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D’Aguilar warns public must help to prevent devastating third wave By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net TOURISM Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar has said the country cannot afford to enter a third COVID-19 wave, noting a worrisome uptick in COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks. On Saturday, 42 new cases were recorded, bringing the nation’s total to 9,076. Friday saw 34 new COVID-19 cases, while 14 cases were recorded on Thursday, 33 on Wednesday, 12 on Monday and 14 last Sunday for a total of
167 last week. Thirty people are currently in the hospital. Health officials confirmed 160 cases the previous week. The Tribune understands the climbing COVID-19 numbers have concerned the government, sparking discussions at the Cabinet level over whether certain islands may now need tighter restrictions. The Minnis administration wants to get a handle on this situation as it awaits a shipment of OxfordAstraZeneca vaccines from SEE PAGE FIVE
CHURCHES: VACCINE HAS OUR BLESSING THE Bahamas Christian Council’s COVID Vaccine Investigative Committee has released its report on coronavirus vaccinations, saying experts agree that the benefits of getting the shot far outweighs the disadvantages. However, the committee
recommended that all churches make their own determination in advising their flock about taking the vaccine, adding that whether or not a person decides to get vaccinated is a personal choice. SEE PAGE FIVE
HELP IS ON THE MENU
CHEF Joel Johnson held a food and clothing drive in the Bain Town Community on Saturday, feeding more than 100 people and providing 120 bags of clothes. See page two for more. Photo: Racardo Thomas
‘DON’T SHOW LENIENCY TO COVID TEST FAKERS’ By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net
FORMER Health Minister Dr Duane Sands said “now is not the time for leniency” as officials continue to investigate several people who attempted to travel domestically using falsified COVID-19 RT
PCR test results. Yesterday, Dr Sands said the alleged offenders were driven by “selfish” motives. According to police, on Friday while at Lynden Pindling International Airport’s Domestic Section, six adults and one minor who were scheduled to travel to SEE PAGE FIVE
ECONOMY SUFFERED $3BN LOSS OF TOURIST SPENDING By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
COVID-19 likely cost The Bahamas up to $3bn in lost in-country tourist spending last year, with Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar asserting yesterday: “We have to get the sector back into operation.”
Mr D’Aguilar said he had not “gone through the numbers” but the pandemic’s impact was “evident”. He added: “I think we have to get our tourism sector back into operation, and get people vaccinated and travelling again.” FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
SISTER LOSES SECOND BROTHER TO GUNMAN INSIGHT By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
A MAN was found dead on Saturday morning at Gibbs Corner off East Street with apparent gunshot wounds. The deceased was identified by his sister as 49-year-old Charles Williams. Police press liaison
A MAN was shot dead on Saturday. officer, Assistant Superintendent (ASP) Audley Peters told reporters on the scene that shortly after
7am officers were called to a shooting incident. “Officers responded and on their arrival they met the body of a male lying on the ground with what appeared to be gunshot wounds about the body. Emergency Medical Services visited the scene and following the examinations they pronounced the body lifeless.” SEE PAGE SEVEN
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
BEHIND THE WALLS OF FOX HILL PRISON
SEE PAGE EIGHT
PAGE 2, Monday, March 29, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
7,000 vaccinated By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net
THE FOOD and clothing drive by Joel Johnson on Saturday. Photos: Racardo Thomas
HELP IS ON THE MENU A LOCAL chef gave back to the community by hosting a food and clothing drive on Hospital Lane on Saturday. The event was spearheaded by chef Joel
Johnson who thanked donors for help making the outreach initiative a success. According to a post on his Facebook page, Mr
Johnson said more than 100 people were fed on Saturday and 120 bags of clothes were donated. He said the event was the start of more to come.
MORE than 7,000 people in New Providence and Grand Bahama have received the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine with officials expecting 33,600 more doses this week. According to the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday, the expected batch of vaccines from the World Health Organisation’s COVAX Facility represents the first tranche of 100,800 doses earmarked for The Bahamas and pre-paid through the PAHO Revolving Fund. The statement said around 63 percent of people who have received the vaccine are age 60 and older. Forty-two percent of people who received the vaccine were male and 58 percent are female. The statement said vaccinations will take place in Eleuthera this week. Grand Bahama’s vaccine programme will also resume. “The Bahamas has been informed by the Pan-American Health Organisation that it will receive 33,600 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX Facility this week. “The batch represents the first tranche of a total
of 100,800 doses earmarked for The Bahamas and prepaid through the PAHO Revolving Fund.” The country received its first batch of vaccines on March 10 — 20,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine donated by the government of India. “Since the COVID19 vaccination programme began on March 14, 2021, more than 7,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered on New Providence and Grand Bahama,” the statement said. “The highest number of COVID-19 vaccinations administered on a single day totaled more than 1,000. To date, 63 percent of those who have received the vaccine are over the age of 60. Others include healthcare workers and staff of the uniformed branches. Forty-two percent of persons who received the vaccine were male and 58 percent, female.” Vaccinations will continue on New Providence and Grand Bahama today through Wednesday, and on Eleuthera from Tuesday through Thursday. For New Providence, vaccinations will continue for staff of the uniformed branches only on Monday and Tuesday at Loyola Hall, Gladstone Road. Unformed branches
include Royal Bahamas Defence Force, Royal Bahamas Police Force, COVID ambassadors, as well as customs, immigration and correctional officers. On Wednesday, appointments at Loyola Hall will be open to staff of the judiciary, uniformed staff branches, healthcare workers and members of the public over the age of 60. On Grand Bahama, the focus will be on the east and west ends of the island at the start of the week and will continue at the Susan J Wallace Community Centre, beginning mid-week. On New Providence and Grand Bahama, mobile units will provide vaccinations to nursing homes and other residential facilities. On Eleuthera, including Harbour Island and Spanish Wells, vaccines will be administered starting with healthcare workers, residents over 60, and uniformed staff beginning Tuesday through Thursday. Clinic administrators will notify residents of Eleuthera of vaccination centre locations and times. The national programme will resume after Easter. Eligible residents should continue to check www.doctorshosp. com/vaccine-registration.html for appointments.
TWO DIE IN ROAD CRASHES By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
TWO people lost their lives over the weekend in separate traffic accidents. The first incident happened on Friday in Andros. According to police, shortly after 5pm officers on that island were called to a traffic accident that occurred in the settlement of Staniard Creek. “When the officers arrived on scene, they met a dark blue Honda Accord with extensive damage as a result
of colliding into a utility pole. A close inspection of the vehicle revealed an unresponsive adult male trapped in the wreckage. The body was removed and transported to the community clinic where it was later pronounced dead by the medical practitioner,” police said. The second incident occurred on Saturday before 5pm at Cumberland Street in New Providence. When police arrived, they saw there was a collision involving a Nissan Cube and a Jeep Grand Cherokee. “The Nissan Cube was
extensively damaged. An inspection of the vehicle was conducted, the officers found an unresponsive adult male. Emergency Medical Services visited the scene, examined the body and determined that there were no signs of life,” police said. “Initial investigations revealed that both drivers were travelling along Cumberland Street, when the driver of the Cube attempted to overtake the Jeep. The driver of the Cube hit the Jeep, lost control and collided into a utility pole,” police said.
THE TRIBUNE
Monday, March 29, 2021, PAGE 3
Minnis: No one above law By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said “nobody’s above the law” when asked about arrests of several Democratic National Alliance (DNA) members last week. Dr Minnis also said he had heard about the arrests through the media. Last Monday, DNA leader Arinthia Komolafe and several party members were arrested and questioned for several hours at Central Police Station. They were held in reference to allegations of unlawful assembly on March 3 when they protested in Parliament Square. Police also alleged they “pushed on officers” in an attempt to gain entry to the House of Assembly. Following their release, Police Commissioner Paul Rolle said the party did not have permission to demonstrate as is required by law. Despite the police chief insisting he does not take instructions from politicians, some see this incident as being politically motivated and have pointed fingers at the
DNA leader Arintha Komolafe speaking to the media. prime minister. However, Dr Minnis made it clear to reporters on Friday while in Ragged Island that he found out about what happened through the press reports. “The first time I found
out is when I saw the newspaper like everyone else,” Dr Minnis said. “I heard it in the press, but I’m accused of many things. When you’re a leader anything that goes wrong you’re accused for. Things that
Photos: Racardo Thomas go right you never receive credit for. So I’m accused of it, but all I would say is nobody’s above the law. “The commissioner of police is constitutionally protected and our forefathers recognised the
importance of constitutionally protecting the police which means that if I do wrong constitutionally he can bring the necessary law on me as prime minister. That’s his job. That’s his duty...”
Former DNA leader Branville McCartney has questioned whether members of the party acted according to police’s recollection, adding if it were so, the group would have been arrested on the spot. However, Commissioner Rolle has said police have a year to act on misdemeanours. Speaking to The Tribune recently, the former Bamboo Town MP said the arrests of the nine DNA members were a “travesty to democracy”. After police contacted both Mrs Komolafe and DNA chairman Omar Smith more than a week ago, the group went to the station for questioning. Once there, they were arrested. “Certainly it was a travesty to democracy for what happened to the DNA and Mrs Komolafe,” Mr McCartney said last week. “To me that reeks of politics and it’s a damn shame that something like that is happening and that the police are being used to facilitate it when in fact we have so many issues going on regarding crime and murders. It’s obvious as to what happened. “I am flabbergasted that this would have happened in this day and age.”
