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WEEKEND: SET YOUR ALARM FOR THE ROYAL WEDDING
Royal wedding fever
Where, when and how to watch
Finally - planes will pay to ‘fly Bahamas’ Heading to the top of the world
Govt agrees to charge airlines overflight fees The Tribune Established 1903
OBITUARIES &
RELIGION
Biggest Andthe Best! vast By NATARIO McKENZIE 36 PAGES majority of counTribune Business Reporter tries around the world nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net who generate significant sums for their treasuries by THE government has charging overfinally given flight fees. Why are We Letting hundreds of MiLLions of doLLars sLip the gothrough our fingers? Now, finally, ahead for the Minnis aviation chiefs government to charge airhas announced lines fees for it is going to do using Bahajust that. mian airspace. The US The Office of move – long Inspector championed General stated by The Tribin its Decemune – could ‘$800 MILLION’ ber 2017 audit earn millions that the FAA of dollars in has billed revenue every HOW The Tribune previ- an astonishyear. ously covered the issue of ing $800m in In a long overflight fees. over-flight running camfees between paign, The 2006-2016. Tribune has repeatedly SEE PAGE SIX warned we should be like 24/7 BREAKING NEWS ON TRIBUNE242.COM
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EU blacklist over end May ‘at latest’ VOLUME:115 No.84, MARCH 22ND, 2018
THE PEOPLE’S PAPER:$1
THE PEOPLE’S PAPER reveals how the former PLP Minister of Aviation & Transport allowed Foreign Airlines, U.S. Private Planes & Cargo Carriers to use our airspace ‘FREE OF CHARGE’ for years. Since 1973, every & Government has delegated authority to U.S. Federal Aeronautical Admin. (FAA) to provide high-altitude Air- Route Traffic Control (ATC) to our nation. In 2009, the FAA started AIRCRAFT FLIGHT TRACKS ILLUSTRATE HOW OUR NATION’S AIR-SPACE STRATEGICALLY STRADDLES KEY AIR-ROUTES charging ‘OVER-FLIGHT’ FEES to Bahamian and foreign carriers whose 511,000+FLIGHTS pass over the strategically located airspace of our Archipelagic State each year (re-designated as Miami Oceanic (ZMA)) on journeys between Miami, NYC, Orlando, Europe, Latin America, Central America or Caribbean without Parliament consent. Despite the U.S. Office of Inspector General stating in its December, 2017 audit that the FAA billed an astonishing in over-flight fees between 20062016; yet, our cash strapped Public Treasury has NEVER RECEIVED A PENNY. Even today, our politicians still allow U.S carriers and those flights which either take off or land in the USA - FREE USAGE - of our airspace; instead of CHARGING EVERY PLANE like the other 180 nations around the world?
pages 6 &7
FAMILIES STRUGGLE TO MAKE ENDS MEET
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
NEARLY 50 per cent of Bahamians are struggling to “make ends meet”, the Central Bank revealed yesterday, with monthly earnings “usually insufficient” to cover their living costs. The regulator, unveiling an analysis of its Financial Literacy Survey 2018, exposed the extent of Bahamian society’s personal financial struggles, with many living “above their means”, too heavily indebted and struggling with reduced incomes in the postrecession environment. The survey found that while many Bahamian households knew what to do for self-sufficiency they were finding it “challenging”. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
...AS FUEL BILLS SET TO SOAR
BAHAMIANS must brace for “a very expensive summer”, the Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive warned yesterday, as global oil prices surged to $80 per barrel. Edison Sumner told Tribune Business that greater renewable energy penetration and usage “can’t come soon enough”, with no Bahamian or business able to escape the impact of energy costs that are forecast to soon exceed $100 per barrel. Virtually all companies and households will feel the impact in their Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) bills and at the gasoline pump, resulting in reduced profits and disposable incomes, respectively, and higher costs of living. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
Nassau & & Bahama Bahama Islands’ Nassau Islands’ Leading Leading Newspaper Newspaper
OVERLOOKED OFFICERS BITTER AFTER AUDIT SHOCK THE manpower audit report of the Royal Bahamas Police Force has rekindled bitterness in police officers who feel they were wrongfully overlooked for promotions in
the big event
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Nassau
By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net
Page 8 & 9
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2014 and 2017. The report may even have legal implications. Constable Delmar Taylor, an officer passed over for promotion in 2014 and 2017, was already seeking damages through a lawsuit that alleges last year’s entire SEE PAGE SIX
RICHARD Beek at base camp at Mount Everest. The banker is aiming to plant the Bahamian flag at the peak in the next few days. See page three for the full story.
POLICE CHASE LEADS IN SEX ATTACKS HUNT By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net
POLICE were yesterday said to be following “significant leads” in their investigations into the sexual assault of two young girls as activists called for immediate state action to
increase accountability for sex offenders. Crisis Centre Director Sandra Dean Patterson yesterday said that lack of accountability is the nation’s “biggest problem”. Earlier this week, it was revealed two young girls had been sexually assaulted in three-week span by a
lone male perpetrator. Chief Superintendent Solomon Cash confirmed to The Tribune yesterday that police are following “some significant leads on the last matter”. He added that police believe both assaults are
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PAGE 2, Friday, May 18, 2018
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AN ARTIST’s impression of the new complex. By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net A CANADIAN real estate conglomerate is slated to break ground next week on a $120m condominium hotel and residences near Goodman’s Bay. When it was proposed in 2015, the GoldWynn project by the Wynn Group was billed at $65m and projected to create 200 construction jobs and a further 150 permanent jobs. The proposal, headed by Paul Wynn, called for the development of a fourstorey condo hotel on a 4.65 acre development site which it acquired in early 2013.
The development site, Gold Blossom, was occupied by an ageing single family residence on West Bay Street, just east of the Goodman’s Bay public park. The development is intended to complement the Baha Mar ‘Bahamian Riviera’ concept, with a chic South Beach alternative to the mega resort experience, according to consultant and advisor for the group Peter Galanos, a former MP. “The first proposal is for a four-storey condo hotel, 118 units, 34 hotel suites, 22 junior suites, 36 condo hotels, 23 residences, three penthouses, a fitness centre and spa beach front pool; bar and grill; tennis club; roof-top pool and
restaurant,” Mr Galanos told Tribune Business in 2015. “We will be doing about 182,000 square feet. The project calls for a total of $65 million, although that price tag could increase considerably as that number was pegged before VAT came into effect. The project is fully funded, the money in place to do it and the government is aware of that.” Mr Galanos added, “If the government finds this unacceptable, we are willing to co-operate with the government to make it possible. It’s a place where we will be promoting Bahamian arts as well as Bahamian culture and food.”
The Tribune returns after the Whitsun holiday. The next edition is on Tuesday.
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, May 18, 2018, PAGE 3
Heading to the top of the world By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net WHEN most people take a break from work they seek to rest, shop and sightsee, but not Richard Beek, the 46-year-old Bahamian banker is currently climbing Mount Everest. Mr Beek sent “greetings from Everest” to The Tribune this week, having spent the last five weeks in Nepal doing acclimatizing routines – climbing to high camps on the mountain then back down to base camp for rest then up again to a higher camp. Within days, he hopes to hoist the Bahamian flag atop the world’s tallest mountain, becoming one of less than a handful of Bahamians known to have accomplished the feat. If he succeeds, he’d have reached the summit of the highest mountains on every continent in the world during the past 16 years. “If a person was dropped off on the summit directly from sea level, they would die within minutes,” he explained. “Nothing is easy at this altitude. Going up and coming down in the rotations leaves you exhausted everyday. All our acclimatisation rotations up to the various camps on Everest are now done, and I’m currently resting and recuperating for the final summit push later this week.” Altitude sickness isn’t Mount Everest’s only killer. Avalanches, rockfalls, icefalls and crevasses pose threats too, especially when the day gets warmer. Mr Beek knows how impregnable nature can be from past experience. “My first attempt to summit Denali in North America was not successful and I had to go back a few years later and repeat the climb,” he said. “Unfortunately on our scheduled summit attempt we had a storm that came in and lasted for five days. We tried to wait the storm out at high camp but eventually had to retreat off the mountain. It’s not fun trying to sleep fully dressed with your pack ready in case the tent blows away, with safety and potential rescue very far away. You suddenly realise and respect the force of nature. On my second attempt at Denali there were two deaths from altitude sickness.” Deaths on Mount Everest, of course, occur every year. Six people died in 2017, seven in 2016, 19 in 2015 and 17 in 2014. The last year no deaths occurred was 1977 when only two people reached the summit. Mr Beek sent The Tribune a picture of an ice fall lying between camps and spoke of the improvisation necessary to pass the obstacle. Local sherpas, known as “ice fall doctors”, erect ladders along the pathway through the ice-fall so climbers can pass when the glacier drops. “You train with ladders at base camp so you need to trust your training, keep
SUICIDE SUSPECTED AS ITALIAN WOMAN FOUND HANGED AN Italian woman was found hanging with an object tied around her neck in an Atlantis hotel room, police said yesterday. According to reports, police are investigating the death as a suicide after the woman was found around 4.15am. Police did not release identification of the woman, and will await an autopsy to confirm the cause of her death.
