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EMERGENCY ONLY Man shot dead by lone gunman
Doctors’ patience runs out as they launch snap strike By AVA TURNQUEST and FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporters aturnquest@tribunemedia.net FED up with a lack of a resolution over longstanding disputes, more than 400 junior doctors went on strike yesterday forcing the nation’s public healthcare system into “emergency mode”. Of that number, approximately 200 physicians were on call throughout the country’s network and were resolved to only work on emergency cases, according to Bahamas Doctors Union President Dr Melisande Bassett.
The BDU was called to the Office of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis for an impromptu meeting around 3.30pm in the hope of deescalating tensions and bring both sides back to the table, The Tribune was told. Labour Minister Dion Foulkes said the meeting was very productive, with a clear path outlined for negotiations chaired by Labour Director John Pinder to resume at the Department of Labour next week. However, up to press time it was not clear whether the union would end its strike. SEE PAGE THREE
GOMEZ: I’LL HIT BPL WITH CLASS ACTION By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
accepting poor service and high costs from their utility providers. Disclosing that he had A FORMER Cabinet already obtained the backminister yesterday said he is ing of the hotel pursuing a class union, the largaction lawsuit est private over Bahamas sector union, Power & Light’s for his legal (BPL) outages, bid to secure and warned: compensation “This is a for Bahamian straight-up conconsumers and sumer war.” businesses over Damian BPL’s daily load Gomez, minshedding and ister of state blackouts, Mr for legal affairs Gomez said he DAMIAN GOMEZ under the was “fairly conChristie adminfident” such an istration, told Tribune action could be filed within Business that Bahamians the next three weeks. needed to stand up for their rights and stop passively FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
A BODY is taken from the scene in Martins Close last night after a fatal shooting. A YOUNG man was shot dead last night as he sat on a stairway. Police reported that the shooting took place at about 10pm at Martins
Close off Cowpen Road. Gunshots were heard in the area and police received reports that someone had been shot.
Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff On arriving at the scene, they found the body of the victim. SEE PAGE FIVE
‘WE HAVE TO CHECK VISAS FOR HAITIANS TURIN 2 EVIDENCE’ SUSPENDED BY GOVT By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net FOREIGN Affairs Minister Darren Henfield yesterday said the government’s independent probe into the mysterious deaths of two Bahamian men in Italy was launched to ensure it has done all it “possibly can” to attain satisfactory answers regarding this tragedy. Mr Henfield added as far as he is aware, the government has not yet received the toxicology reports of
both men - sentiments previously echoed by the mother of one of the victims. On August 7, Attorney General Carl Bethel announced the Minnis administration’s independent investigation, noting the government is determined to leave “no stone unturned in finding out the truth of what happened” to Alrae Ramsey, 29, and Blair John, 28, whose bodies were found in the Po River in Turin on June 4 and 5 respectively. SEE PAGE FIVE
By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs has suspended issuing visas to Haitians until further notice. In a short statement yesterday, the government said this is due to “current technical and other challenges”, but did not elaborate. The suspension does not include nationals who are officials, diplomats or holders of a US, UK, Canadian or Schengen visa, the government said.
This action comes days after Haiti’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bocchit Edmond said a corruption probe revealed “unacceptable situations” and “wrongdoing” at Haiti’s local embassy. However, Foreign Affairs Minister Darren Henfield told The Tribune yesterday the suspension of visas is not connected to that. He said his ministry discovered issues on its own after reviewing how visas are issued. He said he hopes the matter can be resolved as SEE PAGE FIVE
ELDERLY’S PLIGHT WHEN POWER GOES OFF By RIEL MAJOR Tribune Staff Reporter rmajor@tribunemedia.net PAT’S Senior Citizens Home has lost medication, food, four air-conditioning units and three electronic beds due to daily load shedding exercises by Bahamas Power and Light. The assisted living facility has also had to invest in a generator and hire more staff to cope with the struggles of operating with
PLP leader Philip ‘Brave’ Davis at Pat’s Senior Citizens Home. frequent power outages. Patricia Moxey, the home’s director, revealed the losses after a media
tour of the facility led by Progressive Liberal Party Leader Philip “Brave” Davis. The PLP organised the tour to evaluate the impact of the “missteps of BPL” amid reoccurring power cuts. Mrs Moxey said: “As you saw when you did the tour, some of our residents are on oxygen so the machine goes 24/7 so when the electricity goes off we have to run and SEE PAGE NINE
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
A LITTLE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
BUSINESS BITES - PAGE TEN
PAGE 2, Thursday, August 22, 2019
THE TRIBUNE
ROADWORKS FOR ST ANDREW’S DRIVE THE Ministry of Public Works/ Bahamix has scheduled milling and paving works for St Andrew’s Drive in New Providence. The work will begin today for seven working days during the hours of 9.30am to 2.30pm.
Bahamix will apply a one-lane closure system to allow traffic movement through the paving site by residents of the area. All other motorists are asked to avoid the area if possible and be aware of and acknowledge the
posted traffic paving signs. If you have any queries or concerns, contact officials at (242) 361-3886 or (242) 341-3886. Bahamix said that they apologise for any inconvenience caused by the roadworks.
LABOUR Director John Pinder said the BPSU has not yet filed a trade dispute and cannot seek to hold a strike vote until it does.
Public service workers to march in protest By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net
To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394
PUBLIC service workers have planned a major withdrawal of services for this morning in protest of the government’s unwillingness to immediately give them a $1,200 lump sum payment. BPSU assistant secretary general Lelotha Coleby confirmed yesterday that at an emergency meeting last night, the workers agreed to meet at the old City Market building off Market Street at 9 o’clock this morning from where they will march downtown to the Cabinet Office. “There will be a march and this will go on until the BPSU and its members get financial satisfaction and until they show our president the respect he deserves,” she said. Yesterday’s meeting was packed with hundreds of workers at BPSU’s general meeting hall on East Street South. The union has been locked in negotiations with the government over a new industrial agreement. The union is demanding a onetime lump sum payment of $1200 for each of its 20,000 or so members. That will cost the government $20m. Union representatives recently met officials of the Ministry of Finance, including Deputy Prime Minister
Peter Turnquest. Finance officials recommended splitting their payment into two lump sums of $600 to be given this month and in December. However, union members voted on Monday not to a accept a split lump sum payment. They want all the money at the end of this month. They argue they have already accepted a compromise when they agreed to a $1,200 lump sum payment, a drop from their initial $2,400 demand. Ms Coleby said she hoped Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis would overrule the decision of the Ministry of Finance. Instead, she said when BPSU President Kimsley Ferguson called him this week, the prime minister told him the government lacks the money to pay public servants all the lump sum at one time. Dr Minnis has called for a meeting with all unions on Saturday. For his part, Labour Director John Pinder said yesterday the BPSU has not yet filed a trade dispute and cannot seek to hold a strike vote – much less go on strike – until it does. “What would be the trade dispute I’d like to know, because negotiations are ongoing,” he said. He noted government workers usually receive lump-sum payments as part of their industrial agreements.
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, August 22, 2019, PAGE 3
JUNIOR dcctors and auxiliary staff of Princess Margaret Hospital on strike yesterday.
