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VOLUME:117 No.226, OCTOBER 21ST, 2020

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ON-OFF LOCKDOWN - IS IT WORTH IT? Senior health official suggests weekend closures may do little

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net WITH nearly 300 COVID-19 cases recorded over the last several days, a local infectious diseases expert has suggested partial lockdowns have not been an effective tool in stopping the spread of the deadly virus in The Bahamas.

Dr Nikkiah Forbes, director of the National HIV/ AIDS and Infectious Disease Programme at the Ministry of Health, told The Tribune yesterday that she is not a fan of partial lockdowns. She said the country may need to sit and ponder whether the measure meets the desired expectation.

“I think that it is safe to say that partial lockdowns may not be effective. It really depends on what people are doing outside of the curfew and restrictive period – on the weekends and after seven,” Dr Forbes said Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Health, 150 new COVID-19 cases were recorded on Monday along with one more death. More than half of these were in New Providence, where 81 new cases were added, while 67 cases had locations pending. There was also one new case in Abaco and an additional case in Andros.

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE further extension of Hurricane Dorian tax breaks is vital to the ability of Abaco and Grand Bahama’s economies to “come roaring back”, private sector leaders urged yesterday.

Ken Hutton and Gregory LaRoda, Chamber of Commerce presidents for Abaco and Grand Bahama respectively, pleaded

with the Government to extend both islands’ Special Economic Recovery Zone status for a second time given the effects of COVID-19.

Mr Hutton called for a one-two year extension that targeted VAT and import duty relief specifically at rebuilding and construction-related services.

Mr LaRoda said a sixmonth extension would be welcomed by Grand Bahama businesses.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis confirmed yesterday that Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Delon Brennen has relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, and is working remotely on border issues related to COVID-19.

He spoke a day after Dr Brennen, asked to confirm that he is leaving for Baltimore, told The Tribune this was “not so”. Officials did not respond before press time yesterday to questions about when the deputy chief medical officer moved to Baltimore.

Dr Brennen told this newspaper in August that claims he intended to resign his post were false.

SEE PAGE THREE

MORTGAGE CORP SIGNS OFF ON SEVEN YEARS AUDIT

SEE PAGE THREE

BUSINESS BEGS - KEEP DORIAN TAX BREAKS

‘BRENNEN’S SWITCH TO US IS FINE WITH ME’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

SEE YOU IN TOKYO

BAHAMIAN runner Shaunae Miller-Uibo congratulating Salwa Eid Naser, of Bahrain, after she won gold in the women’s 400m final at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, last year - but things took a twist when Naser was banned for a doping rule violation. Naser won an appeal against that ban yesterday on a technicality, clearing the way for a rematch between the pair in the Tokyo Olympics. See Sports for the full story.

Photo: Martin Meissner/AP

A TAXPAYER bail-out is “not an option” for repaying the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation’s $110m bond debt that will start coming due within three years, its chairman said yesterday.

Patrick Ward said the state-owned lender planned to “meet a portion” of the principal due to Bahamian institutional investors from its own resources while also “developing a plan” to deal with the remaining debt.

Mr Ward said the “heavy lifting” by himself and other directors over the past three-and-a-half years had left the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation better-placed to be self-sustaining and not require taxpayer support.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

SHANTY TOWN FAMILIES MOSTLY ‘LEGAL’

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

WORKS Minister Desmond Bannister said people with work permits – not illegal residents – are largely the occupants of a shanty town in North Andros targeted for government demolition.

The government is expected to take legal action against residents that have not vacated the

MINISTER of Public Works Desmond Bannister. area that has been built on land intended for agricultural use.

Mr Bannister told

reporters before a Cabinet meeting yesterday that he visited North Andros last week and encountered about 40 to 50 illegally constructed homes.

“Some of these homes are actually on people’s farms and so when you go where these houses are, right next to it you see the cultivation of the people who have their work permits.”

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

SEE PAGE FIVE

WE NEED JOINED-UP THINKING TO TACKLE GENDER VIOLENCE

SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Wednesday, October 21, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

EMERGENCY services at the scene last night.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh

Biker killed in deadly crash ONE man was killed yesterday and another reportedly injured in a traffic accident on Eastern Road.

The incident took place in the early evening near the junction with San Souci, causing traffic delays

for people heading home before curfew as emergency services dealt with the incident.

Police had not released any further information on the incident at the time of going to press, but two motorbikes were at

the scene. The victim was reportedly riding one of the bikes at the time of the crash.

There were reports that a third vehicle may have been involved in the incident, but that was unconfirmed.

For further updates, visit www.tribune242.com.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 21, 2020, PAGE 3

On-off lockdown is it even helping? from page one Sunday saw 70 new cases – 68 in the capital, one in Eleuthera and one in the Berry Islands.

There were also 75 new cases on Saturday, including 61 in New Providence, nine in Grand Bahama, two in both Andros and Eleuthera and one in Exuma.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis imposed weekend lockdowns and a 7pm nightly curfew on New Providence and Abaco, among other measures, in response to rising cases on these islands.

He said the continuance of weekend lockdowns and the 7pm curfew would depend on an improvement of the situation.

However, based on current statistics, it is likely these restrictive measures will continue well into next month. The country’s state of emergency is set to end on October 31.

Asked if she would support another full lockdown for New Providence, Dr Forbes said: “There are still a large amount of cases daily and I would say that cases haven’t gone down in this second wave that we’re seeing. As a matter of fact, we heard in the press conference last week that they’ve just gone up slightly in the last two weeks.

“Now that being said, any restrictive measure that is put in place for a virus that transmits like this, you have to consider the incubation period. You won’t see the results until the end of one or possibly two incubation periods when you’re doing your restrictive measures.

“So, you have to usually give things a chance to see if there is an impact and I say that in general when public health experts make recommendations for restrictions and curfews and lockdowns so to speak.

“Now what I will say as it relates to these current

DR NIKKIAH FORBES measures, this is not a full lockdown per se. This is a partial lockdown so it’s possible, it’s arguable, I think that it is safe to say that partial lockdowns may not be effective. It really depends on what people are doing outside of the curfew and restrictive period – on the weekends and after seven.”

Dr Forbes continued: “There is little to no movement in the street or in places where one can go

to gather restaurants, grocery stores, but during the day people are still moving around and so you have to think about that context when you look at measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.

“A partial lockdown may not be effective. I wouldn’t say that I am fully in support of partial lockdowns. I think if you get to the point where you need to do that or you think you have to give your health system a break. You have to look at the effectiveness of things like that and know that if people are gathering at other times during the day, spread is going to continue.

“I don’t know if the measures will be continued, but you couldn’t really say given the time that passed how impactful it was.”

Dr Forbes said the current circumstances warrant consideration of what has to be done in addition to the current measures in place.

“I will say this and remember when I give you my thoughts on it I can only do that as an infectious diseases consultant, a specialist,” Dr Forbes said when asked if there needed to be a ramp up of restrictive measures.

“If it is that your country is having so much pressure, your health system is under so much pressure, you’re beyond capacity. You’re seeing trends like deaths go up. The hospitalisations go up. You know you’re under siege and cases are going up then you have to think about what do you do in addition to all the regular public health measures you’ve been encouraging. That people should avoid close contact, cover their faces and wash hands, etcetera.

“Sometimes you do have to give your health system a break and sometimes you do have to implement lockdowns.

“Now we’ve heard that that is not supposed to be

the first approach, but to be totally honest if things are in such a crisis situation you have to rely on that. You have to look at how you’re going to use it effectively and how you’re going to get the most out of doing such a thing because it’s painful economically and socially.

“I am not a fan of partial lockdowns. I think because they may not be very effective at all and so I think that when we stop and ponder for a minute and say ‘okay is it worth it if it’s not doing what it is intended to do?’

“People need to look at that more and certainly we’ll have other guidelines, but we do need to stop the spread because we see that there is a terrible impact on the health system.”

Princess Margaret Hospital’s bed capacity is being stretched thin amid the health crisis. A 28-bed tent facility has been set up on the compound by Samaritan’s Purse to help alleviate the issue.

HIGH SCHOOL CLOSES DOORS AFTER POSITIVE COVID RESULT

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

MINISTER of Health Renward Wells visiting the tent facility provided by Samaritan’s Purse at Princess Margaret Hospital yesterday. The facility will provide extra beds for patients with COVID-19 to expand capacity as The Bahamas continues to wrestle with the pandemic.

CV BETHEL Senior High School shut its doors yesterday, sending home a small number of educators on campus due to one testing positive for COVID-19.

School officials did not answer when called, however Bahamas Union of Teachers President Belinda Wilson told The Tribune the school was closed and she advised her members to work from home.

“Yes there is (a) COVID positive case and the teachers have left and I have advised them not to return,” Ms Wilson said.

“So they will put in for ‘work from home’ and they will work from home going forward.

“Furthermore, the Ministry (of Education) has sent out a notice for them to use Zoom. The teachers were on Zoom for some time because they could not get on the ministry’s LMS (learning management) system.”

When contacted, director of education Marcellus Taylor said he was not aware of the issue.

“I am not aware of it. I don’t know anything about it, but it could be the case,” Mr Taylor said. “Virtual instructions are going on so there would be no children at the school. There are some teachers at the school who are not working remotely. I have no particulars on them closing, though.

“We have protocols in place. There are two

‘BRENNEN’S SWITCH TO US IS FINE WITH ME’ from page one A paediatrician by specialty, many in the public healthcare sector expected him to succeed Dr Glen Beneby as Chief Medical Office, but the Minnis administration in 2017 appointed Dr Pearl McMillan to that position instead.

Dr Minnis said yesterday: “There are rumours on social media and other media entities that Delon Brennen is not here in New Providence, that he has moved. It is true, Delon Bremen is still employed with the ministry, he’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, he has relocated, joined his family, his family lives in Maryland, and Delon is stationed at the

DR DELON BRENNEN Washington, DC, office, the embassy.