RICHARD BEEK, right, and fellow climbers at Everest. calm and take one step at a time,” Mr Beek said yesterday. “It takes a lot of concentration to make sure the teeth of your crampons contact the rings of the ladder correctly. Sometimes you can steal a glance through the ladder at the black abyss below. So far, we have had no accidents.” Mr Beek previously climbed to the summits of Aconcagua in South America, Mount McKinley in North America, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mount Elbrus in Europe and Puncak Jaya in Australia, so he’s no stranger to altitude or Everest’s cold temperature. “I have two sleeping bags, one designed for zero degrees Fahrenheit and the other for -50 degrees Fahrenheit,” he said. “You have to get into a routine and learn how to conserve body heat. A climber will wear up to five or six layers and each layer is lightweight and contains the heat close to the body.” The temperature on Everest can shift dramatically within an hour or a day. “If it is a clear sky,” Mr Beek said, “the sun is reflected off the snow on the mountain sides which can resemble an oven. If the clouds come in and it starts snowing then the temperature will plummet beyond 10 degrees Fahrenheit.”
Despite his past experiences, he said Mount Everest has already been “unique and therefore different” to his previous climbs. “Everything here is bigger, grander, cooler and more extreme,” he said. The love the Deltec Bank banker has for climbing grew from reading a book about Mount Everest as a child. His wife is apprehensive about his travails but he said he finds mountain climbing, an activity that would scare most, “therapeutic”. “I have a desk job and am in the office most days,” he said. “That is definitely the opposite to climbing and sleeping in a tent on the ice for six to eight weeks. I find climbing therapeutic as it frees your mind of the work environment, from worrying about markets and returns to the natural environment where your concerns are: am I warm enough, have I eaten enough, how am I feeling, what is the weather like, to name a few examples.” Mr Beek will leave Everest’s base camp tomorrow, spend two nights at camp two and a single night at both camp three and four. He is highlighting his climb on a specially created Instagram account, everest242, though he will lose internet connection soon.
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PAGE 4, Friday, May 18, 2018
THE TRIBUNE
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A steady start - with the odd stumble DESPITE a predictable low grading from the leader of the Opposition, the general consensus has been the Free National Movement Government performed reasonably well during its first year in office and is gathering momentum as it seeks to live up to the expectations of the electorate. The Prime Minister has spoken of having laid the groundwork for better times to come and referred to the earlier positive comments by the International Monetary Fund about the country’s improved economy. With a huge majority and no danger of being forced out of power, it seems the FNM is well placed to push through much-needed measures to put the country back on to a better long-term economic footing after the abysmal performance and failures of Mr Christie’s Progressive Liberal Party government. In light of the previous optimism, the IMF’s finding in its Article IV report this week that an adjustment of $240m is needed for The Bahamas to reach its fiscal consolidation goals may have surprised many, and it has put the economy back at the top of the news agenda. To many observers, the IMF’s suggestion to cut recurrent public expenditure – in particular, trimming the cost of civil service salaries but not capital expenditure on essential infrastructure – is sound advice. This is not the first time the IMF has called for a reduction of the size of the public sector and moves towards a gradual rationalisation of civil service jobs, including the termination of temporary workers, are surely overdue. With four years of its electoral term to go, we believe the FNM Government is in a strong position to tackle the whole issue of a traditionally bloated civil service and the engrained culture that somehow governments “owe people a living”. It has always been a politically toxic subject, but the Deputy Prime Minister has already described plans to deal with it carefully and sensitively. This ought to be the time to mount a comprehensive review of the whole government machine in order to determine the optimum numbers of people with the qualifications and experience needed to deliver the government’s policies and to provide the necessary official services to the public – and it should include a shake-up of the quality of service acrossthe-board together with a system of accountability for public sector workers. Another troubling matter is the revelation that public sector noncontributory pensions are currently unfunded so that the system has become unsustainable as the Government’s pension liabilities have reached unacceptable levels. Reportedly, successive administrations were warned some time ago of a looming pensions crisis but neglected to address the issue, so it is clearly important that some sort of corrective action should be taken as a priority. There can be no doubt this FNM Government is committed to fiscal reform and liberalisation of the economy. This includes improving the ease of doing business. But one of the criticisms of
Dr Minnis’s first year has been the perceived lack of consultation, coordination and control. One recent example was having to scrap the Customs Department’s new requirement for all importers when clearing their goods to provide proof of Central Bank approval permitting expenditure of foreign exchange – and presumably this was not thought through properly. Another is the proposed mandatory tug boat fee for commercial ships as well as cruise lines on whom we are heavily dependent for tourist revenue but who are strongly opposed to paying for assistance from tug boats that is not required. The Government seems to need better overall direction and management in order to ensure the so-called “bigger picture” is always taken into account in individual cases. A most significant development is the newly-published Fiscal Responsibility Bill which is due to be tabled in the House of Assembly to coincide with this year’s Budget. Its consultation period of only two weeks looks to be far too short, but this draft bill has already been broadly welcomed as establishing a framework of rules, procedures and requirements that should help to achieve fiscal consolidation targets including the level of deficits and public debt. As often in The Bahamas, the key will be implementation, compliance and accountability, including the application of sanctions in case of breaches and whether the limits imposed on future governments can be enforced. Overall, we believe the Government should be commended as it takes steps to strengthen the economy and establish a sound basis for the future. But it also needs to continue to demonstrate a capacity for honest, efficient and effective governance - which, sadly, its PLP predecessor failed to deliver - across the whole range of its activities.
A Royal wedding to savour It is hardly surprising that the prospect of a Royal Wedding tends to lift the spirits of Britain as a nation and makes people proud – and tomorrow’s ceremony for Prince Harry and his fiancée Meghan Markle is no exception. The pomp and pageantry together with the magnificence of the surroundings and the evident happiness of the couple makes for a heady mix which even the most curmudgeonly of observers will acknowledge. Despite the bad publicity about the bride’s family which has dominated the international media during the last few weeks, most people will surely hope this will not mar the event itself and that the wedding will go smoothly in accordance with the impeccable planning for which the British are renowned. We think we can speak for many Bahamians as well as British expatriates among us in offering Prince Harry and his bride our congratulations on the occasion of their wedding and our very best wishes for their future happiness.
Don’t beat on rebel EDITOR, The Tribune. AN anonymous wise person once said that there are five things you can’t take back: “A stone after it’s thrown, a word once it is spoken, an occasion once it is missed, an action when it is done, and time once it has passed.” Pineridge MP Frederick MacAlpine has thrown a cat among pigeons with his repeated disparaging remarks about the Free National Movement (FNM) in public. Some rabid FNMs who are deeply annoyed with the Pineridge MP for his anti-FNM campaign have resorted to utilising ad hominem attacks against
the MP in retaliation. Rather than engage MacAlpine and his supporters in a civil manner, these FNMs have decided to hit him below the belt by bringing up alleged unsavory stories about his personal life and family. This is wrong. While I agree that we are entitled to our own opinions, I believe that it is morally wrong to use that freedom to sully a person’s name and reputation. FNMs must remain above the fray. Don’t descend into the gutter in order to debate MacAlpine. MacAlpine, as far as I can tell, is still a card carrying member of the FNM, even though there mightn’t
be anymore camaraderie between him and Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis. And even if he has already mentally crossed the political aisle to the Progressive Liberal Party, he is still a human being. Rather than aim below MacAlpine’s belt, FNMs should instead focus their attention on debunking his recent antiFNM propaganda, which I believe to have been motivated by his bruised ego. Don’t resort to dragging the man’s name through the mud. The FNM is bigger than that. KEVIN EVANS Freeport, GB May 16, 2018.
Impossible policy to stop gaming EDITOR, The Tribune.
