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Volume:114 No.173, AUGUST 1ST, 2017

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SHAUNAE AIMS FOR LONDON GLORY - SEE SPORTS

WOMAN: AMPUTEE PLEADS ‘ALL I WANT IS A CHANCE IN LIFE’

Davis owns up to PLP failures ‘Serious errors lost trust’ - but he still lashes out at PM

By KHRISNA VIRGIL Deputy Chief Reporter kvirgil@tribunemedia.net PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party interim Leader Philip “Brave” Davis admitted yesterday the former government was not perfect, made “serious” mistakes and lost the “trust’ of Bahamians, but offered no outright apology for the missteps of the previous Christie administration.

Instead he sought to justify the former governing party’s actions saying that during its last term in office the Christie administration was always thinking of the

people affected by its policies.

Despite conceding his party’s mistakes, Mr Davis also castigated Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis saying his national address last week left the Official Opposition “perplexed” and offered no vision, concrete policies or credible plans for taking the country forward.

He further urged the government to ensure its anticorruption measures are “independently institutionalised” to ensure a fair and just process.

SEE PAGE SIX

MUNROE KEEPS SECRET ‘CORRUPT’ FNM MPS

By SANCHESKA DORSETT Tribune Staff Reporter sdorsett@tribunemedia.net ATTORNEY Wayne Munroe, QC, said yesterday he has completed his list of alleged “corrupt members” of the Free National Movement, but won’t send it to the police “just yet” because he doesn’t trust the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s Anti-Corruption Unit.

In an interview with The Tribune, Mr Munroe said he has a list of eight FNM members — six current and two former members of

FESTIVAL MILLIONS WHERE DID THEY GO?

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net FORMER Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Thompson, who celebrated his ninetieth birthday Saturday evening, has offered to investigate the first two Junkanoo Carnival festivals “free of charge” so long as the Minnis administration provides him with the necessary staff to conduct the probe.

Mr Thompson, who joined the Royal Bahamas Police Force at the age of 23 from his native Trinidad, told his guests at the birthday party given in his honour at the Paul Farquharson Convention Centre, East Street, that being from Trinidad he was very familiar with carnivals and festivals, but he never knew any of them to cost as much as those in the Bahamas.

His guests burst into laughter when he told them that now that he was 90 years old he could say what was on his mind without fear of consequences. And on his mind was a desire to find out why the Bahamas’ festivals were so expensive.

He said he believes a police investigation into these matters would lead to court action.

SEE PAGE NINE

JUDGE ORDERS RETRIAL FOR BANKER’S ‘HITMAN’

Parliament — who he believes fits the current government’s definition of being “corrupt.”

He said he is currently consulting with lawyers from the United States, the Caribbean and Europe to determine the most effective way to move forward.

Mr Munroe would not reveal the names of the persons in question but said one of the two former MPs has recently publicly spoken out against the FNM’s actions.

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

SEE PAGE SEVEN JULIO DEVEAUX, 18, outside court yesterday. He is accused of three murders.

Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff

18-YEAR-OLD CHARGED WITH THREE MURDERS

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

AN 18-year-old appeared in Magistrate’s Court yesterday facing multiple murder charges.

Julio Deveaux of Morley Street was flanked by armed policemen as he was escorted into the Nassau and South Streets court complex to stand before Acting Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain concerning

two separate shootings that occurred in September 2016 and June of this year.

He was one of two men brought to face murder charges in separate matters yesterday.

The murder charges brought against Deveaux were made under Section 291(1)(B) of the Penal Code.

A charge under this section does not attract the discretionary death penalty if a conviction is reached at

the end of trial.

It is alleged that he, being concerned with others, caused the deaths of Makenzie Telusnord and Mark Davis on September 13, 2016 and the attempted murder of eight-year-old Avanti Morley on the same date.

Deveaux was further accused of intentionally causing the death of Zachary Williams Jr on June 5 of this year.

SEE PAGE SEVEN

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

THE Court of Appeal has ordered a retrial of a man a Supreme Court jury had convicted of the paid execution of a banker.

Janaldo Farrington, 26, appeared in the appellate court in April for his substantive hearing concerning his formal challenge to a jury’s verdict concerning the murder of Stephen Sherman five years ago.

Mr Sherman, an assistant manager at the Royal Bank of Canada in Palmdale, was shot in the head when he pulled up to his Yamacraw Shores home on the evening of February 17, 2012. He was robbed of his cell phone before being shot. His niece, who was in the car with him, was also robbed.

Renee Sherman, the victim’s wife, along with Farrington and Cordero Bethel, both of Pinewood Gardens, were charged with conspiring to commit murder.

SEE PAGE FIVE

PAGE 2, Tuesday, August 1, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

Storm brings flooding to Grand Bahama

By SANCHESKA DORSETT and DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Staff Reporters

HEAVY rain showers and thunderstorm activity from Tropical Storm Emily, which is passing near Florida, caused significant flooding in Grand Bahama on Monday.

The island recorded more

than 1.5 inches of rain, leaving streets and parking lots inundated with water.

Forecaster Trinard Tynes, of the Grand Bahama Weather Department, said the island received 1.6 inches of rain as a result of the system.

“That’s a good bit of rain,” he commented.

There was significant

STREET flooding at MacKenzie St in downtown Freeport, Grand Bahama. flooding in some areas on Queen’s Highway, and portions of Yellow Pine Street near Kelly’s in Freeport.

The entire parking lot of the Bahamas Public Services Union Hall, the north parking lot at the Kipling Building, near West Mall Drive; and at MacKenzie Street near the BTC Building, were flooded.

For most of the day, conditions were cloudy, overcast and muggy in Grand Bahama.

Mr Tynes said as the system works its way across the Florida Peninsula, there will be widely scattered shower activity and some embedded thunderstorms.

The tropical storm moved across the Tampa/Sarasota area on Monday and was

forecast to go into the open water on Tuesday morning where it could strengthen just a little.

“Forecast models show that it will probably downgrade just a bit as it moves across the Florida region, and is expected to move into open water tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, and they are anticipating once it does that, it could regain a little strengthening,” Mr Tynes said.

Basil Dean, deputy director at the Department of Meteorology, also warned residents in the Northern Bahamas to brace themselves for heavy showers and thunderstorms as Tropical Storm Emily passes over Florida.

Emily, which is not ex-

FLOODING at Queen’s Highway in Grand Bahama.

pected to strengthen significantly, is producing sustained winds of 45 mph and is moving east at 9 mph, according to the National Hurricane Centre.

Mr Dean said Grand Bahama and Abaco will receive lots rain and wind, while New Providence will only be slightly affected with some rain and a possible thunderstorm or two.

“This storm sprung up suddenly and formed near Florida. On its projected path which is northeast, it will not directly impact us,” Mr Dean said.

“There will be showers and thunderstorms in Grand Bahama and Abaco and, of course, because of that there is the threat of flooding. The rain will last

for the next couple of days but in New Providence there will be showers here and there but nothing like in those islands. Like I said, the flooding may be an issue because all you need is one or two heavy downpours and you have flooding in low lying areas, but we will be monitoring the storm’s progress.”

Florida Governor Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency for 31 Florida counties, including Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade as Emily made landfall on the Gulf Coast.

The declaration “gives the state the flexibility to work with local governments to ensure that they have the resources they may need,” said a statement from Mr Scott’s office.

According to local forecasters, over the next couple of days there is increased risk for inclement weather and hazardous conditions such as water spouts, thunderstorms, lightning, and flooding over portions of the island.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June to November, which are usually rainy months.

According to www.myweather2.com, which reported on Freeport’s climate history, the historical average monthly precipitation is highest during the months of July, August, and September.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, August 1, 2017, PAGE 3

Commission has still not met on disclosures failures

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net A MONTH after the government missed its selfimposed deadline for prosecuting delinquent public officials under the Public Disclosure Act, the Public Disclosure Commission is still in limbo.

Yesterday, Lemarque Campbell, chairperson of Citizens for a Better Bahamas (CBB), said the stalled PDC appointments were concerning given the upcoming deadline for newly elected members of Parliament and senators to submit their full disclosures.

The PDA states that “every senator and member of Parliament shall furnish

to the commission, as and when required to do so by this section, a declaration of assets, income and liabilities in the form prescribed”.

In the case of persons appointed or elected after the annual March 1 deadline, the act states that disclosures must be filed within three months from the date.

This would mean an August 10 deadline for new MPs, and an August 22 deadline for new senators.

“This raises a lot of concerns,” Mr Campbell said.

