WEEKEND FRIDAY NEW CRISPY
CHI C KEN SANDWICHES
HIGH 85ºF LOW 73ºF
i’m lovin’ it!
Monday,
February
CARS! CARS!
8, 2021
The Tribune Established
Being Bound To
Swear To The Dogmas
1903
Of No Master
The Tribune Weekend
Volume: 118 No.113, May 7, 2021
tise Call
To Adver
-2351
601-0007 or 502
Starting at
$33.60
CLASSIFIEDS TRADER
ed
VAT includ
Established 1903
THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: PRICE–$1
$10m MESSAGE TO STOP INJUSTICE
QC begs court to fine govt huge sum to end Immigration abuses By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net GHANA native Joseph Amihere is suing the government for $10.6m with interest for illegally detaining him for nearly seven years at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, during which time he endured poor treatment where he was “physically, emotionally and psychologically abused”. Of that sum, $6,890,000 is for false imprisonment, $2m is for constitutional damages
By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE pilot of a Piper Navajo plane that went down in waters off South Bimini last month said he blacked out and cannot recall key details of the incident which claimed the life of his son. The Air Accident Investigation Authority’s
‘DANGEROUS’ WATER FOR ECONOMY THE Bahamas is “still playing in a very dangerous space” despite government optimism it will hit its $1.327bn deficit target for 2020-2021, governance reformers warned yesterday. Matt Aubry, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) executive director, said this nation must “focus on straight line swimming if we’re to make it to shore” after it was revealed the Government’s direct debt now exceeds $9.5bn after increasing by $1.3bn in just nine months. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
SEE PAGE THREE
preliminary report into the matter said: “The pilot stated that after he selected gear up, he ‘proceeded to climb to 1,200 feet’ and his next memory was ‘being in the water with the crew door blown open and two Bahamian men shouted at me from approximately 300 yards away on land, ‘sir, are you okay, do you need help?’.” SEE PAGE THREE
SEE PAGE EIGHT
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
by way of compensation and vindication, $1m is for exemplary damages, $500,000 is for aggravated damages, $300,000 for assault and battery and $700 for special damages, his attorney Fred Smith, QC, said. Last month, the government agreed to apologise and compensate Mr Amihere for unlawfully holding him in detention after he travelled to The Bahamas from Jamaica for a threeweek vacation in 2010.
PILOT BLACKED OUT IN FATAL AIR CRASH
REST IN PEACE TO THE KING OF BLOW
SIGNING UP SOARS FOR INTERNET BANKING
‘DOMINOES KILLER’
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
21-YEAR-OLD John Elliott outside court yesterday. He is accused of the murder of Anthony Rolle, who was shot dead while playing dominoes last month. See page seven for the full story. Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff
SISTER LOST TO DORIAN ON ABACO VACATION By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net
NEARLY two years ago Rose Lubin travelled to Abaco to visit her family on a two-week trip but was never heard from again after Hurricane Dorian destroyed the community where she was believed to have stayed, a Coroner’s Court heard yesterday. Dr Patrizzia M Gozito, a psychologist living in Malta,
DAMAGE in The Mudd, in Abaco, after Hurricane Dorian. Europe, broke down in tears while testifying before Coroner Jeanine WeechGomez about the missing
status of her 26-year-old sister. Dr Gozito was the final witness who gave testimony during the first part of the inquest into the presumed deaths of people reported missing after Hurricane Dorian. Speaking via WhatsApp yesterday, Dr Gozito recalled her and her sister’s final conversation on August 31, just a day before the storm hit. SEE PAGE FOUR
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
THE number of Bahamian Internet banking users increased by almost 31 percent to breach the 100,000 mark in 2020 as COVID-19 increasingly drove persons to digital transactions, according to Central Bank’s 2020 annual report. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM (OF INFORMATION)
SEE PAGE NINE
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, May 7, 2021, PAGE 3
$10m message to stop injustice from page one During a hearing yesterday for the assessment of damages before Justice Camille Darville-Gomez, Mr Smith asserted that $10,690,000 was an appropriate figure to award his client to send a “lightning rod of a financial message” to the government that continued crimes against the civil and constitutional rights of people could not continue. “As you will read the evidence, this is regrettably one of the severest judgments on liability based on the facts in this jurisdiction,” he told the judge. “I don’t think any of the (other) judgments that have happened over the years bear any factual resemblance to the sustained seven years of horrific abuse that Mr Amihere was subjected to.” Mr Smith said the facts of the case proved Mr Amihere was unlawfully detained for 2,756 days in poor conditions where he was “physically, emotionally and psychologically abused”. He also said the “undisputed evidence” of his client “painted a horror story of unprecedented and continued inhuman and degrading treatment” to Mr Amihere by the defendants
throughout the time he was detained. In view of these facts, Mr Smith requested the payment be made with five percent interest on each of the claims from the day Mr Amihere’s writ was filed in October 2017, until the judgment on liability order was passed on April 19. Mr Smith also urged the court to consider the sums awarded to the successful plaintiffs in other Bahamian cases where damages were awarded for false imprisonment. He noted in the 1994 case of Tynes, the plaintiff was awarded $75,000 for one day of false imprisonment. Likewise, Mr Smith contended that in the case of Merson, two days of unlawful detention attracted an award of $90,000 which increased to over $388,000 once damages for malicious prosecution and aggravated and exemplary damages were included. He also referred to the Lockwood case, where a man was awarded $5,000 per day for false imprisonment in 2007. “We’ve listed 15 cases where the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal of The Bahamas have awarded damages for different periods (of unlawful imprisonment)...in different circumstances both in police
cases and in immigration cases and your honour will see that in all of those cases fairly substantial awards were made,” Mr Smith said. “In fact, in the Cleare one, the Supreme Court awarded only $250 a day and so the gentleman got $1,000 and then they appealed it to the Court of Appeal and in that case, the president said we can’t tie things to that $250 (as ruled in a previous judgement) and they in fact gave the gentlemen $20,000 for his two days in prison.” Mr Smith also said Mr Amihere would not accept the principle of “tapering off” which stipulates that the “longer the period of detention, the lower the amount that is awarded.” “I submit that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It is illogical (and) it is counterintuitive for the victim to get less the longer he has been deprived of his freedom,” he explained. Still, he said, if the judge did apply a tapering down principle, he would suggest the court provide a “vigorous and valuable daily figure” given the conditions in which Mr Amihere was held and the abuse he was “subjected to verbally and physically”. “In (the case of Kenyan native Douglas) Nagumi
and in other cases, we had suggested based on all of the cases that have been decided, that a figure of $5,000 would have been appropriate because of the conditions and we urge the court here to also use a figure of $5,000 a day. But we factor in as an alternative and say that your honour should award not $5,000 a day, but $2,500 a day. We are prepared to cut it by 50 percent, and we say that will take into account tapering.” Mr Smith insisted the history of false imprisonment cases in the country suggested the Immigration Department had become a “complete policing, regulatory agency” that was a “law unto itself”. He also said it appeared that the department was not being controlled by any administration that came into power, or by the new Director of Immigration, despite the fact that the courts have “repeatedly emphasised the illegality of holding people indefinitely at the Detention Centre”. “(We urge) the court to take this opportunity to send a message to the executive that constitutional and civil crimes against people in The Bahamas does not pay and the maintenance of what has been accepted as
the Carmichael concentration camp is not acceptable in a free and democratic society where we ascribe in constitution to the respective Christian values and to support the rule of law. “Frankly, other than putting some of these people in jail for contempt, the only message that the court can send is a financial one and this is the perverseness of it. All the Immigration Department and all their officers and the defence force officers who keep maintaining the concentration camp... they are never held accountable. The Ministers of Immigration who run them are never held accountable. Who is accountable? It’s all the other citizens in The Bahamas (who) are being ordered to pay costs and damages in what are becoming very many cases.” Shaka Serville represents the government in the matter. In his submissions, he told the judge the Crown did not accept the suggestion of award asserted by Mr Smith on behalf of Mr Amihere. “Given the circumstance of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas now… and its financial state of overwhelmedness at the moment as a result of many
different factors; not the least of which is the enormous amount of public spending that it has had to endure as a result of...Hurricane Dorian, as well as the local and global pandemic and the economic cries flowing from the COVID19 saga, we submit that those are factors clearly which, my lady, ought to consider when considering... an appropriate award to be given by a Supreme Court in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas today.” He also said: “When Mr Smith says that the courts need to deliver an unequivocal signal about its outrage, we would submit that the awards given in the Douglas Ngumi case certainly do that for The Bahamas...given its financial and economic circumstances. In other words, like they always say when the poor lady in church gives $20 to the collection plate, that is far more than the billionaire giving $1m (because) its affect on that poor lady is far greater than the billionaire’s loss in giving up a million dollars. So, the affect is not measured by what the amount is, the affect is measured by what the amount is to the bearer of the amount.” The judge is set to rule on the matter at a later date.