about implausibility is unnecessary! ONCE again, a well Traditional policies of meaning public servant discouraging and publiletters@tribunemedia.net with the best of intentions cizing the bad features of has presented a policy with- Free school lunches? Dis- gaming can certainly be out thinking it through, that ability pension from NIB? beefed up, but can never would be unrealistic, expen- Housing assistance for be replaced with the Minissive and totally unfeasible. ter’s extreme policy of legal demolished shacks? Mister of Tourism DioniSecond, you must create, coercion sio D’Aguilar inspired and update, an accurate The new Bahamas The Tribune headline list of all those unfortunate Gaming Operators Asso“Minister blocks welfare people receiving “assis- ciation is the best vehicle recipients from gaming”, tance”, and (whether they for carrying out these poliand is quoted as saying “If like it or not) perform the cies under its energetic you are receiving assis- odious task of publishing it. CEO Gershan Major. Even tance from the state, there Third, you must make though the Association must be some conditions sure it is distributed to was created and funded by attached, and one of which all the hundreds of the the eight gaming houses, should be not to gamble.” web shops throughout the it has been given a mission Fine, but what exactly country. to take imaginative steps must Government do Fourth, somehow you to mitigate any social ills to make such a policy must compel the guardians arising from gaming. Its effective? and staff of the web-shops progress, in coordination First, how do you define to check the list and pre- with the Gaming Board. the many forms of “assis- vent anyone on the list will be welcomed. tance from the state?” from placing a bet, even if Free medical care or birth he or she is an approved RICHARD COULSON facilities at PMH? Once, customer. Nassau, twice or a dozen times? May 14, 2018. Further comment
LETTERS
McAlpine courage EDITOR, The Tribune. FREDERICK McAlpine must have struck several nerves in the Free National Movement. Surrogates are “coming out the woodwork, just like worm”. My friend Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said that he and former prime minister Hubert Ingraham has “agreed to disagree”. This same accommodation must not have been accorded to McAlpine. Minnis also said that he “rather be punched in the face with the truth than kissed with a lie”. Now the truth of democracy working at its best must not be to palatable for Minnis. I am not surprised that some surrogates have been scrambling to come to the aid of the government lobbying against McAlpine so as to get political favours for their efforts. The lobbyist, if they had
any integrity themselves would not have bellyflopped in the sewer to defend the indefensible. The grandfather of McAlpine, the late Captain Simpson C Penn, must be smiling in his grave, seeing his grandson standing up for the downtrodden, the less fortunate and for truth. Captain Penn would be celebrating that his grandson has the courage that is needed in the face of great objection. It is sometimes uncomfortable when the truth stares you in the face, and against all odds you have to be the one to say it. But courage is a strange creature, not many men have it and few are prepared to go against the grain, or as they say, go against their party. Cowards would have preferred that McAlpine expressed his grievances behind closed doors, so that
it could be swept under the proverbial carpet. But the Bahamian people now know for sure that at least one is on their side, and not all are only looking out for themselves. Rev McAlpine, politics aside, the Bahamian people, from all sides of the political divide are celebrating your efforts. They know that God is with you and you have nothing to fear. They also know that there are many right in your own party who would like to say the same things, but lack the courage. Maya Angelou said, “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” IVOINE INGRAHAM Nassau, May 16, 2018.
W.
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, May 18, 2018, PAGE 5
Police chase leads in sex attack hunt from page one
connected and are looking for one individual for both cases. CSP Cash also confirmed the first victim was a six-year-old girl. She was assaulted off Baillou Hill Road on April 28. The second victim was a 12-yearold girl who was attacked shortly after 3pm on Monday. Activist groups across the country have reacted to the assaults, calling for the implementation of a sexual offenders registry, a separate sexual offenders court, and reform in the judicial system and at a cultural level. Ms Patterson told The Tribune the Crisis Centre has been calling for a sexual offences court “for years”. She added that although youngsters should be taught tips on how to protect themselves, “the burden shouldn’t be on children” to prevent these kinds of attacks. “We have to make sure our system makes people accountable for their behaviour. If you would look at the prison statistics you would see a very small number of sexual offenders end up in prison,” she said. “The numbers for children have always been high, always twice as many children under 16, but the perpetrators don’t end up in court.” “That’s what we have to work on…a system that makes perpetrator[s] accountable.” Alicia Wallace, of Equality Bahamas, noted that sexual violence in The Bahamas is “frequently excused by the perpetuation of rape culture through misogyny, respectability politics, and religious fundamentalism”. Ms Patterson echoed a similar sentiment in her statement, saying it is obvious that people “don’t understand what rape is” when you hear arguments “rationalising why
spousal sexual assault isn’t a crime”. Ms Wallace added the public tends to be more “uniformly incensed” and “less motivated to victim-blame” when it comes to children. She called for the “development of an effective action plan at every level”. This includes not only a registry of sexual offenders, but also specific information on how it will function and which organisation will be responsible for overseeing it. Ms Wallace also suggested Members of Parliament see to it that schools in their constituencies and surrounding areas are “well-maintained and adequately served by buses and other key services”. Furthermore, she called for the police to be “timely and forthcoming” with useful information. Rise Bahamas founder Terneille Burrows also released a statement on behalf of the group yesterday. “We are not convinced that the previous or current administration has made child protection a priority,” the statement read. Rise Bahamas called for implementation of the Marco Alert system from the government, adding that it will also “explore options for establishing it independently, once Rise Bahamas is officially registered. The organisation also made other demands, including the establishment of a sexual offender registry by the end of 2018 and a national, state-funded child protection public awareness campaign. The plan for a sex offender registry was introduced in 2013 with an amendment to the Sexual Offences Act after the murder of 11-yearold Marco Archer by a serial child predator. Earlier this month, National Security Minister Marvin Dames pledged the government will establish the registry before the year’s THE SCENE of one of the sex attacks. end.
‘McALPINE IS A PROPHET’ CLAIMS LEADING ACTIVIST By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
AMID calls from within his party to silence him, outspoken Pineridge MP Frederick McAlpine was yesterday saluted by another adversarial group, Rights Bahamas. In a letter yesterday, RB vice-president Joseph Darville said the Free National Movement stood to profit tremendously if they regarded Mr McAlpine as a prophet. “Knowing him from as a young student at Grand Bahama Catholic High School,” Mr Darville, a retired educator said, “he had the makings of a prophet even at that tender age. As he has grown to a
certain level of maturity that courage, that resilience, even his self-sacrifice, became his rock-foundation qualities. “If he is going to be sacrificed, as was Jesus, simply because he is outside of the regular political machinery, as priest, preacher, minister, it means the FNM is not yet ready for full transformation into the realm of an enlightened mode of governance in this nation. Graced with compassion, wisdom, knowledge and knowingness, the Rev is certainly a wild-card; so was Jesus Christ.” Mr Darville continued: “Jesus was in the midst of his own, the Jews; he was not only crucified, by his own, he was not just tied to
the cross, as was the usual custom, but actually nailed to the cross; that symbol carried the definitive message of what could happen if you rock the boat. Rev Frederick McAlpine is sure rocking the boat, but if it is balanced, forward, onward and upward focused, it shall only benefit from the massaging waves he is creating. Mr McAlpine has experienced some backlash from recent statements critical of the government and it’s progress on campaign promises, with calls made by FNM chairman Carl Culmer and former Cabinet minister Tennyson Wells for him to temper his assertions and claims. At a church service marking the anniversary
of the party’s first year in government, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis warned party members not to attack each other or criticise the government’s efforts publicly because it would prop up the opposition’s campaign. Mr Darville said: “Jesus was rebellious; he was not afraid to shift the message and proclaim the genuine love of God for mankind; he proclaimed the coming of God’s Kingdom on Earth. He claimed equality with God. Thus, He too was considered an evil priest;
but, as with Rev. Frederick McAlpine, he came with a message of dispensation. “He created many waves, but it’s His Mission which is still the most profound and love-centred on this planet. Salute to whomever follows that path of Godliness. Politicians are not exempt from this gift; maybe the good REV. came on schedule? He said: “Woe be unto the FNM, or any other political organisation, if it were to thus crucify Rev. McAlpine. “I applaud him and the other wild-cards roving
the halls of the parliament, whether FNM or PLP. Without them, there can be no change; they bring a dawning of new wisdom and connectedness to the masses which symbolizes the mission of Jesus; they are ready to feed the five, six, seven… and many more thousands. I give my blessings and good wishes to Rev. McAlpine and the other valiant, fearless, courageous and prophetic warriors given the Jesustask of deliverance of our still-in-bondage people.”
PAGE 6, Friday, May 18, 2018
THE TRIBUNE
Finally - planes will pay to ‘fly Bahamas’ from page one The FAA billed an estimated $106m in overflight fees in 2017, with an estimated $126m to be billed this fiscal year. A significant portion of this revenue will involve flights which have used Bahamian airspace. Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar yesterday stressed the over-flight fees we collect will only be used for the management and upgrade of the country’s air navigation system, telling this newspaper: “We’re not going to pay off the national debt with this”. His comments come after Government in a statement said this nation and the United States had resumed negotiations in Nassau this week regarding the management of the sovereign airspace of The Bahamas. In an interview with Tribune Business yesterday, Mr D’Aguilar noted that this nation currently does not have the capacity to manage its entire airspace by itself. Since 1952, a portion of the air traffic through the sovereign airspace of The Bahamas has been managed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States. Air traffic within 60 nautical miles of the Lynden Pindling International Airport and up to 12,000 feet has been managed by Bahamian air traffic controllers. Mr D’Aguilar told Tribune Business yesterday: “We have resumed the negotiations as it relates to the management of our airspace. There was no agreement made per se but a path to an agreement was laid out. Obviously when you are negotiating with a
foreign government there is a need to always seek consultation with the many arms of government that are involved in these types of agreements. These things take time. The discussion over the management of the sovereign airspace of The Bahamas has been ongoing for the last 25 years. The Bahamas has decided to pursue a different approach and to formalise what currently exists. The sovereign airspace over The Bahamas is currently managed by the FAA and a portion is managed by the government of Cuba. What we are establishing is first of all the recognition that it is our airspace and we get to decide who gets to manage our space on our behalf. We don’t have the capacity to manage it entirely by ourselves.” The Government indicated as much in its statement saying: “The purpose of the bilateral talks is to formalise the current arrangement with an agreement that would detail the conditions under which the FAA would continue to manage that portion of the sovereign airspace of The Bahamas presently under its control. The agreement would detail the services that the FAA would continue to provide to ensure the safe and efficient management of aircraft that move through Bahamian airspace. “In order to invest in technological improvements in the management of air traffic within Bahamian airspace, the Government of The Bahamas has also decided to collect charges from airlines flying within the airspace, as is common practice throughout the world.”
