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Volume: 119 No.126, May 24, 2022

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‘NO WAY’ TO PAY BILLS WITHOUT NEW TAXES Reformer says Budget is most important in history of The Bahamas

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A GOVERNANCE reformer yesterday said he was “confident” some tax increases will be unveiled in tomorrow’s Budget, which he branded as the “most important” in Bahamian history to-date.

Hubert Edwards, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) economic development committee head, told Tribune Business there was “absolutely no way” to increase government revenues to 25 percent of gross

domestic product (GDP) the Davis administration’s target - without implementing new and/or higher taxes.

And, given The Bahamas’ post-COVID situation with multiple challenges confronting it, he argued that the 2022-2023 Budget is the most pivotal yet as “the country could languish below its potential for some time to come if we don’t get this right” on the short, medium and long-term reforms needed to direct it back on a sustainable economic and fiscal path.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

ATTORNEY CONCERNED AT SEX REGISTRY OPERATION

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net A NOTED attorney has raised concerns about the lack of information given to convicts about the sexual offender’s registry prior to their imprisonment.

Christina Galanos told The Tribune yesterday that while she fully supports the implementation of a sexual offenders list, there is also a need for people

convicted of sex crimes, to be fully educated on how the registry works and what it could mean for them after release.

She spoke after officials announced on Friday that a 55-year-old registered sex offender was being released from the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services that day.

The man, identified as Alden Scott, was sentenced

EXUMA DEATHS CAUSED BY CARBON MONOXIDE

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net LOCAL officials and Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma were tight-lipped yesterday about the cause of death of three American tourists who were found dead in their rooms at the hotel earlier this month.

However, The Tribune was told yesterday that it has been confirmed that carbon monoxide was to blame for the deaths of couple Michael and

Robbie Phillips, from Maryville, Tennessee, and Vincent Paul Chiarella, of Florida.

The victims, all in their 60s, were found dead in two separate villas at Sandals on May 6 after they were stricken by an unknown illness and had sought medical help in the hours before they were found.

Donnis Chiarella, wife of Paul Chiarella, was the lone survivor. She was ultimately airlifted to the United States for treatment.

ROBBIE and Michael Phillips.

SEE PAGE TWO

SEE PAGE SEVEN

‘NO COUNT’ ON LATE DISCLOSURES

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net THERE has been a considerable increase in the number of officials who have filed their financial records, according to Public Disclosure Commission chairman Bishop Victor Cooper.

There was a report of some parliamentarians missing the deadline to meet annual disclosure requirements.

Bishop

FNM chairman Dr Duane Sands said it appeared the rules did not apply to the Davis administration.

Cooper has previously said that some first-time MPs were not aware that there

was a legal requirement for them to file financial disclosures under the Public Disclosures Act. When asked for an update on the matter, he told The Tribune yesterday: “I don’t have a count for you at this juncture. I can tell you that there has been a considerable increase in persons who have reported.

“There are a lot of persons who missed. They are now getting their

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

SEE PAGE THREE

FACE TO FACE: THE LEGACY OF UNCLE LOU - SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Tuesday, May 24, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Exuma deaths caused by carbon monoxide from page one Asked about the claim yesterday, Royal Bahamas Police Force Commissioner Paul Rolle said: “Wait for the pathologist for cause of death. I do not know.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson at Sandals told The Tribune the resort is waiting for the official comment from the authorities “following which we shall have a statement”.

Relatives of the deceased also declined to comment yesterday.

On Sunday, Mr Rolle said the RBPF received the results of samples that were taken from each of the three victims and sent to Philadelphia for analysis earlier this month.

Mr Rolle said he directed that those results be forwarded to the local pathologist.

He said that when a cause of death

is released to the police, he will first release it to family members and then to the media.

The commissioner was unable to say whether relatives of the victims were granted permission to bring in a US pathologist to conduct another autopsy, saying this was outside of his remit.

Officials say the two men and one woman died sometime between 11pm on May 5 when they, along with the lone survivor, visited the clinic seeking medical attention for nausea and vomiting, and around 8.30am to 9am the next morning, when they were found dead in two separate villas.

Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper had earlier told reporters that autopsies of the American victims had already been completed.

However, he noted the findings had not been released.

POLICE Commissioner Paul Rolle.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, May 24, 2022, PAGE 3

‘No count’ on late disclosures

from page one

information together and getting it in. Because it’s not just somebody writing it down. You’ve got to send verifiable documents, etc, to the disclosure. It’s not just a matter of sitting down and saying. It’s a process that requires an in-depth study of what you have with

verifiable documents.

Asked to give a percentage of the collective number that have disclosed despite the deadline passing on March 1, Mr Cooper said he did not have that information on hand, adding: “But I know that people have been making a considerable effort to get their documents in.”

As for an absolute cut off

point for those who have yet to file their records, he said: “There is no real cut off point per se, but since the indication that some may have forgotten, they remembered and they are getting their documents in and so we are very pleased to see that kind of thing happening, OK?” “The law speaks to that and so once we are finished

with what we are doing that information will be forwarded to the relevant authorities, the prime minister’s office, the leader of the opposition and then we’ll take it from there once we’ve gotten their advice on that.”

For his part, Free National Movement Chairman Dr Duane Sands said it appeared that the rules did

not apply to all under the Davis administration.

“You asked the question about disclosure,” he said, “I think we are looking at an administration where the law applies only to subjects of the country and not to them. Let’s hope that all of the members of Parliament in particular who were required to disclose have disclosed.”

Asked if those who have not disclosed should be fined, he repeated his position on following the law.

“I think that you know people should be required to follow the law. The law should be upheld and whatever consequences arise from not adhering to the law, those consequences should apply,” Dr Sands said.

TRIBUTES AS NEUROSURGEON AND POLITICIAN DR EUGENE NEWRY DIES NOTED neurosurgeon and former politician Dr Eugene Newry died on Sunday.

According to Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell yesterday, the writer, philosopher, diplomat and political activist in the early 1960s was responsible for engendering a more activist and aggressive posture for the Progressive Liberal Party following the defeat of the party in 1962.

It came at a time when the party’s leadership was passing to a new generation and while Dr Newry was a member of the National Committee for Positive Action.

“One of his fonder memories was engaging in a demonstration outside the Lyford Cay gates when then US President John Kennedy officially visited The Bahamas in 1962,” Mr Mitchell said in a statement yesterday. “He said Mr Kennedy sent word to ask what the demonstration was about and ended up having lunch with a group of the young PLPs, including Dr Newry.

“He trained in France as a neurosurgeon. He returned to The Bahamas and practised in the country’s public hospitals.

“Upon retirement, he assisted the leadership of then PLP leader Perry Christie in the return to political power. He served

under Mr Christie as Ambassador to Haiti and Ambassador to Washington, DC. I had the honour of working with him on both occasions as Minister.”

Mr Mitchell remembered Dr Newry as an avid reader of history and an incisive commentator on the public affairs of the country up to his passing.

He said the PLP was deeply grateful for his life of service to the nation.

“On behalf of our leader and Prime Minister Philip Davis and Mrs Davis, Deputy Chester Cooper and Mrs Cooper, all Cabinet Ministers, Senators and MPs, our officers and members, we say rest in peace,” Mr Mitchell said.

“Our condolences to his widow Françoise and his four children, in particular my colleague at the Foreign Ministry, Eugene Torchon Newry.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis also paid tribute to Dr Newry last night.

He said: “It is with sadness that I learned of the passing of a Bahamian intellectual, historian, political activist, scientist and diplomat, Dr Eugene Newry.

“A native of Acklins, Dr Newry, a French-trained Neurosurgeon, belonged to that cadre of young Bahamian professionals who were invited by

former Prime Minister the late Sir Lynden Pindling, to forego lucrative economic opportunities abroad in favour of returning home to build our fledgling nation.

“Like the Rt Hon Perry G Christie, Sir William Allen, T Baswell Donaldson and many others, Dr Newry returned to The Bahamas and made his contributions to nationbuilding in the areas of medicine, public administration and diplomacy.

“Dr Newry served with distinction in building the public health system, and later as an Ambassador to the Republic of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the United Nations and lastly, the United States of America in Washington DC. “He was an ardent supporter of the progressive movement and played significant strategic roles within the Progressive Liberal Party during and well beyond its iconic march to Majority Rule, then onto National Independence.

“A seminal moment in his political activism took place during a protest in 1962 at the entrance of Lyford Cay while Dr Newry served as a member of the PLP’s National Committee for Positive Action (NCPA).

The then President of the United States, John F Kennedy, was visiting The

DR EUGENE NEWRY Bahamas at that time and met with the protestors about their concerns and

the US President invited the activist group to join him for lunch.

“Dr Newry was an elder statesman and I always cherished our conversations on any number of issues of national import, be it local or international. I recall this independent thinker and intellectual as always being thoughtful, deliberate, passionate and brutally honest in his analyses and critiques of the subject matter at hand.

“Dr Newry was a democrat, a nationalist and a patriot who always defended the interest of The Bahamas. Those intangible qualities will always be his endearing and enduring legacies and are worthy of defence and protection by those of us who knew and loved him.

“As death is not the full stop or the finality, but a mere comma in the sentence of life, I am happy and take comfort in the fact that Dr. Newry will continue to live on in the hearts and minds of many whose lives were touched by his purpose-driven life and work.

“On behalf of my wife Ann Marie, Deputy Prime Minister, I Chester Cooper, the government and people of The Bahamas, and on my own behalf, I express heartfelt condolences to his family, especially his widow, Francoise, and his son Eugene Torchon, on the passing of Dr Eugene Newry. May he rest in peace.”

PAGE 4, Tuesday, May 24, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

‘Patients waiting on trolleys’ at PMH, warns FNM chairman

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net FORMER Health Minister Dr Duane Sands has said a number of consequences have manifested due to Princess Margaret Hospital reaching its maximum capacity as a result of non-COVID19 cases.

According to Dr Sands, many patients waiting for admission have been placed on trolleys, making it difficult to move patients back and forth to the operating room.

This sometimes means the congestion impacts the ability of ambulances to move because people remain on trolleys, highlighting a “phenomenal” backlog of cases.

The issue has been made worse by the shortage of nurses in the public healthcare system.

The Public Hospitals Authority released a statement last Thursday explaining the situation.

At the time, PHA said PMH’s Family Medicine Clinic at Agape House would “offer limited services” as nursing staff would be redeployed to the hospital. Only physicians remained deployed at Agape Clinic.

“Non-COVID hospital operations, resources, and services have been adjusted.

“Face-to-face out patient services, including elective surgeries and specialty clinics, are limited. Public/ visitor access to our public hospitals remains limited to ensure the safety of patients and staff and to minimise further transmission of COVID,” the release read.

“As a result of decreased bed capacity, 40

patients at the hospital’s Emergency Department are awaiting admission.

The Emergency Department is restricted to emergency cases only including major accidents, strokes, and heart attacks, trauma with major bleeding, loss of consciousness, and difficulty breathing.”

At the time, PMH anticipated an increase in bed capacity of 23 beds in a short 24-hour window.

Regarding the 40 patients that had been waiting at one point for admission, Dr Sands said: “That gives an idea of the seriousness of the situation at Princess Margaret Hospital and the consequences of that would be many patients are on trolleys. That then makes it difficult to move patients back and forth to the operating room.

Sometimes it impacts the

ability of ambulances to move because people remain on trolleys and so this is non-COVID and speaks to the phenomenal backlog of cases and also the capacity challenges at the main hospital.

“One major driving factor to this is the nursing shortage, but it speaks to the need for a very serious conversation about how do we build additional capacity in our hospitals in a holistic way because it’s more than just rooms. It’s more than just beds. It is, you know to put a patient through the hospital and the ability to get diagnostic and therapeutic services, but the biggest Achilles Heel is the shortage of nurses.”

The Free National Movement chairman believes another factor that has compounded the issue is funding.

“The access to funds

for maintenance, repairs, supplies, new equipment, (and) human resources remains a problem. That then has a knock on effect in terms of whether you are able to bring new wards on stream and even if you are able to bring new wards on stream whether you have staff to nurse and care for patients.

“If you look in the operating rooms there are challenges in terms of the number of cases that can be done because of the number of theatre trained staff. Notwithstanding the fact that you may have multiple operating rooms, many of them cannot function because we don’t have staff and when I say staff I’m speaking specifically to operating room trained staff. Sometimes you have staff and you don’t have trollies to bring patients to (the) operating room.”

He also said: “If you look at the funding at the Public Hospitals Authority which is the main method of accessing acute care in The Bahamas, funding for the Public Hospitals Authority has historically been less than (the) need. So successive administrations have had to forgo certain options for maintenance contracts, for instance, for certain repairs, upgrades.”

“There’s often times a challenge with receivables, you know payables they are unable to pay vendors that provide certain essential service or medications or supplies and sometimes those vendors will threaten and say hey if I don’t get paid then I’m gonna stop providing. So it is a serious problem and it is made worse by a disconnect between the politics of healthcare and the reality of healthcare.”

LUNCH AND LEARN FOR STUDENTS SEABREEZE MP Leslia Brice, who is also the High Commissioner Designate to CARICOM, hosted a lunch and learn session with sixth grade Sadie Curtis Primary School students earlier this month.

During the event, each student was presented with a SMART Savings Challenge guide and piggy banks to encourage ongoing savings habits and practice.

Sixth grade students were selected as the lead recipients of this programme as a high school preparation process.

The session was held on May 11.

Mrs Brice said: “I am delighted to host this inaugural session, which is intended to be an annual event for the grade six students. In our promotion of financial literacy through our Seabreeze Financially SMART initiative, we want to equip these soon-to-be primary school graduates with the tools to spend and save wisely.”

“It is common that as a student enters junior school, parents extend

increased responsibility and independence with the management of their lunch money and they become more aware of managing their money,” she also said.

The Financial Academy was selected to offer to the students an exciting and engaging presentation on Saving Now, For Later.

Founder Lakeisha Rolle told students the key tips of committing to making smart money choices; always writing down how much money is received, how much is spent and how much is saved; saving some first; and holding onto cash if there is no need to spend it right away.

Mrs Brice commended the students of Sadie Curtis for their active engagement throughout the presentation and applauded the administration and faculty for their ongoing investment into the lives of young people.

“Financial literacy is an active component of our curriculum as a part of the Junior Achievement Bahamas Elementary Programme implemented here.

We are delighted for this opportunity to promote financial literacy further and we are grateful for Mrs Brice’s support to shine light on this fundamental need for our students beyond the classroom,” said Carolyn Wright-Mitchell, principal of Sadie Curtis Primary School.

The Financially SMART Lunch and Learn series followed Seabreeze’s April community meeting themed: “The Total You.” During this meeting, the Seabreeze MP hosted Dr Julian Moncur, Dr Novia Carter-Lookie and Cleora Farquaharson who presented healthy tips, mental health expertise and financial advice.

Mrs Brice gifted all attendees with healthy food packages and budget planners.

“The aim of our initiatives in Seabreeze is to be empowering, impactful but also practical. We want attendees to walk away with an increased knowledge but also the resources to apply what was shared,” she said.

DARVILLE TO LEAD GENEVA DELEGATION A DELEGATION headed by Health Minister Dr Michael Darville has left the country to attend the 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.

“The Bahamas delegation will be working with countries to stabilise existing relations and forge new mutually beneficial partnerships,” Dr Darville said of the trip in a statement yesterday.

Delegates attending have an ambitious agenda before them as the COVID-19 pandemic undermined progress towards health-related targets listed on the Sustainable Development Goals,” according to the statement.

In the words of current WHO Director-General Dr Tedros - as he is commonly called – the pandemic lay bare the inequities within,

and between countries.

The conference will also include the appointment of the next World Health Organisation Director-General.

The assembly ends on Saturday, May 28, 2022.

In Dr Darville’s absence, Attorney General Ryan Pinder will act as minister of health and wellness, from May 22-28.

POLICE HUNT FOR RAPIST IN GRAND BAHAMA

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net GRAND Bahama Police are searching for a rapist who is believed to be responsible for at least two recent sexual assaults in the Freeport area.

According to

unconfirmed reports, the incidents reportedly occurred in the areas of Tyne Beach and Xanadu Beach. Police have issued a wanted flyer with a composite sketch of the suspect who is wanted for rape and armed robbery.

The suspect is believed to be five feet, nine inches tall,

of dark brown complexion and medium built.

Police are warning residents that the suspect is considered armed and dangerous and should be approached with extreme caution.

People are asked to call police at 350-3104/6, and 352-1919, 350-3106/9, or 911.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, May 24, 2022, PAGE 5

ALPHA Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated regional director Joy Elaine Daley was greeted at the GB International Airport by Pi Upsilon Omega Chapter president Yvonne Pearson and Ministry of Tourism general manager Steven Johnson on her arrival in Freeport on Friday.

Photos: Vandyke Hepburn

Sorority welcomes regional director to Grand Bahama

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net ALPHA Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated Pi Upsilon Omega Chapter in Freeport welcomed AKA’s International Regional Director Joy Elaine Daley to Grand Bahama.

Chapter president Yvonne Pearson and Ministry of Tourism executive Steven Johnson met and greeted Ms Daley on her arrival at Grand Bahama International Airport at 11.30am on Friday.

The regional director

then paid a courtesy call on the Minister for Grand Bahama Ginger M Moxey at the Ministry for Grand Bahama at the Office of the Prime Minister on Friday afternoon.

