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‘If you want war, you’ll get war’

Furious Speaker shuts down Parliament over government’s inaction on COVID outbreak

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net HOUSE Speaker Halson Moultrie accused the government of disrespecting Parliament by

ignoring and refusing to implement his COVID-19 preventative measures, leading him to abruptly adjourn yesterday’s sitting until May 3.

SEE PAGE THREE

PAY UP - WATER FIRM’S THREAT UNEMPLOYMENT SUPPORT TO FAMILY ISLANDS’ SUPPLIES WILL EXTEND TO END JUNE

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THOUSANDS of Family Island residents face having their water supply cut-off on Monday unless the Water & Sewerage

Corporation settles an allegedly outstanding $4.5m debt.

Aqua Design Bahamas, the owner/operator of reverse osmosis plants that supply potable water to the state-owned utility in south Eleuthera, San Salvador

and Inagua, yesterday argued it had been “left with no feasible choice but to cease operations” while acknowledging all three communities will be put “at risk”.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE government has agreed to extend unemployment benefits at least until June 31, Minister of State for Finance Kwasi

Thompson said yesterday.

He made the revelation while announcing the recent signing of an agreement between University of The Bahamas and the Ministry of Finance to conduct a study, which will determine the level of growth required

for the country to emerge out of and move beyond its present economic and fiscal dilemma.

Earlier this month, National Insurance Minister Brensil Rolle said the SEE PAGE THREE

BREACHING PROTOCOLS ‘JUST PLAIN DUMB’ FRONT PORCH

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

FORMER Health Minister Dr Duane Sands sent a strong message to young people yesterday, calling their disregard for COVID19 rules and feeling of invincibility towards the virus “just plain dumb”.

He said younger people are falling ill and being admitted to hospital with the disease, while stressing

DR Duane Sands yesterday. that COVID-19 health facilities in New Providence are approaching capacity.

Dr Sands spoke to journalists outside of the House of Assembly on Wednesday just after Speaker Halson Moultrie chided the government for ignoring requests to quarantine the House’s staff, who were exposed to the COVID-19 virus.

Speaker Moultrie subsequently adjourned Parliament.

Dr Sands warned young people that they are not invincible as far as SEE PAGE FOUR

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

COVID CONSPIRACIES, CONFUSIONS AND CONTRADICTIONS

PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Thursday, April 29, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

‘Get certified clean to stop cases of conch poisoning’

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

MANDATORY sanitary certifications are needed for fishery suppliers to prevent outbreaks of illnesses like those associated with conch poisoning, Paul Maillis, director of the National Fisheries Association of the Bahamas, said yesterday.

Mr Maillis spoke to The Tribune after the Bahamas Agricultural Health and Food Safety Authority released a statement saying it is aware of suspected conch poisoning cases.

The BAHFSA said conch poisoning is usually caused by the bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus and that the contamination is usually caused by poor hygienic practices during the handling and preparation of conch.

Mr Maillis said: “Conchs are not known to have naturally high occurring toxic chemicals and disease in them and they are very clean and sterile animals.

All natural organisms in the ocean have bacteria, but they are normal. The problem arises in the processing.

When there are spikes in shellfish poisoning, that comes from improper handling. There is no naturally occurring poisoning in conch that is going to hurt people. Isolated incidents of maybe a bad batch brought in by a large boat or dealt with by a processor can be contaminated by salmonella or other bacteria due to the processing standards. Not everyone follows proper procedures.”

Mr Maillis said it should be mandatory for fishery suppliers to get the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification, which is offered by the Department of Marine Resources and teaches people about the proper and safe handling of seafood.

“A lot of what’s happening is people don’t know how to prepare their product and prevent the growth of these bacteria,” he said.

Mr Maillis added that authorities should focus on

contact tracing to trace the source of bad batches of seafood.

“Contact tracing is difficult because there is very little accountability in the handling of seafood,” he said. “The government issues licenses to processors and commercial fishermen but a myriad of little men who handle conch and seafood before it ever gets to the processor or retailer don’t need a certification.

“The way the seafood industry works is you have a middleman on the ground, let’s say in West Grand Bahama, that would go around to fishermen on boats and would buy their conchs. The conchs would be taken back to their house where they have freezers. They would bag them up and freeze them.

“There could be a situation where a fisherman didn’t properly handle a product and that mixes in with all the rest of products he got that day and all the harmful products will now be contaminating the other conchs, unknown to anyone.

“It’s not just one group of individuals that is always responsible, it can be anywhere along the supply chain. Some processors take extreme steps to try and sterilise products. Some use bleach. Most of the time those are very effective in keeping the contamination down. All seafood if not handled properly has the potential to have poisonings, some of them severe.”

Despite the new outbreak, Mr Maillis said the industry is unlikely to take a big hit financially.

“There are no implications in terms of people desiring conch or demand for conch,” he said. “Conch will always remain an extremely high value commodity. Developments that would lead to a reduction in conch harvesting would be for conservation methods, not conch poisoning. In the short term, suppliers should only buy from trusted suppliers who they know have never given them problems before.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, April 29, 2021, PAGE 3

FIRM HIRED FOR DOCK CLEAN-UP THE Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources has contracted a private firm through the eProcurement Portal to focus on clearing and removing debris from the water inclusive of the old boats that were burnt down during the fire at Potter’s Cay Dock on April 12.

The firm is also removing parts of structures that ended up in the water as well as appliances such as refrigerators and stoves. The work commenced early Wednesday morning and is expected to be completed on April 29.

Photos: Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources

‘If you want war, you’ll get war’ from page one As he chided the Minnis administration, Mr Moultrie urged members of the governing side not to “pick fights or wars,” adding “if you want a war, you can get a war”.

His rebuke was sparked yesterday by confirmation on Tuesday that a senior House of Assembly staffer had tested positive for COVID-19.

Despite this, Mr Moultrie revealed that not only was the House not sanitised before parliamentarians attended yesterday’s sitting, but he suggested that concerns were ignored by Leader of Government Business in the House Renward Wells and brushed off by Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis.

He said against his orders that staffers self-isolate due to possible exposure to the positive senior Parliament employee, another staffer was ordered out of quarantine and into yesterday’s session.

He reiterated that his previous recommendation for less seats in the House of Assembly and to adjust

to a virtual setting had been blatantly ignored.

“This day is indeed a sad day for me,” Speaker Moultrie told the House.

“Firstly, because the closest person in this Parliament to me as Speaker is not well today and we pray for his speedy recovery from this COVID-19 coronavirus.

“Honourable members today causes me to reflect on the circumstances that lead us here to this point today in that, one year ago approximately, we began the protocols based on the proclamation of emergency with respect to this COVID pandemic.

“Whenever we accept leadership positions the first thing we must do and recognise is that we should lead by example and so if we put protocols in place, we should be prepared to live by the established protocols because if we fail to do so, the general public who we represent cannot be expected to abide by those protocols.”

He continued: “Now if we look around this assembly today, we would note that we are in breach of our own protocols. We established a certain physical distancing

within this Parliament.

“The Speaker announced those protocols and some authority, who believes that they have jurisdiction over the Speaker’s jurisdiction in this legislative branch, has caused numerous chairs to be added to this assembly in breach of the physical distancing protocols. Yet, we expect the public to abide by such protocols.

“In September last year the Speaker suggested to this Parliament that we should pass a resolution, like many other Parliaments in this Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (have) done to this point and time, so that this Parliament can meet in a hybrid form either faceto-face or virtually, but then again the Speaker’s recommendation was either ignored or refused.”

He said it was possible that the House was contaminated as it had not been sanitised and revealed what transpired on Tuesday upon confirmation of the senior staffer’s condition.

“So, we find ourselves today meeting in a Parliament that can be contaminated as a consequence of the coronavirus, in a

Parliament that has not been sanitised since we discovered that the clerk of this Parliament has been affected.

“The most challenging matter to me was yesterday – in the process of dealing with this matter with the staff of this Parliament – I made numerous attempts to communicate the situation with the member for Killarney (Dr Minnis) and with the member for Bamboo Town (Mr Wells).

“The staffers of Parliament we assembled in these very chambers waiting for answers. We got one response in one word from the member for Killarney and that was ‘noted’.

“We wanted to find out how we should proceed today, and we wanted to find out whether or not the staff, who were in a challenged position financially to take the test, would be able to go to a government clinic to take those tests or to have those tests paid for in a private institution by the government and we waited and we waited and we waited and got no response.”

He said the matter was further exacerbated by the lack

of independence of Parliament with an anomaly over the pay of the chief clerk.

“This matter is further exacerbated by the fact that with the lack of the independence of this institution an anomaly has been created in the appointment of the clerk where the clerk’s salary is below that of subordinate staff.

“Any person in management would tell you that this is a grave anomaly that would undermine the very morality and administrative authority of the clerk of Parliament and for two years we have been trying to get this anomaly corrected,” Mr Moultrie said, adding they had also been trying for two years to have the deputy clerk’s position confirmed.

“The Cabinet Office, which seems to think that it controls the Parliament and the legislative branch of government, has refused the confirmation — refused.”

He added that despite indicating that the staff go into quarantine as they could not take COVID tests, another senior staffer was called upon to report for duty against his

instructions.

“Now this to me was my final straw when it comes to the disrespect of this institution and the disrespect of the Office of the Speaker.

I see it as a grave disorder and according to the rules of this Parliament if, in the opinion of the Speaker the behaviour of any member is creating disorder, level of disrespect to this Parliament, the Speaker is authorised by Rule 88(9) to have that circumstance corrected and to adjourn this Parliament until such circumstance is corrected.

“Now I don’t necessarily pick fights or wars, but if you want a war, you can get a war. They say if you don’t want a war don’t start one.

“So, don’t come in this Parliament talking about reading books of war because more than one person in this Parliament reads books of war and as a consequence, pursuant to Rule 88(9) this Parliament is hereby adjourned to May 3 at 10am.”

The normal practice is for a member of the governing side in Parliament to move a motion to adjourn the House until a specified date.

democracy,” Mr Cooper’s statement noted.