PILOT BLACKED OUT IN FATAL AIR CRASH from page one
The plane left the South Bimini International Airport at night on April 16 and was headed for the Opa Locka Airport in Florida. While the pilot sustained serious injuries, his son died “as a result of the crash sequence and subsequent submersion in the waters at the end of the runway environment.” According to the AAIA, the pilot is a US certified commercial pilot with ratings for airplane land, single and multi-engine as well as an instrument airplane rating. His medical certificate was valid at the time of the crash. His son also held a valid US certified private pilot – single engine land – airplane rating. “It is unknown what role (if any) the second pilot played during the take off to the crash sequence,” the AAIA said. Accident investigators also said: “The aircraft was airborne momentarily and may have reached an altitude between 50 to 100 feet. Due to the darkness at the time of departure, security camera coverage from the airport terminal building captured the lights of the aircraft and it could
be seen from its take off roll on the surface, to the point where it got airborne, started to climb and shortly thereafter, where it disappeared from camera view in the waters beyond the runway environment.” One eyewitness said he saw the plane climb to 40 feet and come down seconds later, landing with a thud. “Both engines separated from the aircraft on impact and were found to the left of the aircraft’s final resting place,” the report said. “The left engine was located in waters approximately 54 feet left from its installed location on the aircraft. The right engine was located in waters approximately 53 feet from its installed location on the aircraft, both engines were found 18.5 feet apart. “The weather conditions at the time of the accident were night. A weak high-pressure ridging was forecasted to continue to dominate the weather and the Bahamas throughout the night. However, no significant weather was anticipated.” According to international reports, family members have identified the pilot as 59-year-old Andre Wade and his son who died, 20-yearold Kyle Wade.
THE AIRCRAFT after the crash in Bimini.
ROLLE AND DAMES ANSWER ON WATER SUPPLY AFTER FIRE By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net BOTH Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle and National Security Minister Marvin Dames responded yesterday to concerns about water pressure in New Providence in the wake of a major fire. This comes after the Water and Sewerage Corporation said the New Providence “water supply system was not designed to provide fire flows”. Earlier this week, Fire Services Chief Superintendent Kendrick Morris said while water was not an issue for tackling Sunday’s massive blaze on Jennie Street, pressure was a problem coming from the fire hydrant. For its part, WSC put out a media release on Wednesday responding to reports. The release read: “As has been expressed by the corporation previously after major fires, our New Providence water supply
system was not designed to provide fire flows. Fire flow systems usually have a design capacity in excess of 1,000 gallons per minute, however, only a limited amount of our transmission mains have that operational capacity.” In view of the water pressure problem, Mr Dames replied “sometimes these are things that are going to be expected” but stressed that there are normally after event briefings helping to address issues. “You get to scenes and the pressure may not be as high as you would like for it to be and so I mean obviously this is why you have departments like the fire department and the police force and the defence force and other agencies such as that would have what is normally referred to as an after event briefing. “That briefing will assist them on how to address issues like that moving forward. It’s not serious by any extent because I mean the
technology out there nowadays allows for tankers and additional water supply. This is not a hurdle that cannot be overcome and so I’m not aware of the after event briefing from the fire department through the commissioner of police. “This is not a significant hurdle because as I said before technology is as such that you know, go to a scene, you take a few appliances as needs be, you add an additional tanker and that addresses your issue, especially when you’re struggling with water supplies. It’s not uncommon.” When it was highlighted that WSC had expressed the matter with the water supply system previously after major fires, Mr Dames said “you have to look at each event on its merits”. “I don’t have the benefit of what happened and... how it needs to be addressed moving forward. I will, once I’m briefed by the commissioner of police, will have that benefit and
usually what comes in after an event briefing is you know what efforts were taken and which areas would need to be improved upon for future fires.” WSC’s release said it will continue to work with the central government and Fire Services “for the installation of groundwater fire wells in strategic locations for firefighting purposes and for all fire equipment to be outfitted with high capacity suction and discharge pumping systems”. “Our geography is such that we are surrounded by water and have a high water table, therefore our firefighting water supply strategy must be based on harnessing these natural resources in times of emergencies,” WSC said. Yesterday, reporters highlighted these comments to Commissioner Rolle. Asked about a plan in place in the event an incident like this occurred again, the police chief explained the back up plan
if there is a failure of water. “I do want to say though, you look at what looks like hydrants, they’re not all hydrants. Some of them are wells,” he said. “There’s no pressure and what would happen is if you find the situation that there’s no immediate hydrant, the truck can go to one of those and put the hose down and suck water out. “I cannot speak for Water and Sewerage, but what I gave is the backup plan is that if there is failure with the water. You still see the red stand but we know the difference. Fire people know the difference. So if there is no water there, they are bore wells, so that is the backup plan should the situation with water fail.” Some of the residents who lost their homes on Sunday believed they could have been saved and pointed to issues with water. The commissioner made it clear that fire trucks come with water but said a truck can run out of it when
dealing with a major fire like the one on Sunday. He stated: “The fire truck carries 800 gallons of water I think and then there’s one that was a tanker. Okay you have a fire. You (are) pumping that water - the water is going to run out... So (a) major fire like that yes the trucks will run out. We depend on the hydrant. Those are the issues that we have to address and let us work together to get that up, but any time you have a fire you know the trucks will run out of water and then you go and replenish.” He also said: “We don’t deal with the fire hydrants. There’s a department in one of the local departments that is responsible for that.” Earlier this week, CSP Morris said it is the Ministry of Works’ responsibility to service and maintain the hydrants. However, he said, there is a water supply crew within the fire department that checks them and reports any concerns to the ministry.
PAGE 4, Friday, May 7, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
PM ‘talking TOTAL CASES TOTAL DEATHS to medics’ 10,711 211 over orders By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net
WITH the state of emergency and current emergency order set to expire at the end of this month, Attorney General Carl Bethel said Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis is now consulting with the medical community to decide the way forward. Among other restrictions, due to the emergency order New Providence currently has a nightly curfew in place from 10pm to 5am, but there have been complaints recently that the curfew is not being enforced. Videos have circulated on social media showing clubs in full swing after curfew hours with no social distancing nor mask wearing being conducted. A popular promoter ran into trouble two weeks ago when a party was held at a property leased to him with hundreds of people bunched together enjoying themselves without practising any COVID-19 protocols. He was fined some $92,000 by police for breaking the emergency orders. “Cabinet has not made a determination and I raised the issue and the Prime Minister has indicated that he wishes to have some serious discussions with the medical community to get their advice,” Mr Bethel said. “He is not prepared to commit to any particular
course of action until he has done so. “I understand that sometime this week he will probably be doing that and we look forward to whatever the recommendations of the medical community are. I did make the point before and it bears repeating, that Bahamians, we all know what the protocols are, but we may still need (to adhere to) them. “So, one way or the other, whether it’s by way of a statute or by way of perhaps some amendments to pre-existing laws, if we could facilitate that, we will do whatever we have to do, in order to protect the Bahamian people.” Mr Bethel said the competent authority will just go with the best advice as the way forward. “It’s just a question now of what the best advice is from the medical community as a whole. “For those who like to say ‘the competent authority’ and make all sorts of aspersions, there is no question that he has always consulted with his colleagues in Cabinet on every decision. “He is now also on this decision, intensively consulting with the medical community and the COVID-19 Task Force that was appointed way back in March last year.” Mr Bethel was also asked to respond to recent tension in the House of Assembly, sparked by criticisms from independent House Speaker Halson Moultrie.