“He works virtually every day by the ministry and as a government and as a people we would want to encourage families to be together and, therefore, in this world of technology where individuals can live in Japan and work

in New Providence, can live in the UK and work in New Providence, you don’t necessarily have to work on that particular landmass to be employed and I would urge all Bahamians to become technologically savvy and advanced because our jobs in the future can be jeopardised because an individual can be living in Ireland or New Zealand and working in Scotia Bank or Royal Bank, etc.

“So we must take advantage of it. Once we are technologically advanced we too can be living here in New Providence and working at Wall Street or wherever and Delon Brennen is a perfect example.

He’s stationed in Washington and he’s employed, he’s

working every day. He’s responsible, working with the Ministry of Tourism and his responsibility is border control.

“He is taking the forefront and leading the charge in terms of border control, what needs to be done, how it’s done and doing all the data collection, etc, and assessment with that. But he is working along with the medical team, he’s still employed with the medical team and if it’s necessary at any point in time that he needs to come to New Providence, his presence is required, then he will come.

“Outside of that, he’s working virtually every day so he’s still employed, but we would not want to discourage families from not being together.”

agencies that they need to call. The Surveillance Unit, Ministry of Health, for them to give guidance on the specifics of the particular case and then the Department of Environmental Health who will advise them on how the cleaning should be done.

They can contact me later for information purposes, but they would need to call where they get immediate action. If they call me, all I can do is call those agencies.”

Mr Taylor said he didn’t want to sound flippant, but there are principals there who are capable of running a school with over a thousand students and a hundred teachers, “so they do not need to call me so I can call somebody else”. He said they can follow the protocols given to them by the Ministry of Education.

“We don’t know what their protocols are, but there is a positive case there at CV Bethel,” Ms Wilson continued. “Ninetynine point five percent of

the teachers in New Providence are working from home, so CV Bethel had some teachers who said that they could not work from home because they do not know how to operate the platform and the training that the Ministry of Education supposedly gave, a lecture, was not hands on so they are helping each other.”

Meanwhile Mr Taylor indicated that a possible spread of COVID in public schools should be limited due to virtual learning guidelines in New Providence.

“If they run into a challenge, then they will call us,” Mr Taylor said.

“At this point where the students are at home, this is not much of an issue, as there is only one teacher in a classroom (giving virtual instructions) so the spread won’t be that much.

“Now if they decided to congregate on their lunch break then they are doing that on their own.”

PAGE 4, Wednesday, October 21, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

‘We need new ways to prevent flooding’

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net WORKS Minister Desmond Bannister said major flooding in Pinewood Gardens last week shows new ways of preventing flooding are needed because climate change is rendering traditional mechanisms obsolete.

Pictures and video of widespread flooding in Pinewood Gardens went viral over the weekend after a period of heavy rain

in the area. In one video, a resident referred to the area as “Pinewood Lakes” as he filmed two men paddling in kayaks through flood water.

Mr Bannister told reporters before Cabinet met yesterday that the Ministry of Works was expected to make a presentation to Cabinet about ways to address such flooding issues, insisting sophisticated solutions are now needed.

“It’s very important for all of us to understand and I’ve been trying to get people to appreciate that

climate change is impacting us really seriously,” he said.

“Initially we dug wells and we dug wells that were 100 feet deep. This last year, the Ministry of Works has deepened all those wells to 250 feet but because of climate change we’ve had rising tides, so in my constituency of Bel Air and Turtle Drive we’ve had flooding.

“The reason we’ve had flooding is even though we’ve doubled the size of the well, the water is coming up now so we have

to have new, innovative ways to be able to deal with this challenge.

“The ministry is making a presentation to Cabinet this afternoon about some innovate ways that have worked in other countries and we’re going to try and see if some of that will work in The Bahamas.

“But a whole lot of people call me. We’ve dug about 50 wells this year so far. People call me and they want wells dug in their community but wells actually backfire when we have

these high tides because, when we have these high tides, the water actually comes out of the well and they come in the communities. Even though we’ve been digging the deeper wells, we have to go now to more complex, more sophisticated solutions and that’s the challenge.”

Pinewood has been prone to heavy flooding for years.

In 2013, then area MP Khaalis Rolle said a new drainage system for the area could cost the government

as much as $13m.

He started plans for the new drainage system, however, the initiative was never carried out under the Christie administration.

In August 2019, current MP Rueben Rahming said more drains would be installed in the area, but warned drains are not a “panacea” for the issue. At the time, he estimated $10m was needed to address the flooding issue in Pinewood — money which he said could not be allocated at the time.

‘CORAL HARBOUR NEEDS HELP TO STOP THIS NIGHTMARE’

VEHICLES negotiate flood water in Coral Harbour yesterday.

Photos: Donovan McIntosh

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A CORAL Harbour resident is seeking help for the area’s long-standing flooding issues, a problem that resurfaced due to New Providence’s recent rainy weather.

Long-time local Charles Hall said the substantial rain over the past few days left the road in an “unholy mess”. Mr Hall said the neighbourhood’s road by Humming Way Plaza has historically been known to flood.

He said he reached out to Ministry of Works’ officials and even National Security Minister Marvin Dames as the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) has a base in Coral Harbour and the officers have to drive through the water when it floods.

Mr Hall said he was assured the matter would be passed on to Ministry of Works officials to have the issue fast tracked, but he said the situation has not been rectified.

The flooding is said to have become aggravated by a newly built subdivision.

“The subdivision has a 50ft setback of the verge for its perimeter wall and the setback was landscaped by the developer that was intended to be like little ponds that he was going to

put waterfalls or something but in doing out these ponds along the edge of the road and the setback, the surface of the verge is now higher than the road surface and that’s on the eastern side of the road,” said the resident.

Compounding the issue is the previous government’s action six months before the last election on the western side of the road.

Mr Hall said the previous administration put in a sidewalk/bicycle path from the towers of Coral Harbour all the way to the beach.

“They did it without any consideration of existing swales or ditches that had been dug (years ago) to facilitate drainage along the perennially flooding roads and the sidewalk or jogging path was raised or elevated above the normal level of the verge...”

Water is being trapped on the road as it can’t be absorbed into the asphalt, he said. The water splashing creates “mighty great holes” in the road, he said.

“Some of these holes if you’re in a Nissan Cube or small Japanese car you could easily break an axle and traffic is reduced to one lane because everybody drives in the middle of the road – considered the shallowest piece.

“It will come up to your car door if you’re in a regular Japanese or American car... and that’s if you’re in

the middle of the road. If you go along the edge of the road in the lane you are supposed to be in, it will come through your door.

“What’s happening now is people are using the jogging path drive through to avoid the holes and the flooding and to avoid the congestion because of the one lane of traffic and so it’s become a nightmare and we need help.

“They can’t keep up with patching with the rains consistently coming two or three times a week.

“The roads never get dry and the holes just get bigger and we’ve got the jogging path eroding.”

Mr Hall said residents have asked officials for help, but nothing has been done.

“We’ve spoken to the FNM government since they’ve been in power... and we’ve seen the surveyors out here surveying the road they now have plans to reconstruct portions of the road to alleviate the flooding, but it never happened,” he told The Tribune.

“Recently with the onset of the rain within the last several weeks I called civil design at the (Ministry of Works). I had spoken to a gentleman who was a senior person in that department. “He came out here, met with a couple of the residents and walked… the area.”

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 21, 2020, PAGE 5

Residents sue over insurance after destruction of Dorian

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net GRAND Bahama homeowners whose residential properties were destroyed a year ago during Hurricane Dorian are taking legal action in the Supreme Court against a major bank and insurance companies for allegedly failing to pay premiums on their insurance policies.

Beryn Duncanson, of Bahamas Claims Assistants Co Ltd, has filed writs in the Supreme Court on behalf of Marvin and Latalia Dames,

and Laura Lorraine Jones and Latory Pivonne Simmons who both have home mortgages with First Caribbean International Bank.

The properties, located in Freeport, sustained major damage last September and were considered a total loss.

The plaintiffs believed their homes were effectively insured at the time.

Mr and Mrs Dames, owners of a residential property at No 110 Explorer’s Way, Hudson Estates East, Freeport, are suing the bank and Insurance Management (Bahamas) Ltd for negligence and

breach of contract.

Ms Jones and Mr Simmons, owners of a residential property at No 3 Ingrave Drive, Freeport, are suing the bank and Colina General Insurance Agents & Brokers Limited, and Bahamas First General Insurance Company Limited.

According to a statement of claim filed on November 26, 2019, the Dames’ property sustained damage estimated at a total loss where insurance coverage had previously been $110,000.

Ms Jones and Mr

Simmons had insurance coverage of some $209,000.

When the homeowners sought to make a claim against their insurance policy they were subsequently advised by the bank (the first defendant) and the insurance company (the second defendant) that no insurance policy for the property had been renewed or effected.

It is claimed that due to the grievous neglect of the bank to pay insurance premiums the policy was cancelled without notice of any kind from either the bank or the insurance companies.

“It was an implied term of the contract that the first defendant would act with reasonable care and skill acting as broker/agents and as a fiduciary. By reason of the breach of contract and/ or negligence of the defendants, the plaintiffs suffered loss and damage.”

In the statement of negligence and breach of contract, it is further alleged that in addition to failing to pay insurance premiums to the insurers reasonably, promptly or at all – and the defendants failing to advise the plaintiffs that insurance premiums had not

been paid – they also failed to notify that there was any default and/or expiry of the insurance policy, failed to effect renewal of an adequate insurance homeowners policy or at all for the subject property, and failed to take reasonable care and skill to ensure that their clients’ insurance needs were clearly met; and failed to act with reasonable care and skill of that of a competent broker/agent/ insurer an/or fiduciary.

It is also claimed that the plaintiffs suffered considerable emotional distress and inconveniences as a result.