“Today, the Speaker of our House of Assembly abruptly ended the business of the people in the House, reportedly because the Prime Minister and the member for Bamboo Town saw fit to conduct the business of the House in violation of the agreed protocols after a staff member of the House was infected with COVID-19.

“The House should not have met in that manner today and it was yet another embarrassing episode of a lost Minnis administration having no grasp as to how to do things in an orderly manner.

“It is disgraceful that any Speaker in an independent Bahamas in the middle of a pandemic has to bow and scrape to the executive in order to facilitate testing for staff and sanitisation of the House. We have long called for free and widespread testing and better contact tracing.

“The government has so bungled the pandemic response that it can now hardly provide free testing for exposed staff at the House of Assembly.”

Mr Cooper pinpointed the governing Free National Movement’s campaigning, which despite a rise in COVID-19 cases nationally, continues.

“The Prime Minister and the Minnis administration continue to flout the emergency orders with large-scale campaigning even though COVID cases continue to rise dramatically.

“The Prime Minister and the leader of government business’ clear violation of social distancing protocols and calling an exposed staff member who should be in isolation into work was reckless, thoughtless and yet another example of one set of rules for the people and another set of rules for themselves.

“We cannot effectively conduct legislative business

amid this unhealthy discourse of ‘war’ between the prime minister and the speaker of the House because of what appear to be political differences after the speaker left the FNM. “At the end of the day, the Prime Minister has to accept responsibility for this situation.

“It is of his own making, and he is to be condemned for it,” Mr Cooper said.

In a separate statement, PLP chairman Fred Mitchell described the situation as Speaker Moultrie “effectively preventing the government from reading and tabling a bill in advancement of its legislative agenda.”

Mr Mitchell also said: “In the process, the Speaker suggested that if the government wanted war, they will have a war. Needless to say, this created a legislative impasse and a potential constitutional crisis. The Speaker and the government could not agree.

“If perchance, the bill to be tabled was the annual budget, an impasse would create the threat of a government shutdown with disastrous consequences.

“Under the Westminster system of governance, when there is an impasse in Parliament that is preventing the government from advancing its legislative agenda, there is only one solution. The House is dissolved, a general election is called and

the people give the government a new and fresh mandate.

“It then stands to reason that under the current circumstances, the prime minister has a critical decision to make. He must set the date for the next general election and seek a fresh governance mandate from the Bahamian people,” Mr Mitchell said.

The government did not respond to what happened in the House of Assembly up to press time.

PLP PUTS BLAME AT PRIME MINISTER’S FEET

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

THE abrupt adjournment of Parliament yesterday is proof the Minnis administration has overseen the unraveling of the legislative branch of government, according to the Progressive Liberal Party.

In a statement, PLP Deputy Leader Chester Cooper said not only should Parliament not have met yesterday in the absence of sanitisation and free testing for staffers, but this issue and the country’s broader COVID-19 situation could be laid at the feet of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis.

It is something that he should face condemnation for, Mr Cooper said.

“While we have long held the view that the Minnis administration is inept and unfit for governance, we did not think it would have overseen what appears to be the unraveling of the legislative branch of our

UNEMPLOYMENT SUPPORT WILL EXTEND TO END JUNE from page one

government had extended its unemployment assistance programme for those still being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic until the end of April.

When asked by a reporter about NIB yesterday, Mr Thompson indicated the new extension on employment benefits and the government’s commitment to helping those in need.

“The government has agreed to extend the unemployment benefits at least until the 31st of June and will be making some

further announcements in terms of the way forward with respect to unemployment during the budget exercise, but again we must continue the efforts to assist persons who find themselves unemployed,” he explained.

“We are seeing though with opening up of hotels, with opening up of travel, with activities that are happening. We are seeing people going back to work.

But the government is still committed to ensuring that we provide the necessary assistance for those persons who are unemployed.”

Tribune Business

reported back in February that the “fiscal snapshot” and report for the 20202021 first half, which covers the six months from July 1 last year, disclosed that the Minnis administration borrowed a total $2.12bn compared with just $530.9m during the same period in the prior fiscal year.

However, the country’s economy seems to be showing signs of progress as travel increases and Director of Labour John Pinder estimating earlier this month the unemployment rate was around 20 to 23 percent. He had previously pegged this figure at an

estimated 40 percent.

For his part, Mr Thompson noted there was some economic growth being experienced.

He said: “We are looking at some growth in the next fiscal year; that has been predicted. We have over the last few months seen some uptick in respect to our revenue. We have seen with the opening of the economy more people going back to work. We’ve seen hotels open back up again... However, we’re still not back to where we want to be. We’re still not where we need to be. We’re still in full recovery mode.”

PAGE 4, Thursday, April 29, 2021

TOTAL CASES Breaching protocols ‘just 10,349 plain dumb’ from page one COVID-19 is concerned.

There have been numerous videos and photographs making rounds on social media lately, showing young people at parties and other large gatherings practising no social distancing and not wearing masks.

“No disrespect but it is just plain dumb,” the former health minister said.

“If you believe that you are going to survive because you are young, understand that with the new variants out there young people are being struck down with COVID. People in their 30s in The Bahamas are now being hospitalised with COVID… seriously ill from COVID. “So this is not just the disease of older people or people with comorbidities. As we determine the phylogenetic status of the COVID virus that is in The Bahamas, we might come to find out that we have some aggressive strains. But why wait until then? A word to the wise is sufficient.”

He said The Bahamas is in a very serious situation in terms of the recent spike in confirmed COVID-19 cases.

“I think we are in a very difficult place. I’ve been saying this now for several weeks,” he said. “The number of cases in The

Bahamas has exploded and if you look at the caseload for April compared to the caseload for March, The Bahamas is not in a good place.

“In addition to an increase in the number of cases, we’ve had increased deaths and hospitalisations.

So much so now that in Nassau all of the COVID facilities are approaching the full capacity. There are serious concerns and there are a number of people with COVID symptoms that are still not being tested.”

He said the country in its fight against COVID has a serious issue with enforcing the protocols.

“I think what we have is an issue of adherence and enforcement,” he said.

“And, perhaps as written they would suffice, provided we adhere to them, and I say ‘we’ or if ‘we’ enforce them. We are all in this together and it is more than just writing a set of rules down and gazetting them. It is each of us living them daily.

“Each of us reminding somebody else who happens to be breaching the COVID restrictions that, ‘hey you are a danger, not just to yourself but to me and to my family and I would wish that you stop doing it.’ Vaccination is a critical part of the fight that beats COVID, but so is prevention. So the

public health measures … social distancing, mask wearing, hand sanitisation, avoiding large crowds and treatment.”

Asked his thoughts about what occurred earlier in the House of Assembly with Speaker Moultrie exercising his authority to adjourn Parliament, Dr Sands did not get into the details of it, but instead explained the speaker’s role.

“I think we are looking at the expressions of autonomy of co-equal branches of government,” he said.

“We have a legislative, we have an executive and we have a judiciary and the Speaker of the House is an autonomous constitutional entity and he expressed that constitutional authority and I have nothing else to say about that.”

He noted that Bahamians only need to look at the tragedy of India to see what can happen in an instant if they do not follow the Ministry of Health’s protocols designed to ward off the virus. Despite recently declaring victory over the virus, India is now experiencing a surge in cases that is threatening to overwhelm its healthcare system.

“We’ve stopped doing this and I think Bahamians believe that because we have soldiered on for so long that this thing is just going to go away,” the Elizabeth MP said.

THE TRIBUNE

TOTAL DEATHS

198

NEWLY CONFIRMED CASES TUESDAY 66 CASES NEW PROVIDENCE LONG ISLAND GRAND BAHAMA PENDING

TOTAL TESTS

86,130

53 5 3 5

HOSPITALISED

50

CASES IN ICU

4

RECOVERED

9,421

66 NEW CASES OF COVID CONFIRMED SIXTY-SIX new cases of COVID-19 were recorded on Tuesday, bringing the nation’s overall case count to 10,349.

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, 53 of those

cases are in New Providence, three are in Grand Bahama, five are in Long Island while five have locations pending.

One of those cases — regarding a New Providence resident — has a

history of travel within 14 days. The Ministry of Health said 50 people are in hospital, with four of them in intensive care.

Six hundred and fiftytwo cases are active. The death toll remains at 198.

“It’s not going to go away.

We only need to look at India and see the collapse of (the) healthcare system and the absolute carnage in terms of people that are dying because they don’t have oxygen, because they don’t have treatment, etcetera.

“Bahamas, this thing can change quickly on a dime.

We’ve seen it all over the world where today you’re doing okay and tomorrow you are in trouble. So I stand in solidarity with public health people. I stand in solidarity with the doctors and nurses and respiratory technicians, the staff of the Ministry of Health, the minister of health and the competent

authority. We all need to be in this together and if we stay together maybe we are going to survive this.”

Dr Sands said even if someone has not been vaccinated as yet, they can protect themselves by wearing their mask, by washing their hands and by avoiding people that they don’t know outside of their circle.

PAHO IN DISCUSSIONS OVER EXCESS VACCINE AVAILABILITY

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

THE Pan American Health Organisation is in discussions with many developed nations for excess vaccines they hold to be released to help countries registered with its COVAX programme.

Dr Carissa Etienne, director of PAHO, made the announcement at the organisation’s weekly webinar updating the region on the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The United States has some 60 million vaccines up for grabs while Spain is committed to sending doses to the region through the COVAX Facility, Dr Etienne said.

The vaccines coming from Spain are prioritised for Latin American and Caribbean countries.

“In its commitment, Spain indicated that this donation will be channeled through the COVAX mechanism and prioritising Latin America and the Caribbean,” Dr Etienne said. “PAHO, through a revolving fund, will likely oversee the

distribution to our countries, but no specific recipient countries have been identified.

“We continue to be in touch with Spain about the timelines and the quantities that will be donated and once that picture is clearer, PAHO will propose a strategy that is focused on equity, with special consideration to those countries that have had limited access to the vaccines up to this point.”

Countries in need of vaccine shipments, including The Bahamas, are now eyeing the excess doses that America holds.

