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GOVT SLAMMED OVER REPORTS OF $12M BUDGET FOR POTTER’S CAY

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net AS work associated with the Potter’s Cay Dock redevelopment continues to progress, members of the Free National Movement and the Democratic National Alliance yesterday spoke out against reports that costs could balloon to as much as SEE PAGE SIX

Long Island MP FIRST CLASS DIPLOMA FOR GOLDEN GIRL SHAUNAE ‘not concerned’ about challenge for her seat

By SANCHESKA DORSETT Tribune Staff Reporter sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

LONG Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner said yesterday she is “not at all concerned” about or afraid of a possible challenge for her seat by Fort Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins.

In fact, Mrs Butler-Turner said if the people of Long Island want “bad, lackluster” representation, “they are free” to have Dr Rollins.

In an interview with The Tribune, Mrs Butler-Turner said she has gone above and beyond for the people of Long Island and urged her constituents to “speak with” the people of Fort Charlotte “to see just what they think” of their current member of Parliament.

On Thursday, Dr Rollins, a member of the Free National Movement, said he would challenge Mrs Butler-Turner as an independent candidate if the voters on the island urge him to do SEE PAGE SIX

DIONISIO D’AGUILAR SET TO BE RATIFIED BY FNM FOR MONTAGU

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE Free National Movement is moving ahead with plans to ratify businessman Dionisio D’Aguilar in the Montagu constituency, the seat currently held

by Richard Lightbourn, according to several sources within the party.

Fuelling reports that Mr Lightbourn has already been notified of the party’s intent to venture in a new direction with the Montagu seat, a source with knowledge of the party’s selection process said the FNM had “zeroed in” on the SEE PAGE SIX

OLYMPIC gold medal-winner Shaunae Miller receives a diploma from Minister of Sport Daniel Johnson at the Meliá Resort yesterday. Athletes from the Bahamas Olympic team enjoyed their official celebration at the hotel and received diplomas from the Bahamas Olympic Committee for their ‘outstanding performances’ at the Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro. See Sports Section Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune staff

POLICE ARREST SUSPECTED ‘GUN POLICE STILL INVESTIGATING TRAFFICKING MASTERMIND’ CRASH THAT KILLED MARINE DIONISIO D’AGUILAR

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By SANCHESKA DORSETT Tribune Staff Reporter sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

POLICE arrested a man on Friday who they believe to be the “mastermind behind a major gun trafficking ring” after he was found in possession of eight illegal firearms and nearly 600 rounds of ammunition.

Police also confiscated nearly $11,000 they suspect to be the proceeds from crime.

According to reports, around 5pm a team led by officers from the Firearms Tracing and Investigations Unit, acting on intelligence, went to a business off Mount Royal Avenue where they saw a suspi-

cious man come out with two small boxes.

The officers approached the man and during a search of the boxes, they uncovered four pistols and nearly 300 assorted rounds of .380, 9 millimetre and 7.62 ammunition.

The officers then conducted a search of the establishment and uncovered a 7.62 assault rifle, two pistols, and a revolver along with almost 300 rounds of assorted ammunition.

The man was subsequently arrested and is assisting police with investigations into this major seizure.

Police suspect the arrested man to be the mastermind behind a major firearms trafficking ring, SEE PAGE SIX

By SANCHESKA DORSETT Tribune Staff Reporter sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

POLICE are still unsure what caused a deadly traffic accident on Coral Harbour Road on Friday afternoon that killed a Royal Bahamas Defence Force marine and left another man fighting for his life in hospital.

Officer-in-charge of the Traffic Division, Assistant Superintendent Craig Stubbs said police are hoping to speak today with the surviving victim, who is in the Intensive Care Unit at Doctors Hospital.

ASP Stubbs said the impact of the crash was so forceful that the car hit two coconut trees, collided into a wall and then went

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airborne before hitting a church and landing on its roof. The passenger of the vehicle was killed instantly.

Police have not released the identity of the victim, but The Tribune understands he is 24-year-old marine mechanic Roger Smith.

“We are still trying to put together what happened and are still actively investigating the scene,” ASP Stubbs said.

“We are hearing so many stories about how the accident happened and we are hoping to speak with the driver of the vehicle on Monday. From what we know from the physical evidence, the white Nissan 300z vehicle, occupied by two men, was travelling SEE PAGE SIX

PAGE 2, Monday, September 19, 2016

RAISING ZIKA AWARENESS IN FOX HILL

THE TRIBUNE

MEMBERS of the Fox Hill Community were given assistance and advice on dealing with the Zika virus thanks to a joint exercise from the Ministry of Health, Fox Hill Urban Renewal and the Red Cross at the weekend.

Zika, which has been linked to the birth defect microcephaly in newborn babies, is primarily spread through mosquito bites, although it can be transmitted through sex. Photos: Shawn Hanna

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Monday, September 19, 2016, PAGE 3

BAHAMIAN HELD IN US FOR ATTEMPTED SMUGGLING OF IMMIGRANTS

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN is being held in US custody for the attempted smuggling of over a dozen illegal immigrants from the Bahamas into the United States.

According to Bahamas immigration officials, the Baha-

Man suspected of captaining go-fast vessel from Bimini mian is suspected of captaining a go-fast vessel that departed from Bimini with 15 illegal immigrants of mixed nationalities - two Haitians, two Dominicans and 11 Ecuadorians.

The vessel was intercepted by the US Coast Guard about 36 miles off Hallandale Beach, Florida, on Wednesday.

Immigration officer Napthali Cooper reported that the two Haitians - a man and woman - were brought to Freeport, Grand Bahama, and turned over to Bahamian authorities.

The Dominicans and Ecuadorians are expected to be deported from the US to their respective countries of origin.

Mr Cooper said the Haitians will be flown to New Providence, where they will be kept at the Detention Centre to await repatriation.

In a separate incident, the US Coast Guard was also expected to turn over to Bahamian authorities 10 migrants who were intercepted at sea in Bahamian

BAHAMAS DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AVIATION WARNS OVER NOTE 7 PHONES ON PLANES THE Bahamas has joined a number of aviation authorities around the world by urging passengers not to turn on or charge Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on board planes or stow them in checked baggage.

The Department of Civil Aviation yesterday issued a notice to airlines and the public warning them of the safety risks involving the Samsung jumbo phones, which are subject to a global recall over the device’s reported propensity to burst into flames due to a battery defect.

“The Department of Civil Aviation (CAD) strongly advises per the recent press releases with

respect to the safety risk of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices, that passengers not turn on or charge these

devices on board aircraft and not stow them in any checked baggage,” the notice said.

“The BCAA looks forward to the full co-operation of airline operators and the traveling public in this regard as we collectively seek to ensure safe travel. The public is urged to take note.”

Samsung Electronics recalled 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7s earlier this month just two weeks after their launch because of dozens of reported cases in which lithium batteries exploded or caught fire.

The South Korean electronics firm - the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world - says the problem stems from a manufacturing glitch in the batteries.

Some 35 cases of the Galaxy Note 7 catching fire were confirmed by Samsung as of September 1, most of them reportedly occurring while the battery was being charged.

Samsung has not said how many more battery fires have occurred since then; however, the company reportedly received more than 70 reported cases in the US alone.

There are more cases that Samsung said it is aware of - one at a hotel in Perth, Australia, and another in St Petersburg, Florida, where a family reported that a Galaxy Note 7 left charging in their Jeep had caught fire, destroying the vehicle.

The New York Post reported that a six-yearold boy in New York was

burned while watching videos when the Note 7 burst in his hands.

The device is also suspected as the cause of a garage fire in South Carolina.

As a result of the controversy, the South Korean company has urged consumers worldwide to stop using the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone immediately and get them replaced with the new Note 7.

Aviation regulators and airlines have deemed the Note 7 a flight hazard, with the US Federal Aviation Administration warning airline passengers not to turn on or charge the Galaxy Note 7 during flights and not to put the smartphone in their checked bags. Several airlines have also reportedly banned the phone on flights.

Last Tuesday, Samsung stated that it plans to issue a software update for its recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones that will prevent them from overheating by limiting battery recharges to 60 per cent.

The update for users in South Korea will reportedly start tomorrow; however it is unclear when the company plans to make the update available in other countries.

Additionally, Samsung plans to begin issuing new Note 7s with batteries it says will not be prone to overheating starting today in South Korea.

Gina Knowles, general manager of Island Cellular & Electronics, told The Tribune last week that her store has conducted exchanges of devices as part of a global attempt by Samsung officials to prevent further cases of the phone catching fire.

“The ones that we know that were recalled, we have already retrieved,” she said, adding that her store contacted persons who had bought the phone in order to conduct the exchanges.

Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) officials, meanwhile, said that the company had not yet released the Note 7 for sale in any of the company’s retail stores, and, as such, is not conducting any exchanges or offering the affected model for sale.

waters.

Mr Cooper reported that the USCG Cutter was expected to arrive at Lucayan Harbour around 6pm on Friday.

This week 47 Cuban migrants were intercepted by the US Coast Guard near Cay Sal Bank and brought to Freeport.

The group was flown to New Providence for detention.

PAGE 4, Monday, September 19, 2016

THE TRIBUNE

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In Florida, a shifting Cuban vote could be the difference MIAMI (AP) — Francis Suarez comes from a long line of civic and political leaders who have formed the Republican bedrock in south Florida’s Cuban community for a half century. Yet the 38-year-old Miami city commissioner hasn’t decided whether he will vote for his party’s presidential nominee.

He’s not alone. Many Cuban-Americans are expressing solidarity with other Latin-Americans who see Donald Trump as anti-Hispanic. Still others hear in Trump’s nationalistic populism echoes of the government strongmen they once fled.

“There are aspects of Trump that appeal to parts of the Cuban-American culture: strong leadership, the ability and willingness to say bold things,” says Suarez, the son of a former Miami mayor and potential chief executive himself.

The concern, Suarez says, comes when Trump’s boorishness, bullying and slapdash policy pronouncements “cross the line from bold to wild, unpredictable.”

How those misgivings affect the votes of hundreds of thousands of CubanAmericans could tilt the nation’s most populous battleground state and help determine whether Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton wins the election.

Roberto Rodriguez Tejera, a Spanishlanguage radio and television host in Miami, says he won’t endorse anyone.

