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GOVT OLIVE BRANCH ON CITIZENSHIP CASES

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE government has offered not to detain or deport any person from The Bahamas who claims to be entitled to citizenship under Article 6 of the Constitution pending the Privy Council’s ruling on the Court of Appeal’s recent citizenship decision as long as the Court of Appeal simultaneously stays the effect of its ruling.

Franklyn Williams, the deputy director of legal affairs at the Office of the Attorney General, said during a court hearing yesterday that the government would also undertake to receive and process, but not finalise, applications for people claiming to be

EMPLOYER LIABLE TO PAY COVID TEST FEES

so entitled to citizenship pending the Privy Council’s ruling rather than turn them away.

He revealed the proposed undertaking during a discussion of an affidavit filed by Wayne Munroe, QC, which says the Department of Immigration is “still deporting individuals, especially Haitian nationals inclusive of minors…” despite the citizenship ruling in question.

Nonetheless, Mr Munroe opposed the government’s offers and argued that no stay is necessary in the matter. Mr Munroe argued the government does not have to follow the Court of Appeal’s ruling and can let the status quo remain in place until the Privy Council rules on the matter.

SEE PAGE THREE

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

MINNIS BUOYED BY POLLS - SO WILL HE GO EARLY?

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE Free National Movement is expected to ratify four candidates for the next general election tonight amid anticipation from FNM insiders that Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis - buoyed by favourable polling numbers - may call an early election very soon.

Dr Minnis, Deputy Prime Minister Desmond

Bannister, Labour Director John Pinder and the Officer in Charge of Road Traffic in Grand Bahama Welbourne Bootle are expected to be ratified for the Killarney, Carmichael, Fox Hill and Pineridge constituencies, The Tribune understands.

This will complete the FNM’s slate of candidates.

The Progressive Liberal Party has already ratified its 39 candidates.

SEE PAGE THREE

ACCUSED OF $1.8M FRAUD CUSTOMS broker Precious Joy Moxey Miller outside court yesterday, where she is accused of 114 fraud charges and of defrauding Cable Bahamas of more than $1.8m from Cable Bahamas within a year. See PAGE SEVEN for the full story.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

NO RETRIAL IN EXUMA MURDER ACQUITTAL

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE Court of Appeal yesterday directed the acquittal of a man who was accused of robbing and killing another man in Exuma seven years ago.

Four months after quashing Giordano Rolle Jr’s 27-year prison sentence, the appellate panel of justices ruled it was not “in the interest of justice” for a retrial to be ordered.

GIORDANO ROLLE In 2014, Giordano Rolle Jr and his co-accused Demetri Rolle were said to have stolen a gold chain, gold watch and a sum of cash

from Dwayne Nixon before fatally shooting him in his Exuma residence.

In March 2017, a jury unanimously convicted Rolle Jr of murder, and by a verdict of 10-2, the jury also convicted him of armed robbery. A year later, he was sentenced to 27 years imprisonment for murder and 12 years for armed robbery. Both sentences were ordered to run concurrently and took effect from the date of his conviction.

SEE PAGE SEVEN

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

THE National Tripartite Council’s vice-chairman yesterday warned “a lot of employers are going to be very upset” to find they cannot mandate non-vaccinated staff pay for their own weekly COVID-19 tests.

Peter Goudie said “the law’s the law” in confirming that the Health and Safety at Work Act forbids employers from imposing any financial “levy” on staff to ensure they comply with its stipulations.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

KERZNER LAUNCHES FINANCE VENTURE

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

AN EQUITY crowdfunding platform spearheaded by the late Sir Sol Kerzner’s son yesterday said it is “full systems go” on bringing “transformational” change to the way Bahamian businesses are financed.

Koodoo’s senior executives said two local crowdfunding “campaigns” are poised for launch once it receives the Securities Commission sign-off on its registration, as it focuses on entities with sustainable development ambitions that will benefit “people, planet and communities”.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

PAGE 2, Thursday, July 15, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

RBDF: Submersibles and drones used in search for missing jet skier

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE Royal Bahamas Defence Force has revealed that aerial and submersible drones as well as RBDF divers are being used in search activities for a missing jet skier.

In a release yesterday, the RBDF gave an update on the search and explained the agency’s actions since the man went missing on Sunday.

Although police have not officially identified the victim, family members and friends said he is 28-year-old Drew Rigby.

Police reported that sometime around 7pm on Sunday, officers received reports of a boating accident that happened in the area of Rose Island involving a 26ft boat and a personal watercraft.

Initial investigations revealed that six people were on the boat while two people were on the jet ski when they collided. The male driver of the jet ski received leg injuries while his male passenger was ejected into the ocean and is still missing.

The RBDF said initial search efforts continued until after 9pm when night conditions and the weather made it hard to carry on. The search picked up the next day.

“As there is an ongoing search effort for the missing individual unaccounted for after a jet ski collided with another vessel shortly after 7pm on Sunday, July 12, 2021, the RBDF along with BASRA, a sport fish and marine tow vessel and assets provided by the family are currently involved with the effort,” the RBDF said yesterday.

“On being alerted to the incident shortly after 7pm, units from the Harbour Patrol Unit (HPU) were dispatched, where they conducted a search of the area until after 9pm, when nightfall and the weather made it difficult to continue. Therefore, the search was suspended until first light the following day.

“On Monday at about 6.23 am, the HPU resumed its search. To aid in the search, RBDF divers were also deployed. The

DREW RIGBY search continued throughout the day until about 5pm where it was postponed due to unfavourable weather. On Tuesday, the HPU reconvened the search of the area.

In addition to RBDF divers, aerial and submersible drones were also deployed to assist in the search effort. These activities continued until nightfall, and (were) postponed until first light the following day.

“This morning search activities resumed at about 7am, where assets from the HPU, RBDF divers, aerial and submersible drones, along with BASRA and civilian vessels provided by the family are presently conducting a search of the area.”

This comes after National Security Minister Marvin Dames defended the RBDF on Tuesday when he was asked to respond to reports that the force suspended their search efforts because they did not have the relevant equipment.

“We are equipped to search. Remember now, we’re a nation of over 100,000 square miles of sea with the assistance of some of the greatest power throughout this world.

Sometimes you’re searching for persons and vessels and you don’t find it. Sometimes you’re fortunate enough to locate them all right and so I will have to look at that,” Mr Dames said on Tuesday.

“We have access to the underwater drones. ZNS was there when we ran the tests on the drones months ago. They’re still in the testing phases. They’re still in the training phases, but the submersible is available for use but where are you going to put it? What are you suggesting? I mean again, this is a nation of over 100,00 square miles of sea and you know you have to act on the information that you have and work within that framework. I mean just putting a drone, a submersible out there, you have to know where you’re putting it and why?”

A CAR overturned at Montagu last night in a traffic accident. The vehicle sustained damage in the incident, but at the time of going to press, there was no confirmation of any injuries.

DAVIS: I’LL REVEAL PAC FRUSTRATIONS

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

PHILIP “Brave” Davis says he plans to reveal how the government has sought to prevent the work of the Public Accounts Committee when the House of Assembly reconvenes in September.

The opposition-led PAC has failed to produce any reports this House of Assembly session, despite the body being the most powerful committee in Parliament.

“They are not cooperating with us,” Mr Davis told this newspaper yesterday.

“When the House resumes, I will make a public statement revealing the ways they have been uncooperative etc with the PAC. “They have aimed to frustrate us.”

Back in February, Mr Davis said there were “a lot of issues” surrounding how public funds have been spent during the Minnis administration’s term in office that need a closer look.

At the time he said he was waiting for House Speaker Halson Moultrie to rule in a manner that favoured the group.

Asked if he believed the parliamentary body has sufficient time to properly delve into matters of interest, Mr Davis said: “Time matters not but there are

PLP leader Philip ‘Brave’ Davis. a lot of issues relating to the (expenditure) of public funds and to whom it may have been expended to.

This includes the choices in respect to expenditure that we need to look at.

“We intend to work until and before (the next election) and we’ll be able to uncover, and we’ll be able to report on anything that we found curious or otherwise unorthodox and take it from there.”

Mr Davis said he hoped to call a meeting the next week with a view to set the PAC’s agenda.

“We have been waiting on that ruling for quite a while,” he also said yesterday. “We propose to put some things together.

Hopefully, I’ll call a meeting next week.

“I haven’t fixed a date and time yet for the purpose of setting an agenda going forward.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 15, 2021, PAGE 3

MINNIS BUOYED BY POLLS - SO WILL HE GO EARLY? from page one Although early election speculation is not unusual in the Bahamas, there has been more of it this cycle because it has emanated from people positioned to know what will happen, as opposed to idle chatter. One FNM official who has been ratified for the election told this newspaper yesterday that they would be surprised if the election is not called within the next month or two.

Their expectations, of course, are tempered by the fact that the decision rests solely with Dr Minnis; whatever his current plans, the prime minister can change his mind at any moment for any reason.

Nonetheless, Dr Minnis and FNM insiders are said to be buoyed by favourable polling numbers which they claim show that more Bahamians prefer him to PLP Leader Philip “Brave” Davis.

The FNM is said to be planning a short but vigorous campaign that puts the battle

between the two leaders front and centre. The party has secured its election paraphernalia in the country and rally dates have already been drawn up.

Dr Minnis has to date dismissed early election talk and has emphasised that the election is not due until May 2022.

Mr Davis has criticised his approach to the topic, emphasising that Dr Minnis made introducing a fixed election date a key promise in the lead-up to the last general election.