Photos: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff
Doctors’ patience runs out as they launch snap strike from page one The strike has drawn support from several unions, all of which have expressed dissatisfaction over the government’s handling of labour disputes in recent months. Bahamas Nurses Union President Amancha Williams threatened related health service unions would coordinate efforts to “shut PMH down” in support of doctors if needs were not met. According to BDU, no essential services were affected as senior doctors, under the Consultant Physicians Staff Association, were still on duty. “We have emergency staff in house,” Dr Bassett said, “most of the doctors are on the compound. We are here for emergency purposes. The main thing that persons felt was clinics are closed and only emergency surgeries were done. We are still ensuring patient care is not interrupted.” Dr Bassett explained the decision to make good on a strike certificate obtained last year was prompted by repeated failures on the part of the Public Hospitals Authority to negotiate in good faith over holiday pay; and the issuance of one-year contracts despite assurances from Health Minister Dr Duane Sands that the practice would stop. She insisted the new PHA board was exclusively concerned with its bottom line and insensitive to the challenges faced by junior doctors. “Another thing I want to point out is an erroneous figure the PHA has been putting out there,” Dr Bassett said, “as to what we actually take home. We do not take home $80,000, most doctors take home less than $45,000 (a year). We have our base salary and on call allowance but (PHA) makes provisions in their budget for things that we never see. The education loan, they refuse to pay that when we request that. The uniform allowance is a
one-time fee so we certainly don’t take that home. “The pay for meals, we do not see that. We do not get that. And many of us are even not afforded the meals that are listed within our industrial agreement. The medical insurance, not all of us are a part of the medical insurance because it offers very little benefits. I think it’s at a D-level so many have their own private insurance. I don’t think half of the union has signed up for it, if 100 doctors. “They need to be honest with what they put forward,” Dr Bassett said. She insisted their grievances were not only about money as she laid out demands for the resolution of several vexing issues before the strike is called off. The union wants intern housing to be reinstated, and greater attention given to the needs of doctors in Grand Bahama who don’t have a proper on-call suite and are allegedly being denied vacation time and casual leave. “We’ve filed a trade dispute since 2014, we’ve had meetings back and forth, they’ve vacillated, they say they’ll pay, they start to pay, then they’ll stop,” Dr Bassett told reporters outside
Princess Margaret Hospital yesterday. “We’ve had demonstrations, we’ve threatened strike action in the past, we’ve come back to the table. Most recently they told us they would pay us over five instalments and based on availability. To us that is unacceptable and along with the other issues that we face we need resolution. “The minister assured us that the one-year contracts would stop. However, PHA has just recently given us notification that they will continue to give one, two and three-year contracts when we’ve never had that in the past. “We expressed to them the difficulties doctors have in getting a simple car loan, a simple mortgage, that has fallen on deaf ears,” she said. “We think that is a slight and a slap in the face. The vacillation and the fact that we can’t get a definitive answer and just decent dialogue is just part of our
issue and things we need to resolve.” Yesterday Dr Sands told The Tribune he did not think the union needed to resort to a strike to achieve a resolution. He said he did not want to inflame the matter further, but noted the doctors appeared unwilling to document their working hours. “I think this is a very unfortunate matter,” Dr Sands said. “We have spent so much time dealing with this and reached a reasonable path to resolution, and it results in patients being denied care. We are now in emergency mode. “We met with (the) union, we made it very clear the ministry does not support, as a policy, one-year contract for doctors. The challenge of this vacation time is that we need to be able to determine who to pay, and for what, because the doctors are unwilling to have any means of documenting that they are working. We are going to meet as an executive
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administrative team to try and get this matter because the public is suffering.” On the matter of documenting work hours, Dr Bassett said the union agreed to a reimbursement form under the former PHA board. She said the new board does not recognise the form and is trying to implement “swiping in to be paid”. “The issue with swiping in, as we’ve pointed out before, we have satellite clinics that don’t have the means to account for time that doctors do attend work,” she said. “We leave from the hospital, go to these satellite clinics, there isn’t any means of swiping in there.” The strike follows a mass exercise last year November, when nearly 600 frustrated senior and junior doctors withdrew services over outstanding physician reimbursements and improvements to base salaries. Representatives from the Bahamas Public Service Union, BNU, the Union of Tertiary Educators of the Bahamas, Union of Public Officers and the Trade Union Congress stood in solidarity with the BDU at the hospital yesterday. Obie Ferguson, TUC president, stressed public
holiday pay is a statutory right that was non-negotiable, and called on the government to resolve the matter immediately. On behalf of BNU, Ms Williams said: “We will take a stand, if the nurses have to come off the job, we will do that to take a stand with our congress. We are not playing no jokes. We want the money to be paid to the doctors so the Bahamian people can get quality service as needed today. “So those that are in power, please we don’t want you just to acknowledge, we don’t want you just to call, we want you to make the change today and we will wait patiently and we will stick together like sardines in a can. That’s how we moving. “The doctor can’t work without the nurse, the nurse can’t work without the auxiliary, the auxiliary can’t work without the gardener…we all will shut PMH down and they have concerns all around here. Our workers here are going through a very stressful time. “Air-conditions off, the roof leaking, right now presently you have bins all over the place which is a hazard, mould... look at the workers outside they ready to go,” Ms Williams said.
PAGE 4, Thursday, August 22, 2019
THE TRIBUNE
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NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”
LEON E. H. DUPUCH,
Publisher/Editor 1903-1914
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Frustration for too long - and on both sides IT has been a long time coming – but junior doctors walked out yesterday. Emergency cases are still being covered, but for many other patients, it may mean a case of delayed treatments, closed clinics and frustration. Frustration, of course, is why the doctors have taken strike action in the first place. The dispute between doctors and management has been going on so long that the strike certificate used for yesterday’s action had been authorised last year. The trade dispute dates back to 2014. It’s fair to say that half a decade is a long wait for an end to a dispute. The list of grievances covers many familiar concerns – holiday pay, contract length, disagreements about claims over salary and benefits – but of course if there’s no money in the pot, then it’s hard to share it out. Hearing all that, there is of course some sympathy for doctors who want an end to the drawn-out matter. There is a different side. Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands has some frustrations of his own. He says, for example, that doctors were reluctant to document their working hours. If the employer can’t track working hours, then it becomes difficult to verify overtime, holiday pay, and more. It does show the state of the dispute, however – with sides unable or unwilling to make progress. We agree that resolution to all of this should have happened a long time ago, but it seems we won’t reach a solution any sooner by obstruction. Doctors may feel the losers in all this because of the lack of a solution – but the real losers are those left without treatment while strike action takes place. We hope both sides will realise that yesterday’s action has rung an alarm bell about how deeply upset junior doctors are – but we also hope that they will realise that there doesn’t need to be a repeat of such action. Rather, we hope both sides will sit down and
talk. Find a solution – and bring an end to this long dispute.
We welcome alert while wishing for more
Did Pindling swipe at Wilchcombe?
Marco Archer should have been turning 19 years old this week. Sadly, we all know his life ended far too soon, at the age of 11 after being kidnapped and murdered in 2011. Yesterday saw the signing of the $3.05m contract to implement the MARCO’s Alert system. The hope is that the system will help to prevent the deaths of children in future. It will warn people of a missing child, helping to ensure more eyes on the streets, watching for children in danger. We welcome the alert, and this paper will be sure to help spread the word whenever such an alert is broadcast. There is one thing we would wish, however. The alert system sends alerts to people on their smartphones and other devices – but only to those who have opted in to the system. Our concern is that not enough people might sign up to it for it to make the impact it could in finding missing children. Will people be sufficiently motivated to sign up for the alert as soon as possible? A glance across at the regular appeals for blood that take place at times of emergency, that sometimes struggle to bring in more donations when needed, does raise a concern. Even when faced with urgent need, people can be reluctant to step forward to help. Getting people to sign up for an alert at a time they don’t feel that sense of urgency might be a challenge. We hope the alert makes a real impact. We hope it saves lives. But we do wonder if a compulsory alert might have been possible, rather than one people opt into. Still, that is not the system we have – so for now we urge one thing: sign up to the system when you can. It really could make a difference.
EDITOR, The Tribune.
Basketball helps nation EDITOR, The Tribune. THE 2019 Basketball Summer of Thunder is now history. The mammoth venture cannot go unnoticed. Bahamas Federation President Mario Bowleg and his very hard working executives, exceeded everyone’s expectations for the manner, organisation and the goodly numbers of Division 1 Colleges from the United States and Europe, players and fans that screamed Sports Tourism. A statement by the government to applaud Bowleg and the Federation, would go a long way toward encouraging such an event, and lifting the moral and support in every possible way. Teams filled hotel rooms, transportation, food and other activities that cause plenty money to be dumped into the Bahamian economy, over two weeks. The Ministry of Tourism should show their appreciation for the business. Imagine the financial spinoff? The Minister of Youth
Lanisha Rolle or her representative was noticeably absent. This proves that she is either clueless, insensitive or simply not interested in the magnitude sports has with the development of our youth, building communities and indeed the country. There were many opportunities for some statement from the government to applaud the efforts of the Federation. Especially because of the enormous benefits to Bahamians, there are no reasons why government should not give more support, especially financially, to events such as this. It should be a no brainer, if building the country positively is a priority. Interestingly enough, Leader of the Opposition, Philip Brave Davis, who was well received, attended at least three of the events. Fred Mitchell enjoyed the game with Memphis Tigers playing the Bahamas National Team at Baha Mar. Fortunately the enormous impact was that several teams infiltrated the intercity and was
welcomed by hundreds of excited youth and neighbourhoods. Texas Tech was in Mason Addition, Memphis was Bozine Town and Temple was in Bain Town, where they shared life long experiences. This alone speaks volumes to the tremendous benefit, how this programme impacted our youth and would go a long way toward lifting their spirit and bridging the gap, by affecting one community at a time. They were exposed to what is possible for them, with life lessons of discipline, determination and hard work. We appreciate the efforts of Basketball Federation, Mario Bowleg and his extremely hardworking executives for a very successful Summer of Thunder. “I believe that the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way, show them all the beauty they have inside, give them s sense of pride.” IVOINE INGRAHAM Nassau, August 21, 2019.
