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VOLUME:116 No.83, APRIL 24TH, 2019

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ALICIA WALLACE: WHEN OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS, BE READY

Give us answers Carnival facing grilling on shock ocean dumping

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net GOVERNMENT officials launched an investigation and started direct talks with Carnival Corporation yesterday after reports that the cruise giant’s ships unlawfully dumped sewage and food waste in Bahamian waters.

Carnival ships dumped hundreds of thousands of gallons of treated sewage and more than 8,000 gallons of food waste in 2017, according to a US courtmandated report.

In so doing, the corporation violated the

International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) which specifies how food waste and sewage must be disposed.

The US government has extracted millions from companies over the years by aggressively enforcing compliance with MARPOL, but it is not clear whether The Bahamas has the legislative framework in place to do the same. Local investigators will undertake their fact-finding mission at the beginning, by first determining whether Carnival’s ships were truly in Bahamian SEE PAGE FIVE

GOVT ACCUSED OF EXPLOITING RULING CRUNCH TIME FOR

THE BAHAMAS CARIFTA track and field team returned home from the Cayman Islands yesterday where they finished with 26 medals, second to Jamaica, in the Easter event.

Full story and picture - See Sport

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE traditionally powerful Public Accounts Committee has been stalled, thwarted and handicapped in its ability to carry out its constitutional mandate, according to an interim report.

The report, which is expected to be signed and presented to Parliament today, lays the blame for the committee’s “disability” on the Minnis administration’s interpretation of former House Speaker Dr Kendal Major’s controversial 2015 ruling.

Dr Major’s ruling effectively blocked the PAC’s investigation of a leaked audit report into Urban

Renewal 2.0 at the time, and the government has since taken the position that it bars the committee from reviewing anything not brought to the House of Assembly by the auditor general.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis suggested his administration would not facilitate the opposition-led Public Accounts Committee during an interview last year.

Dr Minnis noted the previous administration had such a policy that tied the hands of the previous PAC, adding: “Tell Philip ‘Brave’ Davis live by the laws and rules he brought forth.”

The interim PAC report calls on sitting House

SEE PAGE SEVEN

NIB ON PAYOUTS

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

CRITICAL decisions will have to be made regarding the National Insurance Board and the administration of contributions it collects to ensure there remains longevity of the social security net’s benefits, according to a Cabinet minister yesterday.

Public Service and NIB Minister Brensil Rolle told reporters either every working person will have to pay more contributions into the safety net or benefits

offered will be lessened to match the level of contribution made.

He further issued a warning to employers who deduct NIB contributions from workers but fail to pay them to the board, saying perpetrators will be “absolutely” aggressively pursued.

“What I do know though is that our benefits are outstripping our contributions and we’ve got to look at what we need to do to bring that balance back to NIB so that everyone could get SEE PAGE SIX

MONTAGU BEACH: WE WANT POLICE ON SITE

By RIEL MAJOR Tribune Staff Reporter rmajor@tribunemedia.net

VENDORS are calling for increased police patrols in the Montagu Beach area as they expressed their frustration and fears about the rise in crime.

The Tribune canvassed the area yesterday in the wake of a shooting that left five people in hospital on Monday night.

One vendor, who only wanted to be identified as Mrs Sands, told The Tribune police should always do routine checks of

public places that facilitate businesses.

When asked if she felt safe, she said: “Basically yes and no… not only because of the incident that happened last night but I think police should always be around and beef up on patrols because that’s their job.

“I think someone needs to be stationed here simply because they have fish cleaners out here and they’re using knives.

Sometimes there can be arguments over sales so I SEE PAGE SEVEN

‘GREENS’ BEG PM TO BLOCK ABACO PROJECT TECHNOLOGY

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE government has been urged to reject the proposed $580m South Abaco mixed-use resort project due to “tremendous concerns” over its “financial viability and environmental impact”.

Multiple Bahamian and international environmental groups, in an April 15 letter to the prime minister and his Cabinet colleagues,

THE ABACO SITE warned that the sheer scale of the proposed development “would result in irreversible negative socioeconomic impacts on local

communities as well as dire environmental consequences for many species living in the area”.

The letter, which has been obtained by Tribune Business, also calls on the government to require the developer, Tyrsoz Family Holdings, to post a “minimum” performance bond equal to 125 percent of its proposed $580m total investment - translating into a sum worth $725m.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

TESLA PLANS TO GIVE KEYS TO ROBOTS SEE PAGE NINE

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, April 24, 2019, PAGE 3

PLP CALLS FOR ACTION AFTER TEENAGER ATTACKED BY US POLICE

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

WITH the fallout surrounding a video showing a Florida teen of Bahamian heritage being punched and pepper-sprayed by police in that state last week now intensifying, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) called for the government to officially address the ordeal.

This comes as attorneys for 15-year-old Delucca Rolle, who The Tribune understands is a naturalised American citizen, yesterday met with the Florida State Attorney’s Office.

In a brief statement, PLP chairman Fred Mitchell yesterday referred to the ordeal as a “Bahamian citizen” being “brutalised in an interface with US policemen, by those policemen”.

Mr Mitchell in his statement suggested that as the official opposition, the PLP had carried out its own “independent checks,” and implored the Minnis

administration to “give an official statement”.

According to Florida reports, Delucca was among a group of JP Taravella High School students who had gathered outside of McDonald’s last Thursday.

Officers from the Broward Sheriff’s Office responded to gathering shortly before 3pm, and an altercation ensued.

Various video recordings showed the teen at one point bending down to pick up something in the view of a deputy. The boy’s mother, who is from The Bahamas, told the Nassau Guardian her son had bent down to pick up a cell phone. She also said her son has Bahamian citizenship.

That deputy, later identified as Christopher Krickovich, appeared to take issue with Delucca’s action and sprayed the teen with pepper spray.

Subsequent to this, Mr Krickovich is seen grabbing and then slamming teen onto the concrete.

The teen, while on the ground, is

A PICTURE from the video. seen mounted by Mr Krickovich with the assistance of another deputy.

Mr Krickovich is then seen punching Delucca to the side of the face and repeatedly slamming his head into the concrete.

A bloody-face Delucca is finally

seen in videos restrained by the officers.

Onlookers to the ordeal can be heard throughout the video recordings calling on the officers to show a level of restraint, with one bystander asking: “What are you doing? He’s bleeding!”

Another added: “He didn’t do anything.”

Mr Krickovich, who has been placed on leave following the incident, in his arrest report claimed Delucca took an aggressive stance toward officers and clenched his fists.

Mr Krickovich further suggested he was forced to push the teen’s head into the ground to free the teen’s right hand from under his body, according to Local10 in Florida.

The incident has garnered international attention and a tremendous amount of support from celebrities — all calling for justice in the matter.

Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen in tweet over the weekend

called for Mr Krickovich to be fired outright.

NBA star LeBron James said the incident has made him concerned about the safety of his own kids.

Attempts by The Tribune to reach out to Delucca’s family yesterday were unsuccessful, with the only contact coming with representatives from the office of one of the teen’s new attorneys, Benjamin Crump.

Mr Crump, alongside fellow Florida attorney Sue Ann Robinson and Delucca’s mother and aunt, reportedly met with prosecutors from the Broward County State Attorney’s Office yesterday.

Mr Crump’s office said details related to the meeting will be made public in the coming days.

Meanwhile, when contacted for comment yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Darren Henfield said a statement from his ministry on the matter would be forthcoming at some point this week.

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

20-YEAR-OLD ON MURDER CHARGE

DONOVAN Brennen outside court yesterday.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

NO STATS TO SUPPORT US CRIME CLAIMS

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames said yesterday he didn’t have any statistics to back claims from a recently released United States report that crimes against its citizens in this country had increased.

The US State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) warned in its Bahamas 2019 report that despite publicised numbers, incidents involving US citizens increased by 32 percent. The report noted this pertained to mostly rape, sexual assault and robbery/theft.

Responding, Mr Dames, pictured right, said: “I don’t have any statistics that will bear crimes against US citizens are on the rise.”

He continued: “But one thing I would say is that you can see (and) we can essentially feel that we are in a different place in this country as compared to previous years and crimes continues to trend down including

homicide, armed robberies and the more serious offences. So we are very pleased with the direction in which we are headed as a country. I continue to hear it from persons on the street on a daily basis. Are we there yet? No. We are far from where we need to be but we are certainly on the right track.”

Officials are also making progress toward the implementation of police body cameras and the creation of a sexual offenders registry, he said.