“It should be a priority given that the government campaigned on transparency and accountability. This (act) is a foundation for ensuring transparency and accountability, and it starts from at the top.

“They need to really set a tone going forward even with respect to new MPs and senators. For many years it’s been disregarded, for all the promises that were made and given, we haven’t seen anything as a result of the deadline.

“And then going forward it’s very concerning that the commission isn’t appointed given that new MPs and senators have to make their first disclosures. It leaves us questioning how viable the PDC is going to be.”

Mr Campbell added: “These are the low hanging fruits so before when you talk about public procurement reform, and anti-corruption tools, these are already there to ensure transparency and accountability.”

PDC Chairman Myles Laroda maintained yesterday he has not received his letter of appointment, and the group has not met to determine whether parliamentarians will be reported to Attorney General Carl Bethel for prosecution of non-compliance.

There was a July 3 timeline set by Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis for the files on delinquent disclosures to be sent to the Office of the Attorney General.

Civil society groups have expressed concerns over the incoming Free National Movement administration’s progress on campaign promises that were deemed “low hanging fruit” like enforcement of the PDA and the implementation of the

Freedom of Information Act. However, Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG) official Matt Aubry yesterday remained hopeful the government will use the current environment to lean on civil society partners for greater input.

“At the end of the day I feel like there are changes and things that need to happen but I’m still more focused on the long-term. We are disappointed historically with what’s going on with FOIA. We do feel like more can get done but we also realise a lot of underlying structural things that [government] is working on.

“We’re not ready at this stage to start to say that

nothing is being done, what we’re looking for is more levels of disclosure and a clear path from government across the board so that we can work together effectively,” Mr Aubry said.

“FOIA needs to be driven from civil society and the private sector. Government will embrace it but the understanding of its value comes from outside of government.

“Government has talked a lot about this, I think we’re still in the early stages to see how this moves forward but by September we need to see clear movement and a pathway. Either they enact the (FOIA) as is and put it into force or look and review some of the suggestions,” Mr Aubry said.

FORMER employess of BAF and policy holders held a peaceful protest outside of the establishment on Bailou Hill Road.

Photo: Terrel W. Carey/ Tribune Staff

FORMER BAF STAFF: WE’VE BEEN THROWN TO THE DOGS A HANDFUL of women picketed outside the offices of BAF Financial & Insurance Ltd to protest alleged payment disputes of two former employees yesterday.

Former employees Lakeisha Deleveaux and Darronique Collie allege they were terminated by BAF Financial on August 30 last year but were not paid severance.

Ms Deleveaux said she was terminated while on sick leave, and Ms Collie claimed she was on compassionate leave at the time.

However, an official of the company said the women, former sales agents, were let go for “lack of performance” in accordance with their contracts and paid what was legally due to them.

Sandy Morely, BAF managing director, said the women brought their disputes to the Department of Labour and claimed they were dismissed.

He told The Tribune the entire situation is “unfortunate” but added the company is satisfied it paid what it was obligated to pay under the women’s contracts and the country’s labour laws.

While protesting outside BAF yesterday, Mr Deleveaux claimed: “We’ve been bamboozled, we’ve been hoodwinked, we were

thrown out to the dogs. One whole year we were waiting to get what is owed to us based on our contract, but unfortunately the executives refused to pay us.”

She further alleged: “I’ve been out sick, I was terminated while out sick and wasn’t paid. August 30 last year we were let go without pay. . .how we were treated, you don’t treat animals as cruel.”

For her part, Ms Collie said: “I’ve been an employee for 13 years, on Aug 30, 2016 they summarily dismissed me without notice and without any form of severance pay. According to (the) contract, they were supposed to pay us.”

She alleged: “I worked there and I was on compassionate leave, they fired me on the death of my mommy.

They also fired another employee when she was on compassionate leave. I’m here to demand all of my benefits.

“You don’t treat animals like that, you have me work and didn’t pay me, as far as I’m concerned this is modern day slavery. I don’t see how honourable men could do this to women.

“This is unheard of, a travesty, in a big multimillion-dollar company would begrudge two poor females,” she added. “We’re not begging for anything, we worked.”

Exuma MP Chester

Cooper is president and CEO at BAF Financial.

However, he said yesterday he is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of the company.

Meanwhile, Mr Morely disputed the women’s claims. He said after not getting recourse from the Labour Board or from an

attorney, the women have now resorted to “Draconian” measures.

“While it is unfortunate, we are satisfied that we have lived up to our obligations,” Mr Morely said. “We have a lot of agents who move on for whatever reason. It is kind of strange to have two agents who take this re-

course.”

He added the women are “within their rights to take that course of action” but the company is satisfied that it has lived up to its 100 year legacy and handled the matter properly.

Calls placed to the Department of Labour were unreturned.

PAGE 4, Tuesday, August 1, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

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Where did our national heart go? What happened to us?

SOME time yesterday, July 31, 2017, as we went about our daily lives, a community was scrambling for its life, trying to beat a bulldozer scheduled to demolish it.

This was not a community of illegal immigrants, nor was it a shantytown with unsanitary conditions posing health risks. This was a 4.5-acre community off Prince Charles Drive in Nassau that for more than 20 years under the auspices of Ambassador Chorale has been helping the homeless, educating abandoned or at risk children, finding safe havens for the abused, providing emotional and professional guidance for those who were lost. Nearly every week, someone from the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Ministry of Social Services or Red Cross drops off someone to the property, a lost, hurt or hungry soul who needs care and attention. Most of the time the drop-offs are unofficial. The government does not contribute to the care and feeding by Ambassador Chorale. Members raise funds. You see them on street corners dressed in light blue shirts holding the well-worn Ambassador Chorale collection tin. That is what the founder Reverend Michael Bullard calls the public donation. Every dollar collected is recorded. Some international funding helps. Records are transparent. Expenses are accounted for.

There is never enough money to go around and when times are tough, as they often are, Rev Bullard, a man with a PhD. and two Master’s degrees, sleeps in his car. So do some of the other men.

But financial worries are not the major concern right now. The land they have been on and have been paying on for more than two decades is at the heart of a property dispute. They say they have never lost in court and they insist that the property description of the land in contention is not the land they are on. The addresses of the roads do not match. Even the signage on the road differs from the road identified in the matter.

Still, they have been the target of numerous attacks, including a bulldozing in 2006, another in 2008, fires in 2010 and on January 21, 2016, the attack that destroyed nearly everything but their beliefs. On that day, families watched in horror as the first bulldozer tore through the property, smashing trailers, buildings and windows, crushing furniture they had built by hand. Children and adults scrambled and the heavy equipment plowed down hand-laid stone structures. It killed dogs and cats and only the screaming saved the life of a 4-year-old boy who was running after a dog trying to save its life as the bulldozer nearly mowed him down, the machine operator probably unable to see the small child.

The story of Ambassador Chorale is a tale of tragedy, pain and heartbreak but it is also a story of hope. It is living proof of what the human spirit can accomplish when people, shown unity, love and attention, are offered a better chance in life. The story should never have unfolded the way it did, but there may be a way to change the next chapter. To do so we must pull together as a people and put it

right. We need to show we care.

The past months have been brutal but in recent days since yet another warning was issued, strangers and friends have come forward to open their homes and hearts to dozens of the displaced, the mothers and children in motels and rental rooms, the clothes, furniture, books, documents stored in homes of supporters across the island of New Providence.

What cannot be saved is the years of toil that produced vegetable gardens, the hens, chickens, fruit trees that helped feed those who depended on Ambassador Chorale.

What cannot be heard is the songs of the birds who filled the trees or the parrot that called the retreat home.

What cannot be salvaged is the spirituality that filled the acreage creating within its boundaries a sanctuary of hope and healing. What has been silenced is the laughter of children after school or on Sunday when after church, they came back to the oasis that love built to sing more and enjoy the food cooked over open fires.

While we who call The Bahamas home have much to be thankful for, there are those who have much less, but The Bahamas is their home, too. When last have we stopped and shown appreciation to those like Rev Bullard and other Ambassador Chorale members who spend their lives looking after hundreds who have a chance of success because of the care they received?

We do not know what will happen with the dispute nor are we rendering any sort of opinion or judgment. We do know the clock is ticking. We do know Ambassador Chorale needs to build a new home and a new life for the 194 families they are looking after, fathers, mothers and children split up and strewn all over the island in temporary housing. We do know land is available. With the hundreds of thousands of acres of available Crown Land, all Ambassador Chorale needs is 10. Ten acres, such a small amount that could do so much.

