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Volume:114 No.154, JULY 4TH, 2017

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WOMAN: ARTIST RECLAIMING IMAGE OF THE BLACK WOMAN

FBI to probe Fyre fiasco Wilchcombe says don’t blame me as creditors chase cash

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net AGENTS from the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation received a permit from the government to conduct a probe in Exuma after the botched Fyre Festival went up in smoke on April 27, The Tribune understands.

However, it is not clear whether there was any collaboration with local law enforcement agencies.

The revelation came days after Fyre Festival lead organiser Billy McFarland was arrested and released

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A DEAL IS “almost there” for the Grand Lucayan Resort, according to Minister of State for Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson.

Mr Thompson told Tribune Business yesterday that talks over the potential sale of the the Freeport property were at “a good but very sensitive” stage - but confirmed the involvement of the Canadian Wynn Group.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

69 MIGRANTS STOPPED IN HAITIAN SLOOP

on bail in the United States on a wire fraud charge in connection with the ill-fated festival.

In the wake of the recent developments, former Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe told The Tribune yesterday that he had no involvement in the matter as approvals for the Family Island project were authorised by local government.

“Tourism did not approve it, I don’t know where this is coming from,” Mr Wilchcombe said when contacted by this newspaper.

SEE PAGE SIX

FRESH LEGAL BID TO CLAW BACK $650,000 MUZIK FESTIVAL FUNDS

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net THE government is seeking to secure legal counsel in its quest to recover the $650,000 lost as a result of the failed 2015 Caribbean Muzik Festival, according to Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar.

In an interview with The Tribune on Monday, Mr D’Aguilar insisted that the government “has not rested in its effort to get the people back their money”, calling

GRAND LUCAYAN RESORT DEAL ‘ALMOST DONE’

the festival’s failure the latest in a long line of “PLP debacles”. He said since coming to office, he was informed that the former government began the process but halted efforts shortly before the May 10 general election “without reason or fact.”

“According to the information provided to me, the former administration made attempts to secure the necessary counsel to go after these people and recover the country’s money,” he said.

SEE PAGE SIX

A MARINE escorts Haitian migrants off the patrol craft HMBS Lignum Vitae at the Coral Harbour Base shortly after they were apprehended early Monday morning. They were discovered in the central Bahamas on July 3.

Photos: RBDF Public Relations Department MORE than 60 undocumented Haitian nationals were apprehended in the central Bahamas early Monday morning by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.

A Haitian sloop was intercepted on the Great

Bahama Bank west of the Exuma chain by Her Majesty’s Bahamian Ship Lignum Vitae under the command of Senior Lieutenant Bertram Bowleg around 2am on Monday morning. The vessel was subsequently boarded and

searched resulting in 69 migrants (58 males, ten females and a child) being apprehended.

The wooden vessel was initially sighted by a RBDF surveillance aircraft piloted by Chief Petty Officer Gregory Storr earlier that

FAMILY SEIZED IN $4M COCAINE BUST

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net TWO men and four women appeared in Magistrate’s Court yesterday accused of having custody of $4m worth of cocaine.

Arthur McNeil Stubbs, 44, stood before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes facing a charge of possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply concerning a seizure that occurred on June 26 in Grand Bahama.

It is alleged that Stubbs, being concerned with his 22-year-old son Arthur Jr, twins Naomi and

day when HMBS Lignum Vitae, which was on routine patrol at the time, was directed to intercept.

The migrants were taken to New Providence and turned over to immigration officials for further processing.

NEW WARNING OVER BAD BANK DEBTS

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

HELENA SHERRELL STUBBS, 44, one of six people charged with possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff Ruth Woodside, 53, Helena Stubbs, 44, and Silia Woodside, 25, were found at West End in possession

of a quantity of cocaine with intent to supply the same.

SEE PAGE FIVE

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

THE chairman of Bahamas Resolve, James Smith, said that the government may have to pay interest costs for bad debts at the Bank of The Bahamas.

In 2014, millions of Bank of The Bahamas’ toxic loans were taken off the bank’s balance sheet and transferred to Resolve, the special purpose vehicle (SPV) created to recover the loans.

SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Tuesday, July 4, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis travelled to Grenada on Monday for the 38th regular meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which runs from July 4-6. It will be Dr Minnis’ first CARICOM meeting as prime minister of The Bahamas. He is pictured at LPIA early this morning with his wife, Patricia, accompanied also by Office of the Prime Minister Permanent Secretary Jack Thompson (left) and Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade (second left).

Photo:Patrick Hanna/BIS

Caricom debut for Minnis

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net IN Grenada yesterday, ahead of the 38th Regular Meeting of Heads of Government of CARICOM, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis shared his hope for discussions with regional partners on the stagnant tourism industry and factors that inhibit business growth.

“We all share common problems,” Dr Minnis said after he arrived on the island, according to audio provided by Bahamas Information Services (BIS).

“We are faced with an economy that is not grow-

ing very well, we are faced with crime, we are faced with climate change. Our number one industry not only in the Bahamas but throughout the Caribbean is tourism; we must find and discuss ways of improving and expanding tourism because tourism has not grown in the Caribbean region during the past 10 years, if not more, but it is growing elsewhere and it’s essential for us to deal with that appropriately.

“We must look at the factors inhibiting or prohibiting business growth in the region.

Energy is an important factor.

We’ll be looking at alternative energy — solar, wind and other forms of energy.”

Dr Minnis is the head of state with responsibility for tourism.

He will give his inaugural speech to the body Tuesday evening, during the meeting’s opening session.

Accompanying Dr Minnis are his wife, Patricia Minnis, Foreign Affairs Minister Darren Henfield, Education Minister Jeffrey Lloyd, Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister Joshua Sears, Bahamas Ambassador-designate to CARICOM Reuben Rahming, and the Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sharon BrennenHaylock.

The CARICOM meeting will end July 6.

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis speaking to a ZNS reporter before he left the country on Monday.

Photo: Peter Ramsay/BIS

MORE JOBS TO GO AS CONTRACTS WITH GOVT EXPIRE

By KHRISNA VIRGIL Deputy Chief Reporter kvirgil@tribunemedia.net TERMINATIONS are continuing throughout the week in various government departments as workers’ contractual agreements expire, Brensil Rolle, Minister of State for the Public Service, told The Tribune yesterday.

While Mr Rolle said he could not reveal specifically which departments would see contracted workers sent home this week, he said this was expected to continue in the coming weeks.

Asked how these terminations were expected to affect workforce numbers, the Garden Hills MP said this could not be answered

definitively because the government was still in the process of trying to figure out the total number of contracted workers and where they had been placed.

Last week, Mr Rolle told reporters outside Parliament that officials were also looking into an additional 1,700 persons who are on contract.

In this regard, he said yesterday the government was challenged because in many cases there was “no paper trail” for these hires.

“We don’t know how many there are yet and this is because in some cases there is no paper trail for these employees and so we find ourselves having to do some digging to figure this out,” he told The Tribune.

“But the process of sending people home is continuing this week as contracts come to an end.”

Last week, the state minister confirmed that 21 workers from the National Insurance Board (NIB) were set to be let go, as their contractual agreements expired last Friday.

However, he said it was possible that the agency would examine these individuals to identify if any of them were best suited to remain at NIB. He said this is “certainly an option”.

He said the group was a part of the former Christie administration’s pre-election hires, adding that they were hired about eight to 12 months ahead of the May 10

election. Asked to describe their job descriptions, Mr Rolle said he could not say specifically.

At the time, he explained that the group of 1,700 contracted workers was in addition to two other agencies with high levels of contracted workers and the 3,000 people that were hired on the 52-week job programme. These contracts, he added, will also expire in a number of days. “(Former) Minister Jerome Fitzgerald hired workers. His quote to the workers according to my PS (permanent secretary) and some workers on the question of whether or not workers who had been working in the Ministry of Education - whether or not they

should be made permanent and pensionable - his quote was ‘that’s them other people business, I am making permanent and pensionable those that I hired,’” Mr Rolle told the press last Wednesday following the morning session of Parliament.

“So, what does that mean to you or me? Well for the record they hired their people, that’s what they say.”