As for body cameras, he told reporters: “We basically would have completed the tender process and so once the tender process would have been completed and it was completed last week, we are in the process now of preparing the Cabinet paper and hopefully within the next two weeks we should have that before Cabinet.”

He also said: “As I said prior to this we’ve been running a significant amount of testing with the vendor and we were certainly able to get over

quite a bit of kinks in relation to the system to ensure that we have something that’s custom-made for The Bahamas and we are very pleased.

“Because the system would not only accommodate matters in relation to sexual complaints but also we are looking at disaster management.

This is a diverse system and the local company would have partnered with a formidable company in the business and we feel that we have something that will work for us here in The Bahamas and so we are excited about where we are with respect to that,” Mr Dames said yesterday.

As for a timeline for the sex offender registry, Mr Dames said officials were pushing to make it public as soon as possible, adding: “There is a lot of planning that will take place behind that and we are a government that likes to get our planning in place before we roll these initiatives out to ensure that they work properly.”

WE HAVE THE SKILLS TO OPERATE RADAR

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames has dismissed claims that Royal Bahamas Defence Force officers tasked with operating a newly installed long-range radar do not have the necessary skills for the job.

He was responding to reports in a local tabloid that claimed the lack of training had made it possible for Haitian sloops carrying migrants to go undetected as they crossed into Bahamian waters.

The $2.1m radar was a gift from the United States and is regarded as a move to strengthen the country’s border defences, with $133m projected to be spent over the next three budget cycles in this regard.

“Why would you introduce something and not prepare people for it?”

Mr Dames said yesterday. “It doesn’t make sense to me. A new radar was introduced. It was

on the drawing board for some time and whenever you have something new, training is continuous so you must work to ensure that the persons who are operating it are fully acclimated and continue to receive the training to ensure that they are competent and capable of executing, but we would not have come this far if persons were not trained to operate a system. You just don’t implement something and say ‘okay lets start the training.’”

He continued: “It has to go hand in hand and we will continue to ensure as I said before previously that our approach is always to ensure that before we introduce anything that we have the requisite number of persons who are fully trained to execute.

“We will not be making the mistake that was often made in the past that you spend a significant amount of money on acquiring technology and would not have prepared persons for it.

“As you can see certainly within the RBPF, we’re in an era of training. We have never trained so many persons and we will continue

to do that because we understand it is an important plank in our efforts to professionalise our law enforcement agencies.”

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A 20-YEAR-OLD man is the one responsible for murdering a 37-year-old father of three in the Bain Town area late last month, police have alleged.

Donovan Brennen, of Rupert Dean Lane, was charged before Magistrate Samuel McKinney yesterday with murdering fellow Bain Town resident Alexander “Nonks” Bullard on March 29.

According to initial reports, shortly before 1am on that Friday, officers were called to the scene in Bain Town where the unresponsive body of a man was discovered with visible injuries.

Paramedics were called to the scene, but were unable to resuscitate him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Brennen was not required to enter a plea to the charge and the matter was adjourned to May 30 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI). Bail was denied and he was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services in the interim.

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

PAGE 4, Wednesday, April 24, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

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

LEON E. H. DUPUCH,

SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH,

jamaaltheartist@gmail.com

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

Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991

EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON,

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

Published daily Monday to Friday

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Montagu needs to be safer THE Easter Monday shooting that left five people in hospital has left many in the Montagu Beach area voicing concerns – and with good reason.

As one local said, if there is a regular police presence at Arawak Cay, shouldn’t there be the same at Montagu Beach?

Take a trip down to the beach in the daytime and you will see it is a busy area – lots of people taking lunch breaks by the sea, visitors enjoying the beach and the fort, and it appears in recent years to have become more popular still.

Add in the number of Airbnb users seeking out a quieter, nearby beach rather than the traditional beaches near the major hotels, and it’s clear the area has a lot of people passing through each day.

Fortunately, the Easter Monday shooting is very much out of character for the area – but listening to vendors and patrons yesterday, there are plenty of other concerns.

Several people spoke about not feeling safe – one vendor pointing out that a number of fish cleaners in the area have knives and that sometimes fights break out.

Another vendor spoke of the same, saying: “I lost a lot of customers especially when they are fighting, they have to run and sometimes they have to come back for their bag. Good thing I’m not a thief they have to come back for their bag and phone.”

Further along from the beach, there is the ramp, and concerns have also been raised about the number of fish vendors selling from there.

Driving through the area during the day, you will routinely see vendors

trying to flag down customers passing on the road and if you pull in or pass through on foot, the hustle begins to try to get you to buy from them.

It is not over-reacting to the Easter Monday shooting to take the time to assess whether or not things can be done better than they are at present.

With the number of people in the area, a regular police presence would not be amiss – especially if it’s a mobile unit that can also respond to other alerts in the area. Positioned there, police would have quick access to Village Road, Eastern Road and Shirley Street for responding to emergencies.

Regular users and tourists would gain the benefit of feeling safe in the area, knowing police were regularly on site – and that in turn might further help to boost the economy there. People who don’t feel safe don’t come back – people who do feel safe become regular visitors.

More than that, it is also worth asking if the fish vendors on the ramp are in the right place or whether they should relocate.

Beyond the hassle of passers-by, the area has no facilities for keeping fish refrigerated or to shelter from the sun – would another area be better for both the sellers and for the quality of product they sell?

These are all worthwhile questions to ask – but more than anything, we all want one goal. We want no repeat of Easter Monday’s shooting. At the time of writing, one woman is in critical condition, and four men are in stable condition. We sincerely hope they make a full recovery – and we also hope that steps are taken to ensure such an incident never happens again.

Mitchell needs to show more respect EDITOR, The Tribune FRED Mitchell’s recent comments about the Royal Bahamas Police Force were deplorable and uncalled for in my opinion. As an experienced politician he should know better than to make reckless and irresponsible comments about hardworking law enforcement officers, just because it serves his political agenda.

As the brother of an officer, I take personal offence.

According to Mitchell, the police can’t be trusted to investigate claims that certain funds were misused or are unaccounted for from the National Sports Authority on his party’s watch. Even though the PLP trusted the very same AFTER a report prepared by a US courtappointed monitor revealed that Carnival Corporation illegally dumped hundreds of thousands of treated sewage in Bahamian waters along with more than 8,000 gallons of food waste, readers gave their reactions on tribune242.com.

John posted this comment: “And yet the Bahamas are granting these companies permission to build their own private ports throughout the country when they do not have the means or the manpower to monitor their activities in port or out-to-sea.

And if they are conducting themselves in this callous and reckless manner, are we willing to sacrifice our marine resources and mass pollution by giving in to the

officers for five years when they were in office, suddenly because they will be investigating the blunders of his own political tribe, they are unable to carry out an impartial investigation? That is just wrong. It is insulting and demeaning to the thousands of officers who protect and serve on a daily basis. He should remember that as the party chairman, he speaks for all PLPs when he attacks civil servants in this way.

What Fred Mitchell is really saying is that he doesn’t want the police or anyone else looking into the conduct of members of his party. He is saying that the PLP are above investigation and that they can

cruise ships’ demands for private port facilities?”

MaryMack53 said: “It can’t be any clearer. These big monstrosities of water hotels don’t value our country and the beauty that it has to offer. Instead, they’re going out of their way to destroy our ecosystem because they darn right don’t care. The Carnival and we’re sure many other cruise ships do the same thing.”

There was this from Concerned799: “Well IT IS our backyard and the Bahamas sets the rules.

Its so simple really. Do we want dumping cruise ships

essentially do as they please and no one should ask them any questions. Considering what it once stood for, it is sad that our country’s first political party so often descends into this kind of entitlement and self-importance. Who do they think they are?

It is exactly this kind of arrogant behaviour that got the PLP kicked out of office in May 2017. Mitchell should just apologise to all police officers for his inappropriate words and seek to do better in future if he would like any chance of seeing his party in office once again.

RICARDO JOHNSON Nassau April 15, 2019 that bring little money to the real economy or a land based hotel economy that is accountable to the people and the laws of the land?

And if you want the latter, just kick out the former and reclaim the country, it’s all not even hard to do to, just invite them to leave and pay their fines on the way out.”

And SP had this to say: “Carnival finally got caught but there are many others just as guilty. The Bahamas as a major transit point for shipping is being indiscriminately dumped on daily! We need to charge these ships a transit fee sufficient enough to allow us to ‘properly’ police our waters. ” Don’t miss your chance to join the conversation on tribune242.com.