“We congratulate the United States government for their announcement earlier this week that they will share up to 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine,” the PAHO director said. “We see these commitments as very important steps in the right direction on a trend we hope will be followed by other countries that can donate. In fact we urge other countries to make similar commitments.

“No vaccines should be sitting in warehouses when they can be promptly

used to save lives. PAHO is ready and able to quickly deploy vaccines to countries in our region that have been heavily impacted by the pandemic and are now struggling to access more doses. We enthusiastically welcome this type of commitment from other countries that have secured more doses than they can use. We have stressed the acute needs of our region.”

Health Minister Renward Wells said on Tuesday officials have petitioned the United States to give The Bahamas some of its Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.

As PAHO continues to negotiate vaccines with many developed countries, it recognises that its member states have demonstrated the capacity to effectively deliver these vaccines to help protect the healthcare workers and vulnerable populations.

Dr Etienne said over the past week, more than 1.4 million people became infected with COVID in our region and more than 36,000 died from COVIDrelated complications. In fact, she said, one in four

COVID deaths reported worldwide last week took place in the Americas.

“Since the beginning of 2021, several countries in our region are reporting an increase in cases in the younger population, linked to increased exposure and no vaccination in these groups,” she continued.

“This has led to an increase in hospitalisations.

“The hospital stay of these age groups is usually greater compared to those over the age of 60, so PAHO is orienting our countries to plan on coping with sudden increases in the consumption of critical inputs such as oxygen, intubation drugs, personal protective equipment and infusion pumps.”

According to PAHO, Canada’s infection rates have surpassed US figures for the first time in the pandemic. And cases are also surging across the Caribbean as Guadeloupe, Martinique, and The Bahamas are reporting new spikes.

“It’s no surprise then that many countries in our region have tightened public health measures by extending curfews, limiting

re-openings, and imposing new stay-at-home orders,” she said. “These decisions are never easy, but based on how infections are surging, this is exactly what needs to happen. We know these measures work and I commend leaders across our region for putting health first.”

Giving an update on vaccine distribution in the region, Dr Etienne said as of this week, more than 317 million COVID vaccine doses have been administered across 49 countries and territories.

“Of these, nearly seven million have been purchased via COVAX and another 470,000 are en route to Guatemala, Bolivia and Jamaica,” she explained.

In the next few weeks,

countries should receive their second COVAX shipments. And while doses remain limited, most countries should see a considerable increase in doses from the first wave.

“Based on the allocation criteria established by the COVAX Facility, nine countries in our region are starting the second deployment, to be followed by the others in the same sequence as for the first deployment. Nearly seven million COVID vaccines will be arriving in these countries between May-June.”

She said the first COVAX shipments were an important opportunity to troubleshoot issues before deliveries accelerate.

The Bahamas is expected to receive its second COVAX shipment in May.

IMMIGRATION OFFICE CLOSES THE Department of Immigration’s Hawkins Hill office closed yesterday to allow for deep cleaning and sanitisation by the Department of Environmental Health due to a positive COVID-19 case.

The office will resume inperson services on Monday, May 3.

“Please note that the safety of staff and clients is our number one priority, however, we do apologise for any inconvenience caused,” the

department said in a press release.

“All clients holding appointments for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, (April 28-30) are asked to contact our call centre at 1-242-2255337 to reschedule or send an email to immigrationpublicrelationsunit@ bahamas.gov.bs to request rescheduling when the office re-opens.”

Online services will not be disrupted for the indicated period.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, April 29, 2021, PAGE 5

Court to rule on shanty towns

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A SUPREME Court judge will tomorrow determine if a standing injunction, which bars the government from evicting shanty town residents and disconnecting services in their communities, will be extended to cover unregulated communities in Abaco.

In 2018, the government announced plans for an initiative to remove unregulated and unsafe buildings in shanty towns. As a result, officials gave shanty town residents in most areas of New Providence until August 10, 2018, to leave before demolition. Persons residing in shanty towns in Abaco were also set to be given until July 2019 to vacate their properties.

However, just days ahead of the government’s August 10 deadline, Justice Cheryl

Grant-Thompson granted an interlocutory injunction blocking evictions and service disconnections in these communities pending a judicial review centred on their demolition.

Last month, attorneys representing the shanty town residents and nonprofit group Respect Our Homes Ltd in the judicial proceedings, filed an urgent appeal asking the courts to vary the injunction as they feared it was a “real possibility” the government would destroy or seize the homes of applicants in Abaco before the proceedings were heard and adjudicated upon.

Their appeal came a few weeks before the government launched a joint sting operation on shanty towns on the island.

Just last week, the Ministry of Works spearheaded the demolition of 45 “incomplete and unoccupied structures” in

The Farm shanty town in Abaco. Earlier this month, law enforcement also descended upon the shanty town, confiscating generators, food supplies, personal items, illegal contraband and arresting several residents for various alleged infractions.

At the time, officials said “illegally constructed” access roadways were closed and signs written in English and Creole were erected. Signs were also posted on illegally erected buildings which warned inhabitants of the legal prohibition of any new construction, and of the intention of the government to demolish all of the illegally constructed buildings, the ministry said earlier this month.

Yesterday, Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson said when she was reviewing the interlocutory issue, she discovered that it was “actually deeper than it

appears on the surface”.

For that reason, she said while she recognised the matter was “material and urgent” for the applicants, she would not be able to rule on it until April 30.

However, during the virtual hearing, she did deliver her second ruling in which she denied the application of an Andros man who was seeking to have local government added as a third-party applicant to the judicial review.

Counsel for Gregory Bowe of San Andros had initially submitted a summons seeking to have the judicial review set aside after arguing the “substantive action filed by the applicants should not be against the minister, but rather against the local government in accordance with the Local Government Act”.

He further contended that “any buildings, materials or enforcement pursued under the Building Regulations Act should be strictly enforced

by the local government”.

However, Justice GrantThompson noted that the man’s request to join the action and have the commissioner of police added as a respondent was refused in an earlier ruling, as she believed the party “that would ultimately be tasked with representing the commissioner” would have been the appropriate party to make such an application.

“Similarly, if the local government was to be added as an essential party to this application, in my view the respondents and not the intended applicants should be the party seeking to have them joined,” she stated. “In any event the intended applicants have not satisfied the court that the judicial review application that is presently before this court should be set aside. The application is hereby dismissed.”

The government’s plans

to eradicate shanty towns in the country has received much opposition from Fred Smith, QC, the lead counsel representing all 177 residents in the judicial hearing.

Over the course of the proceedings, Mr Smith, who has been critical of the government’s recent sting operations in Abaco, argued that the government was embarking on a “dictatorial” policy to completely eliminate ethnically Haitian-Bahamian communities in the country.

On the contrary, Crown attorney Kayla Green-Smith asserts the government’s initiative is not driven by ethnic cleansing and will be executed in a “humane manner”.

She is set to complete her submissions when the matter resumes tomorrow.

Justice Grant-Thompson is also scheduled to deliver her substantive ruling on the judicial proceedings on June 30.

SAVING SMART RF BANK and Trust awarded high school student Rachel Rahming with $3,000 as part of its Junior Investment Education Programme in conjunction with Junior Achievement Bahamas.

The Queen’s College student is the latest winner of a programme launched in 2018.

Students had to make monthly contributions to their Educational Investment Account for a three-year period. Family and friends could also contribute. At the three-year mark, RF matched their balance, up to $3,000.

RF president and CEO Michael Anderson congratulated Rachel and her parents, Patrick and Paulette Rahming.

“The purpose of our partnership with JA is to create a culture of investing among our youth. We want to give them the tools to successfully create and manage wealth so that they can lead financially independent lives, and thereby positively contribute to the wider economy. I believe we’ve made strides toward this goal, evidenced by Rachel and her commitment to the investment programme. We commend her for what she has accomplished over the past three years,” he said.

UNIVERSITY STUDY TO LOOK AT ECONOMIC RECOVERY

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

UNIVERSITY of The Bahamas and the Ministry of Finance are joining forces to carry out a study on how the country’s economy can recover and produce sustainable growth.

Minister of State for Finance Kwasi Thompson explained that in working with UB, the Minnis administration is further

cementing the government’s move to a more scientific and data-driven approach to public policy.

“Under the project, UB will research and determine optimal growth levels to support the government’s plan to set the country on a more sustainable macroeconomic path.

It will expand and enhance the government’s current economic modelling and platforms and protocol by allowing for more

RED CROSS SEEKS VOLUNTEERS

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Red Cross Society is looking to increase its volunteer intake across the country to assist in its work to provide relief and assistance to those in need and during times of disaster.

President Terez Curry indicated that volunteers are needed in all aspects of the organisation, and not just for disaster assistance.

She stressed that volunteering can be a very rewarding experience and appealed for persons to come on board.

“We will be having a volunteer drive very shortly, she said recently in Grand Bahama. We are inviting persons to participate and become a part of the Red Cross. Our aim for this administration is to increase volunteers across the country, and that includes GB.” There are just over 150 volunteers on Grand Bahama, according to Ms Curry. The Grand Bahama branch played an instrumental role in disaster relief and assistance following Hurricane Dorian, providing relief and assisting displaced families and destroyed businesses.

She noted that there are no criteria to be a volunteer and interested persons can call their office or sign up online via their official website at www. bahamasredcross.org.

“Volunteers are needed in all aspects of the

organisation, so it does not matter what you do for a living. We require your assistance,” appealed Curry.

“We are looking for persons from all walks of life to assist us not only in times of disasters, but in good times when all is well - we can use help in Finance, Administration, Operations, and for our various programmes.”

Construction is currently underway on a new $1m Red Cross Centre in Grand Bahama. Ms Curry said a new center will allow them to expand its programmes on the island, particularly its Meals on Wheel programme.

“We have 82 persons (in GB) on that programme, she said. With this new center, we are hoping to expand that because we will have a commercial kitchen that would be able to prepare more meals and assist more persons.”

“So, donations are always needed, whether monetary or in-kind. And, we require persons who can come and help the RC to expand.”

Ms Curry noted that they are seeking additional funding of some $350,000 for the second phase of the construction for a multi-purpose hall/shelter facility in GB. There are other areas that the Red Cross is also seeking to expand, she said.