COMPANY GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY FOOD and drink were served up to members of the Fox Hill community on Friday by Bahamian company Limeade.

The firm held a Community Cares event at the Fox Hill Community Centre, co-ordinated with the Munroe Foundation and area MP Shonel Ferguson.

Breakfast and gallons of Limeade were distributed to residents of the area.

“After our last giveback, we realised the impact we had on the residence in the Bain and Grants Town, we decided to do it for another community,” said Limeade owner Joshua Miller. “With my birthday being Sunday and not being able to do anything on the day due to lockdown, there is no better way I could think to celebrate than by giving back to others.”

During the first Community Cares initiative, 250 lunches and gallons of Limeade were distributed. As a result, several additional partners have agreed to join the initiative.

SHANTY TOWN FAMILIES MOSTLY ‘LEGAL’ from page one

“So, while we would like to think there are simple solutions to this, these are problems that have been in the making for many, many decades,” he said, adding that three sites were visited.

“There were maybe 40, 50 homes and most of them have been there for a very

long time, many, many, many years.”

“Most of those people have been in The Bahamas for many years so it is not a simple solution of a lot of illegal immigrants.

It’s an issue of people getting permits, of being farm workers and their employers not being required to account for where they live.”

He added: “It’s a very

complex socio-economic situation in Andros and these are issues that will have to be addressed by a number of government agencies. What you have is a fairly medium sized group of non-Bahamians, many of whom are on work permits. They are working in communities, but they don’t live in those communities and people have been getting

work permits and leaving them to fend for themselves. There’s also been some illegals, but not as many.

“There has to be comprehensive solutions based on giving people work permits. And if someone gets a work permit over the years governments have not been concerned about them finding homes for the people who work for

them. So, you have farmers in Andros and they have all these people working for them, many of them, but they apply for work permits and there is no holding them accountable for where these people live. It’s a very complex socio-economic challenge.

I’m making some suggestions to Cabinet and we’ll see how we work through those solutions.”

Agriculture, Marine Resources and Fisheries Minister Michael Pintard has said the number of people living in the informal communities has dwindled since the beginning of the year but the government is determined to remove the illegal structures.

A notice for occupants to vacate the land expired on March 5, 2020, Mr Pintard said.

ROBBERY RETRIAL ORDERED OVER COUNSEL’S WITHDRAWAL

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE Court of Appeal yesterday ordered a retrial for a man who was convicted of robbery, after he argued the trial judge did not give him adequate time to prepare his defence after his counsel withdrew from his case.

In 2015, Kiko Hanna was accused of stealing Janeth Evans’ handbag, which contained a manicure kit, one make-up kit, a black purse and $41 cash. A jury found him guilty of robbery on March 22, 2018, and he was sentenced to five years in prison a little over three months later.

According to a judgment published on the Court of Appeal’s website, Hanna’s trial attorney asked the judge if he could withdraw from the case. At the time, he made the request in the presence of the jury. The judge granted the lawyer’s request, but told Hanna he would need to instruct new counsel or represent himself. The appellant was able to find another attorney who requested a brief adjournment to get further instructions from Hanna.

However, the judge denied his request, and in the circumstances, the new attorney said he would not be able to represent Hanna. He was subsequently left to represent himself.

The appellant appealed his conviction on the grounds the judge erred by failing to discharge the jury after his trial attorney made prejudicial statements at

the outset of his trial. He also argued the judge failed to give him adequate time to prepare his defence without representation.

Yesterday, Justices Sir Michael Barnett, Jon Isaacs and Milton Evans set aside Hanna’s sentence and ordered a retrial, after concluding the appellant was “deprived” of a fair hearing since he was “required to undergo his trial unrepresented”.

In his appeal, Hanna’s current counsel, Brendalee Rae, said the exchange which took place on the day the appellant’s first attorney withdrew from the case, was prejudicial to her client. She argued the judge should have declared a mistrial in light of the circumstances. “(Mrs Rae) contended that in this conversation, the attorney for the intended appellant indicated in the full hearing of the jury that he had spoken to the intended appellant on several occasions as to how he, the attorney, felt that trial should proceed, but that the intended appellant would not take his advice, therefore he was requesting to be released as the intended appellant’s attorney,” the court documents read.

“Counsel further argued that even though the judge said that the attorney was being released at the intended appellant’s instance, it was clear that it was the attorney who’d asked to be released, specifically because, according to the trial attorney, ‘Reason being, Mr Kiko Hanna is not taking my advice.’

It was (the) counsel’s contention that as the conversation in relation to the attorney’s withdrawal took place in the presence of the jury, it cannot be ruled out that the attorney may have given the impression to the jury that he thought that the appellant was guilty.”

In his judgment, Justice Evans said he believed Hanna’s first attorney should have asked the trial judge to excuse the jury before he made his request to be released from the case.

“Although counsel did not go into great detail he did indicate that the accused was not taking his advice,” he said. “This left the jury to speculate as to the nature of that advice and the danger is that as this was at the commencement of the trial they may have assumed that the advice was that he should plead guilty.”

He also said it appeared as if the trial judge did not make any effort to persuade Hanna’s first counsel to continue to represent him,

or try to find out if their differences could be resolved.

“The appellant in my view did not receive a fair trial as is guaranteed to him by the Constitution. The only proper remedy in these circumstances is for him to be given the benefit of that right and so I would order that a retrial take place. “…Attorneys who place themselves on the record should not be permitted to withdraw as a matter of course and should only be permitted to do so for good cause. Likewise defendants

ought not to be allowed at their whim to dismiss their counsel. Adhering to the practice of avoiding perfunctory handling of these applications would inevitably reduce some of the delays in the criminal justice system and assist in ensuring that defendants receive the benefit of proper representation before the court.

Further, I would wish to admonish judges regarding allowing certain discussions such as occurred in this case, taking place in the presence of the jury.”

PAGE 6, Wednesday, October 21, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

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If lockdowns aren’t working, what next?

OVER and over in the battle against COVID-19, we have said that our approach is led by advice from health experts.

Well, what if the health experts say our current approach is not working?

Dr Nikkiah Forbes has won much applause for her straight speaking during this crisis – and it is her voice we hear today as she raises questions about the effectiveness of the current approach.

“I think that it is safe to say that partial lockdowns may not be effective,” she said yesterday. “It really depends on what people are doing outside of the curfew and restrictive period.”

In other words, it’s all very well people obeying the restrictions for a couple of days, but if it’s only for a couple of days and then everyone comes back out and mingles again and spreads the virus, you’ve lost the benefit of those days of isolation.

Dr Forbes said: “There are still a large amount of cases daily and I would say that cases haven’t gone down in this second wave that we’re seeing. As a matter of fact, we heard in the press conference last week that they’ve just gone up slightly in the last two weeks.”

She adds: “Now that being said, any restrictive measure that is put in place for a virus that transmits like this, you have to consider the incubation period. You won’t see the results until the end of one or possibly two incubation periods when you’re doing your restrictive measures.”

What are the signs of a system that’s not working? We’re seeing it now.

Constantly increasing cases, a healthcare system struggling to deal with the number of patients, offices regularly closing for cleaning after exposure… look around, this is where we are now.

We say this with no joy because everyone in this fight wants it to work. So the question becomes, what now?

Repeating actions that aren’t working is the definition of madness, so do we supplement what we’re doing with extra measures or do we do something else?

The government seems focused on reopening to tourism less than two weeks from now, despite the virus being uncontrolled in our communities at present.

Is that swaying the government’s hand when it comes to applying extra measures? We cannot say, but we can say this – a senior health advisor is saying that

these partial lockdowns aren’t working.

What shall our response be to that?

We must wait and see, of course – but in the meantime, we must redouble our personal efforts to prevent the spread through those simple measures: wash your hands, wear a mask, keep your distance. Whatever comes next, we must get through this.

Truth about shanty towns When it comes to failing to learn from what has gone before, let us look at another story today – about the residents of shanty towns in The Bahamas.

But before we do, let us take a step back in time – not far, just back to December 2018 when the results of a previous survey of shanty towns emerged.

That survey showed that most shanty town dwellers in Abaco had legal status to live in the country – work permits, spousal permits, citizenship and so on.

About 20 percent were undocumented.

Prior to that, 70 percent of shanty town residents in New Providence were reported to have a legal right to live in the country.

Fast forward to today’s story when, surprise surprise, the residents of a shanty town in North Andros are, by and large, people with work permits and not illegal residents. Over and over again, the same conclusion is drawn – and yet, what have we learned?

Minister of Works Desmond Bannister puts his finger on the problem in one respect, saying: “They are working in communities, but they don’t live in those communities and people have been getting work permits and leaving them to fend for themselves.”

It’s no surprise that if people arrive in this country on a work permit and are essentially abandoned to sort out accommodation for themselves, they’ll find it where they can get it – especially given how expensive the rental market is in The Bahamas.

Is the solution finding ways to provide affordable housing? Perhaps that might go some way towards an answer, but it’s not everything.

Either way, we should stop castigating the residents of these shanty towns as “illegals” when time and again that is shown to be untrue. Why do we demonise people who are just here to do the work we ask them to?

Visiting Bahamas EDITOR, The Tribune.

MY husband and I have had a long association with The Bahamas having first come to Nassau for work assignments nearly forty years ago. Our children are also now visiting and we always come and stay in the winter months.

We follow your newspaper and have been motivated to write by the many other Canadians who have written about their distress at the very harsh requirements to enter The Bahamas. Decisions by your Government will very soon have to be made whether you want tourism at all this winter.

Most Canadians remain healthy and are taking precautions against the COVID-19 virus. However, many have been coming for years and now face such hurdles that most do not know whether they can come due to all the uncertainties.

Our son is currently attempting to visit friends in The Bahamas but at every turn there is yet another roadblock. He finally found a government telephone number in Toronto to ring to seek your required COVID-19 test by our health authority.