Back the guy with a PhD from the University of Hard Knocks EDITOR, The Tribune The “Graduate” never ceases to amaze me. After saying all the good things Rupert Roberts has done in his lifetime he proceeds to get nasty, degrading and personal.

Yes, Mr Roberts has made money. Yes, Mr Roberts is on the top of the pile. He got there by hard work and at the same time helping others. The Graduate, on the other hand, has probably sucked his way to the top, helping nobody on his way up!

When I was Minister of Agriculture I started a campaign “Buy Bahamian”. Mr Roberts was the first one to join in. When I returned from a trip to Exuma, I phoned Mr Roberts and told him that the farmers there were unable to market their peppers.

He sent his people there and bought virtually all the peppers. All Bahamian produced products got prime position on the shelves of Super Value.

When I put a ban on bananas to help Bahamian farmers get into the market, Super Value bought as many as could be supplied.

City Markets, on the other hand, refused to buy any.

The Graduate says that City Markets gave many scholarships. They did indeed. Super Value gave as many. He helped people build homes and develop businesses.

And the Graduate says he’s a doddering old man who needs to “evolve”.

That’s what you call ingratitude!

And all this criticism because he does not believe that joining the WTO is good for The Bahamas?

True, Mr Roberts has no formal university training in economics, but he does

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net have a PhD from the University of Hard Knocks.

Personally I would have thought that advice from a man with Mr Roberts’ local experience and knowledge would be far better than someone with little or no experience on the local scene.

Obviously, he spoke of how it would affect his business, which he knows best.

With this knowledge he would be able to predict how it would affect other businesses. The Graduate indicates that he should be happy to know that his business has been protected in the WTO agreement and, therefore, should not worry. Yes, this is how the Graduate thinks ... himself only. Mr Roberts, on the other hand, thinks of how it would affect those other Bahamian businesses that are not protected.

The Graduate indicates that Mr Roberts should “partner” with a foreign company in order to modernize his stores and thus bring prices down. Experience shows and history tells us that a foreign owned company does not automatically bring prices down.

But let us for one minute buy the Graduate’s argument. Let us say the foreign “partner” buys 45% of Super Value. This means that when dividends are declared, 45% of the amount declared would leave the country. What?!

To save money, the 45% foreign investor may suggest that Super Value’s administrative operations should be moved out of the country. This means more Bahamian jobs could be

lost. What!? (Don’t believe me? Check BPL and BTC.) Maybe the Graduate has another motive. Maybe, just maybe he/she/it has a friend or family waiting in the wings to get a piece of the action. Just maybe.

The argument that we must join the WTO in order to eliminate import duties has been used quite frequently. This is not true.

Import duties and joining WTO are two different things.

Our form of taxation was designed assuming that duties would be around 10 percent.

It taxes from the “bottom up”. In other words, it becomes part of the “cost of doing business” which means it is added to the price of the item, which pushes prices up.

On the other hand, “corporate tax” is charged from the “top down”. This means that a person is taxed on his/her profits and it’s not added to the cost of the goods.

Whether we join the WTO or not, the system of Import Duties has to change because it’s pushing prices too high. The “little man” is being asked to bear too much of the burden.

Today, the government is making more on a car than the dealer who is now being accused of “over pricing”.

The government makes more than the merchant on most ... if not all ... items that are brought into this country.

Yes my friends be careful. WTO may bring plenty of money for some people and make others slaves.

But why does the Graduate care, he/she/it probably has a strong suction cup!?

PIERRE V.L. DUPUCH Nassau April 23, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, April 24, 2019, PAGE 5

from page one

Carnival facing grilling on shock ocean dumping

waters when the materials were dumped, The Tribune was told. Among the matters they will assess is the environmental impact of the dumping –– Carnival officials said yesterday that there was no negative impact on marine ecosystems because the sewage released in Bahamian waters was treated and removed of contaminants.

Seven of Carnival’s ships are registered with the Bahamas Maritime Authority.

If incidents such as unlawful dumping occur on such ships, Carnival is required to report those incidents to the BMA. Since none of the ships said to have unlawfully dumped sewage and food waste in local waters were registered in the Bahamas, the corporation was required to report the incidents to the Port Authority, The Tribune understands. It is unclear if Carnival complied with this requirement in every instance.

Reports of the dumping were revealed in a recently released report by a US court-appointed monitor.

The monitor was required to review Carnival’s activities after the corporation pled guilty to vessel pollution and efforts to conceal that pollution in 2016. The corporation was placed on probation.

Opposition leader Philip “Brave” Davis yesterday said the government must assess what damage Carnival may have

ONE of the Carnival Corporation’s fleet of cruise ships caused and to remedy that damage at a cost to the corporation.

“It is an alarming revelation that our waters have been polluted and I would hope that some assessment could be made to determine what impact it would have had on our ecology and if there is any consequence and if there is an impact that further assessments could be made to determine how it could be remedied

at the cost of Carnival,” Mr Davis said. “I note from stories several weeks ago that Carnival was in fact on probation by the authorities in the United States. It’s necessary for the government to take note of what’s going on and see how we could remedy any damage to the Bahamas.”

According to the MARPOL convention, treated sewage can only be discharged at a distance of

more than three nautical miles from the nearest land; Carnival has a self-imposed requirement of 12 nautical miles.

Carnival officials blamed its dumping on a misunderstanding of the Bahamian archipelagic baseline.

Casuarina McKinneyLambert, president of Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation, said environmentalists remain deeply

concerned about the issue of cruise ship dumping at sea.

“This is not a oneoff issue,” she said.

“The growing cruise industry brings with it environmental issues that must be addressed. We need to have a comprehensive and enforceable Environmental Protection Act and much more stringent monitoring and tougher enforcement for our own waters.

“We do not currently have adequate standards for cruise ship pollution, and even the basic standards are clearly not being adhered to. We should require large cruise ships to treat their waste water to the point where it would meet the water quality criteria designed to protect human and aquatic life. We need to ensure that our waters and food sources are protected. The Bahamas depends on clear clean water for our very survival – from food security and a healthy marine environment for locals and visitors to enjoy.”

She added: “It is estimated that cruise operators discarded over one billion gallons of sewage into the ocean in 2017. Much of this black water still contained dangerous levels of contaminants from fecal matter, bacteria and heavy metals. There are numerous instances around the world where people have become ill from coming in contact with inadequately treated sewage from cruise ships, or through eating contaminated seafood. Coral reefs are particularly vulnerable to pollution.”

RBPF PROMOTION BOARD WAS ‘ILLEGALLY CONSTITUTED’

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

A RECENT Royal Bahamas Police Force promotion board that overlooked a police constable from advancement to corporal was illegally constituted, with former Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade found to have had no business chairing the committee in question, a Supreme Court judge has ruled.

Justice Indra Charles, in an oral ruling yesterday, said Mr Greenslade “usurped” the power of his deputy commissioner, the actual chairman of the board, when he and the RBPF promotion board decided not to promote Constable Delmar Taylor following two promotion exercises in 2014 and 2017.

That fact alone clearly highlighted the “irregularity” of the promotion exercises in question, Justice Charles said, as she further noted that the RBPF’s Standing Orders were not complied with in the present case.

And in noting that the board “should have been properly constituted”, Justice Charles ordered that P/C Taylor’s application for promotion be properly considered by a properly constituted promotion board, something she stressed should have happened from the outset.

Justice Charles further ordered the Crown to pay $10,000 in legal costs for the matter. The Crown, meanwhile, has indicated its intent to appeal the decision.

Last year, The Tribune exclusively reported how P/C Taylor said in a sworn affidavit that he was overlooked twice on a promotion to corporal, while other constables he alleges did not satisfy certain requisite RBPF policies, courses or examinations went ahead of him.

The officer of 12 years claims he was snubbed on two occasions: once following a promotion exercise in 2014, and again following a police advisory for promotion vacancies three years later in 2017.

And in each instance, P/C Taylor claims the RBPF promoted “a number” of other police constables who either did not satisfy the RBPF’s policies or who had not successfully completed the RBPF’s Constable Development Course or Police Proficiency Examinations, both fundamental requirements for promotion.

This, despite him

completing numerous courses as well as being the holder of an Associate’s of Arts Degree in Business Management from the University of the West Indies.

According to his affidavit, P/C Taylor enlisted in the RBPF on June 19, 2006.

Since then, he has been attached to the Fire Services Unit, Tourism Police Unit, Quiet Storm, Central Police Station, among other areas.