They are willing to start building all over again, including a full vegetable farm that would feed hundreds and enable them to earn some of the revenue they need to be self-sustaining, less dependent on begging that has been the main source of revenue since the equipment of five small businesses they operated were destroyed.

Surely, we are not so cold-hearted as to ignore their plea. If we do, we can only ask, ‘What happened to us? What happened to Bahamians who once met an emergency without hesitation, rushing to show they cared about each other?’

Let us demonstrate that we are still our brother’s keeper, and our sister’s and the lesser among us who deserve a chance. Let us show we still have a heart and that heart beats strong. As a private individual, you can pressure your MP or write a letter to the editor. You can start a campaign or a petition. You can simply say, Crown Land, please, Sir, for Ambassador Chorale. They have been singing for someone else’s supper for a very long time and we cannot afford for the music to end.

Crumbling post office EDITOR, The Tribune.

Re: POST OFFICE The Tribune, Letters, 22 June, 2017.

THERE have been many remarks recently concerning the deplorable state of our main post office, both in structure and function.

There are possibly at least two explanations for this:

(1) the crumbling building is probably an example of early government design and construction expertise.

(2) unfortunately, some employees in charge of reading addresses and placing the mail in boxes seem to be only semi-literate and semi-numerate. Perhaps the sorting of mail would be improved if: (1) hard hats were pro-

vided, and (2) on-the-job training were given for learning the alphabet and digits 0 through nine - especially for any Grade D teenagers accepted as temporary summer employees.

KEN W KNOWLES, MD Nassau, July 9, 2017.

It’s the people’s finances EDITOR, The Tribune.

I HAVE purposely allowed a few days to pass, after the Prime MInister’s address to reply.

The speech drafter/writer missed the obvious to set the stage, as to “What is the state of our finances”?

Surely by now Government has a precise position as at Budget Day, where we were? PM radar allows us to avoid icebergs!

If the Prime Minister had set the stage, the rest would be far more understanding, especially the following comments from the Minister of Finance.

To his comments at Rotary - Minister check urgently with the Auditor General, as to the level of pay cheque deductions and the average “take home pay”. The last time the Auditor General commented on this, I recall 70% of the civil service had an average deduction of 80% of their take home pay.

The good Minister now wants us to pay for Garbage collection, and increase water use rates! With what Minister? VAT taxes increased annual tax revenues for what?

No further recruitment - totally agreed, in fact regrettably there needs to be a certain level of fair evaluation, and checking as to some individual contracts, which might not comply with Regulations.

How you will deal with those hundreds of preelection run-up employments, is another hot otto to deal with. The PLP knows that this is required, the IMF and S&P-Moody’s have been telling them forever. $165m in monies owed to Education Scholarship Fund. It is said that the majority of these recipients were civil servants.

If there is anything left in their pay cheques Minister, immediately garnish what is left. That was what was agreed, or seize whatever

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net was put up as a guarantee.

We cannot continue fooling around. Government money is The People’s money, not yours to use and never pay back.

The Minister of Finance had better check what else is owed…

BP&L, Water & Sewerage, BTC, Aliv, Cable, Real Property and Mortgages – I suspect that is in the hundreds of millions, probably billions.

Mr. Minister you want to charge folks for other services? You have to know the whole picture.

10% cut in existing Budget - well the good Minister should know the annual practice, of a Permanent Secretary in presenting their Budgets.

They always cover themselves with a 10-18% increase on the previous year, which might usually have not been fully extended. This cut will make zero difference to anyone.

For the 2017-18 Budget, you are covered. It is easy to cut 10% or even more from the operations votes approved. Just look at the Budget items, telephone use is horrendous and cleaning materials.

Tourism - 1.2 million stay-overs. If Baha Mar produces what it conservatively estimated it should, that would add 300,000 visitors a year. That is a guaranteed 25 per cent on what Minister Wilchcombe could produce, and that is without doing too much. Well one Minister is guaranteed to look good - not great in a year’s time. Achieved, this will virtually save our National butts!

Reduce Red Plate vehicles - you own the majority of them, except the upscale Toyota’s you lease.

If only the abuse would be brought to heel? For pri-

vate use only over weekends with the gas paid for

by The People!

Privatisation? Well under both we have serious reservations, as to whether we benefitted. BTC - the party who got the deal never bid.

PLP promised investigation - did nothing. Cable Bahamas the Canadian, now departed, also never bid, but got the deal. $160m borrowed for hurricane damage, and we hear from NEMA that ‘000’s of homes are still not repaired. Now we are into a new season, need serious repairs.That has to be an area for investigation.

Many allegations that materials were shipped and just were shipped right back to Nassau.

Future hurricane damage and financing…why can’t we set aside $30m annually in an accrual account for this? Every year we can get hit…I know why it would not work, because the sticky fingers of you know who, will see that accrual and raid it. Surely we can buy some tarps and try to secure the leaking roofs.

Finance might recruit an old island lady, with far more sense and no degrees, who budgets her little weekin and week-out monies and survives!

Prime Minister missed opportunity you should have told us IN DETAIL really how bad it is, then make your proposals.

We are no further understanding how serious the National Economy is. Government receptions are abounding…still!

Before closing, comments from the Minister responsible for Investment in GB. Suggest he picks up a copy of Hawksbill Agreement and read up - we gave a group a franchise they are responsible, not Government.

W. THOMPSON. Nassau, July 29, 2017.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, August 1, 2017, PAGE 5

Appeal court throws out rape conviction and says forensic evidence not enough

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was acquitted of rape on appeal after the Court of Appeal found the forensic evidence in his case was not sufficient to have been left to the jury for deliberation.

Oscar Ingraham, 33, appeared before the appellate court for his substantive hearing of his appeals in February and April of this year concerning the separate sexual assaults of two women in 2012.

For the first attack, which took place on February 28, 2012, Ingraham was sentenced to 10 years for burglary, 15 years for each of the two counts of armed robbery and 25 years for rape.

Regarding the second incident, which happened between 11pm on May 29 and 5am on May 30, 2012 during an island wide power-outage, Ingraham was sentenced to 15 years for burglary, 20 years for the single count of armed robbery and 30 years for rape.

The sentences for the two incidents were imposed on the same day - October 7, 2014 - and were ordered to run concurrently.

In February, Justices Dame Anita Allen, Jon Isaacs and Stella Crane-Scott quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial concerning the first case, the

February 2012 incident, after it was determined the trial judge misdirected the jury during summation that if they had reasonable doubt that they should convict Ingraham.

Concerning the latter case, the appellate court published a 19-page judgement on Monday explaining why they allowed Ingraham’s appeal and arguments against the DNA evidence produced at the second trial.

“Y-STR analysis looks specifically at the Y-chromosome, present in only males, to examine the genetic variants or tandem repeats thereon,” the judgment of the justices noted.

“In the present case, the analysis revealed that the appellant could not be excluded as a contributor, and further, that all males paternally related to him, could not be excluded either.

“With respect to the statistical evaluation of a random match probability of the haplotype — ie the DNA profile of the Y chromosome — occurring, the DNA analyst indicated that a match had not occurred in the database she searched of 1,932 African-American haplotypes.

“She gave no further evaluation concerning the significance of her findings. As such, the DNA evidence was adduced with no indication of how statistically robust or strong it was; therefore, the fundamental

question left unanswered by the evidence was, what is the probability that an innocent suspect will match the crime scene haplotype?”

The judgment continued: “In the premises, the jury would not have known what to make of the fact that the tandem repeat patterns on the appellant’s blood sample match those on the Y chromosome taken from the complainant’s underwear.

In the circumstances, ‘the jury doesn’t know whether the patterns of the DNA profile are as common as pictures with two eyes, or as unique as the Mona Lisa.’

“With no other evidence, whether of motive or opportunity on the part of the appellant to commit these offences, or any evidence which would give the DNA its significance, the DNA evidence in this case ought not to have been left for the consideration of the jury and the verdict is unsafe.”

The presiding appellate panel found it was not in the interests of justice to order a new trial concerning the May 2012 incident and ordered a verdict of acquittal be entered for Ingraham.

Ingraham appeared on his own behalf in the appellate proceedings while Darrell Taylor appeared for the Crown.

The full judgment is available OSCAR INGRAHAM, pictured outside court at an earon the Court of Appeal’s web- lier appearance. His appeal against a rape charge was site. granted at the Court of Appeal yesterday.

JUDGE ORDERS RETRIAL FOR BANKER’S ‘HITMAN’

from page one

Farrington and Bethel were also charged with Sherman’s murder and two counts of armed robbery while the widow was charged with aiding and abetting the murder of her husband. All three denied the charges.