He also said: “We are totally different from the PLP. We don’t hire based on political orientation. We hire based on merit. That’s our record and that’s our history. We are not getting rid of anybody.

“I said their contracts have expired and as a consequence the director of

NIB, consistent with the contracts, is living up to the conditions of the contract. That is not to say that NIB will not examine these individuals and identify who (are) the best persons who were working there and may call them back. That’s certainly an option.”

“But we are only honouring the contracts. We are saying that the contract has expired. That’s the end of the contract. We are not in the position to renew your contract. We could now make a case as to why we should keep you or why we should bring you back and have you re-engaged,” Mr Rolle, who also has responsibility for National Insurance, said.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, July 4, 2017, PAGE 3

‘FNM criticised in opposition - but slow with appointments’

By KHRISNA VIRGIL Deputy Chief Reporter kvirgil@tribunemedia.net PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party Chairman Bradley Roberts yesterday criticised the Minnis administration for its failure to complete government board appointments before the start of the fiscal year.

In an interview with The Tribune, Mr Roberts said Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and his administration were not ready to govern and continued to “muddle along” despite the Free National Movement’s (FNM) continued criticism when it was in opposition of the former Christie administration.

Meanwhile, FNM Chairman Sidney Collie said it took the PLP at least 100 days to name appointees, adding that it has only taken the new government about half the time to compose the boards.

Asked to respond to criticism that the boards will mainly be populated by party supporters, Mr Collie said there was criteria prescribed by law for appointments. However, he added that party supporters do expect that once their organisation is elected to office, they will be given an opportunity to serve and that the party does whatever is possible to ensure the expecta-

tion is accommodated.

In 2012, former Prime Minister Perry Christie had been criticised for failing to appoint people to boards in time for the start of that fiscal year, July 1.

Mr Roberts noted at the time that the former Ingraham administration appointed people to statutory boards on July 8, 2007.

“Do you know how long it took Christie and them to do theirs? It took them almost 100 days,” Mr Collie said when he was contacted.

“We had over 6,000 names to go through while we were dealing with setting up a government and going through a budget and all of the other things. Not that this is an excuse, but it gives an explanation.”

More than 6,200 people expressed interest in the 108 available boards, Mr Collie said yesterday.

“There is some criteria. There are 32 statutory boards that are government and by legislation it is prescribed that qualification and experience is needed.

“For instance, you can’t put anybody off the street as the chairman of the Central Bank of The Bahamas board or the Securities Commission board.

“The legislation prescribes first of all the qualifications, experience and the function of the persons on the board and those le-

PLP chairman Bradley Roberts. gal prescriptions automatically reduces or restricts who can and cannot serve on these boards.

“Now the committees and the advisory councils, any member of society who has a passion for their different areas or who has some kind of experience either voluntary or by virtue of

their work or their pastime like the Junkanoo committee or the Clifton Heritage committee or the National Trust. If people have special interests then persons are selected from that group for those particular advisories or committees.”

Asked whether party supporters take priority for ap-

pointment, Mr Collie said: “I don’t know about going for party supporters first, but what I do know because a lot of the statutory boards does not take account of politics it takes account of competence qualifications experience, all political parties have persons that fall in that category.

“Party supporters expect that once you win the government to be given opportunities to serve on boards and as far as possible political parties do all they can to accommodate that expectation,” Mr Collie also said.

Some board appointments are expected to be made today.

NEW BPL BOARD TO BE IN PLACE TOMORROW - AND TO BE TOLD TO KEEP LIGHTS ON

By SANCHESKA DORSETT Tribune Staff Reporter sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE new Bahamas Power and Light board will “be in place on Wednesday,” according to Works Minister Desmond Bannister who said the group’s first priority is tackling the utility provider’s “inability to keep the lights on.”

In an interview with The Tribune, Mr Bannister confirmed that the new board was selected, but said Cabinet will have to release the full list of names to the press. The Tribune understands the board’s new chairman is Darnell Osborne.

Meanwhile, Mr Bannister said he is “extremely troubled” that BPL has not been able to keep the lights on and said in his constituency, Carmichael, the power has been off every day for the past few weeks.

“I have been very, very disappointed as I have indicated before. The power has been out in Carmichael every single day. These issues at BPL are causing me great concern,” Mr Bannister said.

“The new board will be in place on Wednesday and they will immediately review these issues with a view to fixing these issues as quickly as possible. There are a number of issues but we are looking very seriously on bringing affordable, efficient electricity to the

A BPL truck on the road carrying out repairs.

people. “We deserve better and we will get better. This is a highly competent board and I look forward to working with them, they are going to make a difference in the country,” Mr Bannister said.

Mr Bannister also told The Tribune that BPL’s new board will issue a request for proposals (RFP) for alternative energy, saying a lot of companies are interested in this.

“That RFP will be for providing alternative means of electricity. We have had people come to us with solar and waste to energy proposals,” he said.

Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEWU) President Paul Maynard said while BPL has the capacity to keep up with electricity demand, “some days will be good and some days will be bad.”

“If something happens the lights will go off, there is nothing we can do about that, some days will be good, some days will be bad, that is how it works in the summer,” Mr Maynard said.

“We have power but if a 25-megawatt engine goes out, which is what has been happening, we will have to load shed.

“We had to do it last week. Clifton Pier was having problems. The point is we dealing with ancient equipment, that we need to get rid of. We need to change the fuel and change

the equipment.”

Last week, Mr Bannister told The Tribune the lack of reliable electricity may prevent the government from fulfilling all the necessary requirements in the Baha Mar heads of agreement.

The heads of agreement requires the government and BPL to “address reliable and consistent supply of electricity on the island of New Providence, which will include the ability to meet the requirements of the project.”

This involves the installation “of all supporting infrastructure necessary to support secure and dependable electricity supplies to the project, without the need for unusual load shedding or other interruption in electricity supply to the project.”

This must be completed

by December 31, 2017 and any failure by the government to resolve the energy problems by the end of the year, will be treated as “a force majeure” event.

If that occurs, then Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and its Baha Marowning affiliate will be released from performing their heads of agreement obligations for as long as it takes to remediate the problems.

Mr Bannister said while the agreement with Baha Mar is important, his first concern is with the Bahamian people.

BETHEL PLAYS DOWN END OF LARODA APPOINTMENT ON DISCLOSURES PROCESS

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net ATTORNEY General Carl Bethel suggested yesterday that the expiration of Myles Laroda’s appointment as chairman of the Public Disclosure Commission does not affect the government’s ongoing process to have delinquent parliamentarians and senators file their outstanding disclosures or face prosecution.

In a move to clarify the status of the government’s June 30 deadline for delinquent officials, Mr Bethel said that persons who would have attempted to disclose would have had ample opportunity to do so despite

the status of Mr Laroda’s appointment.

According to Mr Bethel, disclosures are not made exclusively to the PDC’s chairman, but rather to the commission.

This comes as Mr Laroda, on Sunday in an interview with The Tribune suggested that the expiration of his appointment left aspects of the declaration process “up in the air,” and at risk of not being finalised in time for it to be submitted to Mr Bethel on Monday as mandated by the deadlines imposed by Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis.

Mr Laroda also maintained that no resolution was achieved as of Friday, and due to the end of his appointment as chairman,

he was unaware how those matters were concluded.

“Limbo,” he told The Tribune when asked for an update. “These disclosures will be in limbo until a new commission is appointed, whether that is me or someone else.”

He added that his appointment, and the appointments of every other PDC member ended Friday, however, that claim could not be substantiated.

Reacting to this on Monday, Mr Bethel said: “The obligation is to disclose to the commission not to commissioner, that has to be made clear.”

He added: “(The government) worked this weekend to finalise (its) boards that had to be appointed.

As those appointments become clear, all of the uncertainly and ongoing questions surrounding this process will become clear.”

In a follow-up interview with The Tribune on Monday, Mr Laroda said he was unsure of the direction the Minnis administration intended to take the commission in.

He later indicated that he would be “good” with the government opting to leave him off the commission when it is reappointed.

“I am good with whatever decision the government makes,” he told The Tribune.

On June 6, Press Secretary Anthony Newbold said delinquent former and sitting members of Parliament

were given three weeks to file disclosures or face the court for breaking the law.