In August 2012, he was transferred to Eleuthera and attached to the Rock Sound Police Station, where he served as the station orderly.

He further claimed he was responsible for a shift/ guard and was the senior constable performing the role of a “de facto corporal” from sometime in 2013 to the present.

On October 2014, the police force conducted a proficiency exam at the police college. However, P/C Taylor said it was “widely known” and discussed throughout the RBPF at the time that the “integrity and procedural” propriety of the exams were being challenged.

That same year, P/C Taylor said the RBPF held a promotion exercise, prompting him to apply for elevation to the rank of corporal. He said he was unsuccessful in his bid.

However, he claimed it was “notoriously known” throughout the RBPF that individuals who did not sit the exams and some who weren’t successful in the tests were still elevated, which he said was “clearly in contravention of the Force’s Standing Orders.”

After the 2014 promotion exercise, P/C Taylor said he wrote to the police chief and requested an opportunity to meet and discuss with him “any reason that may have affected the decision not to elevate (him) to the rank of corporal.”

However, he said he got no response.

On January 21, 2017, Const Taylor said he was transferred to the Governor’s Harbour Police Station in Eleuthera, and came under the immediate supervision of Sergeant 188 Farquharson and Inspector Nigel Rolle.

In March 2017, he said those two officers insisted on conducting another performance appraisal on him, despite his oral communications that such an appraisal was inconsistent with the RBPF’s policy on assessments and career development, which speaks to appraisals being done on six month intervals.

The officer said he also spoke to his divisional

commander, Superintendent Christopher Wright, in reference to the inconsistency, and was assured by Supt Wright that he had the “final say” and that he had “firmly recommended” him to be promoted to corporal.

After speaking with Supt Wright and receiving his verbal endorsement, Const Taylor said he formed the “reasonable expectation to be elevated.”

On March 6 and 7, 2017, Const Taylor said the police proficiency examinations were conducted at the training college and some 832 officers wrote those examinations. The results of those tests were published five days later on March 11.

ELLISON GREENSLADE He submitted an application for a promotion but did not receive one.

Const Taylor said he wrote then-Commissioner Greenslade on two

occasions concerning a promotion. Up to that point, however, he hadn’t received a response to either letter.

And when he flew into New Providence on May 2, 2017 to meet with Mr Greenslade concerning Force Orders, he was informed that the former police chief wasn’t meeting with anyone.

P/C Taylor, through his attorney Bjorn Ferguson, consequently sued Mr Greenslade and the other members of the promotion board, namely Superintendent Gabriella Pratt, Clarence Reckley, Perry Clarke, and Patrick Johnson, seeking declarations that the entire process concerning the

RBPF’s promotions during the periods in question was unfair and that the commissioner of police abused his power.

Following proceedings last week, Justice Charles ultimately sided with P/C Taylor, ruling that the board’s decision “must be quashed” in the circumstances. She noted that in doing so, she was not suggesting that the promotion board is obligated to promoted P/C Taylor, or likewise that he is “entitled” to a promotion, but rather that her decision was based on P/C Taylor’s “eligibility” and the board’s improper constitution at the time.

PAGE 6, Wednesday, April 24, 2019 from page one the required social security services that’s needed from NIB,” Mr Rolle said yesterday outside of Cabinet.

His comments came when he was asked if he anticipated NIB to be operating at a deficit. He said he didn’t suspect this would be the case.

Earlier he said: “It’s always a challenge to balance your books but NIB is in a process now where we are trying to look at our assets (and) make a judgement on what assets we need to sell. But at the same time, we are constantly looking at opportunities to empower the organisation and to go into areas that will assist social security development in the Bahamas.”

In an article recently published in the Wall Street Journal, trustees said by 2035 US Social Security will no longer be able to pay its full scheduled benefits unless Congress steps in to shore up the programme.

Asked if The Bahamas was to face a similar predicament, Mr Rolle said: “Absolutely. I said it at the outset is that we are paying out more benefits than the contributions we are taking in so that’s going to require some intervention.

“We are looking at what those options are at NIB and we anticipate that the Bahamian public would be made aware very shortly.

“I think our actuarial would have suggested 10 years from now, I can’t remember specifically what the drop-dead date is, but again we are not a money making institute, we collect contributions from you to pay out benefits to you and that’s all we do.”

He added: “I don’t know

THE TRIBUNE

It’s crunch time for NIB on payouts, warns Rolle

MP Brensil Rolle Minister of State for the Public Service and National Insurance.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff that we will ever run out of funding. What I do know is if our contributions are

not being equal to our benefits only two things can happen, either we can ask

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Ellice Sallyann Lockhart-Pratt Registrar of Marriages

you to increase your contributions so that we can pay your benefits or we have to

decrease your benefits to become equal to your contributions,” he explained.

“I am saying this is where our actuarial is saying this is where the rubber is really going to reach the road.

We are going to have to make some critical decisions before that to keep the funds vibrant and keep our social security network intact.”

Regarding employers who fail to pay contributions, Mr Rolle said: “That is so unfair and unacceptable. It is perhaps bordering on criminal. If I take your monies from you to make a contribution to your social security network and you get sick and suddenly find out listen my contributions are not paid, then that’s an issue.

“What we say to every single employee though is there is a means by which you can go to NIB and go online to see whether your contributions are being paid. So don’t wait for NIB. Just go there and find out what do I need to do to ensure that my contributions that has been taken from me on a weekly basis is contributed to NIB and you keep your own record and you can’t go wrong.”

Non-payment of employee NIB contributions is an offence under the National Insurance Board Act, liable to a minimum of six months in prison or a fine of $1,000, or both, to a

maximum of 12 months in prison, or a fine of $2,500, or both.

Last June, Mr Rolle warned that NIB contributions could possibly increase in the future.

At the time, he was asked about the financial stability of NIB after Health Minister Dr Duane Sands said it was on the brink of bankruptcy.

Dr Sands highlighted the debts owed to NIB as he defended the government’s decision to increase the VAT rate from 7.5 percent to 12 percent.

Mr Rolle also told reporters yesterday that the government has plans to hire 200 Bahamians with degrees to work in the public service sector, but on contract.

He further commented on the government’s position on accrued vacation time.

“We are just asking individuals to take their vacation because the government has a policy position, which is we don’t pay for vacation. You take your vacation or alternatively you may forfeit your vacation.”

He said he was unsure of how many public sector workers had been asked to take vacation, but the government decided it was stepping away from the practice of paying workers for vacation they did not take prior to retirement.

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THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, April 24, 2019, PAGE 7

We want police on site, say Montagu vendors

THE TRIBUNE canvassed people on Montagu Beach yesterday about their concerns following Monday’s shooting. Left: Mrs Sands, above, Matthew Lamar, right, Gary Nabbie and, inset below, Betty Hanna.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff from page one feel the area should be regularised whereas they have a security or someone on site just in case… like I said the guys have fights and not everyone is regularised.”

Mrs Sands added: “It’s (dangerous) for the tourist and the Bahamian customers as well while purchasing items and argument breaks out (in front of the patron) – who wants to stop someone with a knife?”

Betty Hanna, a vendor, said the government needs to have police officers present from 9 to 5 or implement two shifts that ends at 6pm.

Mrs Hanna said: “No,

(I don’t feel safe) ...I’m so fed up in here. All the government want do is (ask if), ‘You pay for your spot?

You pay for your spot?’

They keep the National Insurance up to date. They need to bring their (expletive) out the office and get this placed regularised from people getting in problems or getting kill.

All the stray people in here what don’t have no papers causing all kinds of problem in here.

“Patrolling will not do it because they do, they’ll do things after the patrol go.

The government need to have a police officer here 9 to 5 or have two shifts until 6pm. When the shift over, get everyone off the dock because the government only want keep update

with the priority things like National Insurance, business licence and paying for the little spot here.”

She added: “I lost a lot of customers especially when they are fighting, they have to run and sometimes they have to come back for their bag. Good thing I’m not a thief they have to come back for their bag and phone. They don’t care about us…they never around, in here slack.”

Matthew Lamar, a manager in the area, said some type of security is needed.

Mr Lamar said: “No, (I don’t feel safe). I would like police to secure us.

Before we used to have police here but recently it’s like no one comes, we have no more police here. “(Recently) I had to call

GOVT ACCUSED OF EXPLOITING RULING from page one

Speaker Halson Moultrie to reaffirm the committee’s power to call for people and documents on “any matter involving government’s revenue, expenditure, and to review and examine if the government is receiving value for money.”