In what many interpreted as an indicator of his plans, Dr Minnis told people earlier this month to register to vote in the “shortest possible time”.

Meanwhile, in May, a memo Royal Bahamas Defence Force acting Captain Shawn Adderley sent to Parliamentary Registration Department acting Commissioner Lavardo Duncanson urged department heads to prepare for the “possibility of an early election”.

Earlier this week, FNM Chairman Carl Culmer would not speculate about the possibility of an early election and suggested there was nothing out of the ordinary with the FNM urging people to get registered.

“As you all know, until we have a fixed date, there’s only one person who could say when we’re going to have the election and that’s the prime minister of the country and so our thing is,

I don’t like to speculate and I would not speculate but I encourage persons to go out there and do what is necessary to be prepared whenever the election is called,” he said on Monday.

“We’re less than a year out and as the leader, he should encourage persons who are not registered to go out and register so this is almost August and elections are due in May and so as a leader, he should encourage his citizens to go out there and register. This is not new.

“The former prime minister, Ingraham always told persons far in advance to go out and register and so we in the FNM, we like to encourage participation in elections so we don’t want no one to be left out,” Mr Culmer said.

Legislation passed earlier this year has allowed for a permanent voter register to be established for the first time in the country, meaning that people who registered to vote for the 2017 election will not need to register again.

However, qualified Bahamians who are not on the 2017 register or who have moved to an address different from the one on their voter’s card will need to visit a Parliamentary Registration Department centre to register or transfer their registration to a new polling division or constituency where they now reside.

Some 20,000 first time voters are expected to register this election cycle.

Govt olive branch on citizenship cases from page one

The Court of Appeal adjourned the hearing to consider the matter.

The hearing came nearly a month after the court affirmed Supreme Court Justice Ian Winder’s landmark ruling that children born out of wedlock to Bahamian men are automatically citizens, regardless of the nationality of their mother.

Because the court’s ruling would generally be treated as binding, the Office of the Attorney General is asking the court to stay the ruling until the matter has been adjudicated at the Privy Council in London.

Mr Munroe has argued there is nothing to stay because, while the court has made a declaration about how to interpret the relevant clause in the Constitution, it did not order the government to do anything.

Mr Williams said: “The government is prepared to undertake that pending the determination of this appeal, not to deport any persons claiming under Article 6 and the declaration of the court.

“If a person presents themselves to be registered or be declared a citizen, a person whose father is Bahamian and whose mother is not and upon indicating that, they are not to be detained or deported.

“We would so advise the Director of Immigration.

We undertake to do that.”

Asked how this can affect people currently detained at the Detention Centre, Mr Williams said: “Instructions would come from the Minister of Immigration, the minister responsible for that, or the Director of Immigration. We have also indicated that we would not detain any such person.

“Nobody who can show they were born in The Bahamas to a Bahamian father or mother can be detained.”

Mr Munroe described the government’s proposal as messy. “The citizen should be the one to move the court for any remedy,” he said. “Our primary position is the government isn’t mandated to do anything

ATTORNEY WAYNE MUNROE, QC. because the lower court didn’t make a declaration (and) specifically refused to do so until the subsequent hearing and, in fact, if somebody presents themselves to a government agency, quite apart from the construction of Article 6 would be the issue of do I accept your proof of paternity?

“Unless and until the court gives a decision on what will be sufficient to show paternity, whether it is the form of registration as

a father or birth certificate, whether it is the presumption of legitimacy… whether it is DNA evidence, whether it is an ordinary trial on the issue of paternity… until the court makes a final determination as to that question, anyone presenting themselves and saying, ‘My daddy is a Bahamian’ will have the second hurdle to jump which these respondents have to jump which is, ‘and I can prove to you that this is my father’.”

PAGE 4, Thursday, July 15, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

PEOPLE in line at the COVID-19 vaccination site at Loyola Hall yesterday.

Photo: Racardo Thomas/Tribune Staff

PAHO: Don’t reopen fully when cases are on the rise

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net A PAN American Health Organization official has warned countries against fully reopening economies while COVID-19 cases are rising.

“Balancing public health measures while reopening the economy has been a challenge for every country in the world, but countries should avoid thinking that they must make a choice between re-opening the economies and protecting the health and well-being of their people and we believe that this is a false choice,” said PAHO Director Dr Carissa Etienne.

“We have seen time and time again that full economic activity cannot resume unless we have the virus under control and to attempt otherwise places lives at risk and extends the uncertainty brought by the pandemic.”

She added: “We know that public health measures work to control the spread of the virus and each country needs to be responsive to their own national and local context and do the risk analysis that is necessary.”

On Tuesday, Minister of Health Renward Wells said the government is still planning to let the country’s state of emergency end in August.

This comes as cases, hospitalisations and deaths continue to rise in the country.

Yesterday, Dr Etienne also reported that cases spiked in Central America,

the Caribbean and some South America countries last week as she warned against complacency to health measures.

“Cases rise when complacency sets in,” she said. “We are all tired, but after experiencing successive peaks of infections in the same locations, we must break this cycle by embracing public health measures early and consistently.”

PAHO said cases are increasing in Central American countries, including El Salvador and Guatemala, where COVID deaths have also surged.

New infections are spiking in the Caribbean, where Cuba has reported the highest number of weekly cases since the start of the pandemic. In the British Virgin Islands, cases have tripled in the weeks after reopening to cruise ships. And in Mexico and the United States, infections are rising.

Dr Etienne, in the weekly PAHO virtual press briefing, also urged countries in the region to allocate at least six percent of their GDP to national health systems and chart the path to recovery out of the pandemic.

She highlighted a new report released by the Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean last week and said that the report shows how the pandemic continues to be “fuelled by inequality”.

“Unfortunately our region is the most unequal in the world. We urge countries to continue to prioritising health and social safety nets as part of their

COVID response and as they turn their sights to COVID recovery. Social protection is key both to help people adhere to the public measures we know work and to rebuild more inclusive equitable societies,” she said.

“Across the region, we’re paying the price of chronic under investment of health.

So now is the time for countries to break the cycle by applying a public expenditure in health of at least six percent of GDP to health systems and chart the path to recovery.”

Meanwhile PAHO Assistant Director Dr Jarbas Barbosa spoke on vaccine availability and noted one issue in getting supplies out is that the Indian government is not allowing the Institute of India to export the AstraZeneca vaccines at the moment.

“Pfizer started delivering vaccines in February but it’s a small amount,” he explained.

He assured the Bahamas will receive vaccines in July and August through the World Health Organization’s COVAX Facility.

This comes at a time when there are concerns about possible low vaccine supplies in the country.

The Bahamian government has maintained its appeal to the public to get vaccinated, however, saying it is the only way out of the pandemic.

There are also concerns about Haiti, whose president was assassinated last week.

Dr Etienne said “thousands of people” there

HOSPITAL CHANGES TO SOCIAL DISTANCE PROTOCOLS AT MORGUE PRINCESS Margaret Hospital has put in place “more effective social distancing measures” at its morgue as part of COVID19 prevention requirements.

The new protocols allow for one family member to enter the morgue to register at the reception/front desk.

As part of the registration process, the registrant will

be required to provide a cell phone contact.

The registrant will be required to leave the morgue reception area until they are contacted. Once contact is made, two family members will be permitted to enter the morgue to officially identify the body of their deceased loved one/ family member.

“These new protocols are due in part to the limited space in the morgue, along with adherence to social distancing guidelines to limit the spread of the coronavirus,” PMH officials said.

The morgue’s hours of operation for identification are 9am to noon, Monday to Friday.

have been displaced by violence and instability and “crowded shelters could become active hot spots for COVID transmission.”

“PAHO, along with other partners, is committed to supporting the Haitian people in these uncertain times and urges other international organisations to join us in supporting the

COVID response,” she said.

PAHO has delivered personal protective equipment to Haiti, helped expand care for COVID-19 patients, and provided thousands of tests and laboratory materials, officials said. PAHO has also helped train community health workers and supported the Ministry of

Health in preparing for vaccine introduction and setting up new systems to dispel rumours.

In total, the Americas has reported nearly 74 million cases and 1.9 million deaths from COVID-19, accounting for more than a third of COVID cases and more than 40 percent of deaths reported worldwide.

TOTAL CASES

TOTAL DEATHS

NEWLY CONFIRMED CASES

RECENTLY CONFIRMED DEATHS

13,274 256 TUESDAY

41 CASES

NEW PROVIDENCE 36 GRAND BAHAMA 3 EXUMA 1 BIMINI & CAT CAY 1

TOTAL TESTS

112,452

HOSPITALISED

68

• A 57-YEAR-OLD MAN FROM NEW PROVIDENCE ON JULY 11.

• A 73-YEAR-OLD WOMAN FROM NEW PROVIDENCE ON JUNE 28.

CASES IN ICU

5

RECOVERED

12,035

TWO MORE COVID-19 DEATHS CONFIRMED THE country’s COVID-19 death roll has risen to 256 after two new deaths were confirmed.

Health officials said the latest victims are a 57-year-old New Providence man who died on July 11 and a 73-year-old New Providence woman who died on June 28.

Last week officials reported that a fivemonth-old girl died from the virus on June 26, becoming the nation’s youngest victim.

The death of a 78-year-old New Providence woman who died on July 2 was also

announced last week.

Meanwhile, 30 deaths are under investigation.

Officials also said 41 new COVID-19 cases were recorded on Tuesday. Thirtysix of those cases are in New Providence, three are in Grand Bahama, one is in Bimini and Cat Cay and one is in Exuma.

The number of cases in hospital has also risen to 73 from 67 a day earlier. Five of those cases are in the intensive care unit.