“We are expanding into mental health and psycho support, and we do the training for those persons.”

Curry said the Red Cross also provides First Aid CPR Training where they train people to be trainers to teach others.

suffocated analysis using a wider range of input and variables.”

UB president Dr Rodney Smith said: “This important study is an effort to understand better the economic and fiscal future of our nation. In fact, by mathematically and statistically examining the impact of various policy measures on an academically rigorous model of our economy, we may be able to choose the best policies to positively

impact our economic future.

“We can better predict the effect of those policies on important social outcomes like employment, poverty, savings, investing, and the like.

Additionally, we can better target resources to economic sectors that can produce the greatest outputs. This is the nature of the study being undertaken, and its lasting impact will be a model

available for use in the future by personnel from across the government for future planning.”

He gave more details about the study.

“The Bahamas Recovery and Sustainable Growth (BRSG) study will use econometric modelling to determine policy measures that generate growth figures. Such figures are likely to produce positive trends in the country’s economic and fiscal metrics.

Understanding these trends will lead towards greater economic stability and sustainable growth.

“The study will provide economic and fiscal policy options to promote the growth forecasts predicted by the study, and train others to use the econometric model in the future for the benefit of the country’s economic and fiscal planning,” he said.

The project’s timeline is 90 days.

PAGE 6, Thursday, April 29, 2021

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We deserve better than this Parliamentary mess WHAT a mess.

When Speaker Halson Moultrie suspended Parliament yesterday, it wasn’t just an interruption of our country’s democracy – it was a sign that whatever words are being said by our leaders, our response to the COVID-19 pandemic is at times a shambles.

In yesterday’s Tribune, we reported that the Speaker and the majority of House staff were under quarantine after the chief clerk tested positive for COVID-19. We wish him a speedy recovery.

This situation led to obvious questions with a session of Parliament due today – questions that Mr Moultrie said he tried to raise with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and Renward Wells, who is both Health Minister and leader of government business in the House.

“I made numerous attempts to communicate the situation with the member for Killarney (Dr Minnis) and with the member for Bamboo Town (Mr Wells).

The staffers of Parliament we assembled in these very chambers waiting for answers. We got one response in one word from the member for Killarney and that was “noted’’.

“We wanted to find out how we should proceed today, and we wanted to find out whether or not the staff, who were in a challenged position financially to take the test, would be able to go to a government clinic to take those tests or to have those tests paid for in a private institution by the government and we waited and we waited and we waited and we got no response.”

It’s fair to say that Mr Moultrie’s relationship with the FNM has been fractious at best in recent times, and given his tendency to be sometimes volatile, what did they think his reaction would be to being ignored when asking perfectly valid questions about health care for his staff and how to proceed when quarantine rules are meant to be in place?

Indeed, as this article goes to press, there still has not been a response from the government to what took place in Parliament today. Never mind Mr Moultrie, the public deserves an explanation for the government’s failings in ensuring our democratic process continues uninterrupted.

One staffer was reportedly even ordered to come out of quarantine and into yesterday’s session – does that mean all those in the session should now be in quarantine?

jamaaltheartist@gmail.com

Mr Moultrie also raises good points about physical distancing in the Parliament and, more pointedly, why not have virtual attendance at Parliament so representatives during this period can attend by Zoom, like so many of us have been doing for our regular business meetings?

Mr Moultrie says such suggestions have been “either ignored or refused”.

There have been times when this column has called Mr Moultrie to account when he has exceeded his bounds or on comments he has made.

But on this occasion, he is absolutely right.

The health and safety of his staff and all those in the staff deserves more than a one-word response. The country has been given one less word than that, with silence on the whole affair from the government.

Everyone concerned deserves better.

Unemployment aid

Just as the government deserves criticism for yesterday’s Parliamentary brouhaha, so too does it deserve praise for its extension of unemployment benefits until the end of June.

The unemployment assistance programme had been due to run out at the end of this month, and while there are some areas that are opening back up, there are still a number of businesses with furloughed staff and this gives people the assurance of at least a few more months of support until they too can be taken back on.

Minister of State for Finance Kwasi Thompson clearly gets the importance of the situation, too. “We must continue the efforts to assist persons who find themselves unemployed,” he said. “We are seeing though with opening up of hotels, with opening up of travel, with activities that are happening. We are seeing people going back to work. But the government is still committed to ensuring that we provide the necessary assistance for those persons who are unemployed.”

Well done, and keep it up. We would only urge that if it needs to be extended again – and that seems likely with some hotels delaying until later in the year – that the decision is taken sooner rather than just a couple of days before expiry. Give people the certainty they need as they grapple with an uncertain future.

THE TRIBUNE

I am not my mother’s daughter EDITOR, The Tribune.

I WAS my mother’s consequence not her daughter.

I was the consequence of her intimacy with my father, but I was not her child.

The words ‘daughter’ and ‘child’ denote a caring and closeness that is thought to be normal and natural between mother and child.

For my mother and I this was not so. Although I came from her, I was foreign to her like an invading pathogen to the body. I was a pathogen to her life, an intruder that made her carefree life more complicated and stressful because I required care and provision. I required a mother and she was not interested in taking up this role.

The body sends out its protectors to arrest and destroy the pathogens that seek to invade it. It isolates, surrounds and destroys them. It is this constant battle that ensures that the body is protected from disease. The pathogen must be destroyed.

What made me a foreigner, an outsider, one who did not belong? My brown skin made me foreign. My mother’s skin was much lighter and this she did take note of. I think that she was disappointed that one who came from her was so ‘brown’. That was the first piece of the puzzle that did not fit. And, yes, she did try to ‘erase’ me, the pathogen, in her own way. She would often tell people that I was her niece and not her daughter. She so disliked me and my ‘brownness’ she did not want to admit that I came from her. I was also an outsider because I did not carry her last name – a truth that was no fault of mine as was the case with my skin. If she wanted a ‘light skinned’ child she should have sought a light skinned man to sire her child and if she wanted me to have the same last name as her, she should have married my father.

I did not belong because I felt no bond with my mother. I often looked at her and saw a person I did not know. But I expected no different. Can a pathogen feel at home in the body that rejects it? The pathogen is too busy trying to avoid the wrath of the t- cells and the other warriors of the body that try to eradicate it.

Queen Elizabeth, the virgin queen, often said, “I am my father’s daughter.”

Was I my mother’s daughter? Only biologically- only DNA connected us but nothing else. We went through the motions. She provided the best she could , but always in a detached and begrudging way. I was the pathogen, the inconvenience, the outsider. And so I found myself gravitating to my aunts and grandmother.

Plants always grow toward the light and a child will always lean into love. They protected me from the wrath of my mother. Her wrath was a response to my intrusion into her life and to my very existence. Resented me she did, but at the same time she envied the ease with which my aunts and grandmother related. How we could talk and laugh with each other endlessly and there was no barrier or blockage between us as was the case with she and I. She hated the fact that I found ‘a place’ with them. Me-the unwanted one. She would have preferred if all of the family rejected me and kept me on the outside but they did not. They saw how she treated me and knew it was wrong and they tried to help me, to cushion me from the harshness of her words and stares and actions. They tried to make up for the lack of love and affection in my life. They covered me like large oak trees cover baby saplings from the rain and storms and roaring winds.

They tried their best to invite me into their world since she had ejected me

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net from hers. They were my surrogates. They were my secret place.

I remember one Christmas when we all went to the carnival. I can see me in my long, pink pants and my brown sweater. I see myself running to catch up to Aunt Coleen and my little hand finding hers. And I was bathed in such joy and contentment. My mother walked further back and was totally forgotten in my mind.

For me, the warmth of Aunt Coleen’s hand, and the chill of the December air and the joyful sounds of the carnival rides and the flashing Christmas lights and the smell of corn dogs and cotton candy and the sight of a thousand stuffed animals were all that mattered. Yet in the midst of my joy, from the corner of my eye I could see the face of my mother contorted with anger and jealousy. She resented my happiness and I could not understand why she even cared. Could you want and reject the same thing?

An intruder I was, a foreigner I was, but I was also very smart. In primary school I was the one who got all of my sums right and won the spelling competitions.

I needed no encouragement from my mother to be smart. I just was. My academic talent gave me focus and kept my mind off of the status of my existence.

I worked hard and was the valedictorian of my sixth grade class. I remember how proudly I read my speech.

I did not read it for my mother. I read it for my sixth grade teacher, Ms Reece.

When I entered high school, my foreign status was even more obvious. The one moment that stands out to me was the day I was sent to the office along with several others because my report card was not collected. But the office emptied quickly as children called their parents and other relatives to collect their reports. I could have called one of my aunts but they had no cars and would not be able to come but I knew not to call my mother.

She was never an option for me in the time of trouble. To call her in time of trouble would have been a mistake.

For she had no interest in helping or protecting me like a mother bear would her cub. I was always exposed.

If I had called her she would have been angry and asked me why I had not told her earlier and told me that she could not leave her job to come all the way there just for that. And on and on she would have ranted until I began to feel foolish and bad for calling her so she was not an option. In the time of trouble she would not hide me.

I called my father’s sister and asked her to contact my father so he could come and collect my report card. But I did not expect him to come either. My father always let me down. I had become so accustomed to his broken promises I expected little if anything from him. How many times had I been at home so very hungry and called him to bring me lunch and he would say, “Yeah baby I coming now.” But “now” never came and he did not think enough of me to call and say that he could not come after all or give an explanation for his broken promise. Another time, he promised to pick me up from school. I waited from 3pm until 5pm. The schoolyard was empty except for one last girl whose mom was driving out of the gate.

There I was left behind. Left to walk with silence and disappointment to the bus stop.

He did not call to apologise.

Perhaps he had forgotten me. Was I so insignificant?

I sat in the office and looked outside through the glass doors at the beautifully manicured grass and

tall green trees that adorned the vast property on which my school sat. I focused on the beauty of the bright, blue sky and the clean white clouds that gave one a feeling of hope. I let my mind wander and escape from the silent office I was sitting in.

But then Mrs Carmine, my reading teacher came and the concern and kindness in her eyes pierced my heart.