But Tejera regularly asks his audiences to compare Trump’s assertions that “I am your voice” and “I alone can solve” societal ills to the initial appeals of authoritarian rulers like Cuba’s Fidel Castro and the late Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

“It goes well beyond immigration,” Tejera said in an interview.

“Many of us remember how it starts. It starts with questioning institutions. Then you destroy institutions — you being the only person in the world who can save the nation from collapse.”

Fernand Amandi, a Democratic south Florida pollster, estimates Cuban-Americans could approach 8 per cent of the Florida electorate this November. Amandi said polls suggest Trump leads Clinton among Cuban-Americans in Florida, but not by the margins victorious Republican nominees have managed.

Trump aides note support from some officials within the Cuban community, but Trump adviser Karen Giorno said the GOP nominee ultimately considers Cuban-Americans to be like anyone else: “They are worried about safety and security. They are worried about the economy. ... They are worried about the same things other Americans are worried about.”

Suarez applauds that approach, but says it doesn’t account for the fact that Cubans-Americans, for the first time in presidential politics, feel shared interests with immigrants from Mexico and nations in Central and South America — a class that has never enjoyed Cubans’ favoured immigration status.

“Some Cubans don’t consider themselves Hispanic,” said Amandi, the Democratic pollster. Now, says Republican pollster Dario Moreno, Trump has made

immigration a “symbolic issue” for Cubans. “Anti-immigration rhetoric is taken as anti-Hispanic,” Moreno said.

Clinton sees an opening.

She’s recently launched Spanish-language ads featuring the endorsement of Carlos Gutierrez, a Cuban-American Republican and commerce secretary for President George W. Bush. In Spanish, Gutierrez calls Trump dangerous and says, “For me, it’s country first, and then party.”

One of the GOP’s top financiers, billionaire Mike Fernandez, called Trump an “abysmally unfit candidate” and endorsed Clinton.

Tejera, the broadcaster, says Gutierrez and Fernandez “won’t move one vote,” but their public backing of a Democratic nominee is striking in Cuban-American politics.

For decades, most Cubans, particularly those who fled the island early in Castro’s time, have been Republican. Some of those hardliners are critical of President Barack Obama’s decision to normalize diplomatic relations with Havana and to press Congress to lift the trade embargo instituted under President John Kennedy.

Yet younger Cuban-Americans aren’t as hard line or simply don’t vote exclusively on “the Cuba question.”

“We’re starting to see them think and vote like everybody else, not be driven by a single issue,” says Moreno, the Republican pollster and a professor at Miami’s Florida International University.

Clinton, meanwhile, backs Obama’s Cuba policy.

Trump generally backed it, as well, until a campaign stop in Miami on Friday, where he said he’d reverse Obama’s action unless the Castro government granted more freedoms to Cuban citizens.

Cuban-Americans in Florida essentially split between Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney in 2012.

To be clear, Clinton doesn’t have a lock on Cuban-American votes Trump may lose. Amandi notes that Clinton’s Spanish-language media presence began months later than Obama’s general election efforts.

Tejera dismissed Clinton’s south Florida outreach as “meeting with the usual Democratic officials and donors” and perhaps the highest-profile Republicans who can’t abide Trump.

She also will contend with CubanAmericans’ enthusiasm for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who is running for reelection after his failed presidential campaign.

Trump backers hope Rubio’s popularity as the son of Cuban refugees will reinforce Republican loyalties, benefiting the presidential nominee.

Suarez, though, warns it’s just as likely those voters will see Rubio as an easy out: They can abandon Trump and still call themselves party loyalists, like always.

“A presidential election of this magnitude,” Suarez said, “the electorate is going to make up its mind all on its own.”

(This article is by Bill Barrow of the Associated Press)

The national economic plan EDITOR, The Tribune.

SO DR MINNIS is clearly dissatisfied with the Police....I reach that because of his release today criticising the Police.

Does Dr Minnis understand what in essence is the Policeman’s job description? If he doesn’t, then please stop commenting.

National Economic Plan......I honestly feel genuinely sorry for the drafters and the Committee that PM Christie has working on this total waste of energy, time and money.

The first report confirmed 1000% the total failure of the PindlingIngraham and more so the Christie era. They wrote a litany of negative things we never should have done, but left out the obvious that these successive Governments have by purpose and policy enslaved the majority, yes Editor, enslaved the majority.

Education since 1973 we have thrown billions of dollars and what did we get?

Posturing of Minister after Minister of Education does not change the grades which they release in a form so the truth cannot be identified - the grades are far worse than what we are allowed to see.

Tourism - the sitting Minister and his staff unfortunately are totally delusional as to what Tourism Bahamas needs to be revitalised.

I give Tourism the failures of various FDI projects, the total debarked of those numerous pre-2008 Lehmann Bros Hotel projects which

Population and family planning EDITOR, The Tribune.

SURELY the Study of Population Birth rates must come with Economic National Planning, we can’t sweep yet another all-important issue under the table.

1975 births in marriage were 2214 - outside of marriage were 1769. Total: 3983.

1980 births in marriage were 1892 outside of marriage were 3025. Total: 4927.

1985 births in marriage were 2067 outside of marriage were 3363. Total: 5430.

2007 births in marriage were 2079 outside of marriage were 3047. Total: 5126.

Total population for those same years: 1975=205,000, 1980=210,000, 1985=226,000, 2007=305,655.

Note that in 40 plus years an increase of 100,655. A child born in 1999 is now looking for a job! Are there the jobs? In

2007, 59.5 per cent of live births were to single mothers.

With an average of 5000 live births per year, can we in the cycle of 17 years create enough employment to be able to offer employment to these children being born yesterday, today and tomorrow? Surely this has to be the most important issue, the National Development Plan has to be considering? Is It? Answer very much is no.

This is already a time-bomb that has exploded and will get worse, if we refuse to accept and see the reality - yes it is a wonderful gift of having children, but we had better be exceptionally careful that the joys and excitement do not in 17 years turn into a nightmare, as the young ones are unable to find employment.

With unemployment comes social unrest - social unrest comes crime - an improvement in unemployment of 2-3-4 per cent just scratches the problem, even if

we have 5-6 Baha Mar’s creating 5-6,000 new jobs, we have to be able to create 5,000 “new” jobs for the coming years unless the birth rate reduces to zero over an extended period of 10-15 years. That is the real world.

If employment is not created in the islands, will anyone in the future reside there?

Already on most you see the aged and the young, the young mostly children – fortunately the mothers and grandmothers are able to bring up their daughters’ children. But for how long?

Scream all you want - Population and the issue of Family Planning had better come on the front burner very soon. I remember Hon. B. J. Nottage speaking about this 30 years ago.

P. SIMMS, Nassau, July 31, 2016.

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net if 50 per cent of them had come out of the ground and had opened today we would see positive results, but Tourism sat back after 2008 in the corner and wept like a baby impotent to revitalising the industry, the primary employer.

Sports Tourism - does anyone who is managing this area understand that there is only one event that is worthwhile retaining?

The fantastic Atlantis Collegiate Basketball event and it is so easy - the College Alumni who follow their teams drink-play and eat something you do not create in all of the long list of so-called Sports-Tourism events.

IAAF Relays is a waste of effort and time except for TV coverage, but it comes expensive.

Can the Bahamas create an alternative to Tourism or Government or Financial Services to provide for ‘OOO’s who have not worked for years?

Grand Bahama was the location, we gave all the concessions - millions was invested and a few came, but then it stopped.

Although it is a fecal economic approach but for years The Bahamas lived off Real Estate, the selling and developing of properties through the length and breath of the country.

The UBP was correct and it worked till opps Government started making it more and more difficult then 2008 and there was no financing and a lot, yes I will admit It, of unfinanced so-called FDI investors came and fell on their face.

The Bahamas is blessed with some of the most beautiful real estate on planet earth, but what don’t we do with it?

Successive Governments refuse to free “generation property” - this will finally give to many some form of bankable collateral and some will be finally able to become part of the national economy, but try persuading the Attorneys will fight not to do this?

BAMSI as good as the concept might be no one seems to understand what PM Christie actually did from the start PM Christie

nationalised the whole Bahamian Agribusiness as no small farmer can compete with the massive production coming out of BAMSI. Okay we will have trained Agri-technical specialists where do they get the land to farm and the considerable capital to make such a project feasible and worthwhile?

What frightens me is this so-called required social conscience of Government rather than Social Service taking in hand the issue of pregnancy of young people.

I predict PM Christie will soon announce yet another social plan to give grants, not loans, to the young person in pregnancy so they can stay in school or work whichever they will be pulled out of.

Why can’t the numerous Talk Show Hosts understand that if there are 30,000 chequing accounts - a solid base of Savings and that the majority of the working have little to spare (Auditor General, avg Civil Servant has deductions of 80%) how can you build anything on that foundation?

Listen to what these Hosts repeat and repeat?

The cycle for Joe or Sandra average is they commit to a mortgage at 28-30....by 50 that is paid off - God help them if they have a child going to College or University as then they only have from 60-65 to save enough to take them til death, NIB can’t pay BP&L/BEC bill.

This is the national reality, but those Hosts refuse to admit it.

The question in Election 2017 is as simple as ‘Can we?’

Will we improve with a continuance of the PLP or better with either the FNM or DNA or a mix of FNM/ DNA - the jury is out but as sure as the sun rises in the east there is a small faction today that support the Christie administration.

Is there any reason to?

Can’t touch anything.

If you add up all our debts are we, The Bahamas, unable like Mr lzmirlian was to meet our bills so really we should be in receivership no chance for anyone to bail us out?

W THOMPSON Nassau, September 15, 2016.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 19, 2016, PAGE 5

Call for an end to ‘bad habits, mismanagement’ of public funds

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net DEMOCRATIC National Alliance finance spokesperson Youri Kemp has taken issue with the current trajectory of the country’s economy, expressing doubt that current political and public administrative structures would allow for the necessary fiscal changes to be crafted and employed.

In a recent interview with The Tribune, Mr Kemp, the party’s candidate for the Gardens Hills constituency in the upcoming general election, moved to identify and address the circumstances hindering the overall financial state of the country.

Addressing the perplexities of the country’s economy in the wake of the 2008 global recession, the former InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) consultant urged that the time is now to do away with “bad habits” and overt mismanagement of public funds.