PM INSISTS HE IS ‘TOTALLY’ AGAINST OIL DRILLING By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis on Friday doubled down on his position against oil drilling in Bahamian waters as Bahamas Petroleum Company hopes to renew its four licences. The company has revealed it plans to seek renewal of its four Bahamas exploration licences even though it announced last month it had ceased drilling operations after having failed to find commercially viable volumes of oil. On Friday, Dr Minnis told reporters in Ragged Island he had not seen “any request” for renewal, but reaffirmed he was “totally” against drilling within the country’s waters
as “our waters should be preserved”. “We have some of the best fish nurseries in the world,” Dr Minnis told reporters. He was in Ragged Island with Minister of Works Desmond Bannister to tour the progress of major capital projects there. “I think it’s essential for us to preserve that. Protect our marine resources. Protect our waters. That’s our touristic product. That’s our food source. That’s our economy and, yes, oil may make a few people rich but look around the world – does it benefit the entire nation? “But I do know that tourism benefits all,” Dr Minnis added. “I do know that our marine life benefits all. I do know that the beauty of our resources and our water
benefits all and I will do all to protect it.” BPC started its exploration for oil in December 2020. That same month, however, Dr Minnis stated he was against oil drilling in Bahamian waters, but suggested the government could not back out of the oil exploration deal which was agreed to by a former administration. At the time he explained: “Unfortunately, we were saddled with an agreement that we met there. When we discussed it with the legal department, we were advised that the commitment and everything was signed and basically, we could not get out of it.” Meanwhile, local environmentalists hope no new oil deal goes forward. “The Bahamas National Trust’s position has not
changed on oil exploration,” Eric Carey, Bahamas National Trust executive director, said in a recent interview. “We don’t think it’s something we should be doing. It does not bode well for our future. We’re a country threatened by the impending ravages of climate change and fossil fuels are certainly one of the greatest contributors to changing the climate of our planet... so we should not be exploring and allowing for oil. “It also is the dirtiest industry you can ever think about and our waters are the cleanest you can ever imagine or experience anywhere on the planet. Our beaches are pink or snow white, they don’t need to be oily.” Asked if he thought the government would renew BPC’s licences in view of Dr Minnis’ announced
position, Mr Carey said: “Our prime minister, the minister of the environment, the attorney general have all said the thing is we were just locked into this deal which was so air-tight... I don’t know what the deal is with the licences, I’m assuming that it’s not the same type of deal and the prime minister has stated that he is not in favour of oil drilling. So what a great opportunity for our prime minister to prevent that from happening by not extending these oil leases.” Mr Carey also said the country should not gamble on the unknown. “We’re playing Russian Roulette with an industry that is of such threat to our incredible natural beauty. We know we get $8bn a year in ecosystem services, tourism, fisheries etc
by our green resources— our ocean, our beach. We already know what we have in the bank: $8bn a year; we should not be risking that for a company that’s not even, they are out there trying to raise money to fund another well. They don’t have $8bn that they can give us if they mess up our natural environment.” Last week, Environment Minister Romauld Ferreira said he would “not be very sympathetic” if BPC seeks to renew its oil exploration licences but said the decision is not solely his to take. He also told Tribune Business he was unable to give a definitive government position on the matter as his ministry was still checking to verify whether the oil explorer had formally submitted a renewal application.
SMITH ACCUSES GOVT OF WRONGFULLY USING THE LAW By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net
ATTORNEY Fred Smith accused the government of using the Building Regulations Act for reasons that are contrary to the intention and purpose of the law – namely, to repossess shanty town land. Mr Smith said Parliament has never passed a law that would allow the government to eradicate communities like shanty towns so officials wrongfully relied on Section 4(3) of the Building Regulations Act to accomplish their goal. He was speaking during a judicial review hearing on Friday before Supreme Court Justice Cheryl GrantThompson concerning the government’s plans to demolish shanty town communities throughout the country. Mr Smith represents 177 residents and shanty town occupants in the case. The government announced plans for an initiative to remove unregulated and unsafe buildings in shanty towns in January 2018. The Shanty Town Action Task Force was formed as an inter-ministerial committee to execute the plans. The task force released a report and established timelines for taking action against the unregulated communities. Mr Smith said notices the task force issued in 2018 for occupants to leave shanty town areas were used “for extraneous purposes,” that is, “to obtain possession of the land to further the government’s policy of cracking down on undocumented migrants”. “If a power is granted for one purpose by Parliament,
it can’t be validly exercised for another purpose,” he said. “Where the minister has a power to demolish or require the demolition of houses for one purpose, which is set out in the Building Regulations Act, he can’t exercise and use that power for a different purpose. “The Building Regulations Act is only for the purpose of regulating construction, alteration and repair of buildings to provide for the reinstatement or removal of dangerous or dilapidated buildings to authorise the publication of the building code and for such purposes connected therewith.” Mr Smith argued that despite the expressed purposes of the Building Regulations Act, the government used the law to carry out three extraneous purposes and “to do indirectly what they couldn’t do directly.” These reasons, he said, include trying to take possession of the land, trying to enforce a crackdown on illegal immigration and trying to use “unconstitutional means” to break up “communities ethnically of Haitian origin.” He said: “We say the stated objective of the policy was to ‘eliminate and eradicate shantytowns’ which obviously entails removing the occupiers from the land, that’s a consequence. “Secondly, the task force obviously did not understand the difference between Section 4(3) which on a reading clearly simply requires buildings to be demolished as opposed to vacating the land. The one does not follow the other. The
occupier of a building may demolish the building without vacating the land. That would have been the effect of the demolition, but it was not the necessary incident of the demolition. “Nevertheless, it is quite clear that the task force wanted to and did seek to use Section 4(3) to get the occupiers off the land. The proposition can be tested in the following way. The notices gave the recipients the option to demolish the structures themselves. If they had done so, by what right would the government claim they still had to move? “Thirdly, the preponderance of the evidence, we say beyond a reasonable doubt, never mind on a balance of probabilities, is that vacating the land and the Crown correspondingly taking the land is what the task force wanted to achieve. That’s why they were using the notices.” Mr Smith said the normal procedure for issuing a notice under Section 4(3) was not followed. The normal procedure, he said, involves identifying “the particular offending structure,” followed by a notice giving particulars of the offence to the owner. “You can’t just make a blanket accusation against everybody,” he said. “That is the clearest possible evidence that the notices were not directed to the problems arising from particular structures but was an effort to obtain possession of the land. This was a shortcut exercise because the other means of attempting to evict the occupiers were too hard or didn’t exist. “The task force had no parliamentary mandate, no enabling legislation, so
it has no power on its own to seek possession of any land. The Crown cannot and still to date by evidence does not establish a right to possession of any of the land. So the Crown couldn’t successfully mount even in court an action for trespass. If it did it might well have met sound claims of adverse possession by the current occupiers, some of them being in their homes for nearly 40 years, 30 years, 20 years, 10 years. “The only other option is to compulsorily acquire the land which is always an option to the Crown. There is a Compulsory Acquisition of Property Act and if the Crown wants to take back all that property that they call shanty town, parliament has passed legislation for them to attempt to do so, but you don’t take the shortcut and try to evict people and disposes them of their property and their homes and all their belongings for ulterior purposes. You use the tools provided by Parliament and you act within the rule of law and the constitutional rights which people enjoy. “We don’t, thank God, live in a dictatorship like Haiti and that is why it’s so important for the court to protect and defend and uphold the rule of law in the Bahamas so we do not degenerate into that kind of society of arbitrary power being welded on innocent people. That is why these cases and this one in particular are so important and that is why I do not flee from my accusation of discrimination, of ethnic cleansing, of using arbitrary power and trying to achieve something indirectly which they cannot do directly.”
Mr Smith also argued that his clients were not properly consulted. “In this case we say the applicants had a substantive, legitimate expectation of being offered alternative accommodation or alternatively, a procedural legislative expectation of being consulted before being issued with the notices,” he said. “I note in passing that the respondents’ submission
deals at length with consultation….They seem to fail to appreciate how woefully inadequate and how non-existent there was consultation, no consultation with the most people affected, which is what the very authority they relied on said they are supposed to do.” Lawyers representing the government will argue their side when the trial resumes in April.
PAGE 4, Monday, March 29, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
Vaccinations resume today after Grand Bahama rush By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net VACCINATIONS for COVID-19 will resume on Grand Bahama today after appointments were cancelled on Saturday due to oversubscription. A statement released by the Public Hospitals Authority on Saturday said the day’s session had been cancelled until further notice. “Upon replenishment of our vaccine stock, the public will be advised when the vaccination exercise (in Grand Bahama) will resume, via local and social media,” PHA said. “Persons who have already received a vaccine but did not receive a vaccine card will be advised of a day for pick up. Management apologises for any inconvenience caused, and thanks the public for the positive response to date.” However last night, the Office of the Prime Minister said vaccinations will continue today in Grand Bahama as the country expects a new shipment of Oxford-AstraZeneca doses this week. When The Tribune visited the Grand Bahama vaccination centre at the Susan J Wallace Centre on Friday, there was a clear indication that the process had picked up with people waiting for hours to
receive their first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Although the priority groups were senior citizens and healthcare workers, other people showing up were not turned away even though they did not fall into those categories. Despite earlier fears in Europe about the vaccine, people who spoke with The
Tribune felt it was safe and that getting vaccinated was worth the long wait. According to USA Today, AstraZeneca and its research partner Oxford University released the first picture on Monday, March 22, of the large clinical trial they have run in the US for their COVID-19 vaccine, finding it is safe and
POLICE CHIEF GETS JAB POLICE Commissioner Paul Rolle received the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at Loyola Hall on Friday morning. Although nervous, at 9.40am, Commissioner Rolle took the jab. Nursing Officer Ruth Bastian administered the shot as Senior Nursing Officer Sherry Armbrister looked on. The commissioner was accompanied by senior police officers who also received the vaccine. Commissioner Rolle was in good spirits following his inoculation and received his first dose without incident, as observed by medical staff during observation. So far, over 5,000 Bahamians have received the vaccine. Photo: Racardo Thomas
prevents symptomatic disease by 79 percent. If it is approved in the US, it would be the fourth vaccine authorised for use in that country alongside ones from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. The vaccination roll-out started a week ago in Grand Bahama. The response was slow early in the week. By Friday, however, the response from residents had increased. Online appointments were behind or lagged by an average of two to three hours, and longer for walk-ins. Seating under the tent outside was all taken, and people stood under the eaves of the building for protection from the sun. Others sat on the pavement and on the bleachers with umbrellas to fill out forms and wait as their names were called. One resident, who identified himself as Richard, did not mind waiting. When asked why he felt it was important to come and get vaccinated, he said: “So that we can all start to recover and get back to normalcy.” He added: “I got here about half-an-hour ago, but I think the line of people with appointments is about an hour and a half I heard. I don’t mind waiting. It is a nice day, and I brought my tablet while I wait. It’s a bit of a long wait, but at least we are getting the vaccine; so I think that is good.” Richard was not afraid of getting the AstraZeneca vaccine, which requires two doses, given eight to 12 weeks apart, to prime the immune system to fight off the coronavirus.
