarke denied fighting in a public place, while Farrington owned up to the offence. During his interview, Farrington also told officers the fight only occurred because his codefendant had tried to steal his phone.

During the hearing, Farrington said that morning, he and Clarke were playing dominoes with some of their other friends. He said

during the match, he placed his phone on the bench next to him. He said when Clarke lost the game, he stood up and walked to the side of him where his phone was lying, before announcing that he was going home.

Farrington claimed another man then informed him that Clarke was “walking off” with his cellphone. He said he then chased after Clarke and asked him why he was trying to steal from him. He said after he confronted Clarke, the “fight started”.

Clarke on the other hand claimed the phone had dropped on the floor. He said when he had picked up the device, Farrington asked him for it. He said after he handed it to him, he “broke off running trying to get home”.

After listening to both men’s explanations, Magistrate Rolle Davis told Farrington and Clarke that “some things did not require a fuss”. As a result, he urged them to “exercise good sense” in the future and discharged them both with a warning.

“Don’t come back to court because you may not be so blessed,” he stated.

EMPLOYEE ACCUSED OF THEFT

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A FREEPORT woman was charged with stealing by reason of employment yesterday.

Marilyn Forbes, 43, of Hill Court, appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson Pratt in Grand Bahama. She was charged with one count of stealing

by reason of employment, one count of falsification of accounts, and one count of acquisition of proceeds of criminal conduct.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and elected a summary trial.

Forbes was granted $5,000 bail and ordered not to leave the country before commencement of her trial.

The matter was adjourned to April 7, 8, and 9.

MAN ACCUSED OF ROBBERY BID

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A 28-YEAR-OLD man was remanded to prison over allegations he attempted to rob a woman earlier this month.

Sheroy Mackey appeared before Magistrate Samuel McKinney accused of using a handgun to try to steal an undetermined amount of

cash from Shenique Scavella on March 6.

Due to the nature of the charge, Mackey was not required to enter a plea and his case was adjourned to May 10 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment.

Bail was denied and he was taken into custody until that time.

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

Thursday, March 18, 2021, PAGE 7

Scale of children abused laid bare

from page one

“I can say for what was reported up to February of this year, we had 78 reported cases of physical abuse, 123 cases of sexual abuse, four cases of incest, 12 cases of verbal abuse, six cases of emotional abuse, 151 cases of neglect, (and) eight cases of abandonment for a total of 382,” the minister said.

He added: “My information at this time is suggesting, well it’s only indicating what was reported through our hotlines, but I’m satisfied that the perpetrators would not be the ones who would have reported and so I can say by whatever means these reports would have come by concerned family members, concerned neighbours, etc… I would note I think it is safe to say that these are reported because we believe that there are still a number of unreported cases.”

He could not say if any of the perpetrators were arrested and prosecuted, but assured the public that police are involved.

“I’m satisfied that part of our process and part of our team of stakeholders includes the police, includes the scan unit that assists with the evaluation and assessment and then the police is involved. I can’t give statistics on the police side. What I can say with surety that the police (are) involved.”

FRANKIE CAMPBELL, Minister of Social Services and Urban Development. Photo: Racardo Thomas Back in June, Mr Campbell said his ministry had received increased reports of domestic abuse and child abuse since the COVID19 pandemic began but he could not reveal how many cases had been reported at that time.

Yesterday, he also said management agreements are “about to be signed” in children’s homes to ensure a professional standard is adhered to and eliminate the use of corporal punishment.

This comes after video emerged earlier this year of children being whipped at the Children’s Emergency Hostel.

Six women were charged last month in connection to the incident.

After the video emerged, a worker made other claims about the facility.

“I’m not aware of those reports, but I want to assure the public that whenever anything untoward comes to my attention relative to our homes or relative to any child that is not in our home I will spring into action in accordance with the law,” Mr Campbell said when asked about the worker’s claims. “In accordance with the responsibility that I have as a man and as a father I will do whatever I can to eliminate any threat

or discomfort towards our children.”

Last month, Mr Campbell said his ministry planned to eliminate corporal punishment in all children’s homes following recommendations from the National Child Protection Council that the practice be “ceased” immediately.

“We will notify all employees, all staff members of the children’s homes in writing and have them signed to show that they are aware of the missive, that there will be no corporal punishment in any form at this time and to make sure that we’re clear on what is corporal punishment,” he said, giving an update on the matter.

The management agreements will include a stipulation to adhere to a professional standard of operation.

“We have removed the practice that allowed for the administrator to administer corporal punishment but there are other forms of discipline and so we are about to sign management agreements with all of those childcare facilities and in those management agreements is included a professional standard of operation that will be standard across the board for all of our facilities and it includes behavioral modification activities. It includes punishment that does not involve any abuse – that does not involve corporal punishment.”

PAGE 8, Thursday, March 18, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Vaccinate? It’s your choice but the decision affects us all “This is to protect the health of the recipient, the health of all those with whom the recipient comes into contact and especially to protect the most vulnerable for whom infection with this virus could mean serious illness, hospitalisation or worse.

“In this regard, receiving the vaccine promotes the common good by protecting an individual’s health, promoting public health and saving lives.”

“Be a patriot, protect other people.”