According to Mr Kemp, the nature of doing business globally has mandated that the Bahamas start to utilise more transparent and progressive models to grow and advance the country’s economy.

Stressing that the economy is at a standstill, Mr Kemp said ancient, narrow-sighted practices has left the country in “a stagnant pool of waste, mismanagement, under performance and wasted opportunities.”

Pinpointing high energy costs, the difficulties and cost of doing business, bank rates, non-existing private sector lending, commercial bank regulations and tax rates as core reasons for limited growth and expansion of the last five decades, Mr Kemp called for a revitalised approach to the country’s financial services industry.

Moreover, he said successive governments have borrowed on the hopes that financial growth would eventually happen, however, that strategy has backfired – leaving the nation with an unrelenting legacy debt.

DNA spokesman says nation’s economy is at a standstill “That strategy had a major flaw and still has a major flaw today, the flaw being that if you were to borrow on the hope for a better tomorrow, it means you would have to move away from the bad habits that caused you to under perform,” Mr Kemp said.

He insisted that turning the proverbial blind eye to bad behaviour because of our closeknit society has only exacerbated the country’s problems.

Addressing the public sector, the largest employer in the country, Mr Kemp described it as a sum “of all our bad habits.”

He lamented that as a country, we have not committed to transparency in governance – particularly about how public finances are being administered.

“Transparency with regard to our economic statistics and (every) other vital and administrative statistics and measures, and more certainly with regard to our day-to-day and month-to-month financial reporting statistics – (is nonexistent).”

He continued: “My thing is if you are not doing something wilfully malicious then you have nothing to worry about, and if you are not up to the task of the job in front of you, the public needs to know so we can put you somewhere where you can perform and put someone in your position where they can do a better job.”

“We have under performed

due to our social habits and turning a blind eye is seen as justifiable and understandable as the only way to grow our economy and our people as a subsequence, then what we have done, and have been doing, is that we have merely reinforced those bad habits and have done so on borrowed money that has to be paid back with interest at a higher price down the line - in particular, borrowed money that our children and grandchildren need for their tomorrow, which we have clearly left underfunded.”

“What makes all of this worse is that the policy makers of today keep backing Bahamians into a corner where we are always in a state of desperation and operating from a point of reaction, and not working towards higher goals that builds upon sounder foundations that would be able to buffer us and absorb shocks more readily.”

Mr Kemp said the DNA has been clear on what needs to be done to spur investments, and intends to carry out several of these initiatives immediately, if the third party is elected to office.

Mr Kemp said: “We need to revolutionise the Bahamas Investment Authority where we see approvals automated, where investment advisors oversee this process for projects in their portfolio, in addition to allocating personnel and resources through the public sector chain where cross-ministry and cross-gov-

GABRIELLE Josephs with Obie Wilchcombe and Joy Jibrilu.

YOURI KEMP ernmental department approvals are necessary.” “(A DNA government) will increase the threshold for nonCabinet related approvals for certain incentives in addition to the dollar value that ministries can approve themselves.

This would open up the Cabinet to heavier workloads and more substantive projects and contracts,” he added.

“We will bring sweeping and radical energy reform to the Bahamas - from liberalising the oil import sector; opening the door to cleaner energy solutions; piloting clean energy projects within the Family Islands; and liberalising the Utilities Regularity and Competition Authority to be more lenient and open to clean energy projects and companies, in addition to giving the main electricity company a mandate to deliver on cleaner forms of energy and removing some of the dependency on fossil fuels.

“This is just a start with regard to energy.”

He also said that a lack of investments in every facet of Bahamian society – from education, security, housing, social security and even to the lack of domestic investment – is a result of corruption.

He said corruption has cost the country dearly, and needs to be cut “cold turkey.”

In late August, Moody’s announced that it had downgraded the Bahamas’ credit rating by one notch mainly because of the country’s “low mediumterm growth” prospects and limited fiscal space compared to similar countries.

That came less than two months after the international credit rating agency said that it was placing the Bahamas “on review” for a potential downgrade, due to both its unexpected economic contraction and further deterioration in the government’s fiscal position.

BAHAMAS JUNIOR MINISTER WINS

TOURISM YOUTH CONGRESS BAHAMAS Junior Minister of Tourism Gabrielle Josephs has become the first person from his country to win the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s (CTO) Tourism Youth Congress.

In Barbados last Friday, the Mary Star of the Sea student from Freeport, Grand Bahama, outperformed 14 others from the region to claim the title of Caribbean Junior Minister of Tourism.

“I am truly honoured and humbled to have been selected out of all of the outstanding students in the region,” Mr Josephs said. “I now represent, not only the Bahamas, but the entire Caribbean as the voice of the youth on tourism matters.

I take this new responsibility very seriously.”

Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe congratulated the Grand Bahama student. “Gabrielle continues to represent the Bahamas well and make us proud. I congratulate him for another outstanding performance and I am certain that many more Bahamian students will follow in his footsteps. He has indeed paved the way for young Bahamians wishing to make an impact on the tourism industry. We look forward to great things from him,” Mr Wilchcombe said.

Tourism Director General Joy Jibrilu was also impressed

by Mr Joseph’s performance. “This is the third time that I’ve seen Gabrielle in action, and he is a natural. We were already proud to call him our Junior Minister of Tourism and now we are proud to say that our Bahamian student is the Junior Minister of the entire region. This is truly a remarkable accomplishment.”

Mr Josephs spent months preparing for his topic “Flow Experiences” with the help of Samantha Cartwright, co-ordinator of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism’s Junior Minister of Tourism programme. He presented an outstanding idea for creating flow experiences for visitors to the Bahamas that would bring about memorable encounters - the Islands of The Bahamas Theme Park, which would allow visitors to immerse themselves in Bahamian culture and experiences of each island.

“Hard work and dedication truly pays off in the end. We put the work into preparing for this competition and we came out victorious. I reminded Gabrielle that he is representing not only himself, but also the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, and he performed for his country,” Ms Cartwright said.

In addition to their chosen topic, the students were also given a mystery question that aimed to test the students in three core areas: research skills, expressing themselves clearly and thinking on their feet.

Mr Josephs passed the test with flying colours with his response to the question: “Choose a celebrity from the Caribbean and explain how he/she could be used to promote the region.” He had one minute to formulate his answer.

Mr Josephs win came a day after Mr Wilchcombe was elected chairman of CTO and Ms Jibrilu was named chairman of the CTO Board of Governors.

Along with the title, Mr Josephs also received several prizes from CTO, including a round trip ticket for two on Caribbean Airlines.

PAGE 6, Monday, September 19, 2016

THE TRIBUNE

POLICE STILL INVESTIGATING CRASH FROM PAGE ONE

south on Coral Harbour Road, when for an unknown reason it veered to the left of the road.

“The driver lost control of the vehicle, crashed into some trees, before hitting a wall and slamming into a church. The vehicle was extensively damaged. The male passenger was pronounced dead at the scene. The adult male driver was transported to hospital where he remains in critical condition.”

ASP Stubbs said speed was definitely a factor in the crash. He urged drivers to adhere to the rules of the road and to slow down.

“We continue to reiterate that we need drivers to obey the speed limit in all zones

THE scene of the crash on Friday.

Super Wash owner and was “preparing plans to get him in and going in the coming weeks.”

When contacted for comment on the claims, Mr D’Aguilar said there has not been any indication by the party up to this point that it had decided to move ahead with him as a candidate.

He said while it remains “common knowledge” that he has submitted himself for consideration as a candidate, he was still awaiting the party’s decision as to if and where he could stand as a candidate.

“There hasn’t been any indication by the party, to me, that they have finalised any plans for me.

Until that happens, I am still just one of many vying for a candidacy,” he told The Tribune.

Asked directly if he had been offered the Montagu constituency, Mr D’Aguilar said: “Wherever the party places me as a candidate I would devote my attention and effort.”

FROM PAGE ONE $12 million.

FNM Deputy Leader and Shadow Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest has condemned the Christie administration for the “mindboggling and incredibly unsatisfactory” nature of the three-phased project.

Sounding the alarm over the run away cost, the East Grand Bahama MP questioned what long-term affect these costs could have on the 2016/2017 budget and national debt, stressing that funds being provided for the project still have not been accounted for.

Mr Turnquest noted previously the Christie administration gave the impression that $3.1 million had been allotted for the project.

“Certainly Parliament has not approved of these additional expenditures and the failure to return to the House for supplemental expenditure approval is the height of disrespect and arrogance on the part of the government and the minister(s),” he said.

He added that any increase in that original budget should not stand and the

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DIONISIO D’AGUILAR SET TO BE RATIFIED BY FNM FOR MONTAGU Meanwhile, former Deputy Prime Minister Frank Watson called Mr D’Aguilar a “good addition” to the party when asked about plans to have the businessman ratified in Montagu.

Mr Watson insisted that Mr D’Aguilar, from the strength of his business acumen and civic presence, could be an asset for the FNM in “any constituency you place him in.”

On Friday, The Nassau Guardian reported that Mr Lightbourn would not receive a nomination from his party for the upcoming election, quoting the parliamentarian as stating: “I’m not going to be a candidate for the FNM.” However, in an interview with The Tribune on Thursday on the

sidelines of the FNM’s recent mini rally, Mr Lightbourn indicated that no decision had been made, and that he and the party were still “hashing some things out.”

Mr Lightbourn was one of the six MPs behind a scathing letter that called into question the leadership capabilities of FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis.

Many political pundits have speculated that this act could hamper the bids of all six MPs moving forward – and of the six, only Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner has been ratified as a part of the party’s 2017 candidate slate.

Two of these MPs – Neko Grant and Theo Neilly – have confirmed

GOVT SLAMMED OVER REPORTS OF $12M BUDGET FOR POTTER’S CAY Bahamian people should be enraged at the careless planning and spending on the project without any kind of justification and/or approval.

Mr Turnquest claimed the government has been busy granting contracts with extraordinary price tags, which still have not been “reasonably justified” in scope or proposed results.

He said the Ministry of Works should provide the public with every contract granted over the last four months, along with detailed quantity surveyor reports to justify the “outrageous contract sums.”

Moreover, he said, the government should also provide the budget for approved contracts and the sums that have been authorised for them.