The deadline was imposed by Dr Minnis and affects more than 20 MPs. It followed a report in The Tribune earlier this month that revealed that a hand-

ful of parliamentarians did not make a single disclosure last term.

Failure to file disclosures can result in a fine of $10,000, or two years in prison, or both, or confiscation of land if land is involved, Mr Newbold said.

PAGE 4, Tuesday, July 4, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

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Why is everybody always picking on me?

THE Bahamas simply cannot make up its collective mind about how to feel about foreign investors. We need foreign investment and drink it thirstily like lapping cool water at an oasis in a hot and windy desert. We like the money, celebrate it when it is significant, $1.6 billion in 2014, and shudder when it declines as it did by 76% to $385m in 2015. We breathed a sigh of relief when it rose in 2016. We like the money but fear what comes with it and there is good reason for that. Many investors truly respect The Bahamas. They believe in the country, the people, the physical environment and the economic climate. They strive to preserve what attracted them.

But there are others who come underfinanced, ill-prepared or ill-willed. They see The Bahamas not as a place graced with beauty as few other places in the world are but as a place to make as much money as possible regardless of cost to the local population and the long-term heritage.

The result of that type of investor is anger. Such anger is brewing now in North Bimini where the local population is preparing to fight and involve an international action to demand a stop to the devastation unfolding on the tiny island. Biminites claim the foreign investor believes he can do whatever he wants, and we can only assume that someone gave him the power and authority to do so. We have reports of 163 acres of wetlands destroyed, covered and smothered with trash and cement and strangled by an unidentified green substance. We have reliable reports that power and water is turned off to parts of town where Bahamians live to feed the appetite of those visitors who are enjoying a weekend at Resorts World Bimini.

We have heard the frustration of dozens who are speaking out, finding their voice two weeks ago at the largest town hall meeting in Bimini’s history and at another meeting this week, begging for the enactment of a marine reserve promised nearly 20 years ago that would protect their heritage and the sea life that is the bedrock of their lives and livelihood. We heard their heartbreaking stories of the wipe-out of thousands of shrimp along the shores now covered with debris. We have seen their photos of toxic waste being burned, their pleas for the fruition of unfulfilled promises still that if they were going to develop this end of the island they would build a new water plant, bring a fire truck and improve and expand the clinic.

Underlying the confusion about how we feel about foreign investors – and in the end, leading to growing anger in Bimini and a welcome mat in other places – is that government after government has failed in the arena of foreign direct investment. No government to date has come to grips with how to deal with foreign direct investment beyond the timeconsuming, slow-as-molasses initial approval process.

Every government has failed to set the standards by which foreign direct investment must operate beyond the approval process and, more importantly, they have failed to bring imagination to the concept of foreign direct investment.

They have totally overlooked responsible ways to infuse billions and trillions of available foreign dollars into the Bahamian economy in meaningful, meas-

urable ways.

It is no wonder that the people of North Bimini are angry, but to paint all foreign investors with the same brush is wrong. Many have improved the places they have poured their heart and soul and dollars into. Many have founded unofficial protected areas, built small marinas without dredging, lured visitors to boutique hotels, lodges and great local restaurants because they truly love The Bahamas. They have added to the economy and the vitality of a community without detracting from its core values.

So with a mixed bag of investors and an unimaginative, secret foreign direct investment policy and process, we are losing ground in a world that recognizes the value of encouraging the right dollars for the right results. We cannot turn our backs on money from abroad. With a small economy like The Bahamas, what we need to do is define the right way to handle foreign investment.

First, we need to be creative. Jason Kinsale, a local developer, says lack of opportunity is causing a brain drain, driving Bahamians to countries like Canada that have open doors and a direct invitation for foreign investment and residency. We like his ideas including creating investment for residency rights that are not limited to buying a home for $500,000 but offering a menu of investment opportunities. Currency from around the world could fund local businesses, government projects improving infrastructure, investing in farms and agriculture or agri-fisheries, supporting education initiatives and training centres. Kinsale points to projects, including a Marriott in Miami, that are being built with investments from abroad.

The Bahamas has a romantic and glamorous history. Imagine if that glamour and romance were strengthened into a business lure that was not restricted to purchasing a home, but extended to building the local economy.

Then, the dichotomy of the need for foreign investment and the wish that we could do it all ourselves would find a happy place, an avenue by which those from abroad who truly care about the country, its people, its future and its environment would be welcome.

Then the good investor who truly cares about and respects the country would not be kept waiting six months for a review among stalled documents stacked by the dozens, waiting for a National Economic Council meeting, but would be treated as a business with a purpose beneficial not for the plantation economy but for a better Bahamas overall.

We are tired of investors being blamed for everything short of hurricanes. Some leave a lot to be desired. Like Charlie Brown, who asked ‘Why is everybody always picking on me?’ when he was the very mischief maker who set the school auditorium on fire, threw spit balls and was famed for goofin’ in the hall. Weed out the less desirable investors who come loaded for bear with dollars and greed and find ways to invite and welcome those who come with heart and soul and respect for what lured them to The Bahamas.

Then we will find a new road to capture and benefit from the global dollars looking for a safe and secure place to land.

Poor access for disabled at Shirley St Post Office EDITOR, The Tribune.

REGARDING the letter Postal service failures, in The Tribune on June 27th, I also have experienced considerable problems in this area. Mail both to and from The Bahamas takes an average of three to four weeks to arrive, mail containing credit cards goes missing and envelopes containing cheques are delivered having been opened.

However, the biggest problem I have is with the design of Shirley Street Post Office, which is decidedly unfriendly and inaccessible to people with disabilities.

There is no ramp of any kind to accommodate wheelchairs, only two steep flights of steps, and while there are three doors giving access to the ancient and rusty post office boxes, two of these doors are permanently locked and the single unlocked entrance

is furthest away from the majority of boxes.

Who is responsible for this and why are two of the three doors blocked to the general public? Who has taken this decision and what is the logic behind it? I would appreciate any response you could get regarding this. Thank you.

DAVID KANEEN Nassau, July 3, 2017.

End stigma of Sandilands EDITOR, The Tribune I AM a friend of Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre which consists of The Geriatric, Detox and the Psychiatric Hospital. I involve myself because the least I could do is give back to an institution and country that has given me so much over the years. I must clear my conscience because I know that ingratitude must be a sin.

It is time for the stigma attached to Sandilands be done away with. The mere fact is that every family have one or some members of the family that is either mentally challenged, alcoholic, abused drugs in several ways, simply have a problem managing their emotions or if they live long enough will get old.

There are absolutely no family, regardless of their socio-economic status, colour, religion, last name, position or disposition, that can be exempted from having the aforementioned challenges. Sadly, those who really need the help are sometimes deprived from the narrow-mindedness, lack of education or lack of interest.

Judging from our recent behaviour nationally, we proved that we have a “volatile streak” that can easily be ignited and for the simplest things. We are less tolerant, less accepting of people’s differences and are adamant that if people do not subscribe to our way of thinking we will abandon them as less.

On the 28 June, I was fortunate to have been asked to judge the Public Hospital Authority, Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre, Discharge Planning Programme Poster Competition, under the theme, “Shut The Revolving Door!”

Listening to the presenters from every ward, while explaining how or what and why they do, showed their dedication, in helping the client to cope, rehabilitate, but more importantly are consumed with helping them to eventually be discharged to become productive citizens in society again. This alone is a big

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net reason why Sandilands should be priority one.

The great significance of the topic is that we as Bahamians are either ignorant or we simply do not care about our fellowmen, who may be having challenges emotionally, mentally or psychologically. So we ignore the tell tale signs, refuse to seek professional help early enough or discard our families to the streets from pure ignorance and refuse to support the programmes at Sandilands.

To reiterate, the stigma attached to Sandilands must have been born from the lack of education, exposure, care and compassion or just plain old insensitivity. We quickly run to the doctor for every other ailment, but forget that the head is part of the body too.

The blatant ignorance of Bahamians about mental health is why we have so many social ills. Supposedly intelligent people, many of whom are in positions of authority in public and private sector, see no real need to place extreme focus on supporting SRC and its necessary work.