A BAHAMASAIR flight touching down - but flights simply passing over The Bahamas can also be a source of revenue. Mr D’Aguilar told Tribune Business: “The question is, if we were to come up with an agreement what would that look like, if we were to basically contract the FAA to manage our airspace? We would then seek to begin charging overflight fees to assist us in absorbing some of the cost associated with managing this airspace. Managing the sovereign airspace of The Bahamas is expensive. In the past we have not been collecting any fees to cover our costs.” Mr D’Aguilar added: “This is an attempt to put in place a mechanism that would recognise that this is our airspace and we get to decide what the fees are and to raise funds to assist in the cost associated with managing a safe aviation sector. You cannot use overflight fees to build roads, hospitals and items not associated with providing air navigation service. Let’s just put the public to bed on that. You’re not
going to pay off the national debt with this. You could only raise and charge fees to cover the cost associated with managing your air navigation services. This is a very expensive undertaking for the government which we had been providing but we hadn’t been exercising our right as a sovereign nation to assist in mitigating these costs.” Mr D’Aguilar described negotiations with the FAA as having gone “extremely well”. “The FAA was extremely supportive, understood perfectly what we were attempting to do and were very helpful. The negotiations went extremely well. Once we established the format for the arrangement. We have to negotiate an agreement that can get Cabinet approval and begin to collect some fees to help us to first of all ensure that our aviation sector has the necessary infrastructure to ensure the continued safe passage of aircraft through our airspace.
I want to emphasise that that is the purpose these fees will be used for.” Last January, the Christie administration hailed as a “landmark accomplishment” the agreement with the FAA to exempt Bahamian aircraft operators from the payment of over flight fees for domestic flights. Then Prime Minister Perry Christie said at the time the deal would save the national flag carrier, Bahamasair, around $1m over a three-year period. “The previous administration was able to get Bahamian aircraft exempt from paying the fees and that was substantial because it was almost objectionable that we were paying air navigation fees to a foreign government to travel through our sovereign airspace. We want to assume the function of collecting the fees and determine what the charges will be. That’s what we are attempting to do. I remain ever hopeful that we get the
outcome we deserve,” said Mr D’Aguilar. In its campaign to persuade the government to charge overflight fees The Tribune has pointed out other than winning the exemption for using our own airspace, the previous government made no progress whatsoever on charging foreign aircraft. SkyBahamas’s chief executive Randy Butler yesterday applauded the move to resume negotiations with the FAA, telling this newspaper: “We have to now follow through.” Mr Butler said: “I think it’s good they will resume those negotiations. It’s good news but there are no definite timelines or targets. It seems a bit ambiguous right now. The question is when is it going to happen? We keep hearing about these negotiations. The announcement is very good, I’m happy but it gives me nothing to sink my teeth in. We have to now follow through.”
OVERLOOKED OFFICERS BITTER AFTER AUDIT SHOCK from page one promotion exercise was unfair. His attorney, Bjon
Ferguson, said the manpower report, which features the government’s own admission of flaws in the promotion process, may be relevant to his case.
The report criticized the 2014 and 2017 promotion exercises. It was especially critical of last year’s election eve exercise in which 851 officers were promoted.
Researchers concluded the process was so flawed officers may or may not have been promoted justly and those overlooked may have been unfairly ignored. One Family Island corporal said yesterday he was overlooked in 2014 and is no longer eligible for promotion because he has spent more than 25 years below the inspector rank. He wonders if he was unfairly sidelined because of the flaws revealed in the report. “Knowing the sacrifices me and my family made only to not get promoted and now this, it hurts,” he said. “I’ve worked hard. I’ve been in the hospital, I’ve been shot at, everything you can imagine has happened to me and my family since working on the Family Islands and they didn’t promote me.” The officer claimed he passed the RBPF’s development course and police proficiency examinations – fundamental requirements for promotion – but was still ignored while others who allegedly failed the exams got ahead. He said he regrets not taking legal action when he had the chance. “We weren’t armed with proper evidence to proceed to court,” he said. “We felt deprived that we didn’t have an opportunity to make our case.” A female officer told The Tribune she was last promoted in 2007. She said the report’s revelations about the recent promotion exercises are “grossly disturbing”. “It doesn’t leave a good taste in my mouth because I’m a young woman already on pension yet the report said the Force had room for more inspectors,” she said. According to the report, 107 more inspectors are necessary to help the RBPF meet its demands.
“I’ve watched people I wrote on now get two, three ranks above me,” the female sergeant said. “People out here getting promoted but barely off probation but I got my first promotion after 14 years,” she added. Despite the report’s criticisms, Former Minister of State for National Security Keith Bell yesterday defended the recent promotion exercises. He said the report’s conclusions are an attack on former Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade. The report said Mr Greenslade helped interview officers as he sat on the Promotion Board despite an RBPF policy granting that role to the Deputy Commissioner of Police. The report also said no selection board was established prior to the establishment of the Promotion Board, a deviation from established policy. But Mr Bell said commissioners have the “unfettered discretion to promote suitably qualified candidates”. “After a commissioner issues a Force Order inviting people to apply for promotion, a selection board is established consisting of superintendents or other senior officers chosen by the commissioner,” he said. “That board processes applications and conducts interviews and makes recommendations to the commissioner based on the interview process. The Promotion Board is then established. But what has happened over the years is we’ve had these selection boards where people would go before them on a number of occasions and were not successful because there are so many people eligible for promotion. The commissioner already has a list of such people who qualify to be promoted so it is in his absolute and unfettered
discretion to choose persons who are suitably qualified for promotion with or without putting a selection board in place.” Mr Greenslade, now the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, did not respond to The Tribune’s request for comment yesterday. Nonetheless, Mr Bell addressed the report’s criticism of the “disturbing” conduct of last year’s candidate interviews, a process in which people were asked vacuous questions before being dismissed from the interview room. He said: “I was a constable in 1985 and went to the College of The Bahamas in 1992, got my Associates Degree in criminal justice and applied for promotion 11 years later. When I went to the selection board they asked me what I came for. They said, ‘Bell, why you here?’ They said, ‘we know who you are, we know your qualifications, come out of here. The interview lasted for two minutes. Why? What is there to interview when you know the quality of the candidate already? These interviewers are senior officers who know many candidates beforehand.” Asked why the interview is mandatory given this, he said: “I won’t attempt to answer that question. I sat on the selection board before and when certain people were brought in I said, ‘why are we bringing in these people? Why waste our time? It should be at the discretion of the lead officer to interview someone, not a mandatory part of the process.” Mr Bell said: “I challenge anyone to find me one person who was promoted last year that didn’t deserve to be promoted. I served as a police officer before and if you left it up to me most police officers would get promotions.”
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, May 18, 2018, PAGE 7
Telephone logs show inconsistencies in trial By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net INCONSISTENCIES in the call-logs of Barbara Hanna took centre stage in the Frank Smith’s extortion and bribery trial yesterday. A former BTC auditor yesterday said more than 60 discrepancies between Hanna’s call history and Mr Smith’s phone bill between December 2016 and July 2017, could be due, but not limited to, changes made to the log prior to its submission to the court. Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle - the officer-in-charge of the RBPF’s Anti-Corruption Unit - was due to questioned under oath before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt, but the cross examination of Marlon Gary Smith, BTC’s internal auditor at the time of the alleged offences, became the case’s focus yesterday. During cross examination by Damien Gomez, attorney for the former PHA Chairman, the former BTC employee acknowledged there is a difference in the date on his written report into the phone records and the dates reflected on the logs he produced for investigators. In his written statement presented to the court earlier this week, Mr Smith said he received an email from police, requesting he submitted call logs for two numbers. He further indicated that on July 20 he logged into his desktop computer, uploaded the logs, saved them to his machine and downloaded them to a CD which he subsequently signed and submitted to the police. However, in cross-examination, he suggested this process could have taken him more than the one day he highlighted in his written report and that it could have started on the 20 and ended on July 22. Mr Smith further shocked the court when he disclosed that aspects of the phone company’s billing system and data port were “not infallible,” and could be, in many instances, billing customers for calls they haven’t carried out.
