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TheWeekend Tribune Established 1903

Volume:115 No.222, OCTOBER 12TH, 2018

WEEKEND: A LENS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: $1 art books film fashion music

Friday, October

food photography garde ning histor

Weekend

Sunwing scraps GB air schedule

AUTHO OF SEAW FESTIV

Pages 18

A fisheye view

Local diver turns to underwat er

photography

pages 14 & 1

DISNEY: THE ‘FIX IS IN’ ON LIGHTHOUSE POINT PROJECT

Local photographer gives new route to perfect images

Airline’s shock move deals huge blow to island’s summer trade

By NATARIO McKENZIE and NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Staff GRAND Bahama’s struggling tourism industry was yesterday forced to confront another “significant loss” of 30,000 annual visitors after Sunwing pulled the plug on its summer airlift initiative.

The tour operator, in a statement sent to Tribune Business, warned that it “may be forced” to also cancel flights for the 2019-2020 winter season as it blamed an “impasse” with the Government for its decision to cease all summer airlift to the island

next year. Sunwing, whose Memories resort affiliate exited Grand Bahama in January 2017, suggested that its airlift withdrawal would take the island’s stopover tourism product “backwards to its lowest levels in decades”.

Janine Massey, Sunwing Group’s chief marketing and technology officer, told Tribune Business: “We were unable to get anyone to extend/renew our existing agreement which had been in place for four years and we will be concluding our planning for winter 2019-2020 in the coming weeks.”

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

THE Grand Lucayan’s workforce will likely be cut by 50 percent through a voluntary separation (VSEP) exercise to launch around month’s end, the resort’s chairman revealed yesterday.

Michael Scott, chairman of Lucayan Renewal Holdings, the Governmentowned special purpose vehicle (SPV) that controls the resort, said the process of structuring separation

packages for around 200 of the current 423 employees will begin “in earnest over the next two weeks”.

He told Tribune Business that the Minnis Cabinet had agreed to the terms for closing the Grand Lucayan’s $65m purchase with Hutchison Whampoa, with final payment and the exchange of documents the only matters still outstanding.

“I’m hoping to be in position by the end of the month to launch the VSEPs,” he said.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party Chairman Fred Mitchell yesterday said it appeared as if the “fix is in” on Lighthouse Point.

Mr Mitchell scrutinised comments made by Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, who told residents at Wednesday’s town hall meeting in South Eleuthera that environmental arguments will not sway the government’s decision.

Noting his party only wanted a fair process, the former Cabinet minister also pointed to allegations that South Eleuthera MP Hank Johnson is actively lobbying for Disney’s proposed development.

“The information that has come to the PLP is that the MP is actively involved in lobbying on behalf of Disney – that in itself sends up red flags,” Mr Mitchell said.

“More importantly you have the prime minister appearing to fetter his discretion saying he will SEE PAGE SIX

THE POINTE: WE ARE READY TO ENTERTAIN YOU

SEVERANCE OFFERS FOR LUCAYAN STAFF IMMINENT

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

Six years for Fyre Festival fraudster BILLY MCFARLAND, the promoter of the failed Fyre Festival in The Bahamas, leaves federal court in New York last March after pleading guilty to wire fraud charges. Full story - Page Five.

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

OFFICIALS celebrated the opening of The Pointe’s entertainment complex during a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday, an event that marked the partial completion of the second phase of a project designed to revitalise downtown Nassau.

Daniel Liu, the senior vice president of China Construction America, also announced the commencement of the public sale of the project’s “luxurious” oceanfront residences, which are under construction.

SEE PAGE TWO

JUDGES ORDER RETRIAL IN McCARTNEY KILLING

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

THE Court of Appeal has ordered a retrial for the man convicted of killing prominent businessman Kurt McCartney while robbing him of his Hummer SUV five years ago.

Appellate President Sir Hartman Longley, along with acting appellate Justices Sir Michael Barnett and Milton Evans, said

KURT McCARTNEY Thorne Edwards should be retried “as soon as possible” over the October 24, 2013 murder and armed robbery.

The appellate judges said their main reason for ordering the retrial was because the trial judge erred by allowing a witness, whose evidence was the only thing connecting Edwards to the crime, to be screened from the jury.

As such, and given the absence of any other evidence against Edwards, the appellate judges said the credibility of that witness,

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

SEE PAGE THREE

A COMIC’S VIEW:

HOW ABOUT THAT VAT, DIONISIO?

SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Friday, October 12, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Pointe: we are ready to entertain you from page one The entertainment complex is being operated by Mario’s Bowling and its amenities include bowling, movie theatres, golf simulators, a karaoke room and a virtual reality centre.

Twenty people have already been hired for the business, with operator Leslia Miller-Brice telling The Tribune the centre’s doors won’t be opened to patrons for at least another two weeks.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said the centre “will add to the cultural life of our city”.

“The centre is

strategically located as thousands of visitors and residents traverse this path everyday,” he said.

“I am sure both visitors and residents alike will be attracted to this facility, enriching their travel and entertainment experiences. A multi-sectoral team of my government’s officials recently conducted a site visit to this project.

The team reported that they were pleased with the progress and intend to continue regular consultation to ensure that the project proceeds with compliance with the Heads of Agreement which is mutually beneficial.”

The Pointe is a project by

New World One Bay Street, a wholly owned subsidiary of China Construction America (CCA). It is is being built on six acres of waterfront property adjacent to the British Colonial Hilton.

The first phase of the The Pointe project was the seven-storey, 900 space parking garage.

When completed, 126 condominium units will be available with the hotel component featuring 150 rooms.

The Pointe development is being flagged by the Margaritaville brand inspired by singer Jimmy Buffett.

The project is expected to be completed in 2020.

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis at yesterday’s opening of the Pointe entertainment complex.

Photos: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, October 12, 2018, PAGE 3

Judges order retrial in McCartney killing from page one

called “AB”, was “crucial” and was the “main issue” that needed to be determined by the jury.

“In the circumstances of this case we find that the learned trial judge fell into error when he permitted the witness ‘AB’ to give evidence while fully screened,” the appellate judges wrote.

“The members of the jury were deprived of the opportunity to observe his demeanour so as to assist with their assessment of his credibility.

“In this case where the case against the appellant turned on the evidence of ‘AB,’ this was crucial. “…Accordingly, we allow the appeal and quash the convictions on all charges and set aside the sentences imposed and we order that the case be remitted to the Supreme Court for a retrial as soon as possible.”

On December 14, 2015, a jury took three hours to return verdicts for Edwards and his co-accused after the panel had been excused to deliberate on the evidence.

Edwards was unanimously convicted of murder and was found guilty of armed robbery on a majority verdict of 9-3.

His ex-girlfriend and coaccused Lyndera Curry was acquitted of murder but found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter by 11-1. The same count was returned on her conviction for armed robbery.

In June 2016, Edwards was sentenced to 45 years for murdering McCartney and 20 years for robbing the deceased at gunpoint.

Curry received seven years for her manslaughter conviction and five years for armed robbery.

Okell Farrington and Sumya Ingraham were acquitted of murder, manslaughter and armed robbery. Businessman and

community activist Terry Delancy, who had been accused of being an accessory to the murder after the fact, was acquitted of the charge following the close of the prosecution’s case for legal reasons.

It was alleged that Edwards shot McCartney in the face after he became involved in an argument between Curry and the victim.

The prosecution maintained that McCartney’s body was crushed when Farrington, Ingraham and Curry allegedly rolled over his body as they fled the scene in the McCartney’s Hummer. It was alleged that Edwards ran away after the shooting.

At trial, the jury heard from anonymous witness “AB” who said the pharmacist was arguing with one of two women he was walking with, Curry and Ingraham, and that one of the women signalled to a man who approached and shoved

McCartney before shooting the victim.

However, a 12-year-old witness told the jury that there was a single assailant who startled McCartney as he was trying to enter his vehicle, shot him in the head and then sped off in the victim’s car after rolling over him.

At the time, the prosecution had asked now deceased Chief Justice Stephen Isaacs to impose the maximum penalties – death and life sentences – on the law books for the accused.

The prosecution said the shooting of McCartney, an unarmed man, in the head and crushing nearly every bone in his body with his own vehicle to ensure his death, warranted such sentences.

However, the judge noted at the time that the seriousness of the offences had to be balanced against the fact both convicts were young and had no prior criminal history when the October 2013 incident occurred.

THORNE Edwards pictured outside court previously.

SOCIAL SERVICES WORKER RELEASED AFTER NIGHT IN JAIL

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net A SENIOR officer at the Department of Social Services was released from custody yesterday after spending the night in jail for failing to honour a court order to produce two children the government agency took from their mother without a court order.

However, Ellerie Seymour, a senior welfare officer in the Child Protection Unit, is still facing contempt of court proceedings in the Supreme Court for violating Magistrate Kara TurnquestDeveaux’s order to have the 11-year-old girl and six-yearold boy produced by 8pm on Tuesday.

Magistrate TurnquestDeveaux said the ordeal was an “embarrassment” on the DSS’s part, asserting that the agency acted “improperly”.

Meanwhile, Bahamas Public Services Union president Kimsley Ferguson, speaking with reporters while flanked by numerous social services workers after the hearing, said his membership is upset that one of their own was “dragged before the courts” for doing her job.

Mr Ferguson said the social services workers are of the opinion that the safety and well-being of children are their paramount concern, and that they must consequently have “some degree of protection in doing their job”.

Mr Ferguson said the union will not rest until it gets an audience with the minister of social services on their concerns, and that if there is any reluctance to speak with the union on the minister’s part, his members will have to “squeak so that we can be heard”.

According to attorney Ramona Farquharson-Seymour, the two children were

taken from their mother, her client, whose name has been withheld to protect the children’s identity, sometime in July, after a call was placed into the Department of Social Services (DSS) alleging the 11-year-old girl was being abused.

Mrs Farquharson-Seymour said at that time, the DSS called her client and told her that she was to leave her children in a neutral place, which was designated as being the maternal grandmother’s house. According to the attorney, the children were then instead placed under the care of the paternal grandmother.

Mrs Farquharson-Seymour said her client had no contact with her children since then, while her estranged husband did by virtue of his mother.

Mrs Farquharson-Seymour said her client visited the DSS on numerous occasions on the matter and was given certain directives. However, it was when the DSS indicated that it was seeking to implement supervised visits did the mother reach out to her for legal advice.

Mrs Farquharson-Seymour said upon being retained, she conducted a search for the protection order or the care order the DSS “ought to have received” from the court empowering it to remove the children; however she said that search was fruitless.

The mother ultimately filed an application to have her children returned to her, which led to the court writing a letter to the DSS inquiring about the matter.

The DSS sent a report chronicling their version of the matter in response, signed by both Ms Seymour and another employee.

Both ladies testified in court on the matter, after which Magistrate

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Turnquest-Deveaux ultimately ordered to have the children produced no later than 8pm on Tuesday. The following day, however, it was discovered that the children were not returned as ordered. That led to the court sending for Ms Seymour, who, when brought before the court, gave no explanation for not obeying the order, according to Mrs Farquharson-Seymour.

As a result, she was detained until such time as the children were produced.