He said while it is univer-

sally agreed upon that the Potter’s Cay area needed to be redeveloped from a cultural and commercial point of view, there still needs to be a level of oversight to ensure that costs are kept in check.

“Stretching the limits of imagination, the length of time required for a return on this investment will run well into our great grandchildren’s time and with a burgeoning national deficit this kind of run away expenditure just cannot be justified.

“The minister must be made to account for this unbelievable overrun and where not substantiated, made to return those funds to the Treasury forthwith.

It must be apparent to all.... that this government is reckless and unapologetic in its blatant disregard for proper

MAN FOUND DEAD OFF HARBOUR ISLAND POLICE are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a man who was found dead in waters off Harbour Island on Saturday afternoon.

Shortly after 2pm, acting on a report, officers and Emergency Medical Services personnel went to the scene where they discovered the submerged body of an adult.

The body was removed from the water and taken to shore, where the man was pronounced dead by the island’s doctor. An autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of death.

9/9/16 6:27 PM

even if you feel there is limited vehicular traffic on the road at the time. In most of the cases where a person dies in an accident, speed is a factor,” ASP Stubbs said.

“In this case, when we look at the damage done to the vehicle and the surrounding property we can see that speed played a role.”

The accident, which occurred shortly after 3pm, happened a day after 26-yearold Jasmine Hall lost control of her vehicle and slammed into a tree on Yamacraw Hill Road. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

ASP Stubbs said speed, in addition to the wet condition of the road, could have led to the accident.

Investigations continue into both incidents. that they will not offer themselves for re-election, while another, Dr Andre Rollins said he would consider accepting a nomination if offered one by the party.

This comes after Dr Rollins said he would not seek a nomination if Dr Minnis remained leader of the party.

Another source within the FNM has suggested that Mr Lightbourn’s blunder during his speech at the FNM’s national’s convention in late July cost him a nomination.

Mr Lightbourn, on the second night of the convention while attempting to offer a solution for the country’s rising crime trends, proposed state-sponsored sterilisation of unwed women with more than two children as an anti-crime initiative.

The FNM immediately distanced the party from the Montagu MP’s proposal, stating that the party did not believe in restricting the reproductive rights of

fiscal planning and control,” Mr Turnquest said.

“The arrogance and uncaring conduct of ministers and the many seemingly inflated contracts being given to cronies is proof that this government cannot be trusted and has lost all respect and moral right to govern. The secrecy in which they conduct the Bahamian people’s affairs speaks to a larger issue of government’s disregard for the need to be transparent, accountable and responsible.”

Meanwhile, DNA finance spokesperson Youri Kemp said he is startled by the purported increase because no report issued to date, considers the needed repairs to the dock portion of the site.

He said: “The scope of works and estimations of the works already sound dodgy, because if you were to tell me that you can get an adequate cargo building and new roadways for $3.1 million, but the stalls themselves cost $9m, you have got to think we are nutty.

“Also, where is this scope of works anyway? Why are these statements from Minister (Alfred) Gray and Minster (Glenys) Hanna-Martin so disjointed? When did this go out to bid and who won the bid? Who would sincerely win a bid for a $3.1m piece of this scope of work understanding what the transport side needs for that dock?

24-YEAR-OLD marine mechanic Roger Smith died in the crash.

anyone.

The FNM source claimed the party viewed that blunder as “too big a hole to climb out of.”

“Those comments will never go away and no matter how much the people in Montagu approve of (Mr Lightbourn), those comments will cost us votes in every other constituency as long as he remains a candidate,” the source claimed.

The FNM ratified four more candidates last Thursday - Mrs Butler-Turner, former Deputy Commissioner of Police Marvin Dames for the Mount Moriah constituency, former Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Chairman Mark Humes for the Fort Charlotte constituency and local entrepreneur Walt Saunders for the MICAL constituency.

Party Chairman Sidney Collie last week indicated that to date the party has been busy vetting roughly 140 potential candidates.

“This does not go anywhere near the works needed to make the dock safe and secure in the long-term. The dock needs to be fortified, the docking area needs to be expanded, a fuelling station needs to be put on site and a new slip area for loading and offloading vessels needs to be at the site as well,” Mr Kemp said.

“In addition, the dock repairs need to go hand-inhand with the refurbishment of the old bridge, which is crumbling on top of people every day, from what we have been led to understand. Also, the dock was envisaged to be a part of the entire downtown and Bain Town redevelopment efforts, what happened?”

The Christie administration announced plans for a three-phased, 16-month project earlier this year.

Last week, the government announced that the total redevelopment of the area is expected to cost around $12 million. A statement from the Bahamas Information Services said the Ministry of Transport and Aviation has oversight of the scope of works currently underway at Potter’s Cay. This scope includes the construction of the boardwalk, the sidewalks, the landscaping, the parking lot, the road works, the fencing and a new cargo holding building.

This aspect of the project is

FROM PAGE ONE so. His threat came hours before the FNM announced it had ratified Mrs ButlerTurner as its standard-bearer for the constituency in the next general election.

Speaking to Mrs ButlerTurner’s representation in her constituency, Dr Rollins claimed that voters in Long Island are at their wits’ end with the MP. “I think if you were to look across the whole spectrum of MPs sitting in Parliament, I do not have to blow my own horn,” Mrs Butler-Turner said, when contacted for comment.

“I have been a stellar MP and I trust the people of Long Island, when they make their decision, it will be the right one. There is always competition in an election, you will always run against someone, but I have no fear of Dr Rollins. “The people will vote based on performance. Dr Rollins cannot do what I have done for the people. He has his own constituency, does he not? Why isn’t he running to be their representative?

The people of Long Island only need to ask the people of Fort Charlotte what kind of representation they have gotten from Dr Rollins.

“There is a reason he isn’t running there as an independent.”

On Thursday, the FNM also announced that former Democratic National Alliance Chairman Mark Humes had been ratified to run in Ft Charlotte.

Mrs Butler-Turner called

estimated to cost about $3.1 million.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources will oversee a proposed $9 million project involving the fish and food vendors and the stalls, the statement said.

As proposed, the project would lead to demolition of the existing stalls and the construction of 65 news stalls, several of which will be constructed over water to offer more space between the bridge and the bulkhead at Potter’s Cay. If approved, the total cost of the updated plan could push redevelopment costs to around $12 million.

POLICE ARREST SUSPECTED ‘GUN TRAFFICKING MASTERMIND’ FROM PAGE ONE according to a statement from the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact police at 911 or 919, the Central Detective Unit at 502-9991 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 328TIPS. Investigations continue.

LORETTA

Dr Rollins’ performance as a member of Parliament “lackluster at its best.”

“There is no competition,” she added. “Everyone seems to be looking for something to get into and he chooses Long Island, I have no fear in that. I have done my best,” Mrs Butler-Turner said.

“If the people of Long Island don’t want good representation and they want Dr Rollins, they are free to have him.”

FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis and party executives are expected to endorse Mrs Butler-Turner tonight during a town meeting in Long Island.

Although she is considered to be a very popular MP, there are some on the island who have said they do not want her as their candidate.

Earlier this month, former Cabinet minister Tennyson Wells told The Tribune that he instructed a group of voters in Long Island to draft a petition for Mrs ButlerTurner’s removal if they truly wanted another FNM candidate.

Mr Wells said this group approached him for counsel during the most recent regatta on the island where he advised them that the most effective way to get the party’s attention was to gather as many signatures as possible to prove that she is no longer supported.

the stories behind the news

insight@tribunemedia.net

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2016

Standing side by side: The Government and the Chinese are threatening to squeeze Bahamian creditors over Baha Mar.

Take it or leave it

T

housands of former Baha Mar employees will be faced with a very serious and personal decision by the end of this month.

For these former Baha Mar nation “Bleed Bluers”, they will be confronted with the decision of whether or not to accept the package being put forward to them by Perfect Luck Ltd and the Creditors’ Claims committee.

According to all accounts, the sums being offered will be below the actual amounts owed.

For these former workers, they will have to make the personal decision to forgo sums to which they are legally entitled and accept whatever is offered to them. After all, as the claims committee so eloquently opined last week, these ex gratia payments are being made on a “take it or leave it” basis.

The committee said: “We will certainly consider correcting the settlement sum offered to you if there has been a mistake. However, please note that while we are happy to discuss your case, you have no legal entitlement to any funds that the committee is administering, and the offer that will be made to you is on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis.”

This, therefore, leaves these former Baha Mar

Malcolm J Strachan doubts that former Baha Mar employees will be paid what they are owed in full come settlement time at the end of the month and contractors with claims would get a substantial portion, if not all, of what was due to them as well.

At the time, Bahamians throughout the length of this country paused and waited for the next shoe to fall. After all, we have been here before with our Prime Minister. He has cried wolf so many times, one hardly believes a word he says.

And, with all due respect, the Bahamian people are tired of the smooth talk and shuffling. Action is what is required now; action on behalf of Bahamians. But that is not what we got out of this deal.

We have seen in the days and weeks that have transpired that what our administration has signed off on has been a colossal disappointment, once again. The simplest of things - the full payment of Bahamian creditors has not been secured.

This should not have been something difficult for Mr Christie and his ace

Chinese.

But we should not be surprised that the Progressive Liberal Party would treat their own in such a manner. For nearly a year and half, they have sat on this property, dragging it through the courts, as families have struggled to make ends meet. Former workers have had to undergo financial ruin at all levels. Some would have had to sell property, move back in with their parents, sell their cars, put off weddings or having children all because they had lost their main source of income.

And what was worse, they didn’t even receive their severance packages.

These Bahamians have had to sit in dark rooms at night as their electricity was turned off, lean on friends and family to make ends meet, and handle the humiliation of doing oddend jobs to simply survive.

As one former worker who wrote to us explained, Baha Mar was the only

“Former Baha Mar workers have had to undergo financial ruin at all levels. Some would have had to sell property, move back in with their parents, sell their cars, put off weddings or having children all because they had lost their main source of income.

These Bahamians have had to sit in dark rooms at night as their electricity was turned off, lean on friends and family to make ends meet, and handle the humiliation of doing odd-end jobs to simply survive.” staff members with little doubt as to where they stand. In short, ‘take it or leave it’, the choice is yours.

And for those bold enough to object to the sums offered to them, the committee warned that if they sought to take legal action against the resort, this was “unlikely to result in a material payment to you”.