There have now been 13,274 confirmed cases, however only 891 of them are active.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 15, 2021, PAGE 5

‘We must change how we deal with crime’

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net LOCAL community activists are calling for a shift in the way the country deals with crime following a recent spate of murders.

Five men were killed in separate incidents between Thursday and Monday, sparking renewed public concerns about violent crime.

Pastor Carlos Reid, author and life coach, thinks not enough resources are being dedicated to prevention, intervention and rehabilitation. He said it appeared the focus was on incarceration.

This, he said, comes at a more expensive cost to the government when compared with ensuring preventative measures are taken.

He said intervention programmes were on the table during the last Christie administration, but following the Progressive Liberal Party’s election loss in 2017, the initiatives appear to have stalled.

“The problem is that there is nothing in place for prevention,” Pastor Reid said yesterday.

“Under the last administration (the late) Dr Bernard Nottage he came up with some strategies that would prevent some young people from becoming criminals and that was shock treatment.

“We also had an intervention programme where the government received something from the IDB, $20m. This was supposed to fund a programme we called violence interrupters.

“What this would have done is these would have been persons from the streets that had criminal pasts that have influence in the communities that when they hear about a situation before it reaches a point where someone gets killed, we would go and intervene.

“Even if we have to bring persons from different communities together like individually and more like become mediators because that really what it was because after someone gets killed what do you tell their loved one? You can’t tell them anything.

“The dialogue needs to happen before the situation gets out of hand and that was really what we

....AS INDEPENDENCE DAY MURDER SUSPECT FACES COURT

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

28-YEAR-OLD Perdallion Moxey outside court yesterday. designed.

“We started the programme. The money was in place, and it’s been fourand-a-half years now and they said they needed to tweak the programme, but it never materialised.”

Apart from this, Pastor Reid said a plan was conceived to convert the former Her Majesty’s Prison to more of a rehabilitation facility. While the name was changed to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services, he thinks the facility continues to operate without much of a rehabilitative structure.

“That was done in name, but never mentally nor physically.”

He said while the prison continues to be a place of major gang contention, the problems there are compounded by how crime is handled on the streets.

“What we have been doing is taking the problem from the street and putting it in prison and then, because the Constitution states that a man is innocent until proven guilty, we have to give people bail.”

“It just don’t make sense what we are doing. We are not dealing with the problem from a systematic point. We believe that this Bahamas is a police state.

“Police within itself cannot solve crime. We need to be systematic in now preventing these young people from getting into the system.”

According to Pastor Reid, there is an ongoing war between factions in the Grove and Ridgeland Park areas that has gone without intervention, leading to some of the violent crimes the country has seen in recent days. “…Because we did not deal with some situations early, it is now the rooster coming home to roost.

Now after family members already get killed, what do you tell them to cause them not to retaliate?

“We have an onus to protect the citizenry. Now police are doing a good job with bringing the people before the courts, but that within itself is straining the public purse.

“It costs The Bahamas

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff government $20,000 for every inmate at the Department of Corrections, but how much are we spending on prevention?

“We need to shift from where we’re just looking at crimes and detecting them to how we prevent them in the first place or else all of our money will be going to the prison.”

For her part, Family of All Murder Victims (FOAM) founder and activist Khandi Gibson agreed that retaliation is often hard to get away from.

Ms Gibson said: “It’s sickening the way these lives are being taken. From what we are seeing this is a war going on between Ridgeland (Park) and the Grove.

‘If someone kill my family you can’t tell me nothing.’

Pain is pain. People will say it’s senseless killing because it’s not your family, but for the person who lost a loved one it’s different.

“The police are doing all they can, but the answer to this crime is in our communities,” she continued. “But when people reach out to the relevant authorities

GOT A DISABILITY? GOVT WANTS YOU TO REGISTER OFFICIALS have made a plea to the disabled community to participate in the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development’s ongoing voluntary registration of persons with disabilities.

The registration drive was launched in early 2020, and is a collaborative effort between the ministry, the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities and its Secretariat; the Disability Affairs Division, Department of Social Services; and the Urban Renewal Commission, all of which fall under the ministry’s remit.

Persons with disabilities, their caregivers and/ or other personal support network desiring to register can do so through Whatsapp at 376-8328; email, Disabilitiescommission@ bahamas.gov.bs, or via the commission’s website – disabilitiescommission.org.

Team members from the 24 Urban Renewal Centres throughout the country also possess the capability to register persons as part of their regular interactions with the various communities they serve, either virtually or by curbside accessibility.

During a recent virtual town hall meeting hosted by the commission, chief welfare officer, Andrea Newbold, told the grouping that active participation in the registration process is

of particular importance to all persons with disabilities, but especially those persons who live independently – or alone.

“It is very important for you to register your disability with the Disabilities Commission and Social Services in the event you have to be evacuated from your home because if the first responders do not know who you are, what your disability is, and where you are, then they cannot deliver the kind of service to you in the manner they would like to, and so persons, please, those of you who haven’t already done so, please register with the commission,” she said.

“We need your location, we need your information so that we can add you to our vulnerable persons list so that in the event a storm or hurricane is threatening, or an emergency is taking place, we know whom we need to contact and get information to immediately to get you out of harm’s way.”

Mrs Newbold said disaster preparedness is essential for people with disabilities.

“We can experience various disasters and/or emergency events whether due to fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, storm surges, and everyone needs to be prepared for these events and so you, our persons with disabilities, your

caregivers, the persons who advocate on your behalf, have to be prepared; you have to know your risks within the communities within which you live, particularly those persons with disabilities living in coastal areas and/or low-lying areas that are susceptible to flooding.”

Mrs Newbold also encouraged her audience to complete a personal care assessment as part of their disaster preparedness plan.

“This plan should list the tasks you will be able to

do for yourselves and what assistance you would need during all stages of a disaster/emergency – before, during and after – in order to be ready for any contingency. The personal care assessment should also take into consideration any specific functional and medical support needs to ensure comfort and safety.”

She advised the grouping – particularly those living independently - to form personal support networks/self-help teams “with people you can trust.”

A 28-YEAR-OLD man was charged with murder yesterday in connection with a shooting incident that left a man dead on Independence Day. Perdallion Moxey stood before Magistrate Samuel McKinney accused of murdering Teran Taylor on July 10.

According to police reports, shortly before 7am on July 10, officers were alerted to a shooting on Palmetto Road, Sunset Park.

Upon arrival at the scene, police found a man in the street with apparent gunshot wounds.

Emergency Medical Services were called, but later pronounced the victim dead at the scene.

Moxey was not required to enter a plea due to the nature of the charge and the matter was adjourned to September 17 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment. Bail was denied and he was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services in the interim.

He has the right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail. Moxey is represented by attorney Ian Cargill.

with the information what becomes of their lives?

Who will tell you who kill me?

“So, we now have to step up on witness protections and make sure they are secured because this is sad and at the end of the day these young men only seeing blood.”

In response to the most recent murders, National Security Minister Marvin Dames said on Tuesday that Bahamians have no reason to feel unsafe, insisting

police have the crime situation under control.

Police suspect some of the recent murders are linked and are the result of retaliation between “rival” groups.

Mr Dames has said while overall crime continues to trend downward, the most recent incidents prove there is still work to be done.

He said many of the country’s crime problems stem from decades of neglect by Bahamian parents and adults.

PAGE 6, Thursday, July 15, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

The Tribune Limited NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”

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A welcome compromise in citizenship case THE compromise offered by the government during the ongoing legal case over citizenship may not be the end of the story, but it’s a welcome stepping stone along the way.

The case is being appealed to the Privy Council, but that could take some time. In the Senate last month, the Attorney General said that the matter was being handled with “urgency”, but that there was no possibility of a change in Bahamian law until at least September when the House of Assembly meets again – and “there is no likelihood that there will be any change at all without a definitive ruling from the Privy Council”.

So where does that leave those affected by the legal wrangle? The people we are talking about are those who have a Bahamian father and a foreign mother and who were born out of wedlock. Attorney Wayne Munroe estimates that’s a total of “tens of thousands” of people, going all the way back to 1973.

In the absence of any other court challenge, those people are left somewhat in limbo, with the government intending to keep things the same until the Privy Council decides.

So yesterday the government offered not to detain or deport anyone who claims to be entitled to citizenship in this specific situation. That’s fair – perhaps even the least the government could do.

Many of these people will have been born here and raised here and while the question of their citizenship is being resolved, it would be unfair indeed to lock them up or kick them out of the country.

Better still is the offer to receive and process applications from people seeking citizenship. The Privy Council may take some time, but the Department of Immigration is also not known for its swiftness, so starting the application process now makes sense. Such applications may not be finalised until the ruling, but given how long paperwork seems to take at that department, there’s a good chance we’ll hear from the Privy Council first.

Trust is an issue of course – as people may be wanting to start their applications but being wary if the ruling goes the other way. However, those people would be in the same position legally whether they started their application or not.

At the root of this, of course, there remain issues of inequality. Mr Munroe may refer to the government’s proposal as “messy” but the real mess remains the disparity in how your citizenship is passed along depending on whether you’re a man or a woman. That famously led to a failed referendum, and so the tangle remains.

We hope the Privy Council is able to rule swiftly – but until it does, it makes no sense to persecute those caught in this situation.

So we welcome the government’s offer with one caveat – put some extra resources into processing these applications, so when the ruling does come along, people don’t have to wait years longer to be able to say “I am a Bahamian citizen”.

Election talk

Is an early election going to be announced?