Yesterday, scores of DSS workers filled Magistrate Turnquest-Deveaux’s courtroom, as well as the sitting area, some standing, just outside the room as they lent their support to the Attorney General’s Office’s bid to have Ms Seymour released from custody pending any Supreme Court hearing of the contempt of court issue.

Kayla Green-Smith, a senior attorney in the Office of the Attorney General, said both her legal team and the DSS were working

up until 12am on Thursday to try and resolve the matter, and had enlisted the assistance of all of the officers at the Carmichael Road Police Station towards that end.

She also indicated that the children were sighted in the downtown area near the Supreme Court, and noted that the father’s attorney gave an undertaking to the Office of the Attorney General to have the children produced before the court yesterday morning.

However, Mrs Farquharson-Seymour said the children, along with an “elderly woman” suggested to be the paternal grandmother, were sighted “walking about on Bank Lane” by one of her staff, who subsequently alerted the police in a bid to have them taken to the Magistrate’s Court.

There was also mention that the father’s attorney had sought to invoke the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court with respect to the matter around that same

time, which Magistrate Turnquest-Deveaux said was “struck down” because the manner in which the father’s attorney sought to do so was “rejected by the judge”.

Nonetheless, Magistrate Turnquest-Deveaux dubbed that attempt by the father’s attorney to approach the Supreme Court as a failed attempt to “circumvent” her October 9 order to have the children returned, sentiments Mrs Farquharson-Seymour later echoed when speaking to the press after the hearing.

A few moments later, the two children, wearing their school uniforms, were escorted into the court room with their father.

Ms Green-Smith subsequently indicated that the DSS would like to monitor the case weekly for another month based on certain allegations to which they were privy, Magistrate Turnquest-Deveaux subsequently stood the matter down and took the children

into her chambers to speak with them.

When she returned to the bench, Magistrate Turnquest-Deveaux indicated that the 11-year-old was distraught about the whole ordeal, particularly because she missed a school event she was really looking forward to.

Nonetheless, having fielded the submissions from counsel, she ordered the children to be returned to their mother. A loud “Thank you, Jesus” could be heard emanating from the side of the court where the mother was sitting when the magistrate said those words.

She subsequently ruled that she would refer the matter to the Supreme Court for a determination of the contempt proceedings, and that Ms Seymour would be released until then.

However, the magistrate advised the DSS, which “started out improperly”, to do what they need to do in a proper manner.

PAGE 4, Friday, October 12, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

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The climate clock is ticking even louder THE release earlier this week of a new landmark report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes grim and gloomy reading. This United Nations body has now declared time is running out to avert disaster precipitated by climate change unless drastic action is taken to phase out fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions.

The IPCC calculates that, given the recent rate of increase of global warming, there are only a dozen years left for such warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-Industrial Revolution levels; and, if this is exceeded, the result will be a world plunged into extreme heat, droughts, floods, rising sea levels and widespread poverty.

Despite the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change which has been ratified by most nations - though the US has withdrawn - some people remain sceptical about the scientific evidence on which the judgments about climate change are based. But this time the IPCC has declared unequivocally that it has high confidence in its predictions.

Since its conclusions have been reached by people claimed to be the world’s leading climate scientists, it is hard for the layman not to take this latest IPCC warning seriously. Observers are not in a position to question the detailed figures used. But most people are aware some sort of change in climatic conditions is happening constantly and it can be reasonably inferred that excessive carbon emissions being pumped into the atmosphere are more likely than not to be having some sort of damaging effect.

So it is now generally accepted climate change is real and poses a threat. Many Bahamians are aware our country – classified as a Small Island Developing State - is particularly vulnerable to its effects because of the likely, if not inevitable, rise in sea levels from global warming and the likely damaging effects on coral reefs as well as flooding of coastal areas where people live.

The islands of our archipelago are for the most part low-lying and, even if the rise in temperatures is limited to the earlier international target of less than 2 degrees Celsius, this could be disastrous for The Bahamas because so much of our landmass is already threatened by higher sea levels and flooding. Such effects could be worse than those in the aftermath of hurricanes and would not only damage the living conditions of thousands of

Bahamians and the natural resource of our coral reefs but would also seriously hamper our major industry of tourism.

The scientific advice is that to control continuing temperature rises it is essential to reduce global carbon emissions.

A small country like ours is a “low emitter” of CO2 and we have an interest in making the developed nations accountable through the Paris Agreement for taking action to reduce their much heavier emissions.

We should surely coordinate such efforts with other CARICOM countries in a similar position to ours. But we also need to improve our energy efficiency and to expand alternative energy sources in cooperation with others in world organisations like the International Renewable Energy Agency which is focused on increasing the use of such energy.

Meanwhile, the Government will no doubt continue to advance its “national energy policy”. Clearly, in a country like The Bahamas with its abundant sunshine and offshore winds we should do all we can to develop our local renewable energy potential.

At the same time, we should promote the conservation of our natural resources while encouraging individual environmental responsibility including the Youth Environmental Corps. Removal of tariffs on solar systems and panels has already happened and we hope that comparable measures in relation to other sources of energy are also being considered.

Perhaps a formal programme for the development and utilisation of renewable energy, with imaginative input from the general public, could be considered.

Many people will have taken note of the press statement in November, 2016 by the Minister of the Environment and Housing in the then PLP government in which he committed The Bahamas to taking action on climate change following our ratification of the Paris Agreement.

In light of the latest IPCC report, we hope today’s FNM government will be reviewing the progress of such action and, in particular, how the nation is meeting its international obligations.

An official public statement about such an important issue would be widely welcomed -- and we hope there is a good story to tell that people will find reassuring.

Polls paint different stories EDITOR, The Tribune SAM Duncombe needs to understand The Tribune Poll probably is mostly Nassau-Freeport residents, done on-line whilst The Domain Poll was targeted across all islands.

Who has a right to purchase Lighthouse property?

The 700 acres is private property there is no factor

of Government giving land to anyone, let alone foreigners, if Bahamians wished to they could.

What is the basic gripe of Duncombe and others?

There is a grave danger of establishing environment conditions that will stop or curtail all economic development … we appreciate and respect where possible we must ensure the

environment is safeguarded but even the One Eleuthera proposal which is mute til Disney cancels their promise to purchase has a development factor and also check who is financially supporting One Eleuthera, it just might surprise you.

ABRAHAM MOSS Nassau, October 11, 2018

Proud to be a descendant of Eleuthera EDITOR, The Tribune PLEASE allow me space in your newspaper to share my thoughts on the Lighthouse Point proposed development by Disney Cruise Line.

One of the reasons I am a marine biologist and environmental planner is because of the many hours I spent on the Bay in Savannah Sound, Eleuthera whenever I visited my grandmother, Lillian Culmer. I spent many summer breaks and holidays in Eleuthera.

I consider it my second home. There are few places on this planet that are as beautiful with so many pristine areas.

Too often we only couch development in terms of mega-developments. Our government has signed on to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). If they are truly committed to these goals and not just paying them lip service as they have done for so many issues since coming into office, they will move away from megadevelopments like the one proposed by Disney for Lighthouse Point. And yes, it is mega-development, not because of the beach chairs, but because of the SIGNIFICANT dredging that will need to occur to accommodate the cruise ships and the sheer numbers of people that will descend

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net on the site. Not to mention the emissions – solid waste, greenhouse gases and sewage.

As a Small Island Developing State, The Bahamas possesses a number of characteristics, including fragile ecosystems and dependence on foreign sources of finance. We need to seek to develop our country in such a way that considers these characteristics to improve our resilience, not make us weaker. Low-impact development that has minimal environmental footprint is key. Maybe you can replant trees, but it takes literally millions of years to achieve the diversity and size of some of the coral reefs found in The Bahamas.

Sustainability is not just about the environment.

It is about the economy and social issues as well.

We need to strengthen our economy and try to stop the leakage of millions of dollars leaving the tourism sector every day.

Part of stopping the leakage is ensuring Bahamians have more ownership in the sector, that they run the businesses, including hotels, restaurants and services. We need to address our social issues, such as unemployment, but look

to create jobs that are sustainable and profitable.

Why work for $250 per week when you can own a business bringing in $1,500 per week? We also need to seek to increase equity in terms of the wealth in this country. That is not going to happen with the cruise ship model which has taken so much from so many countries and gives so little other than environmental damage and waste. We need to focus on attracting tourists who are going to stay overnight for days spending hundreds of dollars rather than ones that come for two hours and may spend $50. We need QUALITY not QUANTITY in our tourists.

We have focused on numbers of visitors to our country’s detriment without focusing on attracting those who will spend with Bahamian businesses. Our government needs to say NO to the 3-for-$10 tourists for good.

Eleuthera means freedom. We need to free ourselves from these old, failed models of tourism to develop our country into one where our children own the wealth in terms of natural resources, culture and money.

Proud descendant of Eleuthera.

STACEY MOULTRIE Nassau, October 3, 2018

We must beware the cunning spider EDITOR, The Tribune

hungry for jobs. And who can blame them. There is no human ACCORDING to the town on this earth who does not yearn hall meeting televised from the for whatever might improve their Green Castle Primary School in economic condition. But let’s be Eleuthera on Wednesday, many realistic. What can Disney offer Eleutherans decked in pro-Dis- that would make the destruction ney Cruise Lines t-shirts, made it of such a beautiful spot on earth clear that they wanted to hear no worthwhile? opposition to Disney’s proposal Let’s say Disney provides a to turn their God-given uniquely twice weekly cruise with a boat beautiful island into a playground load of passengers. Those pasfor Disney’s cruise passengers. sengers have paid Disney for They were not concerned by their passage, none of it goes warnings of the destruction the into the pockets of Eleutherans. dredging would do to the whole The passengers swim and cavort eco-system that makes Eleuthera in God’s crystal clear water — if it so unique and once destroyed is still crystal clear after all of the can never be repaired. They are dredging necessary to create the

wharf that is to take them from never be repaired for a couple of Reminds me of the spider and the ship to shore. Whatever they shekels a week! Is this a sign of the fly nursery rhyme – “Come into my parlour,” said the spider eat on shore is probably prepared intelligence?

I would suggest that Eleuther- to the fly, “it’s the prettiest little

by Disney’s own chefs as a part of each passenger’s fare – not in ans seriously consider the parlour that ever you did spy.” the kitchens of any Eleutheran. proposals by the One Eleuthera The naive little fly walks up the Whatever this costs also goes Foundation that will be based winding stairs, but never walks into the pockets of Disney. on a more solid and lasting foun- down again! The cunning spider While there what will these dation, which in the end will ensnared the naive spider through provide them a daily return for seduction and flattery – and that passengers purchase?

A few native made handbags, their efforts. was the end of his story!

As for the Prime Minister, I straw hats, place mats as souveEleutherans, think again, listen nirs — a couple dollars here, a suggest he seriously consider to what the One Eleuthera Founcouple dollars there not daily, this whole concept, and show dation has to offer, and then make but at the most twice a week! the proper leadership. Would a wise decision.

Come on, now, Eleutherans, you he lead his people over a cliff are recognised as an intelligent edge, because he sees himself as A TRUE BAHAMIAN people - so much natural destruc- their servant and should blindly Nassau, tion that once destroyed can follow their ill-informed lead?