A week ago, Mr Moultrie abruptly adjourned Parliament after chiding and criticising the Minnis administration for COVIDrelated matters and treatment of staff at the House of Assembly. On Wednesday, Mr Moultrie went as far as calling government members, “disrespectful and dishonest” in their handling of the COVID exposure in Parliament. Some political observers are of the opinion that by his actions, Mr Moultrie is agitating for Parliament to be prorogued, forcing an election. The Attorney General was asked if he feels this is what Mr Moultrie is trying to do. “I wouldn’t wish to get into any reflections on the conduct of any member of another chamber other than that of which I serve,” he said. “That’s against our rules. I don’t like to speculate on what other people’s intentions are. You know they say, God alone knows the heart of a man and if God knows the heart he knows the man.” Pressed further, Mr Bethell said: “I have nothing to say about his behaviour. He is the Speaker of the House; he has his functions under the Constitution. He is a constitutional officer and I would be the last person in the world to make any kind of reflection upon what the Speaker does in the discharge of his office and his constitutional duties.”
NEWLY CONFIRMED CASES WEDNESDAY 52 CASES
NEW PROVIDENCE 45 GRAND BAHAMA 2 ABACO 1 BERRY ISLANDS 1 ANDROS 1 PENDING 2
TOTAL TESTS
89,050
HOSPITALISED
52
CASES IN ICU
5
RECOVERED
9,733
52 NEW CASES CONFIRMED ON WEDNESDAY THE Ministry of Health reported 52 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. Forty-five of the cases are in New Providence, two are in Grand Bahama, one is in Abaco, one is in the Berry Islands, one is in Andros and two cases are listed as locations pending. Up to press time, the COVID-19 case count stood at 10,711. Fifty-two people are in hospital with the virus. Yesterday the Ministry of Health said it was aware of a message circulating on social media purporting to
be an urgent and important request for persons vaccinated with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in The Bahamas. “The message appealed to persons experiencing COVID-like symptoms for more than three days to share personal details and information about the vaccine administered,” the ministry said in a statement. “The general public is advised that this message did not originate with the Surveillance Unit of the Ministry of Health, and hence, is not an approved
communication. “Consequently, the Ministry of Health strongly advises the public to seek information from reliable sources such as the Ministry of Health, the Office of the Prime Minister, the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization, and to guard against receiving and/or sharing misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccine.” Currently, all Bahamian citizens and permanent residents 18 years of age and over remain eligible to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
SISTER LOST TO DORIAN ON ABACO VACATION from page one
She told the court her sister, who was living in Florida at the time, was only visiting Abaco on a two-week trip to her family. “She was staying with her mother... in a place I believe they called The Mudd,” Dr Gozito told the court. “She told me she was there and she was safe and she had been through hurricanes before and didn’t think it was going to be that bad.” Dr Gozito said her sister promised to call the next day, but never did. After not hearing from her, Dr Gozito said she contacted her sister’s employer in Florida but was told no one had heard from Ms Lubin as she was not as yet due back to work. The European resident said she later listed her sister as missing on a local Bahamian website and also contacted several government agencies. “I called Bahamas Social Services but they didn’t have her listed in the shelters. After that, I contacted NEMA and after that, I contacted Inspector
EXTENSIVE damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian in The Mudd, Abaco, in 2019. Knowles at the police station and made a missing person’s report... I also spoke to the Bahamas Consulate in Miami,” she added. To this day, no one has reached out to her concerning the whereabouts of her sister.
Having never travelled to Abaco before, Dr Gozito said she had no idea what kind of situation her sister experienced during the storm. Asked what she thinks may have happened to her sister, Dr Gozito replied she believed she was swept away and ultimately killed by Dorian. Also asked if she ever submitted DNA, Dr Gozito said while she was informed by police that they wanted her or other close relatives to travel to The Bahamas to give
DNA, she was not able to do so because the police never further contacted her on the matter. In response, Coroner Weech-Gomez asked her if she was able to travel to Florida to assist with the DNA testing process as her current location would have presented a logistical challenge. However, Dr Gozito replied that she didn’t think so because of the COVID19 pandemic and current travel restrictions. Coroner Weech-Gomez told Dr Gozito that
To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394
although she might not be able to travel right now, she could still do so in the future as police efforts to locate missing loved ones will be continuing. Liann Key-Kaighin also gave testimony via a Whatsapp call yesterday regarding her missing aunt, Astrid Stratton, 78. Ms Key-Kaighin recalled how her aunt refused to leave her Marsh Harbour home before the massive storm hit. “I pleaded with her to leave and to come with me to my mother’s residence,
but she told me ‘I was born in this house, and I will die in this house’… those were her exact words,” the woman told the court. Because of her aunt’s refusal, Ms KeyKaighin said she asked friends – Constance Schneider, Emile Raphael, Nildiese Vincent – to stay with her during the storm’s passage. However, Ms KeyKaighin said since Dorian, no one has heard from the group. Asked what she believed happened to them, the Abaco resident said she believed they drowned. Though DNA swabs were taken from Ms KeyKaighin’s mother last year, no match was found. Dorian hit Abaco on September 1, 2019, as a Category Five storm. The storm’s official death toll is 74. The Coroner’s Court’s list of missing people includes about 35 people. However, the court has only heard from relatives of some 17 victims reported as missing. Coroner Weech-Gomez is expected to make a formal decision next week as it relates to those 17 people reported missing by family members. Once that decision is made and the proper paperwork has been completed, loved ones will be able to obtain a death certificate at the registrar general’s department.
64 HAITIANS REPATRIATED SIXTY-FOUR Haitian migrants were repatriated to Port-au-Prince, Haiti yesterday. In a press release, the Department of Immigration said the group of 52 males, 11 females and one minor left the country after 8am. They were escorted by a joint law enforcement team consisting of officers of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the Immigration Department. The department said the migrants had
been convicted before their repatriation. “This escort was successfully carried out onboard a Bahamasair charter flight, with all Ministry of Health COVID-19 protocols strictly enforced,” the department said. “The health, welfare and safety of our officers, law enforcement counterparts, and migrants remain the highest priority in this COVID-19 environment.”
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, May 7, 2021, PAGE 5
Davis: I was not consulted on information commisioner PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party leader Philip “Brave” Davis has criticised the government’s Freedom of Information Commissioner appointment, complaining that he was not consulted as the law requires. He also expressed disapproval of the government’s choice, retired Supreme Court Justice Keith Thompson, questioning his ability to be impartial. The government recently announced the appointment of Mr Thompson
and Shane Miller, a retired assistant director of legal affairs, as Deputy Commissioner. “I was totally surprised by the announcement and that surprise is rooted in the fact that no lawful appointment of the Information Commissioner could have been made without consultation with me,” Mr Davis said. “The law says that that appointment has to be made by the Governor General after the recommendation
of the Prime Minister after consultation with the leader of the opposition. I’ve not been consulted on that appointment. Insofar as the Deputy Commissioner is concerned, that appointment seems to have been simultaneous. Well again, the law requires the Information Commissioner to make that recommendation. We don’t know who made that recommendation so as far as I can see, the whole process was contrary to law.