In recent years, we have seen the behaviour of Bahamians go to extremes never before associated with our “once peaceful nation”. We are angrier for small things and hold grudges forever, not to mention the stresses of the workplace. Unfortunately we act out our displeasure to the detriment and even demise of others, the business establishment and even the country. Mental health is a priority, we just have to move it higher on the list of priorities.

Similarly, the Geriatric is a place where too many of our “precious pearls” have been dumped by insensitive family members. The sad part is they never go back to see them and leave them to die. But the reality is in some cases, the clients do not even need to be kept in hospital, they only need to be reprogrammed, monitored with proper medica-

tion and sent back home.

The Geriatric staff, monitor the client even though they have been discharged.

It is to the clients benefit to be in familiar and comfortable surroundings, where they spend the remaining days of their lives.

The cruel treatment by family when their love ones reach the afternoon of their lives, cause one to wonder, are we all going to be old one day? How would we like to be treated when we reach that period of our lives. The inhumanity must stop.

Substance abuse is common, we are a glutton society. One only needs to look at how we consume food and in such large amounts. Because of our addicting habits, too many of us get in trouble for overdoing it as it relates to alcohol and other mind-altering substances, thus the reason for needing help from the professionals in a controlled environment.

So Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre is just that, a place where you can “clean up your act” either mentally, substance abuse or reorganising your lives in the afternoon of your lives. This is a place where many of us will end up, but for positive reasons. When a car goes bad we take it to a mechanic, we don’t take it to the plumber, it is as simple as that.

I am fortunate to have had to be detained in Sandilands for substance abuse in 1985. My life has been changed for the better ever since. I am proud of that part of my life because it needed to be reorganised and it has.

I am a strong advocate for the work at Sandilands and applaud the hardworking staff, who go far beyond the call to help others. It is about time the powers that be get really serious about the mental health of the nation and stop putting it on the back burner.

The mental state of The Bahamas needs immediate attention and I am prepared to do my part to help.

IVOINE W. INGRAHAM Nassau, July 2, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, July 4, 2017, PAGE 5

Two face court over gunpoint robbery

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

LEANDER BELL JR, 22, who is charged with armed robbery.

Photos: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff

HELENA Sherrell Stubbs (left), and Naomi Rochella Woodside (right), who are charged with possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

FAMILY SEIZED IN $4M COCAINE BUST from page one

The charge against the six accused was contrary to Section 22(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act, Chapter 228.

According to police reports, officers acted on information and executed a search warrant on a home in West End that led to the discovery of 471.5 pounds of cocaine.

The discovery resulted in a man’s arrest. In yesterday’s arraignment, all six accused pleaded not guilty to the charge against them.

They were told that they

would be remanded to the Department of Correctional Services without bail before their October 12 trial.

Their lawyer, Carlson Shurland, asked the magistrate to exercise discretion concerning the 53-year-old twins who, he said, were hypertensive.

The deputy chief magistrate stressed that the Bail Act was clear that his court did not have the jurisdiction to consider bail and that he should make his arguments before a Supreme Court judge in a bail application.

If convicted, the accused could face up to seven years behind bars.

TWO men were remanded to prison yesterday after they were arraigned in connection with a recent gunpoint carjacking.

Andrew Pyfrom, 25, and Leander Bell Jr, 22, appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt facing an armed robbery charge concerning an incident on June 29.

Pyfrom was also separately charged with the lesser crime of receiving.

According to police reports, shortly after noon on the date in question, a woman was leaving her home when two men armed with a handgun held her up, forcing her into her home.

The two men then searched the woman’s home and left in a white vehicle that was parked on the property.

It is alleged that Pyfrom and Bell Jr, being concerned together and armed with a handgun, robbed Ismae Davis of a $280 handbag, a $200 silver and black Samsung cellular phone, her NIB

card, a white 2005 Chevrolet Equinox vehicle valued at $9,500 that was parked on the property, a black Huawei cellular phone worth $381 and a Samsung S5 valued at $300 that was also taken during the incident.

Pyfrom is alleged to have dishonestly received the Huawei cellular phone, knowing it was appropriated from the commission of an offence.

The two men will not be allowed to enter a plea to the allegations until their formal arraignment before a judge in the Supreme Court. Their case is scheduled to be transferred to the higher court on August 24 through the presentation of a voluntary bill of indictment.

Given the nature of the allegations, they were remanded into custody at the Department of Correctional Services to await trial. However, they have the right to apply for bail in the Supreme Court.

Bell Jr has retained attorney Lennox Coleby to represent him while Pyfrom was not represented at yesterday’s arraignment.

ARTHUR McNeil Stubbs Jr, 22, of Queens Highway, West End.

ANDREW PYFROM, 25, who is also charged with armed robbery.

ARTHUR McNeil Stubbs Sr, 44, of Queens Highway, West End.

RUTH Charlene Woodside (centre left), and Silia Woodside (centre right).

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

MAN FACES COURT ON MURDER CHARGE

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN appeared in Magistrates’ Court yesterday accused of being the suspect behind a shooting that occurred more than 18 months ago.

Wendell Rolle, 23, of Strachan’s Corner stood before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt facing a charge of murder which was brought under Section 291(1)(b) of the Penal Code.

It is alleged that Rolle, on December 10, 2015, by means of unlawful harm, intentionally caused the death of Wellington Roberts.

According to initial police reports, shortly after noon, Roberts was riding a bicycle on Miami Street when an armed gunman approached and shot him. Roberts was rushed to hospital in critical condition and later died of his injuries.

Rolle was told that he would not be allowed to enter a plea to the charge until he is formally arraigned before a judge in the Supreme Court.

The case is scheduled to be forwarded to the higher court on August 24 through the presentation of a voluntary bill of indictment.

Due to the nature of the allegation, Rolle was remanded to the Department of Correctional Services to await trial.

However, he has the right to apply for bail in the Supreme Court.

Rolle has retained attorneys Howard Thompson II and Kevon Maynard to represent him against the charge.

WENDELL ROLLE, 23, appeared before court charged with murder.

Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff

FOUR HELD BY POLICE AFTER SEIZURE OF HANDGUN POLICE took four men into custody following the seizure of a handgun and a large amount of ammunition in two separate incidents on Sunday.

In the first incident, shortly after 11am, officers assigned to the Selective Enforcement Team executed search warrant on a home located off Boatswain Hill where they uncovered a 9mm Taurus pistol with seven rounds of ammunition, along with a small quantity of marijuana.

An adult male resident of the home is in custody in connection with this find.

In the second incident, around 5pm officers assigned to the Selective Enforcement Team executed a search warrant on a home located off Sequioa Street in Pinewood Gardens, where they found 63 rounds of .223 ammunition. Three adult male residents of the home were taken into custody in connection with this find.

Investigations continue.

PAGE 6, Tuesday, July 4, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

NO DECISION YET ON MINISTRY TO HANDLE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

CABINET has not decided on which government ministry will have oversight of the Freedom of Information Act, according to Attorney General Carl Bethel, who confirmed yesterday that legislated protections for whistle-blowers have not been enacted yet.

Mr Bethel told The Tribune once a ministerial portfolio has been designated, the relevant minister will set a timeline for the lengthy implementation track.

Part one and sections of part five and eight of the legislation were enacted on April 21, bringing the legislation into force allowing for the appointment of an information commissioner and repealing the 2012 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The information commissioner post is appointed by the governor general at the recommendation of the prime minister.

According to the Act, the prime minister makes the recommendation after consultation with the leader of the Official Opposition.

As for whistle-blowers, the Act states: “No person may be subject to any legal, administrative or employment related sanction, regardless of any breach of a legal or employment related obligation, for releasing information on wrongdoing, or that which would disclose a serious threat to health, safety or the environment, as long as he acted in good faith and in the reasonable belief that the information was substantially true and disclosed evidence of wrong-doing or a serious threat to health, safety or

the environment.”

Wrongdoing was said to include, but is not limited to: commission of a criminal offence; failure to comply with legal obligation; miscarriage of justice; or corruption, dishonest, or serious maladministration.