October 211, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, October 12, 2018, PAGE 5

Fyre Festival creator jailed for six years NEW YORK Associated Press THE creator of the Fyre Festival, a highly publicised and famously failed music bash in the Bahamas, was ordered Thursday to spend six years in prison by a judge who called him a “serial fraudster”.

Billy McFarland, 26, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Manhattan. He had admitted to defrauding investors of $26m in the 2017 Fyre Festival and over $100,000 in a fraudulent ticket-selling scheme after his arrest in the scam.

“The defendant is a serial fraudster,” Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald said. The Fyre Festival was “not a good idea gone bad” as McFarland sometimes has

wanted to portray it, she said.

“Mr McFarland is a fraudster and not simply a misguided young man,” Buchwald said. “Bad intent was longstanding.”

McFarland fraudulently operated a business from 2013 to 2017 that staged private events, exaggerating its potential and accomplishments to 20 investors, said Assistant US Attorney Kristy Jean Greenberg.

He used false claims about that company as part of a sales pitch to entice 80 investors to pour $24m into the Fyre Festival, she said.

A separate investment of $2m came from another entity.

The prosecutor said he then diverted $13m to his private financial accounts

ONE of the tents at the Fyre Festival.

to fuel an “extravagant lifestyle” that included moving from an $8,000-a-month Manhattan apartment into a $21,000-a-month penthouse. She said he rode luxury vehicles, took frequent trips and flew in private planes.

“The motivation here was greed, a desire to have a flashy lifestyle,” Greenberg said.

She called McFarland a “selfish and self-absorbed character” and predicted that if he got out of prison soon, “I have no doubt he will be on to the next scam.”

Speaking in a courtroom packed with friends and relatives and at least one victim, McFarland apologized as family members cried behind him.

He said he has “been awakened and hit rock bottom by the gravity of incarceration”.

A “fear of letting everybody down” drove him to make serious mistakes, McFarland said.

“I made decisions that were a slap in the face to everything my family tried to teach me,” he said.

The festival, promoted as an ultra-luxurious event and “the cultural experience of the decade,” was supposed to take place over two spring 2017 weekends on the Bahamian island of Exuma.

Customers who paid

BILLY McFarland at a previous court appearance. $1,200 to over $100,000 celebrities including Kendhoping to see Blink-182 all Jenner, Bella Hadid and and the hip-hop act Migos Emily Ratajkowski. arrived to learn musical acts McFarland deserved a were canceled. Their luxury lengthy prison term because accommodations and gour- he disrespected the crimimet food consisted of leaky nal justice system by lying white tents and packaged to law enforcement agents food. when they learned about Customers lashed out the ticket-selling business, on social media with the Buchwald said. Still, she hashtag #fyrefraud. The stopped short of ordering bust was an embarrassment the over 15 years in prison to some famous people prosecutors had sought. after it was promoted on McFarland’s attorney, social media by models and Randall Jackson, had

argued for leniency, saying his client was still extremely young and had suffered from mental health issues that clouded his judgment.

But the judge said that some of the justification for McFarland’s crimes were “almost laughable” and that any portrayal that he was a well-intentioned young man who just got in over his head was mistaken.

“The portrait,” she said, “simply doesn’t fit the facts.”

‘IT’S TIME TO END VICTIM SHAMING’

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net

SENATOR Dr Mildred Hall-Watson yesterday called for an end to victim shaming and for more equality for young women while delivering an address in the Senate.

The senator also pointed to the controversy surrounding the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. She said her heart went out to one of Mr Kavanaugh’s accusers, who was shamed and called a liar because she took decades to come forward with her allegations.

October 11 was the United Nations’ International Day of the Girl Child, under the theme of “With Her: A Skilled Girl Force”.

“Across the world, girls face adversities that hinder their education, training and entry into the workforce,” the UN Women website reports. “They have less access to information, communication technology and resources, such as the

internet where the global gender gap is growing.”

In her remarks, Dr HallWatson noted that while society is moving “closer and closer” to parity between the sexes in the workplace, “there is still a grave disparity” with how teenage girls are treated.

“Despite the fact that we have a longstanding sexual offenders law in place we still have many, many young women who are sexually attacked and bruised,” Dr Hall-Watson said. “And then they become the ones who are accused, where they are shamed because victim shaming is something that takes place.”

She added there are still instances of preteen girls having children.

She also referred to the controversy ensnaring Mr Kavanaugh who has been accused of sexual misconduct or assault by four women, including California professor Christine Blasely Ford, 51. Mrs Ford alleged Mr Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager in the 1980s.

Mrs Ford testified during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about these allegations, which were denied by Mr Kavanaugh.

Mr Kavanaugh was appointed to the Supreme Court on October 6.

“When we look at what just happened on an international basis and our hearts went out to the woman who in her 50s is still experiencing pain for what she suffered as a teenager,” Dr Hall-Watson said.

“She was still told she was telling a lie and it took too long anyway, even if it is the truth. No one can determine what someone feels inside and what that activity will do to an individual and negatively impact them for the rest of their lives.”

Dr Hall-Watson called on her fellow senators to support the day’s initiative, and to let such actions last longer than a single day.

“What we want is to see our girls become adult women who not only have parity in business but parity in how they are treated as part of the female gender,” she said.

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

Financial Specialist for (1) The Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program Institution: Inter-American Development Bank Country: The Commonwealth of The Bahamas Projects: (1) Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program Project Number: (1) BH-L1043 and (2) BH-L1041 Loan Number: (1) 4363/OC-BH and (2) 3907/OC-BH Sector: (1) Environment and Natural Disasters and (2) Transport Deadline: October 19, 2018

The Ministry of Public Works (MOPW) is seeking an experienced Financial Specialist for both the (1) Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, and implemented by a dedicated Project Implementation Unit (PIU) within the MOPW. The position will be based in the PIU. . The main activities are as follows: • Ensuring that appropriate financial and accounting systems and controls are implemented so that all Program activities are executed in accordance with the applicable GoBH and the Bank’s financial and accounting requirements.

• Establishing and maintaining adequate financial, accounting, and internal control systems to ensure the integrity, compliance and transparency of all transactions undertaken by the PIU. • Managing, in an effective and transparent manner, the financial resources of the Program and undertaking the corresponding fiduciary responsibilities as well as the implementation and operation of the necessary internal and external controls.

• Assisting the Program Coordinator with the monitoring activities of the Program to meet the stipulated Program financial objectives, transparency and accountability requirements as they relate to the planned and actual expenditures.

• Participating in the preparation of the Program Annual Operational Plan (AOP) to ensure that budget and cash flow estimates are compatible with work priorities, objectives and timelines.

• Carrying out the budgeting processes of the Program, consistent with the programmatic structure agreed with the Bank. Implementing and ensuring the effective and transparent reach and operation of the internal control systems of the Program and its administration. Preparing the budget execution reports and financial statements of the Program by sources and uses of funds, and in compliance with the norms of the IDB and GoBH. • Assisting the Program Coordinator in the in the preparation of periodic financial and physical implementation reports, along with supporting documentation in accordance with the Program Operating Manual (POM) and as required by the MLNI, Ministry of Finance and the Bank. Participating in the periodic update of the POM to ensure that proper accounting, financial management and internal controls are effective and consistent with GoBH and IDB policies and procedures.

The consultant must hold a post-graduate degree in Economics, Business Administration (Finance), Public Administration or Accounting. He/she must have a minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience in project-financial management of investment initiatives funded by international development institutions, preferably in The Bahamas.

Previous knowledge and exposure of/to IDB’s fiduciary, procurement, financial administration and project management policies and procedures is desired.

The Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas now invites eligible consultants to indicate their interest in providing financial specilist services. Interested consultants should provide their CV’s and information demonstrating that they are qualified to perform the services (description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions). The duration of the contract is two (2) year part-time with the possibility of being renewed based on satisfactory performance evaluation.

Consultants will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the Inter-American Development Bank: Policies for the Selection and Contracting of Consultants Financed by the Inter-American Development Bank GN-2350-9 and is open to all eligible bidders as defined in the policies. Interested consultants may obtain further clarification on the technical aspects or scope of services from Robert Mouzas, Deputy Director, Ministry of Public Works robertmouzas@bahamas.gov.bs tel: (242) 302-9530 during office hours between 09:00am to 5:00pm Monday – Friday, except on public holidays. Expressions of Interest inclusive of CV’s must be submitted to the address below in person, by e-mail idbfiairports@bahamas.gov.bs or idbcoastal@bahamas.gov.bs or by mail, on or before October 19, 2018 at 4pm.

Antoinette Thompson – Permanent Secretary Acting Ministry of Public Works REF:- Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program /Airport Infrastructure Program P.O. Box N 8156, Nassau, Bahamas

PAGE 6, Friday, October 12, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Activist disappointed at lack of environment consideration

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ declaration that his government’s decision on Lighthouse Point, Eleuthera, would not be swayed by environmental arguments for or against a project there, was yesterday labelled “disappointing”

by ReEarth president Sam Duncombe.

The activist told The Tribune yesterday that Dr Minnis’ performance at a town hall meeting on Wednesday night left more questions than answers, insisting that his stance on the importance of environmental arguments signals that his mind could already be made up, prior to meeting with environmentalists and the One Eleuthera Foundation in the coming days.

Mrs Duncombe said she was shocked and appalled by the structure of the town hall meeting and how it was executed.

The event was billed as a meeting where Dr Minnis would speak to residents about Eleuthera’s economy, but sources told The Tribune that Disney supporters staged a mini-rally at the site prior to the meeting commencing.

ATTENDEES at the meeting in Eleuthera on Wednesday.

Additionally, sources environmental arguments claimed speakers at the being levied concerning the forum were arranged project. according to their level According to Dr Minnis, of support of Disney’s the decision was made in proposal – with those large part because a more opposing the project not damaging project – one that being offered suitable peri- never materialised – was ods to raise their points. approved for the area in These claims were denied 2008 under the FNM governby the Eleuthera Commu- ment of Hubert Ingraham, nity Support Group (CSG), he said. Dr Minnis was the organisation that has minister of health in that led a pro-Disney faction on administration. the ground in Eleuthera.

“In 2008, a project Following statements by was approved for South several residents, Dr Minnis Eleuthera which allowed took to the microphone to dredging and multiple declare that his administra- canal networks in that tion would not consider the same property,” he said,

Photo: Yontalay Bowe “dredging of the salt pond into the ocean, creation of marinas for mega yachts, provision of land for different homes, boutiques, etc, and this was what was approved for that property and some may argue that the land will be destroyed but this project which was approved would’ve caused more destruction than what is being looked at today. “...The argument about the destruction of the land will hold no water,” he said on Wednesday.

Commenting on Dr Minnis’ position yesterday, Mrs Duncombe said: “I’m

very disappointed with how he handled things.”

She added: “It was proposed as a forum for residents to speak their minds for either side. It felt as if he made his decision in that moment.”

Mrs Duncombe claimed the comments illustrated a “tip of the hat” to Disney.

“I can’t say it’s a conclusion,” she said. “But, I don’t like the way everything sounded. He didn’t say it was the end, decision has been made. But his word choices and the way he presented what he presented, I don’t like the way it sounds.

“You know they say it is not over until the fat lady sings, but what I heard and saw last night, it was horribly depressing. I am most of all depressed by the fact that his government has gone on and on about Bahamians first, growing our country and true national development….

And now it is almost a completely different tone.