Ms Daley’s official visit coincided with the Chapter’s 35th Charter anniversary celebrated on Sunday, May 22, with a church service at the ProCathedral of Christ the King, followed by a luncheon at Blair House, where seven women were welcomed into the sorority.

As international regional director, Ms Daley oversees

the 18 chapters located outside of the continental USA that make up the International Region in countries such as Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean.

She visits the chapters in the region at least once in her tenure.

Grand Bahama Minister Ginger Moxey welcomed Ms Daley to Grand Bahama. She was accompanied by Ms Pearson, chapter president; Tanisha Tynes-Cambridge, Assistant Recording Secretary; Eleanor Munroe, Protocol Chair; Vashti

G ATTORNEY ‘FOUND DEAD IN S I ING POOL’

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net WELL-KNOWN Grand Bahama attorney Jethro Miller is believed to have been found unresponsive in a swimming pool at his residence on Sunday.

While police have not yet confirmed an identity, the Bahamas Bar Association issued condolences in connection with the attorney’s sudden passing on Sunday.

Mr Miller was a former Acting Chief Justice.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Stephen Rolle reported that police received a report shortly after 9pm on Sunday of an adult male being found unresponsive at a

JETHRO MILLER residence on Gray’s Inn Drive, off Sgt Major Road.

Uniformed and plainclothed officers were dispatched to the scene to

investigate.

ASP Rolle said initial investigations revealed that the victim went outside the residence to go into the pool. Sometime later his girlfriend went outside to look for him when she noticed him submerged at the bottom of the pool.

The senior police official said the woman sought some assistance, and CPR was administered.

Mr Rolle said EMS personnel responded and found no signs of life.

He said the victim was later taken to the Rand Memorial Hospital where he was examined by a doctor and pronounced dead.

Police are continuing investigations.

Maycock-Bowen, Connection Chair; and charter members, Joycelyn Pinder, Julie Glover, Eleanor Munroe, and Shelley Stewart-Rolle.

“It is wonderful to have you in Grand Bahama, and I know the wonderful work you (the sorority) do,” the minister said.

Ms Moxey believed that there is an opportunity for collaboration on initiatives that seek to improve people’s lives. She also expressed interest in developing a long-term relationship with the organisation.

Minister Moxey noted that the Ministry for Grand Bahama formed a new unit called Collab Partnership for Development.

She explained that the unit is designated to partner with NGOs, businesses and other government agencies and the community to assist with the basic needs of residents and the growth and development of GBI. “We are busy...helping other organisations achieve their goals,” she said.

Ms Daley said the sorority was founded on the campus of Howard

University in 1908. She said AKA has ten regions - nine are based in the US, and one International Region.

“So, we are an organisation of 114 years old, and we have over 300,000 members, of which 114,000 are active members internationally. It’s a service organisation,” she told Minister Moxey.

Members of Pi Upsilon Chapter also met with Ms Daley one-on-one at a meet and greet event held on Friday evening at the Port Lucaya Marketplace.

PAGE 6, Tuesday, May 24, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

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No excuse for failing to disclose “THERE are a lot of persons who missed.”

That’s the assessment of the Public Disclosure Chairman, Bishop Victor Cooper, with regards to the parliamentarians who failed to carry out their legal duty and file their disclosures on time.

There should be no excuses. It is not a new law. It should not be a surprise. It came into effect in 1977.

Every cycle, there are stories in the newspapers about who has disclosed and who has not.

Previously, Bishop Cooper said that some new Members of Parliament were unaware of the legal requirement to publicly disclose – but even if somehow people who aspired to be in politics missed the regular stories about public disclosures, press secretary Clint Watson shot that flimsy excuse down when he said that all Members of Parliament were made aware of the requirement during training at the start of the new administration’s term.

So to clarify, they should have been aware, and even if they weren’t aware, they were explicitly told.

Mr Watson does not deserve too much grace, however, as he went on to dismiss the legal requirement as a “simple oversight” on the part of those who did not file, suggesting that they were “so consumed with whatever they were doing” that they didn’t meet the deadline or forgot about it.

That’s not good enough. The truth is it does not matter if they were aware, if they forgot, if it was an oversight – there is a legal deadline and they should have to meet it. The rest of us are not afforded the luxury of being able to pick and choose which laws we obey. None of us is given leeway if our car insurance is out of date when we are stopped by police, or if we fail to file our tax information on time, and so on.

FNM chairman Dr Duane Sands said yesterday it appears that the rules did not apply to all under the Davis administration. It is encouraging to hear Dr Sands speak up on the issue, although we would urge him to go one step further and clarify whether all FNMs have

met their legal obligations in this matter.

There are still too many Parliamentarians whose disclosure status is unknown.

In fact, every single person who failed to disclose should be named - we should know who treats the law as an inconvenience.

We would agree with Dr Sands, however, on the next step. He said: “The law should be upheld and whatever consequences arise from not adhering to the law, those consequences should apply.”

The law should be upheld. That should not be so hard. Parliamentarians are in the position of making the laws that govern us all – the very least they should do is obey them.

Exuma deaths The slow pace at which the details of the investigation into the deaths of three tourists in Exuma are being revealed is frustrating. Yesterday, sources told The Tribune it was confirmed that carbon monoxide was to blame for the deaths of Michael and Robbie Phillips and Vincent Paul Chiarella. The official confirmation has not yet been issued, however.

Sandals, understandably, is waiting for the official statement, although many will be eager to know what steps Sandals has taken to investigate internally too.

Police Commissioner Paul Rolle yesterday said to “wait for the pathologist for cause of death”.

And so we wait. This was a tragedy that must be thoroughly investigated, not least of all to ensure there can be no repeat. We need to understand exactly what went wrong that led to the deaths of three people. We need to be in a position to know if legislation is required to prevent another such tragedy. And the families need to know how this could happen, when visitors came to paradise for a holiday, only for it to end in the most horrible way.

If the pace is slow, the answers must be thorough – and it must be clear to everyone that nothing is being hidden from view.

Supporter of Minnis or a lost soul?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

PLEASE allow me a small place in your newspaper to respond to a letter I read signed “The Mackey Street Man” dated May 22, 2022.

This letter is either written by a well placed Minnis supporter or a very lost individual. Before I go on let it be totally clear I have no horse in the race other then my country.

I read the article in the Guardian and I did not get the impression that Mr Pintard was “attacking former FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis”. In fact I felt he was honest and in no way disparaging to the former leader. Many of us Bahamians thought it was long overdue.

For The Mackey Street Man to say Dr Minnis is a great team player could only be a joke. I heard, and stand to be corrected, that Dr Minnis does not support anything the FNM does.

I understand that he did not attend the swearing-in of the Opposition Leader.

He does not attend any FNM Parliamentary meetings, he did not attend the Conclave. He has received invitations to these and many other meetings he has not attended. Many promises he made since the General Elections, which in my view, he is not honouring.

It is sad that Dr Minnis’ supporters, allegedly would try to hurt the FNM for their own personal gains.

They rather hurt their party before they tell Dr Minnis enough is enough.

We need to be honest with ourselves, Michael Pintard is the leader of the FNM. From what I see he is trying his best to reunite the party, he is inviting FNMs to come home many who left because of the way they were treated in the past.

Many young people in the FNM whom felt alienated are now more involved, feeling a part of the party because of Michael Pintard.

Whether he is the man to lead them into the next General Elections is too early to be determined, but

I know one thing that man is not Dr Hubert Minnis.

The Bahamian people were very clear on September 16th, 2021. Over 65% of the registered voters rejected Dr Minnis and the FNM by either staying home, voting PLP or voting some other party. Many VOTERS who stayed home said they couldn’t vote for the FNM with Dr. Minnis as the leader nor support the PLP. The talk on the ground is Dr Minnis is finished as leader and he needs to put his full support behind Michael Pintard and the present leadership.

There is no need to undermine Pintard’s leadership, if he fails let him fail on his own and in 2024 the FNM convention can decide who will lead them into the 2026 General Elections. Or, am I to assume they are afraid that Michael Pintard will succeed therefore eliminating any chance of a Minnis return.

GEORGE KNIGHT Nassau, May 23, 2022.

BRITAIN’s Queen Elizabeth II sitting in a buggy visits the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Chelsea Flower Show, at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, in London, yesterday.

Photo: Dan Kitwood/Pool via AP

Is Adrian Gibson a target?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

PLEASE allow me space in your column to express my views on the recent probe into the Water & Sewerage Corporation and what now it appears to be a focus on the Long Island Member of Parliament Mr Adrian Gibson.

What the difference a day makes! It was not so long ago this same Phillip ‘Brave’ Davis was condemning the actions of then Free National Movement Administration for the handling of former minister of his administration.

Mr Davis wrote a letter to then Prime Minister Hubert Alexander Minnis (the particulars which appeared in the Monday, July 24th, 2017 edition of The Tribune) expressing that political considerations may have influenced the manner in which these matters were handled.

On this matter I have a few questions for Mr Davis and that is what has changed since the last election as it pertains to the handling of elected officials with regards to investigations? Has there been an independent body established to allow for these matters to be free of political considerations as you had stated back in

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net 2017?

Has any new bipartisan law been passed by the parliament to address this very serious concern as you would have so rightly stated back in 2017? I must express an even more serious concern because Mr Davis wrote these words in that same letter that even make my bones shiver, “When you set out to dig a grave for your enemy, dig two.”

Wow! He later stated in that same letter that those words were not a threat, but as things continue to play out I am not so sure that it wasn’t.

I have to question is Mr Adrian Gibson a victim of backlash from an administration that has not been able to get over the arrest of former ministers? Is this an attempt to even the score? “When you set out to dig a grave for your enemy, dig two.“ That still does not settle with me.

It is unfortunate that Mr Adrian Gibson who has from all reports been an outstanding upright individual. One who took on the big issues and one who delivered water to

Cat Island as Chairman of Water & Sewerage Corporation and showed Mr Davis up who had served as the Member of Parliament for more than 15 years? I see now how easily he could be one to target.

Mr Gibson stood and fought the union at Water & Sewerage Corporation tooth and nail for what he thought was right and fair.

He was no easy fellow and the PLP had a rough ride with him. They never missed an opportunity to attack him while he held office.

As a matter of fact Davis and Mitchell of the PLP made it their business to visit any union demonstration at Water & Sewerage Corporation.

Mr Gibson seems to me to be the perfect red meat for PLP supporters.

But at the end of the day you still need evidence to charge someone and so far they appear to be void of that!

So, I say to Mr Gibson, have no fear stand firm!

We stand with you. We the people are watching.

As always I say a word to the wise is sufficient!

THE COUNCILMAN Nassau, May 20, 2022.

Pintard has a hint of Pindling EDITOR, The Tribune.

I WAS watching a news segment on Our News Bahamas regarding Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Michael Pintard on a point of order in Parliament and was thoroughly impressed with his uncanny ability to speak extemporaneously.

Leaders of the two main political organisations are routinely gauged by an informed electorate by their ability to hold their own in front of a microphone.

Pintard is a quick thinker who has the ability to address major national issues in depth without having to rely on notes. This is an area where former Prime Minister Dr Hubert

Minnis was often criticised for by the media while in opposition between 2012 - 2017.

In fairness to Minnis, he had markedly improved while in office. With Pintard, however, he has stepped into the FNM leadership position already polished. Indeed, Pintard possesses the oratorical eloquence of Sir Lynden O Pindling, who had no problem outshining the original leaders of the Progressive Liberal Party. And similar to Sir Lynden, Pintard is thoroughly proficient in the Queen’s English.

This is a skill set Pintard was able to hone as a poet and speaker, prior to his ascension to the House of Assembly in 2017.

Pintard is the first FNM leader with the oratorical talent to rival Sir Lynden’s, which automatically sets him above former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, in terms of him being a masterful communicator. Don’t get me wrong, Ingraham was talented in his own right as a political speaker. Yet in my opinion, he was never in the same tier with his former political mentor. Pintard is in that tier. Political naysayers will not be able to criticise the FNM leader in this vitally important area with a straight face.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama May 23, 2022.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, May 24, 2022, PAGE 7

Attorney concerned at sex registry operation from page one to two years behind bars for touching a nine-year-old girl on her hips. His previous offence was the rape of a 17-year-old for which he was jailed in 2014 and released in 2020.

A notice with Scott’s photo was issued to alert the public on Friday after he was considered a significant risk to public safety.

Yesterday, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said sex offenders who are subject to public notice are warned in advance and also have the opportunity to make a case as to why their names should not be publicised.

“We had a hearing where I told (Scott) what was intended and invited him to make representations as to why it should not happen …

Scott was given his right to be heard,” he said.

However, Ms Galanos is of the view that sex offenders should be informed about the possibility of their names being added to the list and later publicised on the day of their conviction.

She said: “When he is sentenced, after he has been convicted, at that point he should be made aware by the judge of his entire punishment and so if he is sentenced to ten years, two years, whatever it is, the judge should also

inform him at that point, that upon release he will be added to the register. I just think it’s fair to the convict to tell him that this is the scope of your punishment.

“But, it’s unfair in my mind for you to tell a man that you’re convicted of rape, whatever it is, you’re serving ten years and he does his ten years and he spends his ten years feeling like that’s all he has to do is the ten years and then at his release, you’re standing there at the gate saying ‘oh no, we intend to do something else. The same authority that sentences them should let them know the total scope of their sentence and punishment.”

She also referred to section 26b (3) of the Sexual Offences Amendment Act 2014, which states “the court may direct that the person who has been convicted of a specified offence be exempt from any or all of the registration and reporting requirements… by virtue of” the convict being a child or first-time sex offender if the sentence imposed is of minimal severity.

The attorney added: “These arguments are supposed to be made at the time of conviction according to the act and so it is only fair that the judge raises it at the time of conviction.

Pursuant to section 26, Mr John Doe, you will be

placed in the sex offenders registry unless you or your attorney is able to direct me otherwise or convince me otherwise pursuant to section 26b as you see it there and then arguments ought to commence and then his attorney may be arguing that ‘hey listen, he’s a first time offender, he’s young and there’s no need to do that to him at this point’ and the judge may agree but the only way we get to that is if he’s informed or his lawyer can read or know but many persons are unrepresented before our courts

MAN FOUND GUILTY OF STEALING PARTS

By PAVEL BAILEY A MAN was found guilty by a magistrate yesterday of stealing $1,800 worth of car parts from a woman’s car and also causing $200 damage to the same vehicle.

Police Sergeant Phylciata Gibson testified before Senior Magistrate Samuel McKinney on the final day of 29-year-old Lavardo Sherman’s trial on the charges.

It was alleged that between November 21 and 22, 2020 Sherman stole Gena Johnson’s 2011 white Nissan Note’s $1,800 front headlights from Geranium Avenue and Garden Hills No. 3. He is also alleged to have caused $200 worth of damage to the vehicle in the process.

During Sgt Gibson’s testimony in court, she recalled how on the day of the accused’s arrest she interviewed him and at around 4.59pm after he was informed of his right to

legal counsel, Sherman told police that after stealing the headlights one of them broke in his attempt to flee the scene.

He also said that he had hidden the second headlight in the bushes in the area of Faith Avenue south.

After the interview, Sgt Gibson told the court how Sherman refused to give a written statement or sign the official Record of Interview (ROI). This ROI was then signed by Sgt Gibson and was later presented in court.

At 7.45pm the same day officers went to Faith Avenue in the company of the accused to search the area where he threw one of the headlights. However, despite a thorough search of the area the stolen item was not found.

Sgt Gibson ended her testimony by saying that after this search she officially charged the accused with what he was then facing in court. When Prosecutor Inspector Timothy Bain

then moved to close the case, Sherman elected to remain silent in court rather than gather witnesses or speak to his defence for himself.

The magistrate found Sherman guilty of the offence and convicted him.

Magistrate McKinney then ruled that the accused pay a $500 fine for the offence as well as financially compensating Ms Johnson for the theft of her property.

Sherman is expected to pay $350 to the court by May 30, after which he is expected to pay $250 for the fine and financially compensate the complainant every two weeks. He is expected to do so until the balance of both debts are paid off.

The accused was also placed on 18 months probation. In that time, if Sherman is convicted of any other crimes or fails to meet any payments, he will be sent to prison for six months.

BAIL GRANTED IN $52K MARIJUANA CASE

By PAVEL BAILEY A MAN was granted bail at nearly $10k in a Magistrate’s Court yesterday after allegedly being found with $52,800 worth of marijuana last week.

Troy Bethel, 48, of #7 Ninth Terrace, appeared before Senior Magistrate Samuel McKinney on a charge of possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

According to an official police statement on May 19 at around 1.30pm officers from the Drug Enforcement Unit acting on information searched the accused’s residence.

There officers, armed with a search warrant, discovered a white crocus sack filled with a grassy substance suspected to be drugs.

The sack’s contents were later positively identified as 52lbs and 8oz worth of Indian Hemp with an

estimated street value of $52,800. These drugs were then seized by the police and Bethel was arrested for having them in his home.

In court, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge against him.

As there was no objection to bail, Bethel was granted $9,500 bail with one or two sureties. Under the conditions of his bail he is expected to be fitted with an ankle monitor. Bethel’s trial is set for August 2.

TWO ACCUSED OVER UNLICENCED FIREARM

By PAVEL BAILEY A MAN and a woman were charged in a Magistrate’s Court yesterday with possession of an unlicenced firearm and ammunition.