During trial, the widow and Bethel were acquitted of their respective charges on the direction of the judge, leaving only Farrington to answer to the charges against him because of a confession he gave to the police on February 24, 2012.

On October 8, 2013, before excusing the jury to deliberate on a verdict for the four counts Farrington faced, Justice Roy Jones told the 12-member jury that “the case stands and falls on your acceptance or rejection of the confession statement”.

He was convicted of two counts of armed robbery, conspiracy to commit murder and murder and, in May 2014, sentenced to 15 years for each offence of armed robbery and two sentences of life imprisonment on the conspiracy and murder convictions.

His lawyer Murrio Ducille argued the verdict was unreasonable and could not be supported having regard to the evidence.

In a 27-page judgment released by the appeal court on Monday, the presiding panel of Justices Dame Anita Allen, Jon Isaacs and Stella Crane-Scott explained their reasons for allowing Farrington’s appeal.

“Tanarje Hunt was the only eyewitness to the events of February 17, 2012 wherein she and her uncle were robbed and her uncle shot and killed by the robber,” Dame Anita noted.

“Her description of the person who robbed them and killed the deceased, and her ability to identify that person were never tested as she did not take part in an identification parade, and never identified the appellant as the man who committed the crimes.

“She identified the assailant as being a ‘short, dark man’ and the confession by the appellant, a light-skinned slim man that he shot and killed the deceased could not both be true. In determining the facts, the jury could not accept both the description of the assailant given by Ms Hunt and the confession by the appellant that he was the gunman. It is only if the jury rejects the description of the gunman given by Tanarje Hunt, and is still satisfied that he made the confession, and that it is true, could they properly convict him. In my view,

this case then fell within limb 2(b) of Galbraith, and was properly left by the learned judge for the consideration of the jury.

“It would follow, however, that the learned judge ought to have pointed out the material inconsistency between the description given by Tanarje Hunt of the assailant, and the appellant’s actual appearance in his summing up.

He ought to have directed the jury to take that factor into account in determining whether the appellant had confessed to something which might not be true, consistent with his allegation that he did not voluntarily confess,” Dame Anita further noted.

“In my view, the judge’s failure to alert the jury to this material inconsistency and to direct them of its possible benefit to the appellant’s case, is a misdirection.

Consequently, while there is evidence on which the appellant may be properly convicted by a jury properly directed, due to this misdirection by the learned judge the verdicts are unsafe.

“The verdicts of the jury in this case should be set aside not because of the insufficiency of the evidence but because the summing up was not evenly balanced, and the jury not properly directed. The case therefore may properly be retried so that proper directions may be given, and the interests of justice may be served.”

Dissent Justice Crane-Scott agreed with her colleagues that there was a miscarriage of justice and that the conviction should be quashed.

However, she dissented on the necessity for a retrial.

“It is axiomatic that the appearance of inconsistencies and discrepancies in the evidence is a normal, if not inevitable, part of any trial, whether civil or criminal. In criminal trials, it is generally for the jury, as the judges of the facts, to resolve such conflicts in the evidence and to determine the true facts of the case,” she noted. “...At the close of the Crown’s case, it is clear that the confession and record of interview obtained from the ‘tall, slim, bright male’ suspect which the judge had earlier admitted into evidence, now stood in stark conflict with the evidence of the eye-witness who unequivocally told the court that the armed robbery offences and the murder had been committed by a “short, dark... very dark man”. In my view, given the state of the evidence at the close of the prosecution case, this discrepancy was not one which a jury,

even if properly directed could resolve and it would be unsafe to leave such a case to the jury. Given the state of the evidence, I am satisfied that the prosecution evidence taken at its highest, was such that a jury properly directed could not properly convict on it. In short, at the close of the prosecution case, the case fell squarely in limb 2(a) of Galbraith and the judge was duty bound to withdraw the case from the jury’s consideration.”

“I am satisfied that the learned judge erred in not withdrawing the case from the jury under limb 2(a) of Galbraith (ground 3); and that the verdict is therefore unreasonable, cannot be supported having regard to the evidence (ground 7) and is unsafe and unsatisfactory in all the circumstances of the case (ground 6).

“It seems to me that even though the circumstances of this case are not exactly on all fours with Reid, this is nonetheless a case which arguably falls somewhere near to the other extreme of the continuum (also identified in Reid) on the basis that a retrial ought not to be ordered because the prosecution evidence adduced at the trial was so tenuous that it was insufficient to justify a conviction by a reasonable jury even if properly directed.”

“The nature of the discrepancy which had arisen at the close of the case was not one which could be resolved by the jury being permitted to make a choice between Tanarje Hunt’s physical description of the gunman on the one hand and the physical description of the suspect arrested by Detective Constable Beauford King from whom a written confession and record of interview had allegedly been obtained on the other. In my view, without more, there is no way that the jury could reasonably reject Tenarje Hunt’s evidence as to the physical description of the gunman, without severely undermining the entire basis on which the confession and record of interview was obtained. In short, at the close of the prosecution case, a very real doubt had arisen on the evidence as to the connection between the gunman described by Tenarje Hunt and the suspect who had given the disputed confession and record of interview. The Crown’s case viewed as a whole at its close was inherently contradictory, completely irreconcilable and ought never to have been left for consideration by the jury.

“Having balanced the competing interests of justice in this case, I am sat-

isfied that despite the seriousness of these offences, the prevalence of such crimes in this jurisdiction and the interest of persons in this community in knowing that persons who are guilty of serious crimes are brought to justice and should not escape it, the prosecution evidence in this case is so inherently contradictory and tenuous in character that it is not in the interests of justice to order a new trial and I

decline to do so,” Justice Crane-Scott noted.

“I would allow the appeal, quash the appellant’s four convictions and the associated sentences and direct a judgment and verdict of acquittal to be entered in relation to each conviction,” Justice Crane-Scott concluded.

Olivia Nixon appeared for the Crown in the appeal.

The full judgment is available on the Court of Appeal’s website.

PAGE 6, Tuesday, August 1, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

‘Who are the partners for Grand Lucayan Resort plan?’

By KHRISNA VIRGIL Deputy Chief Reporter kvirgil@tribunemedia.net OFFICIAL Opposition Leader Philip “Brave” Davis said Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ revelation of his administration’s intention to become temporary joint owners of the Grand Lucayan Resort in Grand Bahama raised a lot of questions and lacked transparency.

Mr Davis last night questioned who the partners were in this new agreement, its terms and how long the arrangement was expected to last, among other things.

In his national address last week, the prime minister said his government is involved in negotiations

with the owners of the assets of Grand Lucayan in the nation’s second city and related assets for the joint ownership of those assets in partnership with a number of investors.

Dr Minnis said it was the government’s intention to resuscitate and grow business to the Grand Lucayan as rapidly and as sustainably as possible, and thereafter sell its equity to one of the existing partners or other investors.

While Mr Davis said this was “the single, concrete, tangible” proposal from the prime minister in his first national address as leader of The Bahamas, the details offered were not sufficient.

“He sadly failed to deliver on the principle of transparency, on which he

so heavily campaigned,” Mr Davis said last night during a televised address.

“He mentioned, almost in passing, that the government will go into partnership over the ownership of the Grand Lucayan Resort in Grand Bahama, but his silence over any significant element of the arrangement raises a lot of questions.

“Who are the partners?

What are the terms? How long will the arrangement last? What is the financial return to Bahamians? We look forward to a much more detailed account from the prime minister regarding this proposed partnership.”

Last week, Dr Minnis said the government has no intention of remaining an owner of the hotel for any

extended period of time.

He said all signs point to the beginning of renovations at the resort within the next month with the facility being ready for business for the winter season.

Dr Minnis did not give specifics about the plan and it is unclear what amount of investment the government is willing to make in the resort.

The nation’s leader said his administration has identified “a number of integrated travel and hospitality companies that can bring quality brands to Grand Bahama but also much needed air transportation”.

Grand Bahama, whose economy has floundered for years, took a big hit after Hurricane Matthew devastated the island last year.

When contacted by The Tribune following this revelation by the prime minister last week, former Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) Chairman Gowon Bowe emphasised the government must have a clear entry and exit strategy for seeking to acquire the resort’s assets even as he expressed concerns about its plan to do so.

He said: “Based on what I’ve been told about the cost of renovations required, if the government is prepared to inject that amount of money into it, that is a major investment and there must be a very clear exit and entry strategy.

“It shouldn’t just be a reaction to the current circumstances on the island

DAVIS OWNS UP TO PLP FAILURES

from page one

He said this process must be non-political and it must not degenerate into selective witch hunts.