“It is almost as if he said screw the environment. That is why I am disturbed and bothered by this. The environment is our business man, come on. Our environment is why we have a tourism product to begin with.”

Addressing the 2008 deal to which Dr Minnis referred, Mrs Duncombe

said it would be “nationally counterproductive” to measure any future deal with the metric used to approve the previous proposal for the property.

“You can’t do that,” she said. “Well, one should not seek to do that. You can’t hold up one horrible and say to us, ‘because it isn’t as bad as this, it’s okay.’ That 2008 deal, it didn’t go down; thankfully, but to hold that up as the measuring stick, come on.

“That ridiculous project shouldn’t be the thing we hold anything against,” she said.

Research by Tribune Business uncovered a 2008 press release announcing a joint venture between The Related Group and Meritage Hospitality Group for the property.

Financial woes for developers slowed, and ultimately stalled the project.

One Eleuthera is currently locked in a public campaign to block Disney Cruise Line’s acquisition of the property.

The cruise company has taken preparatory steps to acquire the historic site for the construction of multimillion-dollar cruise port, promising a $400m spend.

Dr Minnis is expected to make a final decision on the project next week.

CSG, according to its representatives, remained neutral in the Lighthouse Point saga until it was presented with proposals from both the One Eleuthera Foundation and Disney Cruise Lines.

CSG chairman Denny Rankin said previously: “We had to come together to make it clear where we stood.”

The views of most of those attending Wednesday’s town meeting were overwhelmingly supportive of Disney’s project. Dozens wore T-shirts reading “We Love Disney”, “Disney Loves Eleuthera,” “Eleuthera loves Disney” and “Disney Respects Me” when they greeted Dr Minnis’ delegation at the island’s airport and during

the town hall meeting that followed. One of those persons was Mrs Johnson.

Mrs Johnson, a spokesperson for CSG, has previously criticised One Eleuthera for what she described as “false representations of the truth.”

“This is not a political affair,” she told The Tribune this week. “One Eleuthera needs to understand that. This is about changing lives for the residents of Central and South Eleuthera.”

Expressing a clear disdain for One Eleuthera’s action in recent weeks, Mrs Johnson said “They want to give us corn beef and we want the lobster. It isn’t out of our reach. We can see it and touch it.”

DISNEY: THE ‘FIX IS IN’ ON LIGHTHOUSE POINT PROJECT from page one

dismiss environmental concerns in advance. If he is having a hearing on Friday with the other side,” he continued, “how can the government say they are going to have a fair hearing? When he’s already dismissed

environmental concerns?”

Mr Mitchell said: “Looks to me that the fix is in and they’ve decided to go in one direction. We only want a fair process and if the project is something the people of Eleuthera want then certainly they should have it, but the process should be fair.”

Environmental groups

like the Bahamas National Trust, reEarth and Waterkeepers Bahamas have sought to block Disney’s proposed development and promote efforts to preserve the 700-acre privately-owned peninsula property.

The One Eleuthera Foundation - a non-profit group also advocating for

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

Environment, Health & Safety Specialist for (1) The Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program

Institution: Inter-American Development Bank Country: The Commonwealth of The Bahamas Projects: (1) Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program Project Number: (1) BH-L1043 and (2) BH-L1041 Loan Number: (1) 4363/OC-BH and (2) 3907/OC-BH Sector: (1) Environment and Natural Disasters and (2) Transport Deadline: October 19, 2018

preservation - is set to present its offer for the property today, according to Dr Minnis.

At Wednesday’s town hall, Dr Minnis told residents a more damaging project was approved for the area in 2008 by the then-Hubert Ingraham Cabinet. Dr Minnis served as minister of health in that administration. “...The argument about the destruction of the land will hold no water,” Dr Minnis said.

Mr Johnson’s wife Shelly Johnson is a member of the Community Support Group (CSG) - a body established

this past spring to convey the “unfiltered voices” of local residents in Eleuthera.

The Ministry of Public Works (MOPW) is seeking an experienced Environment, Health, and Safety Officer to lead the implementation, and oversight of environmental, health and safety aspects, plans and procedures for both the (1) Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, and implemented by a dedicated Project Implementation Unit (PIU) within the MOPW. The position will be based in the PIU. . The main activities are as follows: • Oversee the development and implementation the necessary plans and procedures, for design and construction activities undertaken in the Program, based on the proposed Environmental and Social Management Framework set out in the Environmental and Social Analysis Report • Liaise with government authorities, the IDB, project architects and developers to determine if additional environmental and social assessment is required for infrastructure projects in the programs • Coordinate and review subsequent environmental and social assessments required and/or Enviroment and Social Management Plans (ESMPs) produced, to ensure compliance with international best practice. Liaise with government authorities, project architects and developers to ensure that environmental, health and safety requirements are integrated into final designs • Revise the ESMPs developed by contractors to ensure compliance with national laws and IDB’s policies • Supervise environmental, health and safety processes ensuring compliance with local and national legislation, best international practice, and contractual commitments with the IDB//Supervise the implementation of the contractors’ ESMPs • Identify and track appropriate environment, health, and safety Key Performance Indicators • Maintain records and prepare various environmental, health and safety reports. Conduct periodic audits, to pinpoint unsafe working conditions, behaviors, and practices. Conduct and/or coordinate environmental monitoring quality tests periodically at site and analyze data • Production of monthly progress reports and final report, at the end of the project Summary of experience and qualifications: • Degree in Environmental Science, Engineering and/or Health and Safety discipline • Minimum five (5) years of Environment, Health, and Safety experience in the construction field; • Demonstrated success at developing and implementing HSE Management Systems • Detailed knowledge of relevant national legislation as well as HSE international standards • Experience with safety hazard recognition, behavioral-based safety, job hazard analysis, process hazards analysis and environmental site assessment based on international standards The Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas now invites eligible consultants to indicate their interest in providing environment, health, and safety services. Interested consultants should provide their CV’s and information demonstrating that they are qualified to perform the services (description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions). The duration of the contract is two (2) year full-time with the possibility of being renewed based on satisfactory performance evaluation.

Consultants will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the Inter-American Development Bank: Policies for the Selection and Contracting of Consultants Financed by the Inter-American Development Bank GN-2350-9 and is open to all eligible bidders as defined in the policies. Interested consultants may obtain further clarification on the technical aspects or scope of services from Robert Mouzas, Deputy Director, Ministry of Public Works robertmouzas@bahamas.gov.bs tel: (242) 302-9530 during office hours between 09:00am to 5:00pm Monday – Friday, except on public holidays. Expressions of Interest inclusive of CV’s must be submitted to the address below in person, by e-mail idbfiairports@bahamas.gov.bs or idbcoastal@bahamas.gov.bs or by mail, on or before October 19, 2018 at 4pm.

Antoinette Thompson –Permanent Secretary Acting Ministry of Public Works REF:- Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program /Airport Infrastructure Program P.O. Box N 8156.Nassau, Bahamas

PUBLIC DOMAIN CHIEF DEFENDS SURVEY

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net

PUBLIC Domain president M’wale Rahming yesterday defended the organisation’s most recent survey against critiques the poll commissioned by Disney Cruise Lines was biased.

On Monday, Public Domain released a survey which found that more than 60 percent of Bahamians said they “very much” or “somewhat” support Disney’s proposal for Lighthouse Point, Eleuthera.

This was immediately met with outrage by activists, who alleged the survey was “deliberately” structured to provide Disney with the answers it needs to sharpen its case for acquiring the property.

In an interview with The Tribune yesterday, Mr Rahming denounced these claims, arguing the survey was not about public opinion of what should happen to the Lighthouse Point property, but specifically about its view on what Disney has proposed.

“The Disney proposal happens to be at Lighthouse Point,” Mr Rahming said.

“And that’s the proposal that we discussed. If Disney had had a proposal somewhere else, we would have talked about the proposal somewhere else.

“And it definitely wasn’t a survey (of) whether you prefer A or B. It was ‘do you want A?’ Now we could have conversations about B, C, D, as much as you want. But that’s not what this was. And I think that the anger and uproar of this is rooted in people not understanding.”

Responding to criticisms that the survey asked leading questions, Mr Rahming said: “The reason it’s not leading is I’m not actually trying to get an opinion of something that’s in thin air.

“I’m saying this is a development that has been proposed and this is what they promised to do. Under that circumstance, do you support this?

“We describe the development as it has been described by the person who is suggesting it. And we took that directly from the website. Just like we took the counterargument… from the counterargument website.

“So I have a hard time understanding how people don’t understand that we have to describe something in order to get the people to evaluate it. And a brief description is not useful.”

Mr Rahming added he understands the criticism that the survey did not mention any other proposed developments.

“There might be another development that the people want more than this,” Mr Rahming admitted. “But I don’t know that because I don’t have any description for that other development.

“And so the same people who are saying the survey is biased are people who don’t have a description for an alternative. So it’s not just, ‘do you want A or B,’ I’m just saying ‘do you want A, yes or no?’”

However, he noted he was not made aware of the proposal made by the One Eleuthera Foundation, an organisation that has been locked in a public campaign to block Disney’s acquisition of the property.

Mr Rahming also noted

the survey was deliberately designed to present counterarguments against Disney’s proposal first, then Disney’s position last. He added this layout was recommended by the third party to which Public Domain submits all questionnaires. “(If we had put) the pro arguments first, you don’t think then (critics) would have said, ‘well that’s biased, because you gave the pro arguments first, so they already made their decision?’ That was designed.

“We designed that to make sure the negative arguments were the first thing the respondents heard… We have a foreign entity that we submit all of our questionnaires to (and) ask whether they can be perceived as biased.

Because we do live in the same bubble as everyone else in The Bahamas.

“So (they) signed off on this, and I said ‘well, what if we put the counterarguments first?’ And (they) said, ‘that’s even stronger in terms of the methodology’. And that’s why we did that.”

When asked if he perceives these critiques as an attack against Public Domain’s credibility, Mr Rahming said no, and instead attributed the criticisms to a lack of understanding of the industry.

“Any time that we come out with a survey, on anything, people who disagree with us attack the survey.

And I think, or I hope, that at one point we can move beyond attacking the survey and understanding this is what the public thinks. And if you want to change that thinking, feel free, go ahead.”

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, October 12, 2018, PAGE 7

Former Tribune editor in TV probe of Oakes murder A NEW TV documentary about the Oakes murder is due for release this autumn.

Among those featured is John Marquis, former managing editor of The Tribune, whose book Blood and Fire threw new light on the 75-year-old mystery when it was published 13 years ago.

Sir Harry Oakes, then the British Empire’s richest man, was murdered in his Nassau home in July, 1943. His son-in-law, Count Alfred de Marigny, was tried and acquitted at the Supreme Court in Nassau later that year. The murder has never been solved.

Mr Marquis’s book, which claimed Sir Harry was the victim of a local conspiracy, was acclaimed in the Wall Street Journal as one of the top five books in its genre.

Former Harvard professor Edward Jay Epstein described it as “brilliant” and said it would make a superb James Bond style movie.

Critic Sir Christopher Ondaatje described it as the most “accusatory” of

all seven books written about the case, and Canadian lawyer Bill Selnes said he felt it got closest to the truth.