W
FOR Monique Pindling, daughter of the late Sir Lynden Pindling, hitching her family’s prominent name to the Brave Wave bandwagon made good political sense. Politics is not entirely altruistic in The Bahamas. With Philip “Brave” Davis being fully entrenched as leader of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) in a no contest election at the party’s convention, Pindling’s full endorsement would be interpreted as political expediency by those on the outside looking in, amid rumours of her harbouring political aspirations. I sincerely believe that Ms Pindling desires to follow in the footsteps of her legendary father. Her ambiguous call for individuals to stop abusing her father’s name at the recent PLP convention is being seen by some political analysts as a subtle swipe at former West End and Bimini MP Obie Wilchcombe, who had invoked Pindling’s name on several occasions leading up to the convention election for the chairmanship position against Fred Mitchell. If the assumption of these politicos is correct, it is difficult to see where Wilchcombe is guilty of abusing Pindling’s name. Obviously Wilchcombe had aimed on ushering in feelings of nostalgia among PLP delegates by mentioning the name of Pindling. But with thousands of Bahamian millennials and generation Y’s who are obviously not sentimentally attached to the
LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net Pindling brand, Wilchcombe’s campaign strategy failed to gain traction with these two youthful demographics within the PLP, as evidenced by Mitchell’s 464 margin of victory over the former tourism minister. With the endorsements of Davis and the Pindling clan for Mitchell, it would’ve taken an act of God for Wilchcombe to gain the upset win. The cards were apparently stacked against him. It will be interesting to watch the race for the nominations in West End and Bimini and Fox Hill, with calls for losing candidates in 2017 to be rejected by the party in 2022. If PLP National Chair Fred Mitchell gets the nod in the latter constituency, while Wilchcombe is rejected in the former, it would then be another classic example of a double standard being unfairly applied to the former tourism minister, as Mitchell also suffered defeat in 2017. For what it’s worth, Pindling’s mild rebuke at the convention must’ve been both disappointing and embarrassing to the Wilchcombe camp. It was an overkill, with an apparent aim at bolstering the Mitchell campaign while weakening Wilchcombe’s. Of all the subjects Pindling had at her disposal, she chose this particular one. One needn’t be a PhD in political science to figure out who Pindling was indirectly addressing. It must’ve
been an awkward situation for the Wilchcombe camp. It would appear that the Pindling clan and the Brave Wave camp went out of their way to make Wilchcombe feel like an outsider in a party he has been a member of for decades; and all because he exercised his democratic right in challenging Mitchell. Wilchcombe is one of the very few PLP MPs who managed to come out of the last Christie administration unscathed. Yet it would appear that he is being punished by the top brass of the organisation he has been devoted to for decades. What’s more, PLP operatives had taken the initiative to write several broadsides on Wilchcombe on social media and on a particular fake news site leading up to the convention. To the best of my knowledge, these operatives have not been reprimanded by the leadership of the party. This is vintage political cannibalism. When Monique Pindling issued a scathing rebuke to the PLP in October 2017 at another convention, former Prime Minister Perry Christie suggested that Pindling should have reprimanded the party in a private setting. I disagree with Christie. However, with her latest scolding, it should have been done privately, as it gives the impression that Wilchcombe is being ruthlessly cannibalised by the party. KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama, July 29, 2019.
Baha Mar vehicles EDITOR, The Tribune. THERE have been previously letters on this issue... unlicensed vehicles of the landscape people at Baha Mar driving on the public road. Are they allowed to drive on the side walk? Surely Baha Mar, or their contractor, can afford to licence them? When will the police at Cable Beach stop this — a daily occurrence? Probably when someone is killed! Whoever it is probably Sandy Port kudos for finally cutting back the casuarinas close to the Sandy Port bridge. Notice they are also cutting back on the side of
the Poop Deck - finally we will see the ocean again. Billboards or billboards and signs – few months back a lot of energy from parks and unauthorised billboards were cut from their foundations and cleared away - they are growing out of the ground. Mr Cartwright, Chair Parks and ting, who has permits and who hasn’t? Now the small stick-in-ground boards, real estate, political parties, cook out folks love them, they put them down but never remove them when their event is over. Pedestrian crossings many on Baha Mar road
need re-painting. Jitneys stop all over the place - the lay-bys are all in the wrong place__ can’t someone put jitney stops to match the main entrances to Hyatt Rosewood and the casino? The yellow stripping designed to slow the speeding drivers needs replenishing — been years now, not effective anymore. Goodman’s Bay- why are we so dirty and refuse to remove the garbage off the public beach? Police start issuing citations please - it is out of hand. ABRAHAM MOSS Nassau, August 18, 2019.
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, August 22, 2019, PAGE 5
MAN SHOT DEAD BY LONE GUNMAN from page one
Supt Shanta Knowles told reporters on the scene last night: “A young man was sitting on a stairway along with others when they were approached by a lone gunman who opened fire in their direction, hitting one of them and fatally wounding him.” The shooting follows a double murder on Monday in the Pinewood Gardens area of best friends Dion Adderley and Dimetrius Dormeus. Police were not linking last night’s incident and said they were investigating both cases on their
own merits. Supt Knowles said: “We are always concerned when anyone loses their life, especially in incidents like this. We will continue to police the streets, we have our operations going – we will not stop those operations. “In fact, we will further increase those operations, but again we are asking the public to partner with us so we can create safer communities.” Anyone with information is asked to contact the Central Detective Unit on 502-9991/2 or Crimestoppers on 328-8477 or the nearest police station.
THE SCENE of the shooting in Martins Close last night.
Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/ Tribune Staff
‘We have to check Turin 2 evidence’ from page one Mr Henfield discussed this probe in an interview with The Tribune yesterday. “The Attorney General spoke adequately to the process,” Mr Henfield said. “As to why we’re doing it, we want to be sure that as a Bahamian people, in the interest of Bahamians, that we have done all that we possibly can to arrive at a place where we’re satisfied with the answers that we’ve received thus far. “And so the Italian law provides that we can, as the Attorney General explained, provides that we can have a third party intervention what can require certain documents from public officials in Italy and have scrutiny of them to objectively, from our perspective, look at the evidence that’s available to us and satisfy ourselves that the evidence is in fact what it ought to be in an instance where we’re hearing findings of accidents. “And that’s basically what we’re trying to do— all that we can in the interest of Bahamians to follow up and satisfy ourselves as a government and as a people, that we’ve done all that we can.” According to some Italian news outlets, results of the autopsies conducted in Italy state drowning as the cause of Ramsey and John’s deaths. Italian police ruled the deaths were accidental
ALRAE RAMSEY AND BLAIR JOHN stating it appeared the men fell into the river; however, family members have rejected these theories. They have urged Bahamian officials not to sweep the matter under the carpet. John’s father, Randolph John, previously told this newspaper he does not accept the autopsy results. He added that if the men indeed drowned, it meant that they were “incapacitated” before being tossed in the river. When asked if the government has received the toxicology report, Mr Henfield replied: “Not yet. Not yet.”
VISAS FOR HAITIANS SUSPENDED BY GOVT from page one quickly as possible. Despite Mr Henfield’s assurance, other high-level government sources said that it did play a part in the decision. Asked for a reaction to the news, activist Louby Georges said the visa suspension is “very shocking” and “very unfortunate”. “If they’re saying it’s a technical issue they’ve found, let’s take it like that for the time being I trust Minister Darren,” he said. “I think the’ve been doing a great job in their capacity and duties in my personal opinion. But to single out Haitians, that may be speaking to something deeper. Had they said they are suspending the issuance of visas on the whole because of technical issues in the system, then it would sound a little better but to say you’re doing it to Haitians, then Houston, I think we have a problem.” Mr Georges said the suspension may affect a large number of people who wish to visit The Bahamas.
“And then they’re cut down in an untimely fashion. And so it’s a matter that we thought bore enough weight. And despite who they are, they’re Bahamians. Despite what their accomplishments might have been and despite what their future sons may have been, they’re Bahamian sons and we want to do all that we can to determine what really happened.” Ramsey, a foreign service officer on study leave in Vienna, was reportedly in Turin on a break. He and his friend, John, were staying at a bed and breakfast at Via la Loggia 2 in Turin. John, a Saint Mary’s University graduate student, was there to attend a psychology conference. Both men attended the same high school, Saint Augustine’s College in New Providence.
Haitian officials arrived in Nassau in July to conduct an investigation into matters at their embassy here. They focused on claims the embassy was involved in getting visas for Haitians and finding fake partners for them to marry to gain status in The Bahamas. Mr Edmond addressed the matter in a report published on Friday by a newspaper in Haiti, Le Nouvelliste. He said said the commission of inquiry confirmed the “‘voluntary or involuntary’ involvement of several diplomats in ‘wrongdoing’.” “The minister notably raised the issue of trafficking of residence visas in The Bahamas, which are issued on the spot through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the capital Nassau,” the newspaper reported, quoting the Haitian foreign minister as saying: “Some people have gone directly through diplomats who have used their influence to help them get the visa.” Mr Edmond bemoaned the stained image of Haiti’s embassy in The Bahamas.
“That’s something that the investigation will look at,” he added. “Toxicology reports, from my mind, and from the doctors that I’ve spoken to in the Cabinet, normally takes quite some time. I don’t know where we are with it in the process and I hope I’m not misspeaking, but I’m not aware that we’ve received it as yet.” On August 9, John’s mother Cathleen Rahming praised the probe in an interview with The Tribune.