The fight against corruption must not just be against the government’s political opponents, but also against private corruption, the Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador MP said.

“Our previous administration was not perfect,” Mr Davis said in a national address, which aired on television last night.

“We made mistakes, including some serious ones.

But we were always especially mindful of the people impacted by our policies – we did not and do not think in terms of statistics, but in terms of individuals, people, families, neighbours, friends. We know the people who will be helped when the government does good, or harmed by an illconsidered government slash-and-burn policy.

“In considering the human impact of government policy, we have always been steadfast.

The frustration and sense of hopelessness amongst our ‘poorly-guided young men’ will only grow if the government cuts off their educational, economic and social lifelines, and its expression through criminal activity will only increase,” he said, referring to the government’s announced austerity measures.

Earlier in his address, Mr Davis said: “Three months ago, the Bahamian electorate sent a powerful message for change. We face very serious challenges, and – like so many other nations – have struggled to create enough jobs, grow quickly enough, or solve our security problems.

“With their votes, Bahamians decided to see if the FNM can do better.

“It is a message, which we in the Progressive Liberal Party heard loudly and clearly. In fact, we have already begun a period of listening, of consultation and reflection. We approach this task with humility and with determination.

“In our conversations throughout the archipelago, Bahamians tell us they still profoundly support the ideology and mission of the PLP. They know that the PLP has brought about the biggest, best and most profound positive changes

OPPOSITION leader Philip ‘Brave’ Davis. that are the foundation of if they see their families, the modern Bahamas. And friends, colleagues, church they still believe that the members and associates, PLP remains a powerful being unfairly victimised, force for good in our coun- they know that one day it may land at their door, and try.

“But Bahamians also they will rise up against it,” want us to know that along he said. the way, we lost their trust Economy on too many fronts. We Mr Davis said the prime know it’s up to us to earn it minister’s address last week back.”

He continued: “And so brought to light a realisaalready, we have begun that tion that across-the-board process of change and re- cuts will potentially render form. And indeed, where many Bahamians jobless the new government seeks and risked putting the econto promote and institute omy back into recession.

He suggested because of thoughtful reforms in our public sphere, they will have this, crime levels could conour wholehearted support. tinue to skyrocket.

“Of course, when they go During his national adbeyond public policy goals, dress last week, the prime and seek to scapegoat and minister announced a vaexact political revenge, we riety of conservative fiscal will not be silent. Playing measures, including a ten with people’s lives to fur- per cent cut in spending in ther a political agenda will all government ministries not be tolerated. and no new public sector “The fight against cor- hiring. ruption must not just be He also said there will against the government’s be no renewal of contracts political opponents, but for salaries which exceed also against private cor- $100,000 per year. ruption. The wealthy busiDr Minnis also annessman who cheats on his nounced a reduction in govcustoms duties is as corrupt ernment vehicles as part of as the politician who awards a “new era of financial disgovernment contracts to his cipline.” own businesses.

Mr Davis said: “Regard“Beyond the anger of this ing the economy, the prime current time, Bahamians minister offered no plan are a fair people. And in for growth. He offered no a society as small as ours, vision for diversifying the

economy. He had nothing to say about alleviating the high burden of debt, which stops so many households from moving up the economic ladder.

“What is the strategy for getting new revenue into the economy? Where is the plan for growing the economic pie? Instead, the prime minister announced across-the-board cuts, and the intention to make thousands of Bahamians unemployed.

“In doing so, the government is risking putting the economy back into recession, which would mean excruciating hardships for families across our islands.

If this was his intention during the campaign, he took care to hide it from voters.

“Much of the FNM’s campaign was a fiction, now they face reality.

“The transition to governance has not been easy for them. The reckless statements they made during the budget debate caused the Moody’s ratings agency to consider downgrading the Bahamian economy; we can only hope that brush with danger has taught them that their political rhetoric has consequences, and that they will be more truthful and less careless in the future,” Mr Davis said.

“My fellow Bahamians,

there is little that is more important than strengthening and expanding education in our country. We need 21st century ideas, new approaches, and real investments.

“The Free National Movement made big promises about education during the campaign. They promised to improve accessibility to higher education through free admission to the University of The Bahamas. They promised to outdo the Progressive Liberal Party which had doubled the country’s investment in scholarships.

“But instead, the government has recently announced that they will not keep those promises. They will not help young Bahamians to fulfil their dreams of higher education. This is a huge betrayal and will put a brake on the country’s future. We need our people to be educated.

“Education is not an area in which to move recklessly.

It is an investment in the future of the country, the best defence against poverty and crime.”

Crime Mr Davis went on to lash out at the government, saying it campaigned on the promise of having the answers to crime. He said the

but should be methodical and well thought out.

“If the government goes in as co-investor, what are the terms? What equity stake are they taking? Will they recover their investment as a priority investor if they sell their stake?”

“When we look at history in terms of the Bahamas Hotel Corporation and properties they purchased back in the day, the Nassau Beach, the Wyndham, they didn’t turn out to be success stories because the unfortunate element is government owned assets are perceived to be able to lose money without consequence.

When you look at running hotels, it is a costly venture and one that requires having a finger on the pulse,” Mr Bowe continued.

government has been “laid bare” because of a weak crime strategy.

“As the prime minister observed, crime continues to plague our society,” Mr Davis said. “During the campaign, he promised that they had the answers, that once in government, he and his team would unveil a crime-fighting plan, which would successfully tackle the problem.

“Rather disappointingly, just last week we now have the Minister of National Security admitting that they don’t have the answers.

“So far we have heard nothing but promises of a ‘zero-tolerance attitude’ and efforts at increased policing. As this approach has been in place for the past several years, we hope there is more, and that the government does not delay in offering new policies.

“The prime minister noted that he is committed to providing resources to help the ‘poorly-guided young men’ in society.

“Yet, by already firing hundreds if not thousands of people in the past few months, and by blindly cutting education and social service support by 10 per cent, his government is increasing the stresses and strains on the young people in those households, condemning them to desperation and a life of economic hardship. This does not support families or provide stability in their homes,” Mr Davis claimed.

He also said: “And while we share the government’s view that the problem of crime has developed over many years, we completely deplore the prime minister’s dishonest attempt to rewrite history and assign blame to the leaders in the 1970s and ‘80s.

“The drug trade that has ravaged every country in this region is international in nature, devastatingly local in impact. This is a matter of fact. Playing fast and loose with our history is shameful, and beneath the dignity of his office.

“Even so, the prime minister’s attack makes no sense. The average age of people committing crimes over the last several years has been between the ages of 17-25. Those persons would not have been around in the 1970s and ’80s. The prime minister should be careful about blaming ‘history’ for all our challenges.”

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, August 1, 2017, PAGE 7

MUNROE KEEPS SECRET ‘CORRUPT’ FNM MPS from page one

“We have the names but I will not be turning it over to the police because I do not trust they will do anything with the information,” Mr Munroe told The Tribune on Monday.

“I have no confidence that they will investigate, so we have to be different in what we usually do and get all the information ourselves and give them everything so they cannot turn us away. So that is what we

are doing now, compiling all of the evidence so if they turn us away, we will be in the position to present it to other international bodies and say, ‘Here is the proof of governmental systems being abused.’ Presently we have eight names, six current and two former members. I am not saying that the current government’s threshold for corruption is correct but it is what they set. So if they say you have one strike and you are out, I may think it is supposed to be three strikes, but I will

go by what they have set. So we are referring to European lawyers and lawyers in the US and the Caribbean to get their perspective on what we should do, so we will take as long as we have to, to do this properly.”

Mr Murnoe also criticised Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis for refusing to meet the leader of the Progressive Liberal Party over his concerns about anti-corruption probes, calling the decision “not very smart.”

“Whoever is advising him

must have never been in litigation,” Mr Munroe said.

“Dr Minnis is giving us an easy case against him.

The person telling him not to meet with the PLP is not very bright. How could you refuse a meeting and still be seen as reasonable? You meet with someone and you hear what they have to say, you don’t have to agree with them or even make a contribution to the conversation but the person could never say you didn’t meet with them. It works for us because it shows there is bias

and it supports our argument.”

Last Tuesday, Dr Minnis said he would not meet with PLP Leader Philip “Brave” Davis and dismissed concerns about being the subject of payback following the PLP leader’s harsh July 18 letter to him.

Dr Minnis insisted that his “life is an open book” and criticised Mr Davis for breaching protocol after the critical letter was leaked to the press.