The new documentary, by London-based Like A Shot Entertainment, will be screened in Britain in November and is expected to be shown throughout Europe and via the Discovery Channel in North America. It is one of six documentaries in a series about Second World War murder mysteries.

Mr Marquis, 76, was The Tribune’s managing editor for ten years until 2009.

He had shown a keen interest in the Oakes murder since his first spell in The Bahamas during the 1960s, when he was a political reporter at The Nassau Guardian and later The Tribune.

At the time, a top-level tip-off about a passport found lying among rubble in a Nassau side street threw suspicion on several leading Bahamian figures.

During a book-signing session after Blood and Fire’s release in 2005, Mr

SIR Harry Oakes and his wife Eunice in Toronto in the 1930s.

Marquis was berated by the widow of a leading Bahamian politician who told him he should not resurrect speculation about the case.

She yelled: “Why don’t you leave it alone?”

He said: “Reaction to the book convinced me even more that my conclusions were correct.”

His involvement in the documentary has inspired him to write an updated version of Blood and Fire, which will include information passed on to him by two sources in the Bahamas shortly before his retirement from full-time journalism nine years ago.

It will be published next year.

“These sources were unrelated, but gave me information which led to the same conclusion about the case,” Mr Marquis said.

“I feel my new book gets even closer to the solution to the great Oakes

$48M IN PROJECTS FOR GB

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net IRAM Lewis, parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Works, has given an update on major capital works projects totaling some $48m that are underway on Grand Bahama.

He reported that officials have decided to expand the scope of work at the $4.8m Smith’s Point seawall project to include road paving throughout that coastal community.

Mr Lewis, the MP for Central Grand Bahama, was very pleased with the seawall construction.

“The project is very well done in a timely manner, and the community now has a protective barrier eliminating possible erosion and washout,” he said during a recent press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in Freeport.

“One of things we had to do early in our administration was discontinue our relationship with one Bahamian contractor and hire another Bahamian contractor to carry out major capital works in Smith’s Point,” he explained.

Smith’s Construction was initially awarded the contract under the former Christie administration, however due to serious construction issues and failure to meet deadlines, the Minnis administration terminated the contract.

Under the original contract, signed in June 2016, the contractor was to

construct a 1,733-ft concrete seawall with piled foundation, five-foot-wide sidewalk, ramp, and steps to the beach. The project also included highway reinstatement and repairs, drainage, and street lighting.

The Minnis administration entered into a new contract with Waugh Construction in August 2017.

Mr Lewis said officials are very happy with the decision they made to replace the initial contractor.

As an extension to the seawall, he noted that the government has agreed to expand the scope of work to include road paving in the entire settlement.

Speed bumps are being installed and road stripping works are being finalised, he said.

In West Grand Bahama, Mr Lewis stated that some adjustments are being made at the $6.5-million Fishing Hole causeway to limit environmental damage in the area.

“It is a project that we met underway and we are going to ensure that it is properly completed so that it would not compromise more of the marsh land in Fishing Hole area. We had discussions with the Ministry of Environment to ensure that none of the natural ecosystem is damaged,” he said.

All Bahamas Construction (ABC) company was awarded the contract under the former Christie administration in December 2015 to stop years of ongoing flooding caused by tidal surges at Hawksbill

Creek, which left Fishing Hole Road impassable.

Studies undertaken had recommended that the causeway should be elevated between ten to 12 feet.

Moving further west, Mr Lewis noted that the $25m government complex is still underway, and work is proceeding well with the contractor Top Notch Construction Company.

The MP also said that they expect the new $12m Holmes Rock Junior High School project, which was also signed under the former Christie administration, will be completed by the next school year. The contractors are Brickhouse Construction and RCL Construction.

In terms of road works in the outlying settlements, Mr Lewis said that Minister of Works Desmond Bannister has agreed to seek additional funding for road works in the outlying communities on Grand Bahama.

The minister, he said, recently toured outlying settlements and was able to get an understanding of the “seriousness” of road conditions in those communities.

Road assessments were conducted before last year’s budget, however ,he said, due to budget constraints they were only given half the funding that was needed for road repairs in Grand Bahama.

According to Mr Lewis, some roads had not been repaved in communities in the past 40 years.

$260,000 DRUG STASH FOUND IN BUSHES

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

MORE than $200,000 worth of dangerous drugs were discovered by Bahamian law enforcement officials in bushes in a Freeport subdivision, but no arrest was made,

Grand Bahama police reported.

According to reports, nine sacks containing packages of suspected marijuana, weighing 226 pounds with an estimated street value of $260,000 was found in the South Bahamia area shortly before 4pm on Tuesday.

ASP Terecita Pinder reported that officers of the Central Detective Unit, along with immigration officers, customs officers, and the K-9 unit went to Florin Drive, South Bahamia where they made the discovery.

The investigation is ongoing.

conundrum, which is still rated the most compelling murder mystery of the 20th century.”

Mr Marquis, who lives in Cornwall, England, has written several other books, including a “portrait” of the Haitian tyrant François “Papa Doc” Duvalier, and a study of Sante and Kenny Kimes, the mother-andson crime team who lived in Nassau during the 1990s.

In his earlier career, he was a prize-winning investigative reporter and international sports writer with Lord Thomson of Fleet’s newspapers, then Britain’s biggest newspaper chain, and editor of a West Country newspaper group.

In 1974, he won a British Press Award, known as the ‘Oscars’ of British journalism, for a series on child deaths at two London hospitals.

JOHN MARQUIS, former managing editor of The Tribune, will be featured in a new documentary about Sir Harry Oakes’ murder.

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

Project Coordinator for (1) The Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program Institution: Inter-American Development Bank Country: The Commonwealth of The Bahamas Projects: (1) Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program Project Number: (1) BH-L1043 and (2) BH-L1041 Loan Number: (1) 4363/OC-BH and (2) 3907/OC-BH Sector: (1) Environment and Natural Disasters and (2) Transport Deadline: October 19, 2018

The Ministry of Public Works (MOPW) is seeking an experienced Program Coordinator to lead the implementation, and oversight for both the (1) Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, and implemented by a dedicated Project Implementation Unit (PIU) within the MOPW. The position will be based in the PIU. . The main activities are as follows: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

• • •

Ensures PIU compliance with IDB/GOBH Loan Contract in project execution Supervise and evaluate PIU staff Develop project proposals, requirements, documentation and presentations as requested Lead project review exercises designed to adjust, organize and streamline project procedures/schedules/plans.

Manage and control project implementation according to the project plans Facilitate project staff in the definition of project tasks and resource requirements Ensure effective coordination between, and reporting from, procurement, financial, and project staff Lead and direct special Program Steering Committees developed to expedite project implementation Participate in regular project evaluation and review meetings to identify current and future bottlenecks/challenges/risks Ensure timely processing of projects through the governmental tenders’ committees and other relevant agencies, according to established procedures Ensure that disbursement projections are accurately updated in line with Annual Operating Plan (AOP) timelines Proactively manage and communicate changes in project scope, schedule and budget Participate in IDB Missions, meetings with the PIU, IDB and other managerial or technical activities of the PIU as deemed necessary and reasonable Conduct project post mortems and create a recommendations report to identify successful and unsuccessful project elements with recommendations Liaise with external auditors as appropriate/Lead the engagement with the external auditors of the Program Summary of experience and qualifications: Advanced university degree in Civil or Structural Engineering or other relevant technical area Minimum five (5) years of professional experience at national and international levels in the relevant field of civil engineering, especially in preparation of construction technical documentation Experience in working in complex environments and large infrastructure and/or civil works

The Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas now invites eligible consultants to indicate their interest in providing project management services. Interested consultants should provide their CV’s and information demonstrating that they are qualified to perform the services (description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions). The duration of the contract is two (2) year full-time with the possibility of being renewed based on satisfactory performance evaluation.

Consultants will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the Inter-American Development Bank: Policies for the Selection and Contracting of Consultants Financed by the Inter-American Development Bank GN-2350-9 and is open to all eligible bidders as defined in the policies. Interested consultants may obtain further clarification on the technical aspects or scope of services from Robert Mouzas, Deputy Director, Ministry of Public Works robertmouzas@bahamas.gov.bs tel: (242) 302-9530 during office hours between 09:00am to 5:00pm Monday – Friday, except on public holidays. Expressions of Interest inclusive of CV’s must be submitted to the address below in person, by e-mail idbfiairports@bahamas.gov.bs or idbcoastal@bahamas.gov.bs or by mail, on or before October 19, 2018 at 4pm.

Antoinette Thompson –Permanent Secretary Acting Ministry of Public Works REF:- Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program /Airport Infrastructure Program P.O. Box N 8156,Nassau, Bahamas

PAGE 8, Friday, October 12, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

What about that VAT, Dionisio?

WE as a people love to laugh, sometimes a good laugh is needed for us to take a step back examine the situation at hand without taking ourselves too seriously. (Attention Bahamian politicians from all parties) We can have a good laugh, analyse the situation, create the dialogue and solutions for a positive change and a better way forward for The Bahamas.

So, here’s what caught my eye this past week.

BITE YOUR TONGUE I’m still amazed how Minister of Tourism and Aviation Mr. Dionisio D’Aguilar, didn’t bite his tongue completely off when he told Tribune business: “We’re a bit more prudent, a bit more wiser, more fiscally responsible. We’re managing the economy better, managing the public finances better, and are much more focused on the rudiments of running the economy.”

“Every government upsets everybody about something, but when you step back and assess the management of the economy we’re the ones talking about Fiscal Responsibility legislation.”

“At least it gives you confidence that we are not going back to where we were prior to the general election, when people were feeling there was so much irresponsible spending going on that they were afraid the economy was going into a tailspin and the possibility of suffering a devaluation was getting higher.”

Classic FNM deflection and finger pointing in swoop.

Last time I checked VAT is real!

KIFFER’S SPORTING LOUNGE Amos Ferguson St. off Balfour Ave.

Watch all your sports on big screen T.V. Food & Drinks at the best prices Sportsbook lines spread Available on all sports with ticketing For sports info: WhatsApp #454-6044 Club #601-5113

A $1.14 for a can soda?

Prior to the VAT increase a Central Bank survey showed 52 percent of Bahamians were barely making ends meet, I wonder what those numbers look like now Mr D’Aguilar?

I’m quite sure “business is good” for Bahamian companies, who can benefit from crafty wording in the VAT exemption.

Especially those benefiting from air plane parts and industrial washers, for example.

Is D’Aguilar, suffering from some form of temporary amnesia?

We all know the sordid details of the former PLP administrations, gross mismanagement of the public purse. No need to rehash it.

Let’s talk the here and now, present day.

What’s really hypocritical is Mr D’Aguilar, mentioning the previous administrations ‘irresponsible spending’ all while the $5.5bn Oban Energies Heads of Agreement “signing” (what a fiasco that was) and the Gran Lucayan deal, hang weightily around the public’s neck like an anchor.

Another remark made by Mr D’Aguilar, that cracked me up, in regards to the IMF

DIONISIO D’AGUILAR, Minister of Tourism and Aviation.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff improvement, hopefully and credit rating agencies, everyday “Joe Public” feels.

Finally, it’s easy to brag the voting populace doesn’t having noticed the Bahathis administra- share the same sentiment mian Government making about performance, in about the FNM come next efforts to balance the books tion’s and get the Government relation to managing the election. nation’s finances in comUntil next week I will finances under control.