They found their way to the place where I hid my emotions and I began to weep.

I was weeping because I was an after thought to my mother and my father and I was sitting in such a beautiful place surrounded by such despair. Mrs Carmine consoled me and my weeping ceased and I continued waiting for my father. I watched keenly for him but I did not see him. Then I saw my friend’s mother coming toward the office. I ran outside and begged her to get my report card for me and she graciously did so. She gave it to me and went on her way. There I was. The orphan. Looking for a handout of time. Time. It is the currency of love. To take the time to bring my lunch, to come to my recital, to listen to my problem or to collect my report card says that I matter. For me, this currency was scarce. I seldom received it from either of my parents.

I did not matter to them.

I left the office about to return to class when I saw my father pull into the yard in a borrowed car. I walked quickly to him and told him that my friend’s mom had gotten it for me. He began to rattle off a myriad of excuses for his lateness and even began to tell me a long story about a problem he was having with his business. I listened for a few minutes then I told him I had to go to class. This was the other thing about my father. Either he did not come at all or he was late.

He was always too late. Too late for the show, the graduation, the race, the recital.

Always too late. Some might say it is better to have him late than not come at all but lateness shows a disregard, an afterthought or downplaying of the significance of the event one should attend.

For a daughter whose father should be her protector and rescuer, late is not good.

These experiences all helped to form me in some way. Now I hate to wait to be picked up. I feel deserted, abandoned, forgotten and a deep sense of vulnerability. Who could I count on? I already knew that the answer was no one for I learned that I had to adapt perhaps like pathogens do.

I think viruses mutate and build up resistance to the drugs that should kill them and then the scientists are left to search for new drugs that can destroy them. I was like the pathogen and the virus. I had mutated long ago so that the coldness and meanness of my mother and the oversight of my father would not kill me. I had changed into a more resilient creature. One who was untouched and unmoved by many things by necessity.

This mutation allowed me to survive in my world with them and not be eradicated.

I had built up my resistance to the life I had been given and to the parents that had given me life. What choice did I have? Much turmoil in most cases breeds strength and so I was strong.

Indeed this was not how I wished it to be and if I had my way I would have been born to two loving, attentive parents who smothered me with affection. But we do not get to choose. We must adapt and do the best we can with what we are given. I am nobody’s daughter. I am somebody’s niece, friend, cousin and granddaughter but I am nobody’s daughter. I am a consequence.

CONSEQUENCE Nassau, April 26, 2021.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, April 29, 2021, PAGE 7

Woman who hurt ankle awarded $70,000

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Supreme Court has awarded more than $70,000 in damages to an elderly woman who suffered ankle injuries after falling down a utility conduit at Arawak Cay nearly nine years ago.

On Monday, Justice Ian Winder handed down the court’s decision, where he ruled he was “satisfied” that Joan Butler, 80, had proven her claim that negligence had caused her to fracture her left ankle while at Arawak Cay on October 19, 2012.

In witness statements filed in November 2016 and December 2020, Ms Butler, a former taxi driver, explained that the incident unfolded

after she drove several guests from Atlantis to Twin Brothers at Arawak Cay. After parking her taxi, she said she accompanied her customers across the road to the local restaurant.

However, as she was walking back to her vehicle, Ms Butler stepped on what appeared to be “a plank of solid steel” near the taxi.

Ms Butler said while stepping on the plank, it shifted, which resulted in her foot dropping in the hole which was hidden by the plank.

She added that she was later assisted by two men, one of whom made an ice pack which she later applied to her left ankle.

Ms Butler said after the incident, she went to

doctors at Princess Margaret Hospital, who later diagnosed her with a fractured ankle.

Following the diagnosis, the former taxi driver, who is also hypertensive and a diabetic, said she underwent physiotherapy for several weeks but “continued to suffer pain” in her left ankle. Ms Butler also said she now uses a cane to walk as her left leg “gives out” from time to time.

Prior to the incident, Ms Butler said she would work seven days a week, earning an average net take-home pay of $450 weekly or $23,400 a year.

However, Ms Butler noted the injuries she sustained while she was 71 left her unable to return to

work or even do basic tasks and household chores.

“From around the October 20, 2012 until about February 22, 2013, I hired help to assist with cooking and housework. I did this at a cost of $150 per week,” Ms Butler said, according to the court documents.

The situation, she added, also forced her to become heavily dependent on her relatives, something she said caused her “much anguish and distress.”

Ms Butler also claimed she lost $159,600 in income from the time of the incident until now because she was not able to work as a taxi driver, as she had planned until she reached 80.

The 80-year-old told the court this was because

of the negligence of the defendant, which the ruling listed as the Attorney General.

According to court documents, president of the Bahamas Taxicab Union, Wesley Ferguson also gave evidence in court, where he sought to address the issue of wages lost by Ms Butler due to the incident.

He told the court he had provided a letter, detailing what taxi drivers could expect to receive upon loss of the use of their vehicles.

The letter read: “I confirm that the contents of the said letter are accurate and true, that is, in 2012 the BTCU’s valuation of the loss of use of a fivepassenger was $45 per hour or $360 per day and the

BTCU’s valuation of the loss of use of an eight-passenger vehicle was $60 per hour or $480 per day.”

The defence argued that it didn’t “concur” with the contents of Mr Ferguson’s letter, adding there was no certainty what Ms Butler may have earned during the period of loss.

In his ruling, Justice Winder awarded Ms Butler $2,100 for home assistance for 14 weeks leading up to her discharge from PMH; $50,000 for loss of income – including the 14 weeks from the time of her accident to discharge; $15,000 for pain, suffering and loss of amenity (PSLA) and another $3,000 for loss of congenial employment for a total of $70,100.

MAN JAILED FOR POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA AND COCAINE

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A 32-YEAR-OLD man who was found with $26,000 worth of marijuana and cocaine was yesterday sentenced to nine months in prison.

Christopher Cartwright was charged with two counts of possession of dangerous drugs with the intent to supply after officers seized nine pounds of Indian hemp along with a pound of cocaine from him when they raided his residence on April 21.

According to the

prosecution, the marijuana was worth $13,500 while the cocaine had a street value of $12,500.

Police said that on the same day, 10 unfired rounds of .9mm ammunition and another round of .45 ammunition were also found at Cartwright’s residence.

Prosecutors said a team of officers, along with a dog from the K-9 unit had gone to Cartwright’s apartment complex. Upon entering the residence, the officers deployed the police dog who gave indications to a lower cabinet in the kitchen where three black plastic wraps that all contained a

HAITIAN MAN TO BE JAILED

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A HAITIAN man who was caught residing in the country without the required legal documents will spend two months in prison before being deported back to his home country.

Brave Lovensky, 30, appeared before Senior Magistrate Carolyn VogtEvans after he was found living in New Providence without the leave of an immigration officer.

He pleaded guilty to one count of illegal landing during his arraignment.

The court heard on April 20, an immigration enforcement team was dispatched to the Carmichael Road station to retrieve the accused who was arrested for immigration purposes. When they questioned him, Lovensky told

the officers that he arrived by plane three years ago, but had no identification on him for the officers to verify his claims. As a result, he was cautioned and taken to the Detention Centre for further processing. There all checks of the system for his information came back with negative results.

During the hearing, Lovensky declined to comment.

As a result, Magistrate Vogt-Evans accepted his guilty plea and sentenced him to two months behind bars.

She said once his sentence was completed, Lovensky would be handed over to the Department of Immigration for deportation.

After passing her sentence the magistrate said persons had to realise The Bahamas is a sovereign country and like all other countries, it had immigration laws that had to be respected.

WOMAN ACCUSED OVER DRUGS

BY DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A 52-YEAR-OLD woman was charged with possession of dangerous drugs in the Freeport Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Lucita Elizabeth Wells, of Inagua Avenue, appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Debbye Ferguson.

She was represented by Carlson Shurland.

The prosecution maintains that on Monday, April 26, at Freeport, she was found in possession of seven grams of Indian hemp.

She was also charged with possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply and conspiracy to possess dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

She is also accused of being concerned with others while conspiring to possess dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

Wells pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Ferguson granted $3,500 cash bail, with conditions attached. Wells must sign in at Central Police Station, starting May 3 on Mondays and Thursdays.

The case was adjourned to July 7.

MAN ARRESTED AFTER SHOOTING

BY DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A 27-YEAR-OLD man was arrested in connection with a shooting incident this week in the Freeport area, a senior police official reported.

Superintendent of Police Terecita Pinder reported that on Tuesday police were called to the Coral Road area near a business establishment shortly before 6pm to investigate reports of gunshots being discharged.

She said that officers of the Criminal Investigation

Department also responded and an investigation was launched.

According to Supt Pinder, shortly after 12noon on Wednesday CID officers arrested a male resident of Canary Drive in connection to the matter.

She reported that officers then went to an area on Westminster and King Neptune Drive, where a silver .9mm pistol, with three rounds of ammunition, was recovered. The suspect is expected to be arraigned before the Magistrate Court in connection to this matter later this week.

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quantity of marijuana were found.

The court was told that the service dog then proceeded to a bedroom where he made indications to a closet. There, officers found another black plastic wrap with marijuana as well as a plastic bag containing a quantity of cocaine that was stashed in a tan coloured jacket.

The dog then made indications underneath the bed of another room where the officers found a pair of Nike sneakers that contained $1,500 cash in one foot, and a bag with another quantity

of cocaine in the other foot. A further search of a drawer in the bedroom also led to the discovery of another plastic bag filled with cocaine.

Thereafter, the police dog proceeded to the bathroom where another plastic wrap with marijuana and two plastic bags filled with several foil wraps were discovered.

During their investigation, officers also found a small black box with 10 live rounds of .9mm ammunition as well as one unfired round of .45mm ammunition on top of the accused’s kitchen cabinets. When

Cartwright was arrested and interviewed, he took ownership of the drugs, but declined to comment on the ammunition that was found in his home.

When the accused appeared before the Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson last Friday, he admitted the offences while his co-accused, Antiqueker Astwood, denied the allegations.

However, at the time, the magistrate said she would adjourn the matter to consider her position properly before proceeding any further with the case.