This language is far from that used by our Government on August 22. Who could forget our Prime Minister Perry Christie wooing the nation with promises of a deal done on Baha Mar between the government and the China Export Import Bank to remobilise the stalled resort?

Mr Christie said the former employees would be paid monies owed to them and Bahamian creditors

team of “independent” negotiators to accomplish, should it?

After all, the property’s original developer Sarkis Izmirlian had put forward an offer that secured their interest, where all Bahamian creditors would be paid in full, so any new deal had to at the very least start there. Correct?

Sadly, it did not.

This deal, we have seen, only protects the interest of the Chinese, and not Bahamians. Even the name of their special purpose vehicle, Perfect Luck Ltd, is an insult. It shows the true disdain that our Government, or the Chinese, have for us. Perfect Luck for whom? Not the workers.

Not Bahamian creditors.

They must be referring to the only party that comes out smelling like roses - the

place that would have hired him. Having made some mistakes in his past, the young man said he started out at the resort in the intensive training at the Leadership Development Institute before graduating to his dream job, working in the Baha Mar Casino Hotel. For that job, he said, he was eternally grateful.

Baha Mar was a dream, he said, to many, but a reality to him and his family of four. Now, he has to hustle to make ends meet. He, like many others, are desperate for their money, and we understand completely.

Our elected officials have likely never known what it feels like to go hungry, or do without. How could they? They have lived high off the hog for decades in some form or fashion.

Whether under the table,

over it, or on the side they have all made personal fortunes off the backs of the Bahamian people.

It has only been us who have been left wanting after they have demitted office.

How else can one explain how some of them go into politics with meagre means and leave as multi-millionaires?

They do not feel the struggles that you or I feel.

How could they?

So why would it matter if they give these former workers cents on the dollar for their monies?

It doesn’t affect them, really. The only worry they truly have is the impend-

ing general election and whether this gesture could be purposed for them politically into “goodwill” (i.e. votes).

Don’t believe me? Just look at what James Smith, the head of the Creditors’ Claims Committee told The Tribune last week: “We wanted to do that [payout the employees] first because it shows goodwill and there will be a higher satisfaction rate among a larger number of people.”

So here we are. Many of those former employees were expecting to receive calls or emails last week about their payments.

From what we understand no such calls or emails

Photo: Tim Clarke/Tribune Staff

occurred, which is appalling. Another self-imposed deadline they have missed, and no apology.

We can only imagine what will happen by the end of the month. We hope that these workers will receive every penny they are owed.

This vulture committee should not be allowed to walk away with millions of Bahamian dollars via these “secret concessions” that our Government has agreed to. It’s high time that Bahamians come first in their own country.

• Comments and responses to insight@tribunemedia. net

PAGE 8 MONDAY, September 5, 2016

Email: insight@tribunemedia.net

THIS WEEK IN

THE TRIBUNE Today Business - veteran attorney Alpin Russell, accused of stealing $100,000 from a client, has been sentenced to two years in prison in what a Court of Appeal judge has described as “a sad case”. Neil Hartnell reports.

Jerome Fitzgerald says the Creditors’ Committee is taking all claims, Bahamian and non-Bahamian. “Some of those will not get much; they’re non-Bahamian.”

Sports - a celebration of the 2016 Bahamas Olympians as the Rio de Janeiro team - led by Golden Girl Shaunae Miller - returns to meets the public Plus the latest properties for sale and rent in the Home Buyers’ Guide

Tuesday Woman and Health - weekly advice on taking care of your mind and body and women making waves in the Bahamas Plus comment from Nicole Burrows and sporting mischief and mayhem with Inigo “Naughty” Zenicazelaya

Wednesday Tribune Tech - a weekly look at what’s new in the world of technology

Thursday Obituaries and Religion, a weekly review Young Man’s View - trenchant opinion from Adrian Gibson on the hot topics in the country ‘On da Hook’, a weekly look at fishing in the Bahamas

Friday Weekend - a 28-page section devoted to the best in arts, music, fashion, food, books, entertainment, gardening, animal matters, fitness, history and interviews Business - Natario McKenzie reports from the Abaco Business Outlook Plus A Comic’s View - Naughty’s unique take on the week in the Bahamas

Saturday The Tribune’s Top 5: a special video review of the week’s top stories by Khrisna Virgil on www.tribune242.com Every day in The Tribune, news, business, sports, weather and Classifieds Trader - the best guide to cars for sale, real estate, help wanted and more.

Plus breaking news and updates on your mobilefriendly tribune242.com

The truth about the Baha Mar payouts

By RICHARD COULSON

I

n debating the pending Baha Mar payouts, let’s recognise one good thing amidst the surrounding sea of errors and deception: former Baha Mar employees (about 2,000 of them) will soon be paid what is owed to them.

The complaint that it’s a “take it or leave it” deal is absurd. It can’t be anything else. Amounts owed for wages, severance pay, lack-of-notice pay, etc were quantified into exact dollar amounts last October and are now recorded with the Creditors’ Committee, who have assured payment on a precise schedule before month-end.

The $100 million allegedly promised by the Export Import Bank of China (CEXIM) should be plenty to pay 100 per cent of each claim, and I do not question the efficiency of James Smith’s team in doing just that. I doubt that as many as one per cent of the employees will have any serious disputes to present to the Committee.

But, a huge but, these claims could have been paid a year ago if the government had accepted Sarkis Izmirlian’s offer of $80 million to cover Baha Mar’s operating expenses. Even better, these employees would have continued to be working at Baha Mar, with no need to make claims, if the government had accepted Chapter 11 and permitted Mr Izmirlian to continue as “debtor in possession”. In effect, the Prime Minister, with legal advice from his Attorney-General, chose to jeopardise the financial wellbeing of some 2,000 Bahamians simply to keep Izmirlian out of the picture.

At least, employees are now being paid. The fair treatment of “other creditors” remains in doubt.

That title does not include Bahamian sub-contractors with a reported $58 million of claims against China Construction America (CCA), not against Baha Mar. In effect, the government’s deal with CEXIM

has thrown them under the bus. According to Jerome Fitzgerald, expert on education, since CCA is (apparently) solvent, contractors should have no trouble collecting. Several claimants already know this to be a fatuous proposition, having experienced CCA’s evasive and obstructive slow-pay tactics. Expensive and timeconsuming litigation may be their only solution.

Even payment to the accepted “other creditors” of Baha Mar is wrapped in uncertainty.

There has been no confirmation of the exact amount of CEXIM’s contribution and no estimate of the total potential claims, so nothing can be predicted for individual claimants except that it is “likely” that any claim under $500,000 will get “most” of it paid.

In fact, this preference for small claims is a violation of Bahamian law on liquidation. As I read the Compa-

of favoritism can only be another violation of our liquidation law - as well as our long-standing policy of fairness to foreign investors and Constitutional anti-discrimination provisions. To hear these words from a senior Cabinet Minister (and clearly the PM’s fair-haired boy), can only be deeply unsettling to any foreign firm, even a Chinese one, considering doing business here.

If Mr Fitzgerald’s rash words should be reflected in actual distributions preferring local creditors, I can envision a mass of highoctane litigation, against the government itself and the Creditors’ Committee.

It would be based not on Chapter 11 or US legislation, but on our own homegrown laws, and could throw a heavy monkey-wrench into the entire Baha Mar payments scheme, bringing it to a halt.

A local QC barrister has pointed out to me that Baha

“According to Jerome Fitzgerald, expert on education, since China Construction America is (apparently) solvent, contractors should have no trouble collecting. Several claimants already know this to be a fatuous proposition, having experienced CCA’s evasive and obstructive slow-pay tactics.” nies (Winding Up Amendment) Act 2011, after the secured creditor CEXIM, the only priority is given to employees and government claims, with everyone else to be treated equally and ratably. Favouring small claimants would seem a “voidable preference”, leading to a tangle of claw-back litigation.

The situation now seems even more controversial for foreign creditors. Fast-talking Minister Fitzgerald has again put his foot in a legal quagmire with his quoted words: “The Committee is taking all claims, Bahamian and non-Bahamian. Some of those will not get much; they’re non-Bahamian.”

That may sound good for local politics but that kind

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Mar remains under the jurisdiction of the accountants who the government itself appointed as provisional liquidators, while the so-called Creditors’ Committee is a non-statutory body created solely by agreement (still undisclosed) between the government and CEXIM. If the Committee makes any payments infringing our liquidation statute, the liquidators could well hold the Committee members personally liable - new legal knots for the AttorneyGeneral to untangle.

And, of course, the whole compensation scheme is nothing but a complicated sideshow, doing nothing whatever to advance the opening of Baha Mar, the key event for our economy.

Until we see a signed contract with the name of the owner/operator who will take over from CEXIM, and until we see hard-hat workers again scurrying over the vast edifice (promised to start this very month), we are all floating in Perry Christie’s never-never land.

• Richard Coulson is a retired lawyer and investment banker born in Nassau and from a long line of Bahamians. He is a financial consultant and author of A Corkscrew Life - adventures of a travelling financier.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2016 PAGE 9

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

Governments have ignored senior police advice over the years Based on his 30 years experience as a police officer Paul Thompson begins a series looking at why the Bahamas is in the state it is today and what lessons should have been learned

T

HIS year I will celebrate my 87th birthday and my 65th year in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas - a great country that captured my love and devotion from the moment I arrived on Easter Monday in 1951.

I was impressed by the friendliness of the Bahamian people as well as by the order and discipline of the society. But what struck me the most was the clean environment throughout the island of New Providence. The words litter and trash were hardly ever uttered, derelict cars did not exist, and the inner city areas ‘over-the-hill’ were well-groomed, with flowers in the yards.

It was my first experience of the sun, sand and sea that I had learned about in geography lessons at Canupia Government School back in Trinidad.

After I was recruited by Augustus ‘Gussie’ Roberts, the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) became my family and my university. Over the years I made firm friends and benefitted from great mentors, who guided me in my career - most of which was spent in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

It was my good fortune to be surrounded by fine men like Wenzel Grainger, Albert Miller, Salathial Thompson, Courtney Strachan and Stanley Moir, among others. I travelled to almost every Family Island to conduct police investigations, and was able to make many more friends in the process.