He gave his contact number and waited a day for the callback. He was then given a code and website

where he was given a hospital location at the other end of the city for an appointment in two days. He waited over an hour after the time set and was finally given the test. Then he was told it would take between two and four days to get the result.

With the result, he would have to scan it to Nassau for your new Health Visa.

No information was given by your authorities as to the time frame for the return permission to travel other than he must be there by the seventh day after the test. No idea of cost to him is given for the Visa. As a result of all your difficult conditions and the test period until you land in Nassau, nearly all the Air Canada flights have been cancelled because no one can complete these hurdles in time to coordinate with flights.

Why did your Ministry of Tourism introduce such policies without thinking how prospective visitors could comply? Frankly it is unbelievable. You are headed for a complete financial disaster if the rules are not changed.

We keep reading about your Finance Ministry emphasising the immediate need for tourism to be restored to restart the economy. Why have they not thought about the reasons people are not coming?

Excuses such as COVID19 have some merit but we are all learning to cope with the new situation and many here want to come to warmer climates for periods of time in the winter. You should abandon the preliminary tests which are causing the problems and test people upon entry. Most do not grudge paying for such tests.

Ideas by your Tourism Minister about forced travel health insurance are not feasible. My husband and myself have worked in the medical field for a long time.

We have never known any patients who travel outside of Canada without purchasing such health insurance.

If enforced as part of the Visa visitors would have to pay twice for the health insurance.

We hope there will be an immediate rethinking about how The Bahamas can welcome visitors more practically or most will turn to the other Caribbean and Mexican destinations where entry is far easier and does not require visitors to take valuable time away from work or activities to obtain your Health Visa. This is an urgent crisis to be addressed.

MARGARET JACKSON, MD Canada, October 17, 2020.

Brother’s keeper EDITOR, The Tribune.

ON January 4, 2020, the World Health Organisation reported that there was a cluster of pneumonia cases found in the Wuhan Province in China. Later, it was discovered that this was due to COVID-19. Johns Hopkins Medicine described COVID-19, aka the Corona virus, as a highly contagious respiratory illness easily transmitted through droplets released in the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

By March 2020, governments throughout the world, implemented stringent measures to stem the spread of those infected with the virus. This led to the Government of The Bahamas implementing the emergency orders, with a view to implementing swift measures to allow the government the authority to mobilise resources, restrict movement nationally and coordinate health initiatives.

As a result of the spread of this deadly virus worldwide, travel came to an almost immediate halt as many persons were either afraid, restricted or couldn’t afford to travel since unemployment skyrocketed.

Unfortunately, this hit The Bahamas particularly

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net hard as we have depended on the tourist dollar as our primary source of revenue for centuries.

Fast forward to October, 2020, with no vaccine in sight and mandatory mask wearing and social distancing measures yielding very little effect, The Bahamas seems to have fallen deeper in a state of recession.

To assist the thousands unemployed at this time, many civic organisations, churches, the National Insurance Board, Social Services, among others, have stepped in to fill the massive voids.

Sadly, this alone is not enough as the pandemic has persisted for almost a year and the government as well as non profits struggle to replenish resources needed to fund the initiatives further.

The Bikelife 242 organisation, which is a group of motorcycle enthusiast from all facets of the Bahamian community, began the initiative “Be thy brother’s keeper”, where we pool resources to assist members in need due to COVID-19.

This initiative is not new to the group as on countless

occasions in the past we have assisted members and families of members, who would have suffered from injuries and/or deaths from accidents.

To date, we have assisted many members and hope someday in the near future to broaden the scope of this assistance programme to include other charitable organisations and members within our communities.

If we are to survive these temporary shortfalls, we must come together and implement similar initiatives within each and every community, church, workplace and organisation.

It is not only a moral responsibility, but also a civic duty for those of us with a little more, to give a little to assist our neighbours in need at this time.

This is a pivotal point when a community coming together is most crucial to our survival. We have done it countless times before in the past, after suffering from so many devastating natural disasters.

It is time for us to “Be our brothers keeper”, and give back. Like or motto says: “Forward, Upward, Onward, TOGETHER. CLIFFORD WILLIAMS Nassau, October 19, 2020.

Wants vs needs EDITOR, The Tribune.

IT SEEMS as if politicians can’t seem to tell the difference between wants and needs when it comes to spending the taxpayer’s money.

I am sure that a lot of people can agree that there are many things that we want, but not because we want something means that we should always get it because not everything that is wanted is always needed, and in these present circumstances needs should take priority over wants!

The new sidewalks across New Providence in my opinion is wasteful spending at this time. An island that has a high unemployment rate, a hospital that is out of whack, and an economy that is declining everyday and sidewalk fixtures are on the rise? That’s

ludicrous! Our focus should be on what is more important, and this what is truly in the best interest of the Bahamian people.

I am all for nice things when it comes to enhancing our island, but the question is – at what cost? We have too many Bahamians again that are joining the unemployment line, hotel workers not receiving the severance pay, thousands that are still employed on reduced hours, nursing homes with bare assistance, nurses and doctors going without enough supplies and equipment, social services increase, and hundreds of families homeless, just to name a few.

We have a lot of work to do and so much is not getting done, the government does not have enough money; but yet we are still allocating funding for things that can come later?

Sidewalks in a pandemic.

For what? We’re always on lockdowns what are we supposed to do? Take pictures?

These sidewalks serve no purpose to us, and helps us in no way at this time.

Whether this government tries to mask it, we all know the national debt is exceeding. And with this pandemic, the country’s deficit will increase even more.

Wasting the taxpayers’ money on relatively unimportant projects should not be accepted, and it is not a practice at this time any government should put into play.

We need a balanced budget. And in order to have that we must eliminate wasteful spending. It is so important that every dollar be spent wisely.

DR MATHEO SMITH Nassau, October 15, 2020.

THE TRIBUNE

Brothers sent to jail for theft

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

TWO brothers who broke into a man’s house and stole $100 worth of electronics were yesterday sentenced to three months in prison.

Shavano Thompson, 20, and Takeil Thompson, 19, appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes each charged with housebreaking and stealing.

The prosecution said the brothers broke and entered into a Carib Road residence to steal two portable speakers worth $104.94 on July 12.

The court heard the owner of the house told police some unknown persons had broken into his residence around 10.45am on the morning in question. He said the culprits stole two of his speakers

at the time of the incident.

According to the prosecution, on October 15, police, acting on information, arrested both defendants.

They were then transported to the Wulff Road police station where they were interviewed by officers.

When questioned, Takeil admitted to the offences while Shavano denied all the allegations made against him.

The court heard the officers made further inquiries into the matter with Takeil and he was able to point out the black portable speaker he had stolen from the complainant. Shavano was then interviewed again. This time, he admitted breaking into the house and stealing a speaker. He told officers he could not recover the stolen device because he lost it a few months ago.

The brothers were subsequently cautioned and charged.

During the hearing, Magistrate Forbes asked the two young men “what possessed” them to break into someone’s home. In response, Shavano told him he only committed the crime because his “mind was not percolating”.

Still, Magistrate Forbes told them their minds had to be working since they left their home to break into another person’s own, which showed that they made a conscious decision.

He said he found their thought process “troubling” because they were not sure whether someone was in the house when they decided to break and enter it. As a result, he told the brothers he hoped this particular instance would be their “last attempt of lawlessness” and sentenced them to three months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

RECENTLY RELEASED FROM JAIL - AND BACK IN COURT FOR NOT WEARING A FACE MASK

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A MAGISTRATE yesterday discharged a young man who was summoned to court for leaving his home without a face mask.

Shavar Hepburn, 20, was charged with violating the requirement to wear a face mask, after officers found him walking on Nassau Street barefaced on September 27.

He pleaded guilty during a hearing before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes, but was discharged after he told

the magistrate he didn’t have a face mask because he had been released from jail recently.

The court was told that officers were on mobile patrol on Nassau and Dean Streets around 5.20pm on the day in question. It was at that time they noticed Hepburn walking south on Nassau Street without a face mask. They beckoned him to stop and informed him that he was in breach of the emergency protocols. The prosecution said when the officers asked Hepburn why he wasn’t wearing a mask while he was walking outdoors, he

told them he didn’t have one. He was subsequently ticketed and given a date to appear in court.

During the hearing, Magistrate Forbes asked the accused why he did not have a mask by now. In response, Hepburn told him he had just been released from prison in September and was not given one when he was let go.

As a result, Magistrate Forbes said he would discharge the accused with a warning. Still, he told him to “make certain” he wore a face mask every time he left his home from that point forward.

Wednesday, October 21, 2020, PAGE 7

PAGE 8, Wednesday, October 21, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

WE NEED TO JOINED UP THINKING - AND ACTION - TO TACKLE GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

By Alicia Wallace

IT IS Domestic Violence Awareness Month and, story after story, our attention is drawn to the broader issue of the gender-based violence we are failing to address.

The murder of Alicia Sawyer and her daughter is still fresh in the minds of many. On Monday, it was reported that a radio abolishing the police have personality is being stalked not read or talked to people and not receiving enough about what these terms support from the Royal mean.

Defunding the police Bahamas Police Force (RBPF). There are two is not about getting rid major issues here - gen- of the police, but about der-based violence and reallocating money and priinadequate responses to it oritising other services and resources. and reliance This is the on the RBPF ‘Far too many approach, which is not women can tell not only sufficiently stories about being because connected policing sysand in col- turned away from tems are laboration police stations, racist and with other told to “go make corrupt, but governbecause they mental and up with [their non-govfail to meet husbands]” when ernmental the needs of they tried to report the people. bodies.

Conversa- domestic violence.