(Somebody please check parison to the previous PLP leave you with this from Nikita Khrushchev: “Politithe temperature on those administration.

But let’s be real, the FNM cians are the same all over, books.)

Sadly reports such as started at rock bottom, the they will promise to build a these, rarely reflect the reali- only way they could go, is up. bridge, even where there is Anything would be an no river.” ties on the ground, what

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

Procurement Officer for (1) The Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program

Institution: Inter-American Development Bank Country: The Commonwealth of The Bahamas Projects: (1) Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program Project Number: (1) BH-L1043 and (2) BH-L1041 Loan Number: (1) 4363/OC-BH and (2) 3907/OC-BH Sector: (1) Environment and Natural Disasters and (2) Transport Deadline: October 19, 2018 The Ministry of Public Works (MOPW) is seeking an experienced Procurement Officer or Consultant to ensure smooth and quality implementation of procurement processes for both the (1) Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, and implemented by a dedicated Project Implementation Unit (PIU) within the MOPW. The position will be based in the PIU. . The main activities are as follows: • • • • • • •

• •

•

responsible for all project related procurement/bidding services related to the Programs components, and will facilitate the implementation of planned activities in a timely manner.

Prepare and maintain updated Procurement Plans and Monitoring Plans for the Program Provide day-to-day active technical support and advice to the PIU/Program Coordinator Negotiate with consulting firms or individuals the procurement of goods, services and works necessary for the implementation of activities under each of the project components Prepare reports and report on project procurement matters to the PIU/Program Coordinator Understand and ensure application of IDB procurement policies and procedures Support the PIU/Program Coordinator in the preparation of key documents as per Monitoring &Evaluation Plan for the PIU, including comparison between planned and actual progress in physical and financial terms and identification of procurement delays and recommendations for actions Monitor progress of contracts implementation to ensure that it aligns with the stipulated standards, procedures and procurement timetable Prepare specific procurement documents, e.g. Tender Documents, Requests for Quotations, Requests for Expressions of Interests and Request for Proposals for new activities as required. Preparation of Evaluation of Tender reports Guide and participate in the evaluation for pre-qualification of the contractors, expressions of interest for short listing, tenders and proposals and in preparing the corresponding reports

Summary of experience and qualifications: • Bachelor’s degree in procurement, business administration or other related areas • At least three (5) years of work experience in procurement of goods and services, particularly in civil works • Knowledge on national rules and legislations in the field of procurement and civil construction/engineering • Knowledge and/or experience in Ministry and IDB procurement policies and procedures, or other standards set forth for a procurement is an advantage The Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas now invites eligible consultants to indicate their interest in providing procurement services. Interested consultants should provide their CV’s and information demonstrating that they are qualified to perform the services (description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions). The duration of the contract is two (2) year full-time with the possibility of being renewed based on satisfactory performance evaluation.

Consultants will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the Inter-American Development Bank: Policies for the Selection and Contracting of Consultants Financed by the Inter-American Development Bank GN-2350-9 and is open to all eligible bidders as defined in the policies. Interested consultants may obtain further clarification on the technical aspects or scope of services from Robert Mouzas, Deputy Director, Ministry of Public Works robertmouzas@bahamas.gov.bs tel: (242) 302-9530 during office hours between 09:00am to 5:00pm Monday – Friday, except on public holidays. Expressions of Interest inclusive of CV’s must be submitted to the address below in person, by e-mail idbfiairports@bahamas.gov.bs or idbcoastal@bahamas.gov.bs or by mail, on or before October 19, 2018 at 4pm.

Antoinette Thompson –Permanent Secretary Acting Ministry of Public Works REF:- Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program /Airport Infrastructure Program P.O. Box N 8156,Nassau, Bahamas

FROM left, Fr Shazz Turnquest (physics teacher and Energy Academy leader), Dr Nevillene Evans (principal), Sonia Brown (CEO Graphite Engineering) and Lyndon Sweeting (VP secondary school).

Art Retreat Bahamas Art Retreat Bahamas.

- Get creative and ecofriendly at the same time.

Join the Art Retreat Bahamas team tomorrow as we learn the art of paper-making from Bahamian artist Keisha Oliver as part of our “Upcycle Art” programme.

To reserve your spot, contact 426-0688 or contact@ artretreatbahamas.com.

Energy Academy Energy Academy.

Sonia Brown, the CEO of Graphite Engineering, a Bahamian-based engineering firm and former graduate of St John’s College made a presentation of

JOIN THE CLUB OUR Clubs and Societies page is a chance for you to share your group’s activities with our readers.

To feature on our Clubs and Societies page, submit your report to clubs@tribunemedia.net, with “Clubs Page” written in the subject line.

For more information about the page, contact Stephen Hunt on 502-2373 or 8262-242.

a scholarship for a deserving student to attend their new Energy Academy.

Mrs Brown, in making a presentation to Dr Nevillene Evans, the principal of the school, said, “It is indeed a privilege as an old scholar to support this initiative to educate the young minds about sustainability and renewable energy. A change in the way we think about and use energy starts with education. I commend Fr Turnquest and St John’s College for taking this bold step (with the launch of their Energy Academy) and continuing to blaze trails.”

The Energy Academy is an innovative programme to promote the importance and use of renewable energy technologies and sustainability in The Bahamas.

The eight-week programme will focus specifically on wind energy, solar energy, bioenergy and recycling as well as different storage mediums such as fuel cells and hydrogen storage.

It aims to stimulate interest in the field of science and technology and to position The Bahamas as progressive in empowering the next generation of global citizens to play their part in creating a sustainable environment by making sensible energy choices.

The two hour per week programme is aimed at students aged 12–16.

Lend A Hand Bahamas Lend A Hand Bahamas. - Lend a Hand Bahamas (LAHB) has been a Bahamian non-profit organisation since October 2014 following the realisation of the need for more opportunities and activities in inner city areas in Nassau and the Family Islands.

LAHB recently merged forces with another organisation called Lignum Vitae 4-H to facilitate 4-H programming for youth in the Grant’s Town community through the Neville & Nora Dorsett Community Centre that is nearing completion in Grant’s Town.

This centre will feature 4-H programming combined with innovative programmes from around The Bahamas and abroad focused around computer science, financial literacy, empowering young women, health, and in many other areas.

The centre and our efforts will be a model that we plan to replicate in other communities as needed in The Bahamas.

There will be a special grand opening celebration on October 20. All are welcome to attend. The event will feature food, music, activities for children, and musical performances. The ceremony will take place from noon to 12.30pm.

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, October 12, 2018, PAGE 9

By Peter Young

P

RESS reports of remarks by the Prime Minister in New York last month in praise of the Nassau Accord ought to stimulate renewed interest in the role played by The Bahamas in the eventual ending of apartheid some 25 years ago. This agreement, which called for sanctions against South Africa and demanded it should dismantle apartheid and negotiate with the country’s black majority, was the outcome of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Nassau in 1985 attended by The Queen.

There has now been a proposal locally to erect a statue to mark what has been claimed was the start of the process of forcing the white minority government to abandon apartheid and hand over power to black majority rule. However, before pursuing such an idea, it might be helpful to test the validity of this claim and to understand the significance of the Nassau Accord by examining the long and welldocumented history of the struggle against apartheid. Having served in the British Embassy in South Africa during the 1970s, I have to confess to a special interest in the subject.

Apartheid – defined as the separate and parallel development of people according to their colour and race -- was introduced in South Africa by the Afrikaner-dominated National Party following its election victory in 1948. This was in response to public concern about a large influx of black people into the country’s urban areas immediately after the Second World War. In a nation where whites made up about 14 percent of the population and owned almost all the wealth including the best land, apartheid developed into a way of protecting the privileges and way of life of the white community and of reserving the land for themselves. Black people were stripped of their rights as citizens and their dignity as human beings by being systematically dispossessed of land and homes and denied the opportunity to work except to provide cheap labour for whites in their designated areas.

Condemnation of such a system soon followed. Imposed by brute force, it was widely regarded overseas as being morally repugnant and unacceptable in a civilised world. It was also opposed by many within the white community in South Africa itself.

Britain’s stance had been made clear as early as 1960 in the “Wind of Change” speech in Cape Town by then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan which included a veiled criticism of apartheid. The Sharpeville massacre in 1961 – the shooting by police of many black demonstrators -attracted international opprobrium, and opposition to apartheid grew rapidly while an anti-apartheid movement became active with its headquarters in London which also became the base of the banned African National Congress.

It is significant that, as the former colonial power, Britain, whose interests lay in maintaining economic and trade links and promoting peaceful change, was resolute in condemning apartheid including allowing London to become a centre for overseas resistance. Arms sales to South Africa were banned in 1964 and the Royal Navy base near Cape Town was later closed down. A Commonwealth sporting boycott was imposed and there was gradual economic disengagement by private sector UK companies through reduced trade and investment.

Thus, pressure on the South African government was systematically ratcheted up.

According to observers at the time, even in the late 1970s it was becoming apparent to the white elite within the country that the grand apartheid plan was failing.

The policy of creating theoretically independent homelands for black people based on tribal affiliation and “native reserves” did not work as planned because their leaders refused to accept such nominal independence.

The illusion that whites could be the majority in areas they had claimed for themselves faded as white control over

SIR Lynden Pindliong set out his government’s position on apartheid in a speech at the then College of The Bahamas.

Bahamas’ contribution to the struggle against apartheid SOUTH African President Nelson Mandela pictured in 2013.

It is interesting that during this period Margaret Thatcher was engaging in a direct dialogue with President P W Botha.

They met during his 1984 tour of Europe which included Britain, and soon after the Nassau CHOGM she wrote to him urging a public announcement of specific steps towards the ending of apartheid including the release from prison of Nelson Mandela.

This fascinating correspondence was highly classified at the time but can now be found online.

Following further negotiations, South Africans went to the polls in 1987 and the outcome was seen as a turning point. The election was won by the National Party and was regarded as an endorsement of the accelerated reform programme that constituted substantive change.

A year later most of the apartheid laws were scrapped. Nelson Mandela was released in 1990 by new South African president F W de Klerk and this set in train a chain of events which led to the first fully democratic elections in South African history in 1994.

It is clear from all this that the ending of apartheid was a gradual process over many years involving negotiation and international pressure on the white minority government to bring about meaningful reform. The 1985 meeting in Nassau was one element of the process of intensifying that pressure. It was not the start of the process, as has been suggested, but it helped to maintain the momentum of an anti-apartheid struggle that was long and tortuous and ultimately successful.

Since the use of force to end apartheid had been ruled out, tools like sanctions and a sports boycott had to be deployed.

Although action by the international community was important, the significance of the diplomatic role and personal interaction between politicians, officials and individuals on both sides should not be underestimated as those concerned sought to convince public opinion within South Africa that apartheid had to be brought to an end in the face of worldwide condemnation.

Thus, in the view of some historians, the realisation that eventually dawned within the white community that apartheid was not only fundamentally wrong but also unworkable in practice was crucial – and it was this which originally sounded its death knell. * Peter Young is a retired diplomat and former British High Commissioner to The Bahamas where he now lives.

the rapidly growing black urban population was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. The unravelling of apartheid now became inevitable.