When the pair returned

to court yesterday, Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt accepted Cartwright’s guilty plea and sentenced him to nine months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

Cartwright was also given $7,000 worth of fines for the offences.

If he fails to pay them, he could risk spending an additional 12 months behind bars.

The prosecution said that as Cartwright was forthright in admitting his guilt, they would withdraw the charges brought against Astwood. She was subsequently discharged.

PAGE 8, Thursday, April 29, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

COVID conspiracies, confusion and contradictions

A FRIEND in her early 70s is exhausted by COVID-19. No, she has not experienced the physical debilitation or devastation of the disease as have many Bahamians and many millions globally.

She is exhausted, exasperated trying to encourage, cajole, convince and conspire to get family members, friends and associates to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

Like many, she is frustrated by the degree of misinformation and ignorance of basic science and medicine, including the nature of vaccines and the virulence of the disease.

A singular frustration is the inability to convince vulnerable individuals over a certain age, with co-morbidities, including obesity, to take the vaccine. A part of the difficulty is many adults associate vaccines with children and quite a number of adults are afraid and anxious about being vaccinated.

We must continue to invite and to encourage older Bahamians who are hesitant. More are likely to take the vaccine in time in order to travel with ease and as they realise those who have taken the vaccine are not having serious side-effects.

Even as the friend employs rational arguments, including for younger generations, she and many others are up against a Berlin Wall of conspiracies, confusion and contradictions, including a patchwork of erroneous charges: Bill Gates is using the virus to sell vaccines; COVID is a plot by pharmaceuticals; the virus is the “mark of the beast”; the virus is not that dangerous; vaccines are being used to track citizens; “exposure to the electromagnetic fields (EMFs) generated by 5G devices can both cause COVID-19 and increase its severity”, among other wild claims.

In a March 22, 2021,

conspiracies he marketed.

But he proved a genius at promoting conspiracies and mocking the COVID-19 virus and life-saving public health measures such as masks.

Curiously, many Bahamians who cannot abide Trump, have fallen for the COVID conspiracies he helped to promote, even as he and his wife privately took a vaccine before leaving the White House.

a blood clot.

When informed that she was more likely to develop a blood clot from her birth control regimen than the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine she went silent. She hadn’t fully considered that possibility.

Quite a number of people are vaccine-hesitant because of social and peer pressure from those around them who are also not taking the vaccine.

Many young people believe they will look silly or foolish in front of peers if they admit to taking the A further irony: many vaccine, especially given of those who believe they the belief widely by friends are clever and intelligent that COVID-19 is a vast because they have adopted conspiracy. the conspiracies, are being The advent of social duped and are quite ignomedia has made it pressrant of basic science, button easy to spread including the long medical conspiracies and to more history behind COVID-19 easily manipulate human vaccines. psychology and its admixBy examture of ple, ask most superstition, ‘The advent of Bahamians emotionalism and Ameri- social media and religious cans spouting has made it fundamentalanti-vaccine ism. press-button conspiracies The added and other easy to spread delight from anti-scientific conspiracies and social media memes about is how the to more easily CRISPR techendless pings, nology and manipulate human memes and you will get psychology and conspiracies a blank, conprovide an its admixture fused stare. emotional of superstition, There is and dopamine even more emotionalism fix for those irony.

The addicted to and religious very same Facebook, fundamentalism.’ people Tik Tok and who gidWhatsApp. dily use their cell phones Those trying to convince to perpetuate and peddle the hesitant to take vacanti-scientific memes and cines should take cues from conspiracies seem blithely advertisers, social marignorant of the tremen- keting experts and social dous technological and media companies who scientific advances that understand sociology and have gone into the design social psychology. of their mobile devices and Just as mass advertising computers. utilises incentives and peer A female colleague pressure to get us to part recalled a conversation with with our money, governa female friend who uses a ments and others will have certain birth control pill. to use carrots, sticks and The latter says she has not other measures to convince yet decided whether to take citizens to take vaccines a vaccine because of the in order to promote herd extremely low possibility of immunity.

In Washington DC, an advocacy group launched “Joints for Jabs” to encourage residents to get a COVID-19 vaccine. The group is handing out a free marijuana joint to those who can prove they have been vaccinated.

It is a “high-end” initiative, which cannot be replicated in The Bahamas, though one imagines that such a cannabis treat might induce some to temporarily suspend their conspiratorial conceits and take the vaccine.

Attempting to utilize reasonable and rational arguments with huge swaths of a population will only get one so far. Indeed, the more one promotes rational scientific arguments with some, the more likely that

HISTORY

COVID Vaccine Investigative Committee Report, Bahamas Christian Council noted among its conclusions: “There is insufficient theological evidence to support that the COVID-19 vaccine is directly connected to the fulfilment of end-time prophecy relative to the mark of the beast.”

This is somewhat helpful. Yet, by saying there “is insufficient theological evidence”, opens the door to saying the Council simply failed to find the evidence.

The truth is there is no theological, rational, medical or scientific evidence as the vaccine has nothing to do with Biblical prophecies.

The friend’s deepseated frustration to communicate the danger of the virus and the extraordinary benefits of the vaccine – including helping to reduce its transmission and to lessen ill-health and prevent death – is understandable.

While many at home and abroad have a rudimentary understanding of viruses and vaccines, scores do not and are given to wishful and magical thinking. Many are susceptible to emotional and psychological manipulation by conspiracy mongers.

Donald Trump did not invent many of the

such an approach will fail and the more entrenched an individual will become.

IRRATIONAL

By example, the presentation of facts to many Trump supporters often results in them doubling down in their beliefs no matter how irrational or conspiratorial.

Facts and science have limited currency for scores of human beings.

Emotions and misinformation that verify and affirm one’s beliefs, often trump reason. More information given begets even more resistance and recalcitrance. Reportedly, many Haitians are seeking to return to Haiti from The Bahamas because they have heard that there is little to no COVID-19 in Haiti.

The official statistics on COVID-19 in Haiti are generally low because the country notoriously under-reports health statistics because the system of reportage is extremely weak in a country where the state lacks the capacity for such reporting.

Yet, quite a number of Haitians who are living through COVID-19 in The Bahamas, with various restrictions and active reporting, believe there is little incidence of the virus and the disease in the country of 11 million.

While they are wrong about the facts, it is highly unlikely they will be convinced otherwise. Before some Bahamians get on their high horse, doesn’t this antipathy toward facts sound familiar?

It should, because many Bahamians, including some with tertiary degrees, live in their own bubbles of ignorance about COVID-19 and the vaccines.

Bush or herbal medicines are useful for various health purposes. But they are not preventatives or curatives for COVID-19.

On the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar, President Andry Rajoelina widely promoted an untested and unproven herbal concoction, COVID-Organics, which was touted and marketed as a remedy for COVID-19.

He did so even as hospitals in the country struggled with a surge of cases “despite the World Health Organization (WHO) warning against using untested remedies.”

The President famously and incorrectly declared: “The epidemic won’t last, it’s only passing through and we will defeat it.”

The BBC reported: “The WHO says it welcomes innovations based on traditional remedies but it wants scientific evidence before backing their use. … So far no results of clinical trials have been made public – though that has not stopped

the tonic from becoming a source of African pride for some.”

Human nature is such that most of us act based on personal experience. We are often incapable of imagining beyond our circumstances or lived experience.

Because The Bahamas has not experienced the mass death of countries like some in Europe, Brazil, India, Mexico and other jurisdictions, most Bahamians do not grasp the scope of this great pandemic.

Many in The Bahamas believe their refusal to take a vaccine is reasonable because they deem the chances of contracting COVID-19 or becoming gravely ill or dying are low.

Many others in the world believed they too were being reasonable, until the virus exploded, killing loved ones and inducing long-term effects.

While there was hesitancy in some quarters in India about taking a vaccine, the season of dying that is gripping and ravaging India has resulted in many of the hesitant and the unsure now coming forward to receive a vaccine.

Death concentrates the human mind and will.

If the Government of The Bahamas announced that it had received vaccines to prevent or dramatically diminish the effects of HIV/AIDS and was setting up centres for distribution, it is likely that on day one it would have to utilize the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, Fort Charlotte, Atlantis and Baha Mar, given the likely demand.

We are nearing the end of those who will take the vaccine based on rational persuasion. The reluctant will have to be incentivized and convinced through other measures.

The mountain Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan has a population of approximately 760,000. Within 16 days the country vaccinated 93 percent of its adult population. Most countries, including The Bahamas, do not enjoy this level of communitarian spirit or respect for authority.

Thankfully, because we are a small country, we can reach herd immunity and move to the end of the emergency phase of the pandemic within a relatively short period if there are sufficient vaccines and if more Bahamians and residents are willing to be vaccinated.

Additional vaccines are reportedly on the way. But the question is whether more of us will come forward out of self-interest and the common good. The proverbial jury is out. It may not be able to report for some time. Its final verdict is still in question.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, April 29, 2021, PAGE 9

Times they are a changing P

RELIMINARY results of the oncea-decade American census were revealed this week, and they largely confirm what we have been hearing for years.

Americans are getting older, and as they retire, they want more sunshine.

But until they retire, they will move for job opportunities. These moves have led to a corresponding reshuffling of Congressional representation.

Over the past decade, the warmer and milder climate in the American South, together with more consistent economic growth, have

produced an American southern migration. Predictable beneficiaries have been the states of Florida, Texas (2) and North Carolina, which gained four House of Representatives seats from the 2020 census.

Colorado, Montana and Oregon also gained one seat each, partly as the result of out-migration from California, which was among seven states losing a single House seat. The others were New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, West Virginia and Michigan.

The American census is managed by the federal Department of Commerce,

which under former President Donald Trump was led by octogenarian Trump crony Wilbur Ross. Imprudent millionaire Ross had foolishly hinted that he might cook the census books to help Republicans politically, but it doesn’t appear this happened.

Aside from seats in Congress, the census shows the net gain from 20102020 in overall American population was the second smallest since the US government began keeping such records – in 1790!

The only smaller gain, by a tiny margin, was in the 1930s during the Great Depression.