“The appointments were contrary to law because I have not been consulted and I’m concerned about the fact that the Deputy Commissioner was appointed and that appointment was to be made by the Commissioner.” Asked about the choices, Mr Davis said: “I’m concerned about the capacity of these persons because one of the qualifications includes having some familiarity with accessing information and
I don’t know that either of these persons have any of those qualifications. And again, the independence of the person they deem to be the Commissioner is questionable in my view.” During the press conference announcing the commissioners, officials said it will take six months to consult as to how the Freedom of Information Act will be rolled out and how the FOIA office will operate. Mr Davis said in
response: “Are they not putting the cart before the horse? Should they not have engaged these consultants before they move to appoint a Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner? Should they not have had this agency interview persons for the post? And the question is how did they arrive at the appointments that they have made? How many persons applied for the posts and how do we compare the resumés of these persons?”
ST ANDREW’S SCHOOL RECEIVES $240,000 DONATION ST Andrew’s International School has announced a $240,000 donation from Ian D Fair and daughters, Nicole, Sasha, and Kelly Fair in memory of their beloved wife and mother Sylvia Fair to create the Sylvia Fair Scholarship Fund. The scholarship will support three qualified government school academic students throughout grades 9-12: one student from Long Island, one student from Abaco, and one student from Nassau ,each year. “We are extremely grateful that the generosity of the Fair family, in memory of Mrs Fair’s passion for education, will support three diverse and deserving young Bahamians to join and enhance our St Andrew’s community. The challenge and opportunities on offer here will ensure that each of these students develop the 21st century skills and global mindset necessary for a highly successful future,” Gordon
McKenzie, St Andrew’s principal said. Mrs Fair, born in 1947 of Long Island parentage, died in 2020. Her children and grandchildren have all attended St Andrew’s School. A statement from her family noted that some of her greatest moments of satisfaction were the gifts of scholarships to St Andrew’s School students, most recently to Don Daxon of Crooked Island. “It is in this spirit that her husband, Ian, and their three daughters wish to perpetuate her memory,” the family said. “Sylvia recognised that a sound education provides the solid foundation for a productive and meaningful life, and that without it, opportunities are limited from the outset,” the family’s statement added. The fully funded scholarships will be given to students who otherwise might not have had an opportunity to have a St Andrew’s education.
ST Andrew’s principal Gordon McKenzie with Ian Fair.
Photo: Racardo Thomas
PAGE 6, Friday, May 7, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
The Tribune Limited NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”
LEON E. H. DUPUCH,
SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH,
jamaaltheartist@gmail.com
Publisher/Editor 1903-1914 Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt .
Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991
EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON,
C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B. Publisher/Editor 1972-
Published daily Monday to Friday
Shirley & Deveaux Streets, Nassau, Bahamas N3207 TELEPHONES
News & General Information Advertising Manager Circulation Department Nassau fax Freeport, Grand Bahama Freeport fax
(242) 322-1986 (242) 502-2394 (242) 502-2386 (242) 328-2398 (242)-352-6608 (242) 352-9348
WEBSITE, TWITTER & FACEBOOK www.tribune242.com
@tribune242
tribune news network
What will stop these abuses from happening again? THE case of Joseph Amihere is not the first time we have seen the failings of the Immigration system come into the spotlight. When Douglas Ngumi was locked away for six and a half years unlawfully, the paltry compensation he received from this country was $641,950 in damages. Mr Ngumi’s case was largely unchallenged, with government lawyers not calling witnesses or producing evidence. Not only was he locked away illegally for such a long time, he told of how he was abused at the detention centre, stripped naked, handcuffed under a table, and beaten repeatedly with a PVC pipe. He told of tear gas being used on detainees. When it came to determining how much Mr Ngumi deserved as compensation for more than six years of his life being snatched away unlawfully, part of the calculation was how much he might have expected to earn per day had he not been locked up. But this wasn’t a job that Mr Ngumi had. He didn’t apply to be locked up and ask a certain wage. It’s also grossly inequitable – does a rich man get a greater compensation than a poor one for being locked up illegally? We wrote in November last year how there wasn’t enough of a punishment in the compensation award to stop this from happening again. Essentially, Mr Ngumi just ended up being paid a salary, which is nowhere near enough to stop the failings of the system from being repeated. Indeed, it doesn’t even bring those to account who were in charge of the system that allowed this to happen. Which brings us to the case of Mr Amihere. His lawyer, Fred Smith QC, is seeking damages of $10.6m for illegally detaining Mr Amihere for nearly seven years at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre. Again, during the time at the centre, we have heard stories of poor treatment including physical, psychological and emotional abuse. A total of $1m of the damages being sought is for exemplary damages – in other words, making an example of the case to try to prevent a repeat. Mr Smith called it appropriate to send a “lightning rod of a financial message” to the government that such crimes could not continue.
That’s what these are – crimes. Crimes in which people’s liberty is taken away with no serious consequences for those responsible. They are far from isolated cases too – as well as Mr Ngumi and Mr Amihere, we might mention Matthew Sewell, locked up for nine years and nine months despite never being convicted of a single crime. Or Atain Takitota, locked up from 1991 to 2004 and initially only awarded a mere $1,000 in damages, later raised on appeal to $500,000 plus costs. We also wrote in November of the need for an independent probe into the allegations of abuse, to find out who was responsible for the beatings and the tear gas. Where is that? Time and again, this newspaper has reported on abuses in the Immigration system that have seen people locked up unlawfully and suffer brutal treatment while in detention. Would you accept that if it were a member of your family? What would be the value of a year of your life taken away unlawfully, with you brutalised in custody before finally being tossed back out onto the street after fighting for your freedom? If we simply pay out the cost of hiring someone, how is that ever going to stop this from happening again? Indeed, how do we know it isn’t happening to someone else right now? There must be a reckoning.
Keep Mom safe
It is Mother’s Day this weekend and we wish mothers across the country a very happy – and safe – day. As much as there might be a temptation to hold large gatherings to pay respects to our mothers, we are not yet out of the woods when it comes to COVID-19. So hold off the large get-together, break out the Zoom call. Drop off the flowers and the chocolates and wave safely from a distance to ensure you’re not dropping off the virus at the same time. We all want to make the most of these wonderful women in our lives, but let’s do it safely. And if you haven’t signed up for your vaccination yet, go and do so – it’ll bring those large family gettogethers closer to being a regular part of our lives once again.
Readers have say online READERS have been debating this week’s news on tribune242.com. Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, urged the government to “tread very cautiously” because banks and other institutions are at “the border line” of incurring credit losses on their holdings of its bond debt. That prompted this comment from Tribanon: “Mr Bowe is of course spot on with his overall concerns about our country’s finances as expressed to The Tribune’s business editor. But exception must be taken to his somewhat disingenuous characterisation of the losses on downgraded government debt as being mere “paper losses” attributable to accounting rules as opposed to “recorded losses in fair value” caused by very real and alarming economic indicators. The fact that the recorded losses in fair value may have yet to be realised by selling the securities to a third party in an arm’s length transaction does not mean these losses did not exist from a very real economic standpoint at the time of their recording. “Of course the bigger
and more important picture to watch here is our government’s increasing reliance on foreign currency denominated borrowings as well as the differential between the interest rates paid by government on its newer longer-term foreign currency denominated borrowings and the interest rates paid by government on its newer longer-term Bahamian dollar borrowings.” Progressive Liberal Party Leader Philip “Brave” Davis said National Security Minister Marvin Dames is “obfuscating” the truth about the Minnis administration’s election plans. Bahamianson asked: “So what? Who cares if it is an early election? What? Are you going to say, I told you so? Who cares? How you are going to vote is how you will vote, end of story. Why is this breaking news if there is an early, late or normal election?”