In mid-July, Mr Davis wrote a strongly worded let-

ter to Dr Minnis regarding criminal probes of PLPs. He warned: “When you set out to dig a grave for your enemy, dig two.”

The letter was leaked to The Tribune and other media and also circulated on Facebook and messaging platform WhatsApp. Dr Minnis suggested he rejected the letter because it was made public. He said Mr Davis could have called him, but as it stands, the Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador MP has not done so.

18-year-old charged with three murders from page one

He was not required to enter a plea to any of the charges given their nature and was told his case would be fast-tracked to the Supreme Court on September 14 through the presentation of a voluntary bill of indictment.

Deveaux was remanded to prison but can apply for bail.

He has retained attorney Ian Cargill to represent him.

Meanwhile, Rico Taylor, 24, of Flemming and West Streets stood next before the magistrate, accused of being concerned with others and intentionally causing the death of Ashanton Akeem Newbold on July 21.

Taylor claimed he was beaten while in police custody.

The murder charge was also brought under Section 291(1)(B) of the Penal Code.

The judge informed the accused he would not be allowed to enter a plea because his case would be fast-tracked to the Supreme

RICO TAYLOR, aged 24, who is also accused of murder.

Court, also scheduled for September 14.

However, due to the nature of the charge, Taylor was denied bail and remanded to the Department of Correctional Ser-

vices. He was advised of his right to apply for bail in the Supreme Court.

During the arraignment, Taylor asked the court: “Can I get a speedy trial?”

Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff When asked by the judge if he had a reason, Taylor responded: “‘Cause I never do this.”

“When you get to the Supreme Court you can ask,” Acting Chief Magistrate

Swain replied.

The judge made a note of Taylor’s allegation of police brutality for the record.

Stanley Rolle, from the Office of the Public Defender, appeared for Taylor.

WEATHER EXPERT TELLS INQUEST NO WARNING FOR MARINERS

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE inquest into the death of 25-year-old Christopher Turnquest continued Monday with a local forecaster testifying that weather at the time of the crash did limit visibility, but didn’t “outright” prohibit small craft operators from waters around New Providence.

Orson Nixon, a 27-year veteran of the Department of Meteorology, yesterday testified the combination of a weak trough along the eastern coast of Mexico and Hurricane Matthew looming, created conditions across The Bahamas that would have limited the coverage of the natural moonlight — which he deduced, could have further limited the visibly of vessels operating in Bahamian waters.

However, Mr Nixon testified that weather conditions in New Providence specifically, did not feature elements that required forecasters to issue an all-out advisory for mariners.

Last Friday, the court heard that weather conditions associated with Hurricane Matthew had prompted the Department of Meteorology to release a small craft advisory, a point Mr Nixon moved to clarify.

Mr Nixon testified that an advisory was only in effect for the central and southeastern segments of the Bahamas, and not the northwestern, of which New Providence is a part.

Mr Nixon indicated that small craft operators in the northwestern Bahamas were only cautioned in the forecast issued by his department on the day of the crash.

He said this caution offered only a recommendation to boaters and could not be viewed as a mandate.

When asked directly by attorney Ramona Farquharson-Seymour, lawyer for the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, if he would have advised the fixing of boat engines at night in the stated conditions; Mr Nixon told the court that such an advisory would be out of his “parametres” as a forecaster.

According to court dockets, the deceased along with

his cousin, had just before the fatal crash, carried out mechanical work on their skiff in the area of Potter’s

Cay. Turnquest died in October 2016 after a 13-foot skiff occupied by him and

another man was struck by a RBDF patrol vessel just east of Potter’s Cay Dock.

The inquest resumes to-

day.

The Turnquest family is represented by Murrio Ducille.

PAGE 8, Tuesday, August 1, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

GGYA’s Caribbean Award Sub-Regional Council participants and leaders.

Into the rainforest for youth group AN amazing summer experience awaits 10 participants and four unit leaders in the Governor General’s Youth Award programme – who will spend six days exploring biodiversity deep within Guyana’s rarest and most remote rainforest, discovering flora and fauna

unique to the area, investigating indigenous tribes and traversing the Guyana/ Brazil border, along with other cultural exchange opportunities.

The Bahamas contingent to the Caribbean Award Sub-Regional Council (CASC) 2017, left the capi-

tal on Friday, July 21, and will return on Tuesday, August 8. Included in the group are representatives from New Providence, Grand Bahama and Andros.

CASC is a grouping of the Caribbean nations involved in the world’s leading youth

achievement programme, the Duke of Edinburgh’s (D of E) Award. CASC affords member countries an opportunity to work together. Through the annual adventurous journey (hiking expedition), gold level participants are able to complete a qualifying hike and residential project (community service away from home).

The initiative is a threetier programme (bronze, silver or gold) for participants age 14 to 24, who have completed time requirements in volunteering, physical activities, learning a skill, and a residential project.

This year’s CASC brings together 150 gold and silver participants, unit leaders and designated staff. The expedition portions began Wednesday, July 26. It ends on Monday, July 31.

The Bahamian delegation will study the conservation work done at the Iwokrama Rainforest. One of the four last pristine tropical forests in the world, it contains some animals that are threatened or near extinction, such as the giant anteater. Home to deer, sloths and several species of monkeys, it’s also said the forest is the best place to possibly spot a jaguar.

The prospect of getting up close and personal with Guyana’s wildlife and navigating the country’s rugged landscape with its mountains and rivers made 18-year-old Royal Bahamas Defence Force Ranger O’Tynesia Lunn nervous

and excited.

“We don’t know the terrain or the challenges that may come. Their animals are different from ours so we have to be cautious,” she said. “Still, I feel our training has prepared us for whatever comes. It’s all a mental state of mind. You can’t give up in your mind.

You have to want to finish.

I’m looking forward to taking in new surroundings and meeting new people.”

During the adventurous journey the group will also explore Moco Moca and Kuma Falls and investigate the indigenous tribes that inhabit North Rupununi.

“This expedition will push you to your limit. The Governor General’s Youth Award helps you to push your limit,” said 2017 St Anne’s High School graduate Vanneisha Mackey.

“A normal teenager won’t want to hike 63 miles on a regular day. This makes you push yourself to see how far you can go. It makes you want to strive to reach your goals.”

Self-development and the opportunity for cultural exchange are reasons why many, including Joseph Smith Jr, have joined GGYA. “I want to explore different avenues of life and this programme does that a lot, whether we are travelling throughout The Bahamas or within the Caribbean,” says the rising twelfth grader at R M Bailey Senior High School.

On this trip, in particu-

lar, there are a number of activities before and after the expeditions which allow for networking and cultural exchanges by CASC attendees, including a state reception, a movie night, a treasure hunt, a fun day and cultural presentations.

Four unit leaders and leaders in training will participate in a jungle orientation training exercise led by highly certified and experienced guides. Within that difficult and unpredictable terrain, they will learn how to live and manoeuvre within a tropical rain forest. The training exercise will also focus on first aid, land navigation, emergency care and rescue, how to find food and water and build shelters.

“This is different from the expeditions we are accustomed to in the Bahamas,” said Kirkland Charles, unit leader for A F Adderley Junior High School.

There is always an adjustment period for any GGYA contingent attending CASC, said Clifton Francis, contingent leader and member of Grand Bahama’s Adventurous Journey Panel. He has participated in CASC before, in Dominica and Grenada.

“Just knowing that there are other members in your party experiencing the same mixed emotions, helps persons to adjust quickly.

You feed off each other,” he said. “Participants and leaders in training realize that this is an amazing opportunity that GGYA has afforded them.”

BOOK SHIP SAILS INTO FREEPORT

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE Logos Hope, the largest floating bookstore, and its 400 volunteer crew arrived at Grand Bahama on Friday.

The ship docked at Freeport Harbour, where an official welcome reception was held at 2pm. Grand Bahama Port Authority and government officials were in attendance and welcomed the crew to Freeport.

Grand Bahama Port Authority President Ian Rolle and Minister of State for Grand Bahama Senator Kwasi Thompson made brief remarks.

Mr Rolle commended the ship’s crew for the work they do and their remarkable volunteerism.

“This crew of amazing individuals is an inspiration to nations worldwide as they

exemplify what it means to be a brother’s keeper,” he said.

He noted that volunteerism is an accurate measurement of selflessness that allows people to focus on the well-being of others and emphasises core values such as compassion and cooperation.

“I wish to commend the crew of Logos Hope which has volunteered their time and resource to fulfil the Logos Hope vision of extending knowledge to all, expressing practical love, promoting peace, and guiding people toward a purposeful life by inspiring faith and restoration of relationship.”