Following the bloody Soweto riots in 1976, political violence grew in spite of steps to share power between whites, coloureds and Indians in a tricameral parliament. But there was gradual acceptance that the key to the future was negotiation with the ANC and the black majority and that the government would have to consider a new constitutional framework to accommodate their political aspirations without bringing about majority domination and suppression of the white minority.

So, by the early 1980s the government had decided to abandon the policy of apartheid and agreed to work for a unified nation. Nonetheless, in the face of rioting and continuing unrest a state of emergency was declared. As a result, concerns remained about the government’s commitment to real reform. Meanwhile, Britain had successfully negotiated the end of white minority rule in neighbouring Rhodesia which became an independent Zimbabwe in 1980 only later to suffer under the increasingly tyrannical rule of Prime Minister, and later President, Robert Mugabe.

A

GAINST this background, the Nassau CHOGM was important because its outcome added to the pressure on South Africa to continue on its path to reform. It also established an Eminent Persons Group, which included Sir Lynden Pindling, which later visited South Africa but turned out to be largely ineffective as genuine dialogue between the government and the ANC was beginning to stall.

Meanwhile, Sir Lynden had set out his government’s position on apartheid in a speech at the then College of The Bahamas.

At the Nassau meeting, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was isolated over her stance against imposition of sanctions which she believed would weaken the South African economy and slow down reform while damaging the living standards of the poorest in society. She also considered sanctions - rather than maintaining dialogue and encouraging reform - would be counterproductive at a time when the government was taking steps to get rid of apartheid.

She was opposed in Nassau by Commonwealth leaders as well as by critics inside South Africa – including no less a luminary than the nation’s Nobel Prize winner for literature, Nadine Gordimer. Eventually, after separate sanctions by the US government, some measures by the European Community and by Commonwealth countries were put in place following a Special Commonwealth Conference in 1986 which it had been agreed at Nassau should review progress.

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

Social And Communication Specialist for (1) The Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program

Institution: Inter-American Development Bank Country: The Commonwealth of The Bahamas Projects: (1) Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program Project Number: (1) BH-L1043 and (2) BH-L1041 Loan Number: (1) 4363/OC-BH and (2) 3907/OC-BH Sector: (1) Environment and Natural Disasters and (2) Transport Deadline: October 19, 2018

The Ministry of Public Works (MOPW) is seeking an experienced Social and Communications Officer or Consultant to lead the design, implementation and oversight of a Community Engagement Program for both the (1) Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, and implemented by a dedicated Project Implementation Unit (PIU) within the MOPW. The position will be based in the PIU. . The main activities are as follows: Develop the Program’s Community Engagement and Consultation Plan. Design and maintain a grievance redress mechanism to receive, record and resolve complaints that the community may have about the Program.

Communicate program information to a diverse set of community actors.

• Develop and maintain relationships with community groups and the general public.

• Prepare reports on the results of social aspects of the Program to the IDB. Apply knowledge of specific innovations in community relations planning.

• Develop and write community updates and briefs. Organize, facilitate, and moderate participatory events in the context of the program. Support the elaboration of TOR’s and bidding documents for the Program to ensure the integration of social and gender considerations.

• Produce monthly progress reports, according to the requirements of the PIU and the IDB. • Prepare, update and manage the annual communications plan/coordinate and assist PIU staff/Ministry personnel with communications/Develop monthly communications reports.

• Coordinate and edit communications material, including alerts, press-releases, pitches, talking points, key messages and press kits. Collaborate with the PIU internal and external stakeholders to develop and execute strategies for education and engagement.

• Develop media relationships with local and national media on behalf of the PIU. Monitor media in relation to the PIU’s work. Collaborate with partner ministries' social media teams to provide content; • Ensure consistent messaging and themes for partner ministry spokespeople and the PIU, especially during public speaking engagements.

•

• • • •

Summary of experience and qualifications: Bachelor in Social Sciences (Communications, Public Affairs, Anthropology, Sociology and/or any other related social sciences); Minimum of five (5) years’ experience in a related communications, marketing or journalist role; Experience in leading corporate communication initiatives Demonstrable experience of representing an organization in public or/and media relations

The Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas now invites eligible consultants to indicate their interest in providings social and communication services. Interested consultants should provide their CV’s and information demonstrating that they are qualified to perform the services (description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions). The duration of the contract is two (2) year full-time with the possibility of being renewed based on satisfactory performance evaluation.

Consultants will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the Inter-American Development Bank: Policies for the Selection and Contracting of Consultants Financed by the Inter-American Development Bank GN-2350-9 and is open to all eligible bidders as defined in the policies. Interested consultants may obtain further clarification on the technical aspects or scope of services from Robert Mouzas, Deputy Director, Ministry of Public Works robertmouzas@bahamas.gov.bs tel: (242) 302-9530 during office hours between 09:00am to 5:00pm Monday – Friday, except on public holidays. Expressions of Interest inclusive of CV’s must be submitted to the address below in person, by e-mail idbfiairports@bahamas.gov.bs or idbcoastal@bahamas.gov.bs or by mail, on or before October 19, 2018 at 4pm.

Antoinette Thompson –Permanent Secretary Acting Ministry of Public Works REF:- Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program /Airport Infrastructure Program P.O. Box N 8156, Nassau, Bahamas

PAGE 10, Friday, October 12, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

‘YOU CAN HELP MY CANCER BATTLE’

By RIEL MAJOR SIDDINA Henfield is seeking the public’s help to raise funds to help in her fight against breast cancer.

In May 2018, the 35-yearold was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.

Ms Henfield, pictured, has had a lumpectomy and a double mastectomy.

She said three days after the mastectomy, while on sick leave, she was fired from her job.

Sadly, Ms Henfield doesn’t have any medical insurance and needs

assistance to continue treatments. Doctors have suggested she has surgery to remove a lump from her chest, chemotherapy and radiation.

She needs $60,000 to cover her medical expenses.

In light of October being breast cancer

awareness month Ms Henfield created a GoFundMe page and is asking the public donate any amount in support of her treatment costs.

Despite the cancer diagnoses, Ms Henfield is at peace.

She said: “There are

many women in this country battling cancer and I am one of them.

Please take the time out to read my story and donate to the cause #breastcancersucks.

“This is a hard journey... emotionally, spiritually and financially but everyday I

give thanks for still being here. It’s not easy but with your help and God I know that in the end his will be done.”

The GoFundMe page, www.gofundme.com/Siddinamedicalfund, raised more than $2,700 up to press time.

THE FUTURE IS NOW FOR GRAND BAHAMA TECHNOLOGY SUMMIT

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net THE second Grand Bahama Technology Summit is slated for November 14-16 in Freeport when worldwide

technology giant Cisco Systems will return as one of the key partners of the event.

At a press conference at the Pelican Bay Resort on Wednesday, Minister of State for Grand Bahama Senator Kwasi Thompson

announced the theme for the three-day tech summit is “The Future is Now,” and noted the summit will feature several “high quality” speakers from the technology industry.

Carlos Rodriguez, business and development

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

Monitoring And Evaluation Specialist for (1) The Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program

Institution: Inter-American Development Bank Country: The Commonwealth of The Bahamas Projects: (1) Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program Project Number: (1) BH-L1043 and (2) BH-L1041 Loan Number: (1) 4363/OC-BH and (2) 3907/OC-BH Sector: (1) Environment and Natural Disasters and (2) Transport Deadline: October 19, 2018

executive at Cisco, said the tech company is seeking to sign a memorandum of understanding with the government at this year’s summit to advance the training of thousands of Bahamians.

The Cisco executive said the company is interested in introducing a programme called the Cisco Work Academy not just in Grand Bahama, but throughout the country.

Mr Thompson stated the government is committed to making technology the third pillar of the economy, and that the summit will help to drive technology investment and investors, not just to Grand Bahama but elsewhere.

“It is our vision to establish and grow the tech industry in the Bahamas to

The Ministry of Public Works (MOPW) is seeking an experienced Monitoring and Evaluation Officer or Consultant to ensure the planning, monitoring and evaluation of both the (1) Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program and (2) Airport Infrastructure Program, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, and implemented by a dedicated Project Implementation Unit (PIU) within the MOPW. The position will be based in the PIU. . The main activities are as follows: Prepare and maintain updated Procurement Plans and Monitoring Plans for the Program Develop and maintain the overall framework for project M&E in accordance with the project document M&E plan Provide technical advice for the revision of performance indicators Ensure realistic intermediate and end-of-project targets are defined Identify sources of data, collection methods, who collects data, how often, cost of collection and who analyzes it Ensure all critical risks are identified Enhance the mechanisms to track and report on project performance Identify the core information needs of the Program Coordinator and IDB Identify the requirements for collecting baseline data where necessary, prepare terms-of-reference for and arrange the conduct of a baseline surveys as required • Oversee and execute M&E activities included in the Annual Operating Plan (AOP), with focus on results and impacts • Lead with relevant PIU staff on the preparation of all project reports in accordance with approved reporting formats and ensure their timely submission.

• Prepare consolidated progress reports for project management including identification of problems, causes of potential bottlenecks in project implementation, and providing specific recommendations • Undertake visits to the field to support implementation of M&E and to identify where adaptations might be needed • Identify the need and draw up the TOR for specific project studies. Recruit, guide and supervise consultants or organizations that are contracted to implement special surveys and studies required for evaluating project effects and impacts • • • • • • • • •

Summary of experience and qualifications: • • •

Advanced university degree in Civil or Structural Engineering or other relevant technical area Minimum five (5) years of professional experience at national and international levels in the relevant field of civil engineering, especially in preparation of construction technical documentation Experience in working in complex environments and large infrastructure and/or civil works

The Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas now invites eligible consultants to indicate their interest in providing monitoring and evaluation services. Interested consultants should provide their CV’s and information demonstrating that they are qualified to perform the services (description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions). The duration of the contract is two (2) year full-time with the possibility of being renewed based on satisfactory performance evaluation.

Consultants will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the Inter-American Development Bank: Policies for the Selection and Contracting of Consultants Financed by the Inter-American Development Bank GN-2350-9 and is open to all eligible bidders as defined in the policies. Interested consultants may obtain further clarification on the technical aspects or scope of services from Robert Mouzas, Deputy Director, Ministry of Public Works robertmouzas@bahamas.gov.bs tel: (242) 302-9530 during office hours between 09:00am to 5:00pm Monday – Friday, except on public holidays. Expressions of Interest inclusive of CV’s must be submitted to the address below in person, by e-mail idbfiairports@bahamas.gov.bs or idbcoastal@bahamas.gov.bs or by mail, on or before October 19, 2018 at 4pm.

Antoinette Thompson –Permanent Secretary Acting Ministry of Public Works REF:- Climate Resilient Coastal Management and Infrastructure Program /Airport Infrastructure Program P.O. Box N 8156, Nassau, Bahamas

be a key contributor to our economy similar to tourism and financial services,” Mr Thompson said.

“We believe GB is uniquely suited to become the internationally recognised science technology and innovation hub, and as such set out to establish Grand Bahama as ‘Silicon Island’.”

Mr Rodriguez noted while it is very important in this world of hyperconnected economies to develop a country based on technology, he warned that without the proper education, it is impossible.

He explained that Cisco Working Academy programme is an initiative to train individual professionals in different areas of technology. The programme

is well known in the world, he said.