DDK said: “Will it make any difference to the survival of the country which way anyone votes at this stage of the game?” Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar said that visitor arrivals to The Bahamas are increasing “every month” after 64,047 non-residents bought travel health visas to the country in April. Cobalt had this to say: “I think Mr D’Aguilar is painting a false narrative here. Regardless of a so-called increase in visits, our tourism industry continues to struggle (as expected). Furthermore, once we are out of the pandemic, the government must deal with the undeniable fact that our country is a dump. Downtown Nassau looks HORRIBLE.” To which Emilio26 replied with: “Cobalt you’re actually correct that Downtown Nassau looks horrible. I think downtown needs a major renovation before any cruise ship passengers come back to our shores. After most air passengers that come to Nassau tend to stay out in the western part of New Providence in areas such as Cable Beach, Orange Hill, Old Fort Bay and Lyford Cay.”
No way to bounce back after pandemic EDITOR, The Tribune. CONFUSION and uncertainties are the hallmarks of the current entry rules to travel to The Bahamas. They increase daily with the ongoing comments of your Tourism Minister and staff. I have operated travel agencies in Columbus and southern Ohio for decades and formerly The Bahamas was our prime destination in the Caribbean area. It was easy to book, a wide range of flights and the requirements very simple to enter your beautiful country. However, we now face a catastrophe for bookings because your policies to enter cause too many uncertainties and cause so many roadblocks that even our former ardent clients for Nassau and the out islands are no longer interested. I follow the news through The Tribune and every day there are new impediments. People do not have the time or will to go through all the hassles required. We are booking clients elsewhere as a result. I fear many previously loyal Bahamas bound visitors will never return. The introduction of your Health Visa has been a bureaucratic nightmare. It is far too complicated and the uncertainty as to when permission will be given has turned people away. Who wants to book air tickets and accommodation
LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net and not be sure of arriving? We have had no proper explanation why such a visa is required. Allowing visitors simply to bring a COVID-19 negative test with them would have been far easier and would have given us more bookings for The Bahamas. The five-day rule from test to entry has also been a disaster because even those who want to come cannot complete the test and get results and permission in time to arrive in that time span. This has been worsened because of so few flights. Many people and travel agents have complained but to no avail. Our concerns have fallen on deaf ears. We now are told that visitors can enter with a few less restrictive measures if they have both vaccines plus a fifteen day waiting time. It will be a very long time before most Americans receive both vaccine doses. Most have not even received the first dose after which there is a several month delay until the second is given. The same situation applies to other countries. Even then the unworkable Health Visa remains. We are now told that tourism officials will decide
that even visitors who have both vaccines will be forced after six months to get booster shots to return for future visits. What if such shots are not offered? Are those making such decisions even qualified to pass judgement as to who will be allowed to visit The Bahamas again? The whole situation is ridiculous and seriously hampers any real revival of your main industry. After the pandemic eases, the regular entry rules should be completely restored. Right now, The Bahamas has fallen to the lowest interest amongst our clients. From the highest to the lowest even though your Tourism Ministry keeps saying they work with “travel partners”. I cannot understand how your business community has allowed this difficult situation to continue. Your financial situation is getting more difficult every month and yet these poorly conceived rules continue to the detriment of what was a major tourist destination. Immediate change is urgently required if you are ever to recover from the disastrous policies of the past year. HOWARD J THORPE 254 E. Sycamore Street Columbus, Ohio, 43206, USA May 6, 2021.
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, May 7, 2021, PAGE 7
Marijuana legislation promised ‘by end of budget year’ By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net MARIJUANA legislation, once approved by Cabinet, will be introduced to Parliament before the end of the budget year, Attorney General Carl Bethel said yesterday. His comments came the same day Minister of National Security Marvin Dames told reporters that Cabinet recently agreed to expunge the records of people convicted of possession of small amounts of marijuana, fulfilling an earlier pledge by Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis. Mr Dames said once the official paperwork is finalised, then the government will begin the process, but he could not give a specific timeline of when the expungements will occur. In February, Dr Minnis said that the government was working on legislation to legalise medical marijuana. Many Bahamians interested in being a part of the industry have been disappointed by the slow pace of marijuana reform along with the Rastafarian community who would like certain religious freedoms enshrined in the new legislation, relating to their marijuana sacrament. Senator Bethel said the Cabinet is set to review the legislation soon. “We are trying to do so (bring the bill to Parliament) before the end of the budget year,” Senator Bethel said, responding to questions from reporters. “Dame Anita Allen is working on the Law Reform Commission now to put all of the different suggestions that we think are going to be workable. Not everything suggested is workable at the present time into the redraft of the
bill. That will then be submitted to me, I am told, by the end of tomorrow (Friday) afternoon. “And, then on Saturday or Sunday I am going to organise a meeting of the Ministerial Committee… sub-committee of Cabinet that is being charged with this consultation process and we will go through the bill line by line. We are trying to see whether or not we are in a position to bring it forward, either this week or the next for Cabinet to approve at the end of this process. “We are still in the consultative phase of the Medicinal Cannabis Bill and associated bills,” he said. “We’ve had meetings. We came up with a draft, but it is necessary to consult with affected interests. So we consulted with the Bahamas Christian Council, initially. We are waiting on comments from them, although there were a number of suggestions made during the course of the meeting with the Council.” Mr Bethel spoke to reporters minutes after Shane Miller received his instruments of appointment as deputy freedom of information commissioner from Governor General Sir C A Smith. He said the government is still meeting with stakeholders as there are more than just “medicinal” forms of marijuana being discussed. “The second thing is that we have had consultative meetings now with potential entrepreneurs, potential investors — Bahamians who are living abroad who already have businesses in terms of the dispensation or sale of cannabis edibles or other things like that,” he explained. “So we had both Bahamians who are resident here and Bahamian
residents abroad and the Ministry of Agriculture. “We discussed the development of a hemp industry. The definition that we are going with is that anything that has THC within the cannabis plant of more than 0.3 percent is considered psycho-active and therefore in the Dangerous Drugs Act, anything with less than 0.3 percent THC is not psycho-active, does not meet the standard of being a dangerous drug and will be available in due course to the development of various cannabis, hemp industries.” Mr Bethel said in the government’s consultations, it was discovered that a variety of things can be made out of hemp that are not intended for any kind of human consumption. He gave the examples of floor mats, decorative items and tiles. “There are all sorts of things, apparently, that can be made out of the hemp plant itself. It is a very durable plant apparently,” he continued. “We’ve now had further consultations last week with the pharmacists and the medical council and also doctors. We received valuable input from them.” Mr Bethel said he does not want to pre-empt any Cabinet decision on the matter, “so we will just have to see when we see.” Meanwhile on the issue of the record expungement, Mr Dames said yesterday: “So if you would have been arrested, charged, convicted for marijuana — possession — not possession with intent to supply, possession. Our Cabinet has agreed, that by the prime minister, these persons should have that expunged from their records. And this is all in an attempt for us to demonstrate to the Bahamian people that we are a government of second chances. We’re not only saying it, we’re delivering on it.”
BROTHER IN COURT AFTER SMASHING CAR WINDOWS By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A 66-YEAR-OLD man who smashed the glass windows of his brother’s car during an argument was ordered to compensate his sibling for the damage he caused. Police arrested Stafford Clarke after he broke the back glass and three glass doors of Mark Storr’s 2007 Nissan vehicle on May 4. Prosecutors said during the incident, Clarke caused $1,421.28 worth of damage to Mr Storr’s car. He admitted to the offence when he appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes. The court was told that around 12.10 that morning, Mr Storr smelt smoke in his mother’s yard. When he went outside to investigate, he noticed Clarke had lit a fire that was causing
the smell. The prosecution said when he asked his brother to extinguish the small blaze, Clarke refused, which prompted him to throw water on the fire. Mr Storr told officers after he did this, a verbal argument followed that escalated until Clarke took a block and smashed the glass windows of his car. After he had filed his complaint, the accused was arrested. When he was questioned in custody, he admitted the offence. Yesterday, Clarke told the magistrate that he and his brother both lived with their mother, but he slept in his car in the front yard while Mr Storr occupied one of the rooms in the house. He claimed in the evenings, mosquitoes would bother him so he would usually light “little fires” to “run” the insects. He claimed that when he did this on the day in question,
his brother “doused him with water, boxed him behind his ears and pulled a hammer on him”. He claimed he only lashed out and smashed the car’s windows in the heat of the moment because he was frustrated. “If you saw my brother, you would understand why I didn’t fight him physically. He is a huge individual,” he stated. After listening to his explanation, Magistrate Forbes said it appeared that there was “serious sibling rivalry” going on between the two brothers and recommended they go to counselling to mend their relationship. He also ordered Clarke to compensate his brother for the damage he caused to his car by the end of September. He warned him that if he failed to do so, he could risk spending three months behind bars.