The ship will remain in Grand Bahama for ten days.

The crew is comprised of individuals from over 60 nationalities. There are three Bahamian crew members

currently serving on the ship.

The Logos Hope began its ship ministry in 1970.

Volunteers leave behind families, jobs, and homes.

Logos Hope is operated by GBA Ships eV, an international, charitable organisation registered in Germany. Since 1970, the organisation has welcomed over 45 million visitors up the gangways in over 160 countries and territories around the world.

Logos Hope is open to the public in Freeport at Freeport Harbour, Berth 14, Tuesday through Saturday from 10am – 9pm and Sundays 2pm – 9pm.

There is a small entrance fee of $1, but adults 65 years and over, and children under 12 enter free but must be accompanied by an adult.

The ships leaves Grand Bahama on August 6.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, August 1, 2017, PAGE 9

from page one

Republic Inc. The Ministry of Tourism was the event’s biggest sponsor, having invested $650,000 in the festival.

However, the four-day festival was postponed after two nights of inactivity. The debacle spurred a war of words between former Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe and former Attorney General Alfred Sears, the latter having served as a director of Caribbean Muzik Festival (2000) Ltd. In July, Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar confirmed the government was seeking to secure legal counsel in its effort to recover the $650,000 lost as a result of the failed event.

However, lawyers for the principals of the Caribbean Muzik Festival hit back, suggesting the government failed to live up to many of its contractual obligations.

“So what $650,000 was spent on?” Mr Thompson asked. “As a police officer I have a suspicious mind, and I look for answers. And I believe the Bahamian public should be looking for answers to those questions.

“What was $650,000…. if the festival didn’t come off, what cost $650,000? “…That $650,000, we want to know what happened to that,” he added.

“At least we should satisfy people that the money was properly spent. I’m really, really interested in knowing what cost $12m and what cost $9m and what cost $650,000. Those are more important than BAMSI and all of them, because you could see something is wrong there.”

Festival millions where did they go?

Mr Thompson, a longtime Bahamas resident, said his proposal is aimed at answering the many questions surrounding the two controversial events, along with validating the former government’s justification for spending approximately $21m combined on both festivals.

Mr Thompson also said he would offer to investigate, under the same conditions, the $650,000 spent by the former Christie administration on the failed 2016 Caribbean Muzik Festival.

In 2015, the government spent $11.3m on the inaugural Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival festival, going over its initial budget of $9m, with the rest covered by sponsors. The first Junkanoo Carnival cost $12.9m overall.

The government reaped $8.3m in combined direct and tax revenues, with the latter providing $6.7m of that sum.

Last year, the Bahamas National Festival Commission (BNFC) revealed that the 2016 version of the festival cost $9.8m with a government subsidy of $8.1m.

The event attracted $1.2m in sponsorship while ticket sales and ‘other revenue’ accounted for $578,342.

Earlier this year, officials said the Christie administration would slash the subsidy for the event by as much as 50 per cent for the 2017 incarnation.

Officials have also said the festival has succeeded as a stimulant for small and medium businesses, 278

FORMER Assistant Commissioner Paul Thompson. such businesses and 696 people benefitting directly from the expenditure related to last year’s festival.

In an interview with The Tribune, however, Mr Thompson suggested the figures previously provided by officials do not give a concise breakdown of exactly how the millions of dollars were spent.

“My point is, I did not see $12m being spent on our first carnival and $9m on the second,” Mr Thompson said. “And the reason why I

say that, well I feel justified in saying that too because there was never a proper accounting as to how $12m and $9m was spent.

“They gave some figures, but nobody came out and said this is what was spent for labour costs, fencing costs, stage costs and all that type of thing. We never got that.

And I believe there’s reason for a proper audit of that $12m and $9m, and I hope (the Minnis administration) doesn’t forget about it because that should happen.

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Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff “Where was $12m spent?” Mr Thompson asked. “Unless they paid the committee and paid some people some huge sums that we don’t know about. And $9m the next year; you already have generators, the fence was up, you already have the stages, what was $9m spent on?”

Mr Thompson also questioned the former Christie administration’s decision to spend $650,000 to sponsor the failed Caribbean Muzik Festival.

Prior to the debacle surrounding the event, the Caribbean Muzik Festival was a part of the former government’s efforts to fill the Bahamian calendar with musical and sporting events that would promote culture, encourage commerce and put a spotlight on the country’s tourism products year-round.

It was scheduled for October 28 to 31, 2015.

The festival was produced and promoted by a company called Caribbean

PAGE 10, Tuesday, August 1, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

ANTI-government demonstrators rest behind a barricade in Caracas, Venezuela, on Sunday. Venezuelans appear to be abstaining in massive numbers in a show of silent protest against a vote to select a constitutional assembly giving the government virtually unlimited powers.

Photo: Ariana Cubillos/AP

Venezuelan leader defiant as US imposes sanctions CARACAS, VENEZUELA Associated Press PRESIDENT Nicolas Maduro claimed a popular mandate Monday to dramatically recast Venezuela’s political system, dismissing US sanctions imposed on him and condemnations by his domestic opponents and governments around the world.

Washington added Maduro to a steadily growing list of high-ranking Venezuelan officials targeted by financial sanctions, escalating a tactic that has so far failed to alter his socialist government’s behavior. For the moment Trump administration did not deliver on threats to sanction Venezuela’s oil industry, which could undermine Maduro’s government but raise US gas prices and deepen the humanitarian crisis here.

The sanctions came after electoral authorities said more than eight million people voted Sunday to create a constitutional assembly endowing Maduro’s

ruling party with virtually unlimited powers — a turnout doubted by independent analysts while the election was labeled illegitimate by leaders across the Americans and Europe.

Maduro said Monday evening he had no intention of deviating from plans to rewrite the constitution and go after a string of enemies, from independent Venezuelan news channels to gunmen he claimed were sent by neighboring Colombia to disrupt the vote as part of an international conspiracy led by the man he calls “Emperor Donald Trump”.

“They don’t intimidate me. The threats and sanctions of the empire don’t intimidate me for a moment,” Maduro said on national television. “I don’t listen to orders from the empire, not now or ever ... Bring on more sanctions, Donald Trump.”

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council said turnout in Sunday’s vote was 41.53 percent, or 8,089,320

people. The result would mean the ruling party won more support than it had in any national election since 2013, despite a cratering economy, spiraling inflation, shortages of medicine and malnutrition. Opinion polls had said some 85 percent of Venezuelans disapproved of the constitutional assembly and similar numbers disapproved of Maduro’s overall performance.

Opposition leaders estimated the real turnout at less than half the government’s claim in a vote watched by government-allied observers but no internationally recognized poll monitors.

An exit poll based on surveys from 110 voting centers

by New York investment bank Torino Capital and a Venezuela public opinion company estimated 3.6 million people voted, or about 18.5 percent of registered voters.

The electoral council’s vote counts in the past had been seen as reliable and generally accurate, but the

widely mocked announcement appeared certain to escalate the polarization and political conflict paralysing the country.

“If it wasn’t a tragedy ... if it didn’t mean more crisis, the electoral council’s number would almost make you laugh,” opposition leader Freddy Guevara said on Twitter. Maduro has threatened that one of the constitutional assembly’s first acts would be jailing Guevara for inciting violence.

The constituent assembly will have the task of rewriting the country’s constitution and will have powers above and beyond other state institutions, including the opposition-controlled congress.

Maduro has said the new assembly will begin to govern within a week. Among other measures, he said he would use the assembly’s powers to bar opposition candidates from running in gubernatorial elections in December unless they sit with his party to negotiate an end to hostilities that

have generated four months of protests that have killed at least 120 and wounded nearly 2,000.

Along with the US, the European Union and nations including Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Spain and Britain criticized Sunday’s vote. Maduro said he had received congratulations from the governments of Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua, among others.

The monetary impact of the new US sanctions wasn’t immediately clear as Maduro’s holdings in US jurisdictions, if he has any, weren’t publicised.

However, imposing sanctions on a head of state is rare and can be symbolically powerful, leading other countries to similarly shun such a leader. For example, the US has had sanctions against Syria’s President Bashar Assad since 2011. Other heads of state currently subject to US sanctions include Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe

and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Maduro called the constitutional assembly in May after a month of protests against his government, which has overseen Venezuela’s descent into a devastating crisis during its four years in power. Due to plunging oil prices and widespread corruption and mismanagement, Venezuela’s inflation and homicide rates are among the world’s highest, and widespread shortages of food and medicine have citizens dying of preventable illnesses and rooting through trash to feed themselves.