That’s the rumour as the FNM completes its slate of candidates.

One FNM candidate told The Tribune they would be surprised if the election is not called “within the next month or two”.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, of course, has been on election footing for a while now – visiting islands for a string of openings, and talking up his party while advertising has been in steady rotation on social media and television.

Back in February, he said if it was up to him alone, he would call an early election but it wasn’t up to him alone.

So, has his team decided the time is right?

Perhaps he is hoping to ride the surge of optimism that has gone with the surge in tourism as visitors return to our shores – but he should be cautious if so.

As we reported yesterday, one hotel union chief said only 40 percent of his members were back to work so far. That surge might look good from the top, but it’s a different matter on the ground if you’re not part of it.

You can look too at the Straw Market not yet returned, or the ongoing food support for those in need.

It might be a gamble indeed to ask people for their vote when they still don’t have a pay cheque.

If Dr Minnis truly believes he is steering the country on the right course to recovery, shouldn’t he then see that recovery out? Shouldn’t he take it to the full term so we don’t just see the start of the recovery but how his plans play out?

And with COVID still here – and another two deaths reported today – is now the time to look at an election season with rallies and party gatherings, or would it be better to reach that herd immunity Health Minister Renward Wells suggested would have been here by the start of the summer?

Dr Minnis, of course, has his own views, and might be tempted by promising poll numbers to act now rather than later. How soon? We shall see.

Soaring sales but where are the taxes?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

ONCE again headline after headline of soaring sales purchased by the elites, yet the government refuses to tax this insane wealth but actually has the audacity to put a cap on it.

Furthermore, this administration has the fortitude to tax the poor and middle class 12% on life necessities and 1%+ on their homes.

All the while the obscene wealthy elites are capped at only $60,000 or .1 - .2% of

the market value.

It should be obvious to every working Bahamian that this is intentional, and elimination of the middle class is the goal.

There can be no other explanation at this point.

Double the tax now on all properties over $2.5m Mr PM! Or is our government in bed with these billionaire elites? After all their businesses, communities, etc. never had to close.

All you Marxists (including many journalists and

billionaires) constantly talk about increasing taxes. Now stop talking the talk and walk the walk!

The opposition shouldn’t have to campaign or show their face this election. The idiocy of this administration has handed them a landslide victory.

Unless, of course, one already knows who will be counting the votes.

CHRISTOPHER ARMALY Nassau, July 14, 2021.

This is war EDITOR, The Tribune.

TRIBUNE front page reads.“Killings product of our failure”.

Guardian reads. “Police probes murder Spree”.

Yesterday Marvin Dames had this to say. “You look at the age of the persons who are carrying out these heinous crimes. It speaks to our failures as parents and adults”.

He is correct, but what he did not speak to is the parent’s age. I know of a 26-year-old grandmother.

Children having children is a matter of grave concern.

So the question remains how do we train children to train children.

Mr Dames went on to say many of the country’s crime problems stem from decades of neglect by Bahamian parents and adults.

Again he is right on point but failed to address the underlying concerns that many of us are afraid to face.

Our young men are in the trenches fighting a war that they did not start.

They are murdering each other, not knowing why.

Friends are turning against and killing each other.

Teenagers, some mere children, are standing before the courts charged with criminal violence.

They do not even understand the chargers that are read.

As a nation that prides itself on being built on Christian principles we would have learned how God showed us what a family is supposed to be like. And how a mother and father should raise their children. But because of our disobedience, we have created our version of what a family should be like.

This is the reasons our children, especially our young men are suffering.

How long must our children be tormented because of the curses we have spoken out in anger over their lives?

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net Not realising that when we say to them, “That they are going to be like their no good pa or their bad ma and they will never amount to anything.”

That we are opening the doors for Satan to unleash his demons upon them.

I heard a parent say to their child. “They will be like the chaff the wind blows away.” Another said “I should have killed you in my womb.”

What are we doing? Do we not realise that there is power in the tongue?

Our young men are on a battlefield controlled by wicked spirits in powerful places. They have no control over what they are doing.

This is war.

Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in a high place.”

Six young men were killed simultaneously in broad daylight on a busy street, and numerous young men and women are murdered almost every day of the week.

Scores of young vagrants wander the streets aimlessly, not knowing who they are.

Can we genuinely accept any of these as ordinary incidents?

Now is not the time to let our guards down but to fight to save our children.

This is war; Chronicles 7:14 clearly states, “ If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

The majority of criminal activities are perpetrated by young people, whose parents are almost as young

as they are.

So we are in an uphill battle that can only be won by the combined effort of all of us, especially our leaders.

Now is not the time for petty politicians who refuse to come down from their high towers or scary clergy members out of their caves to stand up for God’s word.

Now is not the time for parents to lock their children out of the house.

Sending them to find shelter wherever they can.

This is war.

In a recent video shared on the internet, a man of God highlighted a satanic attack on his church. He boldly rebuked the evil spirits and sent them back from whence they came.

Men of God stand up and be counted. This is war, and there is no time for cowering in a corner.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” – Isaiah 6:8 This is war.

Mr. Dames, I agree with you 100’% that in this battle, we all have a role to play.

Pastors, politicians, and adults everywhere.

But you say crime is down and under control.

Here, sir, I find this debatable because while crime might be down, I fail to see how it is under control. Yes, our police officers are doing their best, but they can’t be everywhere. Because if they could, so many innocent bystanders, especially children, would not be dead.

Therefore I must maintain that crime is only being partially controlled.

Nevertheless, it does not take away from the hard work the dedicated officers of the Royal Police force perform to keep us safe every day.

God save our young men.

God bless the Bahamas.

ANTHONY PRATT Nassau, July 14, 2021.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 15, 2021, PAGE 7

Former postal chief tells of passbook ‘discrepancy’

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER Acting Postmaster General testified yesterday that the passbook copies Bahamian businessman Rudolph “Rudy” King submitted when a discrepancy was found in his account did not appear to be genuine.

Debbie Pennerman-Seymour made the statement when she gave evidence during the impresario’s trial.

King is accused of defrauding the General Post Office of over half a million dollars, then laundering that amount between 2012 and 2015.

Prosecutors allege he defrauded the Post Office’s savings account of $661,648.

King has maintained his not guilty plea during his trial before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis.

When Mrs PennermanSeymour took the stand yesterday, she said she worked as a public officer for the General Post Office for 47 years.

She said the last position she held before her retirement was Acting Postmaster General. She also said she worked at the Freeport Post Office for over ten years and stated she had the opportunity to meet King when she was stationed there.

Mrs Pennerman-Seymour said she met him personally about three times but saw him frequent the Post Office to conduct transactions on several occasions.

She said she discovered that “something was wrong” with King’s passbooks because the books purported to have funds on it, but the funds were not recorded on their ledger.

“At one point I called Mr

King to tell him to bring in the original passbooks so we can balance and investigate what’s going on with his account,” she said.

“I contacted him to bring in the original books so we could have put them against the ledger… to make sure those transactions were there. What he turned in was copies of what looked like the last page of each book, along with some copied cheques.”

Mrs Pennerman-Seymour said on one occasion, King came in “after hours” and handed an envelope to a security officer who later contacted her. She said when she opened the package, she discovered the documents inside were not the ones that she had asked for.

She also said the copies of the transactions from a passbook appeared as if they were cut and pasted.

“They didn’t look genuine to me,” she said. “It wasn’t and it wasn’t what I asked for.”

When a copy of one of the documents was shown to the witness in court, she said the numbers on the fifth entry of the sheet “did not look right”. She also said the balance column looked like it was “written over in heavy, heavy pen”.

Her assertion was followed by an objection from defence counsel Damian Gomez, QC, who argued Mrs Pennerman-Seymour was not an expert in forgery and could not give “opinionated evidence”.

Nonetheless, when Mrs Pennerman-Seymour was shown another exhibit, she said it looked like it had been “cut and paste” because the “words did not line up with the other side”.

After studying the third exhibit, she said she noticed

the sentence: “The words of this book must be produced whenever any money is deposited or withdrawn” were not printed on the second exhibit.

Yesterday, the witness was also shown four letters of authorisation addressed to the Bank of the Bahamas requesting to withdraw the amounts of $10,000, $7,000, $10,000 and $100,000.

When asked if she considered King to be a Family Island customer, she said “as far as she knew” he lived in Nassau.

During Mr Gomez’s cross-examination of Mrs Pennerman-Seymour, she admitted that a “practice did develop” at the Post Office where customers were allowed to have more than $6,000 on their account. Still, she insisted it “should not have happened”.

She also revealed the

Post Office did not have a computerised system at the time the fraud was alleged to have taken place and said “everything was manual” during that time period.

When Mrs PennermanSeymour was asked to look at the exhibits she previously examined, she admitted the figures on the sheet did add up.

And when Mr Gomez noted the documents she “criticised as badly copied” bore the Post Office stamp and initials of workers against each of the entries, she agreed.

Mr Gomez asked: “...So, this fancy allegation that he was just coming in and getting money is false, isn’t it?”

“When I look at the auditor’s report the withdrawals outweighed the deposits,” Mrs Pennerman-Seymour replied.

The matter continues today.

CUSTOMS BROKER FACES $1.8M FRAUD ACCUSATION

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRECIOUS Moxey Miller outside court yesterday.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

30-YEAR SENTENCE STAYS FOR TRYING TO KILL EX-GIRLFRIEND

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN who was convicted of trying to murder his ex-girlfriend has been unsuccessful in appealing his 30-year prison sentence.

In March 2018, a jury acquitted Gary Thurston of the murder of Sekeno Collie and attempted murder of Conceta Lawrence.