By dint of hard work and enthusiasm I was given early promotions and dispatched to advanced training courses in England, Scotland, France and the United States. The West Riding Detective School in Yorkshire was particularly important to my professional development. And those of us who were sent abroad returned with lots of new ideas and techniques to improve police work in the Bahamas.

Prior to independence in 1973 the RBPF was commanded mostly by British officers. Frank Russell, the head of the CID in the 1950s, came to us from the London Metropolitan Police. Stanley Moir came here in 1956 from the Bermuda Police Service and headed up CID in the 1960s. It wasn’t until June, 1973, that a Bahamian was appointed Commissioner of Police. That Bahamian was Salathial Thompson, who died in 2002.

When I became a divisional officer, I took part in annual meetings when senior officers reported on crime in society and conditions in their units. We made recommendations on manpower, training and equipment, but we would also discuss new laws, changes to existing laws, improvements to the overall administration of justice, and anything related to the maintenance of law and order in the Bahamas.

Over the next several weeks, The Tribune has kindly given me the opportunity to review some of these important proposals in print.

In my view, if these recommendations had been given serious consideration in the 1960s and 70s, the Bahamas would be in a much better place today.

We made proposals on the environment, on overcrowding and rehabilitation in the prison system, on illegal immigration, on

PAUL Thompson came to the Bahamas in 1951 and remains optimistic the issues of crime plaguing the country today can be solved.

Photo: Tim Clarke

“Tourists and residents could walk to nightclubs ‘overthe-hill’ without fear. Courtesy and good service were natural, but over time we have allowed this country to degenerate into its present sad state.”

PAUL THOMPSON is the quintessential policeman. His career spanned the modern development of the Bahamas - from colonial times to the challenges of nationhood.

Born in a small farming village in Trinidad, he was recruited by the Royal Bahamas Police Force in 1951. He spent most of his time on the force in the Criminal Investigation Department, retiring in 1981 as an Assistant Commissioner.

He then began a second career as head of security for the Paradise Island Resort & Casino, returning to the police force as a civilian training officer in 1998, and in 2002 was appointed general manager of Wemco Security.

Five years later he set up his own security company - Paul Thompson & Associates.

Now in his 80s, he remains active in security work.

crime and punishment, and on the failure to seize the proceeds of criminal activities, among other matters.

Throughout the 1950s, 60s and into the 70s the local entertainment industry thrived in Nassau and attracted thousands of visitors and residents to nightclubs ‘over-the-hill’. We could walk to these venues without fear. Courtesy and good service were natural, but over time we have allowed this country to degenerate into its present sad state.

The lyrics of a calypso by the Mighty Sparrow might help to put this situation in perspective: “Once upon a time this country was sweet People could lime freely on the street Whether was north or south you coulda always walk Without the fear of molestation and intimidation.

“Something happen along the way, now honesty was simply thrown overboard.

This is madness, madness, total madness.

“What’s going on in our country, Lord?

Tell me what is wrong, I want to know.

The disrespect, the contempt, Decent people cannot cope Even the judiciary losing hope, In the battle against crime and dope.

This is madness, this is madness.”

It is love for my adopted country, which has been home to me for the past 65 years, that encourages me to write and talk about these issues as long as I draw breath.

We can solve our problems if we make the effort and work together. I have no other motives. Both Free National Movement and Progressive Liberal Party administrations have received the advice of senior police officers and others over the years without acting on that advice.

Many of these ideas and proposals remain relevant today and could still be implemented in some cases.

But I have learned over the course of my career that governments prefer to listen to the advice of highlypaid foreign consultants rather than local experts.

At the end of this series of articles, I plan to combine them into a small book. This will be my second book. The first - ‘A Policeman’s Story’ - was published by Media Enterprises in 2013. It tells about my career and recounts some of the more interesting cases I worked on as a CID detective. I hope that my second book will round out whatever legacy I may have the honour of leaving behind.

NEXT WEEK: how the Bahamas and RBDF made me a man.

Comments and responses to insight@tribunemedia.net

PAGE 10 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2016

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

Leadership scandal threatens Commonwealth economic optimism

CONTROVERSY surrounding Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness Scotland could damage the global body.

As the the world’s oldest political association of states looks to be entering a new golden era of prosperity, its relevance is being tested by allegations of corruption and cronyism against its top executive, Peter Young says

T

HE Commonwealth, a successful legacy of Britain’s imperial past, is in the news again. One of the two reasons is welcome to many people, the other is disturbing.

Britain’s momentous decision to break away from the European Union (EU) and to spread its wings once more on the world stage could be of significant benefit to the Commonwealth’s 53 member states - which covers of 2.2 billion people or nearly one third of the world’s population - but a controversy currently surrounding its newly-elected Secretary-General, Baroness Scotland, could seriously damage this important global body.

Despite being the world’s oldest political association of states and covering many regions, the Commonwealth over the years has not captured public imagination generally and its role, purpose and function are little understood.

It is relatively unknown apart from the Commonwealth Games, its most popular event, and the biennial Heads of Government meetings (known as CHOGM) because these gatherings often make headlines when they become a forum for political disputes affecting its members.

Having evolved into a much larger association from a small grouping (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa) headed by Britain as her colonies became independent and self-governing nations after the Second World War, the Commonwealth has been described as a ‘family of nations’ - large and small, with a shared history, values and language together with common legal systems and institutional frameworks and held together by special bonds, including, in some cases, affection as well as ties which are invisible but effective.

It has increasingly operated for the benefit of all its member states via a host of voluntary, philanthropic and non-official organisations, termed ‘the People’s Commonwealth’, as well as through many and varied bodies like the Commonwealth Development Corporation and the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation fostering aid and practical assistance.

All the while, the hub of the association and its various activities around the world has been the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, which dates back to 1965 and is presided over by a Secretary-General.

More recently, a business culture has begun to be developed, and at the 1997 CHOGM in Edinburgh the main theme was trade and investment, resulting in the establishment of a Caribbean Business Forum whose efforts to promote intra-Commonwealth trade were boosted by the 2015 CHOGM in Malta.

This was significant because for long it had been recognised that in an increasingly competitive and globalised economy regional ties were crucial.

Thus, the Commonwealth, with its ready-made network of English-speaking countries, often with shared business practices,

“It is clearly unsatisfactory for the reputation of the SecretaryGeneral to be sullied by the current bad publicity.

Whatever the validity of the accusations they should surely not be allowed to fester.” had a special kind of ‘economic relevance’.

Less than a year later, there is a new issue for Commonwealth countries, not least the smaller developing ones; namely, how will their economies be affected by Britain’s impending departure from the EU? While they may welcome a potentially advantageous new relationship with Britain, there is also now greater uncertainty because her exit could result in a slowing down of the global economic recovery.

One fear is whether they will continue to benefit from EU trade preferences and from equal or similar preferences from the UK in any new trade deals. At least 20 Commonwealth developing countries rely on the UK market for 10 per cent or more of their trade, and in the case of

St Lucia more than 80 per cent of its exports to the EU (mostly bananas) go to the UK. There are also concerns about aid. Not only will Britain presumably no longer contribute to the European Development Fund, but the smaller and poorer countries are hoping that UK aid levels - a ring-fenced budget of 0.7 per cent of national income - will be maintained in the face of a falling pound.

Moreover, there are worries that these countries will no longer have a champion within the EU to protect their trade and aid interests.

One example is that while the EU supplies aid to Africa it also maintains trade barriers against food imports from African countries.

Putting such fears to one side, however, henceforward it now looks as though Commonwealth countries will be able to make new, mutually beneficial, trade arrangements with the UK and also reignite their relationships in other ways.

These could include greater security co-operation and more informationsharing across the board.

There are also hopes that they may benefit from the easing of what is seen as a measure of discrimination by the UK against Commonwealth immigrants.

Britain has signalled an intention to foster stronger trading links with the whole Commonwealth, not just the stronger economies like Australia, India, Canada, Singapore and South Africa.

To some observers at the time, Britain becoming a member of the European Economic Community in 1973 amounted to a betrayal of her old friends, partners and associates, not least because of the ending of preferential trading arrangements for the Commonwealth.

While the EU’s share of world trade is declining, the Commonwealth is beginning to boom with some of its economies growing fast. So, as the next generation of observers now argues, the time is ripe for Britain to put right an historical wrong.

Against this background of optimism about the possible beneficial effects of the UK’s renewed involvement in the Commonwealth, serious controversy, stirred up by the UK press, has arisen about the

actions of Baroness Scotland who took up her new post of Secretary-General of the Commonwealth in April after being elected at last year’s CHOGM. The Daily Mail in London has raised questions about the procedure leading up to her election to a position in the Commonwealth hierarchy second only to the Queen as its Head.

It has described this as an “utterly corrupt process” in which Baroness Scotland allegedly awarded, in return for votes, bogus knighthoods from an obscure Catholic Order together with offers of other honours and promises of charitable donations.

T

he same newspaper quotes the Prime Minister of Antigua as saying that Baroness Scotland was not a true Caribbean candidate because she left Dominica as a two-year-old so her principal nationality was British. It has also accused her of profligacy in the expenditure of public money at the Commonwealth Secretariat and with hiring friends and associates at inflated salaries.

Inevitably, such accusa-

tions have not only been publicised in the UK media but have been picked up by the press in the Caribbean.

In response, Baroness Scotland has described the claims as malicious allegations based on a distorted representation of information in leaked documents.

She has suffered from bad publicity in the past.

She is a lawyer and QC and a member of the House of Lords - in 2009, while serving as Attorney General in the Labour Government of the time, she received a heavy fine for employing an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper.

These latest press accusations remain allegations, but Conservative MPs have called for an investigation on the grounds that the Commonwealth is a ‘vitally important and respected institution’ and should not be dragged into any scandal.

At a stage when the Commonwealth is likely to enjoy a resurgence because of increased British direct involvement, the work of the Secretariat will become more demanding and important.

The Secretary-General is responsible for promoting the Commonwealth’s

fundamental political values and for driving forward the goals of the Heads of Government in all spheres including trade, aid and technical co-operation.

It is clearly unsatisfactory for the reputation of the holder of such a position to be sullied by the current bad publicity.

Whatever the validity of the accusations they should surely not be allowed to fester.