Dino Smith, 28, and Annette Johnson, 24, stood before Senior Magistrate Samuel McKinney charged with possession of

an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

On May 20 in New Providence, the accused were arrested after being found with a black Austria Glock .40 pistol with the serial number erased and without a licence.

They were also found with 13 live rounds of .40 ammo.

In court, Smith and Johnson pleaded not guilty to

the two charges against them.

While Smith had a pending matter in court in connection with an armed robbery there was no objection to bail. The two accused were each granted $7,500 bail with one or two sureties on condition that Smith be fitted with an ankle monitor.

The trial date for both accused is set for August 23.

CHRISTINA GALANOS unfortunately, particularly at the magistrate’s court level. An unrepresented person doesn’t know about the sex offender’s registry and how that works.”

However, Mr Munroe said information about the registry can be accessed at the prison.

He also explained that only when a sex offender is nearing his release date can officials make a decision to alert the public. Even in those instances, he said the offender can argue against the move.

“The decision to make

a public notification only arises at the time of release so if you did it at a sentence, you would be prejudging the matter and that’s not permitted,” the minister added.

Offenders sentenced since July 24, 2019, are placed on the register – with 27 offenders said to be on the register at last report.

The registry unit is part of the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

In a statement released last week, Women United commended the ministry’s decision to alert the public

of Scott’s release, saying it was a step in the right direction.

The group’s president, Prodesta Moore, said they feel encouraged to keep pressing forward with their other demands such as a shelter and a dedicated court to deal with sexual crimes.

She said: “Whilst the crime is reprehensible, and punishment has been meted out in this particular instance, it will no doubt be a subject of discussion amongst those who agree or disagree on how to strike a balance. We strongly believe it is our right to be protected as best we can and necessary to be aware of those who walk among us who may still present a danger to others.

“We also hope and believe that publication of names and photos will prove to be a deterrent to others who may have similar intent.

“Women United thank all the agencies and individuals who are also advocating to strengthen and introduce or enforce existing laws to better protect the vulnerable in our society, particularly women and children who are at risk. Every step forward, no matter how small, is progress and we are encouraged to continue to be diligent to pursue safety for all in our communities,” the group said.

TEEN ADMITS ATTACK WITH WHEELBARROW HANDLE

By PAVEL BAILEY A RAGGED Island teenager pleaded guilty yesterday in a Magistrate’s Court to attacking a man with a wheelbarrow handle after the man allegedly robbed him.

Craig Maycock Jr, 18, represented by Rsyzard Humes, appeared before Senior Magistrate Samuel McKinney on a charge of grievous harm.

At 11am on April 10 in Duncan Town, Ragged Island, it is alleged that Maycock attacked another man after he ambushed him while he was on his bike.

During this incident, the accused reportedly beat

the man about the body with the metal wheelbarrow handle leaving him with a broken forearm and teeth.

In court, Maycock pleaded guilty with explanation to the charge.

He said he only attacked the complainant after the man allegedly broke into his home the night before and stole $100.

During his plea of mitigation, Humes called his client’s actions regrettable, but pointed out that Maycock suffered from mental issues for which he had previously been diagnosed at Sandilands.

In addition to offering to show the diagnosis to the magistrate, Humes also said that the accused had no

prior convictions and came from a supportive family willing to render assistance.

The accused’s attorney then asked the court to take into consideration Maycock’s youth and early plea of guilt so that they could be lenient in their ruling.

In view of this, Magistrate McKinney deferred Maycock’s sentencing to May 25 to review the accused’s mental health report and check on the condition of his victim as he is still undergoing treatment in hospital from the attack.

Until his court date, Maycock will be returned to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

Celebration of Life and Service of Thanksgiving For

Mary Edna Henrietta (née Sands) Thompson, 70 will be held on Thursday, May 26th, 2022 at 10:00 am at All Saints Anglican Church, Joan’s Heights. Officiating will be Fr. Berkley Smith assisted by Cannon Kirkley Sands, Fr. Scott Brennen, Fr. Ivan Eldon, Fr. Oswald Pinder and Father Bryton B. Ward. Interment will follow in Margaret View Cemetery, North Palmetto Point, Eleuthera on Saturday, May 28th, 2022.

She is predeceased by her parents: Charles and Fymicia Sands; brothers: James, Oswald and Preston Sands.

She is survived by her sons: Henry (Schnika) Thompson, Sheaderon (Shayne) and Margo Thompson, Orintheo (Chantel) Thompson and Lowell (Theron) Bethel; daughters: Gustine Thompson and Ramar Sands; grandchildren: Henry Jr., Rose’, Giana, and Anique Thompson, Richard, Shana-e, Shanice, Sheaderon Jr., Sheena, Shanairj, Faron and Jewel Thompson, Christin, Chirstopher and Chante Thompson, Lowell Theron Bethel Jr.; brothers: Charles (Jasmine) Sands, Cannon Kirkley (Celpha) Sands, Derick (Claudia) Sands, Gregory Andre (Mavis) Sands; sisters: Agnes (Prescott) Burrows, Thelma (Aan) Thompson, Adrella Sands, Miriam (Julio) Ortiz-Mendez, Jasmine Sands, Bridget (Troy) Ward; sisters-in-law: Ada, Dianna, Nora, Elizabeth and Noami Thompson; brother-in-law: Doyle Thompson; nieces and nephews: Philip, Kirkley, Jason & Prescott Jr. Burrows, Theresa Rahming, Letecia Deveaux, Maxine Burrows, Emmaline Duncombe, Arlene Anderson, Andy, Keith & Carlos Sands, Yvette Phillips, Tonia, Kirk and Karen Sands, Bridget Chigboo, Jerome, Kevin & Monique Knowles, Heather White, Kay-Anne Thompson, Henry, Dena Riley, Nicola Tynes, Leonardo, Indigo & Hakeem Knowles, Giovinn & Federico Sands, Dericka Missick, Dawn Sands, Elsa Munroe, Rodney Knowles, Andre Hanna, Kemberley Benavitz & Crystal Knowles, Angenette Seymour, Adrian Sands, Troy, Jr. & Rev. Fr. Bryton Ward; other family members and friends: Rock Sound, Palmetto Point, Governors Harbour, Eleuthera and Nassau including Hank Johnson, Rodney Pinder Snr. And Doyle Sands and other relatives and friends.

Relatives and friends may pay their last respects at All Saints Anglican church on Thursday, May 26th, 2022 from 9:00 am to service time.

PAGE 8, Tuesday, May 24, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

The Legacy of Uncle Lou S

OME educators come into the lives of children and leave such an impact on them, that they are never forgotten.

Deacon Leviticus Lewis Joseph Adderley was one of them. As the beloved principal of St. Augustine’s College for many years, he impacted the lives of countless SAC students, molding nation leaders and global influencers. Deacon Adderley was affectionately called ‘Dad’, ‘Uncle Lou’, ‘Uncle’, and ‘Deac’ by those who knew and loved him. He was a mentor to many and a friend to thousands. I had an opportunity to speak with his daughter, Daria this weekend, as the St Augustine’s College Alumni Association (SACAA) gears up to host “The Unca Lou Charity Golf Tournament” on June 11.

It is so encouraging to know that she is walking in her father’s footsteps - using education, sports, and faith to shape the next generation.

She is the Physical Education Teacher and Coach at SAC, where she has served for 21 years.

An avid lover of soccer, Daria is actively involved in Cavalier Football Club.

She is Coordinator of the Youth Programme Director of the Girls and Women’s Programme.

She was recently named the Head Coach of the Women’s National Beach Soccer Team. With all that going on, just like her father, Daria makes time to build a strong Christian walk. She attends St Anselm’s Roman Catholic Church and reads and lectors there.

“My father had a great legacy being an educator and coach,” she told me.

“Through these areas, he became a disciplinarian who always gave of his time and talents, looking for nothing in return.

These are the attributes I am led by when it comes to me, whether teaching physical education at SAC, coaching after school sports, coaching soccer with Cavalier Football Club and coaching in the Bahamas Football Association Women’s Programme.”

The day we spoke, ironically I had turned off of Carmichael Road West to drive south and came across Uncle Lou Adderley Estates housing subdivision. I passed Bernard, Seton, Leonard and Alcuin Lanes. That took me down memory lane, as those are the names of the sporting houses at SAC. Uncle Lou impacted my life for the better. I am happy to have had the opportunity to come under his tutelage during the last years he spent at SAC full time, when I was still a junior high school student and all around athlete. Uncle Lou really touched people’s lives in a special way. He exuded a dignified presence with a genuine smile and eyes that revealed how much he believed in each child.

To us as students, he was larger than life, and a father figure we could depend on.

“He left something in people that cannot be erased,” said Cherelle Cartwright, SACAA President.

“It started out as school pride for all who attended St. Augustine’s College in New Providence, Bahamas. But every SAC student who was graced by the presence of this giant of a man was left with something even greater than pride. They were left with love.”

“He loved his students so much that he became known as ‘Unca Lou’, and became a father figure, a mentor, a teacher. a coach, and a confidante.”

“Uncle Lou had a vision for a multi-sports

complex for SAC. The complex was to comprise a running track, softball fields and a multi-purpose gymnasium. His passing on May 24, 2003 put this dream on hold. Presently, a group of alumni whose lives he impacted, formed a committee to organize and stage the “Unca Lou” Adderley Charity Golf Tournament, which will become an annual event.

Proceeds will aid funding for the completion of the complex to help make his dream a reality.”

SACAA is inviting people to register for the tournament, which is designed as a 2 person scrabble, net score tournament with a minimum of 7 drives per player.

Tee off time begins with a shotgun start at 8am. Lots of prizes are in the works, including a brand new BMW or Toyota Highlander for the first hole in one on hole number 3. The event will bring together people from all walks of life in honour of Uncle Lou, Deacon Leviticus Adderley.

F

ather figure of many, Uncle Lou was “Daddy” to Daria, her sister Clare, and her brother Gervase: “Life lessons my father taught me are vast. I don’t know where to start. Daddy’s unwavering love of God and trust in Him guided his life daily and through that, he had a soft demeanor, selfless of acts towards others, and he was a stern disciplinarian but yet gentle. Daddy gave his time and talent to everyone … all walks of life he touched. Many people have said that I am his image and likeness. My father was my mentor. He was the person I vented to, bounced sporting ideas off, and listened to his advice and guidance.”

His wife of 40 years, Mrs Floridell Adderley, knew him best: “The love and dedication he had for people, and the concern for the children he taught at St Augustines and anyone he met, was strong. He would give of himself - his time, his money. He really cared for people. As for myself, we were partners.

We looked out for each other. We shared everything. We came together and discussed our family and our finances. He had a humble, gentle, kind, loving heart.”

“In general, he really cared for the people of the Bahamas, especially for children,” said Mrs Adderley, a veteran educator of more than three decades.

Since retiring, she spends her days at home, enjoying her garden, and her grandchildren.

She shared with me a memorable moment of his days at SAC: “He got a car from SAC during the 25th anniversary celebration. He didn’t say much but you saw it (the excitement) in his eyes.”

In addition to his formidable impact on students at St Augustine’s for decades, he also impacted thousands of young people in The Bahamas wherever he came into contact with them.

His legacy had a home to take root in when in 1945, St Augustine College was established by the Benedictine Monks of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.

By 1950, Leviticus “Lou” Adderley was its top student. He went on to St John’s University where

he excelled as student and top athlete. Academically, he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics while athletically, he set NCAA and school records in Greco Roman wrestling and tennis.

He completed his studies and returned to his alma mater as teacher/ coach and later became the principal, retiring in 1991. He was dearly loved by his students and was called “Unca Lou” by all. The name Lou “Unca Lou” Adderley became synonymous with the institution. In addition to his extensive impact on SAC, he was also one of the founding members of BAISS (independent school sports) that initially enabled quality competition and socializing between secondary schools.

Nationally, it is understood that his greatest fluency was his unbridled mastery of himself, as a builder of men, coach of champions, professor of scholars, and protector of his faith.

I asked Daria what she would do if she could spend one more day with this giant of a man: “Oh, to spend one more day with him would make my world! I would like to show him through my various interests how his gentle and selfless acts have guided my life and my sports. I would want him to meet especially the Cavalier girls I coach to see how I have mentored them and how they are growing into great individuals no matter their circumstances.

Finally, to spend the day with his grand-

daughter and grandson, whose personality and style are so much of him.

Every day he is missed, but I know he is looking down on me and smiling at the person I have become. It is because of

him that I am the person I am today.”

To join with those celebrating his legacy with the Unca Lou Charity Golf Tournament, visit www. thesacalumniassociation. or, email uncaloucharity@ gmail.com, or call 8205568 or 397-1744.

ABOVE: Deacon Leviticus “Uncle Lou” Adderley.

BELOW RIGHT AND BOTTOM OF PAGE: Deacon Adderley loved service to God and to man.

BELOW LEFT: Daria Adderley, daughter of Deacon Leviticus “Uncle Lou” Adderley.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, May 24, 2022, PAGE 9

Northern Ireland in the spotlight THE Northern Ireland Protocol agreed between Britain and the European Union as part of the arrangements for the former’s withdrawal from the bloc has been controversial and a source of tension since it came into force at the beginning of last year.

It has been hitting the headlines most recently for two reasons. The British government has announced plans to override the Brexit deal insofar as it applies to the province of Northern Ireland and US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has waded in by saying a transatlantic free trade deal will be off the table if the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 is jeopardised by the UK even partially changing the NI Protocol - and her remarks have been given publicity in the world’s media. What is more, if any such change is made unilaterally, the EU has threatened to revoke the whole Brexit trade deal agreed with Britain.

It is safe to say that, only in the most exceptional circumstances, would a nation like Britain consider breaching its international obligations by seeking to change an agreement entered in to as recently as 2020. But the reality of the current situation in Northern Ireland has to be recognised. In the view of many people, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has no option but to force through change because the Protocol has caused problems that had not been foreseen and are threatening the stability of the UK -- of which NI is, of course, a part – so that change is now needed in order to keep the peace.

After the Brexit vote in 2016, it became clear that special arrangements were needed for NI because it would be the only part of the UK that had a land border with an EU country – the Republic of Ireland (ROI).

Before Brexit, it was easy to transport goods across this open border within the island of Ireland. There were no customs checks since both sides had the same EU rules.

In view of NI’s troubled political history, both the UK and EU considered it essential to keep the border open since it was a key element of the historic Good Friday Agreement -- the peace deal that brought the “Troubles” to an end by providing for a power-sharing executive in a new NI Assembly in Belfast.

Both sides made protection of this peace deal an absolute priority. So they signed the Protocol in conjunction with the Brexit withdrawal agreement which is now part of international law.

Under this, a new procedure was introduced. Instead of checking goods coming from NI at this border, it was agreed that inspections and document checks would be conducted between NI and

Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), with these being carried out, in practice, at NI ports. It was also agreed that NI would continue to follow EU rules on product standards and this meant, in effect, the province staying in the EU Single Market.

UK negotiators at the time realized this was far from perfect. But, if Boris Johnson had not agreed to this trade border – even though it left Britain as possibly the only country in the world with an internal one of this sort - there might not have been a Brexit agreement at all.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the mainly protestant unionists in NI, who maintain an uncompromising defence of their status as part of the UK, are opposed to this arrangement because they see it as placing a border across the Irish Sea between mainland Britain and NI and thus undermining their place within the UK. They resent being cut off from the rest of the UK in this way. In addition, reportedly there are operational problems in separating goods destined to remain in the province and those due to be moved on to the ROI, even though the Protocol has not yet been fully implemented.

One result is that NI’s largest unionist party, the Democratic Unionists (DUP), is refusing to take part in the power-sharing government unless its concerns are resolved. This is crucial because, even though in recent elections the DUP came second to the mainly Catholic nationalist party, Sinn Fein, who want reunification of the province with the ROI, a new power-sharing NI government cannot be formed without DUP support. The unionists are saying firmly that they will not share power with Sinn Fein under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement unless the NI Protocol is abolished – or adapted in some way.

That, in a nutshell, is the dilemma facing the British

government.

The facts make it clear that Nancy Pelosi’s intervention – and her claim that changes to the Protocol would undermine the power-sharing agreement -- are at the very least misguided. Her stance betrays a deep misunderstanding of the situation. It is not a change in the Protocol that could threaten the Good Friday Agreement but, rather, the continued existence of the Protocol itself that is already undermining it. This is because of the DUP’s opposition to the Protocol and its refusal to cooperate in implementing the peace agreement -- and she does not seem to understand that. She has been branded by Lord Frost, who negotiated the Brexit deal, “ignorant” of the realities in NI, and should not anyway be threatening to shelve a US/UK bilateral trade deal by linking it to the Irish issue. For their part, the unionists also say her interference in what are internal UK matters is uninformed, unhelpful and inappropriate. Meanwhile, it is hard to believe that the EU would really want to start a mutually destructive trade war over the issue given the current economic difficulties of many of its member states – not least Germany after its loss of Russian gas imports or Sweden and Finland after having just signed security assistance pacts with the UK. The key to the long-term future of Northern Ireland is to secure a lasting end to sectarian violence through power-sharing.

This is judged to be essential to keep the peace and it was achieved through the Good Friday Agreement.

So Britain will surely have to get rid of the Protocol in its existing form – or alter it in some way acceptable to unionists -- in order to rescue the now moribund peace deal. The irony is that an arrangement justified as safeguarding that deal has ended up jeopardising it.