However, he was convicted of the attempted murder of Stephanie Kemp and was subsequently sentenced to 30 years in December 2019.

According to court documents, Thurston and Ms Kemp were in a relationship which she ended around April 2, 2016. Days later, Thurston was said to have visited Ms Kemp’s home where he shot her, Mr Collie and Ms Lawrence— Ms Kemp’s school mate and mother, respectively.

After he was convicted and sentenced, Thurston failed to file an appeal within the 21-day statutory deadline for appeals stipulated in the Court of Appeal Act.

When he did file an application for an extension of time one year and two months later, he sought to appeal his 30-year sentence for attempted murder on the ground the punishment was “harsh and unduly severe”.

Yesterday, Justices Sir Michael Barnett, Maureen Crane-Scott and Milton Evans dismissed Thurston’s extension of time application and affirmed his 30-year sentence and conviction for attempted murder after concluding his appeal had “no prospects of success”.

“The factors to be considered on an extension of time application are well known: the length of and reasons for the delay, the prospects of success and the prejudice, if any, to the intended respondent,” Justice Crane-Scott stated.

“The intended appellant is one year and two months out of time and he blames the prison authorities for this period of delay. He submits that his proposed appeal against sentence has good prospects of success due to missteps by his

counsel in the court below which resulted in the judge imposing a sentence which was unduly harsh and severe.”

She furthered: “In her sentencing remarks, the learned judge outlined the mitigating factors as well as the aggravating factors, and correctly found that the aggravating factors far outweighed the mitigating factors which she identified. It is obvious that the determinate 30-year sentence which the judge ultimately imposed falls within the range of sentences which are imposable and have been imposed for attempted murder in this jurisdiction. In summary, the court is satisfied that there is no basis on which the exercise of the learned judge’s sentencing discretion would likely be impugned on appeal. Accordingly, the court is satisfied that the intended appeal against the sentence has absolutely no prospects of success.”

The panel said after deducting the four years Thurston spent on remand, he will serve 26 years imprisonment from December 10, 2019.

NO RETRIAL IN EXUMA MURDER ACQUITTAL from page one

Rolle Jr recently appealed his sentence after arguing the conviction was “unsafe and unsatisfactory” as the judge had erred in law when she “wrongfully exercised her discretion by ending the voir dire and admitting the record of interview” into his case.

In March, Justices Maureen Crane-Scott, Roy Jones and Milton Evans quashed the appellant’s conviction after ruling the facts of the case left them with “lurking doubts”

regarding the fairness of Rolle Jr’s trial.

At the time, they invited Crown and defence counsel to address them on the issue of whether Rolle Jr’s case was an appropriate matter to order a retrial having regard to the “statutory discretion” of the Court of Appeal Act. According to court documents, both parties filed written submissions with authorities as directed.

Justice Crane-Scott said after the panel heard oral arguments on the matter, they decided to exercise their discretion against ordering a retrial and

instead “directed Rolle’s acquittal and release from custody”.

“It is not in the interests of justice for a retrial to be ordered,” Justice CraneScott stated. “The appellant is acquitted and released in accordance with section 13(2) of the Court of Appeal Act, Ch 52. Having weighed these several matters in the balance in the exercise of our discretion and applying the guidance in Reid, we were satisfied that in this particular case it was not in the interests of justice for a new trial to be ordered and declined to do so.”

A CUSTOMS broker was arraigned yesterday over allegations she stole and defrauded more $1.8m from Cable Bahamas over a 12-month period.

Precious Moxey-Miller, 34, a customs broker for Simply Shipping Solution, appeared before Magistrate Kendra Kelly facing 114 fraud-related charges for her alleged actions between January 2018 to February 2019.

The charges included 35 counts of falsification of accounts, 33 of uttering

a forged document, 26 of fraud by false pretences and 20 of stealing by reason of service.

Officers allege that between January 2018 and February 2019, the accused stole over $480,000 from Cable Bahamas, of which she had custody by reason of service.

It is further alleged that between those same dates, she obtained a total of $1,321,510.17 from Cable Bahamas Ltd situated on Old Trail Road by means of false pretences.

She is also accused of uttering several false Bahamas customs forms and

making numerous false entries on the forms, purporting to show the bill of lading was consigned to Cable Bahamas knowing the same to be false.

Moxey-Miller pleaded not guilty to all of the offences read during yesterday’s proceedings.

Her case was adjourned to today at 10am for a hearing on the remaining charges.

Magistrate Kelly told the accused she will remain in custody at the Nassau Street Police Station.

Moxey-Miller is being represented by attorney Kenyatta Gibson.

PAGE 8, Thursday, July 15, 2021

Ours is a story which goes beyond a mere 48 years - and is still being written

NATIONAL anthem composer Timothy Gibson.

MANY Bahamians enjoy Priscilla Rollins’ song, “Independence Morning, It’s like a Baby Borning”, a catchy tune which has delighted audiences since 1973. Ms Rollins captures much of the enthusiasm and excitement of a new day for the country. But the Bahamian nation is much older than 48 years. We are centuries older.

The analogies we create and refine about nationhood, including various metaphors and similes, play an essential part and instructive role in our

THE TRIBUNE

national storytelling, history, aspirations, mythologising and symbolising.

In “March on Bahamaland”, Timothy Gibson employs two master metaphors from nature, including the extraterrestrial sun and the terrestrial shoal of our brilliant hues of green and blue waters.

Born at Savannah Sound, Eleuthera, in 1903, Mr Gibson traversed the archipelago as an educator and a keen observer of our natural heritage. One imagines the music he conceived and committed to composition

from the sounds and colours of the Bahamian waters, flora, sunrises and sunsets.

He worked alongside his brother, CI Gibson, on Cat Island. He also served as an educator at Buckley’s and Scrub Hill, Long Island, at Georgetown, Exuma, and at a number of schools on New Providence, including Western Junior on Hospital Lane.

In this lyrical summons to national struggle and transcendence, the son of Sound, masterfully mixes his rich metaphors: “Steady sunward, tho’ the weather

hides the wide and treacherous shoal.” He utilises the image of the sun three times in the National Anthem.

His metaphors are embedded in our consciousness and soul. Every fisher, most Family Islanders and city dwellers on New Providence, surrounded by the ocean, has experienced the wide and treacherous shoals that must be carefully navigated. We are enriched by sunsets daily drenching themselves in the ocean.

On independence morning we celebrate the dawn of a sovereign, independent state, not the beginning of The Bahamas, whether our peoples, our history or our resilience, including our triumph over the subjugation of colonialism and slavery.

The Bahamian nation and experience are exceedingly older than the 48 years following independence from Great Britain.

A deeper appreciation of our rich history is diminished when we say, “Happy birthday” on July 10. It is more accurate and more meaningful to say, “Happy Independence!”

HISTORY

Geologically, The Bahamas has an extraordinary history. The oldest known macrofossils are stromatolites, which date back over three billion years and are rare in the world’s oceans. On the margins of the Exuma Sound, “the Bahamian stromatolites are living relatives of Earth’s oldest reefs.”

At a One Bahamas event in 2010, former Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes, who was taught by Timothy Gibson, recalls the many hundreds of years of our history and the emergence of Bahamians as a unique people.

“We are Bahamians, and we have woven a single, rich cultural tapestry of threads from Africa, Europe and Asia, threads spun and coloured in the Americas and the islands of the Caribbean.

“We are now one people, One Bahamas, proud of our music, proud of our songs and dances, proud of our folklore, proud of our works of art…

“Most of all, we celebrate the rich diversity of the Bahamian people who have come to this gateway to the New World to form a microcosm of that New World.”

In a 2013 speech to the Rotaract Club of East Nassau, Sir Arthur reminded the country of our legacy of parliamentary democracy, one of the oldest in this hemisphere: “The House, established in 1729, did not confer the status of a modern democracy on The Bahamas. That

was a long way off; but the population, including the black descendants of slaves, recognized the possibilities that this institution offered, and that is why it became, and remains, the ultimate objective of political activity.”

At independence, we celebrate national sovereignty, not the birth of the broader Bahamian enterprise and experience.

The Bahamas, like other Caribbean jurisdictions, assimilated the contributions of many cultures into a new Bahamian and Caribbean culture, forging something new out of what Caribbean Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott described as “fragments of epic memory”.

The gathering of these fragments began centuries ago and continues to evolve, a gathering, cutting and pasting captured in Junkanoo.

RESILIENCE

A brilliant and evocative video produced by a talented team of young communications professionals at the Office of the Prime Minister, celebrating our 48th anniversary, features Shadelle Major playing “March on Bahamaland” on the violin.

An accomplished violinist, Ms Major, dressed in our national colours, offers a soulful rendition of the National Anthem, musically juxtaposed with images of resilience of Bahamians in response to Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The setting for her playing of our Anthem of resistance and struggle is the Queen’s Staircase, known as the 66 Steps, hewn out of solid limestone rock by our slave ancestors.

The Steps served as a direct passage from Fort Fincastle to the City of Nassau.

The Steps were renamed after Queen Victoria. The historic irony is that though Victoria was praised by slaves for emancipation, it was actually King William IV who signed the Declaration of Emancipation.

The emancipation of slaves was not mostly about these ancestors being benevolently freed.

The larger, more compelling narrative is that of centuries of struggle and resistance, including by Bahamian freedom fighters over generations.

Today, one of Ms Major’s instruments of resilience, resistance and redemption is the violin.

The enduring work of decolonization, resistance to the legacy of white supremacy, and new ideas for nation-building and economic and social equality to move forward in this

generation, hopefully, triumphantly, continues.