She also said her family did not receive the outcome of the toxicology report from Italian authorities. “What we requested of them, I don’t think it was delivered,” Mrs Rahming said at the time. “And I think that may have been one of the reasons why we had to take this route. We got no answers, in other words.” Mr Henfield yesterday underscored the importance of this investigation to the Minnis administration.
“This is a very important matter to the government and to the people of the Bahamas,” he said. “Here we had two very bright young Bahamian men: Blair, a PhD candidate who eventually was posthumously awarded his doctorate. “Ramsey, of course, a young, bright, upcoming foreign service officer on study leave, seeking to further establish his career. Very bright hope for the future in the ministry.
PAGE 6, Thursday, August 22, 2019
THE TRIBUNE
Family shares in Marco milestone By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net ON the eve of what would have been Marco Archer’s 19th birthday, a $3.05m contract was signed between the government and Multimedia Technologies for the MARCO’s Alert system. National Security Minister Marvin Dames yesterday explained citizens can enrol online to receive notifications on their smartphones and other devices for the Mandatory Aggressive Action for Rescuing Children Operation or MARCO’s Alert system. Additionally, electronic billboards will be placed “strategically” throughout New Providence which will also display these notifications. The ceremony took place at Baha Mar yesterday. In attendance were Cabinet ministers and Archer’s family, including his parents and sisters. Eleven-year-old Archer was tragically kidnapped and murdered in September 2011. Archer’s sister, Tancia Humes, described the signing as a “silver lining” for the family. While delivering the keynote address, Mr Dames noted the circumstances surrounding Archer’s kidnapping were “disturbing and terrifying” for the nation, adding he was personally “shocked and outraged” by the tragedy. Both Mr Dames and his relatives noted young Archer had aspirations of one day becoming a police officer, to catch “bad guys”. “While Marco may never suit up in a uniform, Marco’s Law and MARCO’s Alert, both named in his honour, will ensure that he will always play a critical role in assisting the police in arresting the bad guys,” Mr Dames said in his remarks. Mr Dames extended thanks to his ministerial predecessor, the late Dr Bernard Nottage, who was at the “forefront of championing the cause that would see the enactment of Marco’s Law”. He also celebrated Archer’s family, noting his relatives passionately advocated for the passing of
Marco’s Law and remained “actively involved in the creation of the MARCO’S Alert”. “You have turned your loss into activism to ensure that no other family has to endure the sheer terror and pain of losing a child and loved one,” he said of Archer’s loved ones. Mr Dames noted with this signing, the Bahamas officially joined 18 other countries with a child abduction alert modeled after the AMBER Alert system in the United States. He also underscored the importance of rapid response in child abduction cases. “Specifically, the alert will be critical to assisting in the recovery strategies by integrating all of the primary and secondary distribution pathways available, including new wireless capabilities and the traditional alerting protocols. “Furthermore, the MARCO’S Alert will empower the community to work cooperatively with law enforcement and the media to increase the safety of our communities. In addition, all social media and traditional media platforms will be maximised. The main objective is always the safe return of the child.” Speaking to reporters following the ceremony, Mr Dames clarified that the $3.05m contract is signed over a three-year period with Bahamian company Multimedia Technologies. “It’s a notification system, and…you can become a part of it and enrol,” Mr Dames said. “And you will get notifications as to missing persons and what you expect to see too is that you will see electronic billboards placed strategically as well throughout New Providence. “And so you will be able to see notifications on those billboards as well as your smartphones once you enrol. And your desktops - wherever you have electronics and it’s connected to the internet, you will have the ability almost instantaneously to see and get notifications in the quickest possible time.” When pressed as to why enrolling is necessary for the system to function, as opposed to an automatic alert, Mr Dames replied:
‘You enrol. Everyone should be excited now to take part, to enrol. And the sole purpose of this is to send notifications on missing persons’
MARVIN DAMES, Minister of National Security.
MARCO ARCHER should be excited now to become a part, to enrol. And the sole purpose of this is to send notifications on missing persons. “And we will certainly expand that elsewhere as well to use it as an emergency platform. This is an excellent tool. A tool that is long overdue and as a government we’re very pleased to be signing off on it today and there are lots more to come.” Enrolment will be
“It’s not going to just blatantly send out notifications just like that. That’s not how it works the world over. You enrol. Everyone
Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff through the Royal Baha- and we still cry and rememmas Police Force’s website. ber him from day-to-day. Mr Dames added the But now we can smile about implementation of this it as well when we see his system sends a strong mes- face and we think about sage to child predators. back in 2011, now it’s 2019 “It sends the message and we have something to that ‘no longer’. We’re smile about. going to use, not only the “So we’re celebrating full arm or brunt of the Marco today rather than law, but we’re going to use back in the day when we the entire nation to expose were crying about him…we those persons who may celebrate his life and what want to engage in these he has done for the nation.” kinds of activities. When asked what else “And as you well know, her family would like to we would have laid on see done to honour her the table of the House the brother’s legacy and protect sexual offenses regulations other children, Mrs Humes and so we’ll begin work as pointed to the planned sex well to ensure that we tie all offenders registry. of this stuff in to ensure that “Well there’s one thing we are able to maximise it’s that I would think is in true output and effective- the making now, in terms ness. So we’re excited.” of the predators list, the He added the govern- sex offenders list, somement is “committed” to thing like that. Because I protecting the nation’s think it would help for us children, and going after as parents and loved ones sexual predators by using to know who our kids are “whatever means necessary surrounded by: who is their within the framework of neighbours, who is around the law to ensure that these the corner, who to look out persons are exposed and for. So I’m thinking that’s placed where they belong”. the next step from here.” Mrs Humes also spoke Regarding other law with reporters following the enforcement technologies, ceremony. Mr Dames noted the sign“(This) was something ing for the CCTV contract that we were lobbying for will take place on Septemand hoping for for a while ber 4, also with a Bahamian and it’s here,” the mother- company. He added the of-three said. “It’s a silver drones contract will also lining for us. It gives us take place in September some hope and it gives us and the body cams contract comfort and a closure. will be signed “sometime in “It’s still a tragedy for us September”.
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, August 22, 2019, PAGE 7
Girl to testify in rape case By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net THE teenager at the heart of an unlawful sexual intercourse allegation against a former police reservist will give her testimony in open court today. The girl, who was 13 at the time of the incident, will take the witness stand before Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson to say what Dwayne Decosta allegedly did to her on July 18, 2018. According to the evidence, the alleged incident took place in the precincts of the East Street South Police Station. The surveillance footage from cameras situated around the station, as well as from those belonging to the Esso Service Station directly across the street, will also be played in court today. Previously, Superintendent Roberto Goodman said the 13-year-old girl was at the East Street South
Police Station for “safe keeping” when Decosta allegedly committed the act. Supt Goodman, the officer-in-charge of that station, said it was “peculiar” for Decosta to have been alone with the girl as minors would usually sit in the station’s foyer until officers could contact their parents or guardians. Had the girl been in custody, Supt Goodman said, only a female officer would have been allowed to physically interact with her. Supt Goodman said when he met Decosta at the station on July 15, 2018, and told him he was suspected of having unlawful sex with a minor, Decosta told him that he did interact with the girl because he took down some information about an unspecified incident from her. Supt Goodman said Decosta also told him at the time that he saw the girl outside the station at one point, but told her to go back inside.
DWAYNE DECOSTA, former reserve police officer, accused of unlawful sex with a minor.
Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff
POLICE HUNT FOR GUNMAN AFTER LATE-NIGHT SHOOTING By FARRAH JOHNSON
POLICE are investigating after a man was injured in a shooting incident on Tuesday. According to reports, shortly before 10pm the man was at a home on Commonwealth Boulevard in Elizabeth Estates when he was approached by an armed male who shot him
multiple times about the body before fleeing. The injured man was transported to hospital and is said to be in critical condition. Four males have also been taken into custody in connection with three armed robberies which occurred in separate incidences late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
In the first incident, shortly after 10pm on Tuesday, a man and woman were sitting in a Chevy Express van on John F Kennedy Drive when they were approached by two men, one armed with a firearm, who came from a purple Nissan Cube and robbed them of cash and other items. The suspects escaped in the van followed by the
Nissan Cube. A short time later, police officers on patrol on John F Kennedy Drive spotted and stopped the van and arrested one of the suspects. The second suspect escaped by jumping into a nearby lake. Police also recovered a .45 pistol which contained seven rounds of ammunition. In the second
incident, shortly after 1am on Wednesday, a man who was sitting in a black Nissan Cube in the Fort Montagu parking lot, was approached by two armed men who came from a silver Toyota Passo and robbed him of cash and other items before stealing his vehicle and driving away. A short time later, police arrested three adult males on Tonique
Williams-Darling Highway and recovered the stolen vehicle. In the third incident, shortly before 2am, a man was sitting in his vehicle in front of a home on West Street when he was approached by two men, one armed with a firearm, who robbed him of cash and a cell phone before escaping on foot. Investigations are ongoing.