US President Joe Biden A recent article in The Atlantic observed: “When the polio vaccine was declared safe and effective, the news was met with jubilant celebration…

‘Polio routed!’ newspaper headlines exclaimed. ‘An historic victory,’ ‘monumental,’ ‘sensational,’ newscasters declared...

“One might have expected the initial approval of the coronavirus vaccines to spark similar jubilation – especially after a brutal pandemic year.

But that didn’t happen.

Instead, the steady drumbeat of good news about the vaccines has been met with a chorus of relentless pessimism.”

We are living in a different age. Among other factors, back then more people experienced and saw the ravages of polio firsthand. Today, there is relentless negativity by some, including those drunk with anger and personal grievances.

Social media and at times poor reportage has either spread or insufficiently addressed fabrications, conspiracies, disinformation and misinformation, which has often spread at the same rate of COVID19, including all manner of reckless and specious commentary.

GAMBLING

Reasonable and judicious questions concerning the virus and vaccines are critical. But there is also a widespread global and domestic dissemination of anti-intellectual, antiscientific and superstitious memes impervious to treatment or vaccines.

Responding to anti-vaxxers and the 49 percent of men in the United States who identify as Republicans and who say they do not plan to take a COVID19 vaccination, President Joe Biden responded with a clear and passionate moral call: “Be a patriot, protect other people!”

In a letter to Roman Catholics, Archbishop Patrick Pinder lent his moral voice in the promotion of COVID-19 vaccinations:

Pope Francis has referred to a vaccination as “an ethical action, because you are gambling with your health, you are gambling with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others”. Francis understands that taking a vaccine is a civic duty and the morally best thing to do.

Bishop Neil Ellis has also lent his powerful public voice in the call for Bahamians to receive the life-saving vaccine. Experts are assessing the degree to which various vaccines slow transmission to others.

Being vaccinated is a form of enlightened patriotism.

A vaccination is not mandatory. In the end it is a personal choice. But the choice not to take a vaccine can affect others. Not taking a vaccine is a moral choice.

We are human beings, not unfeeling automatons who

should be indifferent to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vacneeds of others. cine, some EU Member The story of Mary Mallon States, including France, is instructive. Nicknamed Germany, Italy and Spain “Typhoid Mary” a century have been slow to vaccinate, ago by the press of the day, appear to be undermining Mallon was an asympto- the UK-designed vaccine matic typhoid carrier who and are headed back to infected between 51 to 122 quite restrictive lockdowns people while working as a because of variants. cook. Medical Meanwhile, professionals both Europe ‘This is to advised Mallon and the United to remove her protect the States appear gallbladder, to be hoardhealth of the which was the ing vaccines. recipient, the infection centre According to health of all in her body. the UK GuardMallon could those with ian: “The not understand American govwhom the how her gallernment has bladder could recipient comes now bought be a danger to into contact and enough doses of her or anyone vaccines from else as she especially to Moderna, Pfizer herself was protect the most and Johnson asymptomatic & Johnson to vulnerable for and not visibly vaccinate 500 ill. She refused whom infection million people the surgery and with this virus – nearly the spent the next could mean entire eligi23 years of her ble population life on North serious illness, twice over.”

Brother Island, hospitalisation Even as New York, or worse.’ there is a glut where she was of vaccines in quarantined. By the developed refusing the surgery she was world, many developing a health risk to others. countries, including The A diagnosis of cancer Bahamas, are still struggling and the decision to forgo to get vaccines to reduce illvarious treatments is a very ness, suffering and death, personal choice. But to including in much of Africa, refuse a vaccine or to wear where many countries are a mask during a raging pan- having extraordinary difdemic is a different sort of ficulties acquiring vaccines. moral choice. In a public Post-pandemic, the health emergency, our indi- African Union should colvidual choices affect others. laborate with India and One medical expert China to set up biomedical posed the emergency in this and vaccine manufacturing fashion. If a country was facilities for the continent, being invaded, some people so that Africa no longer has coming out to fight the to rely on Europe or the US enemy with their individual in such emergencies. guns is not the same as a Ethically, many develcountry mounting a collec- oped countries have proved tive response with all of the selfish in sharing vaccines, armaments at its disposal even as China and India, designed to save and to pro- both with populations of tect the collective good. over a billion, are selling During the pandemic and sharing vaccines with the majority of Bahamians developing countries. have followed the public In a current interview on health measures. It is quite BBC, Cyrus Poonawalla, likely the majority will also Chairman and Managtake a vaccine. But for herd ing Director of the Serum immunity we need as many Institute of India, noted people as possible to be that the Institute intended vaccinated. to manufacture one billion The COVID-19 pan- COVID-19 vaccines by the demic has posed a series end of the year. of ethical choices for indiHe indicated that while viduals, societies and India was quickly ramping governments. up domestic vaccinations, The virus can neither the subcontinent had an be fought successfully by ethical duty to simultaneindividuals nor countries ously assist other countries. in isolation. COVID-19 He also declared that it is greedily and malevolently in India’s self-interest to exploits selfishness and help other countries, with self-absorption on the part whom it wants to resume of individuals, countries economic activity and trade and blocs, which refuse to as quickly as possible. cooperate.