There are many more redemption songs to be composed and performed

by Ms Major and successive generations, who will help us to write and to sing these songs of freedom.

In her person and her talent, Ms Major invites Bahamians, especially young people, to realise, in the sentiments of Derek Walcott, that the fragments which constitute the Bahamian nation belong equally to each of us, no matter one’s circumstance of birth, creed or ethnicity.

The violin, the goat skin drum, the cello, the clarinet, the cowbell, the church organ, the saw from rake ‘n’ scrape all belong to the Bahamian imagination and experience.

Years ago a white Bahamian politician foolishly and ignorantly declared that he could not truly celebrate the history of the Clifton National Heritage Park because this was not his heritage.

His was an historic and prejudicial amnesia. He did not understand the diverse heritage represented at the Park. Moreover, by blood and by lifeblood and by shared history, we have an intertwined history, the glories and tragedies of which are enmeshed in our collective and individual Bahamian souls.

BELONGING

The musical and operatic expressions of The Bahamas are shared rhythms of nationhood and belonging. This includes Junkanoo, which the late composer Cleophas Adderley described as operatic.

He introduced the Bahamas National Youth Choir to a global musical treasury.

Our archipelago of talent includes the operatic bass-baritone Randolph Symonette, who performed on Broadway and at the Metropolitan Opera.

It includes E. Clement Bethel’s, “Sammy Swain”.

It also includes the brilliant lawyer, Eugene Dupuch, known as the humorist Smokey Joe, who played the saw with a violin bow. He was a musician and storyteller, who possessed an eloquent quill and mind.

On July 10, 1973, a friend recalls the lowering of the Union Jack and the rising sun of a new Bahamian national standard. She observed many in the crowd stood to cheer, including a young white woman.

A black man in the crowd jeered her and told her to sit down. If he thought he was going to find support, he was bitterly disappointed as the white Bahamian triumphed: “This is my country too!”

She was roundly cheered and supported as he sulked with disappointment and surprise into his shell of prejudice.

We can with exuberance and delight, resonate with Priscila Rollins at the triumph of independence. But we have a more expansive, pregnant, oft-untold and still unfolding narrative sweep of several centuries, which includes Shadelle Major’s new generation.

Even as we listen to the delightful lyrics of Ms. Rollins, we should ever remember that we have greater and more wisdom, stories, experience, examples of excellence and many more roads trod than our 48 years of sovereignty. Happy Independence, Bahamas!

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 15, 2021, PAGE 9

Republicans ripping up the rulebook to rob millions of their right to vote SOMETIME in the next ten months, Bahamians will go to the polls and choose a new House of Assembly.

The recent commemoration of our national Independence Day served as a reminder of our sovereignty and associated traditions of free elections.

Nothing too dramatic about any of that. We justifiably feel The Bahamas is generally a functioning democracy with sacred guarantees of rights for its citizens.

But what if a lot of our ideas and conceptions about our country and its government and its elections were to be shaken to their core by political manipulations, untruths and cynical misrepresentations of facts?

What if some political actors in our country decided to ignore established rules and norms and sought in broad daylight to corrupt our elections and overturn their legitimate results?

That would be quite unsettling indeed, and hopefully we can steer clear of any such trouble in the future.

But in many minds, that is exactly what is happening SENATE Majority Leader Sen Chuck Schumer of NY, walks with President Joe Biden as he arrives on Capitol Hill to meet with Senate Democrats yesterday. President just a few miles to our west Biden has spoken out over new voter laws, which are more restrictive.

Photo: Evan Vucci/AP in the United States. all fled the state and flew allegiance they have essenIn large, populous and on private jets to Washingtially foresworn, the actual growing states like Florida ton DC in order to deny the results of all the legislaand Georgia, state legislaGOP a required quorum tion stirring up so much tures have passed new laws to pass the proposed turmoil may be much less designed to either (a) legislation. tighten and secure existing significant.

One of the dilemmas in election procedures so only A few liberal pundits American political life these even speculate the measthose entitled to do so can days is that it is genuinely ures may even backfire vote, or (b) rig the system difficult to separate from to exclude millions of poor and actually limit Repubeach other genuine, existenblack and brown voters lican and conservative tial threats to the future of from the American elec- with Charlie Harper participation in future toral process. as its first piece of legisla- in Philadelphia, Biden said bit hyperbolic in her state- the nation’s democracy and elections. They cite the lesser developments that Republicans and their tion HR 1, incorporating “some things in Amer- ments on the voting rights are exaggerated for mostly startling senate election allies hew to the line in measures such as banning ica should be simple and issue. results in Georgia still (a). Democratic opponents partisan Maybe, and maybe political effect.

Perhaps gerrymandering straightforward.

Some sober observers only six months ago as promote the narrative in of congressional districts to the most important of those not. In the face of Texas (b). But whichensure success things, the most fundamen- Republicans’ efforts to ram continue to feel that while evidence that in politics ever version ‘One of the for one party, tal of those things, is the through a voting bill simi- the Republicans are clearly as in life, you have to be you favour, dilemmas in making voting right to vote. The right to larly restrictive to Florida’s trying to restrict access careful what you wish for the reality is easier overall, vote freely, to vote fairly measure, the state legisla- to the American polls by and to always expect the several other American and enforcing and the right to have your ture’s Democratic members voters whose potential unexpected. states are pur- political life greater trans- voted counted. suing similar “HR 1 must be passed. It on these days is that parency courses to the many political is a national imperative.” one followed by it is genuinely Biden, who at times has donations.

Florida, includ- difficult to The bill, said protecting voting rights ing recent which had is the central cause of his and current separate been originally presidency, also called in national bell- from each introduced two his Tuesday speech for wether states other genuine, years ago, was passage of the John Lewis Michigan, dead on arrival Voting Rights Act, which existential Pennsylvania in the Senate, would reinstate elements and Wisconsin. threats to where Demo- of the Voting Rights Act The prospects the future of cratic senators of 1965 which the Supreme seem reasonJoe Manchin of Court struck down in 2013. ably good that the nation’s “He’ll lay out the moral West Virginia several of these democracy and Krysten case for why denying the more restric- and lesser Sinema of right to vote is a form of tive state voting Arizona were suppression and a form of laws will be developments reluctant to silencing,” White House enacted. that are support parts press secretary Jen Psaki Democrats of the bill. And said Monday. “He will exaggerated all across the his commitwith the Senate redouble for mostly country, includtied 50-50 ment to using every tool ing on Tuesday political effect.’ between the at his disposal to conPresident Joe GOP and Dem- tinue to fight to protect Biden, have ocrats, the bill lacked the 60 the fundamental right of condemned these new votes needed to pass most Americans to vote against voter laws. With conserva- legislation – the “filibuster” the onslaught of voter suptives now controlling the rule. pression laws.”

American Supreme Court Psaki said Biden will vow Things have largely and hundreds of new remained stuck there for to “overcome the worst Republican-appointed fed- weeks. Key Democratic challenge to our democracy eral judges now sitting on figures like South Caro- since the Civil War”. lower federal courts across lina congressman James Psaki, whose cool profesthe country, Democratic Clyburn, whose timely sionalism, preparedness and activists believe federal endorsement likely played adherence to objectivity in legislation is now the the greatest single role in her remarks and responses most feasible antidote to Joe Biden’s nomination and at the White House press what they see as malicious eventual election as Presi- briefings has offered a Republican manipulation dent, urged Biden to get remarkably reassuring conof the American electoral HR 1 passed by whatever trast to the amateurish, process. outrageously mendacious means necessary.

The US House of RepUntil Tuesday, Biden nonsense so often spouted resentatives agreed. Under seemed reluctant to wade by the numerous stunningly the active direction of into the issue with both unqualified spokespersons Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the feet. But in an eagerly in the previous adminisHouse passed in January awaited speech delivered tration, might have been a

STATESIDE

HEARTBREAK AND HEROES ONE of sport’s great appeals is the clarity and permanence of its results even if rules and referees sometimes offer too much material for post-match discussion. In Brazil and England over the weekend, two giant regional tournaments produced champions and one long non-winning streak was emphatically ended.

In Rio de Janeiro’s famous Macarena stadium, Argentina finally won its first major championship in the long, distinguished career of spectacular striker and prolific playmaker Lionel Messi.

Masterful Messi did not score in Argentina’s 1-0 triumph over regional rival and

host Brazil, but that didn’t inhibit his teammates’ exuberant celebrations of his prowess after the game concluded.

Not long afterward, Messi signed a new five-year extension with his long-time club and perennial world powerhouse Barcelona that should ensure he spends his entire adult career with the Catalan club.

In London meanwhile, England failed to snap a 55-year winless streak in major international competitions, falling to an Italian team full of less renowned stars but capable of playing brilliant defence and creating surprising goal chances. The Italians, now on a 34-match non-losing

streak, deserved their victory in a penalty shootout.

The young English team still offers plenty of future promise.

In that decisive shootout, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho of Manchester United and Bukayo Saka of Arsenal all missed their shots. All three are young and black and they represent a big part of England’s future.

That they were also all targets of vicious and reprehensible post-match online racial attacks was a discouraging reminder that for all the valid current concerns about racial relations in the United States, the Americans’ problems are hardly unique.