The act specifies between “minister,” which refers to the minister with responsibility for government information, and “responsible minister,” which is used in relation to a public authority, and refers to the government minister who has ministerial responsibility for the public authority that

holds the record.

Under the previous administration, responsibility for the act was vested in the Ministry of Education Science and Technology, under then Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald.

Last month a collective of 20 civil society organisations issued a statement calling for the government to consider recommendations for revisions but ultimately move ahead with full enactment.

The CSO collective includes Citizens for a Better Bahamas, Our Carmichael, The Organisation for

Responsible Governance, We The People, Save The Bays, The Abaco Chamber of Commerce, The Nassau Institute, reEarth, HeadKnowles Foundation, Grand Bahama Human Rights Association, Waterkeepers Bahamas, The Bahamas Press Club, The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers’ Confederation, It’s Our Turn, Young Marine Explorers, Civil Society Bahamas, The Bahamas Retailers Federation, The Coalition to Save Clifton, Rise Bahamas, Citizens for Justice and BREEF.

BILLY MCFARLAND, right, leaves federal court with his attorney Sabrina Shroff after his arraignment on Saturday in New York. McFarland is charged with scheming to defraud investors in his company, Fyre Media. McFarland’s Fyre Festival was billed as an ultra-luxurious event with headliners including rockers Blink-182 and the hip-hop act Migos.

Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP

FBI to probe Fyre fiasco from page one “Local government approved it, they have the authority in the Family Islands.”

Local government officials, the island’s Chamber of Commerce, and vendors in Exuma have confirmed that Ministry of Tourism officials led town hall meetings on the project and acted as a liaison for organisers.

To this, Mr Wilchcombe said: “I was not involved in it. I cannot speak to it. Call Carla Stuart, she was responsible and the Director General (Joy Jibrilu).”

Ms Stuart is the ministry’s senior director of national planning and special events. She could not be reached yesterday.

Calls placed to Mrs Jibrilu were not returned up to press time.

Meanwhile, news of Mr McFarland’s arrest has brought no comfort to vendors still owed thousands of dollars for unpaid labour and services. Some two months on since unpaid vendors were asked to submit their claims to the Ministry of Tourism, businesses yesterday claimed that there has been no contact from the government.

Meanwhile Maryann

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Rolle, owner of the Exuma Point Restaurant & Bar, told The Tribune that local vendors had been cautiously optimistic about a resolution after festival trailers seized by the Department of Customs for nonpayment were released last month.

She said the reports that Mr McFarland was charged with wire fraud represented the first official update on the matter in months, and signaled that compensation may be even further out of reach for local businesses.

Mrs Rolle is allegedly owed roughly $134,000 for catering services, and submitted her bills to the Ministry of Tourism in late April.

“I need my money,” she said yesterday. “That ain’t good enough. I didn’t even want to hear that because it seem like he (Mr McFar-

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I don’t know who to go to.

It’s just a terrible experience and a learning experience.

“But more than him have to be arrested, a lot of people was involved. I hear the company (Fyre Media) was dismantled. I don’t know, there’s no one to target, everybody I call who was in charge they say they haven’t been paid,” she continued.

Fyre Festival promised a “cultural moment created from a blend of music, art and food” over two weekends in Great Exuma.

Festival organisers claimed they set out “to provide a once-in-a-lifetime musical experience on the islands of the Exumas” and had billed it along the lines of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in southern California.

Tickets had included a flight from Miami, a stay in a “geodesic dome” and

activities including yoga and kayaking. Pre-publicity suggested festival-goers could pay up to $100,000 to mingle with models and be ferried around by private yachts and planes.

But visitors described the event as a “complete disaster” and it attracted unflattering international media coverage. William Finley, of North Carolina, posted on social media that he and his friends had arrived to find “disaster tent city” when searching for their accommodation. One British visitor said the festival site “was worse than a refugee camp.”

There were also complaints of missing luggage, unsatisfactory catered food, fears for people’s safety, piles of garbage, stray dogs and looting of alcohol.

The organisers have since been hit with a $100m class action lawsuit.

FRESH LEGAL BID TO CLAW BACK $650,000 MUZIK FESTIVAL FUNDS from page one

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land) just ain’t ga pay now.

It ain’t comforting me at all, who’s going to pay these bills?

“All the things they were able to move through (Department of) Customs, all of the stuff gone. So when I see that I say that’s a forward direction, they paid customs. I could swear they was coming to pay us next.”

Mrs Rolle said she did not immediately seek legal counsel because she was waiting for the confusion surrounding the event to settle; however, she noted that she will be taking legal action.

“Tourism said bring in the bill, before election I had the bill in and nothing I’m hearing, and no one is addressing it,” she said.

“With us changing government now, this new government could say they don’t know what’s going on.

Mr D’Aguilar added: “However, that process was ceased without reason or fact right before the election and things (were) left unresolved.”

The Free Town MP said once he was made aware of the status of the ordeal, there was an immediate push to have the matter concluded.

“Here we are trying to recover yet another debacle orchestrated by the PLP government. Yes, another one of those PLP debacles that we have grown accustomed to seeing.

“This event, when you look closely at it, lacked all the normal oversight prac-

tices and was pushed despite all the warning signs that something was off; that something was not right.

“Again, here is another clear example of how the PLP paid no regard to how they were spending the country’s money.

“Not only did they lose money in this case, but they openly dragged their feet in the recovery effort.

They’ve spent a lot of time defending their actions, ask them to defend this,” Mr D’Aguilar added.

The Caribbean Muzik Festival was a part of the Christie administration’s efforts to fill the Bahamian calendar with musical and sporting events that would promote culture, encourage commerce and put a spot-

light on the country’s tourism products year-round.

The festival was produced and promoted by a company called Caribbean Republic Inc. The Ministry of Tourism was the event’s biggest sponsor, having invested $650,000 in the festival.

The Caribbean Muzik Festival was scheduled for October 28 to 31, 2015.

The four-day festival was postponed after two nights of activity.

The debacle spurred a war of words between former Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe and former Attorney General Alfred Sears, both of whom ran as candidates for the PLP during the last election.

Mr Sears was a director

of Caribbean Music Festival (2000) Limited, however he quit this post in December 2015.

At the height of the dilemma, Mr Wilchcombe told members of the press that Mr Sears was the “lead person” in the Caribbean Muzik Festival, saying it was the latter who convinced his colleagues to give the event an opportunity and he should be the one to explain why the festival did not succeed.

Mr Sears took issue with these statements and later criticised Mr Wilchcombe for “lecturing him on integrity” and also accused the former West End and Bimini MP of playing “gotcha” politics with his handling of the matter.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, July 4, 2017, PAGE 7

‘Stop this abuse of loading bay parking’

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net A LOCAL businessman has called for police officers to take a firmer stance against the “abuse” of loading zones in the downtown area, claiming that doing business in the area has now become a “nightmare” because officers are “only doing half the job.”

Bruce Raine, owner of

The Linen Shop on Bay Street, was upset at how business owners, such as himself, have been “screwed” out of their own loading zones, charging that “there’s no point of having loading zones and the police can’t protect it.”

He said because police officers “just don’t want to go through the trouble of giving a ticket to somebody,” motorists see fit to “just park in them and stay

there all day.”

Adding insult to injury, Mr Raine said, was how his wife was fined $100 for obstructing traffic on Charlotte Street, but was forced to do so because she was unable to access the store’s loading zone.

Mr Raine said he paid the fine, but still wants “to see the police force doing their job and making sure that people use the loading zone to load or unload goods and not to park there for the whole day.”

“It’s enormously frustrating and difficult,” he told The Tribune. “Downtown is a very tightknit place. One building is mashed right up on the other building, and so the only way you have to get goods into or out of your shop is through the front door. Now if you can’t get to the sidewalk, then what are you going to do? How are you going to get your goods into the shop?

“And this is why you have so many loading zones.

But when people abuse the loading zone, then the shop owners, they get screwed.

And if the police don’t do their job, then you’ve just got chaos.”

He added: “I’ve called Central Station, but nobody wants to take possession of it.