More money tions about needs to be Similarly, LGBTQ+ abolishing allocated the police people have stories to housing, and defund- of being ridiculed education, ing the social serpolice - two and lambasted vices, food separate pro- by police when security and posals - in trying to report other areas the US conthat affect acts of violence tinue, largely people’s driven by the against them.’ daily lives Black Lives and their Matter moveability to meet their own ment in response to the needs. murder of black people by It is also clear that people police. Most of the people have learned to look to the opposed to defunding or police to solve problems

the police are not trained to handle, while other people are equipped to do so.

In sharing her story, the radio personality stated police spoke to the man who had been stalking her months, suggested she have him bound over to keep the peace, and said they could not do anything else because the stalker did not commit a crime. Police exist to enforce laws.

Where laws are insufficient, police are also insufficient.

A crime should not have to be committed for the police to take action to protect a person’s life. The police are failing to protect this woman.

A few weeks ago, police failed to protect Alicia Sawyer who also called on them for assistance. After the murder of Sawyer and her eight-year-old daughter Asria Ednique Wallace, the Commissioner of Police was asked whether or not an officer could have been stationed at their home to protect them.

He said: “In hindsight, there’s a lot of things that we could say could have been done. We have to learn from this incident.”

Gender-based violence is, far too often, a “learning” opportunity. If the RBPF learned from the murder of Sawyer and Wallace, it should be focused more on prevention and taking steps to protect the woman who has reported a stalker.

Being stalked is a terrifying experience.

Boundaries are crossed and the personal experiencing it feels exposed and unsafe at all times. There is no telling when they may run into the person or what they may do. There is little that is more limiting than fear. The added frustration of having no access to justice can make it feel like a losing battle. Many women are left feeling like we have to protect ourselves from threats known and unknown because there are no systems to support us.

Far too many women can tell stories about being turned away from police stations, told to “go make up with [their husbands]” when they tried to report domestic violence.

Similarly, LGBTQ+ people have stories of being ridiculed and lambasted by police when trying to report acts of violence against them.

In these cases, crimes were committed, but individual officers decided they were not worth a response.

They decided that the people calling or entering the police station

ERIN REIGN, of 100Jamz, who reported a stalker to the police only to be told by officers there was little that they could do, saying that the man had not committed a crime. The police are failing to protect Erin - but the laws themselves are insufficient if officers have no basis to act.

needed to handle the crimes themselves, suggesting that they were at fault. When this is the response to crime, it is not surprise that police — law enforcement officers — are either incapable or unwilling to deal with matters that are not specifically named in the law.

Who, then, should we call upon to deal with these matters?

When unhoused people are locked up or given fines for breaking curfew, it is a clear indication of the lack of critical thinking and inter-department or inter-agency cooperation because the priority should be providing safe housing for those people and the Department of Social Services should be contacted for guidance.

The issue is the same with the handling of the men who were trying to get water from a public pump and numerous people leaving their homes to get food.

The police are not equipped to handle these situations. No number of COVID-19 vehicles give police officers the tools they need to make sound decisions that prioritise

the well-being of the people they are supposed to serve. These are situations that lead people to call for defunding of police.

We would be better off with proper housing and employment.

On the issue of genderbased violence, we need more comprehensive law, a specific unit within RBPF focused on the issue, regular sensitivity training of all police officers, and integration with other departments, agencies, and organisations including Social Services and NGOs providing resources and services.

Equality Bahamas is working on a policy brief specific to the national response to gender-based violence and invites members of the public to contribute to it.

The next Women’s Wednesdays session, scheduled to be held on November 4 at 6pm, will focus on building a community-driven document. The registration link is live and available on the Equality Bahamas Facebook page.

It is critical that people — specifically those that are experiencing and have experienced gender-based violence — participate in the process to ensure that the outcome meets their particular needs.

Contributions can also be sent via email to equalitybahamas@gmail.com.

We, as a community, need to determine how we will show up and exactly what we will do.

SALVATION LIES IN THINKING OUTSIDE THE CHOCOLATE BOX Many businesses and selfemployed people are being forced to pivot and be more creative to earn revenue comparable with last year.

In a recent conversation, a friend in another country in the region mentioned that her relative was a chef, but the restaurant he worked at had closed. They spent time thinking about his options. They found that thinking too broadly was causing them to get stuck, so they focused on finding a niche.

Her relative is now running a small business, preparing meals for people with dietary restrictions due to diabetes. He soon had to hire someone to assist with deliveries. By creating a job for himself that fills a need, he ended up creating a job for someone else and there may be more growth to come.

In The Bahamas, more and more people are operating food businesses from their homes. Most of them are simple - like wings, banana bread, and cookies - and result in quick, easy sales from people they know, slowly spreading to those people’s circles as well. Some have used the extra time on their hands to learn new skills, turning them into small businesses.

Last month, 92-year-old Bahamian favourite Mortimer’s Candies announced it has been struggling to keep its doors open since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.

The business is now depending entirely on local customers.

Forty percent of the candy business was directly linked to tourism and with no visitors and so many other business closed or employees working from

home, there is a fraction of the normal foot traffic.

No one wants to see Mortimer’s close its doors.

While we may not by ourself be able to consume enough snow cones, popcorn, peanut brittle and mints to keep the business going, we can treat others to a little sugar rush.

Mortimer’s wants to treat the children in some of the children’s homes to Halloween treats so it has launched the “Spooky & Sweet” campaign.

Drop in during business hours to make a cash payment or visit mortimercandies.com to use a debit or credit card. The business has listed the homes and programmes it is including in this initiative, and it would be great to give children a treat in a year that has felt like one big trick for all of us.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 21, 2020, PAGE 9

NOKIA TO BUILD MOON’S FIRST 4G CELL NETWORK FOR NASA LONDON (AP) — Nokia says it has been tapped by NASA to build the first cellular communications network on the moon.

The Finnish telecommunications equipment maker said Monday its Nokia Bell Labs division will build a 4G communications system to be deployed on a lunar lander to the moon’s surface in late 2022.

NASA is awarding $370 million to 14 companies to provide technology for the Artemis moonlanding programme. The programme’s aim is to establish a long-term human presence on the moon as a warm-up for missions to Mars.

Nokia released more details of its involvement after an announcement last week by NASA,

THE headquarters of Finnish telecommunication network company Nokia in Espoo, Finland.

(Mikko Stig/Lehtikuva via AP, File)

which said it was giving the company’s U.S. unit $14.1 million for the network.

The U.S. space agency is also funding other

innovations in cryogenic fluid management, lunar surface innovation, and descent and landing capability.

Nokia’s network will

provide critical communications capabilities for tasks astronauts will need to carry out, like remote control of lunar rovers, real-time navigation and

high-definition video streaming, the company said.

The equipment includes a base station, antennas and software and is designed to withstand harsh launches and lunar landings and extreme conditions in space.

Nokia is partnering with U.S. company Intuitive Machines, which NASA chose to build a small “hopper lander” that can access lunar craters and carry out high-resolution surveys of the lunar surface over a short distance.

“Reliable, resilient and high-capacity communications networks will be key to supporting sustainable human presence on the lunar surface,” Nokia’s chief technology officer, Marcus Weldon, said.

GM TO RUN ROBOT CARS IN SAN FRANCISCO WITHOUT HUMAN BACKUPS

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle unit says it will pull the human backup drivers from its vehicles in San Francisco by the end of the year.

Cruise CEO Dan Ammann said in a statement that the company got a permit last Thursday from California’s Department of Motor Vehicles to let the cars travel on their own.

The move follows the recent announcement from Waymo that it would open its autonomous ride-hailing service to the public in the Phoenix area in vehicles without human drivers.

Waymo, a unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc., is hoping to eventually expand the service into California, where it already has a permit to run without human backups.

Cruise has reached the point where it’s confident that it can safely operate without humans in the cars, spokesman Ray Wert said. There’s no date for starting a ride service, which would require further government permission, he said.

Cruise will go neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood in San Francisco and launch the driverless vehicles slowly before spreading to the entire city, he said. It will hold neighbourhood meetings to answer people’s questions, he said.

“We understand that this is a

CRUISE AV, General Motor’s autonomous electric Bolt EV is displayed in Detroit. General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle unit says it will pull the human backup drivers from its vehicles in San Francisco by the end of the year. CEO Dan Ammann says that the Cruise got a permit from California’s Department of Motor Vehicles to let the cars travel on their own. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

trust race as much as it is a technology race,” Wert said. “This is absolutely about making sure that we’re doing this with San Francisco.”

The moves by Waymo and Cruise, which are considered among the leaders in autonomous vehicle technology, are important steps in the march toward proliferation of self-driving cars.

Progress toward autonomous

vehicles slowed markedly after an Uber autonomous test SUV ran down a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, in 2018.

Steven Shladover, a research engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, who has studied autonomous driving for 40 years, said the moves are the next logical steps by both companies in a gradual progression.

“I don’t see them as revolutionary steps, but they’re part of

this step-by-step progress toward getting the technology to be able to work under a wider range of conditions,” he said.

Both Cruise and Waymo program their vehicles to drive more conservatively than humans, but still need to progress safely, Shladover said. He noted that Cruise will tackle easier areas in San Francisco first before venturing into more complex traffic situations.

TECHTALK • AS AUTOMATION and online work gain ground, organisers of the annual Davos forum are projecting employers will split work equally between machines and people by 2025, with the coronavirus pandemic accelerating changes in the labour market.

The World Economic Forum, in a report released Wednesday on the future of jobs, expects that a new division of labour between humans and machines will upend and eliminate some 85 million jobs globally across 15 industries. But it also expects that 97 million new roles will emerge in sectors like artificial intelligence, content-creation and “the care economy” involving kids and the elderly.

Two years ago, the forum predicted more jobs created 133 million - and fewer lost 75 million.

“In essence, the rate of job destruction has gone up and the rate of job creation has gone down,” said WEF managing director Saadia Zahidi. “The good news is that overall, the jobs that are being created still are in greater numbers than the jobs that are being destroyed.

But the rate has changed and that’s obviously going to make it difficult for workers to find their next role.”