PAGE 8, Thursday, August 22, 2019
THE TRIBUNE
The #MeToo creator changing the world STATESIDE
W
E OFTEN read stories about lottery winners. We read the winner was living a modest life and the unimaginable riches from the lottery will transform his or her life. There is oncein-a-lifetime excitement, then a list of worthy things the person will do with the money. Sometimes, we see accounts of lottery winners after many years. These are mostly sad, even heartwrenching. The winner may have lost everything over time, with unwise investments, bad luck and other poor or misguided decisions. Seldom do such stories recount a happy, successful life after a lottery win. Tarana J Burke must have felt like a lottery winner two years ago. No, she didn’t win a huge amount of money. But she won something much more precious. She won worldwide acceptance for her life’s work. She told her story to an amazed audience the other day. It started in 2005. Burke was working with abused girls in a programme she started in Selma, Alabama. The programme was called “just me.” It was underfunded and almost hidden away, but Burke was determined to make a difference.
“I found that there were lots of forces at work in our society that told black girls they were not worthwhile,” Burke said. “I witnessed the normalization of misconduct. I began to ask myself if human was really possible for these girls. They needed a different kind of attention to build self-esteem and begin to pull themselves up.” Herself a victim of child sexual abuse, Burke said she felt “hobbled by guilt over her own role in that abuse”. The works of justdeceased Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou inspired her struggle and in her efforts to lift others. Burke found that 75 percent of the girls with whom she worked in Selma had experienced sexual violence. Then Burke won what for her was the lottery. In April 2017, in the wake of the revelations of the scandalous behaviour of American movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, Burke’s hashtag earned 15 million responses in 24 hours. Her hashtag was Me Too. This good-natured, undefeatable black woman, originally from New York City, was transformed literally overnight from an anonymous social worker to a worldwide celebrity. As a depressing string of sexual abusers was revealed,
Burke was constantly besieged with requests for comment. “Everyone was asking me if I was surprised by all the responses from all around the world. “No,” she said. “I was simply pleased that people were talking about a subject that was swept under the carpet for generation after generation.” “We’ve all been saturated by all the news coverage of Jeffrey Epstein. What about the girls he abused? Where is all the concern about them? Who cares about what is left of their lives?” Speaking clearly and often emotionally, Burke could poke fun at herself and channel her determined optimism in describing her life. It was clear while listening to this astonishing person that her sense of balance and perspective will enable her to avoid the many perils of sudden fame that will lie ahead. Her ability to maintain her focus on those in peril should pull her through. Epstein, Burke said, “exploited a particular kind of vulnerability. A lot of undoing needs to happen so it’s not OK to be a sexual predator.” Later, Burke reminded her audience that “sexual harassment is not really about sex at all: It’s about power and privilege – and
TARANA BURKE, civil rights activist and creator of the #metoo movement. the abuse of power and privilege”. Weinstein, she continued, was the central part of a system that spun out a lot of money for a lot of people. All those people wanted to protect that system, and so they needed to also protect Weinstein. This gave him cover for many years. “Here’s what it was,” Burke said. “Weinstein’s power to generate wealth meant more to those who made money because of him than any one person’s humanity.” When Burke truly realized what sensations she and her hash tag had become, she said she “panicked! I was freaking out that white people would
get my stuff. Who would believe a 44-year-old black woman from the Bronx started all this stuff?” To deal with her insecurities, Burke looked in the mirror and asked: “Are you going to be who you think you are today? Yes! We are all meant to do God’s work!” Today, not so very long after fame found her, Burke said Me Too has global impact. Though she was herself abused at the age of six, Burke said her hash tag is for men as well as women. “Men are often sexual victims, too,” she said. As the second anniversary of her hash tag passed, Burke lamented that “so
many of us have to live or work where abuse has occurred, and we have to watch as people actively don’t care,” she said. “Too many people just look on from the sidelines.” She finished up with a couple of notes about Democratic presidential candidates. First: “Kirsten Gillibrand is still the only candidate talking about Me Too.” Second, on Joe Biden: “His behaviour, with the touching of women, would make me feel uncomfortable. But I believe he’s basically a good guy. If we cannot tell the best guy in the room that he’s not perfect, how can we progress?”
AMERICAN college football is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, so on the eve of this season, there has been a lot of reporting on the history of the game. ESPN has done some of the most interesting reporting on the college game and part of that is a survey of the top 50 college football programmes of all time. You have one guess as to which programme was ranked at the top. Take a minute. It’s not a trick question. It’s the one that probably popped into your mind first. ESPN’s top college football program in history is… Alabama! The researchers used a variety of measurements, but in the end a programme so dominant figures to be ranked at the top of the list. With 15 titles in the past 95 years and an astounding five championships in just the past decade under Nick Saban, the Crimson Tide are the easy pick as the best American college football programme ever. We’re not going to name all 50 colleges and universities on the list. But some are notable. Ranked second behind
Alabama is Notre Dame. If it weren’t for Alabama’s amazing record in recent years, the Irish would be ranked at the top, far outdistancing every other team. But the past 25 years haven’t seen any titles and not much special success. Ohio State is third. The Buckeyes are also rated the top programme during the past 50 years, never mind Alabama’s success during this decade. The rest of the top ten are Oklahoma, Southern California, Michigan, Yale, Nebraska, Texas, and North Dakota State. Wait a minute! Yale? North Dakota State? Yale plays in the Division III Ivy League, and whoever thought of football prowess in connection with the Elis or the Bison? Well, Carson Wentz, the stud young quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, did play at North Dakota State and won some Division I-AA championships there. And the Bison absolutely dominated then Division II from 1965-1990. They won a lot. As for Yale, even considering this poll is weighted in favour of more recent predominance, the Elis have
a very strong gridiron history. They played Princeton on the first Thanksgiving Day game in 1893 in Manhattan, and through World War II, they remained a powerhouse. In fact, they led the nation in total victories until just a few years ago when Michigan overtook them. Yale has won 18 national championships – three more than Alabama. Other surprises in the Top 25 include fellow Ivy Leaguers Princeton, which played in the first ever college game all those 150 years ago, is ranked number 11. The Tigers have won 15 national championships. There is also Harvard, which checks in at number 13, with eight national titles. Princeton and the Crimson bracket Penn State, sitting at number 12. Division III Mount Union, in Ohio, is rated number 16. The Purple Raiders won 24 straight conference titles before being dethroned three years ago. They once won 99 out of 100 games. Many Bahamians will be familiar with number 18 rated St. Johns of Minnesota, which won four national titles and 465 games during the 50-year tenure of head coach John Gagliardi. There are numerous alumni here. Also of local interest, the three Florida football giants are all ranked in the Top 21: Miami checks in at number 17, Florida State at 19 and Florida at 21. Georgia is 22, and last year’s champs, Clemson, are at number 24. Clemson figures to move up the list and keep piling up wins in the next few years, while many of the others on this list should keep winning, too. A history of success in college football seems to endure for many big teams, as the rich get richer every year.