Mr Rodriguez said the programme was started 15 years ago by Cisco which now has close to 12,000 academies in 180 countries.

“We are proud to say that we have academies across the globe,” he said. “So far, we have achieved a big milestone of close to nine million students that are already graduates of the programme.”

In the Bahamas, Cisco has only one institution, said Mr Rodriguez.

He noted the programme was adopted by the Bahamas Technology and Vocational Institute (BTVI) where some 450 participants are now presently enrolled in the different disciplines.

“The intention in the next coming year is to take that programme to 100 in the islands with the aspiration to get students finishing the programme in the neighbourhood of 10,000. So we are going from 400 students to 10,000; and we are going from one institution to 100, and for that portion we are waiting on the Ministry of Education and the government,” he explained.

“We are willing to provide all the content and we are willing to train the trainers of all these academies,” he said.

Mr Rodriguez said that signing the MoU with government is on their agenda at this year’s summit. He also noted that as part of the summit they will provide two workshops, one of which will be on software development.

At the summit, Mr Thompson said that participants will hear about cutting edge technology from noted speakers, including John Padgett, chief experience and innovation officer at Carnival Corporation, which is the operator of cruise lines such as Princess Cruises Lines, Holland America Seaboard and more.

Mr Padgett, he said, is known for the development of Disney’s My Magic technology, and the Ocean Medallion, the first of a kind wearable device that provides interactive guest experience.

Mr Padgett has 31 patent registrations and 92 trademarks to his credit, and was one of the designers of Disney’s Fast Pass, Mr Thompson said.

Mr Thompson stated that various certification and workshops will be available for participants.

THE TRIBUNE

R O F E C RA E R U C E H T LONG Distance runner, first place, Welling S Ramsey.

Friday, October 12, 2018, PAGE 11

PARTICIPANTS in last weekend’s Race for the Cure, held to help the fight against cancer.

Photos: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff

PAGE 12, Friday, October 12, 2018

TRUMP SLOW TO CRITICISE OVER MISSING JOURNALIST WASHINGTON Associated Press

PRESIDENT Donald Trump defended continuing huge sales of US weapons to Saudi Arabia yesterday despite rising pressure from lawmakers to punish the kingdom over the disappearance of a Saudi journalist who lived in the United States and is now feared dead.

As senators pushed for sanctions under a human rights law and also questioned American support for the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen, Trump appeared reluctant to rock the boat, saying withholding sales would hurt the US economy.

“I don’t like stopping massive amounts of money that’s been pouring into our country. They are spending 110 billion on military equipment,” Trump said.

Trump maintained that the US is being “very tough” as it looks into the case of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi leadership and a contributor to The Washington Post who has been missing since Oct. 2. He had entered a Saudi

CREW SURVIVES AS RUSSIAN ROCKET FAILS BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan Associated Press

THE problem came two minutes into the flight: The rocket carrying an American and a Russian to the International Space Station failed yesterday, triggering an emergency that sent their capsule into a steep, harrowing fall back to Earth.

The crew landed safely on the steppes of Kazakhstan, but the aborted mission dealt another blow to the troubled Russian space program that currently serves as the only way to deliver astronauts to the orbiting outpost. It also was the first such accident for Russia’s manned program in over three decades.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos’ Alexei Ovchinin had a brief period of weightlessness when the capsule separated from the malfunctioning Soyuz rocket at an altitude of about 31 miles, then endured gravitational forces of 6-7 times more than is felt on Earth as they came down at a sharperthan-normal angle.

“Thank God the crew is alive,” said Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

THE TRIBUNE

ANOTHER ROYAL WEDDING - BUT A QUIETER OCCASION WINDSOR, England Associated Press

IT’S time for another royal wedding at Windsor Castle — but this time it’s less of a global TV spectacle and more of a family affair.

Despite large signs at the castle’s ticket booth welcoming people to the wedding, many visitors seem unaware that Princess Eugenie, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, will

marry tequila company executive James Brooksbank today.

Eugenie is the 28-yearold daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, and ninth in line for the throne. She has lived most of her life outside the media spotlight, and keeps a low profile compared to cousins Prince William and Prince Harry and their glamorous wives.

That’s reflected in the souvenir shops that line

the streets leading to the imposing castle. Royal wedding merchandise fill the windows — but they feature Harry and Meghan Markle, who also married at Windsor Castle in May in a spectacular, globally televised ceremony.

Only a few Halloween face masks feature Eugenie, though some shopkeepers say that will change in the hours ahead of her wedding.

“It’s going to be shirts

and some mugs. A few people have been asking for it, but compared to Harry-Meghan, it’s not that big,” said Salman Khan at The King and Queen gift shop. Eugenie items have been hard to find because only a few suppliers are manufacturing them, he added.

Snippets of the wedding will be shown on British TV, but only one channel, ITV, is planning to provide live coverage of the

proceedings.

Eugenie and Brooksbank are following a precedent set by Harry and Meghan by inviting 1,200 members of the public to the castle grounds for a better view of today’s festivities.

Like Harry and Meghan, the couple will also say their vows in St George’s Chapel.

Afterward, the newlyweds plan a carriage ride through the streets of Windsor.

DEVASTATED

FLORIDA PICKS UP PIECES AFTER HURRICANE HOMES destroyed by Hurricane Michael are shown in this aerial photo yesterday in Mexico Beach, Florida.

PANAMA CITY, Florida Associated Press THE devastation inflicted by Hurricane Michael came into focus yesterday with rows upon rows of homes found smashed to pieces, and rescue crews began making their way into the stricken areas in hopes of accounting for hundreds of people who may have stayed behind.

At least three deaths were blamed on Michael, the most powerful hurricane to hit the continental US in over 50 years, and it wasn’t done yet: Though reduced to a tropical storm, it brought flash flooding to North Carolina and Virginia, soaking areas still recovering from Hurricane Florence.

Under a perfectly clear blue sky, families living along the Florida Panhandle emerged from darkened shelters and hotels to a perilous landscape of shattered homes and shopping centers, beeping security alarms, wailing sirens and hovering helicopters.

Gov Rick Scott said the Panhandle woke up to “unimaginable destruction”.

“So many lives have been changed forever. So many families have lost everything,” he said.

The full extent of Michael’s fury was only slowly becoming clear, with some of the hardest-hit areas

difficult to reach because of roads blocked by debris or water. An 80-mile stretch of Interstate 10, the main east-west route along the Panhandle, was closed.

Some of the worst damage was in Mexico Beach, where the hurricane crashed ashore Wednesday as a Category 4 monster with 155mph winds and a storm surge of nine feet. Video from a drone revealed widespread devastation across the town of about 1,000 people.

Entire blocks of homes near the beach were obliterated, reduced to nothing but concrete slabs in the sand. Rows and rows of other homes were turned into piles of splintered lumber or were crumpled and slumped at odd angles.

Entire roofs were torn away and dropped onto a road.

State officials said 285 people in Mexico Beach had defied a mandatory evacuation order ahead of the storm.

National Guard troops made their way into the ground-zero town and found 20 survivors on Wednesday night, and more rescue crews were pushing into the area, with the fate of many residents unknown.

Mishelle McPherson and her exhusband searched for the elderly mother of a friend. The woman lived in a small cinderblock house about 150 yards from the Gulf and thought she would be OK. The

home was found smashed, with no sign of the woman.

“Do you think her body would be here? Do you think it would have floated away?” McPherson asked.

As thousands of National Guard troops, law enforcement officers and medical teams fanned out, the governor pleaded with people in the devastated areas to stay away for now because of hazards that included fallen trees and power lines.

“I know you just want to go home. You want to check on things and begin the recovery process,” Scott said. But “we have to make sure things are safe”.

Over 900,000 homes and businesses in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas were without power.

The Coast Guard said it rescued at least 27 people before and after the hurricane came ashore, mostly from homes along the Florida coastline, and searched for more victims.

Among those brought to safety were nine people rescued by helicopter from a bathroom of their home in hard-hit Panama City after their roof collapsed, Petty Officer 3rd Class Ronald Hodges said.

In Panama City, most homes were still standing, but no property was left undamaged. Downed power lines lay nearly everywhere.

Photo: Chris O’Meara/AP Roofs had been peeled off and carried away. Aluminum siding was shredded to ribbons. Homes were split open by fallen trees.

Hundreds of cars had broken windows. Twisted street signs lay on the ground. Pine trees were stripped and snapped off about 20 feet high.

In nearby Panama City Beach, Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford reported widespread looting of homes and businesses.

The hurricane also damaged hospitals and nursing homes in the Panama City area, and officials worked to evacuate hundreds of patients. The damage at Bay Medical Sacred Heart included blown-out windows, a cracked exterior wall and a roof collapse in a maintenance building. No patients were hurt, the hospital said.

The state mental hospital in Chattahoochee, which has a section for the criminally insane, was cut off by land, and food and supplies were being flown in, authorities said.

A man outside Tallahassee, Florida, was killed by a falling tree, and an 11-year-old girl in Georgia died when the winds picked up a carport and dropped it on her home.

One of the carport’s legs punctured the roof and hit her in the head. A driver in North Carolina was killed when a tree fell on his car.

ODD DAY AT THE OVAL OFFICE FOR KANYE WASHINGTON Associated Press

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6 PIECES OF CHICKEN LARGE FAMILY FRIES LARGE MASHED POTATOES 4 BISCUITS

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LIVE from the Oval Office, it’s Kanye West with a jaw-dropping performance.

The rapper didn’t rap.

But, seated across from President Donald Trump at the Resolute Desk, the musician delivered a multipart rambling monologue yesterday that touched on social issues, hydrogen planes, mental health, endorsement deals, politics and oh so much more.

Seizing the spotlight from the typically center-stage president, West dropped the F-word, floated policy proposals — and went in for a hug.

“They tried to scare me to not wear this hat,” West said of his red “Make America Great Again” cap.

But, he said, “This hat, it gives me power in a way.”

“You made a Superman cape for me,” he told Trump.

It was a surreal scene even by the standards of a nonconventional White House. The unlikely allies spoke to reporters before a closed-door lunch that had been billed as a forum to discuss policy issues including manufacturing, gangs, prison reform and violence in Chicago, where West grew up. Spectators at

RAPPER Kanye West shows President Donald Trump a photograph of a hydrogen plane during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House yesterday.

Photo: Evan Vucci/AP the show included Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner, former NFL star Jim Brown and the attorney for a gang leader serving time in federal prison.

During one pause, Trump seemed to acknowledge the oddness of the moment, saying: “That was quite something.”

The conversation began with an exchange on North Korea among Trump, Brown and West. Trump said the region was headed for war before he took over, and West commended him for stopping it. Brown said he liked North Korea; Trump agreed.

From there, West discussed prison reform and violence in inner-city Chicago. He brought up Larry Hoover, the leader of the

Gangster Disciples who is serving a life sentence for murder, claiming, “The reason why they imprisoned him is because he started doing positive for the community. He started showing that he actually had power, he wasn’t just one of a monolithic voice, that he could wrap people around.”

West said he “loved Hillary” Clinton, Trump’s 2016 Democratic rival, because he loves everyone, but said he connected with Trump’s “male energy.”

He also criticised the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, calling it a “trap door”. At one point, West mentioned he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but later said it was a misdiagnosis and he actually had sleep deprivation.