The virus is not intimidated by nationalism and China and India are isolationism by countries, including those who may gaining friends by sharing now be hoarding vaccines vaccines, while the Euroas variants jump borders pean Union and the United causing more death and States are looking isolated, self-absorbed and ineqsuffering. uitable. An international common good includes caring for one’s own while The vaccine battles in also being concerned Europe, pitting the Euro- about the needs of other pean Union against the countries, including out of United Kingdom, includ- enlightened self-interest. ing the availability and With pending approval safety of various vaccines, of emergency authorization is alarming. The battles of the AstraZeneca and appear more political than Novavax vaccines in the US medical.

- which are in addition to Even as the United the already approved Pfizer, Kingdom is success- Moderna and Johnson & fully rolling out the Johnson vaccines - America

SELF-ABSORBED

ALARMING

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

will have many hundreds of millions of vaccines, beyond what the country can deploy domestically.

The world continues to be a Petri dish or bowl for the virus. The pandemic only ends when it ends for the world. In places where the virus is out of control variants will continue to emerge, posing a threat to the entire global commons.

Just as there are ethical dimensions for state actors, our personal decisions have moral dimensions.

While one is free to smoke cigarettes and drink and eat to excess, such personal choices affect public health systems, which is why countries often impose so-called sin taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and sugar in order to pay for the cost of these behaviours to public health.

In medical and bioethics, autonomy is an important principle.

“Autonomy is Latin for ‘self-rule’. We have an obligation to respect the autonomy of other[s], which is to respect the decisions made by other people concerning their own lives.”

But there is a constellation of principles when making choices such as whether to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

There is the principle of beneficence: “We have an obligation to bring about good in all our actions”, though “this corollary principle frequently places us in direct conflict with respecting the autonomy of others.”

There is also the principle of non-malefience, the obligation not to harm others or “First do no harm”. We should seek to minimize harm to others through our decisions and certainly not to increase harm.

With the principle of justice, “we have an obligation to provide others with whatever they are owed or deserve... We have an obligation to treat all people equally, fairly and impartially.”

It is under this principle that the government is committed to equity in the distribution of the vaccine.

The Atlantic piece also observed of the rollout of vaccines: “There is nothing wrong with realism and caution, but effective communication requires a sense of proportion – distinguishing between due alarm and alarmism; warranted, measured caution and doombait; worst-case scenarios and claims of impending catastrophe…

“However, instead of balanced optimism since the launch of the vaccines, the public has been offered a lot of misguided fretting over new virus variants, subjected to misleading debates about the inferiority of certain vaccines… while media outlets wonder whether the pandemic will ever end.”

Sadly some, including some media figures, have been bent on the regurgitation of boring clichés, certain obsessions and unfettered arrogance, endless negativity and snide and snarky comments such as, “It’s about time the vaccine got here!”

But such narrowness, pettiness and immaturity by some stand in dramatic contrast to health care heroes like Nurse Ruth Bastian, who received the first vaccine last Sunday.

Nurse Bastian, a public health care nurse for many decades, is a woman of tremendous humility who has given stellar service to the public health system. She possesses an incandescent spirit, which is an example to us all and worthy of gratitude and high praise.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, March 18, 2021, PAGE 9

Will time overtake the army of prosecutors chasing the Capitol rioters?

A

re they heroes or villains?

Are they martyrs or murderers?

Are they patriots or pariahs?

The United States may now be drifting toward confronting those questions when the answers seemed so obvious just ten weeks ago.

The questions concern the thousands of Americans who, clearly incited by the nation’s then-President, a former New York City mayor and a sitting congressman, formed a mob and breached the meagre defences of the US Capitol.

The resulting riot shocked the world, but no group was more stunned than the Americans themselves who, ignoring long-accumulating evidence to the contrary, felt secure that such an event could not happen in the US. In the wake of the tragic events of January 6, a couple of things have been happening. In the Republican Party, support remains strong for ex-President Donald Trump, whose cynical attempt to reverse the November election results and return himself to power for another term caused the riot.

GOP elected officials remain mostly trapped between what they saw with their own eyes and what their likely primary voters may prefer in the general election next year.

While Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and House number three ranking party official Liz

Cheney have spoken out against Trump, they remain exceptions. Most of the rest have stuck with silence or continued to exhibit public fealty to Trump.

They continue to watch, wait and see how the political winds will blow.

Not too far west on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, however, the FBI and the Department of Justice are undertaking what will surely wind up being one of the most comprehensive, complicated and fraught investigations in American history.

The Justice Department is now under the leadership of former federal judge Merrick Garland, whose nomination for the US Supreme Court by President Barack Obama was infamously stonewalled and scuttled by McConnell’s Senate just five years ago.

At his confirmation hearing last month, Garland confirmed the capitol riot investigation will remain a top priority for his department.

The US Attorney’s office in Washington DC issued the following statement: “The investigation and prosecution of the Capitol attack will likely be one of the largest in American history, both in terms of the number of defendants prosecuted and the nature and the volume of the evidence.”

Federal charges have already been lodged against over 300 rioters, and prosecutors have said that over 100 more people will eventually be identified by videotapes, security

cameras, social media posts and other available sources.