The press has a heavy responsibility to substantiate or withdraw allegations of impropriety in order to avoid the risk of bringing the Commonwealth as a whole into disrepute.

Be that as it may, let us hope that most eyes will be firmly fixed on a freshly vibrant Commonwealth led towards greater prosperity by a revitalised Britain, its founding nation now freed from the constraints of EU membership.

This historic and important association may be about to enter a new golden era. For its own credibility its leadership must at all times be above reproach.

• Peter Young is a retired British diplomat living in Nassau. From 1996 to 2000 he was British High Commissioner to The Bahamas.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 19, 2016, PAGE 11

PM WILL LEAD DELEGATION TO 71ST REGULAR SESSION OF UN

HALSTON MOULTRIE, FNM Candidate for Nassau Village, and his team pictured assessing and cleaning up the damage to the FNM Community Centre.

Photos: Shawn Hanna

FNM CANDIDATE SAYS ARSON COULD BE CAUSE OF FIRE AT PARTY’S COMMUNITY CENTRE

By SANCHESKA DORSETT Tribune Staff Report sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement (FNM) candidate for Nassau Village Halston Moultrie has said that arson could be the cause of a fire that nearly “engulfed” the party’s community centre shortly before dawn on Thursday.

Mr Moultrie said thanks to the quick responses of neighbours, who called the fire department, residents of the Action Upholstery Complex on Taylor Street were evacuated “without incident or injury.”

“The cause of the fire is unknown but firefighters and the police are suspicious after discovering forced entry into the building and suspect arson as they were able to identify multiple origins of fire that had not completely merged,” Mr Moultrie said.

“Firefighters had difficulty accessing parts of the complex and the fire was extinguished at approximately 10am (Thursday). It has not been determined whether the property had working smoke alarms or a fire sprinkler system at the time of the fire.

“Miraculously, with the building being significantly damaged by the fire, our FNM community centre had a Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego experience. Aside from minor damages resulting from smoke and water there were no significant damages to our community centre.

“A cleanup and assessment exercise to determine whether the centre should be relocated will commence at noon on Saturday and all supporters and concerned persons are invited to contribute and assist,” he said on Friday.

Mr Moultrie thanked the residents of Nassau Village “who

showed up, expressed concerns and gave assistance to persons who were left without a home following the fire.”

“I would also like to thank the fire department for the quick response and professional handling of the incident and the police for

LOUIS BACON APPEALS DISMISSAL OF $100M DEFAMATION CASE AGAINST PETER NYGARD

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net BILLIONAIRE hedge fund manager Louis Bacon has appealed the dismissal of his $100m defamation case against his Lyford Cay neighbour Peter Nygard in a US court citing new evidence.

However, all references to the “new facts” have been redacted in the copy issued by the New York County Clerk.

“Particularly in a digital age, when a cyber-bully like Peter Nygard can direct defamatory material in New York at the click of a button, it would be unjust and contrary to public policy to force Mr Bacon abroad to vindicate his rights against a vicious assault happening right here at home,” the appeal read.

Mr Bacon alleged that the Canadian fashion designer had embarked on a “harassment campaign” against him in the Bahamas; however, New York Justice Cynthia Kern ruled that the matter should be adjudicated in the Bahamas even though Mr Bacon is a New York resident.

The appeal was filed on September 9 and makes the claim that Mr Nygard’s defendants deprived Mr Bacon and the New York court of key evidence. As such, Mr Bacon’s arguments against dismissal

LOUIS BACON

PETER NYGARD

were said to be “fatally” undermined.

“The court, in granting the Nygard defendants’ motion to dismiss, accepted their characterisation of the defamation campaign as having been directed towards the Bahamas rather than New York,” the writ read.

“Meanwhile, the day after they filed their reply brief, the Nygard defendants finally started producing documents, after months of stonewalling and weeks after Mr Bacon’s document production began,” Mr Bacon’s appeal furthers that the new evidence produced by Mr Nygard after the close of briefing bolsters his right to have his case heard in his home state.

The appeal also highlighted the contrast between protections provided to defendants under Bahamian law and protections afforded in the US.

“Because Bahamian law does not offer defendants the same protections as the First Amendment would here, federal and state laws addressing enforcement of foreign defamation judgements, including the federal “Speech Act” and New York’s “Liberal Terrorism Protection Act”, likely would preclude any attempt to enforce a Bahamian defamation judgement against the Defendants in the United States, or would make doing so exceptionally burdensome for both the courts and the parties.”

The appeal continued: “A forum non conveniens dismissal would thus in effect require Mr Bacon to win the case twice to recover his full damages against some or all of the Defendants - yet another reason for the court to revisit, and reverse, its dismissal order.”

their ongoing investigations in their efforts to bring the culprits to justice,” he said.

“We wish to assure our supporters and potential supporters that our campaign will not be deterred and has, in fact, been fired up and energised by this turn of events.”

PRIME Minister Perry Christie led a delegation to the 71st Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly yesterday.

Mr Christie and his delegation left for New York on Sunday and are scheduled to return to Nassau on Wednesday.

Other members of the delegation include Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell, Labour and National Insurance Minister Shane Gibson, and other senior government officials.

Joining the delegation will be Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs Hubert Chipman and his wife.

The Bahamas’ ambassador to the UN is Elliston Rahming.

The United Nations General Assembly 71 opened on September 13 and is expected to conclude in mid-December. The annual general debate will take place September 20-30, with the theme, “The Sustainable Development Goals: a Universal Push to Transform Our World.”

Preceding the general debate will be a summit on September 19 convened by the UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-Moon, on ‘Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants.’ The aim of the summit is to bring countries together towards a more humane and coordinated approach regarding refugees and migrants. Mr Christie, along with other heads of state and government, will address the summit.

Mr Mitchell will deliver the Bahamas’ national statement on September 26, when it is expected in addition to members of the Bahamas delegation, there will be in attendance nationals from the New York Bahamian diaspora, Bahamians who have travelled from Nassau, and student winners and their chaperones of the annual Zonta Essay Competition and the Model United Nations (MUNS), an event organised by the Rotary Clubs of the Bahamas and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This is the first General Assembly after the historic adoption of Agenda 2030, which established the new global agenda by setting a series of sustainable development goals to be achieved by 2030.

PAGE 12, Monday, September 19, 2016

THE TRIBUNE

CONCERNED CITIZENS LAUNCH FORMAL COMPLAINT OVER SOUTH BEACH POOLS FACILITY

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net DESPITE assurances by officials in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, a small group of concerned citizens is launching a formal complaint over the conditions at the South Beach Pools facility.

Irate readers of a recent article in The Tribune, which indicated that faulty machinery at the site was scheduled to be repaired, returning the facility to its regular schedule of operations, allege a culture of mismanagement and a lack of maintenance that had allowed the pools - used by both public and private entities - to fall into ruin.

One source familiar with the day-to-day running of the complex asking not to be identified said: “The whole atmosphere there is touchy at the moment. It has such possibility of being an excellent facility if (they) just finished (work) and a contract for pool upkeep - water quality be given to a private company as the

CONCERNS have been raised over conditions at the facility.

staff has proven they cannot keep it up.”

The Tribune understands that the facility is plagued by lighting issues, “horrid” upkeep and the presence of a homeless man who has taken up residence in an abandoned trailer next to the complex off East Street South.

“The bathrooms have been a mess for months but, this fall, they apparently have transferred staff there and it is much improved. We do not know for sure if the heaters will be turned on this winter as we have not had their use in the past several winters. The light poles have rusted out at the bases and have mostly toppled over in storms over the past several years.

They finally put caps on the open wires for our safety,” the source lamented.

“A problem also is the abandoned trailer which sits outside

the pools. A homeless man has taken up residence for over three years now and plugs a frayed electrical cord into the female bathroom wall outlet, which is a hazard to a wet swimmer entering that bathroom ... he scares the kids as he has walked in on them and the bathroom cubicles have no working locks. They have installed all new pumps this spring and the overhead lighting is still to be completed. We hope that will be done before time changes and it gets dark earlier come December. The seating for persons waiting for swimmers are broken up and not acceptable. In rain, there is nowhere to go except the bathrooms.”

Further to these claims, officers from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) recently moved into the office block and are said to work as the pseudo manage-

ment team at the compound.

Away from their presence there, lifeguards posted at the site have also, in the past, operated as pseudo management officers at the property. There are three pools at the complex - one for competition, one for children and one for general purpose, which has been closed for the summer.

The official management of the facility falls under the portfolio of the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, which has not offered any official comment on the matter. However, a source has told The Tribune that “everything is being handled”.

$350,000 RAISED AHEAD OF THIS YEAR’S

WALK FOR THE CURE

WALKERS at last year’s CIBC FirstCaribbean Walk for the Cure in Nassau.

ONE OF the region’s largest cancer fundraisers - CIBC FirstCaribbean’s Walk for the Cure - is less than two weeks away and has already raised over $350,000 in support of cancer care and awareness.

Now in its fifth year, Walk for the Cure will see thousands of walkers and runners gather across the 16 territories in which the bank operates, converting major thoroughfares into seas of pink and white on October 1 and 2.

All of the funds collected through the Walk for the Cure campaign will be donated to various cancer support organisations to assist with the purchase and maintenance of equipment used in the diagnosis and treatment of patients.

The funds are also used to provide assistance, care and counselling to patients and their families and to raise

awareness through education campaigns across the region.

The Walk in New Providence takes place on October 2 from 6.30am to 9am, following a route from the Goodman’s Bay Coprorate Centre west to Sandals Royal Bahamian and back (long) or west to the Melia Nassau Beach Resort and back (short).

Over the past four years CIBC FirstCaribbean has raised over $1m from the event, primarily supported by generous corporate donors and numerous fundraising activities and events hosted by staff members.

This year’s Walk is expected to attract even more participants as the bank has unveiled a new registration website - http://cibcfcibwalkforthecure.causevox. com/ Co-Chairs for this year’s Walk, CIBC FirstCarib-

bean executives Trevor Torzsas and Mark St Hill, praised the fundraising efforts of the bank’s staff and the enthusiastic support of the business community who have sponsored the Walk campaign.

“With this new site, we expect to exceed our target of $500,000 significantly.

For us that is extremely satisfying, as it means we will now be able to contribute even more to the worthy organisations across the Caribbean who work every day to support those who receive a diagnosis of cancer, as well as their families.