“I am not fearful of it one bit,” he said. “There were some batches I think that was suspect, but I believe all the ones that are here (in the Bahamas) and in North America are fine.” Dutch resident Jacobus van Emmrik said he was looking forward to getting the vaccine. Both he and his wife had registered online. Her appointment was at 11.30am, and he was scheduled for 2.30pm on Friday. However, as of Thursday the online registration for vaccination was suspended or discontinued and no one was able to register for an appointment. Registered online participants were provided with a verification code, which was written on their application form by volunteers. Mr van Emmrik—who has worked in the Bahamas for the past two years – said he is getting access to the vaccine much sooner here than he would have in Europe. “I am looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s been tested, and I think it is better for us to have the vaccination than COVID-19. So, I think it will be okay, and it will be beneficial. “I came at 11am because my wife had an appointment at 11.30am and my appointment is a bit later at 2.30pm. She is inside now, and it is important she gets it, and then I will get it later. “I am very happy because actually, we will get it here sooner than in Europe, where we come from. We are very happy that we can get it so soon. There is not so much interest from the Bahamian people, or it (the response) is lower than they expected.
“I hope the Bahamian people see that it works out fine and there is nothing serious that happens and that people are okay and don’t get COVID, and that they also decide to get the vaccine,” he said. When asked about the long wait, Mr van Emmrik said: “I don’t mind the wait; better to wait and get it than be impatient and grumpy about it. It is what it is. I am just happy that it is available and well organised, and no reason to complain.” Not everyone was as patient, though. A resident who gave his name as Mr Sturrup got up early and came around 8am, but was still waiting outside the centre around 1pm. “I came here actually at 7.54am, and I have not been served as yet – it was 18 of us out here,” he said. Mr Sturrup did not have an appointment and was registered as a walk-in. After waiting for several hours, he decided to confront one of the volunteers about what was taking so long for his name to be called. “The wait is long, but I would appreciate it if they say, ‘we can’t serve you today come back another day.’ I was saying, just let us know something, and then we will know to come back rather than be here all day. They are not taking any more appointments online,” he said. Despite the long wait, Mr Sturrup believes that getting vaccinated is very important for the country. The Tribune also spoke with some people after they had got the shot. We learned that vaccination cards had run out and vaccinated participants were given a slip of paper to return and collect their cards on Monday at the centre. The Tribune understands that participants were informed while in the observation area that there were no more vaccination cards on hand and they were waiting for more to be sent from New Providence. Retired senior citizen Carlton Roxbury was relieved he got through the first dose without any issues. He arrived at 8am and was finished around 3.30pm. “I am retired and I think it was important for me to get the shot; it was worth the wait.” Senior citizen Earl Lightbourne said he did not feel a thing. “I just took the shot and I didn’t feel anything from the needle at all, and I asked her (the nurse) if she really stuck me because I didn’t feel anything. But I am feeling fine and on my way home to relax for the rest of the day. I am over 60 years and I encourage other persons to come and take the shot. I think it is really safe,” he said.
THE TRIBUNE
Monday, March 29, 2021, PAGE 5
Govt on alert as cases rise from page one the World Health Organisation’s COVAX facility and simultaneously deals with the vaccination programme being oversubscribed in some instances. It was unclear up to press time what kind of restriction tightening could come. While he offered no comment on recent Cabinet discussions, Mr D’Aguilar said a third wave could usher in dramatic setbacks for this nation, which has proven some level of resiliency in the tourism market that is now rebounding. “We can’t afford for there to be a third wave; that will set us back dramatically,” he told The Tribune yesterday. Mr D’Aguilar expressed mixed feelings of surprise and disappointment over the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s revelation that several people have tried to travel to the Family Islands
using false COVID-19 RT-PCR test results. “I was surprised and I am disappointed,” the Freetown MP said yesterday. “I would have thought that we’re all in this together. We all have to social distance. We all have to wear masks. We all have to abide by the health protocols, but some people I know are getting very tired of this. “What we see around the world and what we are seeing in our country is a slight uptick in cases. This COVID-19 virus is certainly not behind us and until we get 80 percent of the population vaccinated we are going to have to abide by the health protocols in order to keep the number of cases at a minimum. “We’ve all seen the uptick in people in the hospital and every time someone goes into the hospital there is a possibility that they will have an unfortunate outcome and so I think there are also a number of people
who are in ICU so we all have to do our bit. “You think you are being clever by circumventing the rules. It affects us all so there has to be an attempt made to get us refocused.” About the false tests, he said: “I found out about it like everyone else – in the press. “It seems there is probably a ring involved in all of this but when you find out the penalty involved: a $4,000 fine and (two) years in jail, I’m not sure if it’s worth it. Would you rather pay a $4,000 fine or $125 to take the test? “But I guess the bigger issue is there is probably a certain level of fatigue and frustration about cost in getting the test. The government is cognizant via the Ministry of Health of the uptick in the number of COVID cases and so they are of the view that people should still travel especially domestically if they have to and they are not going to
relax the health protocols. “Now that the police are aware of this they are probably going to establish more contact persons to check the labs to validate and verify these tests.” According to police, on Friday while at LPIA’s Domestic Section, six adults and one minor who were scheduled to travel to various Family Islands, presented digital and physical PCR tests to the COVID-19 ambassadors for inspection. Upon examination of the documents and cross checks with alleged test administrators it was discovered that the documents presented were false. The suspects were taken into custody. In a separate incident on Thursday, a man was also taken into custody accused of having fraudulent documents relating to COVID-19 tests. Last night, police said 11 people are now in custody. They are expected to face court charges today.
TOTAL CASES TOTAL DEATHS
9,076 188
NEWLY CONFIRMED CASES SATURDAY 42 CASES NEW PROVIDENCE GRAND BAHAMA ELEUTHERA BIMINI & CAT CAY
FRIDAY
22 14 5 1
34 CASES
GRAND BAHAMA NEW PROVIDENCE ABACO ELEUTHERA ANDROS PENDING
THURSDAY
15 9 4 2 2 2
14 CASES
NEW PROVIDENCE GRAND BAHAMA ELEUTHERA
8 5 1
TOTAL TESTS
HOSPITALISED
75,407
30
CASES IN ICU
2
RECOVERED
8,563
‘DON’T SHOW LENIENCY TO COVID TEST FAKERS’ from page one
various Family Islands, presented digital and physical PCR tests to the COVID-19 ambassadors for inspection. Upon examination of the documents and crosschecks with alleged test administrators, it was discovered that the documents presented were false. The suspects were taken into custody. In a separate incident on Thursday, a man was also taken into custody, accused of having fraudulent documents relating to COVID-19 tests. Submitting a fake
COVID-19 diagnostic test result is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $4,000 or two years imprisonment or both. The issue is something that should not be taken lightly, Dr Sands told The Tribune on Sunday. “Let’s start with possible motives so we could dispense with this whole issue about it being too expensive to take COVID tests to travel,” Dr Sands said. “Now, there may be one drop of merit in that argument but then it begs the question, should you be travelling if you have to break the law and possibly expose your fellow
travellers and other communities to COVID? So it’s a very selfish motive to say ‘well I got to do me and I don’t care about anybody else’ and not consider what possible impact there is in potentially spreading COVID. “Then when you look at the other side, who are the people who are enabling this type of nefarious activity? Are they doing it to make some money or are they doing it because they don’t care or are they doing it because they just want to stick a finger in the face of authority?” He continued: “When you see that there are about 9,000 cases total with
an eight percent positivity rate and some 29 persons in hospital, some of them in the ICU, we have a problem and this type of behaviour is just adding to that problem. “It’s a horrible thing to believe that this is no big deal. I believe this is time now to reiterate that any and every infraction will be dealt with and so there should be no double standard for anybody now. This ain’t no time for leniency, particularly given the severity of the risk to the Bahamian economy and health of Bahamians. “We have been at this now for several months.
I don’t think anybody is ignorant or unaware of the issues. I think they are trying to find a way to skirt the restrictions. “There is a different argument that it has been made difficult to travel for domestic tourism and so on and so forth. I get that argument, but this is not the way to solve the issue.” The issue has raised the question of whether the government may need to revisit the requirement of an RT PCR test for domestic travel. “The question is whether or not as a country we ought to be requiring RT PCRs for people to travel back and forth within country,”
Dr Sands said. “I don’t think that that is necessary, but that’s my personal opinion and an antigen test done by a competent lab is an adequate tool for determining infectivity and contagion. “As a matter of fact it’s probably a better tool for determining who’s contagious than the RT-PCR. So, definitely you need to have some tool. The antigen test appropriately done is probably as good if not a better test than the RT-PCR, but if we are going to stick with the PCR we need to make sure in bona fide instances where people have a need they can get access to those tests,” Dr Sands said.