It states only that the Central Bank complied with its formal requests, and various government agencies were not responsive, and in one instance, defiant.

As for the 2015 ruling’s impact on the PAC’s powers, the report stated: “The (PAC) secretary advised that even though the advice of the Office of the Attorney General to the Speaker at that time was that only audited public accounts that were tabled in Parliament were reviewable by the committee, ‘it had been the established convention that the Public Accounts Committee could investigate all government accounts regardless of whether they had been audited by the auditor general or anyone else, for that matter.’”

The report continued: “The secretary to the committee further advised that ‘Parliament authorised all government borrowings and was thus authorised to inquire as to whether those authorised funds had been spent in accordance with the terms for which (the borrowings) had been authorised.’

“The secretary further advised that the committee also had a right to determine if there was value for money in the expenditure of the borrowed funds,” it added.

In the interim report, the PAC insists the 2015 ruling was correct but argues the scope of the ruling’s intent was limited. “Further,” the

report read, “the ruling did not mean that the powers and functions of the committee to subpoena, investigate, examine and review public accounts and other such relevant documentation were thereby stripped.

“The committee mandate is not restricted to reports and accounts before the House,” the report stated, “in the context that it excludes the expenditure of revenue and/or expenditure approved by this Parliament.”

The committee has attempted to mount a review of a purported conflict over the calculation of the deficit between the monetary authority, Central Bank, and the fiscal authority, the Ministry of Finance (MOF). The Central Bank pegged the budget deficit at around $250m for the 2017/2018 fiscal year, and the MOF put the figure around $500m.

The Central Bank provided the PAC with a balance sheet for the 2016/2017 year, converted from Treasury to the bank’s government finance statistics format used in its publications. The treasurer and the minister of works did not respond to the committee’s letters dated September 26, 2017.

According to the report, the Ministry of Finance’s permanent secretary in response - called the request “irregular”, adding “it is the considered view of the Ministry of Finance that it has no obligation to the PAC to explain its estimates.”

The MOF official further stated Finance Minister K Peter Turnquest would address the matter in Parliament.

On July 25, 2018, the committee formally requested explanations from acting Financial Secretary Marlon

Johnson and Mr Turnquest on three matters.

First, a clarification on the methodology used to account for arrears between the fiscal years 2017/2018 and 2016/2017, particularly the apparent lack of consistency and a complete listing of the $360m to be paid over a three-year period.

Second, the details on all the loans settled and rescheduled during the 2017/2018 fiscal year, outlining which loans were restructured and both the old and new terms, and the total of all associated commissions and fees that were paid.

Thirdly, a listing of all VAT refunds assessed by the MOF on any entity in Grand Bahama or the country as a result of changes to related laws and regulations, with specific dates and amounts of any payments.

The Ministry of Finance responded that it was not obligated to comply with formal requests made by the committee, according to the report.

The committee also noted it sought assistance from the Office of the Auditor General to obtain audited accounts or financial statements of ministries, departments and public corporations put before Parliament from 2012 to 2018 - but were told those reports were tabled and in the possession of the House of Assembly.

The committee said it has not received a response or cooperation from Mr Johnson to its request in facilitating its work.

The PAC’s members are: Cat Island MP Philip Davis, Exuma and Ragged Island MP Chester Cooper, South Andros and Mangrove Cay MP Picewell Forbes, Golden Gates MP Michael Foulkes, and Long Island MP Adrian Gibson.

police for two crazy people who tried to fight the tourist. We need the police here.”

Gary Nabbie, a patron of the area, said Montagu Beach is a tourist destination, underscoring the need for the attraction to be kept safe.

Mr Nabbie said: “This is like Arawak Cay and they have police presence there so they need police to be here so they can monitor out here.”

Despite the many complaints, at least one patron, David Wilson, said yesterday he felt safe at Montagu Beach but claimed the real problem is the fishermen.

Mr Wilson said: “The government should have never allowed them to sell there in the first place. The ramp was built for boats not for fishermen to sell fish. That’s what we have Potter’s Cay Dock for, that’s where they should sell their fish.

“The tourist safe but no matter how you walk through the gate someone will stop you and ask, ‘Fish or conch boss?’ They hustle the tourist. . .I think the government should remove all of them and let it be a boat ramp...not a ramp to sell fish on.”

Five people were shot from an automatic weapon

in the Montagu Beach area Monday night.

Eight shots rang out at 9.30pm as residents enjoyed the final hours of their Easter holiday break.

The victims were taken to Princess Margaret Hospital, but police reported no deaths.

Authorities responded to the scene within five minutes, one eyewitness said, and, up to midnight, the area of the Nassau Fish Market was blocked off.

Inspector Leonardo Burrows confirmed yesterday the four men are still in stable condition and the woman victim is still in critical condition.

“Much hasn’t changed....

No one is in custody at this time,” said Insp Burrows.

PAGE 8, Wednesday, April 24, 2019 OPPORTUNITIES are everywhere. We tell each other to go out and seize them all the time, but many of them already have names and addresses. We see it in job ads that are so specific that we know the company already found someone, and the ad placement is a matter of course. Guidelines and restrictions for employment, programme admission and contests lock certain groups of people out. They demand diplomas and certificates, professional references, social media links, portfolios, police records and passport photos in addition to other requirements like owning a vehicle or the ability to pay for the experience they are offering. Opportunities are not as accessible as we like to think, and they are not open to just anyone.

The requirements alone serve as a filter.

In most spaces, access to one opportunity can lead to many more. There is a domino effect. I have seen this in my own work and in observing the others in similar fields. You can leverage one job or contract to get another. Scholarships, attendance at conferences, presentations and publications are all steps toward gaining more. What is often thought of as a meritocracy is a form of nepotism.

Access is less dependent on the value of contributions than personal connections, however tenuous, and perceptions of existing access.

Conference organisers saw you at a workshop last year,

DID you participate in World Earth Day this year?

I spent very little time indoors on Monday, so I didn’t make any significant changes to my consumption. We don’t talk enough about environmental issues outside of complaints about dump fires, or acknowledge climate change and the threat it poses against our island nation. This could be our undoing.

One of the best indicators of our concern for the environment is the condition of our beaches on and immediately after big beaching days. We are tremendously proud of our beaches and there is nowhere we’d rather be on a fair weather holiday, but they are often left in a sad state. It has to be noted that many of them do not have (enough) garbage bins and they need to be checked more often, especially on holidays, but we can do better too. Take

THE TRIBUNE

When opportunity knocks make sure you’re ready to act The

Alicia Wallace

column

so they invite you to attend their upcoming event. In fact, since you were there, they assume it is important for you to be in these spaces, so they extend an offer to fund your participation. This may be great for you, but not necessarily for the people you work with or represent — government, company, NGO, community. The same people occupy many spaces and have no obligation to share

When small is beautiful

your own garbage bags, especially if you are with a group and taking things that create waste.

World Earth Day comes once per year, but we’re here every day. The plastic ban is set to be in place next year. What have you done to prepare? Get reusable grocery bags, invest in bamboo straws and think about ways to store food.

We like to say we’re here for a good time, not a long time, but we can make sure the planet survives this generation. Turn off the television when no one is watching, take your own reusable water bottle and be a conscious consumer.

Small changes can have big impact.

information or resources within their networks when the event is over. It is not much different from government ministers travelling to meetings and review sessions where they receive information, make statements and sign agreements, often without ever reporting back to citizens.

We learn to celebrate our accomplishments very early in life. These include good grades, graduations, WE HAVE a health crisis. Health insurance is not accessible for many people and illness does not spare people earning low incomes. Far too many people are not able to afford annual visits, much less unexpected doctor visits and the myriad of tests often required for proper diagnosis. Undergoing testing is even more terrifying when you not only have to find the money to pay for it, but have to think about what you will do when you find out what is wrong. Getting locked out of health insurance is even worse than not having it at the start. How does a person without health insurance deal with the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness?

There are cookouts every weekend to raise money for medical expenses. Cancer, auto-immune diseases, transplants and emergency surgeries come up far too ofte, and we are not prepared. Patients frequently depend on family members and friends to plan events to help with the high cost of health care. It has become the norm, but this is no way to function. We, as a country, need a better system.

Last week, two children were in the news, asking for assistance with medical costs. Sixteen-year-old De’Andranique Minus was diagnosed with ovarian cancer which has now spread to her liver and spleen. She is in need of surgery and a GoFundMe campaign at gofundme.