TWO HELD IN CHEQUE FRAUD PROBE POLICE have two male suspects in custody in connection with an alleged cheque fraud. The Financial Crimes Branch said “unscrupulous” people have
presented fraudulent cheques purporting to be from the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation (BMC) and drawn on the account of Bank of the Bahamas (BOB).
The branch has urged the public to seek verification with BMC for all cheques presented and to report any suspicious transactions to police immediately.
JOHN Elliott outside court yesterday.
Photo; Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff
‘DOMINOES KILLER’ By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
A 21-YEAR-OLD man was charged with murder in connection with the death of a man who was shot and killed while playing a game of dominoes last month. John Elliott appeared before Chief Magistrate
Joyann Ferguson-Pratt charged with the death of Anthony Rolle on April 4. Elliot is also accused of having an unlicensed pistol which he is said to have used to endanger the lives of Ebenezer Frazier and Dexter Harris that same day. Due to the nature of the charge, Elliott was not
required to enter a plea and his case was adjourned to July 22 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI). In the interim, he was denied bail and remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. He has a right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail.
PAGE 8, Friday, May 7, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
Rest in peace to the king of Blow GEORGE Jung, the marijuana turned cocaine smuggler whose exploits included several jaunts through The Bahamas and served as the inspiration for the biopic Blow in 2001, has died at the age of 78. TMZ who first reported the news of Jung’s death on Wednesday, further reported that Jung had been in home hospice care and died with his girlfriend, Ronda, and longtime friend, Roger, at his side. ‘BOSTON GEORGE’ George Jung was born on August 6, 1942 in Boston, thus the nickname “Boston George”. Jung’s career began in the 1960’s with Jung transporting marijuana from Mexico into the United States. Jung humorously reflected on why he became a smuggler in a 2007 interview: “I begin to see the money aspect of it. That was the driving force. I suddenly began to realise that to become an entrepreneur in the marijuana business would make me fairly well off. And I also liked the lifestyle, my own working hours.” ‘BAHAMA GEORGE’ George Jung was busted in 1974 and was sentenced to four years in the Federal Correctional Institute in Danbury, Connecticut, where he met an associate
A Comic’s View
By INIGO ‘NAUGHTY’ ZENICAZELAYA
from the Medellin cartel named Carlos Lehder. Jung and Lehder conspired to import obscene amounts of cocaine into America that would flow directly into millions of party people’s nostrils, leaving both men extremely wealthy by the end of the 1970s. Carlos Lehder along with George Jung through Norman’s Cay, are credited with revolutionizing drug smuggling. Replacing human “drug mules” with small aircraft shipping entire loads of cocaine at a time. Lehder eventually extended the runway to a length of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) to accommodate more flights for his fleet of aircraft. Norman’s Cay was an Island fortress and protected as such, with a full unit of highly skilled attack dogs and armed guards. It was also legendary for wild parties and soirées, allegedly luring several high-ranking Bahamian politicians at the time to one of the many debauchery-laden fetes! It was the purported
“Nygard Cay” of its day! Jung and Lehder parted ways when the DEA revealed to Jung, that his partner Lehder was an informant “snitching” on the cartel, prompting Jung to testify against Lehder. (Carlos Lehder was released from US prison on July 16th, 2020). ‘BLOW’ Movie buffs will remember Jung’s extraordinary life was immortalised on the silver screen, when he was portrayed, Norman’s Cay adventures and all, by Johnny Depp in the biopic Blow in 2001. (Still one of my top five movies of all time.) Rest In Peace George Jung, I hope you find the house you really like on the other side, you never found one in Blow. Thanks for promoting The Bahamas in your
unique, albeit illegal way. “May the wind always be at your back and the sun on
your face, and the winds of destiny carry you aloft to
dance with the stars.” - “Boston George”, Blow 2001.
PRINCIPAL NURSING OFFICER APPOINTED THE Public Hospitals Authority has announced the appointment of Charlene Davis as principal nursing officer (PNO) at Princess Margaret Hospital. The appointment took effect April 6. “With over 33 years of clinical and administrative nursing experience, Mrs Davis is well equipped to ensure the delivery of the standards of nursing care,” PHA said in a press release. Among the first graduates of The College of The Bahamas’ Associate of Arts Degree in Nursing programme, Mrs Davis began her career as a registered nurse in 1987. “As a nurse Mrs Davis brings a wealth of
To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394
PNO CHARLENE DAVIS experience to her new role, having served with distinction at the bedside, as flight nurse, as a nurse educator with the College of The Bahamas and as a nursing administrator. The board of directors, senior executives, staff, and partners of the Public Hospitals Authority extend congratulations to Charlene Davis on her deployment to the Princess Margaret Hospital as principal nursing officer and wish her every success as she leads nursing and auxiliary services in our nation’s largest public hospital institution.”
TSA programme analyst Elizabeth Whelden with the screening team. Ms Wheldon works with TSA’s preclearance office at TSA HQs. She assisted the Airport Authority with technical assistance on the newly acquired aviation security technologies.
US TRANSPORTATION REPRESENTATIVE ON OFFICIAL VISIT TO THE BAHAMAS US TRANSPORTATION Security Administration (TSA) representative Dwaine Murray recently concluded an official visit to The Bahamas where he engaged in productive dialogue with representatives from the Civil Aviation Authority and the Airport Authority. TSA officials frequently visit The Bahamas to assess aviation security at several airports that have outbound flights to the United States. As part of the ongoing partnership, TSA also provided 26 training and workshops within the last ten years with its Bahamian counterparts, which included mentoring and the sharing of best practices, a press release from the US Embassy noted. In recent years, TSA hosted eight delegation visits with Bahamian aviation partners at several US airports, as well as TSA headquarters and TSA’s
technology facility. The purpose of the visits was to share information on the latest aviation technologies and effective implementation of aviation security measures among TSA and Bahamian aviation officials. Mr Murray said, “Both entities have been very supportive in TSA’s mission and have proven to be strong partners, as we share a common interest in strengthening aviation security.” TSA views preclearance locations like the Nassau preclearance facility, as well as the preclearance facility on Grand Bahama (once fully operational again), as extensions of airports in the US because of the required commensurability, the press release noted. In order to bolster aviation security efforts with its international partners as it looks to the future, TSA will
continue to collaborate on evaluating vulnerabilities that may exist at airports. Mr Murray said, “With our partners in The Bahamas, we conduct assessments jointly. This has been a force-multiplier in enhancing aviation security measures and compliance oversight. “TSA is committed to being a reliable partner of The Bahamas, to hold healthy and frank dialogues, to share information, to innovate, to develop new capabilities to build a security culture designed to strengthen global aviation security and to stay ahead of evolving threats.” As threats continue to evolve, TSA will continue to work with partners in The Bahamas to pursue technological advancements that will make the global transportation network more secure for everyone.