The forum, an event organiser and think tank, says jobs involving data entry, accounting and administrative support are set to decline, while it pointed to upsides for “frontline workers” like nurses, grocery store workers, postal workers and care workers who have shown their importance during the COVID crisis.

• THE WINDOW for the final round of testing of Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered spacecraft opens later this week as the company inches toward commercial flights.

Virgin Galactic President Mike Moses updated New Mexico lawmakers on the progress during a meeting Monday. He said the space tourism company already has done nine flights from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico, including two glide flights by the spaceship.

While the exact date has yet to be determined, the upcoming test will mark the third space flight for Virgin Galactic and the first from New Mexico. Moses called it a big milestone for an idea that was first pitched decades ago.

“New Mexico will join California and Florida as only the third state in the U.S. to host human space flight missions and send people into space,” Moses said.

For the test flight, two pilots will crew the spacecraft and cargo including several research projects will be carried in the cabin. Assuming everything goes well and the engineers sign off, Moses said Virgin Galactic can then move to the next phase, which will involve company mission specialists and engineers being loaded into the passenger cabin. They will evaluate all the hardware, camera settings and which angles will provide the best views.

“This is going to be a lifechanging experience for folks and we want to make sure we’re delivering an A+ ride,” he said.

PAGE 10, Wednesday, October 21, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

NEARLY 2,000 INMATES FREED IN NIGERIA PROTESTS AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY LAGOS, Nigeria Associated Press

PEOPLE hold banners as they demonstrate on the street to protest against police brutality, in Lagos, Nigeria, yesterday. After 13 days of protests against police brutality, authorities have imposed a 24-hour curfew in Lagos.

Photo: Sunday Alamba/AP

Global differences in tackling COVID-19 SALT LAKE CITY Associated Press

VIRUS cases are surging across Europe and many US states, but responses by leaders are miles apart, with officials in Ireland, France and elsewhere imposing curfews and restricting gatherings even as some US governors resist mask mandates or more aggressive measures.

The stark contrasts in efforts to contain infections come as outbreaks on both sides of the Atlantic raise similar alarms, including shrinking availability of hospital beds and rising deaths.

Governors of states including Tennessee, Oklahoma, Nebraska and North Dakota are all facing calls from doctors and public health officials to require masks.

In Utah, a spike in cases since school reopened has created a dynamic that Republican Gov Gary Herbert has called “unsustainable”.

But Herbert, who has been pressured by an outspoken contingent of residents opposed to masks, has resisted a statewide mandate. Instead, he announced last week that they would be required only in six counties with the highest infection rates, while leaving it to others to make their own rules In Oklahoma, where the number of people hospitalised for the virus has reached record levels, doctors have called on officials to do more.

“We need face mask mandates to protect more of our Oklahoma citizens,” Dr George Monks, the president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association, said in a tweet on Sunday.

But Gov Kevin Stitt has said repeatedly he has no plans to do so.

Oklahoma health officials reported a record high of 821 people hospitalised yesterday with the virus or under investigation for the infection. Wyoming

also reported a record high number of patients hospitalised for the virus.

New virus cases in the US have surged in recent weeks from a daily average of about 42,000 in early October to about 58,000 — the highest level since late July.

In one of the most troubling outbreaks, ten residents of a nursing home in northwest Kansas have died from the virus, health officials said. All 62 residents of the Andbe Home in Norton County, as well as an unspecified number of employees, have tested positive for the infection.

The surge in new cases prompted a change of heart on Monday from the mayor of Fargo, North Dakota, about a mask mandate.

Mayor Tim Mahoney, who is also a general surgeon, had been largely supportive of Republican Gov Doug Burgum’s approach of leaving management of the virus to local officials but Mahoney said a statewide change is in order.

The dynamic contrasts sharply with Europe, where national officials are battling similar spikes with measures including new lockdowns and smart phone apps that track the virus’ spread.

In Ireland, Prime Minister Micheal Martin announced a lockdown starting at midnight on Wednesday that will close all non-essential stores, limit restaurants to carryout service and require people to stay within three miles of their homes, while banning visits to other households.

It marks a near-return to restrictions imposed in March. If people comply, the country will be able to celebrate Christmas “in a meaningful way,” Martin said.

In the Netherlands, which has one of the highest infection rates in Europe, a judge in The Hague rejected an appeal by more than 60 Dutch bars and restaurants to overturn a government four-week closure order.

NIGERIAN authorities said yesterday that nearly 2,000 inmates had broken out of jail after crowds attacked two prisons, while officials announced a 24-hour curfew in the megacity of Lagos in an attempt to quell the unrest stemming from two weeks of protests against police brutality.

The Inspector-General of Police deployed antiriot police across Africa’s most populous nation and ordered forces to strengthen security around Nigerian correctional facilities.

“The force will henceforth exercise the full powers of the law to prevent any further attempt on lives and property of citizens,” a police statement read.

Lagos State Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu warned on Twitter that the protests against police brutality in Nigeria have “degenerated into a monster that is threatening the well-being of our society”.

Interior Ministry spokesman Mohammed Manga said large, armed crowds had attacked two correctional facilities, subduing the guards on duty. At last count, 1,993 inmates were missing, he said yesterday.

It was unclear what the prisons’ exact populations had been before the attack.

“Most of the inmates held at the centers are convicted criminals serving terms for various criminal offenses, awaiting execution or standing trial for violent crimes,” he said in a statement.

The governor of Lagos state said the curfew would cover the entire city of

some 14 million people and surrounding areas. The announcement came after a police station was burned down in the city and two people were shot dead by police.

“Lives and limbs have been lost as criminals and miscreants are now hiding under the umbrella of these protests to unleash mayhem on our state,” the governor said.

Authorities also had imposed a curfew in Benin City on Monday after the prisons were attacked.

The protests began two weeks ago after a video circulated showing a man being beaten, apparently by police officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, known as SARS. Young protesters marched in cities across Nigeria, under the banner #EndSARS. In response, the government announced it would ban the antirobbery squad, which for several years human rights groups have blamed for widespread abuses, including torture and killings.

The demonstrators have not been satisfied with the disbandment of the SARS unit and are demanding an end to abuses and respect for human rights in all parts of the police force. The protests have stopped traffic in Lagos, the capital Abuja and many other large cities in Nigeria, a country of 196 million people.

Lagos is the main centre of the protests which have blocked access to the airport, the country’s largest, and protesters barricaded the roads leading to the country’s main ports.

Protests continued yesterday in many cities including Abuja the capital, where troops have been deployed.

PAGE 16, Wednesday, October 21, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Extend tax breaks again so Abaco, GB ‘roar back’ FROM PAGE 20 has been made with the government, a six-month extension of the Special Economic Recovery Zone and all its tax breaks would be welcomed by Grand Bahama businesses.

Noting that many small businesses, in particular, are “still struggling”, Mr LaRoda said the need for assistance and a hand-up will continue into the 2021 New Year. And, with tourists unlikely to return in great volume come November 1, he added that the “survival” of many firms hinges on whatever financial relief they can obtain as 2020 draws to a close.

Mr Turnquest, meanwhile, pointed out that the tax exemptions related to building materials do not expire until end-June 2021 to coincide with the close of the fiscal year. He told this newspaper that the “building materials” definition also covered VAT on construction services, meaning that the latter will also be tax free for next year’s first half on Grand Bahama and Abaco.

However, while acknowledging that Abaco and Grand Bahama cannot “take off” until homes and businesses are rebuilt, the deputy prime minister warned the government cannot be expected “to carry these exemptions for ever” given the revenue demands produced by its precarious fiscal position.

And Mr Turnquest said the possible inclusion of

DESTRUCTION on Abaco in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian. home furniture and other homewares among items gaining extended tax relief, as called for by Mr Hutton, required further dialogue between the government and stakeholders.

Still, confirming that the status of the Special Recovery Zones is on both sides’ agendas, Mr Hutton said Mr Turnquest had already been “very responsive” on what he described as a “critical issue”.

“You’ve got to remember we lost seven to eight months due to COVID19, so a lot of the second homeowners and people who have damaged properties cannot return to repair them,” he explained.

“There are a lot of residents stuck in Eleuthera, Nassau and Grand Bahama, too.

“They need to be able

to have an opportunity to get home and rebuild. It’s absolutely critical that we give the people coming back some surety, some clarity that they will be able to do that. We’re trying to get people back into their homes.”

The Economic Recovery Zones, implemented in late 2019 in Dorian’s aftermath, provide businesses and homeowners in the storm-ravaged areas with a variety of tax breaks and concessions. VAT, import duty and excise tax has been eliminated on construction materials and all other physical goods sold and brought into the zones, while discounts have also been provided on real property tax and other real estaterelated taxes provided certain conditions are met.

The government also removed VAT from construction services, and has already extended the zones’ life once beyond their initial end-June expiry. Mr Turnquest, in presenting the 2021-2022 budget, said tax relief “on building materials only” would be extended further to June 30, 2021.

Mr Hutton, though, yesterday argued that this definition should be expanded slightly to include furniture, homeware and all materials and appliances employed in fitting out a home. “I think a one or two year extension would be excellent, but it has to be targeted because we understand that government also needs the revenue,” he told Tribune Business.

While COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions

have dampened the impact made by these incentives, the Abaco Chamber chief added: “The concessions being given are truly for development, not freebies.

The main thing is that we’ll be able to get our properties back up and going, not only in terms of being able to live here but generate some revenue for the local economy.

“The biggest thing for the next couple of years is to eliminate VAT on these things. We’re not asking for everything to remain duty and VAT-free; just anything related to construction, renovation and rebuilding.

I think that if that happens the government will be surprised by how quickly the economy comes roaring back.”

Voicing optimism that the private sector and Ministry of Finance will be able to develop an incentive framework that satisfies the needs of all parties, Mr Hutton said this was critical to preventing Abaco’s rebuilding from being “dragged out even longer” notwithstanding The Bahamas’ fiscal position. He added that the government was being asked to tradeoff short-term revenues for longer-term gains.