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Ellice Sallyann Lockhart-Pratt Registrar of Marriages

scholarships, job offers and the opportunities that come our way, often to the exclusion of other people.

We are convinced it is because our work is undeniably outstanding and our personalities are glowing. How could we not be awash with opportunities?

While we may, indeed, be deserving, it is important to think about why our access is different from others.

I have been to a number of conferences, workshops, trainings and networking events and met scores of people with similar areas of focus. Being connected on social media and the frequency with which people share their accomplishments and engagements enables me to see the opportunities they have and use. Event photos show

the same faces over and over again. The degrees of separation melt away as people I met in completely different environments and for different reasons cross paths. It becomes clear that some of these people accept any invitation extended to them, likely because it makes them look important, further validates their work (or the work they claim to do), and inevitably leads to more of the same — opportunities extended on the basis of where they have already been rather than what they have done.

It is, quite often, the hoarding of opportunities and refusal to share with others.

It is tempting to seize every opportunity, especially when it feels like we are in constant competition for positions, money, power and access to resources.

For some of us, there are other stakes and we have made commitments to our communities. It is important to assess opportunities and our suitability. Am I the best person to represent the community being championed in this space?

Is this opportunity aligned with my current work and goals? Is there someone else on my team who could benefit from this opportunity? Is there a person or organisation that should be in this space? Honestly answering these questions can help us to be true to ourselves and one another.

Sometimes there’s someone better who can participate.

If you can never think of anyone to recommend, it’s time to work on expanding your network with a focus on quality rather than quantity.

Let’s do what we can to help Kenniyha and De’Andranique DE’ANDRANIQUE MINUS, below, and Kenniyha Rolle, right.

com/dede-medical-funding has raised $5000 toward the $200,000 needed. Nineyear-old Kenniyha Rolle was in the Intensive Care Unit last week, expected to have a procedure to remove a brain tumour. Her

family is requesting donations (Scotiabank account number 4006567) to help transport Kenniyha to the U.S. for further treatment.

Let’s do what we can to help De’Andranique and Kenniyha to overcome

these health challenges, and push for a system that does not force us to do this every time. Patients and their families should be able to focus on their health and wellness rather than consumed with mounting medical bills and initiatives to get them paid.

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Ellice Sallyann Lockhart-Pratt Registrar of Marriages

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, April 24, 2019, PAGE 9

TESLA CEO PLANS TO HAND THE CAR KEYS TO ROBOTS NEXT YEAR TECHTALK

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AND TOM KRISHER AP Business Writers

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk expects to start converting the company’s electric cars into fully self-driving vehicles next year as part of an audacious plan to create a network of robotic taxis to compete against Uber and other ride-hailing services.

The vision sketched out Monday during an event at Tesla’s Silicon Valley headquarters requires several leaps of faith — something that the zealous investors and consumers who view Musk as a technological genius often are willing to take.

But self-driving car experts fear Musk is shirking public safety in an effort to boost Tesla’s stock and sell more of the company’s electric cars.

This amid lingering questions about whether the 15-year-old automaker can consistently make money.

“It sounds like a pipe dream that he’s selling people,” said Raj Rajkumar, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University. “I think it’s basically overpromising, which is typical of Elon Musk.”

To prove his sceptics wrong, Musk will have to persuade regulators that Tesla’s technology for transforming potentially hundreds of thousands of electric cars into self-driving vehicles will produce robots that are safer and more reliable than humans.

Companies And to do that, Musk will have to be correct in his bet that Tesla has come up with a better way to produce self-driving cars than virtually every other of the more than 60 companies in the U.S. working toward the same goal.

Some of those companies are aiming to have their fully autonomous cars begin carrying passengers in small geographic areas as early as this year, but many experts don’t believe they’ll be in widespread use for a decade or more.

Unlike most of those other companies, Tesla’s cars won’t come with the light beam sensors called Lidar that many industry experts consider to be essential equipment for robotic vehicles to navigate the road.

Musk trashed Lidar as a “fool’s errand” and “frigging stupid” in a putdown of companies such as Google spin-off Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise Automation that are including the light beam sensors in their systems.

“They are going to dump Lidar,” Musk assured investors and analysts gathered at Tesla’s Palo Alto,

Musk acknowledged Monday, and indicated Tesla will be liable for accident caused by a vehicle under the control of its robot.

“People will die,” Rajkumar predicted. “I can tell you that right now.

Because in the real world, crazy things happen.”

Musk predicted that the technology for fully self-driving Tesla will roll out at some point from April to June next year. Then, Tesla will need to get regulatory approval for the fully autonomous cars to drive on roads, something Musk predicted would happen in a few states by the end of next year. He didn’t specific where Tesla will try to gain approval first.

California, Tesla’s biggest U.S. market, requires proof that fully autonomous cars can drive safely on public roads, but most other states aren’t as stringent. And experts say there’s no federal law requiring preapproval for fully autonomous driving, as long as a vehicle meets federal safety standards, which Teslas already do.

Within three years, Tesla will be manufacturing self-driving cars that don’t even have steering wheels or brake pedals in them, Musk said.

THE TESLA EMBLEM: The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, appears poised to transform the company’s electric cars into driverless vehicles in a risky bid to realize a bold vision that he has been floating for years. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File) California, office for the 2 ½ hour in the real world. This quarter, he said Tesla will have 500,000 vehicles presentation.

Musk, widely known for his swag- on the road, each equipped with ger as much as his smarts, spent eight cameras, ultrasonic sensors much of the time trying to persuade and radar gathering data to help both the investors and consumers build the company’s neural network, which will serve as the that he had figured out digital equivalent of a better way to teach the self-driving cars’ robots how to drive. consciousness.

“It is fundamentally The network allows insane to buy anything vehicles to recognise other than a Tesla,” images, determine what Musk said at one point, objects are and figure arguing that purchasout how to deal with ing a vehicle from any them. To become fully other automaker would self-driving, the cars be like getting a horse. also need a special comMusk’s quasi-sales puter that fits behind pitch came two days the glove box and is before Tesla is expected powered by a special to report a disappoint- TESLA CEO Elon Musk. chip Musk boasted is ing performance for the better than any other first three months of the year. Analysts polled by FactSet processor in the world “by a huge predict a $305.5 million first quarter margin.”

Currently the self-driving comnet loss based on disappointing car sales, a setback after Musk pledged puter costs $5,000, but the price heading into the second half of last rises to $7,000 if it’s installed after year that Tesla would be profitable delivery.

Finally, Tesla will deliver software from that point onward.

Tesla’s stock sank by nearly 4 per- updates to those computers to make it possible for its electric cars to be cent to close Monday at $262.75.

From Musk’s vantage point, Tesla driven by a robot, without a human has a huge advantage over autono- in position to take over in case somemous vehicle competitors because thing goes awry. There will be a slight it gathers a massive amount of data chance of some “fender benders,”

Fleet If they’re allowed on the roads, fully driverless cars would allow Musk to carry out his plan to expand into the ride-hailing market with a fleet of sleek Teslas. Owners of Teslas with the company’s selfdriving computer could plug into an app-based network to pick up farepaying passengers when they didn’t need to use their vehicle.

Musk theorises that a ride-hailing service similar to Uber and Lyft will boost Tesla’s revenue and make it easier for the company to sell its cars to consumers who could effectively lower the cost of ownership by making money on the side. Tesla would get 20% to 25% of each fare in the network.

Tesla also intends to convert all the electric cars under leasing contracts to be turned into robotaxis upon their return.

Uber and Lyft also consider driverless cars to be one of the keys to making money from their still unprofitable services, but haven’t set a specific timetable for achieving that breakthrough while they continue to work on their own autonomous technology.

Waymo rolled out a ride-hailing service using self-driving vehicles late last year in the Phoenix area, but it was only available to a small pool of passengers who were previously enrolled in a test programme.

MARS LANDER PICKS UP WHAT’S LIKELY FIRST DETECTED MARSQUAKE

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer

THE INSIGHT lander’s domed wind and thermal shield which covers a seismometer on the 110th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Last week, the space agency announced the instrument picked up a gentle rumble, believed to be the first marsquake ever detected.

(NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s InSight lander has picked up a gentle rumble at Mars, believed to be the first marsquake ever detected.

InSight’s quake monitor recorded and measured the faint signal April 6, and scientists announced the finding last week.

While the rumble sounds like soft wind, scientists believe it came from within the red planet.