CHELSEA fans protest against Chelsea’s decision to be included amongst the clubs attempting to form a new European Super League before the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Brighton and Hove Albion outside Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Tuesday, April 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool)

Beautiful game tarnished by greedy owners

I

t has long been an axiom in professional sports that while supporters will tolerate incompetence and even malfeasance from the owners and directors of their favourite teams, the rich folks who control professional sports franchises must also recognize there is always a line that ultimately may not be crossed.

This was a lesson learned anew in the last fortnight by some wealthy plutocrats, many of them Americans, who own English Premier League soccer teams. But even as the management structure of the world’s most popular game was shaken and appeared briefly to wobble, the inherent beauty of the “most beautiful game” shone through and reminded fans across the world that there is no team game to compare with “real football”.

The heart of the matter, as it often is in sports, was greed.

To the average worldwide soccer fan, the announcement came as a shock ten days ago that a dozen of Europe’s most powerful and wealthy clubs had decided to form their own, elite league. While there had been rumours for many months that some preliminary discussions had occurred, few paid much attention.

Clubs But then the “Dirty Dozen” of Europe’s elite dropped their bombshell. Spanish megateams Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletico Madrid and Italian power houses AC Milan, Juventus (Turin) and Internazionale Milan revealed plans to link up with six top English clubs to form a new Super League.

While owners and public relations consultants raved about the competitive and artistic beauty of the new arrangement, pundits and fans immediately recognized that this action would wreck the world’s greatest club competition – the European Champions League – and at the same time, leave astern the dozens of less wealthy and competitive clubs in Spain, Italy and England.

Within 48 tense hours, the new league proposal was summarily abandoned by the English and Italian clubs, with only the haughty Real Madrid and Barcelona still to yet disavow the proposal.

The six English teams were Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham. These are widely known in England as the Top Six, and since the establishment of the toptier English Premier League in 1992, the first four listed have won 26 of the 29 EPL titles, including City’s certain triumph this season.

But the Super League, by which device the 12 owners proposed to diminish

contests against their lesser local rivals and focus instead on each other, generated a passionate and immediate resistance from fans across England and elsewhere.

Supporters took to the streets in London’s SW6 to angrily denounce Chelsea’s intent to join the new league. Fans in North London and England’s Northwest resolutely joined the protests. Politicians jostled each other to be first with stinging denouncements. Sponsors quaked.

The owners quickly caved, shocked at the overwhelming public response.

Chelsea released the following statement: “As concerns were raised following the announcement (of the new league), the Club took a step back to listen and speak to supporters.

“Following those conversations and taking into account the extremely strong views against the proposal, we reassessed our initial decision and decided we did not want to be part of this league.

“We recognise we should have addressed these issues in advance of joining the group.

“The Owner and Board understand that involving the Club in such a proposal was a decision we should not have taken. It is a decision we deeply regret.”

Wealthy Americans control Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United. Oil sheikhs from Abu Dhabi pay the bills at Manchester City. Chelsea is owned by a Russian oligarch. Albany developer and New Providence resident Joe Lewis holds controlling interest in Tottenham.

This is all big, lucrative business for some of the world’s wealthiest people. But they quickly, and wisely, abandoned the sinking Super League ship. And then the game rescued them.

On Tuesday two of the conspirators, Chelsea and Real Madrid, squared off in the first semifinal match of the 2021 Champions League competition.

Madrid has dominated the European championships with 13 titles since the tournament began in 1955, and this year’s team features some of the most prodigious talents in the world.

Chelsea has been relentlessly efficient since its new German coach took over in January, and Tuesday’s 1-1 final score capped a brilliant tactical chess match between top managers and players. The best current American men’s player, Christian Pulisic from Pennsylvania, scored Chelsea’s goal, and was soon matched by a spectacular strike from burly French superstar Karim Benzema.

The match epitomized the world’s most beautiful game, and next week’s rematch in London between Chelsea’s fleet young stars and Madrid’s established icons promises more of the same.

It reminded fans everywhere of the game they will always cherish, notwithstanding the mischief of some of its owners.

IN this image from video, acting director of the U.S. Census Bureau Ron Jarmin speaks as a graphic showing the U.S. population as of April 1, 2020, is displayed during a virtual news conference Monday. (U.S. Census Bureau via AP)

About half of the net US population gain during the decade just past was accounted for by Hispanic immigration, according to the preliminary census results.

And in 27 American states, the number of white people declined.

Furthermore, the estimated fertility rate in the US is now 1.73 percent, well below the 2.1 percent rate that is considered to be “replacement level procreation”.

The American birthrate has dropped and so has life expectancy, partly no doubt due to the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But still. The trends are clear to see.

America is producing fewer children. Whites are decreasing in numbers, especially compared with “browns,” mostly of Latin descent.

Republicans have seen this coming for a while now. It’s no coincidence the GOP has become the refuge of white nativists and others who cannot or will not adjust to the realities of demographics and world migration trends.

SO, WAS IT ALL WORTH IT? US President Joe Biden has announced he is pulling the plug on American military troop presence in Afghanistan on September 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington.

Afghanistan’s strategic location and impenetrably mountainous terrain have long made that part of the world both tempting and unconquerable for global empires.

The US will this year conclude an active military presence there that has cost thousands of American and NATO allies’ lives, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of US President Joe Biden.

Afghan casualties.

Many are questioning what the US has accomplished with its massive financial and military investment in Afghanistan. One obvious answer is the Americans managed to catch and kill Osama bin Laden, avenging the nation for his masterminding of the 9/11 attacks.

What else? While virtually no American not directly involved in this war effort could likely identify a single additional achievement, the US presence has doubtless made a positive difference in many aspects of Afghan and regional life.

History will look back on this period and identify those gains.

Meantime, the focus of President Biden is clearly going to be a domestic one, as was the case with Barack Obama.

PAGE 10, Thursday, April 29, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Space tourism – 20 years in the making – is finally ready for launch

THE SPACEX Crew Dragon spacecraft, with the Earth behind, approaching the international space station on Saturday.

Photo: NASA via AP

FOR most people, getting to the stars is nothing more than a dream. On April 28, 2001, Dennis Tito achieved that lifelong goal – but he wasn’t a typical

astronaut. Tito, a wealthy businessman, paid $20 million for a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to be the first tourist to visit the International Space Station.

Only seven people have followed suit in the 20 years since, but that number is poised to double in the next 12 months alone.

NASA has long been hesitant to play host to space

tourists, so Russia – looking for sources of money postCold War in the 1990s and 2000s – has been the only option available for those looking for this kind of extreme adventure. However, it seems the rise of private space companies is going to make it easier for regular people to experience space.

From my perspective

as a space policy analyst, I see the beginning of an era in which more people can experience space. With companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin hoping to build a future for humanity in space, space tourism is a way to demonstrate both the safety and reliability of space travel to the general public.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPACE TOURISM

Flights to space like Dennis Tito’s are expensive for a reason. A rocket must burn a lot of costly fuel to travel high and fast enough to enter Earth’s orbit.

Another cheaper possibility is a suborbital launch, with the rocket going high enough to reach the edge of space and coming right back down. While passengers on a suborbital trip experience weightlessness and incredible views, these launches are more accessible.

The difficulty and expense of either option has meant that, traditionally, only nation-states have been able to explore space.

This began to change in the 1990s as a series of entrepreneurs entered the space arena. Three companies led by billionaire CEOs have emerged as the major players: Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and SpaceX. Though none have taken paying, private customers to space, all anticipate doing so in the very near future.

British billionaire Richard Branson has built his brand on not just business but also his love of adventure. In pursuing space tourism, Branson has brought both of those to bear. He established Virgin Galactic after buying SpaceShipOne – a company that won the Ansari X-Prize by building the first reusable spaceship. Since then, Virgin Galactic has sought

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to design, build and fly a larger SpaceShipTwo that can carry up to six passengers in a suborbital flight.

The going has been harder than anticipated.

While Branson predicted opening the business to tourists in 2009, Virgin Galactic has encountered some significant hurdles – including the death of a pilot in a crash in 2014.

After the crash, engineers found significant problems with the design of the vehicle, which required modifications.

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, respective leaders of SpaceX and Blue Origin, began their own ventures in the early 2000s.

Musk, fearing that a catastrophe of some sort could leave Earth uninhabitable, was frustrated at the lack of progress in making humanity a multi-planetary species. He founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of first developing reusable launch technology to decrease the cost of getting to space. Since then, SpaceX has found success with its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft.

SpaceX’s ultimate goal is human settlement of Mars – sending paying customers to space is an intermediate step. Musk says he hopes to show that space travel can be done easily and that tourism might provide a revenue stream to support development of the larger, Mars-focused Starship system.

Bezos, inspired by the vision of physicist Gerard O’Neill, wants to expand humanity and industry not to Mars, but to space itself.

Blue Origin, established in 2004, has proceeded slowly and quietly in also developing reusable rockets. Its New Shepard rocket, first successfully flown in 2015, will eventually offer tourists a suborbital trip to the edge of space, similar to Virgin

Galactic’s. For Bezos, these launches represent an effort at making space travel routine, reliable and accessible to people as a first step to enabling further space exploration.

OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE

Now, SpaceX is the only option for someone looking to go into space and orbit the Earth. It currently has two tourist launches planned. The first is scheduled for as early as September 2021, funded by billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman. The other trip, planned for 2022, is being organized by Axiom Space. These trips will be costly, at $55 million for the flight and a stay on the International Space Station. The high cost has led some to warn that space tourism – and private access to space more broadly – might reinforce inequality between rich and poor.

Blue Origin’s and Virgin Galactic’s suborbital trips are far more reasonable in cost, with both priced between $200,000 and $250,000.

Blue Origin appears to be the nearest to allowing paying customers on board, saying after a recent launch that crewed missions would be happening “soon.”

Virgin Galactic continues to test SpaceShipTwo, but no specific timetable has been announced for tourist flights.

Though these prices are high, it is worth considering that Dennis Tito’s $20 million ticket in 2001 could pay for 100 flights on Blue Origin soon. The experience of viewing the Earth from space, though, may prove to be priceless for a whole new generation of space explorers.