“Nobody wants to own the problem. The police don’t want to own the problem. They don’t want to have to go through the trou-

RBC PULLING OUT OF BIMINI LEAVING ISLAND WITHOUT BANK

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

RESIDENTS and visitors of Bimini will have no access to banking services on that island when the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) closes its branch operations there on August 2.

Customers have expressed disappointment over the pull-out of such essential banking services after more than five decades.

According to a public notice, RBC advised clients that the bank would be merging its Bimini branch with the RBC Freeport branch on Grand Bahama, effective from August 2.

The Bimini branch will close at 3pm, and ATM services will also cease, leaving businesses, residents, and visitors with no access to banking services on the island.

The bank informed clients that its branch network is evolving.

Pakesia Parker Edgecombe, MP for West Grand Bahama and Bimini, said the bank’s decision is “devastating” to the island at this time.

She indicated that every effort is being made to have RBC reconsider its position.

“RBC serves as an essential fixture on the island of Bimini,” she said. “The bank’s services and products have proved invaluable over these many decades.

Residents and visitors alike find RBC’s most recent announcement to move its operations from Bimini most unfortunate.

“As Bimini’s economy is set for even more sustainable growth, the timing could not be more devastating.”

Mrs Edgecombe assured residents, foreign homeowners and visitors that every effort is being made to have RBC reconsider its position.

Patricia David, of Ebbie and Pat’s Bonefishing Club,

in Bailey Town, was not pleased about the situation.

“It is horrible because we won’t have no more bank,” she told The Tribune. We only have the post office and thank God for web shops.”

Ms David said that she is especially sad for those pensioners who receive their pension cheques through the bank.

“Residents are disappointed; right now we only have access to banking three days of the week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.”

Ms David said they need a bank on the island.

“It would be good if another bank can come in and I am hoping that the government will do something about it,” she said.

Ashley Saunders, the owner of the Dolphin House, stated that the branch’s closure is “the biggest let down” for the island.

“Everyone is disgruntled about that from what I see,” he said. “The bank has been here since 1958 - that is almost 60 years - and I hear that the ATM will not also be available.”

“We will be like a boat at sea drifting without a captain,” said Mr Saunders, who was a loyal customer of the bank for many years and who at one point had several accounts at the branch.

“I had to close several accounts; I only have a savings account now. I had a business account, and I closed my fixed deposit. I am on a pension and my pension and NIB money goes there,” he said.

Mr Saunders said that merging the RBC Bimini branch with the Freeport branch means that he would have to travel to Grand Bahama to have access to his saving account.

“We will have to travel there (to Grand Bahama), and it puts us in a vulnerable position – we might get robbed, and we have to find

funds to go back and forth.”

He also stressed that Bimini residents would also have to spend additional money for accommodations, ground transportation and food.

“It (isn’t) worth it to go and collect the $300 pension because you need $300 to get to Grand Bahama,” he explained.

Mr Saunders said the government should step in and resolve the matter. He believes that opening a Bank of The Bahamas branch in Bimini could be an option.

“I think Bank of The Bahamas needs to come in and we will welcome them because Royal Bank let us down after so many years we got a slap in the face. It is a terrible position to be in right now,” he complained.

Mr Saunders added that many resort workers are paid by cheques.

“The resorts deposit their money to RBC, and so everyone depends on them,” he said.

Another concerned resident, who works at Brown Hardware and Apartments in Bimini, is also disappointed by the news.

“I have been a customer for over 20 years. We cannot afford to go to Freeport to collect our pension cheques,” the resident said.

While he understands that the bank had to make a business decision, the Bimini resident said it leaves them at a disadvantage.

“Time is winding down, and soon we have no access to money - that is a problem,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mrs Edgecombe stressed that she is committed to bringing some resolve for her constituents in Bimini.

“I will stop at nothing to have my government attract a viable and suitable option.

I remain focused on and committed to improving the quality of life for Biminites and all Bahamians. I will continue to update residents on this pressing matter,” she said.

ABOVE and left, vehicles parked in loading bays in pictures sent to The Tribune. ble to investigate why a car is there from 8 o’clock in the morning until 5 or 6 o’clock at night.

“You’ve got to have a timeline on how long you can be in a loading zone.

You can only load or unload for a few minutes. But if you’re there for more than half an hour, the same car is there for more than half an hour, call the tow truck and have the thing towed away.

That’ll stop it real quick, but they won’t do it. I don’t know why they won’t do it.”

Using the experience with his wife to highlight his concerns, Mr Raine claimed that his previous attempts at complaining about the matter to police have fallen on deaf ears. Regarding his wife’s situation, Mr Raine said that when his wife explained the matter to the police officer involved, the response given to her was

one of a dismissive nature.

“And she’s a full-fledged police officer,” Mr Raine said. “And she’s saying, ‘well I can’t stop them from going in the loading zone, but I can stop you stopping on the street.’ It ain’t right.

“So, I went down and paid the fine, $100, but I want to see the police force doing their job and making sure that people use the loading zone to load or unload goods and not to park there for the whole day.”

He added: “The whole parking thing downtown is a nightmare. The loading zone must have regulations…you couldn’t paint the thing out yellow and say it’s a loading zone if it was intended for public parking.

So, I assume there’s some sort of legal recourse the police would have to force someone to move or to have the car towed away.

“I can tell you one thing, if on Wednesday when the House (of Assembly) sits and people park on Parliament Street, they’ll have that towed away in a minute, because that’s a highprofile deal. You’re parking in a member of Parliament’s spot. But when they park in front of my shop and the girl is working right next door, ‘too bad, can’t do nothing about it.’

“If the police would call the wrecker, and the wreckers were handy and would take the cars away, that would fix the problem immediately.”

The Tribune contacted senior RBPF officials yesterday for response to the claims. However, they said Mr Raine’s complaints, as well as any other complaints of a similar nature, should be lodged at the Central Police Station.

PAGE 8, Tuesday, July 4, 2017

25,000 NOW SIGNED UP TO NHI SCHEME THE enrolment phase of NHI Bahamas has seen nearly 25,000 Bahamians and legal residents enrol to date.

While enrolment numbers have stabilised, enrolment remains open for persons who wish to select their doctor so they can receive primary care services at no cost at point of care. For the

fastest and most convenient option, eligible persons are encouraged to enrol online at www.nhibahamas.gov.bs.

After assessing demand at enrolment centres, it was determined that the enrolment site of Enoch Beckford Memorial Auditorium on Carmichael Road will close permanently as of yesterday.

However, in person enrol-

ment will continue to be a quick and seamless process as the enrolment location at Cotton Tree in Fox Hill remains open and the NHI Bahamas building on East St and Purpose Way will be operating as an enrolment site as of yesterday. Customer service representatives will be on-site at both sites to enrol eligible Bahamians

in NHI Bahamas.

This decision was made as NHI Bahamas continues to identify cost savings and greater efficiency in an effort to streamline the organisation’s operations and budget.

As of yesterday, Bahamians and legal residents who wish to enrol in person may do so at the following loca-

tions in New Providence: NHI Bahamas, East Street & Purpose Way 9am-5pm (Monday-Friday) Cotton Tree Plaza, Bernard Road, Fox Hill - 9am5pm (Monday-Friday) Residents in the Family Islands can continue to enrol online or in person at their local NIB office.

Registration for the NIB

THE TRIBUNE

smart card will continue at NIB Headquarters and at the Carmichael Road office in New Providence, as well as NIB offices throughout the Family Islands during normal business hours.

Persons are encouraged to visit www.nhibahamas. gov.bs to ensure they are familiar with the enrolment process.

New warning over bad bank debts from page one This was done to allow the Bank of The Bahamas to become compliant with the Central Bank of The Bahamas’ capital and liquidity requirements.

The loan transfer was backed by a promissory note from the government worth $100m.

The bad debts swapped for government bonds worth $100m had a book value of $45m.

Through its own valuation efforts, however, Bahamas Resolve and its manager Deloitte & Touche discovered that the collateral for the loans under its portfolio was actually worth about $22.5m.

Resolve pays interest rates to BOB from the money it recovers through its loan recovery operations.

But Mr Smith, who re-

signed as chairman of Resolve on May 11, said the government may have to pay interest rates directly from the treasury in the future.