CHURCHES: VACCINE HAS OUR BLESSING from page one The March 22 report, which was released to the media yesterday, looked at several concerns of the Christian community: the emergency use of COVID19 vaccines; COVID-19 vaccines’ interaction with human DNA; the use of fetal cell lines in the vaccines; and the relevance of COVID-19 to “end time prophecy”. The report noted that the World Health Organisation validated its first vaccine on its Emergency Use Listing (EUL) on December 31, 2020. “The EUL opens the door for countries to expedite their own regulatory approval processes to import and administer the vaccines,” the report said. Some vaccine sceptics have been concerned at the pace COVID-19 vaccines have been rolled out and questioned their long-term impact. The Christian Council’s report said that “it is well within reason” that the WHO’s validation of the emergency use of COVID19 vaccines “is warranted”. The group also noted: “The subject matter experts
unanimously agreed that the long-term effects of the vaccines cannot be determined at this time simply because sufficient time has not elapsed; however, the benefits of the vaccines far outweigh the disadvantages.” The group also said: “There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines, and in particular, nucleic acid vaccines, alter or modify the human DNA.” BCC also referred to concerns from the antiabortion community about fetal cells being used in the vaccines. “A cell line is a general term that applies to a defined population of cells that can be maintained for culture for an extended period of time. They are usually clonal, meaning that the entire population originated from a single common ancestor cell,” the report said. “Historical fetal cell lines were derived in the 1960’s and 1970’s from two elective abortions that have been used to create vaccines for diseases such as hepatitis A, rubella, and rabies. Any COVID-19 vaccine that relies on these historic cell lines will not require nor solicit new abortions.
“Generally, many vaccines use these cell lines either in the development stage where vaccines are created, the confirmation stage where vaccines are tested for their efficacy or the production stage where cell lines are used to produce the vaccine. “Neither Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines use fetal cell lines in their production and hence neither of these vaccines contain aborted fetal components.” The BCC committee said the religious body opposes elective abortion and recognises that the use of cell lines may infringe on what is deemed morally acceptable. “However, given that COVID-19 vaccines do not contain components of aborted fetus or cell lines, those who receive COVID-19 vaccines should not be deemed an accessory to an abortion,” the report said.
In reference to some Christians who see COVID-19 as biblical “end time prophecy” and the vaccine as the “mark of the beast,” the group said there was insufficient evidence to prove this. “The mark of the beast, when viewed in its scriptural context, speaks to a decision to renounce Jesus Christ and submit to the lordship of Satan. Consequently, the decision to be vaccinated for COVID-19, in a general sense, does not fall into this category. “Further, our research has found that the events outlined in scripture surrounding the introduction of the mark of the beast, are not consistent with the global response of the medical and scientific communities to this current COVID-19 pandemic.” Ultimately the group said people must make their own choice about taking the vaccine. “Each and every Christian must weigh the risks
and benefits of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine based upon their particular situation and condition, in addition to seeking spiritual guidance from their faith leaders. “Whether or not a citizen chooses to take a COVID19 vaccine is a matter of personal choice.” The committee, chaired
by Pastor Mario Moxey, interviewed a cross-section of experts for its report and also reviewed media reports, scientific journals and social media. The group also interviewed theologians and had a panel discussion with the government’s National COVID-19 Vaccine Consultative Committee.
PAGE 6, Monday, March 29, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
The Tribune Limited NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”
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The last thing we want is a third wave The last thing we want is a third wave THE numbers tell the tale. Steadily, the number of cases of COVID-19 have been rising. Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar might be the one to say the words, but we can all echo his sentiments when he says: “We can’t afford for there to be a third wave; that will set us back dramatically.” We cannot afford the financial cost a third wave would bring, but more than that we cannot afford the human cost. On Saturday, there were 42 new cases. On Friday, 34. For a long time, we had slowed the progress of this virus. Have we become complacent? Have we taken our eye off the prize? Now that the vaccine is here, have we started to believe we no longer need to follow all the rules about social distancing and wearing masks even though not nearly enough of the vaccine is in people’s arms yet? Word reaches The Tribune that a tightening of restrictions is being considered – do we really want to go back to earlier curfews and, worse, weekend lockdowns? The good news is that the vaccine has added another weapon to our fight. In countries where it has rolled out already, there has been a significant drop in hospitalisations already. That makes sense – vulnerable parts of the population have been getting the vaccines first, so that reduces the risk of them ending up in hospital from catching the virus instead. If you’re over 60, you can now make an appointment in The Bahamas to get the vaccine. Healthcare workers have
been offered the vaccine too. Frontline officers in the police and the defence force have been getting jabs too. Despite saying he wouldn’t invite the media when he was taking his vaccine, Police Commissioner Paul Rolle got his jab in front of the cameras on Friday. Good for him. It’s good leadership to show the officers under his charge that he’s taking the jab. We must keep using the weapons we’ve been using already, though. We must keep our distance. We must wear masks. We must keep washing hands. It’s been so very hard to deal with the isolation that has come with surviving this pandemic, but the vaccine means the end is in sight. Not as quickly as some might say, but coming. We must hold the course. Don’t give this virus an inch.
Christian Council
The Christian Council has delivered its report on the vaccine – agreeing that the use of vaccines is warranted. Better yet, they go further to point out that some of the concerns being floated by sceptics have no basis, and that those taking the vaccine should “not be deemed an accessory to abortion” because of the use of cloned cells from cells from the 1960s and 1970s. “There is no basis that COVID-19 vaccines, and in particular, nucleic acid vaccines, alter or modify the human DNA,” the report adds, going on to dismiss wild suggestions that the vaccine is the “mark of the beast”.
Lunatics are running the asylum EDITOR, The Tribune. GROWING up, this little catchy phrase “The lunatics are running the asylum” would amply convey the opinion that a business or other enterprise had lost all of its senses and gone crazy. I think that it goes without saying that intelligence has always been a scarce commodity in our Immigration Department but I think that they have finally and completely lost the plot now. About a month ago, I had occasion to attend the department offices on Hawkins Hill, and drove there on a motor scooter which I conveniently parked in front of the building. The chief of security, a burly man standing in the gatekeepers booth, read out the terms and conditions for entry: No shorts, no open shoes, no tank tops and no cell phones. (No mention of guns, knives, dynamite or IED’s mind you).
CLARIFICATION
A HEADLINE in Friday’s Tribune, “Romi on BPL - I’m not sympathetic” referred in error to BPL rather than the Bahamas Petroleum Company. It should have read BPC. We apologise for the error.
My shoes were ok, I had on long trousers, and a business shirt, but what was I going to do with my cell phone? ok, I put it under the scooter seat but couldn’t help thinking what someone else would do if they had made the journey on foot, or jumped off of a Jitney, or got a lift with a friend? I guess they could swallow it! Today brought another cherished opportunity to visit this department in person, but this time I decided not to be fooled with the phone thing, so I drove my car. Well, well, well, the parking lot which is opposite the Immigration building is now gated off and appropriately signed Parking Reserved For Employees Of Immigration Only. A nice new sign too and the gate and the environs are freshly painted. I was so proud that we were finally looking after the people that count, those that bring in the money that keeps us all so happy! Now this Department is under the care and authority of a highly accomplished Cabinet Minister, highly intelligent and a former head of the Bahamas Bar Association no less. So presumably he has sanctioned this move that disenfranchises the very
customers who pay large fees to this department. And there is absolutely no other place that one can park a vehicle with four wheels. In fact, along the boundary walls of immigration itself are posted No Parking Signs. And the Department is atop one of the highest hills on New Providence. And God help you if you are disabled, because despite the legal requirement to provide handicap access to any building in the Bahamas, it just wasn’t on the agenda. But why was I surprised? This is the same department that is continually before the Bahamas Courts defending its own Human Rights Abuses over many years. And each time they seem to lose the case and the Bahamian people are fined, sometimes in the millions of dollars. As Ebenezer Scrooge so eloquently put it in Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol – “I’ll retire to Bedlam” For the uninitiated, “Bedlam” was a nickname for St Mary of Bethlehem Hospital for the Mentally Disturbed in London in Dickens’ time. MONKEEDOO Nassau, March 25, 2021.
Theatrics and consequences EDITOR, The Tribune. TRADITIONALLY in Bahamian politics confrontation; demonstrations and protests have been employed to garner public sympathy and support for political parties; fringe groupings and ambitious individuals. This was the case way back in the days of the now fabled Burma Road spectacle and the events at the then Oakes Field Airport. The late Sir Clifford Darling; Charlie Rodrigues and my own father, the late Revered Doctor Ortland H Bodie Sr, et al, who was then a foreman at the Oakes Field Airport, to come to fame. Later in the 1950’s and 1960’s the embryonic PLP led by Lynden Oscar Pindling, et al, came to fame the same way....by attracting public attention and support by theatrics and bombastic utterances. Some of us are old enough to recall when the Mace and the Speaker’s Hour Glass were jettisoned out of the House of Assembly by Pindling and the late Sir Milo B Butler. Brother AD Hanna, a diminutive individual was frequently dragged by burly police officers and physically thrown out of the House of Assembly. Yes, theatrics have their place in Bahamian politics but there must be a constitutional limit to the same according to section 24 of Chapter 3 of The Bahamas Independence Order, 1973. The right to assemble is permitted by the same but with certain exceptions. The DNA and whoever else has the right to assemble and to demonstrate but they must do so in such a manner as to not pose a threat to public order or safety, inter alia. First of all the leader of the DNA and its members and supporters had no permit. If they had applied for one and the Commissioner of Police had refused it all they had to do was to go to the Supreme court for a Judicial Review and/or an Order of Mandamus..... simple...especially seeing that the putative leader of the DNA is a lawyer. If the events at the House that
LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net day transpired as the cop asserts, he should have had them arrested that same day. To have waited for almost three weeks was a bit overboard and the optics were bad for him; the police force and the administration big time. He was, however, well within his authority. I hold that the enforcement of the law in the nation is often times too selective and slack vis-a-vis Johnathan Ash’s dash up the steps at the Magistrate’s Courts sometime ago as compared to a shackled and shuffling Shayne Gibson two years ago. All major parties have been holding massive walk a-bouts accompanied by uniformed and Special Branch officers with impunity despite what the Competent Authority and the COP has had to say. No one is paying any attention, seemingly, if one is on the political trail. What happens if these events are super spreaders? We are also able to recall how now Senator Renard Henfield and his deluded supporters used to march up and down Carmichael Road (their Jericho) clamouring for a number of demands, inclusive of local government for New Providence. He attracted the attention of Minnis and was given a sop via a senate appointment, I guess to shut him up. In fact, for years since he was appointed few Bahamians even knew that he was there. It was only a week or so ago, Henfield spoke in the Senate to announce that he was going to be elevated to cabinet in a second term in office by his party. He even went so far as to specify the ministry that he would lord over. In my opinion he is one brassy individual who has not talked about local government for years now. Remember one Elsworth Johnson, the high school drop out? In a previous incarnation he was President of The Bahamas Bar. He used that platform to lash out at the old PLP in particular but also the FNM that was in opposition. He
was seen to be jumping up and down like Cracker Jack huffing and puffing about every conceivable issue, inclusive of the inhumane and unlawful manner in which Christie and crew were treating illegal foreign nationals! He was hustling, in my view, a political nomination. The FNM got to him first and he went on to be elected during the red wave. He was eventually appointed to cabinet as a Minister of State and is now a substantive minister. He’s stopped cussing and carrying on about those ever present issues which consumed him back then. Now he says that he is checking for his ma and his family! This is his reward for theatrics and political drama. My brother Lincoln Bain and his crew are now attempting the same thing. I suspect that he and his loose coalition are jockeying for a few select nominations from the FNM because there is no way under the Sun that Brave would make the same mistake which Christie made with Andre Rollins and Renward Wells when they abandoned their unsuspecting supporters in the National Democratic Party some years ago. They proved to be political carpet baggers in the extreme. Rollins has faded away while Wells is large and in charge as Minister of Health and leader of government business to boot. By the way what is Wells’ combined income from his positions? Now the putative leader of the DNA and her “delusional” supporters are illegally demonstrating and allegedly carrying on bad outside a sitting House of Assembly? They should have been locked up and charged from day one. It was so comical to see the expressions of their faces when they were released as if they had been subjected to police beatings or held in cramped cells. In any event, time is not long now. The general Elections are just around the corner and the outcome is almost certain. ORTLAND H BODIE, Jr Nassau, March 25, 2021.