Federal officials have revealed their investigators have executed more than 900 electronic and paper search warrants. They have ploughed through more than 15,000 hours of surveillance and body-camera tape and examined 1,600 phones and other electronic devices.

So far, the feds have fol-

“GOP elected officials remain mostly trapped between what they saw with their own eyes and what their likely primary voters may prefer in the general election next year.” lowed up on more than 210,000 tips from the general public.

The whole process is starting to conjure images of Kevin Costner’s portrayal of US Treasury agent Eliot Ness and Sir Sean Connery’s Academy Award-winning role as his local police ally Jimmy Malone in the 1987 film “The Untouchables”.

Remember who played Al Capone, who was the ultimate target of the federal agents as they sought to unravel and dismantle the legendary mobster’s Prohibition-era corruption and bootleg booze-based criminal enterprise 90 years ago? It was Robert DeNiro.

DONALD Trump speaking last month. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

IS HE MELLOWING? DON’T YOU BELIEVE IT

O

f course, few will monitor the judicial proceedings more closely than Trump himself, now seemingly settled in exile in Palm Beach. Is he mellowing? He did concede to scientific and medical reality this week and urged his millions of followers to get the COVID vaccine that is now protecting increasing numbers of Americans.

But is he really mellowing? Not so likely, his friends have told reporters. They say his focus remains on avenging himself against perceived political traitors and maintaining his formidable political power and influence.

Speculation naturally continues about Trump’s future plans, politically and financially. He continues to be coy about his political future, but continues to stoke speculation that will keep him in the public eye.

Meantime, the former President’s Trump Organization still owns ten hotels worldwide, 13 golf clubs, an estimated 20 commercial or residential developments bearing the Trump name, and other miscellaneous commercial bits and pieces.

There have been news reports that investors, ironically mimicking many of the predatory habits of Trump himself and some of his plutocratic pals, are checking on Trump’s commercial holdings with an eye to buying them while they are supposedly devalued by the rapidly fading lustre of his personal brand.

Not so, Donald Trump Jr. said to reporters recently. “We have an unbelievable

company with some of the best and most valuable real estate assets in the world. Our brand has never been stronger and we are very excited for the future.”

Some observers are nonetheless speculating that since most of Trump’s political base cannot afford to pay the fees required of the patrons of his commercial properties, he and his organization will suffer.

And they note that in the past four years, four hotels bearing the Trump brand have been shuttered.

Reporters digging into Trump’s finances say revenue at his Washington DC hotel dropped by 60 percent last year, and at Miami’s Doral by 44 percent.

Both properties are reportedly tied to hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of loans held by Deutsche Bank.

But others said that despite the presence of financial vultures circling Trump’s weakened commercial empire, its financial base was and may again be solid.

A noted brand and marketing expert told the Washington Post that “the whole Trump Organization was built – and very well constructed, I might say – on aspiration, on luxury, on wealth. And Trump did that very well.”

However you may feel about him, Donald Trump remains a fascinating, newsworthy character, even as he does less and less in public these days.

His successor?

He’s just trying to pull the country out of the public health and economic morass he inherited.

RIOTERS are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers inside the Capitol, January 6, in Washington.

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

It’s not difficult to imagine that in some prosecutors’ minds, the ultimate target of the ongoing federal dragnet is the former President himself.

Perhaps Trump would agree to play his leading role in the film that is sure to come. He just might relish the chance to return to the spotlight.

The riots on January 6 led to five deaths and assaults on an estimated 140 police officers. More criminal cases have already been filed in US district court in Washington in this massive case than were filed in the entire calendar year of 2020.

More than 100 federal prosecutors are working on this case. Many have been temporarily seconded from the vast array of other US federal prosecutors’ offices around the country.

Federal court staff in Washington have already handled seven times their normal caseloads, according to newspaper accounts.

The phone and other

records of several rioters dating back to September 2020 have been subpoenaed as investigators attempt to establish that some defendants planned the riots well in advance.

While several of those charged so far are affiliated with the now-infamous Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups, it should be noted many defendants have jobs, families and little or no criminal records.

Prosecutors are already requesting more time to gather information for indictments and prosecutions. Defendants are petitioning for release from jail pending trial.

The rapid pace of events is likely imperilling future convictions as legal rules are ignored or overlooked.

And time is passing. The vivid memories of January 6 may fade. Some versions of alternate reality are emerging.

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson, whose stubborn public refusal to

acknowledge the obvious taxes the imagination of even moderate conservative commentators, is now saying he wasn’t in the least concerned by the physical threat posed to him and his legislative colleagues by the rioters.

Weeks will go by.

Then months. Many new stories will push January 6 further off the front pages, websites and television screens. Some Republican revisionists will increasingly peddle nonsense about the “real” perpetrators of the riots.

What are the chances that many of the hooligans who trashed the Capitol like so many undisciplined high school delinquents will come to be regarded by millions of Americans as heroes, patriots or even martyrs?

Or will the United States be able to handle this incipient crisis with calm, efficiency, justice and maturity?

The world, and the nation itself, will watch attentively.