“In the beginning, we used proceeds of a sale to fund the interest,” Mr Smith said. “But going forward we said to government officials that you’re going to have to make this a line item in the budget.”

“The yearly interest to the bank is about two to three million. At first, proceeds came in from a Paradise Island property we sold; that was enough for a while. We sold a second property and that helped for a while as well. But the treasury may have to kick in afterward.”

He added: “Even if we were to sell every property, it wouldn’t be enough to settle the debt and at some point you have to get

money from somewhere to pay it. You might not have to if the bank gets a turnaround and in terms of the timing of this, the bank can always decide to say ‘you don’t have to pay me this year.’ But Resolve wouldn’t know this because it isn’t talking to the bank and is instead just looking at its commitments for this year.”

Efforts to obtain money to fund its operations and pay its expenses, which include fees to its manager and to its law firm Higgs & Johnson, remain underway but Mr Smith could not say if another sale of one of its distressed properties is guaranteed in the near future to help defray its expenses.

“There are different things in the pipeline that might pull through,” he said.

As for his resignation as

chairman of Bahamas Resolve, Mr Smith said: “My advisor contract with the Ministry of Finance ended on the 11th (of May). We had completed a report showing properties received, valuations done on them and what was to come.”

In at least two cases, Resolve was unable to conduct valuation on all the properties in its portfolio because of uncooperative debtors.

“We put those to the back of the pile because you don’t want to start off with that kind of confrontation where you get the police force involved. We went for the low hanging fruits instead.”

The low hanging fruits include about three properties, Mr Smith said. They were high-end properties in gated communities or near the sea where debtors had no disputes with BOB.

JAMES SMITH

72% of readers support Sarkis Izmirlian that the sale of Baha Mar should be halted.

READERS RESPOND ON BAHA MAR

AFTER China Construction America’s Bahamian subsidiary voiced concerns that it will miss Baha Mar’s completion deadline - due to a dispute with a key supplier over lounge chairs, readers gave their reaction on tribune242.com.

Banker had this to say: “Yes, chairs are holding up the opening. Nothing more, just chairs. Can’t open the hotel because dey won’t ship the chairs. You can’t open without a thousand chairs. Heavens. That will make four missed openings. But it won’t be the end. They will miss the fifth opening due to the fact that they can’t get paper clips. Dammit, who knew it would be this hard to open a hotel complex.”

Proudloudandfnm agreed: “What a stupid excuse. If the sale to Chow took Fook is not completed yet please deny them the sale and let Sarkis finish his resort and open fully in a year. This 25 per cent occupancy nonsense the amateur PLP agrees to does nothing for our country.”

Sealice pointed the finger at the Christie administration: “When Perry and the PLP were screwing this up I wonder if they realised how much they were screwing it up. How long it would take to ‘unscrew’ if that’s at all possible. And how many generations of Bahamians will continue to suffer because of their actions. This is their legacy – a hotel that, when it finally opened up, crumbled back to the ground because of the PLP and their cronies.”

Alfalfa asked: “How could you foolishly think that a company who is owed money on chairs ordered by the previous owners, would ship them to the new owners, who say they have no legal responsibility to, and have not paid them, and many other creditors? No Bahamian company would deliver them. So pay up; re-order from another sup-

plier, or stay closed. This is only one of many such instances to come.”

Still on the subject of Baha Mar, The Tribune’s latest online poll asked readers if they agreed with resort developer Sarkis Izmirlian that the project’s sale to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Ltd should be halted and an investigation conducted into the deal.

The majority of those voting - 72 per cent - agreed with Mr Izmirlian.

Deputy Prime Minister K Peter Turnquest was also in the news, after he responded to former Prime Minister Perry Christie’s recent defence of the previous administration.

Birdiestrachan commented: “Mr Christie does not have a poor record.

Everything the FNM and the news media said the PLP did wrong they can correct. Start with the removal of VAT so that the poor people who they claimed could not buy groceries will be made whole.

They can close the web shops. They can give the hotel back to Sarkis who they claim should have his property back. They can send the Chinese investor or investors back to China.

For those who voted FNM do not be fooled. The FNM can fix all of the above which they claimed was wrong.”

And Proudloudandfnm asked: “Has anyone seen our Prime Minister lately?

Is he in the country? Hello!? Mr PM where are you?

Will you actually lead at any point soon?!? Or will DPM Turnquest run the country for 5 years????”

• Don’t miss your chance to join the debate on tribune242.com.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, July 4, 2017, PAGE 9

APPROXIMATELY 200 college students attended the opening ceremony of The Bahamas Government Summer Youth Employment Programme, held on Friday morning at Christ the King.

Photos: Andrew Coakley/BIS

Students urged to ‘dream big’ by Thompson HUNDREDS of college students were urged to “dream big” by Minister of State for Grand Bahama Senator Kwasi Thompson, on Friday - the eve of starting their four-week summer job programme sponsored by the government.

“I am so pleased that the Government of The Bahamas has seen fit to continue with this summer job programme which gives an opportunity to so many young people.”

He urged the 200 students to take advantage of the opportunity presented to them and noted that an additional 500 young people will employed in the second phase of the programme.

Thanking all of the private sector companies in Freeport who are participating in the programme and will take approximately 80 percent of the students who have all been

interviewed and screened, he said: “You really ought to take advantage of this opportunity that you have.

It is a privilege that you have because I have to tell you, there were many, many students who applied and not all those students who applied were given spots.

“Dream big and don’t let anybody discourage your dream,” he told them.

Giving pointers, the Minister added, arrive early and leave late, ask questions, ask how you can help, dress appropriately, and be thankful and grateful for the opportunity.

In closing, he said the government is spending a lot of money to give them the opportunity to work, and he knows all the students will make them proud.

The students were given their job assignment packages to report to work on Monday, July 3.

SENATOR KWASI THOMPSON, Minister of State for Grand Bahama.

MAN DROWNS IN ELEUTHERA POLICE in Eleuthera are investigating the circumstances surrounding the apparent drowning of a man that occurred on Sunday.

Shortly after 7am, a man was swimming in waters on

a beach in Wemyss Bight, when he lost consciousness, police were told. The victim was taken to shore and transported to the local clinic, where he was pronounced dead. Investigations are continuing.

GN1916

PAGE 10, Tuesday, July 4, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

IN this Sunday, July 2, photo, New Jersey Gov Chris Christie, right, uses the beach with his family and friends at the governor’s summer house at Island Beach State Park in New Jersey. Christie is defending his use of the beach, closed to the public during New Jersey’s government shutdown, saying he had previously announced his vacation plans and the media had simply “caught a politician keeping his word”.

Photo: Andrew Mills/NJ Advance Media via AP

Christie feels the heat over day at the beach TRENTON, N.J. Associated Press THERE’S Gov Chris Christie, lounging in a beach chair in the Oval Office. There he is again, sitting in the sand as the lovers from the movie “From Here to Eternity” roll around in the surf. And there he is, relaxing outside the meat store from “The Sopranos”.

Christie is getting blistered online and in the real world after he was photographed with his family soaking up the sun on a beach that he had closed to the public over the Fourth of July weekend because of a government shutdown.

A deeply unpopular Republican serving out his final six months in office, Christie was lambasted Monday as selfish and arrogant, and jokesters online inserted the picture of him in sandals, shorts and a Tshirt into various photos and movie and TV scenes.

“Tell Gov Christie: Get

the hell off Island Beach State Park,” read a banner carried by a plane flying up and down the New Jersey coast Monday. The banner plane was paid for by Joshua Henne, a progressive New Jersey-based political consultant, and mocked the time the tough-talking governor told people to “get the hell off the beach” during a hurricane in 2011.

New Jersey state beaches and parks were shut down over the weekend along with motor vehicle offices and other services deemed nonessential after Christie and the Democratic-controlled Legislature failed to agree on a budget for the new fiscal year that began Saturday.

Christie defended his visit to the shore, saying that he had previously announced his plans to vacation at the state-owned governor’s beach house and that the media had simply “caught a politician keeping his word”.

“That’s the way it goes,” Christie said Saturday about his family’s use of the beach house. “Run for governor, and you can have the residence.”

Later, after he was photographed on the beach, he sarcastically called it a “great bit of journalism”.