IT’S ALL IN THE RECORDS
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, August 22, 2019, PAGE 9
Elderly’s plight when power supply goes off from page one find the oxygen tank to connect the person up because their life depends on it. We have more than one person who are depending on oxygen in here. Most of our patients came straight from the hospital here. “While we understand and feel what is going on with BPL I’ll use an old phrase, while the grass is growing the horse is starving and I say that to say we need to get it sorted out quick, fast and in a hurry and not just for Pat’s Senior Citizens Home but for all over Nassau. People are hurting big time so I’m asking the powers (that be) to really, let’s get it together. Let’s deal with the people first and everything else is secondary.” She added: “As you can see when you all were coming in, (they were) throwing out lettuce, tomatoes and plantains - stuff that spoil because of the load shedding.” Mrs Moxey said financially the home is “in a hole” and due to the frequent power cuts, she had to hire more staff. “I had to bring on more employees to make sure facilitate whenever the electricity goes off that everyone is taken care of right away. Oxygen is their life so that’s where we are with that. It is really hard for me to put a figure to it at this time and I would have to sit down, but I know the figure is way up there. I had to bring in portable air-conditioner so it’s very hard,” she explained. “Just a week or two ago I had to purchase a generator
and with the maintenance and everything it’s running us $40,000 - so you could imagine $40,000 at this time and that only powers this particular portion the unisex portion of Pat’s Senior Citizens Home, so we are really hurting. Like I said I feel for BPL, but BPL have to feel for the people.” Mr Davis said his team thought to visit the home to hopefully “sensitise the government of the urgency of addressing the issues of BPL”. He said: “We have challenges like this and sadly this is not just about Pat’s Senior Citizens Home, there are other senior citizen homes that hopefully I would be able to visit and to see what’s happening to our elderly. Because it is an excruciating time for our elderly and no doubt our young people. “Hopefully this visit, once it’s properly put in the public domain, we will excite this government to do what is right and attend with the urgency that’s required to the needs of our people. As Pat has said it’s not about BPL, it’s about the people and getting it right for the people,” he added. Mr Davis said the government ought to look at places like Pat’s and come to their aid. He said: “As you would have heard here, there (is) medicine that has to be refrigerated, you need electricity to power the fridge to preserve medicine that has caused some challenges here. The fact that they had to as you would have seen this morning discard so much of their food because
PLP Philip ‘Brave’ Davis during his walkabout at Pat’s Senior Citizens Home. Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff of the lack of power - I’m also advised that you lost a refrigerator as well during this ordeal. I wonder how they are going to be compensated for it. “Give some compensation to help them here to assist for example by sending some workers here to help during this period of time and perhaps assisting with the maintenance of the place.” He added: “Something has to happen to help persons with a good heart like Patricia Moxey who is doing her best 24 hours
‘WE SHOULDN’T HAVE HIRED US TEAM TO FIX POWER ISSUES’ By RIEL MAJOR Tribune Staff Reporter rmajor@tribunemedia.net A FORMER Bahamas Electricity Corporation chairman yesterday slammed the government’s decision to hire a six-man team of American specialists to address the power generation issues at Bahamas Power and Light. Leslie Miller, a former MP and Cabinet minister, said the government’s decision to bring in specialists from the United States “made no sense.” Mr Miller explained: “The engines are European made engines; they’re not American engines, so those guys only came for a trip to look around. That’s all they came for, that’s the facts. We have to get it right. “Nothing like this could have happened under the watch of Mr Davis who is in charge,” he said, referring to former Minister of Works Philip Davis. “He would have not allowed it to happen because the first thing he would have said was ‘Leslie get the team, get the guys out of Europe, come here immediately and let’s get these engines back up and running.’ That’s what you do and that’s what he did.” He added: “He told them from the beginning get Clifton right and we did for $15m to $20m and you all can speak for yourself. You had little problems after we been there for about six months - little problems. That was because the minister made us do what was necessary. He gave us the funding to get it done and that’s what you have to do as a government.” When asked what he would have done to resolve the problem, Mr Miller said: “Start off where the problem started get you two engines fixed.” “That’s going to give you 63 megawatts of power that was necessary and if you follow the plan that
FORMER BEC chairman Leslie Miller speaking to the media. the minister left in place with the 120 megawatts of power and had followed the plan with the LNG terminal that we was going to be put out at Arawak Cay this problem would have been solved. “These guys had two and a half years to do this you know but what happened the first board something went wrong with who they wanted to pick; you got rid of that board and so you are starting from scratch. It’s the lack continuity to get things done properly.” He also expressed concern the government will borrow unnecessary money to prop up BPL. “The minister of finance say they would spare no money, so he gone go crazy now, go borrow one $100m from the IDB which is right here in Nassau, do away with all our money that is not necessary,” he speculated. “That’s what gone happen now because they are panicking, don’t panic. Get the engines fixed, get the guys from Europe and the Dominican Republic who we always get.” Finance Minister Peter Turnquest has not given a figure for possible borrowing to find a short-term fix for BPL’s problems. A new $95 power plant is expected to come on stream in December. BPL has been load shedding since June 19 and officials have said the problem could persist into the
fall months. However power generation issues have plagued BPL – a subsidiary of BEC – for decades. Load shedding and power cuts were a vexing concern during the last Christie administration, when Mr Miller served as executive chairman of BEC. However the Progressive Liberal Party has maintained it had plans in place for long-term solutions and has accused the Minnis administration of not following them. Last week, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis expressed deep unhappiness with the state of power generation in New Providence, calling it unacceptable. He revealed that BPL officials briefed Cabinet about its short-term plan to provide relief to residents and businesses. That plan includes returning to service an additional nine megawatts of power from BPL’s Aggreko units, he said. He added: “A six-man team of specialists from Philadelphia Gear is here on New Providence. The team has started working with the intention of returning an additional 20 megawatts of power to service at the Baillou Hills Power Plant. For context, BPL’s peak demand is 250 megawatts and is currently experiencing a 40-megawatt shortfall. BPL will notify the public as additional generation capacity is operational.”
a day, seven days a week with such a huge overhead. She’s doing something that as a government ought to be encouraging, facilitating and supporting to the fullest.” Mr Davis presented Ms Moxey with two battery operated fans as a donation on behalf of Quality Home Centre. On Tuesday, Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest said no finances will be spared if the government finds a feasible short-term solution to BPL’s power generation woes.
ST Pat’s Senior Citizens Home director Patricia Moxey is presented with portable battery powered fans by PLP leader Philip ‘Brave’ Davis.
PAGE 10, Thursday, August 22, 2019
THE TRIBUNE
Doctors Hospital - a little diamond in the rough INVESTORS should take a close look at Doctors Hospital Health System (DHS), our only non-Government full-service medical centre. DHS has never attracted much attention because of its small market capitalisation ten million shares outstanding, trading at about $2.20 per share. But its recent Annual Report for the fiscal year to January 31, 2019 (released in June) should be required reading for it is positive news. Net income increased 67 percent from $2.405m in 2018 to $4.040m in 2019, with earnings per share rising from $0.24 to $0.41. This is not a one-year accounting fluke: in the six years 2014-2019, revenue rose from $48m to $60m, with net income growing from a small loss to the positive $4.040m. In addition to an increase in patient days by more than 16 percent, last year’s improved financial picture resulted from one major factor: better management of receivables due from self-pay patients and from health insurance companies. The loss allowance expense dropped from over $2.5m to $470 thousand. Clearly, better control systems had been put in place. DFS illustrates the story of a successful venture founded as a personal dream. The late Dr Meyer Rassin (1909-1989) came
to The Bahamas as an RAF surgeon serving the thousands of pilots training here during World War II. He and his wife returned in peacetime to establish the Rassin Clinic, where he was the hard-boiled care-giver to many Bahamians. Their son Barry took a degree in hospital administration and inherited the business, expanding it to become the present Doctors Hospital and serving as chief executive, while recruiting our leading physicians and medical staff. In 2000, DHS launched a public offering of its shares, sold mainly to its staff MDs. The early years as a public company listed on BISX left disappointed investors facing slow capital growth and minimum dividends, but modern medical systems and business management principles have reversed the
trend, as shown by the published figures. Following his growing interest in leading Rotary International, Barry resigned from any executive role and sold his equity stake to Bahamian Dr Charles Diggis, a long-time surgeon and successful medical entrepreneur, who is the Hospital’s president and chief medical officer. Last year, the board elected a new chairman, renowned businessman Felix Stubbs who had retired after many years of leading IBM’s local operation. Dennis Deveaux, a chartered accountant and former KPMG partner, was hired as the first full-time chief financial officer, keeping immediate computer surveillance over charts of patients‘ receivable accounts. Growth of any hospital’s earning is limited by size - number of rooms available for patient
OIL IN THE BAHAMAS
THE prospect of oil being extracted or refined in The Bahamas has ardent supporters, opposed by intractable critics. Two very different ventures are the targets of their scrutiny, one transparent, the other opaque. The first is Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC), founded over ten years ago by
offshore investors, primarily UK investment funds, to explore once again the presence of undersea oil deposits in Bahamian waters. They have spent possibly $70m, without a penny of Government funds, investigating a potentially productive zone southwest of Andros near the maritime Cuban border.
This has paid for extensive geographical and seismic research, leading to Government granting licences (now extended to end 2020) for drilling in five precise locations, as well as the cost of Environmental Impact and Mitigation studies, and expenses of a small Nassau office with resident managing director, Simon Potter.
service. Constricted in its present location, the DHS board last year decided to build a separate unit. The board detected a strong demand for lower-cost, longer-residency, treatment for patients in a recovery mode, and architects’ plans have now been completed for a 30-room skilled nursing facility to be called Doctors Hospital Harbourside. Scheduled to open in early 2021, construction is being financed by bank borrowing The balance sheet now carries longterm debt of about $4m, but this stands against equity of $35.6m and should be easily serviced.
Since BPC’s parent company is registered in the Isle of Man - and its shares are listed on London’s alternative exchange for smaller companies - every detail of BPC’s ownership, operations and finances is publicly reported. Mr. Potter has always made clear BPC’s success depends on finding oil in commercial quantities, and this requires a major oil company joining as a farm-out partner to provide the capital for
In recent months, the DHS share price quoted on BISX has risen about 20 cents to $2.40, a welcome increase but still giving a price/earnings ratio of only 6X, absurdly low for a profitable dividend-paying company with well planned prospects for future growth. DHS bargain-price shares could be snapped up, if only our broker-dealers ever recommended them. Although DHS faces far fewer problems than our public health system, we wonder if its proven management expertise could not be adapted to help Princess Margaret Hospital.
drilling . BPC’s only income has been a $1 million option payment received in 2018 from such a major, who chose not to exercise on the option’s termination. Mr. Potter and his fellow directors are working hard to sign up a similar investor. In his progress report of April 28 when WTI oil was trading at $65, he forecast a “sustained recovery in oil prices”, but unfortunately there’s been a downward to the mid-$50s.