The president of the opposition-led National Assembly, Julio Borges, told Venezuelan news channel Globovision on Monday that Maduro’s foes would continue protesting until they won free elections and a change of government.

He said Sunday’s vote gave Maduro “less legitimacy, less credibility, less popular support and less ability to govern”.

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR SCARAMUCCI OUT IN RECORD TIME WASHINGTON Associated Press

FIRMLY taking charge in an unruly White House, former Gen John Kelly moved in Monday as President Donald Trump’s new chief of staff and immediately made sure that Trump’s profanity-spouting new communications director was shown the door, ignominiously ousted after less than two weeks on the job.

It was the latest headsnapping sequence of events at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but Trump dismissed any talk of disarray.

He insisted in a morning tweet there was “No WH chaos,” then followed up in the evening with a satisfied “great day at the White House”.

Aiming to instill some discipline in the White House, Kelly showed Anthony Scaramucci the door just days after the new communications director had unleashed an expletivelaced tirade against senior staff members that included vulgar broadsides at thenchief of staff Reince Priebus. In short order, Priebus was pushed aside and replaced by Kelly, whose arrival led in turn to Scaramucci’s departure.

The communication director’s tenure was the stuff of Shakespearian drama — though brief enough to be just a morbid sonnet.

Scaramucci’s exit under-

THE NOW-fired White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. scored the challenges that 2016 meeting with a RusKelly, the former home- sian lawyer.

The statement said land security chief, faces in bringing order to a West Trump Jr and other top figWing where a wide swath of ures in the Trump campaign aides have reported directly “primarily discussed a proto the president, feeling free gram about the adoption of to walk into Trump’s Oval Russian children” with the Office or buttonhole him lawyer. Emails released latin the hallway to lobby for er by Trump Jr showed that conflicting agendas. Back- the meeting was suggested stabbing among aides has to the Trump campaign as been rife, and rival camps a means to deliver damaging material about Trump’s have jockeyed for position.

And then there is presi- election opponent, Hillary dent himself, who uses Clinton.

Trump attorney Jay Sekutweets at all hours to fling out new policy announce- low said Monday night of ments, insult critics and the Post story, “Apart from even go after fellow Re- being of no consequence, publicans who don’t toe his the characterisations are misinformed, inaccurate line.

The ongoing investiga- and not pertinent.”

The Associated Press tion into Russia’s meddling in the election is another has reported previously source of unease. Monday that Trump approved of the night, The Washington Post statement, which was craftreported that Trump him- ed on the flight back from self had dictated the July 8 the Group of 20 summit in statement in which his son Germany in early July.

On Kelly’s first day, the Donald Jr described a June

White House put out word that the retired four-star general had free rein to tighten the chain of command.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Kelly “has the full authority to carry out business as he sees fit” and that all White House staffers will report to him, including powerful aides such as Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, her husband, Jared Kushner, and chief strategist Steve Bannon.

Kelly “will bring new structure, discipline and strength” to the White House, she said.

The chief of staff took his oath of office early Monday in an Oval Office ceremony thronged by senior staffers, including Scaramucci.

But a short time later, Kelly told the communications director he was out, leading Scaramucci to offer his resignation instead, according to four White House staffers and outside advisers not authorised to speak publicly about personnel matters.

In the brief, cold words of the White House announcement, Scaramucci was leaving because he “felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team.” The threesentence release concluded, “We wish him all the best.”

The statement revived the “clean slate” language that former White House press secretary Sean Spicer

had used to describe his own reason for resigning on the day Trump brought Scaramucci aboard.

Scaramucci was escorted from the White House grounds, becoming yet another high-ranking official to leave an administration that is barely beyond the six-month mark. He was the third person to hold the communications director title in that time.

While in most administrations the chief of staff closely manages the president’s time and others’ access to the Oval Office, Priebus never was able to prevent Trump from continuing the same disorderly style he had created atop his business.

Scaramucci had been blocked from joining the administration during the transition by Priebus, only to eventually be hired by Trump a week-and-half ago.

That decision, over the objections of Priebus and Bannon, led to the resignation of Spicer and fueled Scaramucci’s profane vows of vengeance against White House staffers who had opposed him or leaked to the press.

Days of negative news coverage of Scaramucci’s crass rant did not sit well with the president, though Trump himself is no stranger to using coarse language, including boasts of groping women in a 2005 Access Hollywood tape leaked last year.

“The president certainly

felt that Anthony’s comments were inappropriate for a person in his position,” Sanders said when asked about the ouster.

Bannon also told allies that the communications director was a negative distraction. And though Bannon had clashed with Kelly over the implementation of Trump’s first travel ban, he pledged to work closely with the new chief of staff.

Scaramucci’s allies floated the idea of Scaramucci returning to his chief strategy officer post at the Export-Import Bank. Sanders said he “does not have a role at this time” with the Trump administration.

As the Scaramucci news spread, Kelly was in the East Room, smiling and taking pictures with guests who had gathered for a Medal of Honor presentation. A jovial Spicer also was in attendance, saying he was there to assist with the communications transition, though Sanders said she was not aware of any plans for him to resume his old job.

After swearing in Kelly, Trump convened his full Cabinet, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the target of recent public rebukes from the president.

Sanders later brushed aside talk of yet another abrupt shuffle: the idea of Sessions leaving the Justice Department to replace Kelly at Homeland Security. The president has no such plans, she said.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, August 1, 2017, PAGE 11

57 Haitians detained in Exuma THE Royal Bahamas Defence Force on Sunday assisted police and immigration officials in Exuma with the transport of a second group of migrants to be apprehended in The Bahamas within a week.

This second group was apprehended off Humming Bird Cay near mainland Exuma around 9.30am on Sunday by police and immigration officials stationed on the island. Upon boarding the 30ft wooden sloop,

approximately 57 undocumented Haitian migrants were found.

The RBDF fast patrol craft, HMBS P-49, coxswained by Chief Petty Officer Clyde Burrows along with another RBDF craft assisted in this effort. The migrants – 49 males and eight females – were taken to New Providence for further processing.

On Tuesday of last week, 120 Haitian migrants were apprehended off Long Island.

SOME of the migrants detained by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force in Exuma on Sunday.

PAGE 12, Tuesday, August 1, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

OLYMPIC medal winner and track star Tim Munnings, now Director of Sports, takes to a different track to share important lessons with karting campers.

FULL SPEED AHEAD FOR EDUKARTING PROGRAMME REGISTRATION opens this week for the 5th annual EduKarting Summer Camp, two one-week sessions beginning August 8 that allow young Bahamians to experience the speed and adrenaline-pumping excitement associated with the traditional sport that mixes thrills with important life lessons.

“Thanks to the continuing support from the FIA, our sponsors and the Ministry of Education which allows us to use the grounds of Doris Johnson High, we are able to keep our fees at $25 per camper per week, including lunch,” said Bahamas EduKarting founder and coordinator David McLaughlin. “We wanted to keep fees reasonable so every young person who wants to participate, regardless of financial status, can take part in the camp designed to teach the values of self-discipline and teamwork. And the best part is students are learning useful skills while having a great time zipping around the

course in a kart they have taken apart and rebuilt.”

Most importantly, said Mr McLaughlin, beyond the basics of mechanics, campers learn what it takes to make a team of people who never knew each other before, perform.

“There is art, design, public relations and marketing,” he says. “Each team has to create a business plan, present and ‘sell’ it to a sponsor who provides virtual funding for uniforms, helmets, tires and parts.

“Nearly every famous Formula One or NASCAR racer got his or her start in karting,” said Mr McLaughlin, Bahamas and Caribbean Motor Sport Development Director of FIA, the motor sports association under the auspices of the International Olympics Committee. “Who knows?

The Bahamas, which has produced great athletes in track and field, basketball, tennis and swimming, may one day produce a great race car driver. Look at Lewis Hamilton of Grenada

and the UK who got his first go-kart at the age of six and showed so much promise by the time he was a teen that his father gave up his career and sometimes worked as many as three jobs to support his son’s ambition in motor sport. Today, he is the most famous Formula One driver alive.”

Each EduKarting summer camp is open to a maximum of 30 participants ages 11-17. Sessions run August 8 – 11 and August 14-18 from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm at Doris Johnson High on Prince Charles Drive.

“We have seen high school students come out of school and immediately into a job because of the skills they learned in EduKarting,” said Mr McLaughlin.

“Two of them are working for a large auto dealer now in the service division and another has gone on to become a pilot.”

To register, call 432-1845, 815-8907, email edukartingbahamas@gmail.com or go to the EduKarting Facebook page.