Christie’s picture was snapped from a plane Sunday by NJ.com at Island Beach State Park, where he and his family had the sun and sand to themselves.

“I didn’t get any sun today,” Christie told reporters at a news conference later in the day in Trenton. Then, when told of the photos, his spokesman told NJ.com that the governor was telling the truth because he was wearing a baseball hat during his 45-minute visit to the beach.

People in New Jersey and beyond seized on what many saw as a let-them-eatcake gesture by the state’s chief executive.

“Taxpayers can’t use the

parks and other public sites they pay for, but he and his family can hang out at a beach that no one else can use?” asked Mary Jackson, a Freehold resident.

“Doesn’t he realize how that looks, how people will see it as a slap in the face?”

Online, people cracked jokes about the sight of the heavyset Christie in a beach chair. Others likened the beach closing to the 2013 scheme by Christie allies to close lanes and cause huge traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge.

The sticking point in the budget stalemate is Christie’s demand that Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield be overhauled so that the state can tap into the nonprofit insurer’s surplus.

Christie’s approval rating is already at an abysmal 15 percent, after three aides were convicted or pleaded guilty in the bridge scandal and after he threw his support to Donald Trump when his own presidential

campaign fizzled.

He was passed over for vice president and apparently didn’t get the highlevel job in Washington that he wanted, but he has been mentioned as a possible late addition to the Trump administration.

“It is hard to imagine a worse optic for public relations on a hot July day. Pollsters may find out how low approval ratings can go in New Jersey,” said Fairleigh Dickinson University political science professor Peter Woolley.

“Because the story and the photos have gone national, it makes it harder for Christie to rehabilitate his career outside of the state.”

Christie regularly says that the only time popularity counts is when you’re running for something — and he’s not. “I don’t care,” he said recently when asked about the fall in his ratings.

“The vast majority of New Jersey residents will care much more about the

substance of the ultimate resolution than about any of the weekend drama about where he was when he was not at the Statehouse,” said Mike DuHaime, a Christie political adviser.

Among those affected by the shutdown were Cub Scouts forced to leave a state campsite and people trying to obtain or renew motor vehicle documents. Liberty State Park was closed, forcing the suspension of ticket sales and ferry service to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. But the two sites remained open.

State police, state hospitals and New Jersey’s bus and commuter rail system are unaffected. The vast majority of beaches are open as well, since most are controlled not by the state but by towns up and down New Jersey’s 130 miles of coastline.

Come and enjoy them,” the governor tweeted Monday morning, “but use sunscreen and hydrate”.

TRUMP SAYS OF NORTH KOREA’S KIM JONG UN: DOES THIS GUY HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO? WASHINGTON Associated Press

YOUR

CHOICE FOR THE FAMILY WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/JOYFM1019

PRESIDENT Donald Trump criticised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday after that country’s latest missile launch, asking, “Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?”

Trump wrote on Twitter that it’s “Hard to believe that South Korea ... and Japan will put up with this much longer.”

And he urged North Korea’s biggest ally, China, to “put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!”

South Korean officials said early Tuesday that North Korea had launched another ballistic missile toward Japan, part of a string of recent test-firings as the North works to build a nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the United States.

The Defense Department said US Pacific Command detected and tracked the launch of a land-based, intermediate range ballistic missile from North Korea’s Panghyon Airfield. The missile was tracked for 37 minutes and landed in the Sea of Japan.

PRESIDENT Donald Trump on Air Force One yesterday.

Shortly before Trump’s tweets, the White House said he had been briefed on the South Korean report.

The missile launch comes as the Trump administration has displayed increasing frustration with China’s reluctance to put more pressure on North Korea. Last week, the US blacklisted a small Chinese bank over its business ties with North Korea.

The White House said Trump brought up the North Korean missile program during a phone call Sunday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that “some negative factors” are hurting US-China relations.

The New York Times, citing anonymous administration officials, reported Monday that Trump told Xi the US was ready to act on its own against North Korea.

A senior US official told foreign policy experts last week that the US has made clear to China that Chinese banks and companies conducting business with Pyongyang will face sanctions if there is no movement on North Korea’s nuclear activities, a participant in the meeting told The Associated Press. The individual wasn’t authorised to speak publicly on the matter and asked that his name and that of the senior official be withheld.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, July 4, 2017, PAGE 11

GGYA BASE 2017 participants ahead of their expedition.

Happy trails!

THE school year may have ended but learning continued for nearly 100 youths spending the week exploring Grand Bahama.

“Lucayan Trails” is the name for this year’s Governor General’s Youth Award (GGYA), Bahamas Award Super Expedition (BASE) that runs for ten days from June 29 to July 8.

BASE assembles GGYA participants from across the country, inviting them to explore new territories and partake in hiking expeditions that would qualify them for a bronze, silver, or gold award.

This year participants came from New Providence, Andros, Inagua and Grand Bahama.

Around 75 participants, adult unit leaders and volunteers cast off from Potter’s Cay Dock on Thursday, June 29, aboard a mailboat bound for Freeport. Thirteen hours later, they joined 20 Grand Bahama-based participants in setting up camp at Jack Hayward High School.

For fraternal twins Tahj and Tionne Dorsett, GGYA serves a dual purpose. They have incredible experiences while gaining valuable skills.

Tionne, the elder by three minutes, hatched the idea of joining the programme after his sister suggested they both join the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Rangers.

“It teaches us discipline,” said Tionne.

His sister added: “Both teach us about surviving in the real world, on our own.”

On expeditions, the rising twelfth graders at Anatol Rogers Rodgers High School work as a team.

“She cooks and I eat and clean,” said Tionne.

While the twins viewed GGYA as a means of getting them outdoors, for Rickesha Rolle it provided an outlet for her aggression and it acted as a weight loss programme for Olrenika Hindsey.

“This programme helped me to change my attitude for the better. I would kick up attitude with authority figures,” said Rickesha, a 2017 graduate of Huntley Christie High School, formerly North Andros High who is hoping to qualify for the gold award.

“GGYA made me realise I needed to stop, settle down, get serious about life and get ready for the real world. It helped me improved my relationship

with my peers, co-operate more.”

For her schoolmate, Olrenika, the programme, which encourages physical fitness, helped her to shed unwanted pounds.

“I was 140 pounds when I started. Now, I’m down to 124,” said the 5ft 2in eleventh grader.

This week, gold award participants will conduct a research study on the bird life in the Lucayan National Park and complete a hiking expedition which will take them through Waters Cay, Bevans Town and Riding Point.

Meantime, the silver award expedition team will travel along the island’s foreshore from Gold Rock Creek, a cove in Freeport, to Pelican Point.

“They are in for quite an experience and a challenging exploration,” says GGYA’s national director, Denise Mortimer describing the days ahead for the programme’s 36 gold and 38 silver participants.

Recipients of a silver award must complete a three-day/two-night journey spanning 30 miles while the gold award journey is a four-day/three-night expedition covering 60 miles.

FRATERNAL twins Tahj and Tionne Dorsett.

No bronze award-level par- skills, and physical recreaticipants made this trip. tion obligations.

All participants carry BASE attracted a slightly a backpack with their be- smaller crowd this year. longings. Its recommended Attendance tends to hover weight is between 20-30 per around 125 participants. cent of their body weight. Ms Mortimer attributes the Not surprisingly, a number decline to families’ discreof training sessions are held tionary income shrinking. prior to the qualifying trek. Thus, BTC’s sponsorship of The expedition is for North Andros’ participants many the final requirement proved to be a “godsend” necessary to receive their for the organisation. award after months of fulA further set-back was filling community service, the recent break-in at

GGYA’s headquarters in Palmdale which resulted in thousands of dollars lost in office equipment.

“We could always use funding especially from the private sector,” she said.

“No one forces these young people to engage with the programme. This is something they want to do. It’s sad when lack of funds stand in their way especially for inner city youths and atrisk young people.”

PAGE 12, Tuesday, July 4, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

Summer Junkanoo JUNKANOO Summer Festival was held at Arawak Cay on Saturday, with crowds coming out to see dancers and musicians giving their all.

Photo: Kemuel Stubbs