Every cent we raise goes towards that goal in some way and we’re very proud of that.”

In addition to the website, participants can go to any CIBC FirstCaribbean branch around the region to sign up for the Walk or make a contribution.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

FEDS TEST BOMB REMNANTS OF NEW YORK BLAST THAT INJURED 29 NEW YORK (AP) — The bomb that rocked a New York City neighborhood known for its vibrant arts scene and large gay community contained residue of an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores, a federal law enforcement official said Sunday, as authorities tried to unravel who planted the device and why.

The discovery of Tannerite in materials recovered from the Saturday night explosion that injured 29 people may be important as authorities probe whether the blast was connected to an unexploded pressurecooker device found by state troopers just blocks away, as well as a pipe bomb blast in a New Jersey shore town earlier in the day.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, touring the site of the blast in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, said there didn’t appear to be any link to international terrorism. He said the second device appeared “similar in design” to the first, but did not provide details.

“We’re going to be very careful and patient to get to the full truth here,” New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, said Sunday. “We have more work to do to be able to say what kind of motivation was behind this. Was it a political motivation? A personal motivation? What was it?

We do not know that yet.”

Cell phones were discovered at the site of both bombings, but no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which a black powder was detected, said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to comment on an ongoing investigation.

Authorities said the Manhattan bombing and the blast 11 hours earlier at the site of a

CRIME scene investigators work Sunday at the scene of Saturday’s explosion in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, in New York. (AP) 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors in Seaside Park, New Jersey, didn’t appear to be connected, though they weren’t ruling anything out. The New Jersey race was cancelled and no one was injured.

Officials haven’t revealed any details about the makeup of the pressure-cooker device, except to say it had wires and a cellphone attached to it.

Technicians in Quantico, Virginia, were examining evidence from the Manhattan bombing, described by witnesses as a deafening blast that shattered storefront windows and injured bystanders with shrapnel in the mostly residential neighborhood on the city’s west side. All 29 of the injured people were released from the hospital by Sunday afternoon.

The explosion left many rattled in a city that had marked the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks only a week earlier and where a United Nations meeting to address the refugee crisis in Syria was scheduled on Monday.

“People didn’t know what was going on, and that’s what was scary,” said Anthony Zayas, an actor who was in the Chelsea neighborhood Saturday night when the bomb went off. “You didn’t know if was coming from the subway

beneath you, you didn’t know if there were other bombs, you didn’t know where to go.”

Tannerite, which is often used in target practice to mark a shot with a cloud of smoke and small explosion, is legal to purchase and can be found in many sporting goods stores.

Experts said a large amount would be required to create a blast like the one Saturday night, as well as an accelerant or other ignitor.

Police and federal spokespeople wouldn’t comment on the presence of explosive material recovered at the scene.

The bomb in Manhattan appeared to have been placed near a large dumpster in front of a building undergoing construction, another law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, told the AP. The second device, described by the same official as a pressure cooker with wires and a cellphone attached to it, was removed early Sunday by a bomb squad robot and New York City police blew it up in a controlled explosion Sunday evening, authorities said.

Homemade pressure cooker bombs were used in the Boston Marathon attacks in 2013 that killed three people and injured more than 260.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 19, 2016, PAGE 13

Motorists should take extra care during back to school

By CORPORAL 3011 MAKELLE PINDER THE START of a new school year is a time when children are at an increased risk of transportation-related injuries from pedestrian, school bus and vehicle crashes.

The reason is fairly obvious; there are many more children on the road each morning and afternoon, as well as an overall change in motorists’ patterns.

More importantly, motorists should always drive with caution and care to ensure

Police advice

By CORPORAL MAKELLE PINDER

their personal safety.

For this reason, as schools reopen their doors, it’s important for motorists to improve their traffic safety practices.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force National Crime

Prevention Office offers tips to help make this a safe and happy school year for the entire community.

• Slow down. Obey all traffic laws and speed limits.

• Be extra cautious around school crossing ar-

DEFENCE FORCE APPREHENDS CUBAN MIGRANTS

FIVE Cuban migrants are being detained after they were apprehended in the southern Bahamas by a Royal Bahamas Defence Force patrol craft on Saturday morning.

While on routine patrol, HMBS Lignum Vitae, under the command of Senior Lieutenant Bertram Bowleg, intercepted a

10-ft wooden sloop several miles southeast of Cay Lobos in the southern Bahamas. A further search of the vessel discovered five Cubans, who were then taken aboard the RBDF craft.

The Cubans - four men and one woman - will be handed over to Bahamas immigration authorities for further processing.

TRANSFER OF COB $500,000 THEFT CASE TO SUPREME COURT DELAYED

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE transfer of the College of The Bahamas’ (COB) $500,000 theft case from Magistrate’s Court to Supreme Court has been delayed by an additional week.

Chimeka Gibbs, 39, returned before Magistrate Constance Delancy on Friday for the presentation of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI). However, the documents were not ready and the Crown requested a further adjournment of the proceedings until Septem-

ber 23.

Gibbs is facing 20 counts of falsification of accounts, 16 counts of stealing by reason of employment, and four counts of laundering the proceeds of criminal conduct for her alleged actions between March, 2008, and October, 2015, as an employee at COB. It is alleged that Gibbs stole over $500,000 from COB by reason of her employment at the institution.

It is also alleged that she falsified numerous COB direct deposit files, the result of which purported to show that she was entitled to over $200,000 in salary

payments.

It is also alleged that she laundered over $800,000 worth of funds to various local bank accounts - FirstCaribbean, Commonwealth Bank, RBC Finco and Scotiabank - between 2008 and 2015. According to court documents, Gibbs served as both a senior clerk and a human resources assistant at the institution.

Gibbs will not be allowed to enter a plea to the charges until she is formally arraigned before a judge of the Supreme Court.

She has retained lawyer Roberto Reckley to represent her.

GODFREY KELLY, ANDREW INGRAHAM TO BE HONOURED AT R E COOPER SR NATIONAL MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARDS GODFREY KELLY and Andrew Ingraham will be recognised by the R E Cooper Sr National Meritorious Service Awards next month.

Mr Kelly, appointed the first Bahamian Minister of Education in 1964, oversaw the building of four high schools and the implementation of major changes in the country’s educational system which are still in effect today.

Mr Kelly was an Olympian and, in 2011, was inducted into the National Sports Hall of Fame.

Mr Ingraham was born in Nassau, where his family owned several businesses, including one in the travel industry.

He left the Bahamas to complete his secondary education in Miami, Florida, and stayed to begin his career in the travel and tourism industry in Fort Lauderdale.

He has played a pivotal role in bringing awareness to black owners in the hotel and tourism industry.

The president of Horizons Marketing Group International, he founded the International Multicultural Tourism and Hotel Ownership Conference and was appointed to the National Tourism Advisory Committee for the NAACP. Although Mr Ingraham lives in Fort Lauderdale with his family, his Bahamian roots allow him to look for opportunities for Bahamians in the industry, securing scholarships in the hospitality industry for Bahamians.

The awards - to be presented on October 29 at the Atlantis Ballroom, Paradise Island, recognise 22 of the most outstanding citizens for their contributions to the Bahamas.

R E Cooper Sr was an educator and wanted to see an educated Bahamas following Independence and the 2016 Awards honour those who have contributed to help through

Godfrey Kelly and Andrew Ingraham

service.

BET Gospel sensation Bobby Jones will be the co-host of the event.

World renowned priest Fr George Clements and Trumpet Awards Executive Producer and Founder Dr Xernona Clayton are featured speakers.

The full list of awardees comprises Commissioner Ellison Greenslade, Businessman and philanthropist Alphonso “Boogalo” Elliott, Pharmacist Clinton McCartney Sr, Financier James Schaeffer III, PHA Executive Herbert Brown, former Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia “Mother’ Pratt, Freedom Farm Founder Greg Burrows, College President of MTSU, Dr Sidney McPhee, former Trade Unionist Deglanville Panza, Insurance Executive Stephanie Hanna, Media Executive mogul Joan Albury, Businesswoman Elaine Pinder, Cultural and Junkanoo Leader Percy “Vola” Francis, Educator Dr Albert Ferguson, Accountant Basil Sands, Media personality Steve Mckinney, Businessman George Myers, Cultural Activists Raphael and Fred Munnings, Jr. There are posthumous awards to Bismark Coakley and ‘King’ Eric Gibson.

For information visit www.recooperaward.com

BOBBY Jones will be the co-host of the event.

eas, slow down and watch out for children on their way to school.

• When driving in residential areas or school zones, watch out for children who may be in a hurry to get to school and may not be thinking about getting there safely.

• Allow children waiting at the pedestrian crossing to cross.

• Be alert and ready to stop. Watch out for children walking in the streets, especially where there are no sidewalks.

• When using an inter-

section where children are trying to cross, slow down; make eye contact with the children to determine what they are going to do next.

• Always stop for a jitney or school bus that has stopped to load and unload passengers • Before entering a pedestrian crossing area, be sure there are no children in the lane or adjacent lanes.

• When passing a parked vehicle, check for children who may run out into the street.

• When approaching a school bus that has stopped

to drop off or pick up students, motorists must stop a safe distance behind.

• When approaching a school speed zone, reduce speed below the required speed limit and maintain it until the end of the school zone.

• During school hours Motor Vehicle Laws will be strictly enforced.

Please share this information with every driver in your family.

Let’s all work together to have a safe school year. Remember: safety is everyone’s concern.

ARRESTS IN CONNECTION WITH ARMED ROBBERY

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net GRAND Bahama police arrested three men in connection with an armed robbery in the Hawksbill area.

According to police reports, a man was held up and robbed of his cell phone shortly before 7pm on Friday by a gunman brandishing a black handgun.

Officers responded quickly and arrested three men who are assisting police in their investigations into the matter.

Officers also recovered the stolen cell phone and a black imitation firearm.

Police also reported that five men – three Bahamians and two Jamaicans – were arrested in Abaco for possession of dangerous drugs over the weekend.

Abaco police executed a search warrant shortly after 5am at a home in Spring City, where they allegedly discovered a quantity of suspected marijuana. The occupants of the home were arrested and taken into custody.

They are expected to be formally charged in the Magistrate’s Court this week.