THE TRIBUNE
Minister says student arrest ‘unfortunate’ By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net EDUCATION Minister Jeffrey Lloyd called the arrest of a 14-year-old student who allegedly brought marijuana infused Rice Krispies cereal to school “unfortunate”. According to police, on Wednesday, March 24, police were called to S C McPherson School where a boy was arrested for being in possession of dangerous drugs with the intent to supply as it is alleged he sold the marijuana infused cereal to students. Police said four students fell ill at school and were taken to hospital by ambulance for medical attention. Later that day, three other students complained to
their parents about not feeling well. They also admitted to consuming the marijuana infused cereal and were taken to the hospital for medical treatment. Asked on Friday about the incident, he said: “Now that’s really unfortunate and of course we know that our young people, S C McPherson is a junior high, are very vulnerable to these kinds of incidents not only in terms of marijuana or those kinds of drugs but even alcohol so it’s definitely a concern and, of course, I’ve been preaching that parents need to become more involved….interested in the lives of their children so they can understand what’s going on.” The Bahamas Union of Teachers has called on education officials to provide training opportunities for
teachers and guards in various safety techniques that will help to detect these new trends. Mr Lloyd indicated there are going to be training sessions on a host of matters. The drug incident comes after police arrested a man who is suspected of exposing himself to a young girl while she was on her way to school on Wednesday. Mr Lloyd said the student received some help. “I went to the school yesterday (Thursday) and I spoke to the principal and other senior administrators there and they advised me that the young woman was given some help by way of mental counselling and is being provided that,” he said. “Social services (were) called in. She seemed to be fine but something of
this nature is obviously traumatic and it is going to require ongoing some support counselling, mental health support.” Concerns about students’ safety travelling to and from school have been renewed due to the incident. While he assured the public that there is security at the school, Mr Lloyd highlighted the challenge of providing security beyond the school campuses. “Now when you talk about security near the school this happened, as I’m advised some distance away from the school maybe about 150 to 200 yards, I just don’t know what the ability we have in the Ministry of Education to provide security that far out for our students,” he said.
SISTER LOSES SECOND BROTHER TO GUNMAN from page one
He added: “Apparently from what information we’re receiving, he was here by himself and was approached by an individual who shot him.” ASP Peters said police were told the victim lived at the address where he was shot. However, he said police had no motive for the killing, but are following “significant leads” and believe that in “due course this matter will be resolved”. “In due course we’ll be able to determine what it is or what the motive of this incident,” ASP Peters said. Also present at the scene was Williams’ sister, Cleo Williams, who admitted to feeling “so frustrated” about his death. “God knows best, but right now I’m mad... because he’s human and he didn’t deserve to get shoot down like that.” When asked what her brother was doing at that location, she confirmed her sibling lived there. She remembered reminiscing about another brother who was killed when she received a call from a family friend concerning Williams. “I get up this morning and look at my other brother—who got killed.... in 2011 obituary for some what reason, I don’t know
Monday, March 29, 2021, PAGE 7
THREE IN HOSPITAL AFTER SHOOTING AND STABBINGS THREE men were taken to hospital after separate shooting and stabbing incidents on Friday. In the first incident, police said a Grand Bahama man was involved in an argument that resulted in him being stabbed. Police were called to the scene at Pioneers Loop shortly after 3pm. Officers were told that the victim received a stab wound to the thigh and was taken to Rand Memorial Hospital by a private vehicle. He was seen by a doctor who listed his injuries as non-life threatening. A suspect was later arrested in connection with this matter. Hours later, a man in Abaco was also stabbed. Police said the incident took place shortly before 9pm in the Spring City area. Officers were told that two men got into an argument. When a third man tried to intervene, a man he knows stabbed him in
his shoulder with a knife. The victim was taken to the Marsh Harbour Community Clinic and was treated by doctor for his injuries, which are not life-threatening. A short time later, police arrested a male suspect in the area of S C Bootle Highway in connection with this matter. Around 10pm on Friday, a man from Eight Mile Rock in Grand Bahama was shot. Police were called to a scene in Pinedale where they were told that while at his home, a group of men he knew approached him. One of the men produced a firearm shooting him in the leg. The group then fled the area on foot. The victim was taken to Rand Memorial Hospital by ambulance. His injuries are not life threatening, police said. A man has been arrested in connection with this incident. Investigations continue into these matters.
DEFENCE FORCE OFFICER HELD AFTER GUN FOUND
THE BODY of a man who was killed on Saturday being carried away by officials. Photo: Earyel Bowleg/Tribune Staff why,” the grieving sister perfect but he wasn’t no The victim was transported saint. So I’m not gonna to the hospital via a private said. vehicle where he later suc“And the pain just hit stand here and lie.” She described her cumbed to his injuries.” me in my stomach and just A man was also shot dead as the pain hit me, I got the brother as a “quiet” and “humble” person. last Monday at his home in call: my brother dead.” “He was never no prob- Wilson Track. She said her brother believed someone was lem child. Only if you bother him, he’ll defend trying to kill him. “Only thing I know of, himself.” He is the third person to during the Christmas, he did come to me and say be killed last week. Police ‘The road hot.’ People look are also investigating a like they after him trying homicide that occurred on to kill him but he never Thursday night. According to police: “Presaid who and why,” she revealed. “I just talked to liminary reports are that sometime around 11pm (on him two weeks ago.” But she was honest about Thursday), a male was walkthe 49-year-old’s crimi- ing along Dorsett Street, nal past, noting he went to Fox Hill, when he was prison for drugs, but said he approached by two males was on the right path and who came from nearby bushes and shot him before staying out of trouble. “My brother wasn’t making good their escape.
A ROYAL Bahamas Defence Force officer is in police custody after he was found with an unlicensed firearm. According to a police report, shortly after 10pm on Saturday, officers in Grand Bahama — who were part of an islandwide special operation — received information of a suspicious man dressed in blue jeans and a dark hoodie. The man was believed to be in possession of a firearm and was seen walking in the area
of a nightclub on the Mall Road, near the International Bazaar. Officers quickly responded and saw a man fitting the description. He was stopped and searched and a black and silver Smith and Wesson 9mm firearm with 10 rounds of ammunition was found in his waist band. The suspect was later identified as an RBDF officer. He was arrested and taken into police custody. An investigation is continuing in this matter.
THE STORIES BEHIND THE NEWS
MONDAY, MARCH 29, 2021
BEHIND THE WALLS
An ex-con and his 15 years in Fox Hill prison By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net THE familiar scent of human filth permeating the air is what Charles Rolle remembers as a constant during his 15-year stay at the Bahamas Department of Corrections (BDC). Rolle was incarcerated after being found guilty of transporting large amounts of marijuana and cocaine from Jamaica, through The Bahamas and on to the United States. He spent many years on remand waiting to be tried in court, then was eventually convicted and the Maximum Security centre of the corrections facility became his home. After a letter appeared in The Tribune earlier this month by a former prisoner detailing allegations of horrific treatment meted out to inmates at BDC, Insight sat with Rolle to see for ourselves the full picture of what a week in his life was like at the facility. “I don’t even know where to start off, but I can tell you that the first thing I remember waking up to each morning is the smell of **** in my nostrils,” he said graphically remembering his imprisonment. “It was three of us in a cell so that alone should tell you. We conditioned our minds to deal with the state of what we had to deal with. “Most of us are niggaz who had guns held to our heads before or got shot or was stabbed, based on the life that led us to being in prison, so we were kind of hard in our minds and that’s the only way we dealt with the situation in Fox Hill Prison. Imagine having to push out **** in a slop bucket while two other niggaz standing there watching you. And, that’s every day... all day.” Rolle said he was released from prison two months ago, and is now in search of a job, but he has not been successful so far because no one wants to hire a convict.