A long walk to Freedom (of Information) - now let’s see it work THE TRIBUNE
UPCOMING elections are a lot like oncoming hurricanes. Once the feeling is in the air, the air itself becomes charged. Everything seems to move faster, adrenaline pumping, all those things that have to be done actually get done. And that could be a very good thing. It certainly is with the long-awaited Freedom of Information Act. Though legislation was passed last year, it wasn’t until Monday of this week when Retired Justice Keith Thompson was sworn in by the Governor General as FOI Commissioner that it became real. The Commissioner has a lot of work to do to convince the waiting media that his office means business and I suspect that every reporter worth his or her keyboard has a question they are seeking an answer to, a document that needs to be made public, a record they feel must be exposed. But we are a funny culture so freedom of information,
By Diane Phillips
while the bedrock of any democracy, will not come easily. Bahamians are private by nature and the culture of confidentiality that grew up around offshore banking will make it tougher to break through that veil of protection of personal rights to privacy. We are so accustomed to not having rights we will have to adjust to having rights. We are so accustomed to secret deals including heads of agreement that any other way will seem like a shock to the system. It will feel, at first, like a privilege to know what is going on rather than our right to know. We might even feel a twinge of guilt
SHANE Miller being sworn in as deputy Freedom of Information Commissioner yesterday. Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff
like a peeping tom peering into private documents. As a member of the board of Organization for Responsible Governance, as a former director of Save The Bays, as a journalist for many years and now a columnist and sometime radio voice - as well as an advocate for volunteerism and giving back to community - I willingly step out of my usual distance from partisan politics to applaud the Minnis administration, the Attorney General and others who brought this long overdue bill and Freedom of Information office into reality. But make no mistake. The real work lies ahead. The media will not take no for an answer when they feel the right question is posed, one to which the public deserves a reply. If a reporter from this paper or another or an electronic news source requests an EIA for a prospective project or seeks an answer about why something is not being advanced and what the hold-up is or what was uncovered in a questionable internal investigation and they are turned around or a reply is not given in the appropriate time as to whether that request will be granted, watch out. The ammunition is now in place to fire away at a pretence of transparency when the same old, same old persists. I hope that is not the case and I trust that after a few growing pains, the new office and the Commissioner will stand up to the task and make every
TO WHOMEVER ordered or conducted the clean-up of the remnants of a store without a roof and shreds of beachwear dangling from hangers strung across poles and wires at the western end of the East Bay Shopping Centre, thank you. That eyesore across from the Paradise Island bridge is gone. Unfortunately, new eyesores have arisen. It would have been hard this week not to notice that suddenly you are in Pizza Hut’s Delivery Zone as cheesy
Then there is this sort of mess right on the utility pole. The historic eastern district of New Providence is rich with mature trees, including yellow elder, Royal Poinciana, and all sorts of fruit – sapodilla, mango, papaya, breadfruit, guineppe, soursop. To all those people who think it is easier to get business by plastering illegal signs in public places, you will never get mine. What you should get is a fine and a public lashing. Shame on you.
THANK YOU AND NO THANK YOU and offensive signs popped up everywhere on lawns, verges, public areas. The law requires every sign to be approved and permitted with the only exceptions being charitable events, election-related and real estate for sale or lease pitches. And each of those categories has specific regulations. You may love what Pizza Hut dishes out, but that signage does not leave a good taste in the mouth of those who think nature does a better job of tastefully decorating our streets.
ANOTHER ROUND OF APPLAUSE IN THE search for a reason to feel good, you don’t have to look much farther than the little girl who lives down the street or the boy who rides his bike past your door. Seven months ago, you could have bet your Sunday dinner that they were among the 46,000 students in The Bahamas who were told they needed to participate in online learning and had little idea how they would
Friday, May 7, 2021, PAGE 9
ever be able to do it. She might have tried to sign in on another family member’s laptop. He might have ridden his bike to Grammy’s, begging to use her cell phone. Now, thanks to a massive national effort led by a relatively small company with a big goal, and with all the muscle of the Ministry of Education, the goal of that company, LENO, and the ministry has been
achieved – together, they put a tablet in the hands of every student. We congratulate all who took this on together, believing that when the cause is right and the need is great, Bahamians place others above self. In the midst of this crisis that turned all our worlds inside out, there is reason for optimism in the face of a small tablet that holds the promise of opportunity for all.
FREEDOM of Information Commissioner Keith Thompson.
Graveside Service For
Dr. John Anthony Lunn, 85 of Waterloo Road, Nassau, The Bahamas, who died at his residence, on Tuesday, 4th May, 2021, will be held at St. Anselm’s Roman Catholic Church Cemetery, Bernard Road, Fox Hill, Nassau, on Monday, 10th May, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. Father Noel Clarke will officiate. He is survived by his wife, Sonja Frances Parboosingh Lunn; his sons John Adrian Lunn, Mark David Lunn, and Antony Arthur Ivan Sidney (“Toby”) Lunn; two grandchildren, Elodia Rose Chan Lunn and Tenzing John Chan Lunn; his brother David and sister-in-law Muriel, his nephew, Peter John and Elizabeth and his children Severino and Leon; his niece, Sakina Lunn Sands, great-nephew, Nicholas Sands, great-niece, Mila Sands; Jocelyn Chan, Duane Sands, Gee Palmer, brother-in-law John Parboosingh and family, sister-in-law Cecile Goorney and family, Edward Charles, Aaron and Marek Johnston, and numerous other relatives including Mabel Eldon and family, Emily Rodgers, Dr. Patricia Rodgers, John and Patricia Rodgers and family, Edward Charles, Aaron and Marek Johnstone, Nicolette Bethel and Philip Burrows, and Edward and Tasha Bethel and family, Mitzi Adderley Thompson and family, Ted and Yoandra Adderley and family, Robyn Adderley and family, Catherine Adderley and family, Rosanne and Paula Adderley, Charles Johnston, Andrew Thompson, Gina Rodgers Sealy, Kenneth Rodgers and family, Ramon (Ray) Rodgers, Randy Rodgers and family, Roy Rodgers and family, Adrian Rodgers and family, as well as Christopher Lunn and family, Keith Lunn and family, Billie Farquharson and family, Hollie Donathan and family, Rose and Pauline Lunn, Wendy and Rafael Munnings and family, Patsy Treco, Wilhemina Munoz and family, Karen Spalding and family, Renee Munro and family, Desiree Graham and family, Darren Treco and family, Allison and Stuart Kelly and family, Sabrina Smith and family, Stephanie Hanna and family, Lisa Pinder and family, Leslie Lunn, Sharon Minns and family, Shelly Cleare and family, Ashleigh Burrows, Torrey, Kyle, Chelsea and Rayna Lunn, Julie Dean and family, Varian Lunn and family, Jason Mills, the family of the late Cathy Thompson, the family of the late Fred Lunn, and other members of the extended Lunn clan. He is survived by numerous friends, including Ivan Johnson, Damien Gomez, Percival McNeil, Adrian Sawyer, Duke Errol Strachan, Caroline Dobbie, the regulars from the VIP evenings, the friends and staff of the Taj Mahal, the friends from the Police Barracks. Relatives and friends may pay their respects at Kemp’s Funeral Home Limited, 19 Palmdale Avenue, Palmdale, on Saturday, 8th May, 2021, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Arrangements by Kemp’s Funeral Home Limited
PAGE 10, Friday, May 7, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
BROADBAND COMPANIES PAID FOR FAKE COMMENTS
THE Office of the New York Attorney General said in a new report that a campaign funded by the broadband industry submitted millions of fake comments supporting the 2017 repeal of net neutrality. The Federal Communications Commission’s contentious 2017 repeal undid Obama-era rules that barred internet service providers from slowing or blocking websites and apps or charging companies more for faster speeds to consumers. The industry had sued to stop these rules during the Obama administration but lost. The proceeding generated a record-breaking number of comments — more than 22 million — and nearly 18 million were fake, the attorney general’s office found. It has long been known that the tally included fake comments. One 19-year-old in California submitted more than 7.7 million pro-net neutrality comments. The attorney general’s office did not identify the origins of another “distinct group” of more than 1.6 million pronet neutrality comments, many of which used mailing addresses outside the US. A broadband industry group, called Broadband for America, spent $4.2m generating more than 8.5 million of the fake FCC comments. Half a million fake letters were also sent to Congress. The goal of the broadband industry campaign, according to internal documents the attorney general’s office received, was to make it seem like there was “widespread grassroots support” for the repeal of net neutrality that could give the FCC chairman at the time, Ajit Pai, “volume and intellectual cover” for the repeal.