Responding to questions raised by Mr Gomez, Mr Smith insisted the 64 discrepancies that exist between Mrs Hanna’s log and Frank Smith’s bill could be due to free calling features allowed to Mrs Hanna, the duration of the call between the two or even changes to the logs submitted to the court. “Like I say, I can’t explain why the calls were not captured. There could be a whole myriad of reasons why the calls aren’t reflected on those billing statements,” he told the court. “Why that is, I can’t, I cannot say. No computerised database is infallible.” Even when cautioned and asked by Chief Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt to clarify his claim, he added: “In technology there is always a chance that something may not be, something may break down. “Like I said, it is not infallible. The system could have issues and that is not a secret. I am sure that many people in this court room has had discrepancies with their telephone bills, because the system has had issues. “That is a known fact in this country. Now, if the company feels it important to correct it, that’s a management decision. But they know, I mean they have known, that the system has issues,” he told the court. Mr Gomez, capitalising on the assertion, asked: “Is it your position that, with knowledge of these problems, BTC engages in charging for bills that could be fictitious?” The former auditor responded: “Yes.” “I can only report and tell them this issue. Now if they correct it, that is not in my hands. That’s a management decision if they are going to correct it or not.” Another revelation in the case came in a dispute over the calling party in various appearances on the call logs - Mr Gomez asked the Mr Smith to clarify what role two specific telephone numbers played in call logs of Mrs Hanna. As Mr Smith read the names associated with these numbers he spoke the name of a current cabinet minister but was cautioned by
FORMER MP Frank Smith, second right, outside court yesterday. the prosecution to refrain from doing so. The numbers, according to the defence, will play a role in the case moving forward. Mr Gomez highlighted the numbers commenced a series of communications with Mrs Hanna for expanded periods of time from July 2017. Smith is facing 15 criminal charges concerning his alleged solicitation of $65,000 in bribes from a woman he is said to have assisted in getting a contract. He is currently out on $50,000 bail. It is alleged that Smith, between April 2016 and April 2017, in respect of his duties as a public officer, demanded and obtained $5,000 per month from Barbara Hanna, knowing he was not lawfully authorised to do so. He is also alleged to have attempted to extort another $5,000 from Ms Hanna.
Concerning the bribery charge, it is alleged he solicited $5,000 a month from
Ms Hanna for aiding her in getting a contract with the Public Hospitals Authority.
Smith pleaded not guilty to all the allegations during his arraignment.
Last Rites For Matriarch Clarice Patricia Williams, 59 of Flamingo Gardens and formerly of First Street The Grove will be held on Saturday, 19th May, 2018, 10:00 a.m. at First Baptist Church, Coconut Grove Avenue & Market Street. Officiating will be Rev Diana E. Francis, assisted by Rev. George Bodie and other ministers of the Gospel. Interment in Woodlawn Gardens. She was predeceased by her Parents: George Sr. & Patricia Bodie, 1 Brother: Bertrum Bodie, 1 Sister: Betty Ann Williamson and 2 Granddaughters: Edysha Basden & Diamond Williams. She is survived by her Husband: Force Chief Petty Officer Lorenzo Williams Sr of The Royal Bahamas Defence Force (Retired); 2 Sons: Constable 3350 Theo Williams Sr of The Royal Bahamas Police Force & Lorenzo Williams Jr.; 1 Daughter: Sheniqua Basden; 4 Grandsons: Theo Jr & Jalen Williams, Edrych Basden and Ravon Sargent; 2 Granddaughters: Erynn Basden & Treasure Frazer; 5 Brothers: Superintendent Larry Sr. of Bahamas Customs, Anthony, Rev. George, Brinton & Petty Officer Emmerson Bodie; 5 Sisters: Polly Bodie, Prophetess Valleria Strachan, Bernadette Hemmings, Deborah Smith & Sherry Bullard; 1 Son-in-Law: Edison Basden; 1 Daughter-in-Law: Shivon Williams; 1 Uncle: Rufus Bodie, 6 Aunts: Minerva Rolle, Ellen Curry, Janet & Donna Bodie, Vivian and Ivy Humes; 14 Nephews: George III, Larry, Correction Officer Emmerson Bodie Jr., Joshua, Anthony Jr and Aaron Bodie, Savion Stubbs, Nelson Jr, Mark, Isaiah and Daniel Strachan, Sharnardo Burns, Kristoff Edwards, Tre Williams; 16 Nieces: Alexandria Johnson, Laquell, Patricia Anishka & Alicia Bodie, Shacola Hemmings, Sharome Nixon, lael Johnson, Kasha, Mekell & Jehmar Evans, Crigtera Outten, Johnell, Indira & Rachel Williams and Jessica Simmons; 6 Brothers-in-Law: Chief Petty Officer Nelson Strachan Sr, Richard Hemmings, Lorenzo, Antonio & Duran Williams and Marcus Evans; 10 Sisters-in-Law: Melanie, Lolita, Melinda, Carol & Mellissa Bodie, Gina Evans, Clarice, Charmaine, Lynn & Betty Williams; 46 Cousins: James, Rodney, Ricardo & Father Dwight Bowe, Lorraine Lloyd, Janet Bowe & Shranda Byrd, Melinda Pratt, Edward, Keva, Bridgette, Marva, David, Jeffrey, Father Colin and Norman Humes, Janice Zonicle, Jackie Gibson, Michael, Glen, Kevin, Mario & Cleo Rolle, Virginia Bannister, Marva Baptiste, Janeth Wilkinson, Yvonnie Cayard, Ernestine Whyte, Shirlene Mackey, Edmond Walker, Raquel, Clayton, Kendrick, Owen, Corey & Ozier, Claudette Bodie, Vanessa Penn, Ophirah Taylor, Jessica Curtis, Sharon Fox, Marvin & Gavin Johnson, Joy Ferguson & Cecelia Curry; 10 Grandnephews: Harper & George IV, Kamarrii Bodie, Jordyn Gilbert, Cruz & Kyro Johnson, Giordano Farrington, Demeatre Rollins, Brisco Thompson & Cleveland Outten Jr.; 2 Grandnieces: Amaya Johnson & Engel Mcgregor; and a host of other relatives and friends including: Helena Curry, Prophetess Kelly McIntosh, Joseph & Andrea Brown, China Ferguson, Dina Evans, Joseph & Prophetess Wendy McDonald, Carlton & Brendalee McKenzie, Sheryl Gaitor, Jim & Gladys Russell, Marina Evans Nicole Smith, Betty Romer, Sophie Saunders, Mother Wallace, Patsy Dolce, Mrs. Jane Miller, Shan Hall, Sheila Aranha, Shareen, Nita, Cindy Bowe, Godfrey, Gordon & Rev. Orthneil Humes, Esther Mitchell, Gwen, Ernest Adrian & Aiehsa Fisher, Laurel Butler, Mitsy Barnett, Sandra, McNair & Kristen Johnson, Patrice Clarke, Mrs. Alvera Wilson, Pastor Porsha, Mrs. Newton, Veronica Rolle, Teisha Keene, Diandra Sands, Malissa Patton, LeAnthea Williams & Dorethea Stubbs, Dion Rolle, Nicola Fowler, Shirley, Betty & Janeel, Althea Rolle & family, Nehemiah Cooper & Family, Charles Ferguson & Family, Kendall McPhee & Family, Willis Ferguson & Family, March family, Morris Family, McIntosh Family, Brice Family, Basden Family, Rigby Family, Curry Family, Strachan Family, Bullard Family, Thompson & Payne Family Flamingo Gardens Family, the family of the late Ulpheus Rolle The Gaitor’s, Knowles, Butler’s & Williams of First St., Rev. Diana Francis and The First Baptist Family, Dr. Rodney Smith & Mrs. Smith, Mr. Glen Miller and the faculty & staff of The University of The Bahamas. Andrew McKinney and the Protocol Officers of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commodore Tellis Bethel, Officers, Warrant Officers and Marines of The Royal Bahamas Defence Force, Commissioner Anthony Ferguson and Officers of The Royal Bahamas Police Force, True United Ministries Int’l, J. Carl Rahming & Lady Rahming and St. Paul’s Baptist Church, Rev. Pastor Niemoller Fowler and The Ever-Changing Lives Ministries Int’l, Bishop James Newry and Calvary Deliverance Church family, Quality, Joyful Sound Ministries, Rev. Joseph Knowles and Mt. Theos family Rev. Patton and St. Johns family Pastor Monica Paul and Revelation Church of Jesus, Commonwealth and Home Fabric Family, John Chea #4, officers and members from The Ramsey Homecoming Association and families from Ramsey and Forest Exuma. The body will repose at CURTIS MEMORIAL MORTUARY on Friday from 10am to 5pm and at the church on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until service time.
PAGE 8, Friday, May 18, 2018
THE TRIBUNE
What in the world is extreme?
Sporting a radical hair style with a fashion fiasco wardrobe to match, as in t-shirts expressing teenage angst to the world, “jeggings” and “shants” (I still haven’t figured out if they’re shorts or pants) is not “extreme”. The multiple piercings that make you youngsters look like you’re about to spring a leak (maybe that’s where some common sense has evaporated from) is not “extreme”. Do you want to know what is really “extreme” little ones?