EARLIER this month, I spotted in the Mail Online a report about the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Daily Mail. Launched on May 4, 1896, by Alfred Harmsworth and his brother Harold, who later became the first Viscount Rothermere, it has been owned by the same family ever since.

Packed with human interest journalism to inform and entertain readers, it was apparently an instant hit and quickly began selling a

million copies a day. It was also successful from the start because the Harmsworth brothers believed that the newspaper was there to serve its readers, not the other way round.

The Daily Mail is now the biggest-selling newspaper in the UK and Mail Online is read by millions across the globe.

After having been postponed twice because of the pandemic, a sumptuous celebratory event was held recently at Claridge’s

hotel in London attended by the Prime Minister and numerous other dignitaries. In reading an account of this, what struck me most was the content of a powerful and historic address to celebrate the anniversary delivered by the current proprietor who is the fourth Viscount Rothermere.

He hailed the Mail’s tradition of holding the powerful to account in a free, democratic society and exposing “corrupt, pompous, incompetent and immoral”

The Peter Young column

EST’S FAITH IN RESURGENT NATO THREE weeks ago, I wrote about NATO’s strong and unified role in supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression in contrast to that of an ineffectual European Union which has no army -- defence is a matter for its individual member states. Now, the newly re-elected French president, Emmanuel Macron, pictured, in describing priorities for France’s presidency of the EU has suggested a new security framework for the bloc amidst escalating tensions on its borders. In explaining his vision, Macron raised the idea of a European army to enable the EU to have “the means to decide its own future” – an old issue that was discussed officially in the EU as long ago as 1998.

This initiative doubtless comes partly in response to the unexpected recent resurgence of NATO which, to many in the West, had become a relic of the Cold War after originally having been created in 1949 as a defensive alliance to deter the former Soviet Union from further aggression following the end of the Second World War. But, despite being a founder member of the organisation, France was never a great supporter of NATO because it meant playing second fiddle to AngloAmerican influence. In 1966, President de Gaulle pulled out of its integrated military command and France did not return until 2009. Macron now apparently wants to give fresh impetus to the EU by creating so-called outer rings of co-operation in certain areas like defence and has suggested this could include the UK. To many, this looks to be pie in the sky coming, as it does, at a time when the 30-member NATO is proving itself highly effective in a coordinated response to Russia. It will shortly be strengthened by new members Sweden

and Finland - subject to overcoming Turkey’s objections – who have looked to the organisation to boost their defensive capacity and protect their security rather than to the EU which lacks the capacity to assist. Under the leadership of the US with its huge $40bn aid package recently approved

by Congress - and, buoyed up by the forthright and productive role played

by Britain - NATO has seized the initiative in the Ukraine crisis during the last few months while the EU as a global force has become sidelined. It seems NATO has been quickly transformed, with its members -including a hitherto reluctant Germany – now paying more on defence as they were pushed to do in recent years by former President Trump. The result so far is that the organisation has helped to give the beleaguered Ukrainians the edge militarily over the invading Russians.

In these circumstances, the general view among policy-makers in Europe seems to be that there is no need to duplicate NATO by creating a European army.

So, at least for the foreseeable future, Macron will have to continue to accept US leadership in European defence matters. To many observers, these latest developments emphasize the lack of cooperation within the EU as it nevertheless continues its quest for ever closer political union. At present, on the big issues it seems to be as divided as it has been hitherto; for example, over the pandemic when individual countries made up their own rules about closing borders rather than accepting diktats from Brussels -- or the continuing conflict with member states like Poland and Hungary over issues of centralisation and control and the primacy of EU law.

VITAL ROLE OF A FREE PRESS

politicians from all parties without fear or favour. As he said, “we are beholden to no one but our readers who love and respect our journalism. That is why we are a genuinely free Press. And, however much those in power try, they can never – to their fury and frustration – control us.” How important that is in a free country including The Bahamas where the declared guiding maxim of The Tribune itself is “Being Bound to Swear to The

Dogmas of No Master”.

Lord Rothermere went on to defend the values of a free society and family life and warned of the “increasingly shrill world of fake news and malign Twitter echo chambers” and the need to “call out charlatans and hypocrites and those who hate this country, its culture and its past” – so that “we must not be afraid to stand up for decency and the traditional values that have stood the test of time”.

There are, of course, those who think that far too often some elements of the UK press can distort the truth and ruthlessly and shamelessly dramatize events to create false interest in order to sell newspapers.

But Lord Rothermere’s passionate and articulate defence of democratic values and his emphasis on tradition and decency will doubtless be music to the ears of many – for his is surely a voice to be heeded.

PAGE 10, Tuesday, May 24, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

CARS pass destroyed Russian tanks near the village of Dmytrivka, close to Kyiv, Ukraine, yesterday.

Photo: Efrem Lukatsky/AP

Russian war criminal imprisoned for life KYIV, Ukraine Associated Press A CAPTURED Russian soldier who pleaded guilty to killing a civilian was sentenced by a Ukrainian court yesterday to life in prison — the maximum — amid signs the Kremlin may, in turn, put on trial some of the fighters who surrendered at Mariupol’s steelworks.

Meanwhile, in a rare public expression of opposition to the war from the ranks of the Russian elite, a veteran Kremlin diplomat resigned and sent a scathing letter to foreign colleagues in which he said of the invasion, “Never have I been so ashamed of my country as on February 24.”

Also, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for “maximum” sanctions against Russia in a video address to world leaders and executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

And on the battlefield, heavy fighting raged in the Donbas in the east, where Moscow’s forces have stepped up their bombardment. Cities not under Russian control were constantly shelled, and one Ukrainian official said Russian forces targeted civilians trying to flee.

In the first of what could be a multitude of war crimes trials held by Ukraine, Russian Sgt Vadim Shishimarin, 21, was sentenced for the killing of a 62-year-old man who was shot in the head in

a village in the northeastern Sumy region in the opening days of the war.

Shishimarin, a member of a tank unit, had claimed he was following orders, and he apologised to the man’s widow in court.

His Ukraine-appointed defense attorney, Victor Ovsyanikov, argued his client had been unprepared for the “violent military confrontation” and mass casualties that Russian troops encountered when they invaded. He said he would appeal.

Ukrainian civil liberties advocate Volodymyr Yavorskyy said it was “an extremely harsh sentence for one murder during the war”. But Aarif Abraham, a British-based human rights lawyer, said the trial was conducted “with what appears to be full and fair due process,” including access to an attorney.

Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating thousands of potential war crimes.

Russian forces in Mariupol bombed a theater where civilians were sheltering and struck a maternity hospital. In the wake of Moscow’s withdrawal from around Kyiv weeks ago, mass graves were discovered and streets were strewn with bodies in towns such as Bucha.

Before Shishimarin’s sentencing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was unable to defend the soldier but will consider trying

to do so “through other channels.”

Mary Ellen O’Connell, an expert on international law at the University of Notre Dame, said that putting Shishimarin on trial could prove “extremely detrimental to Ukrainian soldiers in the hands of Russia.” She said Russia may decide to hold “show trials” of Ukrainians to boost the morale of its own soldiers and spread disinformation.

“Maybe it would have happened without the Ukrainians beginning trials,” O’Connell said.

“But the timing suggests that the Ukrainians should have held back and perhaps still should, so that the Russians can’t say, ‘We’re just doing to their soldiers what they did to ours.’”

Russian authorities have threatened to hold trials of captured Ukrainians — namely, fighters who held out at Mariupol’s shattered steel plant, the last stronghold of resistance in the strategic southern port city.

They surrendered and were taken prisoner last week, at which point Moscow claimed the capture of Mariupol was complete.

Russia’s main investigative body said it intends to interrogate the Mariupol defenders to “identify the nationalists” and determine whether they were involved in crimes against civilians.

Russian authorities have seized upon the far-right origins of one of the regiments

there, calling the Azov Regiment’s fighters “Nazis” and accusing their commander without evidence of “numerous atrocities”.

Russia’s top prosecutor has asked the country’s Supreme Court to designate the Azov Regiment a terrorist organisation.

Family members of the fighters have pleaded for their eventual return to Ukraine as part of a prisoner swap.

Meanwhile, Boris Bondarev, a veteran Russian diplomat at the UN office at Geneva, quit and sent a letter denouncing the “aggressive war unleashed” by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bondarev told The Associated Press: “It is intolerable what my government is doing now.”

In his letter, Bondarev said those who conceived the war “want only one thing — to remain in power forever, live in pompous tasteless palaces, sail on yachts comparable in tonnage and cost to the entire Russian Navy, enjoying unlimited power and complete impunity.”

He also said Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is all about “warmongering, lies and hatred”.

At the Davos forum, Zelenskyy said sanctions against the Kremlin must go further. He urged an embargo on Russian oil, a complete cutoff of trade and a withdrawal of foreign companies from the country.

RUSSIAN Sgt Vadim Shishimarin during a court hearing in Kyiv, Ukraine, yesterday.

Photo: Natacha Pisarenko/AP “This is what sanctions should be: They should be maximum, so that Russia and every other potential aggressor that wants to wage a brutal war against its neighbor would clearly know the immediate consequences of their actions,” said Zelenskyy, who received a standing ovation.

On the battlefield, Russian forces increased their bombardment of the Donbas, the eastern industrial heartland of coal mines and factories that Russia is bent on capturing.

Donetsk’s regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said three civilians died in Russian attacks there Monday and heavy fighting continued near the Luhansk region. The Donbas consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

He said the Russians were decimating cities in their attempt to take them over. Only about 320,000 people out of the region’s prewar population of 1.6

million remain, and Russian forces are targeting evacuation efforts, he said.

“They are killing us. They are killing the locals during evacuation,” Kyrylenko said.

In the Luhansk region, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, local authorities reported that a bridge leading to the administrative center of Sievierodonetsk was destroyed, leaving the partially encircled city reachable by just one road.

Some who fled the Donetsk region shared their suffering.

“We haven’t been able to see the sun for three months. We are almost blind because we were in darkness for three months,” said Rayisa Rybalko, who hid with her family first in their basement and then in a bomb shelter at a school before fleeing their village of Novomykhailivka. “The world should have seen that.”

SOUTH ASIA HEAT A E ‘A FOOD PROGRAMME CALLS ON BILLIONAIRES TO STEP UP SIGN OF THINGS TO CO E’ DAVOS, Switzerland Associated Press

NEW DELHI Associated Press THE devastating heat wave which has baked India and Pakistan in recent months was made more likely due to climate change, according to a study by an international group of scientists on Monday.

This, they say, is a glimpse of what the future holds for the region.

The World Weather Attribution group analysed historical weather data and suggested that early, long heat waves that impact a massive geographical area are rare, once-a-century events. But the current level of global warming, caused by human-caused climate change, has made those heat waves 30 times more likely.

If global heating increases to 2 degrees Celsius more than pre-industrial levels, then heat waves like this could occur twice in a century and up to once every five years, said Arpita Mondal, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, who was part of the study.

“This is a sign of things to come,” Mondal said.

The results are conservative: An analysis published last week by the United Kingdom’s Meteorological Office said the heat wave was probably made 100 times more likely by climate change, with such scorching temperatures likely to reoccur every three years.

What is certain, though, is the devastation the heat wave has wreaked. India sweltered through the hottest March in the country since records began in 1901 and April was the warmest on record in Pakistan and parts of India. The effects have been cascading and widespread: A glacier burst in Pakistan, sending floods downstream; the early heat scorched wheat crops in India, forcing it to ban exports to nations reeling from food shortages due to Russia’s war in Ukraine; it also resulted in an early spike in electricity demand in India that depleted coal reserves, resulting in acute power shortages affecting millions.

Then there is the impact on human health. At least 90 people have died in the two nations, but the region’s insufficient death registration means that this is likely an undercount.

THE head of the UN’s World Food Programme is telling billionaires it’s “time to step up” as the global threat of food insecurity rises with Russia’s war in Ukraine, saying he’s seen encouraging signs from some of the world’s richest people, like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

Agency executive director David Beasley built upon a social media back-and-forth he had with Musk last year, when the Tesla CEO challenged policy advocates to show how a $6bn donation sought by the UN agency could solve world hunger.

Since then, “Musk put $6bn into a foundation. But everybody thought it came to us, but we ain’t gotten any of it yet. So I’m hopeful,” Beasley told The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where some of the world’s biggest elites and billionaires have gathered.

“I don’t know what it’s going to take,” he said of Musk. “We’re trying every angle, you know: Elon, we need your help, brother.”

Musk and Bezos didn’t immediately respond to emails or other messages seeking comment.

Beasley’s challenge came as a new study projected that nearly 1.9 billion people could face food insecurity by November. Eurasia Group and DevryBV Sustainable Strategies presented the report at the Global Citizen NOW Summit in New York Monday, saying that as many as 243 million people could fall into food

DAVID BEASLEY, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme.

Photo: John Minchillo/AP insecurity due to what UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called “hurricane of hunger” heightened by the war in Ukraine.

“The projections are bleak right now,” Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans told The Associated Press.

“This doesn’t have to happen. A lot of institutions are failing people.”

Evans said he hopes that launching the Global Citizen Impact Fund, which will only require payment on pledges based on results, will convince ultra high net worth individuals to donate more since they will already have proof of the effectiveness of their gifts. In the short-term, though, Erna Solberg, former prime minister of Norway and a Global Citizen board member, said at the summit that “Agenda Item #1” is to get the grain already harvested in Ukraine out of the country through its ports.

Musk, the world’s richest man, donated about five million shares of Tesla stock worth roughly $5.7 billion at the time to an unidentified charity in November, according to a regulatory filing.

It came after Musk tweeted in late October that he would sell $6bn in Tesla stock and give the money to the World Food Programme if the organisation would describe how the money would solve world hunger. The US Securities and Exchange Commission filing did not name any recipients for Musk’s donation.

Beasley told AP on Monday that his message wasn’t just to those two high-profile tech mavens, but other billionaires, too. “The world is in real serious trouble. This is not rhetoric and BS. Step up now, because the world needs you,” he said.

Ukraine and Russia together export a third of the world’s wheat and barley and half of its sunflower oil, while Russia is a top supplier of fertilizer that has surged in price. The Kremlin’s forces are accused of blocking Ukrainian ports, and the interruption of those affordable food staples is threatening food shortages and political unrest in countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

The threat to the global food supply has been a pressing concern for officials, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying last week that he was in “intense contacts” with Russia and other key countries and is “hopeful” of an agreement to allow the export of grain stored in Ukrainian ports and ensure Russian food and fertiliser have unrestricted access to global markets.

If Ukraine’s supplies remain off the market, the world could face a food availability problem in the next 10 to 12 months, and “that is going to be hell on earth,” Beasley said.

SPORTS PAGE 15

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2022

WNBA, page 16

Freedom Farm champions crowned THE Freedom Farm Baseball League concluded its 2022 season with “Championship Sunday” at the league’s complex in Yamacraw.

Six of the seven division champions were crowned and four of those series came down to a decisive final game on Sunday. The Advanced T-Ball division

SEE PAGE 16

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS: Six of the seven division champions were crowned and four of those series came down to a decisive final game on Sunday.

‘Golden Girl’ Pauline Davis presents copies of her memoir

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net THROUGH a special donation from World Athletics, the governing body for track and field around the world, Pauline Davis made a presentation of 450 copies of her book, Running Sideways, to the Ministry of Education, Technical and Vocational Training.

The presentation was made yesterday in the foyer of the Ministry of Education and Youth, Sports and Culture.

Accepting on behalf of Minister Glenys HannaMartin was Minister of State Zane Lightbourne.

Also present was Mario Bowleg, the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture.

Various dignitaries from both ministries were also on hand to share in the ceremony.

Although they are not her biological parents, Mistress of Ceremony Dianne Phillips was referred to by Davis as her “mom” and Livingston Marshall, whom she called her “father” for their support of her and her efforts over the years, not just as the most decorated Bahamian track and field athlete, but in becoming a member of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) Council, now known as World Athletics, in 2007.

“I am delighted to be here and to make this presentation from World Athletics,” Davis said.

“World Athletics is an organisation that is bigger than the United Nations.

There are 214 countries

that makes up World Athletics, of which the Bahamas is one of them.”

The 285-page memoir was written by Jeff Todd, a former Nassau Guardian business editor and the author of five books. He writes under the name of TR Todd.

While she would have served as a Councilmember for two four-year terms after she officially retired as an athlete, Davis is still active as a local coach in the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations and is a consultant at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.

She said she’s pleased to have received the donation from World Athletics and president Lord Sebastian Coe to pass on to the Bahamian people, who she dedicated the book in their memory.

In accepting the books, Lightbourne thanked Davis for her contribution to the nation-building of the Bahamas, citing her as a household name that carries a lot of weight.

He thanked Davis for providing the story of her tribulations and trials and success and failures to the students as an incentive for them to have a role model to follow and to emulate.

Bowleg, in his comments, noted how proud he and his ministry are of Davis’ accomplishment and while he didn’t get to read the book in its entirity, he said it’s a must-read for those young people in the school system to learn about the achievement of one of the greatest Bahamian athletes ever. In the book, Bowleg said the

CHAVEZ YOUNG HOMERS ON REHAB ASSIGNMENT IN SINGLE A

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

PAULINE Davis yesterday made a presentation of 450 copies of her book, Running Sideways, to the Ministry of Education, Technical and Vocational Training in the foyer of the Ministry of Education and Youth, Sports and Culture. Shown are Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg and Minister of State Zane Lightbourne (background). readers will get a chance to learn about the exploits of Davis, who would have won the Olympic gold in the women’s 200m in Sydney, Australia in 2000 along with the other members of the Golden Girls on the women’s 4 x 100 metre relay.