The lower the price, the less incentive there is for investment in new fields like The Bahamas. I continue to hope that market conditions will reverse so that BPC can find oil and operate profitably. Its sharing agreement with Government could bring substantial revenue to our Treasury, far outweighing the highly theoretical risks from an oil spill that so deeply concern our vociferous environmental lobby.
AND THEN THERE’S OBAN OUR second oil-related venture is Oban Energies, a very different animal. The Heads Of Agreement signed in February 2018 contemplated importing foreign crude oil to a Grand Bahamas facility where it would be stored, refined and shipped to buyers in the US and elsewhere, an ambitious scheme projected to cost no less than $5bn. This HOA soon had be disavowed by our Government, at great embarrassment to Prime Minister Minnis. The Oban chairman and later its CEO were both quick to depart. Nevertheless, Oban’s name continues to pop up, run out of its Florida suitcase office in Palm Beach Gardens. A public meeting was held in Freeport last year, at which a recruited crowd of Bahamians spoke
favourably, based on promises of employment in construction and subsequent operations. Meanwhile, the Bahamas National Trust expressed its implacable objection because of threatened environmental damage to several parks and nature preserves A Government committee headed by Labour Minister Dion Foulkes has continued to negotiate with a young man whom I have met named Alexander Grikitis, identified as Oban’s president and managing director. Mr Grikitis makes periodic public statements about great progress in creating a new HOA and Environmental Impact Statement and resolving business and financial issues, although we have
not heard the results of any meetings, if actually held. The Oban website carries the names of qualified foreign experts with the ambiguous title of senior advisory director, but these gentlemen have remained invisible. Oban has never given the slightest hint about the identity of any company or investor backing its activity or paying its expenses, let alone providing or capable of borrowing the vast capital needed to build its project. These profound uncertainties precede any expectation about easing environmental concerns. The 1983 James Bond film “Never Say Never Again” was partly shot in The Bahamas. Oban may now be facing a real-life Bahamian “never”.
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, August 22, 2019, PAGE 11
Woman who fell on dock must pay costs By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS Ferries Limited has been absolved of a Supreme Court order to pay a woman $10,000 in damages because she slipped and fell on a rainsoaked deck of one of its vessels six years ago. The Court of Appeal set aside the previous court order for Bahamas Ferries to pay Charlene Rahming for the injuries she suffered when she slipped and fell while boarding the Seawind in August 2013. And though expressing “much reluctance” in reversing the decision, the appellate court said Ms Rahming must now pay all legal costs associated with both the appeal process and the trial in the Supreme Court. According to the ruling, on or about August 9, 2013, Ms Rahming was due to
travel from Fresh Creek, Andros to Potter’s Cay Dock in New Providence. It had started raining when she attempted to board the Seawind and the deck had become wet and slippery. The evidence was that she waited for about 30 minutes before the Seawind’s crew members invited her to start boarding. While alighting from the ramp to the boat’s deck, Ms Rahming slipped and fell, injuring her right leg in the process. According to the ruling, Ms Rahming fell “even with the assistance of a crew member”. Ms Rahming consequently sued Bahamas Ferries for negligence, asserting the accident was caused by its breach of the duty of care it owed her as a passenger. To be more specific, she asserted the company failed to warn her the boat was wet; failed to place any
warning signs on deck; failed to place a mat on the deck; failed to instruct its employees, servants or agents to dry the deck; and failed to instal any adequate safety mechanisms in the event the deck would get wet. At the time, the trial judge found Bahamas Ferries was in fact in breach of its duty of care. The judge said while it appeared “unreasonable and unrealistic” to have expected the Seawind’s crew to place warning signs and mats on deck and “mop constantly during a downpour of heavy rain”, the company could have “delayed the boarding of passengers until the rain had subsided and to mop the deck thereafter to ensure safety to all passengers”. The trial judge also said the fact other passengers boarded the boat without falling was “neither here or there”. Instead, the judge
said Seawind was apparently “in a haste to depart on time” since its crew was “inviting members to accelerate their pace” of boarding. As a result, the trial judge attributed “full negligence” to Bahamas Ferries, stressing that “as boat owners, they ought to exercise reasonable care to prevent injuries to passengers”. Bahamas Ferries appealed the decision on 19 grounds. The appellate judges said in their judgement, the trial judge was correct to find Bahamas Ferries was under a “duty at common law to take reasonable care to prevent injuries” to Ms Rahming. However, the appellate judges said the “real difficulty” in the trial judge’s decision is her finding of negligence was not one that was pleaded by Ms Rahming. Thus, the appellate judges
SEVEN ACCUSED OF ILLEGAL LANDING By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net SEVEN foreign nationals discovered in an apartment unit in the Lucaya area with four other undocumented migrants were charged in the Freeport Magistrate’s Court this week with illegal landing. Six males from India and one Haitian male appeared before Magistrate Charlton Smith on Monday. They pleaded guilty to illegal landing. On Sunday, August 18, immigration officials, acting on information, proceeded to Riveria Villas in the Lucaya area. Immigration officers, armed with a search warrant, discovered 11 men in
a unit who were allegedly making preparations to be smuggled to the United States. As a result six Indians, four Brazilians, and one Haitian were taken into custody after it was found that they were in the country illegally. The seven men who pleaded guilty were all convicted and each fined $300 or in default, ordered to serve two months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. The men paid the fine and were turned over to immigration officials. They were flown with the four Brazilians to New Providence to be detained at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre to await repatriation to their home country.
FOREIGN nationals who were detained in the Lucaya area.
said the trial judge rejected Ms Rahming’s claims of negligence, and instead “founded liability” on a ground that was not pleaded in her statement of claim. And that, the appellate judges said, was “not proper and manifestly unfair” to Bahamas Ferries. “There was no assertion that it was negligent in failing to delay boarding because of the rain,” the appellate judges said. “If that had been the case (Bahamas Ferries) may have been able to lead evidence explaining why it did not delay further the boarding process or stop (Ms Rahming) from attempting to board. Concerning Ms Rahming’s evidence at trial that it was raining when she got to the boat and had waited for some 30 minutes before being invited to board, the appellate judges said: “On that evidence (Bahamas Ferries) had in fact delayed
the (Ms Rahming’s) boarding for a period of time. “There was no evidential basis for the finding that (Ms Rahming’s) boarding at that time was unreasonable or that the appellant was negligent in not delaying the boarding further. “The mere fact that a passenger is permitted to board a vessel whilst it is raining is not by itself evidence of negligence,” the appellate judges added. “There could of course have been reasons why the boarding was not delayed further. But given that there was not that plea of negligence, (Bahamas Ferries) could not be faulted for failing to lead that evidence at the trial.” Thus, the appellate judges unanimously allowed Bahamas Ferries appeal “because the manner in which the court found that the accident occurred was inconsistent with the pleaded case”.
PAGE 12, Thursday, August 22, 2019
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UK diplomat takes up post
THE NEW High Commissioner to The Bahamas from the UK, Sarah Dickson, meets Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis to present her letter of introduction.
THE government is looking forward to deepening its relationship with the United Kingdom, especially in the areas of education, climate and security, according to Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis. His comments came in a statement released by the Office of the Prime Minister shortly after Dr Minnis met the UK’s new High Commissioner to The Bahamas, Sarah Dickson, who presented her letter of introduction yesterday. The presentation of the letter and subsequent meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister signalled the reopening of the British High Commission in Nassau after 14 years. Mrs Dickson’s letter of introduction from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson noted the UK’s intention to maintain “the relations
of close friendship which so happily exist” between both countries. The High Commissioner also expressed her enthusiasm in being appointed to reopen and head the UK’s mission to The Bahamas. “It is a great pleasure and honour to serve in this beautiful island nation as British high commissioner,” Mrs Dickson said, according to a statement released by her office. She commented that both countries have a long shared history; common values such as democracy and the rule of law; and similar interests including protecting the environment and promoting trade. She also noted that the reopening of the UK’s mission in Nassau allows both countries “to supercharge our historic friendship as partners in the Commonwealth whilst signalling the UK’s commitment to being truly global”. “I’ve been warmly received since officially arriving in The Bahamas,” she added. “Everyone I have met has been kind and friendly. I am confident that the relationship and ties between our two countries will strengthen as a result of reopening the High Commission.” In a separate statement
THE UK High Commissioner to The Bahamas, Sarah Dickson from OPM, it was noted that the government looks forward to enhanced relations with the UK, including trade and economic relations. “With the resident presence of the United Kingdom in The Bahamas, we look forward to further deepening and strengthening of our relations, especially in the areas of education, climate and security,” Dr Minnis said. The High Commissioner has served the British Diplomatic Service for more than 20 years. Her last
diplomatic appointment was as UK ambassador to Guatemala and Honduras. She has also served in Spain, Argentina and Yugoslavia; as well as various appointments in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. Mrs Dickson has just returned from a role as international director at the Scotch Whisky Association supporting British exports around the world. The High Commissioner will be accompanied by her husband and two children during her posting to The Bahamas.