PAGE 10, Thursday, March 18, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Why so many US presidents like to say ‘I’m Irish’

By RICHARD JOHNSON Lecturer in US Politics and Policy, Queen Mary University of London AT A crowded campaign event early in the 2020 US election race, Joe Biden was asked for “a quick word for the BBC”. Half-incredulously, Biden glanced over his shoulder, replying, “The BBC? I’m Irish,” before flashing a smile and disappearing into an adjacent room.

The video gained substantial attention after Biden’s victory last November. It seemingly foretold an ominous shift in the US-UK relationship from a son of a British immigrant who loved the Queen (“A great, great woman,” oozed Donald Trump after a state banquet in 2019) to a man who wouldn’t even speak to the BBC on grounds of his Irish ancestry.

Biden is the most strongly identified Irish-American in the White House since John F Kennedy, the only other Catholic President.

As Vice President, Biden made jokes about banning the colour orange from his house (the colour of Northern Irish unionism) and, as he prepared his run for President, he met with the former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams to discuss, as Adams put it, “UI” (a united Ireland).

Yet, relying on the simple fact of Biden’s ancestry to predict US-UK relations under his presidency is misguided. Irish nationalist sentiments run high in the US, especially among its large diaspora. US Presidents frequently indulge

these views, at least symbolically. But, in practical terms, they have had little impact on the US-UK relationship. Compartmentalisation, not sectarianism, has been the US’s foreign policy approach. In other words, the US does not see its relationship with the UK through the prism of the Irish question, and it seems likely to remain this way under Biden.

More than 30 million people in the US – about one in ten Americans – identify as “Irish”. The population of Ireland is less than five million, meaning there are over six times as many people in the US who claim to be Irish in the US as those living in the Republic of Ireland itself.

During the Troubles, this group was even larger – both in absolute and percentage terms. In the 1980 census, 40 million Americans identified as Irish, constituting about onefifth of the US population (a higher percentage than African Americans or Hispanics at the time).

Republicanism has found strong support among the Irish diaspora in the US. At the time of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, a Gallup poll found a majority of Americans supported a united Ireland, and just 17 percent thought Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom.

During the Troubles, a variety of pro-nationalist interest groups were set up by the Irish diaspora in the United States. The most “militantly republican” group of the Irish lobby was Irish Northern Aid

PRESIDENT Joe Biden sits next to a bowl of Irish shamrocks, left, as he has a virtual meeting with Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin on St Patrick’s Day, in the Oval Office of the White House, yesterday.

Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP (Noraid). A 1981 federal court judgment revealed the group’s links to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Such groups were condemned by moderate nationalist leaders.

Other elements of the Irish lobby focused on change through legislation and executive action. They experienced some success but largely limited to symbolic gestures. In 1994, Bill Clinton reluctantly agreed to grant Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams a 48-hour visa to visit New York to speak at a conference in New York, in spite of protestations from the British government.

FRIENDS OF IRELAND (BUT ALSO THE UK)

The so-called Irish lobby has gained renewed attention in recent years. Before the UK secured a free trade agreement with the EU in

December 2020, members of the US congress threatened to block a US–UK trade deal unless the UK– EU agreement maintained an open border between the north and south of the island of Ireland.

The House Committee on Ways and Means, which would scrutinise a US–UK trade deal, was chaired by Congressman Richard Neal (a Democrat from Massachusetts). Neal is co-chair of the Friends of Ireland Caucus, founded in 1981 at the time of the IRA prisoner hunger strikes.

In spite of this, US presidential administrations have sought a more balanced approach. The US considers the UK to be one of its most valuable and important strategic partners. US Presidents work closely with British governments, while also offering symbolic affirmation for Ireland.

This leads to US Presidents indulging in a bit of double-speak. Perhaps the

most dramatic example of this was shown by Jimmy Carter, who – on St Patrick’s Day 1976 – marched down Fifth Avenue in New York wearing a badge emblazoned with the slogan “England, get out of Ireland”.

Yet, the following year, Carter chose to make England the destination of his first international visit as President. Carter addressed a 20,000-strong crowd in Newcastle with the traditional, “Howay the lads”, which was returned with rapturous applause. Carter declared himself “to be a Geordie now”. Relations between Carter and Labour Prime Minister Jim Callaghan were reportedly good.

Biden’s references to his Irish ancestry do not distinguish him from other US Presidents. With Donald Trump being the exception, nearly every President of the last half-century has identified as “Irish”, even when the evidence of such a link has been tenuous.

Bill Clinton, for example, claimed to have Irish roots, but there is scant record to link him with Irish ancestors.

If measured by when their last ancestor left Ireland, Joe Biden is no more Irish than Barack Obama.

Indeed, the Irish ancestors of Kennedy, Obama and Biden all left Ireland within a decade of each other, during or just after the Irish Potato Famine (1845 to 1852). The last ancestor of Joe Biden to be born in Ireland was his great-great grandfather, born in 1832, one year after Barack Obama’s closest Irish ancestor.

Nearly all US Presidents like to say, “I’m Irish,” but traditionally this has not meant being anti-British.

While Biden’s personal affinities are clear, we should expect him to follow his predecessors in placing US security interests before Irish nationalist affections.

• Originally published on theconversation.com

Public Consultation Lighthouse Point

The public is advised that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for Disney Cruise Line’s project at Lighthouse Point, Eleuthera, The Bahamas, is available for review.