Davis, along with Savatheda Fynes, Chandra Sturrup, Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie and Eldece Clarke, also teamed up to win the gold medal at the 1999 World

Championships in Seville, Spain.

In 1995, Davis also captured a silver in the 400m at the World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. She also secured silver and bronze in the 200m at the World Indoor Championships in 1995 in Barcelona, Spain and 1999 in Maebashi, Japan respectively. She was also a bronze medallist in the 100m and 200m in Auckland, New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games

and was double gold medallist at the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1986 in Santiago, Chile in the 100 and 200m.

The 55-year-old Davis is a former LW Young and Government High School star, who went on to become one of the Austin Sealy most outstanding athletes at the 1984 CARIFTA Games here in the Bahamas. She was a graduate of the University of Alabama.

CHAVEZ Young continues to work his way back from an early season injury in his second stint with the Dunedin Blue Jay of the Single-A Florida State League.

Young had a perfect day at the plate (3-3) and hit his first home run of the season in Blue Jays’ 4-0 win over the Daytona Tortugas on May 20 at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona, Florida.

The 24-year-old Toronto Blue Jays prospect initially intended to begin the season at the Triple A level with the Buffalo Bison of the International League (April 5), but was placed on rehab assignment with Dunedin on May 14.

Through five games he is hitting .278 and slugging .444 with one stolen base.

Young spent the 2019 season in Dunedin and 111 games he hit .247 with 99 hits and 43 RBI. He also had an .669 OPS, slugged .354 with 24 stolen bases, 53 runs scored, 17 doubles, four triples, and six home runs.

Following the pandemiccancelled 2020 season, he progressed to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in the AA Eastern League. He appeared in 78 games with the Fisher Cats and hit .265 with 74 hits and 52 RBI. He also had an .758 OPS, slugged .409 with 20 stolen bases, 41 runs scored, 15 doubles, two triples, and seven home runs.

Osaka loses in 1st Just in time, Thomas round of French Open, saves himself and a may skip Wimbledon PGA Championship

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer

PARIS (AP) — A year ago, Naomi Osaka left the French Open of her own volition, never beaten on the court but determining that she needed to pull out before the second round to stand up for herself and protect her mind.

Yesterday, Osaka departed Roland Garros against her will — via a 7-5, 6-4 loss in the first round to 20-year-old American Amanda Anisimova, who is seeded 27th and also won their contest at the Australian Open in January — after taking a painkiller to try to deal with a troublesome left Achilles tendon. She tried to stretch the tendon by tugging on her neon yellow shoes at changeovers or by squatting to flex her lower leg between points.

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer

JAPAN’s Naomi Osaka plays a shot against Amanda Anisimova of the US during their first round match at the French Open tennis tournament in Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, yesterday.

(AP Photo/Christophe Ena) Osaka was unable to The four-time Grand summon the serving or Slam champion and former court coverage on which No. 1-ranked player, her game is based, in part who is now ranked No. because her practice time 38 and was unseeded in and recent match play have been limited.

SEE PAGE 17

TULSA, Oklahoma (AP) — Justin Thomas barely remembers his first PGA Championship five years ago except for fans chanting his initials and the 7-iron he hit on the 17th that effectively won it for him.

Winning anywhere is hard even for great players — Thomas had gone 14 months since his last one — so as he climbed the hill toward the 18th green during the three-hole playoff, he made sure to soak up the grand stage below the pink clubhouse at Southern Hills.

“I knew it wasn’t over, but I looked up and wanted to take it in because you don’t know when and if it’s going to happen again,” Thomas said. “And it’s such an unbelievable, cool feeling that you just want to enjoy it.”

Considering how he arrived at another PGA Championship, this major will be hard to forget.

Thomas was seven shots behind to start the final day. He hit a shank on the

par-3 sixth hole that could have — probably should have — ended whatever chances he had. He holed a putt from 65 feet early on the back nine to stay in the game.

And then a major that had so little going for it — no star power at the top, no drama on the ground, no red shirt on Sunday when Tiger Woods withdrew — turned into pure theater of chaos and collapses.

The signature shot for Thomas was his 3-wood on the 301-yard 17th hole — the second of the three-hole playoff against Will Zalatoris — so perfect that he let the club twirl through his hands as it soared over a creek and onto the green some 35 feet from the hole for a birdie that gave him the lead for the first time all day.

The shank? Sometimes players use that term to describe a bad shot. Not this 5-iron. “I just cold shanked it,” he said.

The hole played 228 yards. The tee shot travelled 108 yards at a 45-degree

SEE PAGE 16

PAGE 16, Tuesday, May 24, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Jonquel Jones and Sun start fast, breeze to 92-70 victory over Fever

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net JONQUEL Jones’ individual numbers are short of her MVP pace from a year ago, but a more balanced Connecticut Sun has surged ahead of the WNBA’s Eastern Conference standings.

Jones finished with 13 points and nine rebounds in just 25 minutes of Sunday night’s 92-70 win over the Indiana Fever at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

They improved to 4-1 on the season.

Connecticut defeated Indiana for the second time in three nights following a 94-85 win on May 20 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Connecticut got off to a quick start Sunday night with a 26-15 advantage after the first quarter and the lead ballooned to as much as 27. The Sun shot 52 percent from the field and 46 percent from beyond the arc while they limited the Fever to just 35 percent from the field and 18 percent from threepoint range.

FREEDOM FROM PAGE 15

title was decided yesterday afternoon.

Freedom Farm Baseball League 2022 Champions include: 3-4 Rookie T-Ball Owlz defeated Woodstars (2-0) *red jerseys 5-6 Advanced T-Ball Seagrapes defeated Cocoplums (3-1) * maroon jerseys 7-8 Coach Pitch Boas defeated Termites (3-2)

After an opening night loss, the Sun have won four straight games and have scored over 90 points in their last two outings.

With the series of lopsided wins, Jones has played in just over 25 minutes per game, down from 32 minutes per game last season. She is also averaging 15.2 points and 8-4 rebounds per game on 49 percent shooting from the field.

In her 2021 MVP campaign, she averaged 19.4 points and 11.2 rebounds per game.

The Sun currently lead the league in scoring at 86.8 points per game and have five players scoring more eight points per game.

Jones is third on the team in scoring behind Alyssa Thomas (19 points per game), DeWanna Bonner (17 points per game) who was a late arrival after missing the first three games of the season and ahead of Brionna Jones at 12.8 points per game.

Jones has played over 26 minutes in just one game this season, the aforementioned opening night loss on the road to the New York Liberty when she

SEMENYA SAYS SHE OFFERED TO SHOW TRACK OFFICIALS HER BODY

By GERALD IMRAY AP Sports Writer

CONNECTICUT Sun forward Jonquel Jones (35) vies against Indiana Fever forward Alanna Smith (11) and centre Alaina Coates (81) for a rebound during a WNBA basketball game on Friday, May 20, 2022, in Uncasville, Conn.

(Sean D Elliot/The Day via AP) finished with 15 points matchup against the Fever. go big lineups and then and seven rebounds in 32 With a roster that features we can go (with) mamminutes. six former All-Stars, Sun moth lineups. It’s been fun She followed with her head coach and general to tinker with AT (Alyssa first double double of the manager Curt Miller said Thomas), Breezy (Brionna year - 16 points and 12 the team will continue to Jones), and JJ playing rebounds in just 26 minutes experiment with lineup together. Now we’ve got to of a 77-60 win over the Los variations. tinker with different lineAngeles Sparks.

“There’s a lot of tinker- ups again.”

She then went on to post ing to play with all season.

The Sun will host the 13 points and six rebounds And when you tinker Dallas Wings in the first in 21 minutes of a 92-65 there’s going to be some game of a back-to-back win over the Liberty and good days and some ugly tonight at 7pm local time.

19 and eight rebounds in days,” Miller said. “We Game two is set for May 26 24 minutes of last Friday’s have small lineups. We can at 7pm.

*light blue jerseys 9-10 Lionfish defeated Blue Marlins (3-1) *white jerseys 11-12 White Crowns defeated Stingrays (3-2) *maroon jerseys 13-14 Potcakes defeated Silverjacks (2-1) *navy jerseys 15-20 Tainos defeated Caribs (2-1) *yellow jerseys

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS: Six of the seven division champions were crowned and four of those series came down to a decisive final game on Sunday.

THOMAS

FROM PAGE 15

angle, lucky it didn’t find a stream behind the second green.

The next shot hit a tree and settled 10 yards away. And then he hit a shot his caddie described as a “low, cutty, spinny gap wedge” to 18 feet and made the putt. That might have been as great a shot as any he hit. “It was the best bogey I’ve ever made in my life, that’s for sure,” Thomas said.

He’ll remember that one.

Zalatoris will remember his own adventures on that hole, the gust of wind that sent his shot so far over the green it disappeared into the hedges blocking the view of Southern Hills along 61st Street.

He took a penalty shot and played the next one off a crease in the cart path.

Mito Pereira won’t ever forget his birdie putt on the 17th hole

stopping one revolution from falling into the cup for a birdie that would have given him a two-shot lead. Or his driver that bounded over the ledge into a stream and led to a double bogey.

Instead of becoming Chile’s first major champion, Pereira became a footnote in history as a player who led on the final hole of major and lost with double bogey or worse.

Phil Mickelson was the last player to do that, in the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

There will be debate whether this PGA Championship was won or lost. The back nine was littered with mistakes by players who had never won on the PGA Tour, others who had never contended in a major. Bad scores was as much a result of nerves as tough pins.

But it’s worth noting that of the last 14 players who teed off Sunday, Thomas at 3-under 67 was the only one to break par. And he

played the final three holes of the tournament, including the playoff, with six birdies, seven pars, no mistakes.

Still, it was unlike anything Southern Hills had ever seen in its heritage of hosting majors.

This was the course where all seven major champions held at least a share over the final 36 holes.

Excitement was rare.

The only drama had been at the 2001 U.S. Open when Retief Goosen three-putted from 12 feet on the final hole and had to win the next day in a playoff.

Ultimately, Southern Hills lived up to its reputation for producing great champions.

Six of the previous seven winners are in the World Golf Hall of Fame — Woods, Goosen, Nick Price, Raymond Floyd, Hubert Green and Tommy Bolt.

The exception is Dave Stockton, worthy of consideration given

his two PGA titles among his 10 victories.

Thomas, 29, now has 15 wins and two majors. In the last 60 years, the only other players to achieve that before turning 30 were Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Rory McIlroy and Woods.

Thomas was more emotional at Southern Hills than when he won at Quail Hollow in 2017. Part of that going five years without a major, more than year without any trophy.

“I think it’s easy to start letting some doubt creep in, just kind of like, ‘All right, what’s going to happen? When is it going to happen? Is it going to happen?’”

Good thing he didn’t asked how it would happen. Even when it was over, it was hard to explain. And even if he hadn’t paused on the 18th green, it still would be hard to forget.

DOUBLE Olympic champion Caster Semenya said she offered to show her vagina to athletics officials when she was just 18 years old to prove she was a female. In an interview with HBO Real Sports, she also accused track and field’s world governing body of making her take medication if she wanted to compete that “tortured” her and left her fearing she was going to have a heart attack.

HBO Real Sports broadcast parts of its interview with the South African runner in a promotional clip yesterday. The full interview is due to air in the United States today.

In the interview, Semenya reflected on the 2009 world championships in Berlin, where she won the 800metre title in dominant fashion as an 18-year-old newcomer at her first major international meet. But her performance and muscular physique led the sport’s governing body to insist the teenager undergo sex tests, causing a firestorm of controversy.

Semenya said track officials from the governing body “probably” thought she had a penis.

“I told them, ‘It’s fine. I’m a female. I don’t care. If you want to see I’m a woman, I will show you my vagina.

Alright?’”

Following her world title win, Semenya was forced by the international athletics federation to take medication that artificially lowered her naturally high testosterone if she wanted to compete against other female runners. Although the world track body has never released details of Semenya’s specific medication, it’s believed she took birth control pills or something with similar properties to lower her testosterone.

“It made me sick, made me gain weight, panic attacks. I didn’t know if I was ever going to have a heart attack,” Semenya said of the medication. “It’s like stabbing yourself with a knife every day. But I had no choice.

“I’m 18, I want to run.

I want to make it to (the) Olympics, that’s the only option for me. But I had to make it work.”

Forcing athletes to take medication to alter natural hormone levels in order to compete in sports has been criticised by medical experts as being unethical.

While the medication Semenya was given wasn’t named, it’s also not clear what dosage she had to take to lower her testosterone to a level deemed to be acceptable to allow her to run.

World Athletics lawyer Jonathan Taylor also spoke to HBO Real Sports and defended the medication by saying leading experts said they would prescribe it for female athletes with high testosterone.

Semenya also responded to that.

“Jonathan must cut his tongue and throw it away,” Semenya said. “If he wants to understand how that thing has tortured me, he must go and take those medications. He will understand.”

The 2009 world championships was the start of Semenya’s ongoing 13-year battle against track authorities to be able to compete against female athletes.

Now 31, Semenya is banned from competing in distances from 400-metres to the mile at top-level track meets in updated testosterone regulations unless she agrees to again take medication to lower her testosterone. She has refused, and hasn’t run an 800-metre race at a major meet since 2019.

The regulations prevented Semenya from defending her Olympic title last year in Tokyo.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, May 24, 2022, PAGE 17

Celtics torch Heat early, even series with 102-82 blowout

By KYLE HIGHTOWER AP Sports Writer BOSTON (AP) — Jayson Tatum scored 31 points and the Boston Celtics took their turn pounding the Miami Heat early, jumping out to a 26-4 lead and cruising to a 102-82 victory that evened the Eastern Conference finals at two games apiece.

Miami missed 15 of its first 16 shots in the second straight game that was all but over after 12 minutes.

The Heat led 39-18 after the first quarter of Game 3 of this bizarre series in which no game has been close down the stretch.

Game 5 is Wednesday in Miami.

Payton Pritchard had 14 points for the Celtics. Derrick White added 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and Robert Williams finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.

The Celtics led by 27 points in the second quarter and stretched their advantage to 32 in the third. Each game in this series has featured a lead of at least 20 points.

Victor Oladipo led the Heat with 23 points.

Miami’s starting five of All-Star Jimmy Butler (six points), Kyle Lowry (three points), P.J. Tucker (no points), Max Strus (no points) and Bam Adebayo (nine points) were a

combined 7 of 36 shooting.

They all sat out the fourth quarter.

And the Celtics stymied the Heat without Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, who sat with a sprained right ankle he suffered in the second half of Game 3.

The Heat were without Tyler Herro, who suffered a groin injury late in Game 3.

Butler was in the starting lineup after missing the second half of Game 3 with swelling in his right knee. Lowry (strained left hamstring), Strus (strained hamstring) and Tucker (left knee irritation) all tested their injuries pregame before being cleared to go.

Boston’s Williams returned after missing a game with soreness in his surgically repaired left knee.

Even with their bangedup roster, the Celtics enjoyed their fastest start of the series.

Starting in place of Smart, White scored the game’s first seven points as Boston took an 8-0 lead.

It quickly grew to 18-1, with Miami misfiring on its first 14 shots. The Heat didn’t get their first points until Adebayo’s free throw at the 7:56 mark.

Miami made its first field goal at 3:22, a 3-pointer

by Oladipo, and finished the quarter 3 for 20. The

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer

BOSTON Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) shoots over Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals last night in Boston.

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Celtics took a 29-11 lead into the second quarter and led 57-33 at the half.

TIP-INS Heat: Shot 33% (30 of 90). ... Finished with 64 bench points. ... Miami had

one point in the first eight minutes, the lowest total by any team in a playoff game in the last quartercentury, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Celtics: Outrebounded Miami 20-8 in

the first quarter. ... Several current and former New England Patriots were in the crowd, including Devin and Jason McCourty, Malcolm Butler and Damien Harris.

Curry, Warriors go for sweep of Doncic, Mavs in West finals

By SCHUYLER DIXON AP Sports Writer DALLAS (AP) — Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors have won nine consecutive games in the Western Conference finals.

They can make it an even 10, eliminate Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks and return to the NBA Finals after three years away with a victory in Game 4 in Dallas tonight.

“I’m not going to fast forward,” Curry said after a 109-100 victory in Game 3 for a 3-0 series lead.

“We can play better, but we’re finding ways to win games. There’s no expectation other than what’s the challenge ahead of us, and the challenge now is to close out a series against a really good team to get back to an opportunity to win the Finals.”

The Warriors haven’t lost in the West finals since erasing a 3-2 deficit to Houston in 2018, when they won the last of their three titles in four years by beating Cleveland in the NBA Finals.

Golden State swept Portland for a fifth consecutive trip to the Finals in 2019 before losing in six games to Toronto. The Mavericks are playing beyond the

OSAKA

FROM PAGE 15 Paris, double-faulted twice to end games and called the outcome “disappointing.”