He had been a peddler and like the movie, “Grounddealer of drugs from the age hog Day” where the same of 13. He asked not to be thing was repeated, over photographed because he and over. He said life at plans to restart his bid on BDC was like a bad ritual employment, this time leav- where nothing changed ing out the fact that he was except a rape or beating. incarcerated. He said it’s his “They talk about rehaonly hope for employment. bilitation, but it’s obvious He recounts the “joys” he they want us to fail,” Rolle experienced while locked said. “They try to break us up and what he refers to as down further and we come “hate crimes” against con- in there as broken men victs served up by prison already. We do the same officers. These sentiments foolishness over and over were the same as those of and over with no results. the letter writer We live like to The Tribune. ‘The men would pigs! The place “This is like where they cook real hate against piss us off… in these masus,” Rolle said. like do things sive pots, using “You might to provoke us a stick to stir think I am the pots is just joking, but I am and then beat feet away from dead serious. us and perform where human This is real hate! all kind of mess is on the They performed ground. But hate crimes degrading acts hey... if you against us. The on us. There don’t eat you men would piss is only one will starve to us off… like do death. things to pro- prison officer “There were voke us and that I can think many weeks then beat us of that treated when organiand perform all sations or kind of degrad- us like human companies ing acts on us. beings.’ came there and There is only donated things one prison officer that I and the inmates never saw can think of that treated what they donated. We us like human beings. He believe the staff took the knows we did bad things to goods home because we be there, but he did his job never got them. I came in trying to make us better out of Maximum Security and he treated us fair. to a less secure place, but “I’m gonna be honest it still was terrible. That with you, we had our place needs to be rebuilt moments of joy, too. We with other people running had to do something to it because we are just caged make it, so many nights or like animals, beaten. The afternoons we would light food has maggots someup our smokes, go off to times from being left out to another place consciously flies. It is slop and terrible! and ease the tension from “It’s doing the same thing living like animals. over and over and no one “That place is the pits! I is talking to you seriously know you want to ask me about your health or wellso I might as well tell you… being. Then you have to plenty prison officers, the worry about who sleepyoung ones, were on our ing next to you because at payrolls. Couple of them any point you could wind got caught but hey, we got up someone’s girlfriend or weed and coke (cocaine) on have to do what a woman a regular from them and our does. You could end up getfriends took care of them ting hold down and raped. on the outside. They got us When we complain about straight with everything … someone raping us they drugs, phones, gals! That’s laugh at us and don’t do how we survived!” anything. All kind of men What Rolle described was got AIDS from getting
raped in there.” The Tribune tried to contact BDC Chaplain Apostle Leon Wallace and BDC Commissioner Charles Murphy to comment to no avail. Apostle Leon Wallace said he could not speak to prison issues without the written consent of BDC’s Commissioner and when The Tribune called BDC, the operator informed that the Commissioner’s office closed at 4pm and he could not be reached after that. Rolle has challenged the media to press the Commissioner for a tour of the facility to prove his story. He wants the media to speak to inmates to verify his claims of the beatings and rapes. “I don’t believe the Minister of National Security knows how that place is being run and how bad it really is,” he continued. “The Minister needs to come there along with the press and interview the prisoners. I don’t even like to hear the word convict or ex-convict because of how badly I was beaten before by an officer and he made me say over and over that I was a convict. “He beat me so bad that I passed out and then he dragged me back to my cell, bloody. He made me say all kind of things about myself and when I told him, ‘big man I ain’t saying that,’ he stomped me. These things happen on a regular in there. One time I thought I could get out of it by faking that I was crazy. I thought they would take me to Sandilands, but they made me stay in the cell screaming and carrying on until I realised that was not working. They didn’t care! Plenty people in there are really crazy, but they get no help.” Asked if he feels he was rehabilitated and if there were any educational tools afforded him there to better himself, Rolle said no. He insisted there needs to be an investigation into BDC to reveal what really goes on there. Commissioner Murphy
received his appointment on January 29, 2019, and the facility went from Her Majesty’s Prison, aka Fox Hill Prison, to Bahamas Department of Corrections. “These people are not serious about any rehabilitation,” Rolle continued. “We are animals to them! I remember one time they had a man who came there and they said he was in charge of training and educating the inmates. This man spoke more about himself and what college degrees he had than any training. All day he talked about how educated he was and he had this and that degrees and who he was. “This went on for a little while. He also made it obvious he thought he was better than us. He used to talk down to us a lot when he wasn’t bragging about himself and what all he had in life. We showed up in the room one day where he used to run on with us and we noticed he didn’t show up. After that we were told he was moved. We never saw him again. “They had some other programme that the inmates were in and had a graduation and they brought the press there to the prison and the next thing families were upset cause everyone’s face was on camera. So everyone in the country saw who was in jail from TV and the newspapers. People like you exposed them. “You ask me what a week was like in my life at the prison. Well I can answer that in one sentence. A week in my life in prison was ******* hell!” Ironically, BDC’s mission statement reads, “The Bahamas Department of Corrections, in accordance with universally accepted standards, contributes to the protection of society by optimising staff development, while maintaining inmates in a controlled, safe, secure and humane environment that encourages rehabilitation and successful reintegration into society.”
After many reports similar to those of Rolle’s allegations, Amnesty International visited the prison and filed a report to include the following: • Unacceptably overcrowded accommodation was evidenced in all prison units, seriously affecting the living conditions for inmates and the working conditions for staff. Cells were dark and fetid, and many prisoners slept on cardboard. • Many prisoners are still subject to the degrading practice of slopping out while the prison still has inadequate plumbing and drainage system. • With at least one death reportedly resulting from inadequate medical care, and several reported suicides at the prison, access to physical and mental health care in prison remains chronically lacking. There are high rates of infectious diseases including TB. Prisoners suffering from AIDS, HIV or TB do not receive adequate medical care or drugs. The risk of cross-contamination for infectious diseases such as TB to other prisoners and prison workers is dangerously high. • At the time of the visit there was only one full-time doctor for a population of over 1,000, and no psychiatrist. Psychiatric care is virtually non-existent. • There have been repeated, unconfirmed, serious allegations of sexual abuse and rape which do not appear to have been adequately investigated by the authorities. Amnesty International is a non-governmental organisation with its headquarters in the United Kingdom focused on human rights. The organization says it has more than seven million members and supporters around the world. Although this report was done in November 2003, based on what Rolle said and the letter to The Tribune’s editor, it appears that nothing much has changed.
EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net
INSIGHT
MONDAY, MARCH 29, 2021 PAGE 9
We must proceed with caution now’s not the time to shoot ourselves in the foot By MALCOLM STRACHAN
increasing at the same time as the increase in COVID19 cases since January. We initially did not know JUST a few weeks into how different campaign the first jabs going into season this year would be, the arms of Bahamians, but with both the FNM reports of increased cases and PLP taking the libof COVID-19 since January erty to hold events where have shown the urgency for attendees aren’t necessarily citizens to get vaccinated. following the established In the United States, the protocols, we are playing race to vaccinate amid the with fire. Furthermore, the spread of more contagious parties themselves should variants has been under be questioned if these way since the start of the actions are responsible with year. Even with 14 percent the light at the end of the – more than 47 million - of tunnel in sight. its population having been Anticipating better days fully vaccinated, health ahead, Health Minister experts are still signalling Renward Wells stated his caution after multiple states confidence we will achieve have experienced hikes in herd immucases. nity by As restric- ‘As election season summer’s tions have continues to heat arrival once eased and there is up, campaign people have successful become more events are leading distribution comfortable, to gatherings that of the vaca dangerous cine to our have the potential game is being population. to become spreader Sharing his played. Just next events. While data sentiments door to with reporthas not shown a the US, ers outside top health connection so far, Cabinet, experts in there is a concern Wells said the Canada combination to see campaign are warnof Bahamiing citizens activity increasing ans already there could at the same time exposed be a seven to the figure rise in as the increase in virus along cases by next COVID-19 cases with those month unless receiving since January.’ both prevaccinations vention and mean greener vaccinations occur quickly. pastures in our immediate Likewise, in Europe, future. increased cases in Poland, “Along with our vacFrance and Italy have been cination programme, I do unsettling with vaccine lag- believe that by the time ging in countries battling we enter the summer, that resurgences of the virus. The Bahamas would have With the global com- entered and we would’ve petition for vaccines reached our desired herd intensifying, governments immunity which means that are naturally relying on the country will be able to their citizens to discipline move in a more positive themselves. direction,” said Wells. Here at home, the first of He added: “We just want PAHO’s 100,000 doses of the Bahamian people to AstraZeneca will arrive in continue to adhere to the early April, a little longer health protocols. We are than we thought. in the final stretch of this As election season global race. We are in the continues to heat up, cam- final stretch of this 400m paign events are leading race as I like to put it. We’re to gatherings that have in the 100m, we’re coming the potential to become to the finish line.” spreader events. While data If his prediction is sound, has not shown a connection however, it begs the quesso far, there is a concern tion if the campaign activity to see campaign activity
we’re seeing could not be postponed a few months? A perfect example of the danger we face exists in the US, which is getting its 600 million doses to its people at a much facer pace. Nonetheless, the trifecta of the quick trigger ease of restrictions by governors, the threat of more contagious and deadlier variants, and the challenge of vaccinating millions is something our government should be taking note of. According to data published by Johns Hopkins University, cases of COVID-19 in 15 states in the US saw a 10 percent jump from early to midMarch. Top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci expressed his concern to the US Senate’s Health committee about a fourth wave. Making his case to US lawmakers, he said: “I’m concerned that if we pull back in our enthusiasm for the fact that vaccines are rolling out, and things look good, if we pull back prematurely, we may trigger another surge. And that would really set us back in all the things that we’re trying to do. “Europe is generally about three to four weeks ahead of us in the dynamics of their outbreak. And what they saw a little while ago was a plateauing of their decrement. They were coming down nicely, and then they plateaued. And then, just as you might have predicted, they then, one, started to go up.” With spikes in Europe
creating anxiety, we hope our leaders haven’t gotten too comfortable for the sake of election season. While it may be tempting to galvanise political support, if we are as close as the Prime Minister says to being back to normal, then a word to the wise is sufficient. Proceed with caution. Shooting ourselves in the foot at this stage is foolhardy. We’ve not performed as well as we have against the
POLICE Commissioner Paul Rolle pictured after receiving his vaccination on Friday. Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff
virus without significant cost to our people. Strict lockdown measures under the emergency powers saw the closure of businesses, families with breadwinners becoming unemployed, marriages struggle due to stress, and most importantly, lives lost. We understand how
important this time is to political factions. However, we have no control over what is going on around us and therefore must do what we can to ensure that we can progress safely to the other side of what has been our most challenging period as a country.