S
an eye (once Mom and Dad had confirmed their arrival at their vacation destination). As to not expose certain persons who have since attained lofty status in this community, I will not comment any further on said events. (No need to rehash their escapades with beer funnels, livestock and other sordid oddities!) By all standards of the day these brazen parties We all had our go-to fun and joyrides were considfilled outlets during the ered “extreme” actions or long hot summer break and events. (I’m quite sure as the older we got the more you read this an event or two from daring we your past ‘If we didn’t do became. has crept to Mothers’ what we did the the front of cars were bar wouldn’t be your brain. rolled out of Either you’re set, and you would driveways smiling or have nothing to right after frowning or midnight with shoot for. “Nextboth. Either the stealth way, enjoy ers” and “Millenials” and precision the memory.) of a Navy since in order to be Seal Unit. “extreme” you must The cars first break rules that were rolled down the have never been Sadly, I street until broken, ride that was informed out of ear- which has never recently shot, started up and driven been ridden, and do by my best friend’s son (a off to the things which have fifteen-yearhottest night not been done.’ old hybrid spots (where between entry was a a skateboarder, MMA separate mission entirely). BMX/motorcross Back then, the only fighter, “Grand Theft Auto” we rider and pit-bull breeder) knew of was an inside job that what his father and I that — if executed correctly did in our generation was from start to finish — could not “extreme”, but rather elevate the perpetrator to boring, mischievous behaviour. He may have even legendary status among his used the word lame. peers. “Booger” (as I affectionately call him) proceeded to expound on the difference Grand parties were between “Generation X” organised in the blink of and “Millenials”. UMMER is here, so every nook and cranny is crawling with a summer infestation of terror and destruction that would rival any of those plagues found in The Good Book. You guessed it, teenagers! Ah, yes, I remember the free-for-all, happy go lucky days of youthful existence.
THE REAL EXTREME
“Extreme” is waking up very early every day and going to work to provide for a family. Paying all your bills on time (especially in this economy) for many is considered “extreme”. Cooking dinner, transporting “extreme” kids to and from their required activities and cleaning up after these “extremely” messy kids is what’s extreme these days, because with the average child staying with Mom and Dad into their thirties there’s really no end in sight! Now that is “extreme!” Balancing your relationship with your spouse and finishing all the domestic things your wife dreams up around the house is “extreme.” Tune up the car, landscape the yard, play with a five month old who is teething while trying to win a board game against toddlers who know how to cheat…now that’s “extreme!”
STEALTH MISSIONS
REALITY CHECK
PARTY ON
As he explained the many ways the “Next-ers and Millenials” dwindle away their summer days whilst endangering all around them in the name of cool points, I realised this new, young, “extreme” generation has
taken one too many hits to the head while practising their “extreme” and at time idiotic manoeuvres.
NO NEW SCHOOL WITHOUT THE OLD SCHOOL
Being a fan of most things old school, I have had about enough of this as I can take, and since there is no time like the present I must now deal with the matter. The matter being the utter disregard for the accomplishments and legacies left behind for the next generation by the previous generation. Truly, If we didn’t do what we did the bar wouldn’t be set, and you would have nothing to
shoot for. “Next-ers” and “Millenials” since in order to be “extreme” you must first break rules that have never been broken, ride that which has never been ridden, and do things which have not been done. As you look to surpass greatness (or lameness, depending on your point of view), let me first tell you what is not “extreme”, young ones. Pulling off a 360-degree skateboard trick as you avoid a tour bus as you blaze down the entrance to the Atlantis going against the flow of traffic is not “extreme”. Determining how far you can pop a wheelie riding down the middle of Bay Street with no helmet on is not “extreme”.
THE REAL WORLD
In the adult world, a world you hopefully will have not an inkling of for many, many, many years to come, what is considered “extreme” would figuratively blow away your literally bruised minds. Watching you all make your way through this world is “extreme” and “comical” all at the same time. There are high hopes that one day, you will be the generation to find cures for diseases, an end to hunger, all while bringing forth world peace, because in all honesty, so far we “X-ers” have not come close to accomplishing all that. Until then, though, good luck with the new skateboard ramp, “helmet cam” and personal YouTube channels this summer.
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, May 18, 2018, PAGE 9
Suspect bailed in sex attack retrial By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net
THE SON of former Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes has been granted $9,000 bail ahead of his retrial over allegations he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl entrusted to his wife’s care six years ago. Justice Gregory Hilton granted Joseph Foulkes $9,500 bail with one or two suretors yesterday ahead of his second trial over an alleged incident that is said to have occurred sometime between January and the latter part of June 2012. Foulkes is required to report to Grove Police Station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday before 6pm as a part of his bail conditions. He is also not to interfere with any of the Crown’s witnesses leading up to the retrial. The Tribune understands a date for Foulkes’ retrial has not yet been given; however, in quashing his conviction and sentence, the Court of Appeal previously ordered for him to be retried at an “early” date. On March 11, 2015, a Supreme Court jury returned a 7-2 guilty verdict against Foulkes for unlawful sexual intercourse. He was sentenced to ten years in prison to run from the date of conviction. Prior to the verdict, Foulkes pleaded not guilty to the single offence with which he was charged.
JOSEPH Foulkes at a previous court appearance. A notice to appeal against conviction and sentence was filed on his behalf on June 2, 2015. However, pursuant to Section 17 of the Court of Appeal Act, Foulkes had 21 days in which to give notice of appeal or of his application for leave to appeal – by April 1, 2015, therefore, he was some 61 days late in doing so. Nonetheless, in March of this year, appellate Justices Stella Crane-Scott, Roy Jones, and Milton Evans, quashed Foulkes’ conviction and sentence and allowed his appeal, before consequently remitting the matter to the Supreme Court for him to be retried at an “early” date. Prior to that decision,
Foulkes’ attorneys Christina Galanos and B’Jorn Ferguson relied on nine grounds of appeal in a bid to satisfy the court as to why their client’s extension of time application to appeal his sentence concerning the alleged 2012 incident should succeed. Those grounds included, but were not limited to, that the trial judge erred when he permitted the Crown to ask a witness for the prosecution about an allegation levied against Foulkes of a similar nature, and that the judge erred when he did not declare a mistrial after conceding that he did not believe that any foundation was laid for the Crown to go as far as it did in questioning a witness for the
prosecution about allegations of a similar nature levied against Foulkes. However, the factors that ultimately proved crucial to the success of Foulkes’ application were two of his nine grounds, as well as an admission by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Vernal Collie that Foulkes’ matter should have effectively been declared a mistrial based on the evidence given at trial. During the appeal hearings, Ms Galanos charged that before the Crown commenced its re-examination of the virtual complainant’s aunt in the absence of the jury, it made an application pursuant to Section 29 of the Evidence Act to enter evidence of Foulkes’ bad character on the basis that defence counsel asked their witness whether she was aware of Foulkes being accused of anything similar to the charge of unlawful sexual intercourse (to which the aunt’s reply was no), and that they were aware that the Department of Social Services had to remove Foulkes’ son from the home for a similar allegation. Initially, the trial judge told the Crown he would not be prepared to allow prosecutors to embark on the line of questioning until he saw a report from the DSS. The Crown conceded that it did not have the report in its possession but intended to obtain it.
However, the judge told the Crown he didn’t understand why the prosecution would make such an application without being in possession of the report. Nonetheless, the trial judge took the position that as defence counsel opened the door on the issue, the Crown would be permitted to pursue the line of questioning in re-examination. Ms Galanos thus submitted that the trial judge erred in allowing that line of questioning because the Crown was relying on allegations and not a conviction, and should have not been allowed to proceed; there was no evidence before the Court at that time that Foulkes was present to refute the allegation, thus making it “hearsay”; and that it was more prejudicial than probative. Regarding the latter ground, which Ms Galanos submitted was an extension of the former ground, it was contended that the trial judge ought to have declared a mistrial after the “extremely damaging and inadmissible evidence was canvassed before the jury by the Crown.” She noted that the trial judge attempted during his summation to warn the jury not to consider the evidence in deliberating on a verdict. However, Ms Galanos submitted that the damage had already been done and the trial judge was unreasonably “expecting the jury
to perform a nearly impossible task”. Mr Collie, in response to Ms Galanos, noted at the time that upon the Crown’s perusal of the evidence and the trial judge’s summing up of the facts of the case, the Crown had some concerns relative to the lack of direction pertaining to the bad character reference, as well as the admissibility of hearsay evidence. “Perhaps it might have been better for the judge to discharge the jury at that stage,” he told the appellate court. Mr Collie then suggested there was a good chance that some of Foulkes’ grounds would have a good prospect of success, but he needed more time to properly file submissions in response to same, which would have meant an adjournment in the matter. However, Justice CraneScott questioned Mr Collie for intimating that he would need an adjournment, stating that although he hadn’t properly filed submissions concerning the substantive appeal, because he already conceded that a mistrial ought to have been declared, there would be no reason to delay the inevitable. The appellate court ultimately moved to allow Foulkes’ extension of time application to succeed, quash his conviction and sentence and allow his appeal.