MALDIVES’ SPEAKER HURT IN EXPLOSION MALDIVES’ first democratically elected president and current Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed has been injured in a blast yesterday near his home and was being treated in a hospital in the capital, police said. The police media unit text message did not give more details but said it has started investigations and urged the public to refrain from going to the blast area in the capital, Male. Maldives Home Minister Imran Abdulla told a local television that Nasheed’s injuries were not lifethreatening and that the government will get the assistance of foreign agencies in the investigations. Nasheed, now 53, became the first democratically elected leader of the archipelago state after a 30-year autocratic rule.
UNEMPLOYMENT IN US HITS LOW SINCE VIRUS THE number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to 498,000, the lowest point since the viral pandemic struck 14 months ago and a sign of the job market’s growing strength as businesses reopen and consumers step up spending. Yesterday’s report from the Labor Department showed that applications declined 92,000 from a revised 590,000 a week earlier. The number of weekly jobless claims — a rough measure of the pace of layoffs — has declined significantly from a peak of 900,000 in January as employers have ramped up hiring. At the same time, the pace of applications is still well above the roughly 230,000 level that prevailed before the viral outbreak tore through the economy in March of last year.
More support for easing patent rules on vaccines GENEVA Associated Press SEVERAL world leaders yesterday praised the US call to remove patent protections on COVID19 vaccines to help poor countries obtain shots. But the proposal faces a multitude of hurdles, including resistance from the pharmaceutical industry. Nor is it clear what effect such a step might have on the campaign to vanquish the outbreak. Activists and humanitarian institutions cheered after the US reversed course on Wednesday and called for a waiver of intellectual property protections on the vaccine. The decision ultimately is up to the 164-member World Trade Organization, and if just one country votes against a waiver, the proposal will fail. The Biden administration announcement made the US the first country in the developed world with big vaccine manufacturing to publicly support the waiver idea floated by India and South Africa in October. On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron embraced it as well. “I completely favor this opening up of the intellectual property,” Macron said at a vaccine center. However, like many pharmaceutical companies, Macron insisted that a waiver would not solve the problem of access to vaccines. He said manufacturers in places like Africa are not now equipped to make COVID-19 vaccines, so donations of shots from wealthier countries should be given priority instead. Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca — all companies with licensed COVID-19 vaccines — had no immediate comment, though Moderna
NEW Director-General of the World Trade Organisation Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, left, at the entrance of the WTO. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/Pool/Keystone via AP has long said it will not circumspect. pursue rivals for patent Russian President infringement during the Vladimir Putin said his counpandemic. try would support it. UN US Secretary of State Secretary-General Antonio Antony Blinken under- Guterres welcomed the US scored the urgency of decision too. moving fast now. But German Chan“On the current trajec- cellor Angela Merkel’s tory, if we don’t do more, office spoke out against if the entire world doesn’t it, saying: “The protection do more, the world won’t of intellectual property be vaccinated until 2024,” is a source of innovation he said in an interview and must remain so in the with NBC while visiting future.” Ukraine. A Merkel spokeswoman, India, as expected, speaking on customary conwelcomed the move. Aus- dition of anonymity, said tralian Prime Minister Scott Germany is focused instead Morrison called the US on how to increase vaccine position “great news”. manufacturers’ production Italian Foreign Minis- capacity. ter Luigi Di Maio wrote In Brazil, one of the on Facebook that the US deadliest COVID-19 hot announcement was “a spots in the world, Health very important signal” and Minister Marcelo Queithat the world needs “free roga said he fears that the access” to vaccine pat- country does not have the ents. But Italian Premier means to produce vaccines Mario Draghi was more and that the lifting of patent
protections could interfere with Brazil’s efforts to buy doses from pharmaceutical companies. In closed-door talks at the WTO in recent months, Australia, Britain, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Norway, Singapore and the United States opposed the waiver idea, according to a Genevabased trade official who was not authorised the discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. Some 80 countries, mostly developing ones, have supported the proposal, the official said. China and Russia — two other major COVID-19 vaccine makers — didn’t express a position but were open to further discussion, the official said. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the 27-nation bloc is ready to talk about the idea, but she remained noncommittal and emphasised that the EU has been exporting vaccines widely — while the US has not. EU leaders said the bloc may discuss the matter at a summit that starts today. The pharmaceutical industry has argued that a waiver will do more harm than good in the long run. Easing patent protections would eat into their profits, potentially reducing the incentives that push companies to innovate and make the kind of tremendous leaps they did with the COVID-19 vaccines, which have been churned out at a blistering, unprecedented pace. The industry has contended, too, that production of the vaccines is complicated and can’t be ramped up simply by easing patent rights. Instead, it has said that reducing snarls in supply chains and shortages of ingredients is a more pressing issue. The industry has insisted
that a faster solution would be for rich countries to share their vaccine stockpiles with poorer ones. “A waiver is the simple but the wrong answer to what is a complex problem,” said the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations. “Waiving patents of COVID-19 vaccines will not increase production nor provide practical solutions needed to battle this global health crisis.” Intellectual property law expert Shyam Balganesh, a professor at Columbia University, said a waiver would only go so far because of bottlenecks in the manufacturing and distribution of vaccines. Backers of the waiver say that expanded production by the big pharmaceutical companies and donations from richer countries to poor ones won’t be enough, and that there are manufacturers standing by that could make the vaccines if given the blueprints. “A waiver of patents for #COVID19 vaccines & medicines could change the game for Africa, unlocking millions more vaccine doses & saving countless lives,” World Health Organization Africa chief Matshidiso Moeti tweeted. Just over 20 million vaccine doses have been administered across the African continent, which has 1.3 billion people. There is precedent: In 2003, WTO members agreed to waive patent rights and allow poorer countries to import generic treatments for the AIDS virus, malaria and tuberculosis. “We believe that when the history of this pandemic is written, history will remember the move by the US government as doing the right thing at the right time,” Africa CDC director John Nkengasong said.
FLORIDA GOVERNOR SIGNS VOTING LAW CRITICISED AS ‘UN-AMERICAN’ TALLAHASSEE, Florida Associated Press FLORIDA Governor Ron DeSantis signed a wide-ranging list of new voting restrictions into law yesterday, staging a misleading, made-for-TV ceremony meant to tout his credentials on a top priority for the Republican Party’s conservative base. At a live bill-signing event aired exclusively on Fox News, DeSantis said the new law would prevent fraud and restore confidence in Florida’s elections — although the state has found no evidence of widespread fraud. The move made Florida the latest GOP-led state to enact tighter voting rules over the objections of Democratic critics who charge the law only makes it harder for people, particularly the elderly and people of colour, to vote. But DeSantis’ unusual promotion of the bill — on the GOP-friendly morning show Fox & Friends
FLORIDA Governor Ron DeSantis pictured in April 30. Photo: Wilfredo Lee/AP — demonstrated the rising Republican leader’s confidence the new law would only boost his standing. “Right now I have what we think is the strongest election integrity
measures in the country,” the governor said. Florida’s new law restricts when ballot drop boxes can be used, and who can collect ballots — and
how many. It mandates that drop boxes must be guarded, and available only when elections offices and early voting sites are open. To protect against what Republicans call “ballot harvesting”, someone can only collect and return the ballots of immediate family, and no more than two from unrelated people. “I’m actually going to sign it right here,” DeSantis said as he signed a piece of paper live on television. A spokesperson for the governor, Taryn Fenske, said later that DeSantis did not sign the actual bill on camera and that the event was purely ceremonial. No other media outlets were advised of the bill signing or allowed in. Even Fox News appeared taken aback by the stunt. It later issued a statement saying it had booked DeSantis’ appearance on its program “as an interview and not as a live bill signing. Neither the network, nor the show, requested or mandated the event be exclusive to Fox News Media entities”.