The development, a Cruise Ship Destination, will include an open-trestle pier and marina that don’t require dredging, open-air buildings and other structures, walking paths, a new public roadway, service roads, and back-of-house support areas. The development will utilize 16% of the 758-acre site, with Disney donating 25% of the site to the people and Government of The Bahamas. Bahamian residents and citizens will have access to the site.

A public meeting will be held on Thursday, April 8, at 6 p.m. via Zoom with the meeting ID: 979 4656 3786.

Information about the project and a downloadable version of the Environmental Impact Assessment are available at http://www.lighthousepointbahamas. com. The EIA is available to the public for review at the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection and the Eleuthera Administrator’s Office in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, during normal business hours. The public is invited to send written comments to inquiries@depp.gov.bs or via the project’s website noted above no later than 21 days after the public meeting or April 29, 2021, by 5pm.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, March 18, 2021, PAGE 11

Stormy seas ahead as cruisers’ confidence fades

By JENNIFER HOLLAND Lecturer in Tourism, University of Suffolk

as places of danger and infection, particularly in Australia. Lots of information about COVID-19 on cruise ships was published, especially about the Ruby Princess, grabbing the public’s attention.

Undoubtedly, this amplified people’s perceptions of risk around cruise holidays.

Our study found that the many stories on COVID19 also reminded the public of previous illnesses and outbreaks onboard cruise ships.

Given the high intensity of media interest in Australia, we weren’t surprised to find that perceived risks were higher there compared with the UK, with willingness to cruise lower.

This suggests that there could be regional differences in how difficult it is for the industry to recover after the pandemic.

THE cruise industry has weathered many storms, including fairly regular brushes with disease.

Outbreaks of norovirus, H1N1 and measles have all happened in the not too distant past. Despite this, a cruise has traditionally been regarded as a safe holiday – the kind where you don’t have to worry about a thing.

COVID-19 has changed this. Cruise ships were a hotbed of transmission during the early stages of the pandemic, particularly the Diamond Princess, which was quarantined for six weeks in Japan in spring 2020. It had over 700 confirmed cases, and for a period was the world’s leading COVID19 hotspot after China.

Coverage of this and other ships’ outbreaks has taken its toll.

Research I conducted with colleagues in AusMost respondents in tralia shows the pandemic the study said they would has changed how people wait until it was safe to think of cruise holidays. cruise again – and there’s We surveyed over 600 probably a long way to go people in the UK and Aus- on changing the current tralia, both cruisers and perception of cruise ships non-cruisers, to ask them as giant incubators of disabout their willingness to ease. It’s doubtful pent-up cruise and future travel demand from loyal cruisers intentions, to explore how will be enough to fill cruise COVID-19 has affected ships to capacity – which perceptions of travel and is critical for long-term cruise risks. economic viability – and Nearly 45 percent of so financial uncertainty interviewees had less grows. belief than before the The pandemic has been pandemic that cruise catastrophic for the industry lines are transparent and so far, with financial losses honest about safety or of $50 billion, 1.17 million health issues. job losses, Respondents When the 18 cruise were also fearships sold or pandemic began, ful of going on scrapped and a cruise, with cruise ships at least three 47 percent immediately cruise lines saying they stopping tradsuffered high don’t trust ing. Before the cruise lines infection rates pandemic, a to look after among passengers new cruise ship them if somewas built every thing goes and crew. During 47 days, and wrong. This is the first wave, off the back of staggering for the industry’s thousands were an industry robust growth that depends stranded onboard over the past on repeat ships as they were two deccustomers. ades another held in quarantine We fur19 ships are ther found or refused entry due to enter that 67 per- to ports as operation in cent of people 2021, despite are less will- borders closed. demand very ing to cruise likely to have as a result of the pan- fallen. demic, while 69 percent To recover, the industry said they feel less posi- will need to address peotive about cruising now. ple’s perceptions of risk, What’s most surprising which our research shows is that even repeat cruishave heightened. Risk ers said they feel nervous perception has a signifiabout cruising as a result cant influence on holiday of the pandemic, with decision-making, and it this emotion coming up will be even more critical repeatedly in the survey’s post-COVID. open-ended questions. This In the wake of the panis a gamechanger. Until demic, would-be cruisers now, loyal cruisers have will need to think about always come back, with health protocols, outbreak previous disease outbreaks prevention plans, onboard having little impact. sanitation procedures, social distancing measures and health screenings.

Also, they’ll need to consider the implications When the pandemic of potential outbreaks began, cruise ships imme- during the cruise. These diately suffered high could result in being quarinfection rates among pas- antined in their cabin, sengers and crew. During needing to access healththe first wave, thousands care, or even the cruise were stranded onboard being terminated.

All of this creates uncerships as they were held in quarantine or refused tainty, which adds to entry to ports as borders perceptions of risk. The closed. By the end of April industry will need to pro2020, over 50 cruise ships vide reassuring answers had confirmed cases of on all of these points to COVID-19 and at least 65 entice holidaymakers back deaths had occurred among onboard. Cruise companies will also need to convince passengers and crew.

The story of one ship – customers that they are the Ruby Princess – gained trustworthy and accountparticular attention. Its able, given the concerns passengers were allowed about honesty and transto disembark in Sydney in parency raised by our mid-March, with a number research.