Mr LaRoda said the Grand Bahama Chamber has yet to approach the Ministry of Finance on the issue, but said: “We don’t anticipate any long period for the government to extend it.

We will be looking to get an extension to June next year but we haven’t approached then government on it yet “Lockdowns and

restrictions on travel have made it difficult to get things done. To get a business back up and running, some folks have been relying on technicians from offshore to repair equipment. The movement in terms of getting things to the island, some of that has been limited due to the restrictions on travel.

“Just running around the island and talking to some of the small business operators, it’s [the extension] something that’s really needed to assist the recovery effort. A lot of folks are still struggling. It’s not going to be over by December’s end. They need to see the benefits of these Special Economic Recovery Zones going into next year. We couldn’t get much done in 2020 at all. We look forward to getting the extension.”

Mr Turnquest, meanwhile, said he and the Ministry of Finance planned to meet with the Abaco Chamber to “start to understand their concerns”. He added the tax relief on building materials, which lasts until mid-2021 while all other exemptions expire, should be “sufficient time for most persons to have started their reconstruction”.

“We will evaluate that position, and whether we need to extend it,” Mr Turnquest said of the Special Economic Recovery Zones. “The overriding objective of the exemption is to encourage people to start rebuilding. We do not intend or expect to carry these incentives for ever.”

HOW GOOGLE EVOLVED FROM ‘CUDDLY’ STARTUP TO ANTITRUST TARGET SAN RAMON Associated Press

IN GOOGLE’S infancy, co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin reviled Microsoft as a technological bully that ruthlessly abused its dominance of the personal computer software market to choke off competition

that could spawn better products.

Their disdain for Microsoft spurred Google to adopt “Don’t Be Evil” as a corporate motto that remained its moral compass during its transition from a free-wheeling startup to a publicly traded company suddenly accountable to shareholders.

That pledge is now a distant memory as Google confronts an existential threat similar to what Microsoft once faced.

Like Microsoft was 22 years ago, Google is in the crosshairs of a Justice Department lawsuit accusing it of wielding the immense power of its internet search engine as

a weapon that has bludgeoned competition and thwarted innovation to the detriment of the billions of people using a stable of market-leading services that includes Gmail, Chrome browser, Android-powered smartphones, YouTube videos and digital maps.

“They are definitely not a cuddly company any

MARKET REPORT www.bisxbahamas.com

TUESDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2020

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX:

CLOSE

CHANGE

2055.91

4.67

%CHANGE

YTD

YTD%

0.23 -175.69

-7.87

(242) 323-2330 (242) 323-2320

BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 4.07 22.65 2.00 1.79 2.46 6.00 6.75 4.70 8.59 4.50 6.16 12.77 3.64 5.60 10.88 8.44 16.99 4.25 9.40 15.21

52WK LOW 3.13 20.91 0.67 1.65 1.67 5.40 5.39 2.70 4.75 3.50 5.60 11.05 2.71 3.85 9.60 7.50 13.04 3.20 8.15 13.90

PREFERENCE SHARES 1.00

1.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

1.00 10.00 1.00

1.00 10.00 0.90

SECURITY AML Foods Limited APD Limited Benchmark Bahamas First Holdings Limited Bank of Bahamas Bahamas Property Fund Bahamas Waste Cable Bahamas Commonwealth Brewery Commonwealth Bank Colina Holdings CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank Consolidated Water BDRs Doctor's Hospital Emera Incorporated Famguard Fidelity Bank Focol Finco J. S. Johnson

SYMBOL AML APD BBL BFH BOB BPF BWL CAB CBB CBL CHL CIB CWCB DHS EMAB FAM FBB FCL FIN JSJ

Bahamas First Holdings Preference Cable Bahamas Series 6 Cable Bahamas Series 8 Cable Bahamas Series 9 Cable Bahamas Series 10 Colina Holdings Class A Fidelity Bank Class A Focol Class B

BFHP CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA FBBA FCLB

CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI 100.00 100.00

52WK LOW 100.00 100.00

115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 102.00

104.79 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

52WK HI 2.35 4.43 2.12 198.39 168.29 1.69 1.85 1.77 1.24 8.34 10.26 7.08 12.15 12.71 10.81 10.00 8.98 11.79

52WK LOW 2.11 3.30 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.64 1.79 1.73 1.06 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57 9.88 8.45 11.20

SECURITY Fidelity Bank Note 22 (Series B) + Bahamas First Holdings Limited

SYMBOL FBB22 BFHB

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing)

MUTUAL FUNDS

MARKET TERMS

Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BGS: 2015-1-3Y BGS: 2014-12-5Y BGS: 2015-1-5Y BGS: 2014-12-7Y BGS: 2015-1-7Y BGS: 2014-12-30Y BGS: 2015-1-30Y BGS: 2015-6-3Y BGS: 2015-6-7Y BGS: 2015-6-30Y BGS: 2015-10-3Y BGS: 2015-10-7Y

BAH29 BG0203 BG0105 BG0205 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0303 BG0307 BG0330 BG0403 BG0407

LAST CLOSE 4.00 17.43 1.62 1.79 1.67 6.00 6.75 2.99 5.10 3.50 5.99 11.26 2.16 5.60 10.33 8.44 14.30 3.96 8.16 15.20

CLOSE 4.05 17.43 1.62 1.79 1.67 6.00 6.75 2.99 4.75 3.57 5.99 11.26 2.11 5.60 10.31 8.44 14.30 3.96 8.16 15.20

1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

LAST SALE 100.00 100.00

CLOSE 100.00 100.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund Leno Preferred Income Fund Leno Growth Fund Leno Diversified Fund Leno Global USD Bond Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Equities Sub Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - High Yield Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Alternative Strategies Fund Colonial Bahamas Fund Class D Colonial Bahamas Fund Class E Colonial Bahamas Fund Class F

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00 52wk-Hi - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks 52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume Change - Change in closing price from day to day Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings

CHANGE 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 (0.35) 0.07 0.00 0.00 (0.05) 0.00 (0.02) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

VOLUME 6,230 20,000

5,000 5,000 15,000

500

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

EPS$ 0.239 0.932 0.000 0.000 0.070 1.760 0.369 -0.438 0.140 0.184 0.449 0.722 0.102 0.467 0.646 0.728 0.816 0.203 0.939 0.631 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

VOLUME

NAV 2.35 4.43 2.12 196.40 163.60 1.68 1.81 1.76 1.07 8.30 9.90 7.08 11.27 12.71 10.23 N/A 8.93 11.27

DIV$ 0.170 1.260 0.020 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.260 0.000 0.000 0.120 0.220 0.720 0.434 0.060 0.328 0.240 0.540 0.120 0.200 0.610 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

P/E 16.9 18.7 N/M N/M N/M N/M 18.3 -6.8 33.9 19.4 13.3 15.6 20.7 12.0 16.0 11.6 17.5 19.5 8.7 24.1

YIELD 4.20% 7.23% 1.23% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 3.85% 0.00% 0.00% 3.36% 3.67% 6.39% 20.57% 1.07% 3.18% 2.84% 3.78% 3.03% 2.45% 4.01%

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

INTEREST Prime + 1.75% 6.25%

19-Oct-2022 30-Sep-2025

6.95% 4.00% 4.25% 4.25% 4.50% 4.50% 6.25% 6.25% 4.00% 4.50% 6.25% 3.50% 4.25%

20-Nov-2029 30-Jul-2018 16-Dec-2019 30-Jul-2020 15-Dec-2021 30-Jul-2022 15-Dec-2044 30-Jul-2045 26-Jun-2018 26-Jun-2022 26-Jun-2045 15-Oct-2018 15-Oct-2022

YTD% 12 MTH% 2.95% 4.23% 1.39% 3.17% 1.60% 2.52% 0.65% 2.50% -1.88% 3.33% 1.10% 2.34% -2.43% 1.49% 0.34% 2.43% -11.07% -9.92% -0.45% 8.36% -3.20% 11.46% 2.10% 5.15% -6.17% 3.54% 2.92% 5.55% -4.66% -3.81% N/A N/A -4.20% 0.20% -8.60% -2.90%

MATURITY

NAV Date

31-Aug-2020 31-Aug-2020 28-Aug-2020 30-Jun-2020 30-Jun-2020 31-Jul-2020 31-Jul-2020 31-Jul-2020 31-Jul-2020 31-May-2020 31-May-2020 31-May-2020 31-May-2020 31-May-2020 31-May-2020 30-Jun-2020 30-Jun-2020 30-Jun-2020

YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths NAV - Net Asset Value N/M - Not Meaningful

TO TRADE CALL: CFAL 242-502-7010 | ROYALFIDELITY 242-356-7764 | COLONIAL 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225 | BENCHMARK 242-326-7333

longer,” said Maelle Gavet, author of the book, “Trampled By Unicorns: Big Tech’s Empathy Problem and How To Fix It.” How Google grew from its idealistic roots into the cutthroat behemoth depicted by antitrust regulators is a story shaped by unbridled ambition, savvy decision-making, technology’s networking effects, lax regulatory oversight and the unrelenting pressure all publicly held companies face to perpetually pump up their profits.

Google behaved “like a teenager for a very long time, but now they are all grown up. They became a corporation,” said Ken Auletta, author of “Googled: The End of The World as We Know It”.

While acknowledging the increased clout it has gained from the popularity of its mostly free services, Google says it remains true to its founding principles to organise the world’s information. The Mountain View, California, company also denies any wrongdoing and intends to fight the suit filed yesterday by the Justice Department, just as Microsoft did.

Like other seminal Silicon Valley companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Apple, Google started in a garage — one that Page and Brin rented from Susan Wojcicki, who now runs YouTube for the company.