• Originally published on theconversation.com

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THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, April 29, 2021, PAGE 11

INDIA’S GOVERNMENT DROPPED ITS GUARD TOO SOON SPARKING ITS STAGGERING COVID CRISIS

By PRADEEP TANEJA, senior lecturer in Asian politics, University of Melbourne and AZAD SINGH BALI, senior lecturer in public policy, Australian National University

INDIA reported 314,000 new cases of COVID-19 on April 22, the highest-ever infection tally recorded by any country on a single day.

Many hospitals across the country are unable to cope with the unprecedented demand for life-saving necessities. Family members are scrambling to buy oxygen cylinders and medication for their loved ones in hospitals, often paying exorbitant prices in the black market.

Around the world, several countries such as the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Pakistan, have imposed new restrictions on travellers from India, including flight bans.

While many countries around the world have faced multiple waves of infections, what has led to this massive — and sudden — spike in India?

Complacency is certainly to blame. But so, too, is the government’s feckless handling of the crisis, particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ineffective leadership in recent weeks.

Perhaps nothing illustrates this more clearly than Modi’s televised address this week in response to the growing crisis, when he sought to use his personal appeal to encourage Indians to practice COVID-safe behaviour.

He offered little in the form of concrete measures to contain the surge in infections, and counselled the state governments against using lockdowns.

Unlike Modi’s public addresses during last year’s

HOSPITAL staff distribute food packets to the staff of ambulances carrying COVID-19 patients and their relatives as they queue up waiting for their turn to be attended at a government COVID-19 hospital in Ahmedabad, India, yesterday.

Photo: Ajit Solanki/AP first wave, there was little that appeared to resonate across society.

PANDEMIC FATIGUE SETS IN

India was one of the first countries to enforce a nationwide lockdown when infection rates started to rise in March 2020, and this response, along with public vigilance, appeared to be successful in bringing cases under control. New cases peaked at nearly 100,000 in mid-September to under 10,000 in early February.

As case numbers declined, Modi’s popularity soared. And since late last year, businesses, government offices and ordinary people have returned to

their pre-COVID routines, with many defying guidelines on wearing masks or practising social distancing.

Some did so out of necessity to enable them to work, while others simply flouted norms out of arrogance or sheer ignorance. It was as if COVID-19 was no longer a major concern.

The complacency and pandemic fatigue evident in society was echoed in the actions of the Modi government. The government dropped its guard and started to boast about its success at controlling infections and India’s low mortality rate compared with many other countries.

Following a win for his party in the elections in the populous state of Bihar in

November, Modi claimed the results have endorsed the way we have tackled the coronavirus crisis situation in the country.

However, the situation in the country now is looking increasingly grim. So, what did the government get wrong?

CONFLICTING MESSAGING AND A BOTCHED VACCINE ROLL-OUT

First, the government did not prepare the country for the possibility of COVID-19 returning with a vengeance, as had happened in other parts of the world.

Despite rolling out a national vaccination drive, it did very little to shore up

capacity in hospitals to handle a sudden surge of infections and hospitalisations. This has led many hospitals across the country to panic, struggling to meet the growing demand for oxygen.

Second, even as the virus spread like a wildfire, Modi and his cabinet ministers kept campaigning in state elections in five states, addressing massive rallies and praising the crowds for turning out in large numbers.

This resulted in conflicting messaging. It mattered little to the government that pandemic protocols were being flagrantly violated by those organising and attending the rallies.

As cases continued to soar, Modi was forced finally to

call off election rallies in the state of West Bengal.

Third, the second wave of infections has been fuelled by one of the world’s largest religious festivals, the Kumbh Mela, held in the holy city of Haridwar every 12 years. It became a superspreader event.

From April 10–14, over 2,000 people who attended the festival tested positive for the virus. By the time Modi appealed to the religious leaders in a tweet on April 17 to keep the Kumbh Mela “symbolic” — meaning not to attend in person — the festival had already been going for more than two weeks.

Two prominent Hindu seers had also died of COVID. Finally, this week, religious leaders decided to wind down the festivities.

And the fourth misstep of the government has been in its handling of the vaccine rollout. While nearly 10 percent of India’s population has received the first dose, many vaccine distribution centres have in recent weeks run short on supplies.

This is partly a result of the Modi government prioritising its vaccine diplomacy initiatives rather than vaccinating its own people. According to the Indian Express, India had exported more vaccines (60 million doses to 76 countries) by late March than it had administered to its own citizens (52 million doses).

As India is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of vaccines, it could have used this as an opportunity to vaccinate a greater share of its population while simultaneously addressing the fault lines within the health system that have been exposed by the second wave of infections.

But the government didn’t take this approach — and now India is paying the consequences. Perhaps the Modi magic is finally beginning to wear off.

PAGE 12, Thursday, April 29, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Federal agents raid home and office of Trump lawyer Giuliani NEW YORK Associated Press FEDERAL agents raided Rudy Giuliani’s Manhattan home and office yesterday, seizing computers and cellphones in a major escalation of the Justice Department’s investigation into the business dealings of former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.

Giuliani, the 76-yearold former New York City mayor once celebrated for his leadership in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, has been under federal scrutiny for several years over his ties to Ukraine.

The dual searches sent the strongest signal yet that he could eventually face federal charges.

Agents searched Giuliani’s home on Madison Avenue and his office on Park Avenue, people familiar with the investigation told The Associated

NEW York City Police officers walk out of the apartment building where former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani resides yesterday.

Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP was served on a phone Press. The warrants, requiring approval from the belonging to Washington top levels of the Jus- lawyer Victoria Toensing, a tice Department, signify former federal prosecutor prosecutors believe they and close ally of Giuliani have probable cause that and Trump. Her law firm Giuliani committed a fed- issued a statement saying eral crime — though they she was informed that don’t guarantee charges will she is not a target of the investigation. materialise.

The full scope of the A third search warrant

investigation is unclear, but it at least partly involves Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine, law enforcement officials have told the AP. In a statement through his lawyer, Giuliani accused federal authorities of a “corrupt double standard,” invoking allegations he’s pushed against prominent Democrats, and said that the Justice Department was “running rough shod over the constitutional rights of anyone involved in, or legally defending, former President Donald J Trump”.

“Mr Giuliani respects the law, and he can demonstrate that his conduct as a lawyer and a citizen was absolutely legal and ethical,” the statement said.

A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The

US Attorney’s office in Manhattan and the FBI’s New York office declined to comment.

The federal probe into Giuliani’s Ukraine dealings stalled last year because of a dispute over investigative tactics as Trump unsuccessfully sought a second term.

Giuliani subsequently took on a leading role in disputing the election results on the Republican’s behalf.

Yesterday’s raids came months after Trump left office and lost his ability to pardon allies for federal crimes. The former president himself no longer enjoys the legal protections the Oval Office once provided him — though there is no indication Trump is eyed in this probe.

Giuliani was central to the then-president’s efforts to dig up dirt against Democratic rival Joe Biden and to press Ukraine for an investigation into Biden

and his son, Hunter — who himself now faces a criminal tax probe by the Justice Department.

Giuliani also sought to undermine former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was pushed out on Trump’s orders, and met several times with a Ukrainian lawmaker who released edited recordings of Biden in an effort to smear him before the election.

Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello, said the warrants involved an allegation that Giuliani failed to register as a foreign agent and that investigative documents mentioned John Solomon, a former columnist and frequent Fox News commentator with close ties to Giuliani, who pushed baseless or unsubstantiated allegations involving Ukraine and Biden during the 2020 election.

Climate alarm as glaciers melting faster

BY SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer

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GLACIERS are melting faster, losing 31 percent more snow and ice per year than they did 15 years earlier, according to three-dimensional satellite measurements of all the world’s mountain glaciers.

Scientists blame human-caused climate change.

Using 20 years of recently declassified satellite data, scientists calculated that the world’s 220,000 mountain glaciers are losing more than 328 billion tons of ice and snow per year since 2015, according to a study in Wednesday’s journal Nature. That’s enough melt flowing into the world’s rising oceans to put Switzerland under almost 24 feet of water each year.

The annual melt rate from 2015 to 2019 is 78 billion more tons a year than it was from 2000

to 2004. Global thinning rates, different than volume of water lost, doubled in the last 20 years and “that’s enormous”, said Romain Hugonnet, a glaciologist at ETH Zurich and the University of Toulouse in France who led the study.

Half the world’s glacial loss is coming from the United States and Canada.

Alaska’s melt rates are “among the highest on the planet”, with the Columbia glacier retreating about 115 feet a year, Hugonnet said.

Almost all the world’s glaciers are melting, even ones in Tibet that used to be stable, the study found. Except for a few in Iceland and Scandinavia that are fed by increased precipitation, the melt rates are accelerating.

The near-uniform melting “mirrors the global increase in temperature” and is from the burning of coal, oil and gas, Hugonnet said. Some

smaller glaciers are disappearing entirely.

“Ten years ago, we were saying that the glaciers are the indicator of climate change, but now actually they’ve become a memorial of the climate crisis,” said World Glacier Monitoring Service director Michael Zemp, who wasn’t part of the study.

The largest threat is sea level rise. The world’s oceans are already rising because warm water expands and because of melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, but glaciers are responsible for 21 percent of sea level rise, more than the ice sheets, the study said. The ice sheets are larger longer term threats for sea level rise.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that sea level rise is going to be a bigger and bigger problem as we move through the 21st century,” said National Snow and Ice Data Center director Mark Serreze.

THREE CHARGED OVER ARBERY KILLING WASHINGTON Associated Press

THE Justice Department announced federal hate crime charges yesterday in the death of a Georgia man who was killed while out for a run last year.

The criminal case charging the three men in connection with the death

of Ahmaud Arbery is the most significant civil rights prosecution undertaken to date by the Biden administration Justice Department.

It comes as federal officials have moved quickly to open sweeping investigations into troubled police departments as civil rights takes center stage among the department’s priorities.

Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory, and a third man, William “Roddie” Bryan, are all charged with one count of interference with civil rights and attempted kidnapping. The McMichaels are also charged with using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.