Yet she also provided a measure of the way in which her mindset might have changed since her previous appearance at the clay-court major tournament, when she decided not to speak to the media at all (drawing a $15,000 fine and threat of further punishment, which prompted her withdrawal), saying that stance was because of anxiety and depression she hadn’t previously revealed. Her openness back then helped spark a wider awareness of, and conversation about, the importance of mental

DJOKOVIC BACKS ATP, LAMENTS WIMBLEDON ‘LOSE-LOSE SITUATION’

first round for the first time since first-year coach Jason Kidd was the point guard on the Dirk Nowitzki-led team that won the 2011 title.

Dallas was down 2-0 to top-seeded Phoenix in the West semifinals before winning twice as the home team took the first six games. The Mavs stunned the Suns with a 33-point victory in Game 7 in Phoenix, putting Doncic a year ahead Nowitzki’s schedule in reaching his first conference finals.

Golden State rallied from 19 points down to win Game 2 at home before erasing a nine-point deficit in the final four minutes of the first half in Game 3 — and ending any hope of Dallas repeating its Phoenix feat.

Instead of winning four out of five, the Mavericks have to win the last four games of the series. No NBA team has done that.

Doncic scored 21 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter, but a desperate Dallas rally never gained traction. The young superstar masked a mediocre first half by hitting a 32-footer at the first-quarter buzzer.

“I think the first two quarters I played very bad.

That’s on me,” Doncic

said after the Mavs fell to 2-6 in three playoff years when their All-Star scored at least 40. “But I’m still learning. I think after this season is done, whatever we are, I think we’re going to look back and learn a lot of things. I’m 23, man. I’m still learning a lot.”

Doncic also learned what it’s like to be on the wrong end of a moment that will live forever on highlight reels.

The three-time All-Star who is used to sending defenders stumbling with crossover and step-back moves was posterized on a dunk by Andrew Wiggins.

Yes, the same Wiggins was who criticized by some after being chosen as an All-Star starter in his first appearance this year. He got the nod over Doncic, who started the season poorly by his standards because of issues with weight and conditioning.

That wasn’t Wiggins’ only dunk on his way to a playoff career-high 27 points, and he had another off one of his six offensive rebounds, just one fewer than Dallas had as a team.

The 2014 No. 1 overall pick also has been one of the primary defenders on Doncic in a multifaceted

scheme that has limited Dallas’ career triple-double leader to five assists per game — three below his career playoff average.

“He’s a fantastic two-way player,” coach Steve Kerr said. “You don’t win in the playoffs without guys like Wiggs. We’re basically mirroring Doncic’s minutes so that Wiggs can stay on him and he’s another guy like Steph who just never seems to get tired. He’s in amazing shape.”

The Mavericks are in bad shape in this series because they’ve been outscored on average 62-47 in the second half. Part of the reason is the inconsistency of Doncic’s supporting cast.

In Game 3, Spencer Dinwiddie scored 26 of Dallas’ 28 bench points after the Mavs’ reserves were outscored 36-13 in Game 2.

But key 3-point specialists Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber and Reggie Bullock combined for just nine points — all of them from Finney-Smith after Kleber and Bullock missed all 12 of their 3s and all 15 of their shots overall.

Pardon the Mavs if they sounded a bit defeated, knowing the history of 3-0 deficits.

For now, the Mavs have to believe they can prolong things.

health. “I’m really happy with myself,” Osaka said yesterday, “because I know the emotions that I left France (with) last year.”

Barbora Krejcikova also was aware of the wide spectrum of emotions she went through herself at the French Open from 2021 — when she was a Grand Slam singles champion for the first time — to 2022 — when she joined Osaka in departing in the first round.

Krejcikova was seeded No. 2, but she was coming off an injured right elbow that kept her off the tour since February, and her first match back began with a 4-0 lead before unraveling into a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 exit against Diane Parry, a 19-year-old from France who is ranked 97th and entered the day with a 1-5 career record in Grand

Slam matches. Krejcikova said she “hit the wall” early in the second set and never recovered, becoming just the third woman in French Open history to be defeated in her opening match a year after winning the title.

There weren’t any other such significant results on Day 2, when the women’s winners included No. 1 Iga Swiatek, the 2020 champion; and other past major champs Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka and Bianca Andrescu. In men’s matches, 13-time champion Rafael Nadal won in three sets and No. 13 seed Taylor Fritz won in five.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic was scheduled to play at night.

Merely conducting news conferences, before the tournament on Friday and

after this loss, were a step forward for Osaka. She was comfortable addressing all sorts of topics, including her difficulties on clay and grass courts, the fact that she is leaning toward skipping Wimbledon because there won’t be ranking points offered there and the increased attention to protecting athletes’ wellbeing — even if the strides made over the past 12 months are not necessarily enough.

“I mean, I feel like there is always more to do. You can’t progress and then just stop. You know what I’m saying? There always has to be evolution,” Osaka said. “But I feel like, as of right now, they are trying their best, and I think it’s really nice to see.”

While Osaka’s best performances have come on

hard courts, Anisimova’s best showing at a Slam came on the red clay of Roland Garros, where she reached the 2019 semifinals at 17. And even if the occasional rain that delayed play for hours Monday made the tennis balls heavier and restricted what Anisimova felt she could do to deliver shots where she wanted them, she was good enough to advance in straight sets against a topflight opponent.

“A lot of anticipation over the last couple of days. I was trying not to think about it too much, but going into the match, I did feel like the stress and the nerves a bit, because it is a very tough first round,” Anisimova said.

“Just happy with how I was able to manage it and get through it.”

GOLDEN State Warriors’ Stephen Curry celebrates a basket and a Dallas Mavericks’ foul during the first half of Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference finals on Sunday in Dallas.

(Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

PARIS (AP) — Novak Djokovic intends to defend his title at Wimbledon and supports the decision by the ATP men’s tour to withhold ranking points from that tournament as a show of unity among players -- even though the move will negatively affect his hold on the No. 1 spot.

In response to a reporter’s question after his first-round victory at the French Open last night, Djokovic called the All England Club’s ban of players from Russia and Belarus over the invasion of Ukraine “a mistake” and criticised Wimbledon organisers for their lack of communication.

“They haven’t discussed it with anybody from ATP or any individual players — or, for that matter, Russian or Belarusian players — to just communicate and understand whether there is a common ground where both sides could be making a compromise and something could work out,” Djokovic said about the All England Club. “So I think it was a wrong decision. I don’t support that at all.”

He called it a “lose-lose situation for everyone.”

Russia, with help from Belarus, began attacking Ukraine in late February.

The All England Club said last month it would not allow players from Russia or Belarus to compete when its Grand Slam tournament begins on June 27; the ATP and the WTA women’s tour responded by announcing Friday they would not award ranking points to any players for results at Wimbledon.

Djokovic said he heard there might have been other options available to All England Club decision-makers than has been revealed, such as the possibility of exhibition matches to raise money to help Ukrainians in need.

Djokovic has had his run-ins with ATP management in the past, and even worked to create a separate players’ association, but on this matter he said he backs the tour.

“Collectively, I’m glad that players got together with the ATP, the governing body of men’s tennis, and showed to the Grand Slam that when there is a mistake happening — and there was, from the Wimbledon side — then we have to show that there’s going to be some consequences,” Djokovic said.

The ATP says that all players who earned ranking points at Wimbledon in 2021 (Djokovic earned the maximum 2,000 for taking the championship) will have those erased from their record as part of the usual 52-week system that counts someone’s best 19 tournaments over that span.

Whatever happens at the tournament in 2022 will have no bearing on a player’s standing.

“For me, or for the guys that did well last year, we are not only not going to have a chance to earn points, but we can’t defend them,” Djokovic said. “And there are some guys, obviously, who are not going to have a chance to earn points, of course. It’s a very unique and weird situation, I must say.”

Earlier in the day, fourtime Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka said she was leaning toward skipping Wimbledon with no points on offer.

But Djokovic’s view was different. “A Grand Slam is still a Grand Slam,” said the owner of 20 such titles, one shy of Rafael Nadal’s men’s record.

“Wimbledon, for me, was always my dream tournament when I was a child.

So I don’t look at it through the lens of points or of prize money. For me, it’s something else.”

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, May 24, 2022, PAGE 19

BISX-LISTED FUND EYES RESTART FOR DIVIDENDS AFTER 15-YEAR GAP FROM PAGE 24 increased the worth of the Property Fund’s real estate holdings by $3.3m, also came from improved occupancy rates at its flagship Bahamas Financial Centre property on Charlotte Street in downtown Nassau.

Stripping out the revaluation, the Property Fund generated just some $1.048m in profit from its core operations. With vacancies down, and occupancies up at, rental income rose 14.5 percent year-overyear to $3.029m compared to $2.646m in the 12 months to end-2020.

And, besides the topline boost, the Property Fund as landlord also saw its share of common area maintenance costs drop year-over-year by almost 25 percent to $1.318m as opposed to $1.752m the year before. The occupancy increase thus raised the BISX-listed real estate investment trust’s (REIT) revenues while at the same time cutting expenses - with both impacts directly hitting the bottom line.

Mr Anderson yesterday told this newspaper that, with rental rates expected to further improve to the mid-80 percent range at the Bahamas Financial

Centre in 2022, the Property Fund is predicting that net income - stripped of any revaluation impacts - will be “quite a bit ahead” of that produced in 2021.

And, with tourism starting to rebound, he added that it is also targeting an occupancy increase at its One Marina Drive property on Paradise Island from the mid-30 percent range to 50 percent during the course of the 2022 calendar year.

Confirming that the $8m preference share issue had closed fully subscribed on Friday, Mr Anderson said the proceeds will provide long-term capital to repay the bank debt and eliminate the principal payments required by the latter, thus freeing-up cash flow for potential dividend returns.

Some $600,000-$700,000 of the proceeds from the offering will also finance renovations at the Property Fund’s properties, with the outlay ultimately reclaimed by tenant CAM payments.

“It puts us in a position to recommend the commencement of dividends to shareholders,” he affirmed.

“The impact in the first year is quite significant.

The additional cash the company has, this gives us the flexibility to fund

renovations and puts the dividend decision back on the table. The recommendation will be made to the Board in the next month, and that decision will be taken in a month or two.”

Mr Anderson said the last time that the Property Fund declared a dividend to shareholders would have been around 2007, some 15 years ago. That year, the Bahamas Financial Centre lost a major tenant when Banco Santander left, and then the 2008-2009 financial crisis and subsequent recession put a halt on any returns to investors as the company sought to conserve capital.

“We’ve had vacancies in that building, and development-related costs made it difficult to pay dividends,” the RF Bank & Trust chief added. “The building [Financial Centre] is over 80 percent occupied, which it has not been since 2007.” The 100,000 square building, which is equipped with generators and backup redundancy targeted at ‘Class A’ office tenants, typically financial services clients, has seen occupancies dip into the low 60 percents during the following 15 years.

“Our occupancies will improve this year, certainly with the new tenants that have not yet started paying,” Mr Anderson explained. “Although we have signed off for 82 percent of the space, we only have 80 percent occupied and paying. The other 12 percent should come on stream in the next quarter, the second quarter, and will then start to be reflected in income and CAM costs for the second quarter. I think we should get the building up into the mid-80s occupancies.

“We’ve seen interest in our One Marina Drive property, which we haven’t seen for a while, as the tourism market recovers. Markets come and go, and the opportunities are coming back. We have to be ready when the market opportunities are there. We hope over the next year we will see more interest in the property as there’s been more activity on Paradise Island than we’ve seen in a long time.

“We’re hoping to get rentals in the One Marina Drive property this year.

Even if we do not get up to full rental, we’d like to get it up to 50 percent occupancy and currently we’re in the

mid-30s. If we get there it will be reflected in the CAM and rental income, and all that will go to the bottom line. I think for sure we expect to be quite a bit ahead of last year on profitability, without the revaluation, and cash flow will be improved through refinancing of then preference shares.”

Describing real estate as a long-term investment, Mr Anderson said signs of improvement in the Bahamian commercial office space market had helped drive the $3.3m revaluation which largely reflected the Bahamas Financial Centre’s performance.

It has attracted several

government tenants, including the Registrar General’s Department.

“The local rental market is coming back, and development is taking place locally, and opportunities to rent are improving,” Mr Anderson added. “The revaluation reflects the improved tenancies at the Bahamas Financial Centre as well as general market conditions improving. We benefited significantly from that revaluation this year.

We’ve been struggling the past few years with negative valuations, so are happy to see the market returning and rentals improve.”

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PAGE 20, Tuesday, May 24, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

‘ OST I PORTANT’ UDGET IN THE AHA AS’ HISTORY FROM PAGE 24 sufficient investor, consumer and creditor confidence such that the economy will grow its way out of the hole created by Hurricane Dorian, COVID19 and recent cost of living pressures. As a result, Mr Edwards acknowledged that the Government faces a delicate “balancing act” with the Budget given multiple competing objectives.

Noting that the elevated national debt “will likely remain an uncomfortable Achilles heel” for The Bahamas, the ORG executive added: “Due mainly to the debt stock and the effects of the pandemic, this Budget might be the single most important in the life of the country.

“It must therefore pave the path, and lengthen the runway, to the future by taking positions which allow for recent changes to effectively mature while laying the foundation and establishing the initiatives that will crystalise in the long term.”

Asked by this newspaper to justify his assertion that tomorrow’s Budget, which will lay out the Government’s fiscal strategies, spending plans and policy priorities for the next 12

months and beyond, is likely the most critical in Bahamian history to-date, Mr Edwards said: “It is the first time that we have had this concentration of debt.

The country has a significant amount of debt, and we have never been here before.

“The underlying fundamentals of the economy have been overturned because of the COVID-19 crisis. I don’t think we have ever been here before, and the treatment and response seen from the credit market in terms of the way our bonds are being treated, we have not seen this over such a long and extended period that we are experiencing now.”

The Bahamas’ $825m bond, which has an 8.95 percent interest coupon and is set to mature in 2032, closed yesterday’s trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange at a more than 25 percent discount to its face value.

The yield demanded by investors was just over 14 percent, indicating that the global capital markets still view The Bahamas as ‘high risk’ and would demand double digit interest rates in return for investing in any new debt issues.

It is a similar story with the $300m bond, carrying a 6.95 percent interest coupon, that is set to mature in 2029. It, too, closed at a 25 percent discount to face value with the yield set at slightly over 12.5 percent.

“I really believe this Budget has to fix the fundamentals and right this thing for the future,” Mr Edwards told Tribune Business.

“If we don’t get this right, and set the credit back on the right path to have a conversation with the credit markets to create options and opportunities for new growth, the country could languish below its potential for some time to come, which is why I view this Budget as one of the most important announcements...

“There are some hard decisions which need to be made, and made in a fundamental way. Making these decisions comes with balancing a number of issues.

They’re not so easy. The fact the administration has so many balls to juggle all over makes it a very difficult scenario, but underlies the importance of getting it right, changing the path, changing the trajectory, making changes to the plan and the reforms that are going to create a different set of outcomes.”

LEGAL NOTICE

With an “over cooling” and recession in major economies upon which The Bahamas depends a very real danger, as interest hikes are implemented to fight inflation, Mr Edwards said: “It’s the inter-play between these different things which is why I believe we’re at an historical, critical moment.”

Senator Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, has promised several times that tomorrow’s Budget will include no new and/or increased taxes. He has indicated that some fees associated with government services may be raised to cover the cost of providing them, but has repeatedly asserted that the Government is focused on The Bahamas growing its way back to economic and fiscal health.

The Davis administration’s public stance has been that new/increased taxes would only set back the economy’s post-COVID rebound, while deterring new employment hirings and undermining business and investor confidence.

Ultimately, its position has been that it is far too early to implement such measures, although it has paved the way for new revenue streams such as carbon

NOTICE

NOTICE

CERRITOS OFFSHORE INVESTMENTS LTD.

FRAGRANCES TRADING INC. In Voluntary Liquidation

(In Voluntary Liquidation)

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act. 2000, FRAGRANCES TRADING INC. is in dissolution as of May 16, 2022.

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138 (4) of the; International Business Companies Act, 2000, CERRITOS OFFSHORE INVESTMENTS LTD. is in Dissolution. The date of commencement of dissolution is the 19th day of May, 2022.

International Liquidator Services Ltd. situated at 3rd Floor Whitfield Tower, 4792 Coney Drive, Belize City, Belize is the Liquidator.

Aegis Corporate Services Limited Building Six, Caves Village West Bay Street P.O. Box SP-63771 Nassau, Bahamas Liquidator

LIQUIDATOR ______________________

www.bisxbahamas.com

MONDAY, 23 MAY 2022 CLOSE

CHANGE

%CHANGE

YTD

YTD%

2447.90

0.30

0.01

219.66

9.86

(242) 323 2330 (242) 323 2320

BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 6.70 53.00 2.05 2.90 2.60 6.10 10.05 3.50 9.02 3.10 8.00 16.60 2.59 10.25 11.25 10.85 15.20 4.00 11.00 16.50

52WK LOW 4.75 32.12 1.49 2.20 1.30 5.75 6.96 2.82 4.25 2.27 5.93 9.75 1.99 6.50 10.02 9.01 13.10 3.50 8.00 15.50

SECURITY AML Foods Limited APD Limited Benchmark Bahamas First Holdings Limited Bank of Bahamas Bahamas Property Fund Bahamas Waste Cable Bahamas Commonwealth Brewery Commonwealth Bank Colina Holdings CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank Consolidated Water BDRs Doctor's Hospital Emera Incorporated Famguard Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) Limited Focol Finco J. S. Johnson

SYMBOL AML APD BBL BFH BOB BPF BWL CAB CBB CBL CHL CIB CWCB DHS EMAB FAM FBB FCL FIN JSJ

LAST CLOSE 5.35 39.95 2.04 2.31 2.25 6.10 9.75 3.30 7.52 2.81 8.00 16.60 2.69 10.25 12.24 10.85 15.20 3.98 10.00 15.50

taxes and fees and there being no increase. It’s not possible.”