The Paris Institute of Earth Physics’ Philippe Lognonne, who’s in charge of the experiment, said it’s exciting to finally have proof that Mars is still seismically active. Mars is not nearly as geologically active as Earth and, like our moon, lacks tectonic plates.

“We’ve been waiting months for a signal like this,” Lognonne said in a statement.

InSight’s lead scientist, Bruce Banerdt of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said this carries out the scientific work begun by the Apollo moonwalkers nearly

a half-century ago. The astronauts left behind seismometres that measured thousands of moonquakes.

As for Mars, “we’ve been collecting background noise up until now, but this first event officially kicks off a new field: Martian seismology!” ‘’Banerdt said in a statement.

Researchers are still analysing the data, as well as three other even fainter seismic signals detected since mid-March. By analysing marsquakes, scientists hope to learn more about how rocky planets formed.

The French seismometre was placed directly on the Martian surface in December, a few weeks after the spacecraft landed.

InSight’s other main experiment isn’t going as well.

The German-built drilling instrument — dubbed the mole — has managed to penetrate only a foot or two (50 centimetres) into Mars, far short of its goal to measure the planet’s internal temperature.

Engineers are still trying to figure out why and how the device got stuck.

• SIX students from a Rapid City high school are heading to Kentucky to compete in an international robotics tournament.

The Rapid City Stevens High School students are among robotics teams from more than 40 countries who will attend the VEX Robotics World Championship in Louisville this week. The tournament draws students from middle schools, high schools and universities to design and build a robot to compete in an engineering challenge.

Senior Ian Helgeson told the Rapid City Journal that the team has been working on its robot since September.

“It’s a pretty special privilege,” he said. “It’s only 520 teams out of the entire world that get to go, so it’s really cool to be able to do this.”

Jason Reub, a teacher and the Rapid City team’s coach, said participating in the tournament helps students apply math and science concepts, but also gives students an opportunity to develop team-building skills.

The robotics team fundraised about $9,000 this year, Reub said. They are sponsored by about 30 groups, from the Black Hills Orthopedic and Spine Center to Coca-Cola.

The students will compete in preliminary rounds Thursday and Friday to win a spot in the final round, which will be held Saturday.

“I think we’re definitely going to be able to compete against the best of them,” Helgeson said.

• Houston Kidd, a selfproclaimed “astronomy nerd,” will soon have a brush with outer space.

On April 26, the Space X Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center to bring supplies to the International Space Station, and a children’s book written by Kidd will be on board.

Some time after the book’s arrival, an astronaut will read it out loud for an intergalactic storytime for kids and classrooms on earth.

It’s a chance of a lifetime for the Durham resident, who is a recruiter for the U.S. Navy at NC State. And it’s something he never thought would be possible. The book, “Willow the Water Bear,” is the first and only book he has written.

“I had to take a moment, pull the phone away from my head, take a deep breath and attempt to let it sink in,” Kidd said, recalling the phone call notifying him that the book had been selected for the Story Time from Space programme.

And, he added, he had to “try to keep my cool in between thanking her a million times.”

The Story Time from Space programme is a nonprofit of the Global Space Education Foundation that routinely sends children’s books like Kidd’s to space. The astronauts are recorded reading the books so the videos can be seen at any time. Essentially, it’s a way for astronauts in space to connect with children on earth through educational stories.

Kidd’s book, illustrated by his childhood best friend, Eric L. Bates, is about a microscopic creature called a water bear. The water bear, known by its scientific name tardigrade, can live and survive in subzero temperatures and the vacuum of outer space.

PAGE 10, Wednesday, April 24, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

INNOVATIVE SURGERY TO REVOLUTIONISE TREATMENTS

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net STARTING today, Bahamian urologist Dr Greggory Pinto will be performing a series of innovative surgeries that will revolutionise the treatment of urological disorders in the Bahamas.

Today at Doctors Hospital, Dr Pinto will be conducting the country’s first laparoscopic minimally invasive prostatectomy— a curative prostate cancer surgery which accomplishes the “trifecta” of sparing nerves, preventing urinary incontinence, and removing cancer cells.

Today, Dr Pinto will also debut a curative, minimally invasive treatment for stress urinary incontinence in women in the form of synthetic vaginal sling.

He described it as a “15-20 minute, relatively painless procedure” which solves the problem of urinary incontinence in women for a “lifetime”.

Furthermore, next month Dr Pinto will be performing a penile prosthesis surgery for the time in The Bahamas. This procedure can “profoundly, positively affect that life of many men…who the more conservative methods of curing erectile dysfunction have failed,” Dr Pinto said.

Dr Pinto discussed these ground-breaking procedures during an interview with The Tribune yesterday.

Regarding the synthetic sling, Dr Pinto said: “As many as 1 in 4 women have some amount of stress urinary incontinence - which means that they have a bladder leak anytime they exert any effort.

“So if they cough, if they lift anything, if they sneeze, they’re going to leak urine.

Dr Pinto said stress urinary incontinence affects women socially and professionally. He added risk factors include vaginal delivery and menopause.

“We can do a minimally invasive procedure that can be done on an extended lunch hour, we can place a synthetic sling.

“The main reason you’re getting this stress urinary incontinence is that there’s a hyper mobility of your urethra, which is the tunnel that allows you to pass urine. We can put a sling, which is like a hammock effect, which provides stability for your urethra. So there’s no longer any hyper mobility.”

Dr Pinto said this procedure can be done on general anaesthesia, a local anaesthetic, or conscious sedation. “So there’s no more leaking…It can give back control of your bladder, it can give back control of happiness.”

Starting next month, Dr Pinto will also be conducting surgeries to help men with erectile dysfunction.

“Well, in terms of penile prosthesis surgery, so for one reason or the other, if you have profound erectile dysfunction: either you have disruption of blood supply or nerve supply, in many cases it’s both, you’re giving up on having erectile function.

“This can give you an erection with an advanced device that’s self-contained, there’s no battery, it’s lifelong, basically they’re two cylinders that are inflated with the press of a button.

“We place a button that’s

not noticeable, that’s palpated on the skin in the scrotal sac. You press the button and you have an erection instantly. You can procreate, you can ejaculate. And the erection only goes down once you press the button.”

“So this can profoundly, positively affect that life of many men… who the more conservative methods of curing erectile dysfunction have failed. So basically, you can always rise again. No matter what happens, this is a last case resort.”

Dr Pinto added he’s done “hundreds” of these surgeries in his career, previously in Germany, France, and South Africa.

Today, Dr Pinto will also debut a prostate cancer treatment surgery that will spare the nerves that provide erections. Known as

BAHAMIAN urologist Dr Greggory Pinto.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

laparoscopic minimally invasive prostatectomy, Dr Pinto said: “So instead of the open procedure where you’re directly looking at the organ…it’s using keyhole incisions, small tiny incisions with long precise instruments with a camera placed within one of these small incisions.

“And we’re looking up on our 4D high (definition) screen, which is magnified…. There’s no deep cut that requires muscle healing because everything is just a little small keyhole incision.

Of this this disease, which is the most common cancer in the Bahamas and also affects 1 in 6 men, Dr Pinto said: “Of all the cancers on earth, prostate cancer is one of the easiest to cure if we get it at an early stage.”

TEENAGER FIGHTING OVARIAN CANCER

By RIEL MAJOR Tribune Staff Reporter rmajor@tribunemedia.net

A TEENAGER is seeking the public’s help to raise funds to assist in her fight against ovarian cancer.

Last year, De’Andranique Minus, 16, was diagnosed with stage two ovarian cancer.

Unfortunately, the teen does not have any medical insurance and all expenses for her medical treatment must be paid out of pocket.

She now is in need of $100,000 to cover her medical expenses and has started a GoFundMe page to generate donations.

FORM B Notice of Intended Marriage (Section 7(3))

Ellice Sallyann Lockhart-Pratt Registrar of Marriages

FORM B Notice of Intended Marriage (Section 7(3))

Ellice Sallyann Lockhart-Pratt Registrar of Marriages

“De’Andranique Minus was an avid 11th grade student at St Augustine’s College in Nassau, Bahamas,” her GoFundMe page states. “Her dream is to become a future track and field Olympian for The Bahamas. However, while her dream is still alive, her life has taken an unexpected turn.

“In July of 2018, Dede began having unbearable stomach pains. After being given numerous diagnoses from doctors, her father, D’Angelo Minus felt that there was something more serious wrong. After taking her to a local hospital, it was discovered that

she had stage 2 ovarian cancer. Doctors took her into surgery to remove the mass. The pain continued even after the surgery.