KILLER’S APPEAL REJECTED DESPITE BRUTALITY CLAIMS By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net
THE Court of Appeal has affirmed both the conviction and sentencing of Thaddeus Williams, 25, citing the court’s position on not interfering with a sentences passed by lower courts, unless those sentences were “manifestly harsh, excessive or wrong in principle”. Mr Williams was charged and convicted of the 2012 shooting death of 23-yearold Deshante Bain. Investigators said Mr Williams, then 19, fatally shot Bain as he parked outside of his West Street and Hospital Lane home. Attorneys for Williams in their appeal, objected to the admissibility of the record of interview and the statement of the defendant, allegedly given on February 18, 2012, pursuant to
section 20(2) of the Evidence Act on the grounds the defendant was beaten, tortured, oppressed to sign a fictitious statement and record of interview. At trial, Williams’ defense team had alleged police officers had: • Handcuffed his hands and feet • Been punched • had a telephone directory placed on his chest then been beaten with a bat • had bags placed over his head • choked • beaten with his own shoe. After this, they alleged, he signed a false confession which at trial they argued should not be submitted as evidence. The judge disagreed and allowed it to be heard. However, the appellate court, in its written decision just published, ruled: “The appeal court will not
interfere with the decision of the trial judge unless he makes a material error of law or, on the facts as he found them, no reasonable judge properly directing himself on the law could have exercised his power to admit the evidence.” Furthering its decision, the appellant court noted the appellant alleged the trial judge erred in law by attaching more weight to testing the case for the appellant rather than whether or not the prosecution had discharged its burden of proving beyond reasonable doubt that the statements were voluntary. Pointing to the trial judge’s clarification on the issues put before his court, the appellant court added: “Clearly the judge understood the burden of proof and accepted the evidence of the police officers.” “She acknowledged that the burden of proof was
on the Crown and not the appellant to satisfy her that the statement and record of interview were voluntarily given and not obtained by oppression,” the decision added. “She accepted the evidence of the police officers and rejected the evidence of the defendant and his witnesses as untruthful. Those findings of fact are
not against the weight of the evidence and this court will not interfere with those findings. In those circumstances she was entitled to admit the evidence.” The 14-page decision concluded: “It is settled law that ‘as an appellate court however, we do not and should not, readily interfere with a sentence passed by a lower court which was
seized with all the facts and circumstances of the case, unless the sentence was manifestly harsh, excessive or wrong in principle’. See Kostadin Karchav v the Commisioner of Police MCCrApp & CAIS No. 56 of 2015. This is not such a sentence.” Mr Williams was sentenced to 23 years and nine months.
PAGE 10, Friday, May 18, 2018
THE TRIBUNE
‘Hundreds’ of jobs available in Grand Bahama with training BY DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net DEPUTY Prime Minister Peter Turnquest believes hundreds of jobs Bahamians can perform with required training are being unfilled in the industrial sector in Grand Bahama, particularly in the maritime industry. “I am not knocking anybody, I appreciate the support and the opportunities, but we can do more,” said the MP for East Grand Bahama, who noted that some 400 foreign workers are being imported every other month to Freeport. Mr Turnquest’s comments came while delivering the keynote address during Technical Education Awareness Week hosted by the Technical Education Centre (TEC) in Hawksbill. He said: “The maritime industry is completely under-explored by Bahamians, and yet the industry has enormous growth potential. Greater participation of Bahamians in the workforce in this area is unevenly low and this results in high level of foreign participation.” “We need to seize the opportunity in these growth areas and
saturate the market with Bahamian talent, ingenuity,and expertise.” He indicated institutions like TEC are needed to help prepare Bahamians to take advantage of these opportunities in the workforce. However, the minister believes technical institutions should not be too dependent on industry to tell them what skills they need. “I will say that one of the things we have been doing well as a government is collaborating with the industry here to determine the skills necessary and trying to create programmes to meet those skills that industry is telling us. “I don’t know who is here from industry and I don’t mean to offend anybody. But one of the things about that is that there is a danger in relying too much on industry to tell you what skills they need. “You see because they will tell you what they want you to produce in the quantities they want you to produce. Meanwhile, we are bringing in hundreds on the other side. And so, they are meeting their commitment to the government and the community by providing training and support for this growth. And with
this number, they can check the box, but on the other side there are hundreds of jobs Bahamians can do with the requisite training that are being unfulfilled.” “So, I want to say to TEC to think out the box, to listen, but also to observe to ensure we are fulfilling not only to identify jobs but those we see and notice that exists.” Minister Turnquest noted that while the Department of Labour has been having success with the series of Labour on the Blocks events identifying and matching employers and employees, at a certain point they will run into a roadblock because the skills that are being demanded will not be available. “And so, if you were to focus on that 400 that come in every other month, we can make a tremendous dent in the number of imports, as well as help fulfil your mandate to educate, train and help build our community,” he stated. The Minister believes technical training by institutions like TEC that offer a Pre-Technology programme and certification help to fill critical gaps by raising the general technical skills level and quality standards of the GB workforce. He noted the heavy equipment operator career
path offered by TEC is a significant certification programme, especially concerning occupational health and safety. Mr Turnquest explained that in the US people could not operate a forklift unless they have certification. “We need to ensure we have those kinds of requirement here - they call it OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration). You cannot get on a piece of equipment around people unless you have certification,” he said. “What we need to do here is to ensure that not only we get quality work, but we protect the safety of those who work, as well as those in the immediate environment of those who are working.” The minister explained that “in order as a government to be able to mandate something like that, we need training and we need those certification programs.” Mr Turnquest commended TEC founder Fred Delancy, former executive director of BTVI in Freeport, for the role TEC is playing in training Bahamians. TEC is located at the old the Hawksbill High School campus. It offers three programmes, including
Pre-Technology, Technology Industry Certification and Technology Prep for Juniors and Seniors. Minister Turnquest, who is a graduate of the Hawksbill High, said technical education is important to him and recalled how Hawksbill High was first to introduce technical and vocational training in Grand Bahama. “This is a place that holds fond memories for me some of my formative traits and character were developed here on this ground, he recalled. Hawksbill was a breeding ground for a lot of the success we see today, particularly in the technical field. “Technical education is very important to me because not only was I expose to it here, but my father was involved in the administration of technical and vocation education from the beginning,” he said, pledging to provide a scholarship for a student in East End to attend Tech Prep program on Saturdays. According to Mr Delancey, more than 1,200 students have completed the Pre-Technology programme at TEC over the years. He noted TEC is in the process of introducing a Renewable Energy
programme, and is now looking to accommodate students from New Providence and the Family Islands. Mr Delancey stated that they were granted permission by a building owner to use his building as a dormitory for those students. He also noted their sixweek Tech Prep programme for high school juniors and seniors on Saturdays has been very encouraging, with some students traveling from as far as Eight Mile Rock in the West and East End to attend. Minister Turnquest, he said, provides transportation every Saturday morning for the students from East End. Mr Delancey said TEC is considered the leading provider of industrial technical programs that meet specific needs of the industries in Grand Bahama. He stated 67 TEC students were trained as internationally certified welders and are employed at BORCO. He also noted the 200 people trained at TEC for the container port training programme in welding and engineering are doing well. Mr Delancey stressed more money needs to be invested in technical education to prepared Bahamians for future.
CLEANING UP A SACRED SPACE SCORES of ‘Atlanteans’ armed with rakes, shovels and wheelbarrows, braved the rainy weather to help clean up and refurbish the Sacred Space at Blake Road. Entitled “Welcome, “ the space was originally created in 2007 when Bahamian artist and sculptor Antonius Roberts teamed up with Tyrone Ferguson, another artist who specialises in metal art. It serves as an expression of Bahamian heritage and is meant to not only be a place for reflection and to honour our ancestors and history, but also welcome visitors arriving at Lynden Pindling International Airport. Sponsored by Atlantis and the Ministry of Tourism, the effort features what the artists refer to as “sacred women” – figures crafted from the trees
there that were damaged in past hurricanes. Ferguson accentuated the space with the addition of bells that he hung from the branches of the surrounding trees. The bells are said to represent the voices of our ancestors. The second of three such spaces, the Blake Road site sits at the corner of JFK Highway and Blake Road and had over the years become neglected, overgrown with weeds and thick underbrush. Atlantis, committed to projects that help to enrich local communities, heeded the call to bring a little TLC to the space and spearheaded the clean up. “Just as we recognised the value of having the space created in the first place, we saw the need to have it cleaned up and maintained for the enjoyment of all.
This site is one of the first places visitors leaving the airport will see and it helps to tell an intriguing story of who we are as a resilient people,” said Ed Fields, Atlantis Senior Vice President for Public Affairs. “Welcome” was preceded by “Genesis,” the first Sacred Space created in 2005 which is located at Clifton Cay on the former Whylly Plantation – one of the first landing places for slaves brought to The Bahamas. “Genesis” features 12 wooden sculptures of ‘sacred women,’ complete with Ferguson’s bells. The third installation in the Sacred Space series is at Atlantis’ Cove Beach. Created in 2017, it features seven sculptures, carved from the trunks of Madeira trees that pay homage to the Bahamian woman.
VOLUNTEERS helping to clear up at Blake Road.