FOUR MARIJUANA FIELDS DISCOVERED By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net FOUR separate marijuana fields were discovered this week in East Grand Bahama, totaling over 800 plants with an estimated street value of $80,000, a senior police official reported. Assistant Superintendent of Police Terecita Pinder said Drug Enforcement Unit officers, acting on intelligence, went to bushes off Grand Bahama Highway where they found four separate plots of
marijuana plants. According to police, the plants were six inches to two feet in height. ASP Pinder said officers uprooted and collected 806 plants. She said that no arrest was made, and investigations are continuing into the matter. Meanwhile, Bimini police are investigating circumstances involving an American visitor who reportedly drowned on Tuesday while swimming
with others in waters near Cat Cay. According to reports, the man was on board a 2010 80ft Preshing yacht with five other people. The vessel was anchored in the area of Honey Moon Harbour. ASP Pinder reported that the man was swimming when he began experiencing difficulties. He was recovered from the water unresponsive and taken to Cat Cay Clinic, where he was pronounced dead by a doctor.
PAGE 14, Thursday, August 22, 2019
MERKEL HINTS AT NEGOTIATED BREXIT DEAL
LITTLE APPLAUSE FOR POLICE CHANGES AFTER GARNER DEATH
BERLIN Associated Press GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel raised the possibility that a negotiated departure for Britain from the European Union might still be possible even as the clock is ticking on a deal that would satisfy both sides. Speaking yesterday alongside UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson before the two leaders held bilateral talks in Berlin, Merkel indicated that a solution for the contentious Irish border issue might yet be reached before the Brexit date of October 31. “(We) might be able to find it in the next 30 days, why not?” Merkel told reporters. Her comments marked a departure from the pessimism that’s prevailed on both sides of the English Channel in recent months. The EU has ruled out renegotiating the Brexit agreement hammered out with Britain last year. Johnson, for his part, says he will take Britain out of the bloc at the end of October without a deal unless the EU scraps the contentious backstop clause designed to prevent customs checkpoints along the Irish border.
DOUG Brinson collects candles to prevent a fire at the make-shift memorial where Eric Garner died in a police chokehold five years ago, in the Staten Island borough of New York. Photo: Richard Drew/AP NEW YORK Associated Press A POLICE cruiser constantly sits a few feet from a small floral memorial to Eric Garner on the Staten Island sidewalk where he spent his dying moments five years ago. Tompkinsville Park, which police were targeting for patrols when they encountered Garner selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, remains a gathering place for desperate people. Expletives flew on a recent hot afternoon as park regulars discussed everything from drugs and mental illness to jail conditions and the bail paid so they could sit on a park bench. It was the day after Police Commissioner James O’Neill announced his decision to fire the white officer who put Garner in a chokehold, hastening his death and making the man’s dying words, “I can’t breathe,” a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement. “If the police are here, they just move to the other side of the park and do their business there,” said long-time resident Lisa Soto, taking a long drag from a cigarette. “They sell everything here. Nothing has changed.” That may be, some residents say, because police officers are now much more careful about how they interact with the public — more cautious when dealing
TRUMP SAYS ‘I AM THE CHOSEN ONE’ WASHINGTON Associated Press KING of Israel? The second coming? The chosen one? President Donald Trump is known to have a healthy ego. But a string of comments yesterday went to a higher level. First, Trump thanked conservative radio host and supporter Wayne Allyn Root for his praise. In a tweet, Trump quoted Root calling the president “the best president for Israel in the history of the world” and claiming Jewish people in Israel love Trump “like he’s the King of Israel. They love him like he’s the second coming of God.” The messianic imagery may have stuck in Trump’s head. Later in the day, as the president was defending his trade war with China, he cast himself as a reluctant warrior. Somebody had to do it and he was the one, he told reporters. “I am the chosen one,” he said, turning and looking up to the sky. “Somebody had to do it.”
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with suspects and less likely to bother with the kind of nuisance enforcement that was a priority five years ago. “When you give a lot of leeway like that, the place becomes lawless,” said resident Doug Brinson. “It’s been lawless for five years. Five years people do what they want to do on this block. Five years straight.” Bert Bernan, a former construction worker on disability, said respect for the police has plummeted and he sees crime as having risen in the neighborhood where he grew up in the 1960s. “I remember, me and my friends, if we were goofing off on the corner and the cop waved a nightstick at you, you knew, get the hell off the corner and don’t give him any lip,” Bernan said. “Back then, you didn’t have hoodlums hanging out on street corners; what we have here is a disgrace.” Garner’s death five summers ago was an inflection point for the New York Police Department. Caught on video, the fatal encounter between Garner, a black man, and Officer Daniel Pantaleo led the nation’s largest police force to train officers to de-escalate confrontations and to reassess how interact with the public. A bystander’s cellphone video showed Pantaleo wrapping his arm around Garner’s neck and taking him to the ground with a
banned chokehold near where the Staten Island Ferry takes commuters and tourists to and from Manhattan. After Garner’s death, the police department required all 36,000 officers to undergo three days of training, including classes focused on de-escalation. Last year, it began training officers on fair and impartial policing, teaching them to recognise biases and rely on facts, not racial stereotypes. In March, it finished outfitting all patrol officers with body cameras. And the department now requires officers to detail the actions they took each time they used force — not just when they fired their gun. Following a court ruling and a policy shift, the city dramatically reduced officers’ use of stop and frisk, a practice in which officers stop people on the streets and search them for weapons. In 2011, the NYPD reported 685,724 such stops. Last year, there were about 11,000. “That has led to hundreds of thousands of fewer police-civilian encounters, each of which has the potential to escalate into something like what happened to Eric Garner,” said Christopher Dunn, a lawyer with the New York Civil Liberties Union. Mayor Bill de Blasio said his priority for the department is to ensure something like Garner’s death never happens again.
“The NYPD of today is a different institution than it was just a few years ago,” de Blasio said on Monday after the department fired Pantaleo. “I know the NYPD has changed profoundly. I know that members of the NYPD learned the lessons of this tragedy.” In his reaction to Pantaleo’s firing, the head of the city’s main police union noted a retreat some Staten Island residents say they’re already seeing. “Right now, nothing’s really getting enforced,” said Pat Lynch, the head of the Police Benevolent Association. “What’s happening is, the public calls 911 and we respond. Quality-of-life issues are not being enforced. If it is enforced, the district attorneys’ offices are throwing them out and downgrading them. The message is clear: Don’t go out and do your job.” In the years since Garner’s death, use-of-force complaints against the NYPD have fallen sharply, according to data compiled by the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board. In 2014, there were 2,412. In 2018, there were 1,752, marking a 27% drop. A study released in February showed the NYPD had been sued for misconduct 10,656 times in the last five years and paid $361.5m in settlements. The city paid Garner’s family $5.9m in 2015 to settle a wrongful death claim.
US GOVT SEEKS TO LIFT LIMITS ON CHILD DETENTION WASHINGTON Associated Press
THE Trump administration is moving to end a federal agreement that limits how long immigrant children can be kept in detention. A court fight will
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almost certainly follow over the government’s desire to hold migrant families until their cases are decided. The current settlement overseen by the federal courts now requires the government to keep children in the least restrictive setting and to release them as quickly as possible, generally after 20 days in detention. Homeland Security officials say they are adopting their own regulations that reflect the “Flores agreement,” which has been in effect since 1997, and there
is no longer a need for court involvement, which was only meant to be temporary. But the new rules would allow the government to hold families in detention much longer than 20 days. It is the latest effort by the administration to tighten immigration, President Donald Trump’s signature issue, and is aimed at restricting the movement of asylum seekers in the country and deterring more migrants from crossing the border. The news immediately generated fresh
outrage, following reports of dire conditions in detention facilities, and it is questionable whether courts will let the administration move forward with the policy. Trump defended the decision, saying: “I’m the one that kept the families together.” But immigrant advocates decried it, and said prolonged detention would traumatise immigrant children. “The government should not be jailing kids, and certainly shouldn’t be seeking to put more kids in jail for
longer,” Madhuri Grewal, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. Peter Schey, a lawyer for the immigrant children in the Flores case and president of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, said if the regulations don’t match the settlement in that case, “they would be in immediate material breach, if not contempt of court.” “I think all these things are now part of the 2020 campaign,” Schey said. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said the regulations create higher standards to govern family detention facilities. The facilities will be regularly audited, and the audits made public. The regulations are expected to be formally published tomorrow and go into effect in 60 days absent legal challenges. Holly Cooper, co-director of the immigration law clinic at University of California, Davis and a lawyer in the Flores case, said attorneys haven’t seen the final rule and will have a week to brief a federal judge, who will weigh whether they are consistent with the settlement. The government’s proposed rule, she said, wouldn’t have let lawyers monitor conditions in border facilities and would have dramatically changed how long children could be detained and the standards for their care. “We’re going to have a world that looks a lot like the internment of families and children, where we have basically regularised prison as a default for families seeking political asylum in this country,” she said.
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‘The Bahamas’ own street philosopher’
Thursday, August 22, 2019, PAGE 15