The Davis administration faces having to keep multiple audiences, each with their own competing objectives, needs and desires, happy through tomorrow’s Budget. For starters, it will have to protect the most vulnerable Bahamians from the cost of living crunch, while doing what it can to mitigate inflation despite having relatively little room for manoevere.

It will have to ensure critical public services are still delivered, while balancing this with the need to foster and improve investor and business confidence so that the Bahamian economy continues to grow its way out from COVID-19 and deliver the necessary jobs and employment opportunities.

These goals have to be met while accounting for the external audience of IMF, World Bank, rating agencies and other lenders and creditors, all of whom want to see The Bahamas return to fiscal sustainability as quickly as possible through increased tax revenues and reduced government spending that eliminate the annual fiscal deficits. They will be seeking a realistic plan on the way forward that lays out measurable benchmarks and goals for The Bahamas to achieve.

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that VIOLA BLANC of Marshall Road, New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 24th day of May, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P. O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE

MARKET REPORT BISX ALL SHARE INDEX:

credits should they materialise in the future.

However, many have questioned how the Government plans to raise revenues from the equivalent of 18.2 percent of GDP, as projected for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, to a 25 percent ratio by 20252026 without new and/or increased taxes. As outlined by its Fiscal Strategy Report, this would require a $1.3bn revenue increase over the next four fiscal years - a jump of 55.7 percent - to achieve a Budget surplus of $71.9m by the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

Based on ORG’s recent pre-Budget roundtable, at which Mr Halkitis was a panellist, Mr Edwards forecast an increase in an existing tax/taxes was likely in the upcoming Budget based on the minister’s response to one of his questions. The ORG chief said he asked Mr Halkitis to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question of whether tomorrow’s Budget will start The Bahamas on the path to a 25 percent revenue-to-GDP ratio, and the minister responded in the affirmative.

“I’m confident there will be,” Mr Edwards said of tax rises, due to the minister’s response, although he ruled out new levies. “I interpreted that as if there will be some increase. There’s absolutely no way to shift from 18 percent to 25 percent by keeping the same

CLOSE 5.35 39.95 2.04 2.31 2.25 6.10 9.75 3.30 7.52 2.81 8.00 16.60 2.74 10.25 12.29 10.85 15.20 3.98 10.00 15.50

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.00 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

VOLUME

EPS$ 0.239 0.932 0.000 0.140 0.070 1.760 0.369 -0.438 0.140 0.184 0.449 0.722 0.102 0.467 0.646 0.728 0.816 0.203 0.939 0.631

DIV$ 0.170 1.260 0.020 0.080 0.000 0.000 0.260 0.000 0.000 0.120 0.220 0.720 0.434 0.060 0.328 0.240 0.540 0.120 0.200 0.610

P/E 22.4 42.9 N/M 16.5 N/M N/M 26.4 -7.5 53.7 15.3 17.8 23.0 26.9 21.9 19.0 14.9 18.6 19.6 10.6 24.6

YIELD 3.18% 3.15% 0.98% 3.46% 0.00% 0.00% 2.67% 0.00% 0.00% 4.27% 2.75% 4.34% 15.84% 0.59% 2.67% 2.21% 3.55% 3.02% 2.00% 3.94%

NOTICE is hereby given that NARENDRA H. B. EKANAYAKE of No. 11 Waterloo Street, Nassau, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 17th day of May, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

PREFERENCE SHARES 1.00

1.00

1000.00 1000.00

1000.00 1000.00

1.00 10.00 1.00

1.00 10.00 1.00

Bahamas First Holdings Preference Cable Bahamas Series 6 Cable Bahamas Series 9 Colina Holdings Class A Fidelity Bank Bahamas Class A Focol Class B

BFHP CAB6 CAB9 CHLA FBBA FCLB

1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

65

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI 100.00 100.00

52WK LOW 100.00 100.00

SECURITY Fidelity Bank (Note 22 Series B+) Bahamas First Holdings Limited

SYMBOL FBB22 BFHB

LAST SALE 100.00 100.00

CLOSE 100.00 100.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.26 100.53 100.54 100.34 100.23 89.62 100.00 100.00 100.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

VOLUME

INTEREST Prime + 1.75% 6.25%

MATURITY 19-Oct-2022 30-Sep-2025

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing) 115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.71 100.53 100.43 100.34 100.23 100.00 100.00 100.98 100.00

104.79 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.26 100.28 100.43 100.04 100.23 89.62 89.00 90.24 90.73

Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BGS: 2014-12-7Y BGS: 2015-1-7Y BGS: 2014-12-30Y BGS: 2015-1-30Y BGS: 2015-6-7Y BGS: 2015-6-30Y BGS: 2015-10-7Y BGRS FX BGR145231 BGRS FL BGRS68023 BGRS FL BGRS70022 BGRS FL BGRS75022 BGRS FL BGRS81037 BGRS FL BGRS88028 BGRS FX BGR129249 BGRS FX BGR131249 BGRS FX BGR132249 BGRS FX BGR136150

BAH29 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0307 BG0330 BG0407 BSBGR1450315 BSBGRS680232 BSBGRS700220 BSBGRS750225 BSBGRS810375 BSBGRS880287 BSBGR1292493 BSBGR1312499 BSBGR1322498 BSBGR1361504

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.26 100.53 100.54 100.34 100.23 89.62 100.00 100.00 100.00

500

6.95% 4.50% 4.50% 6.25% 6.25% 4.50% 6.25% 4.25% 5.45% 4.62% 4.50% 4.43% 4.87% 4.33% 5.55% 5.60% 5.65% 5.69%

20-Nov-2029 15-Dec-2021 30-Jul-2022 15-Dec-2044 30-Jul-2045 26-Jun-2022 26-Jun-2045 15-Oct-2022 17-May-2031 21-Jul-2023 29-Jul-2022 7-Sep-2022 26-Jul-2037 26-Jul-2028 15-Apr-2049 15-Jul-2049 15-Oct-2049 21-Apr-2050

DIVIDEND NOTICE TO ALL SHAREHOLDERS

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.52 4.69 2.22 207.86 212.41 1.73 1.83 1.82 1.05 9.37 11.83 7.54 16.64 12.84 10.77 10.00 10.43 14.89

52WK LOW 2.11 3.30 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.68 1.73 1.75 0.99 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57 9.88 8.45 11.20

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund Leno Financial Conservative Fund Leno Financial Aggressive Fund Leno Financial Balanced Fund Leno Financial Global Bond Fund RF Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund RF Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund RF Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund RF Bahamas International Investment Fund Limited - Equities Sub Fund RF Bahamas International Investment Fund Limited - High Yield Income Fund RF Bahamas International Investment Fund Limited - Alternative Strategies Fund Colonial Bahamas Fund Class D Colonial Bahamas Fund Class E Colonial Bahamas Fund Class F

NAV 2.52 4.69 2.21 197.44 202.39 1.73 1.82 1.82 0.99 9.37 11.79 7.54 15.94 12.47 10.74 N/A 10.43 14.89

YTD% 12 MTH% 0.99% 4.22% 0.36% 5.78% 0.67% 2.74% -2.97% -2.35% -4.72% 6.04% 0.83% 2.82% -0.18% 3.72% 0.76% 3.55% -3.55% -3.85% -0.02% 10.36% -0.33% 18.23% 0.22% 3.05% -3.89% 14.76% -1.04% -2.57% 0.81% 4.20% N/A N/A 3.00% 25.60% 7.90% 48.70%

NAV Date 31-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 25-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 31-Jan-2022 31-Jan-2022 31-Jan-2022 31-Jan-2022 31-Jan-2022 31-Jan-2022 31-Mar-2021 31-Mar-2021 31-Mar-2021

MARKET TERMS BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00 52wk-Hi - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks 52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume Change - Change in closing price from day to day Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings

YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths NAV - Net Asset Value N/M - Not Meaningful

The Board of Directors of Bahamas Waste Limited has declared a Dividend for Ordinary Shares, to all shareholders of record as of May 27th, 2022 of $0.16 cents per share

The payment will be made on June 8th, 2022, through Bahamas Central Securities Depository Limited, the Registrar & Transfer Agent Robert V. Lotmore Corporate Secretary

TO TRADE CALL: CFAL 242-502-7010 | ROYALFIDELITY 242-356-7764 | CORALISLE 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225 | BENCHMARK 242-326-7333

THE TRIBUNE

AHA AS URGED: ‘GO AC INTO THE TOURIS

FROM PAGE 24 800,000 of this number were its own customers as the rest belonged to the mega resorts and cruise ships.

Asserting that Bahamians have largely been conditioned to accept employment, as opposed to wealth creation and ownership, when it came to the tourism industry, the wellknown architect said the country started “to lose our customers” in the 1970s with the economy suffering from what he labelled as “three gaps” - lack of vision, unwillingness to participate in intellectual discussion, and a flawed business model.

This, Mr Rahming said, had let to “complete dependence on residual income from resort operators and the cruise industry”, which he branded an “unsustainable situation”. He added that it also explained why Bahamian tourism had seen relatively anemic growth in stopover visitor numbers over the past three decades, with the Dominican Republic and Cuba growing theirs eightfold during the same period.

“In 1991, we had 1.42m stopover visitors. Jamaica had 1m, the Dominican Republic had 780,000 and Cuba had 450,000,” Mr Rahming told this newspaper.

“By 2018 or thereabouts, Jamaica had moved to 2.3m, Cuba to 3.7m and the Dominican Republic, 6.4m. In the case of Jamaica, Jamaica had a 135 percent increase, but the other two were eight times’ what they previously had. We had 0.25 percent growth [sic] in the same period.”

While The Bahamas’ stopover visitor growth may have been slightly higher than allowed for by Mr Rahming, based on the 1.8m stopovers received in 2019, there is little doubt that rival Caribbean nations prior to COVID-19 had expanded at a much faster rate than this nation.

“We were not getting business anywhere near the rate of others in our region,” he added. If The Bahamas had

enjoyed the same stopover growth rate as Cuba and the Dominican Republic, Mr Rahming said it would now be attracting 11.4m visitors with a per capita average spend of $1,300 - equating to an $14.82bn annual economic injection.

“We’d be able to almost wipe out our national debt fairly quickly, and it would have untold benefits as far as the economy is concerned,” he told Tribune Business.

“The thing that would have the most benefit is that by going back into business ourselves, we’d be creating local wealth as opposed to employment.

“For the last 40 years, our target - the main benefit we’ve been trying to achieve - is employment and not wealth creation.

Given the model that we’ve developed, having a job is a safer bet than starting a business. We don’t want to encourage people to start a business as much as we want to tell them that we’re going to supply them with jobs. We’ve developed a risk averse country because we’ve been peddling the safety of a job.

“We need to recognise that residual income from serving other people who are in the tourism business could never be in the same economic vein as running our own tourism business.

The fact that we ran out of our own customers in the 1970s, I don’t think there are very many people who understand how that happened. The implication is that we stopped having customers of our own and started relying on customers of the cruise ships and the resort.”

Mr Rahming’s argument is that The Bahamas will only maximise tourism’s economic benefits if it flips the script, or turns the present industry model upside down, and returns to something akin to the 1960s - when multiple Bahamian-owned restaurants, nightclubs and retailers, many located Over-the-Hill as well as on Bay Street - formed the core

of activities and attractions enjoyed by tourists.

He argued that a lack of historical knowledge concerning this past, especially among Bahamians aged 50 years-old and younger, was contributing to what he describes as the “vision gap”. Mr Rahming wrote: “It recently came as a surprise to me that today’s 50 year-old has no concept of a successful tourism environment in The Bahamas, having been born during that era’s funeral.

“A decade before they were born, New Providence, for example, was dotted with successful nightclubs, some of them now legendary, like the Cat and Fiddle, the Silver Slipper, the Zanzibar, the Conch Shell, the Jungle Club, all owned and operated locally, mostly by black Bahamians.

“The same was true about attractions like the Nassau Seafloor Aquarium, Ardastra Gardens, the Son et Lumiere (Sound and Light Show) and wax museum at Fort Charlotte, Balmain and Bahamia Museums.

Successful Over-the-Hill restaurants thrived, like the Three Queens, the Reef and the Shoal. Bay Street was lined with nightclubs and show clubs, restaurants - both Bahamian and international - and stores that sold both fine local product and European goods,{” he added.

“By 1980, all of this was gone. Today’s 50 year-old would have been eight. For anyone under 50 years-old, tourism reports are about occupancy rates, not local wealth development. For them promoting tourism is about subsidising airlines and resorts, and buying ads to tout our beautiful environment. It is not about operating a business for the benefit of the local business community.”

Besides age, Mr Rahming identifies the second cause of the so-called “vision gap” as the postIndependence view that saw tourism as being the operation of resorts. Politicians, he argued, did not bother

to understand the business model left behind by the controversial Sir Stafford Sands. As a result, he argued that this resort-centric mindset persists today, as seen in the Grand Lucayan deal, rather than people, culture, heritage and other attributes being the product core.

“This new approach, which persists to today, has led governments to kowtow to the wishes and influence of resort and cruise ship operators,” Mr Rahming said. “Over the past five decades, The Bahamas has poured hundreds of millions of dollars (possibly billions) paying for the marketing and promotion of resorts, subsidising or purchasing failed projects, facilitating cruise operators with facilities and leases of prime property, with no visible benefit except employment.

“We have become experts in the activity of tourism but appear unaware that there is a business of tourism. The result has been the absolute demise of our tourism business under this flawed resort-based and cruise industry-based vision.” Mr Rahming said this failure was directly responsible for the “declining performance” and “dramatic drop” in The Bahamas’ tourism

Tuesday, May 24, 2022, PAGE 21

competitiveness compared to Caribbean rivals.

And he argued that the impact was worsened by “the persistence of a political culture that ensures commitment to obsolete or flawed concepts under the guise of ‘ideas’ rather than the result of true intellectual search and philosophical commitment”. The Bahamas, Mr Rahming said, was locked into the status quo because its leaders especially in politics and government - refuse to embrace dissenting ideas or alternative viewpoints.

With dissenters frequently “silenced or humiliated”, he added: “So while the cruise lines and travel organisations all tell us that we lack sufficient product to function as a destination, we prefer to respond by spending more money on advertising and promotion, oblivious of the needs of the business model for the operation of a tourist destination.

“Without customers of our own, building attractions would be futile. They would simply die again, as they did in the 1970s. Our problem will not resolve itself without serious intellectual discussion in an environment where real

USINESS’

change is both expected and welcome.”

Turning to the final “gap”, which he defined as the tourism model currently being employed, Mr Rahming said visitors were typically in search of unique experiences in a particular destination, with attractions that functioned much like a retail point-of-sale.

However, in The Bahamas’ case, he argued: “The model currently in use defines the customer as the customer of the resort or cruise ship, the product as sun, sand and sea and the personality of ‘the People’, the point-of-sale as the resort or the cruise ship.

Infrastructure is defined as the facilities for transportation, and physical and financial support for cruise ships and resorts.

“This is a huge gap, and its mending requires a major paradigm shift and major policy changes. It would also require a significantly more focused strategy. This current model has led to a complete dependence on residual income from resort operators and cruise lines, an unsustainable economic situation.... Three gaps, each easily filled. Imagine the possibilities if we would address them immediately.”

PAGE 22, Tuesday, May 24, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

ACCOUNTANT ‘SURPRISED’ IF ANY UDGET TAX HI E

FROM PAGE 24 that doesn’t break the back.

It will be a Budget to cut down on some spending. I think they’re going to cut, and do some trimming of agency budgets in certain areas.”

Mr Christie added that the focus on restoring 10 percent VAT on so-called ‘breadbasket’ food items, when they had been zero-rated under the Minnis administration, was “myopic” because it did not account for the bigger picture and the impact of slashing the previous 12 percent rate on other goods and services.

“I’ve encountered a lot of business people who have seen the impact of the VAT decrease on their local purchases despite the effects of inflation and supply shortages,” he said. “Focusing on one micro thing is not fair.

When prices go back down, the impact of the VAT rate decrease should come through and cause more economic activity.

“I’d be surprised if there’s any change on VAT on

breadbasket items. I think they’ve slammed the door on that. I don’t anticipate any change on that. VAT systems have to minimise the exemptions and zero ratings. A lot of purchases of breadbasket foods are by middle class and wealthy people. With exemptions you’re just giving them a break.”

Meanwhile Kwasi Thompson, former minister of state for finance, seeking to set the narrative ahead of the 2022-2023 Budget argued that Bahamians had seen “no tangible evidence” of moves by the Government to address the cost of living jump sparked by soaring inflation.

Questioning whether the Davis administration will hold the hurricane readiness and back-to-school VAT holidays staged by its predecessor, he said in a statement: “The Bahamas cannot wait any longer to address the tax reform issue. We have studied this issue enough and the Government must stop pandering, sending mixed

KWASI THOMPSON

messages, and provide a real plan for tax reform that can provide for the revenue needs of the country in an equitable way....