They took another look and it was discovered that some of the cancer was left. Doctors suggested chemotherapy and the spill would be taken care of, but little Dede’s body did not respond too well to the treatment.”

Sannisha Johnson, her cousin, said Dede is the sweetest soul with dreams of studying art and design.

“Sadly,” Ms Johnson said, “her dreams have been temporarily interrupted by this illness

and because her body did not respond to the chemotherapy. The news of the cancer’s progression spreading to the liver and spleen has left our family urgently seeking to have an emergency surgery.”

Despite the cancer diagnosis, De’Andranique is still hopeful of a recovery.

Ms Johnson said: “She’s optimistic and trusting in God.” The teen’s GoFundMe page raised more than $5,000 up to press time.

Donations can be made at https://www.gofundme. com/dede-medical-funding.

Alicia Wallace - Page 8

FORM B Notice of Intended Marriage (Section 7(3))

Ellice Sallyann Lockhart-Pratt Registrar of Marriages

FORM B Notice of Intended Marriage (Section 7(3))

Ellice Sallyann Lockhart-Pratt Registrar of Marriages

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, April 24, 2019, PAGE 11

MIGRANTS FEARFUL AFTER HUNDREDS ARRESTED IN MEXICO RAID TONALA, Mexico Associated Press

CENTRAL American migrants travelling through southern Mexico toward the US yesterday fearfully recalled their frantic escape from police the previous day, scuttling under barbed wire fences into pastures and then spending the night in the woods after hundreds were detained in a raid.

In the Chiapas state town of Tonala, migrants flocked to one of the few places they felt they could be safe — the local Roman Catholic church — only to start with fear at the sound of a passing ambulance’s siren.

“There are people still lost up in the woods. The woods are very

dangerous,” said Arturo Hernández, a sinewy 59-year-old farmer from Comayagua, Honduras, who fled through the woods with his grandson. “They waited until we were resting and fell upon us, grabbing children and women.”

Mexican immigration authorities said 371 people were detained Monday in what was the largest single raid so far on a migrant caravan since the groups started moving through the country last year.

Journalists saw police target isolated groups at the tail end of a caravan of about 3,000 near Pijijiapan, wrestling migrants into police vehicles for transport and presumably deportation as children wailed.

Now terrified of walking exposed on the highways, some

turned in desperation to a tactic that used to be a popular way north, clambering aboard a passing freight train bound for the neighboring state of Tabasco. It’s been years since migrants hopped trains in large numbers.

Javier Núñez, a 25-year-old Honduran, said he and his family walked through the hills, along a river and by some train tracks after Monday’s raid before venturing into the town of Pijijiapan to find something to eat. But agents appeared again Monday night and detained his wife and son, who he said were taken to an immigration facility in Tapachula for deportation processing.

“They were hunting us,” Núñez said. As he sees it, the only thing to do is go on alone, see how far

A MIGRANT pushing a child in a baby carriage is detained by a Mexican immigration agent.

he can make it. “Now we are afraid of everyone who looks at us or approaches.”

Asked about the detentions, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged that the government is not letting migrants simply go wherever they please. He denied taking a hard line, saying controls are for migrants’ security because human traffickers are allegedly infiltrated among the caravans.

“We don’t want for them to just have free passage, not just out of legal concerns but for questions of safety,” López Obrador said.

His immigration chief, Tonatiuh Guillén, said later that Monday’s incident was “regrettable,” particularly in the case of the children who were frightened.

IS ‘may be linked’ to Sri Lanka bombings COLOMBO, Sri Lanka Associated Press AS THE death toll from the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka rose to 321 yesterday, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility and released images that purported to show the attackers, while the country’s prime minister warned that several suspects armed with explosives are still at large.

Another top government official said the suicide bombings at the churches, hotels and other sites were carried out by Islamic fundamentalists in apparent retaliation for the New Zealand mosque massacres last month that a white supremacist has been charged with carrying out.

The Islamic State group, which has lost all the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria, has made a series of unsupported claims of responsibility and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that investigators were still determining the extent of the bombers’ foreign links.

Sri Lankan authorities have blamed the attacks on National Towheed Jamaar, a little-known Islamic extremist group in the island nation. Its leader, alternately known as Mohammed Zahran or Zahran Hashmi, became known to Muslim leaders three years ago for his incendiary speeches online.

The IS group’s Aamaq news agency released an image purported to show the leader of the attackers, standing amid seven others whose faces are covered. The group did not provide any other evidence for its claim, and the identities of those depicted in the image were not independently verified.

Meanwhile, in an address to Parliament, Ruwan Wijewardene, the state minister of defense, said “weakness” within Sri Lanka’s security apparatus led to the failure to prevent the nine bombings.

“By now it has been established that the intelligence units were aware of this attack and a group of responsible people were informed about the impending attack,” Wijewardene said. “However, this information has been circulated among only a few officials.”

In a live address to the nation yesterday, Sri Lanka President

A SRI Lankan family mourns next to the coffin of their family member yesterday, a victim of the bombings in Colombo.

Maithripala Sirisena said he also was kept in the dark on the intelligence about the planned attacks and vowed to “take stern action” against the officials who failed to share the information. He also pledged “a complete restructuring” of the security forces.

Wijewardene said the government had evidence that the bombings were carried out “by an Islamic fundamentalist group” in retaliation for the March 15 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 50 people, although he did not disclose what the evidence was.

The office of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern issued a statement responding to the Christchurch claim that described Sri Lanka’s investigation as “in its early stages.”

“New Zealand has not yet seen any intelligence upon which such an assessment might be based,” it said. An Australian white supremacist, Brenton Harrison Tarrant, was arrested in the Christchurch shootings.

UNSPEAKABLE GRIEF: FIVE MEMBERS OF ONE FAMILY DIE COLOMBO, Sri Lanka Associated Press

THE dark wooden coffins, sitting side by side, attested to one family’s unspeakable grief. The Gomez family gathered yesterday to say a final farewell to five loved ones — a son, a daughter-in-law and three young grandsons — killed as they attended Easter Sunday Mass at Colombo’s St. Joseph’s Shrine.

“All family, all generation, is lost,” said Joseph Gomez, the family patriarch, as tears welled in his eyes. Dozens of family members and neighbours were gathered in his simple home, where the sound of hymns sung by mourners gently wafted in the background and candles flickered beside three coffins.

The bodies of two grandsons have yet to be recovered.

Across Sri Lanka, yesterday was a national day of mourning as families began to lay to rest the victims of the bomb blasts that struck a half-dozen churches and hotels in the island nation.

For the Gomez family, the loss was unfathomable: A 33-year-old son, Berlington Joseph, his wife Chandrika Arumugam, and their three boys, nine-year-old Bevon, six-year-old Clavon and baby Avon, who would have turned one next week. A funeral card with a photo of the family clutched in his hands, the elder Gomez wailed: “I can’t bear this on me, I can’t bear this.”

“My eldest son, my eldest son,” he sobbed as he laid bouquets of red roses and brightly colored daisies on the largest coffin. Next to it was a tiny coffin, a photo of little Avon tucked into a wooden frame nearby.

SAUDI ARABIA BEHEADS 37 FOR TERRORISM DUBAI Associated Press

SAUDI Arabia yesterday beheaded 37 Saudi citizens, most of them minority Shiites, in a mass execution across the country for alleged terrorism-related crimes. It also publicly pinned the executed body and severed head of a convicted Sunni extremist to a pole as a warning to others.

The executions were likely to stoke further regional and sectarian tensions between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Saudi dissident Ali AlAhmed, who runs the Gulf Institute in Washington, identified 34 of those executed as Shiites based on the names announced by the Interior Ministry.

“This is the largest mass execution of Shiites in the kingdom’s history,” he said.

Amnesty International also confirmed the majority of those executed were Shiite men. The rights group said they were convicted “after sham trials” that relied on confessions extracted through torture.

It marked the largest number of executions in a single day in Saudi Arabia since Jan. 2, 2016, when the kingdom executed 47 people for terrorism-related crimes in what was the largest mass execution carried out by Saudi authorities since 1980.

Among those executed three years ago were four Shiites, including prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, whose death sparked protests from Pakistan to Iran and the ransacking of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.

Saudi-Iran ties have not recovered and the embassy remains shuttered.

King Salman ratified by royal decree yesterday’s mass execution and that of 2016. The king, who has empowered his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has asserted a bolder and more decisive leadership style than previous monarchs since ascending to the throne in 2015.