UNIQUE VACATIONS LIMITED
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Job Summary: • • • • •
Work with Social Media Manager and Social Media Team to execute cohesive and engaging social media campaigns across the Sandals and Beaches Resorts social media accounts Execute Sandals and Beaches Resorts social media messaging and interactions across all social media platforms, including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube, etc. Monitors effective benchmarks (best practices) for measuring the impact of Social Media campaigns. Analyze, review, and report on effectiveness of campaigns in an effort to maximize results. Assist with developing and managing our social media campaigns Consistently engaging with the Sandals and Beaches Resorts existing fan base
Experience/Skills/Qualifications: • • • • • • •
Minimum of 2 years of social media or digital marketing experience. Strong copywriter with ability to proofread Ability to work in a fast paced work environment, managing multiple tasks across multiple teams. Must be a team player, contributing ideas in large group meetings and possessing superior and persuasive communication skills Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and/or Media/Communications preferred. Exceptionally well organized and good attention to detail Creative thinker with strong writing skills
Only short listed candidates will be contacted. Interested persons should submit their applications by May 23rd, 2018 with curriculum vitae to hrreport6@gmail.com
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, May 18, 2018, PAGE 11
THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST A MEDAL presentation for New Providence nominees to become Primary School Student of the Year has been held. One of the speakers at the event was the first runner-up in the Bahamas Primary School Student of the year, Farion Cooper, aged 11. He was the main speaker, and addressed the audience on the topic of the “Student of The Year Challenge”. Among those in attendance were the Governor General, Dame Marguerite Pindling, and Dr Ricardo P Deveaux, president and CEO of the Bahamas Primary School Student of The Year Foundation. Photos: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff
READERS RESPOND TO MAJOR STORIES IN THE NEWS READERS on tribune242.com have been commenting on the stories making the news this week. After researchers conducting a manpower audit of the Royal Bahamas Police Force flayed last year’s promotional exercise and revealed the Force needs 791 more constables to be more effective, Vlmarshall responded with this: “The results of this audit show what most moderately educated Bahamians already know . . . that we do not get our money’s worth when it comes to policing in this country. The front line is inadequate and for God’s sake I hope that the entry exams have been
upgraded since I applied and passed the entrance exam back in 1997. I was amazed to see others in the exam room being unable to finish simple questions such as ‘don’t cry over _ _’. “Not to mention years later to my surprise to see local gang affiliates wearing the RBPF uniform. We have also heard the stories of the promotional exercises, which are laughable at worst. Times have
changed, criminals have changed, the technology and weaponry behind criminal actions have changed. It’s time to cut ties with some of the senior officers that are incapable of passing a proficiency and health assessment and focus on training a new set of officers, with a different focus, a mindset to serve the Bahamian public and not just willing to intimidate and abuse persons in custody.” According to the preliminary findings of a recent government survey an “overwhelming” 70 percent of shanty town residents surveyed in New Providence have a legal right to reside in the country.
That story prompted John to ask: “Does this come as a surprise? That the majority of residents in the shanties have status? Some seem to forget that this country experienced 10 solid years of economic hardship. And that is what some residents have been reduced to. Living in the shanty towns. Otherwise homeless. And Social Services’ effort to get some of these persons into rental units will be mostly fruitless because once they move in they have no means of paying the rent or utilities. So the process has to be a gradual one. And if the economy does not get better the numbers in the
shanty towns will continue to increase.” But Licks2 had this to say: “Don’t allow ya ‘feelings’ to blind ya ability to reason!! the only status that allows breaking the law and not getting deported is citizenship. Just think . . . you are here on a work permit and you are found in breach of multiple laws in the host country. Check with our authorities here or anywhere in the world about how lawbreakers with work permits, green cards and other ‘allowances’ in the developed nations are annually deported back to their country for such violations of the host nation’s laws!!”
Attorney Fred Smith claimed this week that the Oban Energies Heads of Agreement is “illegal”. Voltaire had this reaction: “Of course Bethel is wrong on the Oban deal. The whole deal is ill-conceived and stupid. Not in the best interests of the Bahamas at all. You can’t sign a deal that includes very specific stipulations - including an agreement on the part of our government not to interfere with the project EVEN if it is shown to be environmentally disastrous - and then say you haven’t done anything.” • Don’t miss your chance to join the debate on tribune242.com.
PAGE 12, Friday, May 18, 2018
THE TRIBUNE
HEALTH workers don protective clothing as they prepare to attend to patients in the isolation ward to diagnose and treat suspected Ebola patients, at Bikoro Hospital in Bikoro on Saturday, the rural area where the Ebola outbreak was announced last week, in Congo. Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak has now spread to Mbandaka, a city of more than 1 million people, a worrying shift as the deadly virus risks traveling more easily in densely populated areas. Photo: Mark Naftalin/UNICEF via AP
Women’s Corona Society Women’s Corona Society. - The Women’s Corona Society members and friends had a treat on Saturday when they met for coffee and an Art Tour at Baha Mar. Members and guests
JOIN THE CLUB
enjoyed coffee and treats at Café Madeleine. Coffee was followed with an art tour by creative art director John Cox, above, spanning The Current gallery and artwork throughout the complex. The group showed much enthusiasm for what turned out to be a convivial and stimulating morning.
OUR Clubs and Societies page is a chance for you to share your group’s activities with our readers. To feature on our Clubs and Societies page, submit your report to clubs@tribunemedia.net, with “Clubs Page” written in the subject line. For more information about the page, contact Stephen Hunt on 502-2373 or 447-3565.
Ebola spreads to major Congo city KINSHASA, Congo Associated Press CONGO’S Ebola outbreak has spread to a crossroads city of more than 1 million people in a troubling turn that marks the first time the vast, impoverished country has encountered the lethal virus in an urban area. “This is a major, major gamechanger in the outbreak,” Dr Peter Salama, the World Health Organization’s deputy director-general of emergency preparedness and response, warned on Thursday. A single case of Ebola was confirmed in Mbandaka, a densely populated provincial capital on the Congo River, Congo’s Health Minister Oly Ilunga said late Wednesday. The city is about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Bikoro, the rural area where the outbreak was announced last week. Medical teams rushed to track down anyone thought to have had contact with infected people, while WHO continued shipping thousands of doses of an experimental vaccine. A total of 44 cases of Ebola have been reported in Congo in this outbreak: three confirmed, 20 probable and 21 suspected, according to WHO. Twenty-three of those people have died. Until now, the outbreak was confined to remote rural areas, where Ebola, which is spread by bodily fluids, travels more slowly. “We’re certainly not trying to cause any panic in the national or international community,” Salama said. But “urban Ebola can result in an exponential increase in cases in a way that rural Ebola struggles to do.” Mbandaka, a city of almost 1.2 million, is in a busy travel corridor in Congo’s northwest Equateur province and is upstream from the capital, Kinshasa, a city of about 10 million. It is an hour’s plane ride from Kinshasa or a four- to seven-day trip by river barge.
AN electron micrograph image shows an Ebola virus virion. Salama also noted Mbandaka’s proximity to neighboring countries, including Central African Republic and Republic of Congo. “The scenario has changed, and it has become most serious and worrying, since the disease is now affecting an urban area,” said Henry Gray, emergency coordinator in Mbandaka for Doctors Without Borders. The aid organisation said 514 people believed to have been in contact with infected people are being monitored. WHO said it is deploying about 30 more experts to the city. Those exposed will for the first time in Congo receive Ebola vaccinations, the health minister said. WHO has sent 4,000 doses to Congo and said it will dispatch thousands more in the coming days as needed. “This is a concerning development, but we now have better tools than ever before to combat Ebola,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO
director-general, said of the new urban case. The vaccine has been shown to be highly effective against Ebola. It was tested in Guinea during the outbreak that killed more than 11,300 people in West Africa from 2014 to 2016. WHO has said it will use the “ring vaccination” method. It involves vaccinating contacts of those feared infected, contacts of those contacts, and health care and other front-line workers. This is the ninth Ebola outbreak in Congo since 1976, when the disease was first identified. The virus is initially transmitted to people from wild animals, including bats and monkeys. There is no specific treatment for Ebola. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding. The virus can be fatal in up to 90 percent of cases, depending on the strain.
PREGNANT RHINO COULD SAVE SPECIES SAN DIEGO Associated Press
A SOUTHERN white rhino has become pregnant through artificial insemination at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park — giving hope for efforts to save a subspecies of one of the world’s most recognisable animals, researchers announced yesterday. Scientists will be watching closely to see if the rhino named Victoria can carry her calf to term over 16 to 18 months of gestation. If she does, researchers hope someday she could serve as a surrogate mother and could give birth to the related northern white
rhino, whose population is down to two females after decades of decimation by poachers. The mother and daughter northern white rhinos that live in a Kenya wildlife preserve are not capable of bearing calves. The last northern white male rhino, named Sudan, was euthanised in March at the Kenya preserve because of ailing health related to his old age. Victoria is the first to become pregnant of six female southern white rhinos the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research is testing to determine if they are fit to be surrogate mothers.
HASPEL IS FIRST FEMALE CIA DIRECTOR WASHINGTON Associated Press THE Senate confirmed Gina Haspel yesterday as the first female director of the CIA following a difficult nomination process that reopened an emotional debate about brutal interrogation techniques in one of the darkest chapters in the spy agency’s history. The 54-45 vote split both
parties, with six Democrats joining most Republicans in support. It was the closest vote for a CIA nominee in nearly seven decades, since the law was changed to require Senate confirmation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, called President Donald Trump’s choice of Haspel to lead the agency “the right woman at the right time”.