“We again have seen no evidence that any progress is being made on the global minimum tax Initiative.

Countries all around the world are embracing the opportunity to provide more revenue, but also The Bahamas has an opportunity to change our own Business License system into something more equitable.” The “minimum tax” refers to the G-7/ OECD initiative to impose a worldwide minimum 15 percent corporate income tax rate on the largest multinationals.

“Bahamians are looking for real relief from the inflation crisis. We have heard promises, meetings and discussions. However, we have seen no tangible evidence of relief. The inflation crisis must be a top priority and must be addressed in a real way. Bahamians need to understand how they will be able to access

A ACO CHA ER CHIEF: ‘ E’RE IN A SCARY TI E’ FROM PAGE 24 Abaco to $6.86 per gallon -a figure that does not include ocean freight costs.

Acknowledging this, Mr Hutton said: “The operative term is just waiting for the other shoe to drop because, based on the news we’re seeing, the price spikes are coming.

“It’s not a matter of if, but when and how much.

We’re bracing for it, and hoping it’s not too severe so people have to decide between sending their children to school, buying food, paying the electricity bill or

paying for medicine. We’re entering a pretty scary time.

I don’t think it’s just Abaco.

I think globally we’re in for some pretty scary times. We may be an island, but we’re not an island alone.

“We’re dependent on the world economy, and if that goes pear shaped we come into a world of hurt very quickly. Being beaten up

by Dorian, we understand a lot better than many people the necessity of being prepared.”

With surging inflation sparked by over-heating in the world’s major economies, coupled with supply

NOTICE

International Business Companies Act (No. 46 of 2000)

OKEANOS ALCION HOLDINGS LIMITED No. 92228 B In Voluntary Liquidation Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138 (6) of the International Business Companies Act 2000, OKEANOS ALCION HOLDINGS LIMITED is in Dissolution.

chain disruption caused by COVID-19’s legacy and the fall-out from Russia’s war with Ukraine, Mr Hutton said himself and the Abaco Chamber had for months been urging residents to stock up by spending a little extra every time they went to the grocery store to mitigate or delay the impact of price hikes.

And, with the Government due to present its annual Budget in the House of Assembly tomorrow, the Abaco Chamber chief renewed his oft-repeated pleas for the Government to extend in full the Dorian-related tax breaks for his island and Grand Bahama for a further onetwo years “at least”.

“We would love to see the SERZ (Special Economic Recovery Zone)

concessions extended in full,” he told Tribune Business. “We’re still struggling and challenged with the lack of clarity on the SERZ as it is extended now, and we cannot get clarification from the Government.

Some things are duty and VAT free, some things are not, and there is no comprehensive list of what is duty free and what is not.

“There is no clarification, no publication. It’s very confusing. We’re trying to run a business and rebuild the island here. We need some kind of certainty, some kind of clarity and we’re not getting it. We want the SERZ to be extended in its totality for at least another year or two.

“If you want to see a New Day, you will definitely see it in Abaco. All we’re

NORTH ACKLINS ONLINE AUCTION

Dissolution Commenced on: March 2, 2022.

We, REDCORN CONSULTANTS LIMITED, of Suite 205A – Saffrey Square, Bay Street, Nassau, Bahamas are the appointed Liquidators of the company: OKEANOS ALCION HOLDINGS LIMITED.

Ends: Sunday, May 29, 2022

Highway Front 70ft X 225ft Commercial Property

OPENING BID

Any person having a Claim against OKEANOS ALCION HOLDINGS LIMITED is required on or before May 31, 2022 to send their name, address and particulars of the debt or claim to the Liquidator of the Company, or in default thereof they may be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made before such claim is approved. __________________ Liquidator

$8,650 NO RESERVE Bid at

www.AcklinsRealty.com

Notice!

The 42nd Annual General Meeting of the Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union Limited will be held on Friday, May 27th, 2022, commencing at 5:00 p.m. at the Church of God Auditorium, Joe Farrington Road, for the following purposes: 1.

2.

3.

4.

To receive and ratify the Board of Directors’ Report To receive and ratify the 2021 Audited Accounts To receive and ratify the (proposed) 2023 Budget To elect members to the Board of Directors, Supervisory, Credit and Nomination Committees and 5. To ratify the appointment of Auditors for 2022

All members in good standing are encouraged to attend and participate.

Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union Limited “The Family Credit Union.”

requesting is the tools we need to get our island and communities back up and running, and the SERZ is a critical tool.”

The Davis administration, though, has been seeking to roll-back and contain Dorian recoveryrelated tax breaks in the belief that it is giving too much away, especially to wealthy second homeowners (many of them foreign) that it believes can afford to rebuild without taxpayer assistance.

Mr Hutton, in a previous letter to government officials, argued: “The declared purpose of the SERZ concessions from the beginning was two-fold: To encourage rebuilding and incentivise the local economy back to growth. Abaco was initially told SERZ would be in place for three years, which all agreed would have been sufficient time to get the economy back on its feet and on its way to growth again.

the much-needed help,” Mr Thompson said.

“The Government’s Budget must align with the fiscal strategy. The Government has foreshadowed revenue numbers that must now be followed, and projected budget cuts. If the Government is to prove its credibility the Budget must be consistent, which means they must have the revenue they projected and budget cuts they projected. Otherwise, what’s the point in having a fiscal strategy and how can we trust the next one?”

Mr Thompson also argued that “the credibility of the Government and the country in the eyes of prospective domestic and international investors, and creditors” was being damaged by the failure to meet the April 30, 2022, deadline as required by law under the Public Financial Management Act and Public Debt Management Act to publish the 20212022 third quarter fiscal “snapshot” and debt management plan.

“The arrival of COVID resulted in critical delays to that recovery and threw the process back by at least a year or more. Add to that, Abaco is now being affected by historic inflation and global supply chain issues causing rebuilding to be not only more expensive but also more prolonged.

The impression in Nassau that some underserving people are benefiting from SERZ more than others is based on jealousy and ignorance of the facts on the ground.

“We need the concessions to continue unaltered for at least two more years.

We are nowhere close to having a robust economy.

People are struggling just to get by. Delays, unannounced changes and reductions to SERZ not only add an unnecessary level of uncertainty, but increase an already heightened level of mistrust and resentment of the Government caused by the former administration’s gross mismanagement of the Abaco disaster response.”

Share your news The Tribune wants to hear from people who are making news in their neighbourhoods. Perhaps you are raising funds for a good cause, campaigning for improvements in the area or have won an award. If so, call us on 322-1986 and share your story.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, May 24, 2022, PAGE 23

Internal auditors urged to identify generations THE Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Bahamas chapter last week hosted a two-day seminar under the theme, Audit: Refocused, redefined, revitalised for the future. Some ten speakers discussed regulatory updates, quality assurance programmes, understanding third-party risks, best practices for audit committees, and strategy building within a multi-generational workforce.

LASHANTA Smith addresses the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Bahamas chapter members at the Warwick Hotel on Paradise Island.

As the closing speaker, Lashanta Smith, Pineapple Business Consultancy partner and president-elect of the Bahamas Society for Human Resources Management (BSHRM), encouraged internal audit professionals to take advantage of multigenerational talent. “If leaders are to build synergy in a diverse workplace, they must recognise and address each generation’s perspective,” she explained.

THE WEATHER REPORT

5-DAY FORECAST

TODAY

ORLANDO

High: 90° F/32° C Low: 72° F/22° C

TAMPA

TONIGHT

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Mostly sunny and breezy

Breezy early; mainly clear

Some sun with winds subsiding

A shower and t-storm in the morning

A couple of showers and a t-storm

Some sun with a shower and t-storm

High: 85°

Low: 76°

High: 84° Low: 76°

High: 83° Low: 76°

High: 84° Low: 74°

High: 85° Low: 73°

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

91° F

77° F

91°-77° F

92°-79° F

92°-75° F

92°-77° F

High: 93° F/34° C Low: 76° F/24° C

The exclusive AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature® is an index that combines the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation, pressure and elevation on the human body—everything that affects how warm or cold a person feels. Temperatures reflect the high and the low for the day.

N

ALMANAC

E

W

ABACO

S

N

High: 82° F/28° C Low: 77° F/25° C

8-16 knots

S

High: 87° F/31° C Low: 78° F/26° C

8-16 knots

FT. LAUDERDALE

FREEPORT

High: 87° F/31° C Low: 79° F/26° C

N E S

E

W

WEST PALM BEACH

W

| Go to AccuWeather.com

High: 85° F/29° C Low: 75° F/24° C

MIAMI

High: 88° F/31° C Low: 78° F/26° C

8-16 knots

Statistics are for Nassau through 2 p.m. yesterday Temperature High ................................................... 84° F/29° C Low .................................................... 77° F/25° C Normal high ....................................... 85° F/29° C Normal low ........................................ 72° F/22° C Last year’s high ................................. 85° F/30° C Last year’s low ................................... 68° F/20° C Precipitation As of 2 p.m. yesterday ................................. 0.00” Year to date ............................................... 14.38” Normal year to date ..................................... 7.86”

ELEUTHERA

NASSAU

High: 85° F/29° C Low: 76° F/24° C

Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022

High: 83° F/28° C Low: 76° F/24° C

N

KEY WEST

High: 86° F/30° C Low: 79° F/26° C

TIDES FOR NASSAU High Today

E

W

8-16 knots

S

10-20 knots

Low

Ht.(ft.)

2.7 2.6

10:14 a.m. 0.0 10:43 p.m. 0.3

Wednesday 4:44 a.m.

5:24 p.m.

2.5 2.7

11:06 a.m. 0.0 11:42 p.m. 0.3

Thursday

5:37 a.m.

6:13 p.m.

2.5 2.8

11:53 a.m. -0.1 ---------

Friday

6:25 a.m.

6:58 p.m.

2.4 2.9

12:35 a.m. 0.2 12:36 p.m. -0.1

Saturday

7:10 a.m.

7:38 p.m.

2.3 2.9

1:22 a.m. 0.1 1:16 p.m. -0.1

Sunday

7:51 a.m.

8:17 p.m.

2.3 2.9

2:05 a.m. 0.1 1:54 p.m. -0.1

Monday

8:31 a.m.

8:55 p.m.

2.2 2.9

2:46 a.m. 0.0 2:32 p.m. -0.1

SUN AND MOON Sunrise Sunset

6:22 a.m. Moonrise 7:52 p.m. Moonset

2:55 a.m.

2:53 p.m.

New

First

Full

Last

May 30

Jun. 7

Jun. 14

Jun. 20

ANDROS

SAN SALVADOR

GREAT EXUMA

High: 83° F/28° C Low: 75° F/24° C

High: 83° F/28° C Low: 77° F/25° C

N

High: 83° F/28° C Low: 76° F/24° C

E

W S

LONG ISLAND

TRACKING MAP

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 76° F/24° C

L

Ht.(ft.)

3:46 a.m.

4:29 p.m.

High: 83° F/28° C Low: 75° F/24° C

N

S

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

The higher the AccuWeather UV IndexTM number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.

CAT ISLAND

E

W

UV INDEX TODAY

10-20 knots

MAYAGUANA High: 84° F/29° C Low: 78° F/26° C

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures

CROOKED ISLAND / ACKLINS

are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

RAGGED ISLAND High: 83° F/28° C Low: 78° F/26° C

H

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 76° F/24° C

GREAT INAGUA High: 86° F/30° C Low: 78° F/26° C

N

E

W

E

W

N

S

S

10-20 knots

10-20 knots

MARINE FORECAST ABACO ANDROS CAT ISLAND CROOKED ISLAND ELEUTHERA FREEPORT GREAT EXUMA GREAT INAGUA LONG ISLAND MAYAGUANA NASSAU RAGGED ISLAND SAN SALVADOR

Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday:

WINDS SE at 8-16 Knots ESE at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots ESE at 10-20 Knots E at 10-20 Knots E at 10-20 Knots E at 10-20 Knots E at 10-20 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 10-20 Knots ESE at 8-16 Knots ESE at 12-25 Knots E at 10-20 Knots E at 10-20 Knots E at 10-20 Knots ENE at 12-25 Knots E at 10-20 Knots E at 10-20 Knots ENE at 10-20 Knots ENE at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 10-20 Knots E at 12-25 Knots E at 10-20 Knots E at 10-20 Knots

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business@tribunemedia.net

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2022

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Bahamas urged: ‘Go back into the tourism business’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A PROMINENT architect is arguing that The Bahamas must “go back into the tourism business for itself” to reverse the “dramatic drop” in its competitiveness versus faster-growing rival Caribbean destinations.

Patrick Rahming, who has written two books on the subject, reiterated in a recent interview with Tribune Business that The

Bahamas needs to effectively turn the present tourism model on its head if its citizens are to again become the major wealth creators and beneficiaries from the nation’s largest industry.

Renewing his call for The Bahamas to revert to the pre-1970s tourism model, he said the country is no longer in the tourism business itself or acting as a true destination but, instead, providing support and resources for those who and are enjoying the bulk of its earnings mega resort destinations, such as

Atlantis and Baha Mar, and the cruise ship industry.

As a result, The Bahamas was no longer “taking responsibility for getting customers into the destination” but had handed this obligation over to these players who were destinations/products in their own right. Of The Bahamas’ 7.2m visitors in 2019, Mr Rahming said the country could only claim that between 700,000 to

‘Most important’ Budget in The Bahamas’ history

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A GOVERNANCE reformer yesterday said he was “confident” some tax increases will be unveiled in tomorrow’s Budget, which he branded as the “most important” in Bahamian history to-date.

Hubert Edwards, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) economic development committee head, told Tribune Business there was “absolutely no way” to increase government revenues to 25 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) - the Davis administration’s target - without implementing new and/or higher taxes.

And, given The Bahamas’ postCOVID situation with multiple challenges confronting it, he argued that the 2022-2023 Budget is the most pivotal yet as “the country could languish below its potential for some time to come if we don’t get

HUBERT EDWARDS

this right” on the short, medium and long-term reforms needed to direct it back on a sustainable economic and fiscal path.

Mr Edwards argued that The Bahamas was in uncharted territory with a $10.5bn-plus national debt that was increasing towards $11bn; underlying economic fundamentals that were “overturned” by the COVID-19 pandemic; and bonds that continue to

trade at significant discounts to their face value - and yields between 12-14 percent - on the international market.

Besides these difficulties, the Government and Bahamian people are also presently dealing with a cost of living crisis sparked by global inflationary pressures that will likely force an increase in social security spending and other measures - such as targeted tariff cuts - to mitigate the impact on society’s most vulnerable in the upcoming 2022-2023 fiscal year.

Yet the Government also needs to earn sufficient revenues, and cut spending, to restore fiscal sustainability while ensuring there is

SEE PAGE 20

Accountant Abaco Chamber chief: ‘surprised’ if any ‘We’re in a scary time’ Budget tax hike

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN accountant yesterday said he would “definitely be surprised” if the Government introduced new and/or increased taxes in tomorrow’s Budget given that it KENDRICK CHRISTIE would only worsen the cost of living crisis for vulnerable Bahamians.

Kendrick Christie, president of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Bahamas chapter (ACFE), told Tribune Business that the Davis administration was highly unlikely to deepen the problems caused by surging inflation given that any additional tax measures will only add to the impact of ongoing price hikes.

Suggesting that targeted spending cuts were more likely in a bid to hit fiscal targets, and keep the deficit in check, he added: “I think this is going to be more of a Budget

SEE PAGE 22

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

ABACO’S Chamber of Commerce president yesterday said The Bahamas and whole world are entering “a pretty scary time”, adding that the island was “just waiting for the other shoe to drop” when it came to further price hikes.

Ken Hutton told Tribune Business that while the cost of living, although much higher than 12 months ago and earlier this year, appeared to have stabilised in recent weeks this was likely to be a temporary experience. Based on international developments, he added that it was likely a situation of “when, not if” further inflationary pressures hit the island and wider Bahamas.

Urging all residents to brace for the impact, he voiced concern that the cost of living crisis would not become so severe that Bahamians had to choose between paying for food, medicine, the electricity bill or sending their children to school.

Speaking after a Cat Island entrepreneur last week

KEN HUTTON disclosed that Romaine lettuce was priced at $15 in one of the island’s grocery stores, Mr Hutton told this newspaper: “Prices have definitely stabilised for the moment, even though they are still much higher than they were this time last year or even in January.

Gas and diesel are the same prices they were last week.”

The latter, though, is likely to be fleeting as newspaper advertisements showed that Rubis Bahamas has been approved to increase gasoline prices on

SEE PAGE 22

SEE PAGE 21

PATRICK RAHMING

BISX-listed Fund eyes restart for dividends after 15-year gap

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE BISX-listed Bahamas Property Fund’s Board will within the next month receive a recommendation to resume investor dividend payments after a 15-year hiatus following completion of its $8m preference share financing.

Michael Anderson, RF Bank & Trust’s president, which acts as the fund’s administrator, told Tribune Business that paying out a Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) loan with the offering proceeds will provide the necessary flexibility to “put back on the table” the possibility of returning capital to shareholders.

With no dividend paid since around the time of the 2008-2009 financial crisis,

MICHAEL ANDERSON he added that the Property Fund had received a further boost from its 2021 annual financial performance which produced a more than $4.2m positive reversal of the prior year’s $860,116 loss.

The full-year $4.348m profit, while largely driven by a revaluation that

SEE PAGE 19