PAGE 10, Thursday, July 15, 2021

HIGH-TIDE FLOOD RISK IS ACCELERATING, PUTTING COASTAL ECONOMIES AT RISK AS SEA level rises, it

By RENEE COLLINI, can be easy to miss the subCoastal Climate tlety of higher water. It’s Resilience Specialist, much harder to overlook Mississippi State saltwater more frequently University flooding streets, impeding daily life and making exist- to range between three and ing problems worse. seven days, but with more The frequency of high- flood days farther north. tide flooding along the US coasts has doubled since CALLING IT ‘NUISANCE’ 2000, and it’s expected to increase five to 15 times FLOODING OVERLOOKS more in the next 30 years, THE DAMAGE the National Oceanic and High-tide flooding Atmospheric Administraimpedes the use of roads tion warns in a new report and increases wear and tear released yesterday.

I work with coastal com- on stormwater and wastemunities in the northern water systems. The impact Gulf of Mexico that are can seem minor, but as the facing the risks of rising frequency increases, these inconvenient seas as they try to avoid seemingly preventable damages and flood days can have longcosts, such as infrastructure lasting impacts.

Already, areas at risk failures and falling property from sea level rise have seen values. Infordecreases mation like in propSea level rise the NOAA erty values, report is criti- disproportionately particucal to helping impacts poorer, larly where these comcities and marginalised munities succeed. communities, and homeownhaven’t Last year, the impact of high- ers taken steps to the US averincrease flood aged four tide flooding has days of high- been no exception. resilience.

Insurance tide flooding, premiums are but that beginning to increase to number doesn’t tell the whole story – regionally, reflect actual risk, and bond several areas saw far more. ratings are increasingly There were record-break- being tied to the resilience ing numbers of high-tide efforts of communities.

Flooded roadways can flooding days in 2020 along create dangerous situathe Gulf of Mexico and southeast Atlantic coasts. tions where first responders The city of Bay St Louis, struggle to safely reach Mississippi, jumped from those in need. Businesses three days of high-tide get fewer visitors and feel flooding in 2000 to 22 days the loss in depressed revenues. The more often this in 2020.

NOAA’s annual high-tide happens, the more it ripples flooding report projects a through coastal economies. national average of three It can affect tax revenues to seven days of high-tide and erode community ties.

Sea level rise disproporflooding this year, again tionately impacts poorer, with differences expected communiregionally. The western marginalised ties, and the impact of Gulf Coast, including Texas flooding has and Louisiana, is expected high-tide to see the most tidal flood- been no exception. People ing days, ranging between living in some of the seven and 15 days. The most underserved coastal northeast Atlantic is pro- communities are facing jected to have six to 11 days increases in their insurof high-tide flooding. The ance premiums because of Pacific Coast is projected the flood and storm risks, sometimes with more than

FLOODING just off East Bay Street in Nassau in 2017.

90 percent of the insurance policies in a single ZIP code projected to increase.

WAYS TO REDUCE THE THREAT OF HIGHTIDE FLOODING

NOAA’s projections provide valuable foresight that can help local governments, property owners and other coastal stakeholders to act before the water rises.

Communities can upgrade their infrastructure, such as raising roadways and installing backflow preventers in stormwater systems, and modify building standards such as increasing freeboard, the distance required between the first floor and base flood level,

or designating base flood elevations outside of current FEMA flood zones to help prepare communities to withstand higher seas.

Communities can also work with nature to preserve and restore coastal habitats that provide natural flood protection such as marshes and barrier islands.

Pensacola, Florida, is one example of a city being proactive. It recently completed a sea level rise vulnerability analysis to determine where high-tide flooding will begin to strain infrastructure, low-income neighbourhoods, economic

THE TRIBUNE

Photo: Jame ‘JTrain’ Peterson hot spots and critical facilities. The city was able to recommend where to prioritise action and what kind of action will be necessary to keep high-tide flooding from being costly or as damaging.

The message from the new report is clear: hightide flooding and other more severe types of flooding have already increased with sea level rise and are expected to accelerate in the coming years. Communities have an opportunity to act now to reduce the impacts.

A ROAD is flooded during Hurricane Dorian in Grand Bahama.

Residents in any coastal community can reach out to their local governments to encourage forward thinking. For more information on how to get involved in coastal resilience, almost all coastal and Great Lakes states have a coastal resilience specialist within their Sea Grant programs. Each regional NOAA Office for Coastal Management can offer guidance on how to get involved, as well.

• Originally published on theconversation.com

Photo: Tim Aylen/AP

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THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 15, 2021, PAGE 11 A MURAL of Marcus Rashford, one of the England players subjected to racist abuse after the team’s defeat in the Euro 2020 final. The mural itself was defaced - before being transformed by a sea of tributes to the player from fans.

Racism in sport: why it comes to the surface when teams lose

by RACHEL ANNE GILLETT, Assistant Professor in Cultural History, Utrecht University IN THE penalty shootout that saw Italy defeat England in the UEFA Euro 2020 final, the skill of the goalkeepers was overshadowed by the perceived failure of the English players who missed their shots.

Three young players – Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka – were subjected to torrents of anti-black racist abuse.

One of the worst things about this racism was how predictable it was. Racism has long been found in European sports, and is intensified when players of colour are put in the spotlight during major international competitions. A tweet in response to the harassment captures this phenomenon: “When you score, you’re English.

When you miss, you’re an immigrant.”

It wasn’t only English players who experienced such treatment during the tournament. French player

Kylian Mbappé faced online abuse when Swiss goalie Yann Somer successfully defended his penalty in the second-round clash that sent Les Bleus home.

Racist abuse resurfaces constantly.

The massive increase in the visibility and popularity of sports over the past century, thanks to television, radio and the internet, has intensified the way that fans relate to players as local and national representatives.

Athletes become the face of a nation, and many of us pin patriotic hopes, fears and frustrations on them. See this oft-cited quote from historian Eric Hobsbawm about the power of football to capture national feelings: “The… imagined community of millions seems more real as a team of 11 named people.”

When visibly diverse teams win world cups, it is seen as an anti-racist triumph. It is one reason South Africa’s win in the 1995 rugby world cup was so symbolic, coming so soon after the collapse of apartheid. The French men’s football team

inspired waves of pride in French multiculturalism after their 1998 and 2018 wins. This was symbolised in the slogan Black-BlancBeur (Black-White-North African) – a riff on bleublanc-rouge (blue, white and red) the colours of the French flag.

But the idea of achieving racial harmony through diverse sports teams has sparked controversy. Historian Laurent Dubois detailed how the national joy of winning a tournament glosses over difficult histories of racism and exclusion in his book on France’s “soccer empire”.

Also, the celebrations last only as long as the win.

Research has shown that when visibly diverse teams lose, existing exclusionary and racist nationalist undercurrents rise to the surface, manifesting as denial that players of colour belong to the nation. If the team is not “us”, then “we” didn’t lose. It wasn’t the nation, or “my” people that failed, it was this interloper.

This can take different forms in nations where white people aren’t the majority,

but the underlying vitriol is the same. For example, Muslim Indian sports stars have been subjected to such abuse in their own countries, as have Japanese players with black heritage.

RACISM AND REALITY

Such abuse is a particularly ugly mix of grief, fandom, patriotism, rage and scapegoating. In the case of the English players, it denies the reality of their birth, citizenship and cultural upbringing in England – and the history that has made the country, and Europe more widely, a profoundly mixed and ethnically diverse space.

When fans engage in racist abuse, they are targeting players because they are seen as “not belonging”.

Perhaps rejecting them feels safer than rejecting people who share an imaginary “genuine” white national identity, and strengthens a sense of superiority. Doing this requires both forgetting and reinvention, and suggests deep insecurity about

one’s own identity.

Lilian Thuram’s assessment of the racism he received from so-called “fans” was more generous.

As Dubois wrote: “He has repeatedly said and written that the problem is simply that they are caught up in a way of thinking, and that they haven’t had the opportunity to escape that.”

Sociologists, historians, art critics, anti-racist activists and media scholars would agree with Thuram about the scale of the problem. There is a long, deep and pervasive tradition of designating players of colour in Europe as “other” than the norm and as being more “physical” or less “strategic”.

It is no coincidence that only 3.9 percent of coaches in Europe’s 14 biggest leagues have an ethnic minority background.

Researcher Irene Blum and anti-racism activist John Oliveira noted this replicates age-old historic patterns of black labourers and white owners supported by scientific racism, slavery and colonialism.

Could we, then, move

beyond the abusive denial of history into a more mature and joyous fandom and national pride? A mural of Marcus Rashford – defaced by racists then transformed by fans and supporters into a moving site of honour and respect – bears witness to this potential.

It remains to be seen whether – and how – government will take action.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has suggested that fans spreading racism online could be banned from matches. His critics have accused him of hypocrisy, saying Johnson helped stoke such responses by refusing to condemn booing over players taking the knee.

Perhaps this latest ugliness will achieve a transformation from scientific reports and policy documents to action and structural change. That would take commitment from (social) media, funders, coaches, players, training academies, and also from fans. It might take penalties to achieve, but it is a noble goal.

• Originally published on theconversation.com

HAIR PRODUCT LINKED TO BLACK WOMEN’S BREAST CANCER

By KIMBERLY BERTRAND, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Boston University

FREQUENT and longterm use of lye-based hair straightening products, or relaxers, may increase the risk of breast cancer among black women, compared with more moderate use.

Boston University’s Black Women’s Health Study followed 59,000 self-identified African American women for over 25 years, sending questionnaires every two years on new diagnoses and factors that might influence their health.

Using these data in our own study, my team of epidemiologists and I found that black women who used

hair products containing lye at least seven times a year for 15 or more years had an approximately 30 percent increased risk of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer compared with more infrequent users.