Overall, the sector has carrying the virus. The ship would go on to be linked to been devastated by the panmore than 900 COVID-19 demic. Possibly no other cases and 28 deaths. The area of tourism has been as state of New South Wales widely affected. A return to later launched a public the robust growth enjoyed inquiry into the ship’s out- previously is unlikely for break and found the state’s many years, if ever. But for ministry of health made a there to be any chance of number of serious errors in this happening, the industry allowing passengers to get must understand how the pandemic has affected peooff.

It didn’t take long for ple’s perceptions of cruises cruises to be depicted and address their concerns.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

WHAT WENT WRONG?

THE QUARANTINED ship Diamond Princess is pictured through barbed wire at Yokohama port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on February 17, 2020.

Photo: Mayuko Isobe/Kyodo News via AP

WE ARE LOOKING FOR AN EXPERIENCED

FUND/PENSIONS OFFICER

WHO HAS A PASSION FOR THE WORK The Position We are looking to add to our talented team of professionals. Serious candidates must have a proven track record of the following characteristics: hard working, diligent, team oriented, flexible, keen eye for detail, strong sense of time management and organizational skills, confidentiality.

We Offer Our Employees • Competitive salary and employee benefits.

• A technology centered operation.

• Education and support to grow your personal wealth.

Job Duties and Responsibilities • Assist with drafting client fund structure synopsis, client presentations and client contact sheets.

• Actively work with new clients and internal stakeholders to ensure a smooth onboarding process.

• Provide operational support to the digital assets business by performing preliminary due diligence, custody and transactional support and private key storage.

• Receive, stamp and record cheques from pension and IRA clients.

• Prepare vouchers and support for deposits to be given to investments department.

• Enter incoming contributions or withdrawals into the PX 3000 system.

• Effectively monitor the receipt of all subscriptions and redemptions to include fax, post, trade platforms, processing same accurately and in a timely manner • Prepare and distribute investor contract notes.

• Maintenance of shareholder register and deal log.

• Facilitate shareholder reporting according to fund dealing policy.

• Assist with the preparation of all fund board resolutions/minutes, including meeting agendas as required.

• Assist with ongoing regulatory updates and filings.

Experience and Qualifications • Three (3) to five (5) years’ experience in a professional working environment.

• Minimum five (5) years’ experience in the financial services industry. Good working knowledge of QuickBooks.

• Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in Accounting, Finance, or other relevant business discipline.

• Quick learner with data entry skills.

• Knowledge of accounting to understand the posting of entries.

• Completed at minimum a certificate course in bookkeeping or QuickBooks

Position • Full-time position

About Leno

Leno Financial Services is a Bahamian owned and operated business. We pride ourselves in providing our clients innovative, user-friendly, customized financial services to maximize their investment aspirations.

Our talented team of professionals work collectively to achieve our business goals. We work hard together, peppered with fun times.

We believe that every team member has a unique voice and that each voice has value. We provide the space, education, and support for team members to make a meaningful contribution and grow their careers in ways they can feel proud of.

Please send your resume and three (3) job references to strivewisegroup@gmail.com by Friday, April 2, 2021.

PAGE 12, Thursday, March 18, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Man killed eight, including six Asian women - but police say he told them it was not about race ATLANTA Associated Press A WHITE gunman was charged yesterday with killing eight people, most of them women of Asian descent, at three Atlantaarea massage parlors in an attack that sent terror through the Asian American community that’s increasingly been targeted during the coronavirus pandemic.

Robert Aaron Long, 21, told police that the attack was not racially motivated and claimed to have a “sex addiction”, with authorities saying he apparently lashed out at what he saw as sources of temptation. Six of the victims were identified as Asian and seven were women.

The shootings appear to be at the “intersection of gender-based violence, misogyny and xenophobia”, state Rep Bee Nguyen said, the first Vietnamese American to serve in the Georgia House and a frequent advocate for women and communities of color.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said that regardless of the shooter’s motivation, “it is unacceptable, it is hateful and it has to stop”.

Authorities said that they didn’t know if Long ever went to the massage parlors where the shootings occurred but that he was planning to go to Florida in a plot to attack “some type of porn industry”.

“He apparently has an issue, what he considers a sex addiction, and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places, and it’s a temptation for him that he

AUTHORITIES at a massage parlor on Tuesday which was the scene of a multiple murder - the first of three locations targeted in a shooting spree that left eight dead, six of them Asian women. 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long is in custody. Photo: Mike Stewart/AP wanted to eliminate,” Cher- said it was too early to tell if the spread of the coronavi- taken to a hospital, where okee County sheriff’s Capt the attack was racially moti- rus across the United States. two died. vated — “but the indicators The virus was first identified About an hour later, Jay Baker told reporters.

When asked whether right now are it may not in China, and then-Pres- police responding to a call somebody could have be”. Neither he nor Baker ident Donald Trump and about a robbery found sexual encounters at the clarified their statements, others have used racially three women dead from businesses, Bottoms did and Baker did not return a charged terms to describe it. apparent gunshot wounds not answer, saying she did text message seeking more The attacks began on at Gold Spa. not want “to get into victim details.