PAGE 10 MONDAY, MARCH 29, 2021
World View
By SIR RONALD SANDERS
A COMMENTARY, a modicum of power; one published on March 8 vote, backed by no military by Camillo Gonsalves, a might or economic clout, is Minister of the Govern- by itself of little value. ment of St Vincent and the Q. What’s your greatest Grenadines, was headlined concern about the future of “Every Island for itself’. the movement? The first line was unequivoA. That only the cal in stating “The idea demands of survival, resultof CARICOM died on ing from disaster, will cause December 16, 2020”. leaders of the individual Camillo Gonsalves is a countries to recognise that Caribbean man, and an the “sovereignty” to which integrationist. Only deep they cling is only exercised frustration could have occa- against each other; it is sioned his meaningless decision to ‘When CARICOM in the global publish the theacountries recognise power commentre where tary on his they could be less powerful blog site. In dependent on countries the event, and regions his remarks external forces dictate their and less obliged prompted relationships. a series of if they pool their Leaders questions should see to me from resources and the disastheir sovereignty, Johnson ter looming Johnrose, a they will be more in Climate Caribbean Change and independent in journalist its threats of known their decisions to the very repute. I and action.’ existence reproduce of islands below the and mainquestions he posed and my land territories with low answers. lying coasts, to agriculture, Q. Do you agree that the to tourism and to human idea of CARICOM – the habitats. Lack of individprinciple of solidarity, the ual capacity is evident in ethos of all for one, and one each country’s inability to for all – has died? Why? respond robustly to panA. The “idea” of CARI- demics, such as COVID-19. COM is not dead. The None of them has large “dream” of a more perfect enough populations or union is not lost. The idea enough money to compete and the dream are too basic with richer nations that to our future for them to have bought the available be abandoned. CARICOM vaccines, depriving the rest as a whole is extremely of the world. rich in natural and human Q. CARICOM has resources, but individual endured a lot of internal member countries are strife but has managed to weak and vulnerable. In survive, could it be that the the international commu- issue of Venezuela’s sovernity, individual countries eignty will be what destroys have little or no bargain- the movement? ing power; only when they A. It is not Venezuela per act collectively do they se that has caused division have any strength. Four- and conflicting positions in teen votes collectively have CARICOM. The real cause
No, the idea of CARICOM is not dead
is dependency. Some CARICOM countries depended on Venezuela for oil and ran up a large debt in deferred payments; others depend on the US and Canada for aid, markets and help with borrowing. When CARICOM countries recognise they could be less dependent on external forces and less obliged if they pool their resources and their sovereignty, they will be more independent in their decisions and action. This same argument
applies to the cruise ship industry and to foreign airlines which play them off against each other, resulting in less revenues to each of them and greater advantage to the airlines and cruise operators. Q. Why didn’t Antigua and Barbuda join Trinidad and Tobago in seeking to boycott the OAS until Guaido is removed? A. Trinidad and Tobago has not boycotted the OAS “until Guaido’s representative is removed’’. Trinidad and Tobago is an active member of the OAS. Eleven of the 14 independent countries of CARICOM at the OAS do not recognize Guaido or his representative’s legitimacy in the OAS. These 11 countries, including Antigua and Barbuda, do not recognize Guaido’s representative or his vote or participation in any decision making in the OAS. Jamaica, the Bahamas and Haiti do deal with Guaido’s representative – this latter point was what motivated Gonsalves’ blog. Q. How do you feel about CARICOM’s current path? A. It is not good for the autonomy of individual states in the international community. Such autonomy as they enjoy is being eroded. Economically,
unless the leadership - at both the political and business levels - acknowledge that their markets are puny and their production minuscule in global terms, and that integrating their markets and production would strengthen each of them as integral parts of a larger, more competitive unit (in terms of raising money on better terms and bargaining for better terms of trade) the current path will weaken each of them still further. Perhaps the truth is they all know that, ultimately, they need CARICOM which is why none have left it, and none have chosen to destroy it. It may well be that those who encourage the notion of their own vehicle, keep the engine of the CARICOM bus running because they know that they will need to board it to drive to salvation. I understand Camillo Gonsalves frustration. I share it. But I also know that we cannot pronounce CARICOM dead. Its lifeblood continues to pump in the veins of Caribbean people everywhere who long for a single region in which they can travel freely on one passport, move to jobs, set up businesses
anywhere in the region, just like the people of the 50 states of the United States do. The imperatives of survival rest not in separateness but in togetherness where the bounty of the region is shared by all in a truly integrated single area., and where standing together in the international community gives the Caribbean solid meaning. This does not mean giving up national identity; it means recognising that we can also benefit from a Caribbean identity - just as people from Texas are Texans and Americans; and people from Italy are Italians and Europeans, so too we can be Jamaicans, Barbadians, Antiguans and yet be Caribbean. • Responses and previous commentaries: www. sirronaldsanders.com The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto. The views expressed are entirely his own.
E H T G N I K A E BR N O I T C E F N I F O N I A H C
EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net
By THOMAS HALE, Associate Professor in Public Policy, University of Oxford IN MARCH 2020, as COVID-19 swept around the globe, my colleagues and I began debating the bewildering new measures popping up around the world with our master’s students in a politics of policymaking class at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. We had a lot of questions. Why were governments doing different things? Which policies would work? We didn’t know. And to answer those questions, we needed comparable information on these new policies, including school closings, stay at home orders, contact tracing and more. A few weeks later, we launched the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker to help find these answers. It has now become the largest repository of global evidence relating to pandemic policies. To date, more than 600 data collectors from around the world have helped us track 20 different categories of coronavirus response, including lockdown, health, economic, and now vaccine policies in 186 countries. We then group those policies into a number of indices, including the stringency index, which records the number and intensity of closure and containment policies on a scale of zero to 100. Fifteen countries reached 100 on the stringency index, while seven
never surpassed 50. The countries with the highest average stringency were Honduras, Argentina, Libya, Eritrea and Venezuela. Those with the lowest were Nicaragua, Burundi, Belarus, Kiribati and Tanzania. A year on, what else have we learned about how governments have handled the largest health crisis in memory? One surprising observation is that similarities can actually outweigh differences. During the first months of the pandemic, governments mostly adopted similar policies, in mostly the same sequence, at mostly the same time – the two middle weeks of March 2020. This policy convergence contrasts with the uneven spread of COVID19 around the world. In March 2020, though the disease was already prevalent in some parts of Asia, and rapidly spreading in parts of Europe and North America, it had yet to reach a wide scale of transmission in many parts of the world. The global lockdown rush therefore contrasted with the varying epidemiological situations countries faced. This meant that some countries locked down too late, and others arguably too soon. But as the pandemic progressed, countries – and, in some parts of the world, states and regions – began to vary considerably. Some governments were able to contain the first wave and then preserve those gains with a mix of targeted closure and containment measures, extensive testing
INSIGHT
and contact tracing, and firm international border controls. Places like China, Taiwan, Vietnam and New Zealand all managed not just to flatten the curve but to keep it flat, albeit with a few small flare-ups. In our data, we count 39 countries that have only experienced one wave of disease, though limited testing and reporting systems, or government suppression of information, make it hard to determine the true number. Other countries have had less success, seeing second, third, or even fourth waves of disease. Some of these have been relatively small outbreaks, controllable with test and trace measures and targeted restrictions. For example, South Korea and Finland, though not able to eliminate the virus, have largely kept it from stressing health systems.
ROLLERCOASTER COUNTRIES
Too many countries have been on a veritable rollercoaster of rising and falling infections with corresponding policy whiplash and tragic death tolls. The United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, Iran, Brazil and France have seen successive waves of disease and have phased in and out of restrictive policies. Though initially debated, the scientific literature is now clear: COVID-19 restrictions work to break the chain of infection, with timely, sharper restrictions having greater effect than slower, weaker ones. But while clearly true on
average, there is no guarantee this recipe will always work. Countries like Peru suffered rising disease despite restrictive policies, perhaps showing that compliance and trust are also key to effectiveness. Some evidence also suggests that stronger economic support makes COVID-19 restrictions more effective.
MONEY ISN’T EVERYTHING
While we can identify patterns of successful response, it is also evident that none of the country characteristics that were expected to provide an advantage before the pandemic, such as wealth or autocracy, have clearly done so. If you divide the world into countries with above average and below average deaths, robust government responses and weak ones, you will find in both groups plenty of rich countries and poor countries, democracies and dictatorships, those ruled by populists and those governed by technocrats. Success and failure are moving targets. As the pandemic has evolved, so have government responses. According to our data, vaccines are now available in 128 countries and rising.
MONDAY, MARCH 29, 20217 PAGE 11
Notably, some of the countries most swiftly rolling out vaccination – Israel, the UK, the United States, the UAE – are places that have previously struggled to control the virus through restrictions and test-andtrace systems.
LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE
One year on, the pandemic is by no means over, but already our data suggests some implications and lessons for governments. First, old ideas about what contributes to pandemic preparedness need to be updated. Some countries with formidable scientific and healthcare capacity stumbled mightily. At the same time, places with less capacity, including Mongolia, Thailand and Senegal have managed to largely keep people healthy and the economy running. Second, learning from others, or even from past experience, cannot be taken for granted. In March 2020 eastern European countries like the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria saw what happened to their western neighbours and imposed restrictions before community transmission became widespread. They largely avoided the death
tolls many western European countries experienced in the first wave. But then just a few months later some of the same eastern European countries did the exact opposite, waiting too long to reimpose measures as cases rose in the autumn, with all too predictable consequences. Finally, while our work has tracked individual governments’ responses, it is clear that exiting the pandemic will require global cooperation. Until transmission is curtailed throughout the world with restrictions and vaccinations, the risk of new variants sending us back to square one cannot be ignored. In the first year of the pandemic we saw little cooperation between governments. In the next, we will need to work together to control this disease. • Noam Angrist, Emily Cameron-Blake, Lucy Dixon, Laura Hallas, Saptarshi Majumdar, Anna Petherick, Toby Phillips, Helen Tatlow, Andrew Wood, and Yuxi Zhang contributed to this article. It is published in collaboration with the International Public Policy Observatory, of which The Conversation is a partner organisation.