The minimal association between hair relaxers (with or without lye) and breast cancer risk for moderate users is generally reassuring. But the elevated risk for the heaviest users of lyebased hair products – which included about 20 percent of study participants – is concerning.

WHY IT MATTERS

There is an urgent need to address racial disparities in breast cancer.

Black women diagnosed with breast cancer are 40

percent more likely to die from the disease than white women. While systemic factors such as delays in diagnosis and poorer health care likely contribute to this disparity, they don’t seem to fully explain the survival gap between black and white women.

Black women are more likely than white women to develop highly aggressive breast cancers that have higher mortality rates, but researchers don’t really know why. However, scientists do know that chemical hair relaxers, more often used by black women, contain potentially harmful chemicals, including possible carcinogens and chemicals known as endocrine disrupters, which can interfere with hormone

function and could raise breast cancer risk. In the Black Women’s Health Study, 95 percent of women reported past or current use of these products.

This study fills a knowledge gap on the potential health effects of a consumer product popular among black women. Given these findings, women may want to be cautious about the types of personal-care products they choose.

WHAT STILL ISN’T KNOWN

Because the Black Women’s Health Study did not have information on specific brands of hair relaxers, my team and I could not determine which specific ingredients might be most relevant for breast cancer risk. In addition, because

we asked about hair relaxer use before 1997, the results of this study may not apply to products on the market today.

Though our findings suggest a link between the use of certain types of hair relaxers and breast cancer, epidemiologic studies such as this one cannot definitively prove that hair relaxers cause breast cancer. Additional research is needed, especially on currently available products.

WHAT OTHER RESEARCH IS BEING DONE

Evidence from animal and other experimental studies support a possible link between chemicals included in hair relaxers

and cancer development.

Studies on hair relaxer use and breast cancer risk in people, however, have had inconsistent results, possibly because of differences in the types of products used or asked about.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Thanks to 59,000 study participants in the Black Women’s Health Study, our research team continues to investigate risk factors for breast cancer and other diseases in black women. By understanding what causes disease and learning about ways to lower risk, society can move one step closer toward eliminating health disparities.

• Originally published on theconversation.com

PAGE 12, Thursday, July 15, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

17 KILLED IN CHINA HOTEL COLLAPSE

THE death toll in the collapse of a hotel in eastern China was raised to 17 yesterday as authorities ended the search and rescue mission.

The city of Suzhou said on its social media feed that 23 people had been pulled from from the rubble of the Siji Kaiyuan Hotel, which collapsed on Monday afternoon. One of those freed was uninjured and five others were sent to a hospital for treatment.

Rescuers used cranes, ladders, metal cutters and search dogs to look for survivors. Most of those killed were hotel guests.

More than 600 people including earthquake rescue teams and 120 vehicles were mobilized for the operation. Suzhou city is in Jiangsu province near Shanghai.

Jiangsu’s highest official, Communist Party Secretary, Lou Qinjian, visited with rescuers and victims on Tuesday, the city said.

Investigators would look into the cause of the collapse and police have subpoenaed the hotel’s legal representatives, managers and those who worked on the design and construction of the building, the posting said. Some had been placed under “criminal control measures”, it said.

BRAZIL LEADER IN HOSPITAL AFTER HICCUPS BRAZILIAN President Jair Bolsonaro, who has suffered from a ten-day bout of unshakable hiccups, was admitted to a hospital yesterday where he was being evaluated for possible emergency surgery to clear an intestinal obstruction, his office said.

Bolsonaro, 66, was admitted to the Armed Forces Hospital in Brasilia early in the morning and was “feeling well”, according to an initial statement that said doctors were examining his persistent hiccups.

But hours later, the president’s office said Dr. Antonio Luiz Macedo, the surgeon who operated on Bolsonaro after he was stabbed in the abdomen during the 2018 presidential campaign, decided to transfer him to Sao Paulo, where he will undergo additional tests to evaluate the need for an emergency surgery.

YOUNG men are punished by members of a taxi association, after they were caught while making off with goods from a store in Vosloorus, Johannesburg, yesterday.

Rioting has continued in parts of South Africa, in unrest sparked by the imprisonment last week of ex-President Jacob Zuma.

Photo: Yeshiel Panchia/AP

South Africans take stand against rioting JOHANNESBURG Associated Press SURVEYING the uneasy standoff between South African soldiers and huddles of young men faced off yesterday across the rubble-strewn street in front of Soweto’s Maponya mall, Katlego Motati shook her head sadly.

“I’m standing here against vandals and hooligans,” the 32-year-old said of the weeklong unrest and looting sparked by the imprisonment of ex-President Jacob Zuma, which has left at least 72 people dead.

She was one of scores of residents who came out to stand against the rioting that has rocked poor areas of South Africa.

“When I saw the destruction... I was in tears, seeing how all this has panned out,” Motati said. “At the end of the day, we will be struggling because of this. Our economy is going to be really damaged.”

South African police and the army grappled to bring order Wednesday to impoverished areas in Gauteng and Kwa-Zulu-Natal provinces that have been hit by rioting and theft sparked by Zuma’s imprisonment last week.

More than 200 violent incidents happened overnight, the government said.

Authorities dramatically increased to 25,000 the number of army soldiers deployed to assist

police in restoring order, Minister of Defense Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula announced yesterday night, an acknowledgment that widespread patrols may be needed to prevent renewed attacks by gangs of poor youths.

Some 1,234 people have been arrested in the mayhem, and many of the deaths were caused by chaotic stampedes as thousands of people ransacked shops, stealing food, electrical appliances, liquor and clothes, police said.

Motati said she knows some of those who took part in the looting.

“People my age, in my neighborhood, are bragging about stealing things and getting shopping carts full of stuff,” she said. “Soon they will be coming to my place to borrow sugar. Those things won’t help them.”

Motati, a trained chef with her own catering business, said it is hard to find clients amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The pandemic has worsened things, for sure, but poverty, unemployment was bad already,” she said of the economy, which was in recession before the pandemic.

South Africa’s jobless rate of 32 percent, is even higher among people younger than 35. Although the country of 60 million has Africa’s most developed economy, it is one of the most unequal in the world, with more than 50 percent

of people living in poverty and many suffering chronic food insecurity, according to the World Bank.

South Africa’s poverty has grown since 1994 when apartheid, the brutal system of racial oppression, ended with democratic elections, exacerbating frustrations.

“The pandemic and lockdowns put even more people out of work. ... This was just an opportunity for people to take whatever they could get,” Motati said. “I don’t think it stems from Zuma being locked up — it was building before that. Then one person kicks down the door and others follow.”

The violence erupted last week after Zuma began serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court for refusing to comply with a court order to testify at a state-backed inquiry investigating allegations of corruption while he was president from 2009 to 2018.

The protests in Gauteng and Kwa-Zulu-Natal provinces escalated into a spree of theft in township areas, although it has not spread to South Africa’s other seven provinces, where police are on alert.

KwaZulu-Natal, the eastern province that is Zuma’s home area and where the protests first ignited, has seen significant violence. Trucks going to and from Durban, South Africa’s largest port, may have to travel in convoys protected by the

army, business leaders said.

The province is the center of South Africa’s largest ethnic group, the Zulus, where Zuma has drawn considerable support. However, the Zulu monarch, King Misuzulu kaZwelithini, appealed Wednesday for an end to the mayhem and for peace to be restored.

“My father’s people are committing suicide,” he said. “When food cannot be delivered because trucks and warehouses are burned, our people will go hungry.”

The violence “has brought shame to all of us”, he said.

Arson has damaged several factories and the government ordered gasoline not be sold in containers to discourage illegal fires.

A tense order appeared to have been achieved yesterday by security forces in Gauteng, South Africa’s most populous province which includes the largest city, Johannesburg.

“I can confirm that currently it’s calm in Gauteng,” said army Col. Mmathapelo Maine, as soldiers brandishing rifles stood by, protecting the large Maponya mall in Soweto.

“We have control of the situation and this is with the cooperation of the community,” Maine said.

Across the street, scores of residents lined up to buy bread from a truck selling directly to people instead of delivering to shops that had been closed.

BUSH CRITICISES AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL FORMER President George W Bush criticized the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan in an interview with a German broadcaster saying he fears that Afghan women and girls will “suffer unspeakable harm”.

Asked in an interview with German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle whether the withdrawal is a mistake, Bush replied: “You know, I think it is, yeah, because I think the consequences are going to be unbelievably bad.”

The war in Afghanistan began under Bush after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Washington gave Taliban leader Mullah Omar an ultimatum: hand over al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and dismantle militant training camps or prepare to be attacked.

Omar refused, and a US-led coalition launched an invasion in October.

The withdrawal of US and NATO troops set in motion earlier this year by current President Joe Biden is now nearing completion.

Taliban fighters have been surging through district after district, taking control of large swaths of the country.

In the DW interview,

which marked outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s final official visit to the US, Bush said Merkel had supported the deployment in Afghanistan in part “because she saw the progress that could be made for young girls and women in Afghanistan”.

“It’s unbelievable how that society changed from the brutality of the Taliban, and all of a sudden — sadly — I’m afraid Afghan women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm,” Bush said.

During the Taliban’s rule in the late 1990s, women were largely confined to their homes, and girls had no access to education.

Despite protestations from the US and Europe, the Taliban enforced its extreme version of Islamic Shariah law. However, there was no mass violence against girls and women.

“I’m sad,” Bush said.

“Laura (Bush) and I spent a lot of time with Afghan women, and they’re scared.

And I think about all the interpreters and people that helped not only US troops but NATO troops, and it seems like they’re just going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal people. And it breaks my heart.”