Tuesday evening, when Officers then learned of a The killings horrified five were shot at Youngs call reporting gunfire across blaming, victim shaming here”. She said police have the Asian American com- Asian Massage Parlor near the street, at Aromatherapy not been to the parlors in munity, which saw the Woodstock, about 30 miles Spa, and found another her city beyond a minor shootings as an attack on north of Atlanta, authori- woman shot dead. potential theft. them, given a recent wave of ties said. Two people died President Joe Biden said Sheriff Frank Reynolds assaults that coincided with at the scene, and three were the FBI briefed him and

noted Asian Americans are concerned about a recent rise in violence, a surge he has previously condemned.

He called the attack “very, very troublesome” but was waiting for answers on the shooter’s motivation.

Vice President Kamala Harris offered condolences to the victims’ families.

“We’re not yet clear about the motive. But I do want to say to our Asian American community that we stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked and outraged all people,” said Harris, the first Black and South Asian woman to be vice president.

Over the past year, thousands of cases of abuse have been reported to an anti-hate group that tracks incidents against Asian Americans, and hate crimes in general are at the highest level in more than a decade.

“We are heartbroken by these acts of violence,” Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta said in a statement. “While the details of the shootings are still emerging, the broader context cannot be ignored.

The shootings happened under the trauma of increasing violence against Asian Americans nationwide, fueled by white supremacy and systemic racism.”

Nico Straughan, 21, who went to school with Long, described him as “super nice, super Christian, very quiet” and said Long brought a Bible to high school every day and would walk around carrying it.

“He went from one of the nicest kids I ever knew in high school to being on the news yesterday,” Straughan said.

VIRUS SURGE IN EUROPE A CAUTIONARY TALE FOR US OPTIMISM is spreading in the US as COVID-19 deaths plummet and states ease restrictions and open vaccinations to younger adults. But across Europe, dread is setting in with another wave of infections that is closing schools and cafes and bringing new lockdowns.

The pandemic’s diverging paths on the two continents can be linked in part to the much more successful vaccine rollout in the US and the spread of more contagious variants in Europe.

Health experts in the US, though, say what’s happening in Europe should serve as a warning against ignoring social distancing or dropping other safeguards too early.

“Each of these countries has had nadirs like we are having now, and each took an upward trend after they disregarded known mitigation strategies,” said Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “They simply took their eye off the ball.”

The result has been a

sharp spike in new infections and hospitalisations in several European countries over the past few weeks.

Poland’s rate of new COVID-19 cases has more than doubled since February, straining its health care system and leading to a three-week nationwide lockdown announced Wednesday for shopping malls, theaters, galleries and sports centres.

Italy closed most of its classrooms at the beginning of this week and expanded areas where restaurants and cafes can do only takeout or delivery. The country’s health experts say they’re seeing an increasing number of patients who are middle-aged and younger.

In France, officials imposed weekend lockdowns around the French Riviera in the south and the English Channel in the north, and are preparing new restrictions for the Paris region.

COVID-19 patients occupy 100 percent of standard intensive care hospital beds in the area surrounding the nation’s capital.

“If we don’t do anything, we’re heading toward catastrophe,” said Remi Salomon, a top official in the Paris public hospital authority.

Serbia announced a nationwide lockdown for the rest of the week, closing all non-essential shops and businesses. The country of seven million people reported more than 5,000 new cases on Tuesday.

The trends are far more encouraging in the US, which has recorded about 537,000 deaths overall, more than any other country.

Deaths per day in the US have plunged to an average of just under 1,300, down from a high of about 3,400 two months ago. New cases are running at about 55,000 per day after peaking at more than a quarter-million per day in early January.

The EU’s overall vaccination efforts lag far behind those of Britain and the US because of shortages and other hurdles. Roughly one in every five people in the US has received at least one dose, while in most of the European countries, it’s fewer than one of every ten.

TANZANIA PRESIDENT, A COVID SKEPTIC, DIES AFTER WEEKS OUT OF PUBLIC SIGHT NAKURU, Kenya Associated Press PRESIDENT John Magufuli of Tanzania, a prominent COVID-19 skeptic, has died. He was 61 years old.

Magufuli’s death was announced yesterday by Vice President Samia Suluhu, who said the president died of heart failure.

“Our beloved president passed on at 6pm this evening,” said Suluhu on national television. “All flags will be flown at halfmast for 14 days. It is sad news. The president has had this illness for the past

ten years.”

The vice president said Magufuli died at a hospital in Dar es Salaam.

Magufuli had not been seen in public since the end of February and top government officials had denied he was in ill health even as rumours swirled online he was sick and possibly incapacitated from illness.

Magufuli was one of Africa’s most prominent deniers of COVID-19. He said last year Tanzania had eradicated the disease through three days of national prayer. Tanzania has not reported its COVID-19 tallies of confirmed cases and

deaths to African health authorities since April 2020.

But the number of deaths of people experiencing breathing problems reportedly grew and earlier this month the US embassy warned of a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Tanzania since January.

Days later, the presidency announced the death of John Kijazi, Magufuli’s chief secretary. Soon after the death was announced of the vice president of the semiautonomous island region of Zanzibar, whose political party earlier reported he had COVID-19.