PAGE 12, Monday, March 29, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
ANTI-coup protesters run around their makeshift barricade during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar, yesterday.
More than 100 dead in Myanmar crackdown YANGON, Myanmar Associated Press MYANMAR security forces opened fire yesterday on a crowd attending the funeral of student who was killed on the bloodiest day yet of a crackdown on protests against last month’s coup, local media reported. The escalating violence — which took the lives of at least 114 people on Saturday, including several children under 16 — has prompted a UN human rights expert to accuse the junta of committing “mass murder” and to criticise the international community
for not doing enough to stop it. But it has not so far stopped either the demonstrations against the February 1 takeover — or the violent response of the military and police to them. Local outlet Myanmar Now reported that the junta’s troops shot at mourners at the funeral in the city of Bago for Thae Maung Maung, a 20-year-old killed on Saturday. He was reportedly a member of the All Burma Federation of Student Union, which has a long history of supporting pro-democracy movements in the country.
According to the report, several people attending the funeral were arrested. It did not say if anyone was hurt or killed. But at least nine people were killed elsewhere yesterday as the crackdown continued, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which has been tallying deaths during demonstrations against the coup. Some of the funerals held yesterday became themselves opportunities to demonstrate resistance to the junta. At one in Bhamo in the northern state of Kachin, a large crowd chanted
democracy slogans and raised the three-finger salute that has come to symbolise defiance of the takeover. Family and friends were paying their respects to Shwe Myint, a 36-year-old who was shot dead by security forces on Saturday. The military had initially seized her body and refused to return it until her family signed a statement that her death was not caused by them, according to the Democratic Voice of Burma, a broadcast and online news service. In Yangon, the country’s largest city, meanwhile, mourners flashed the
three-finger salute as they wheeled the coffin of a 13-year-old boy. Sai Wai Yan was shot dead by security forces as he played outside his home. The February 1 coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government reversed years of progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule. It has again made Myanmar the focus of international scrutiny as security forces have repeatedly fired into crowds of protesters. At least 459 people have been killed since the takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The crackdown
extends beyond the demonstrations: Humanitarian workers reported that the military had carried out airstrikes yesterday against guerilla fighters in the eastern part of the country. The junta has accused some of the demonstrators of perpetrating the violence because of their sporadic use of Molotov cocktails and has said its use of force has been justified to stop what it has called rioting. On Saturday, some protesters in Yangon were seen carrying bows and arrows. Saturday’s death toll far exceeded the previous single-day high that ranged from 74 to 90 on March 14.
REBELS BESIEGE TOWN IN MOZAMBIQUE FOR FIFTH DAY JOHANNESBURG Associated Press
REBELS fought yesterday to control a strategic town in northern Mozambique for the fifth straight day, as reports came in that dozens of civilians have been killed and bodies were littering the streets of Palma. The fate of scores of foreign workers was also unknown. Some of the dead had been beheaded, according to Human Rights Watch. An attempt by expatriate workers to flee to safety came under heavy fire, causing many deaths, according to local reports.
The three-year insurgency of the rebels, who are primarily disaffected young Muslim men, in the northern Cabo Delgado province has taken more than 2,600 lives and displaced an estimated 670,000 people, according to the UN. Most communications with Palma and the surrounding area have been cut off by the insurgents, although some in the besieged town got messages out using satellite phones. The town is where many contractors have been working for a multi-billiondollar liquified natural gas project by the French energy company Total.
NEW YORK TO LEGALISE RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA NEW York is poised to join a growing number of states that have legalised marijuana after state lawmakers reached a deal to allow sales of the drug for recreational use. The agreement reached on Saturday, expected to be signed into law in the coming days, would expand the state’s existing medical
marijuana programme. The legislation would allow recreational marijuana sales to adults over the age of 21, and set up a licencing process for the delivery of cannabis products to customers. Individual New Yorkers could grow up to three mature and three immature plants for personal consumption.
THE TRIBUNE
Monday, March 29, 2021, PAGE 13
THE RIBBON-cutting ceremony on Friday.
Photo: Vandyke Hepburn
Four more patrol vessels added to nation’s fleet By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net MINISTER of Agriculture and Marine Resources Michael Pintard said officials are making progress in protecting the country’s scarce marine resources, with the addition of four patrol vessels at a cost of some $700,000 since 2019. He said his ministry has also significantly increased staff, hiring “the largest complement of fisheries officers in the country’s history”. Mr Pintard was speaking at the official commissioning ceremony of the Department of Marine Resources’ 25ft contender marine patrol craft in Freeport on Friday. He said the ministry is continuing the tradition under successive administrations of increasing the complement of vessels. He said while the funds allocated thus far are significant, he believes more is required. “We spent in the vicinity of $704,000 since 2019 to add four additional marine patrol vessels. Dorian, unfortunately, set us back in terms of the damage done, not just to vehicles and facilities, but also to several patrol crafts. “But we are excited we are back on track. We were hurt by the tragedies of Dorian and the pandemic, but we are rebounding and building back stronger than before,” Mr Pintard said. “We are excited about this opportunity to patrol and protect our environment,” he said. Mr Pintard said that Grand Bahama is not their
only focus. He promised to make sure Abaco has its “right” complement of vessels, as well as Eleuthera and Bimini. He also indicated that $216,000 in additional funds have been allocated to increase the complement of vehicles on Grand Bahama to assist the staff in executing their work. “We have made some progress. Are we where we need to be as a ministry? I would say, no. Are we on the right road heading in the right direction and picking up speed? I would say yes.” In terms of personnel in Grand Bahama, Mr Pintard said one of the challenges his ministry has had is insufficient personnel to enforce the laws regarding the protection of the marine environment. To address that issue, he reported that they have increased the staff complement to eight in the Department of Marine Resources. “Four persons have been added since 2018, and over the last three years we have had the approval to hire the largest complement of fisheries officers in the history of the Bahamas,” he said. “We are grateful that the policymakers and public servants are appreciating the fact that if we are to protect our marine resources here, there has to be a dramatic increase, not just in capacity, but in terms of the number of employees available throughout the length and breadth of the Bahamas,” he said. During his address, Mr Pintard recognised Ledena Pelecanos,who heads the department in Grand
Bahama. He also made mention of Wayne Hall for his many years as a volunteer and lecturer for some of their initiatives, including the aquaponics programme, in Grand Bahama. “I wish to acknowledge him with a moment of silence for his untimely passing,” he said. He also noted that the police and defence force officers have also assisted the department of marine resources for years. “We are not a small island state, we are a big ocean state, and it is in our collective interest to increase the complement of marine officers,” he said. “We have a large cadre of police, defence force, and prison officers, and it only stands to reason that we ought to increase the complement of marine officers and fisheries throughout the Bahamas,” he said. Another goal, Mr Pintard said, is the intention to set up satellite offices in both West End and East End Grand Bahama. Mr Pintard said funding has been made available to assist entrepreneurs, such as farmers and fishers whose livelihood was disrupted by Dorian and the pandemic. Mr Pintard said Minister Kenneth Lewis, a pacesetter in the marine resources sector, is among the many who suffered significant damage. He noted that more than $300,000 was made available, in conjunction with the Small Business Development Centre to help fishers with rebuilding. The minister also stated that a $5 million grant was allocated for farmers and fishers for Dorian relief.
PORT ASSISTS BAHAMAS FEEDING NETWORK THE Arawak Port Development continues to support the Bahamas Feeding Network. President and CFO of Arawak Port Development Limited (APD) Dion Bethell (pictured right) presented a cheque to Philip Smith, executive director of the Bahamas Feeding Network (BFN), during a recent visit to APD’s office. “We at Arawak Port Development Limited would like to give you a small token of our appreciation for the good work that you are doing in the community with the Bahamas Feeding Network and encourage you and your team to continue,” Mr Bethell said. From its inception in 2013, BFN has had the support of corporate and individual donors who value the efforts of the network in providing food for those facing food insecurity.
ARAWAK Port Development donates to the Bahamas Feeding Network. “As a non-profit organisation, all of the resources we use come from donations, be it monetary, in-kind or time,” said Mr Smith. “It’s truly amazing that we’ve garnered the backing of organisations like Arawak Port Development and so many others, who see the benefit of the work we do in the community and the level of support
we provide to the public, so much so, that many of our donors typically give every year and become longterm partners. I thank you on behalf of the directors of the Bahamas Feeding Network, as well as those benefitting directly, and assure you that it will make a huge impact on the most vulnerable throughout The Bahamas.”
ROTARY CLUB HELPS BUILD LITERACY THE ROTARY Club of Nassau Sunrise has granted over four dozen primary school students the opportunity to develop their reading skills through a digital literacy programme. Club president Frances Dean said 50 students at the Uriah Mcphee Primary school were the recipients of the Mindplay Digital Literacy programme. The project matches student needs, provides information about the needs of struggling
readers and promotes individualised reading instruction and individualised practice. MindPlay Virtual Reading Coach (MVRC) also emphasizes the mastery of basic reading skills to support the development of reading fluency, phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary and reading comprehension. Literacy chair Janelle Cambridge-Johnson said she was extremely proud to have received a $5,000
grant from the Rotary Foundation. She added it was the third week into the programme and the students were progressing well. Mrs Cambridge Johnson added she was excited that Uriah McPhee was the beneficiary of the initiative. She also said it was her hope that the average grade point average for the students will improve over the next five months as they prepare to sit their GLAT examinations.