They focused on creating a database of everything on the internet through a search engine that almost instantaneously listed a pecking order of websites most likely to have what anyone wanted.

Unlike other major search engines offered by Yahoo, AltaVista and others, Google initially only displayed ten blue links on each page of results, with no effort to get visitors to stay on its own website.

“We want you to come to Google and quickly find what you want. Then we’re happy to send you to the other sites. In fact, that’s

the point,” Page told Playboy magazine just before the company’s initial public offering of stock in 2004.

Google was so proficient at this that its name soon became synonymous with searching. But once Google figured out it could sell ads tied to search results, it began to make more money than Page and Brin ever envisioned. Seeing an opportunity to mine new opportunities and push technology to new frontiers, they decided to spend billions of dollars on research and acquisitions.

Although Page and Brin pledged to never focus on short-term profit, Google eventually hired a respected Wall Street veteran, Ruth Porat, as its chief financial officer in 2015. Google began reining in its spending and even created a new holding company, Alphabet, to oversee some of its unprofitable projects, such as internet=beaming balloons and self-driving cars.

“You hire someone like Ruth because you want someone who can talk to Wall Street,” Gavet said.

“Whether you like it or not, once you become a publicly traded company, your stock price has an influence.”

Before the pandemic, Google had never suffered a decline in quarterly revenue from the previous year — an extraordinary performance that has helped propel a stock that serves as key component in the compensation for the over 127,000 employees of Google and Alphabet. Google’s moneymaking machine has boosted its annual revenue from $1.5bn in 2003 to $161bn last year while increasing its market value from $25bn to more than $1tn.

“When you become a public company, growth is one of the ways you judge success,” Auletta said.

The daunting question that must now be answered by the US judicial system is whether Google became too successful for the greater good of technology and a free market.

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THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 21, 2020, PAGE 17

Minister: ‘Slightest thing could derail’ Shell talks FROM PAGE 18 While the finishing line now appears to be in sight for all parties, Mr Van-Ginkel and Shell North America indicated to Tribune Business they remain eager to get there as rapidly as possible.

“There’s a certain degree of urgency that needs to be recognised in delivering this project,” he told this newspaper. When asked what he meant, Mr Van-Ginkel replied: “We look forward to moving this on and getting on with construction in the New Year.

“We’ve been at this since 2018, and now we’re in

the fourth quarter of 2020.

We’ve had a tremendous amount of global change over that period. It’s Shell’s view that the project is at the precipice, and it is time to take the next steps and move into a conclusion.

“We’ve all worked hard to get to this point, and are hoping to take it the rest of the way. We believe we’ve put forward a compelling proposal, and it’s up to the government and BPL to decide how they want to proceed.”

The key terms will be the 20-25 year power purchase agreement (PPA), setting out the price at which BPL

will buy electricity from Shell’s new power plant, and the asset purchase agreement detailing the price and mechanism by which the energy giant will acquire “Station A” and “Station D” at Clifton Pier from the state-owned energy monopoly. Those two “stations” will form the new plant.

Mr Bannister, meanwhile, said the status of negotiations with Shell will limit how much information BPL can provide to its line staff and management unions.

Kyle Wilson, the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union’s (BEWU) president, had earlier this week suggested

that workers have been kept “in the dark” on the deal’s progress.

“The union president is an amazing young Bahamian,” Mr Bannister said.

“He works very closely with us, and he and I spoke yesterday morning as he called me up and indicated that he had seen a story in the newspaper.

“He said listen, you know how closely we work together. So I’m going to talk to the board, and I said the board is going to talk to you, but negotiations are at a stage where a board has to be very, very careful.”

Mr Bannister also

Mortgage Corp: Taxpayer bail-out is ‘not an option’ FROM PAGE 20

manner or in accordance with the legal requirements imposed upon them. This results in a lack of transparency and accountability that deprives the Bahamian people of the ability to know what elected officials are doing with entities that provide services and/or impose charges and costs upon them.

The Bahamas Mortgage Corporation’s last audited financial statements, which were for 2013, revealed the extent of a potentially looming debt crisis when they were tabled in the House of Assembly in 2018.

They showed a collective $110m in bond principal must be repaid to lenders/ investors over a four-year period that starts in 2023, a date that is now just three years away.

Most of that $110m matures during the first three of those years, yet the corporation’s so-called “bond sinking fund” which is supposed to amass monies to enable it to repay this debt as it comes due - contained only $64m at

year-end 2013.

This left a $46m deficit compared to what is owed between 2023-2026 alone, and the Mortgage Corporation’s traditional high delinquency rate - with arrears or non-performing credit usually in the high 30 or 40 percent range means it is impossible to generate the cash flow and profits necessary to boost the “sinking fund” to levels where it will be able to repay the $110m coming due.

This situation will likely be worsened by COVID-19, but Mr Ward was optimistic yesterday that the Mortgage Corporation will develop a strategy to address this problem without requiring additional taxpayer support even though time appears to be rapidly running out.

“Let’s just say we are aware of the timelines we are facing,” he told Tribune Business. “I know we have a schedule of repayments coming due in the next five years, and we are confident we can meet a portion of it through our existing resources, and develop a plan to deal with the other components of that, which I

Dive operator eyes comeback on Thanksgiving

Stop ‘dictating’ FDI direction, banker warns

FROM PAGE 20 profitable than the dive shop.

The main building, where we will have the dive shop, will have ten rooms and we will try to add a piece of beachfront property where we will add 20 rooms. If we need more we will build them. I’m looking forward to it.”

Noting that Stuart Cove’s has not properly operated since March 2020, when the pandemic first hit, Mr Cove said he was “starting from scratch” and will “have to open up slowly” with just seven to eight staff and himself after being forced to release around 200 workers.

“We’re looking at Thanksgiving, the last weekend in November,” he added, “but we don’t want to go through the nonsense where we opened on July 1 and then a week later were shut down.

That there was a huge headache for us as well as a lot of businesses. We had a lot of pre-bookings.”

FROM PAGE 20 determine what type of investment is suitable for investors to make, and I don’t think we’re in any position to make that determination.

“We have to be open to whatever investments investors think are viable, and be willing to make accommodations and open up policies to to accommodate investment in areas other than tourism. To see if we can pass laws and policies to accommodate that as country,” he added.

“Investors go where they think they can make the most money, and into the areas they think are most suitable for them. It’s not for the government and

cannot say much about.

“There are certain portions [of the bond debt] we want to redeem or liquidate, and others require a different course of action.

I cannot be specific at this stage because there are multiple parties involved.

We have a plan, and will build up the plan to meet the commitments coming up in the next five to ten years.”

However, Mr Ward appeared to rule out any need for increased taxpayer-funded subsidies or bail-outs. “In terms of any specific payment by the government, at this moment I don’t think that’s one of the things we’re focused on as an option,” he told Tribune Business. “Let’s put it this way. We’re not focused on that as an option.”

Mr Ward said the Cabinet minister responsible for the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation will have to disclose the bond repayment strategy once it is finalised and agreed by the debt holders, but his comments allude to a debt restructuring or rollover where the principal maturity date for at least some of the

private sector here to dictate that. Historically we’ve tried to limit investors to areas which we think are suitable.”

Broadening investment beyond the myopic focus on tourism, Mr Anderson argued, would boost the economic diversification drive as well as potentially generate increased foreign currency inflows to boost the external reserves, help repay the country’s US dollar debt and support the one:one currency peg.

With the government’s direct foreign currency debt standing at $2.951bn at endJune 2020, or 36 percent of its total debt, the net $352m increase produced by the $600m offering will have taken the former figure past the $3bn mark.

issues are extended.

At year-end 2013, close to two-thirds (61 percent) of the Mortgage Corporation’s bond debt was held by the National Insurance Board (NIB). The national social security system, upon which many Bahamians still rely for a pension and other retirement/health benefits, is thus exposed should the trouble-stricken lender default on its debt.

The balance is held by banks, insurance companies, pension funds and other institutional investors. Among them, it is thought, are the likes of Family Guardian and Commonwealth Bank, both BISX-listed companies.

Mr Ward, though, said the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation has consistently been making payments into the sinking fund to cover the bond debt in compliance with the covenants attached to the issues. “I have to say the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation is one of the SOE’s consistently not required to be funded by government directly or indirectly, through payment or emolument,” he added.

“We’ve been able to

The government through its latest borrowing is effectively betting that the economy, and especially tourism-related foreign currency inflows, will recover in sufficient time to enable it to service the increased US$ debt and avoid a significant depletion and rundown of the external reserves that support the one:one currency peg.

“If we start with this idea of taking on a large amount of US dollar debt, and to repay it from tourism earnings, we never seem to catch up,” Mr Anderson said, “and are always running a deficit. The only way to catch up is to get US dollar investments into the country to offset some of the debt.”

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addressed increased BPL electricity bills, arguing that these had resulted from persons and families spending more time at home due to COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns.

“I think there has been a lot of increased bills, and the reason has been that people have been home and running air conditioning,” he said. “But I think the critical thing for you, as the media, is to let everybody look at their bill and look at what the charges are.

“So look at the per-kilowatt charges rather than the amount of the final bill, and you will see that the per

kilowatt charges are almost half of what they were. So that means that people are using electricity a whole lot more.”

“This is a pandemic, people have been home. I know that I have been using electricity maybe four times as much as I used it last year, and that’s what’s happening with a lot of people. So it’s important for us to educate them and let them look at the bill and the per-kilowatt charges, and look at how much electricity they have actually used. So the bill may have increased because you have been using three or four times more electricity.”

maintain that by getting sufficient cash flow to fund our operational requirements in full. We’ve had sufficient cash flow to maintain that position through the COVID crisis. There are still people who want to pay their mortgages, are able to pay and have continued to pay through COVID-19.”

Mr Ward described COVID-19 as “a bump in the road” for the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation, rather than something that would produce financial woes long-term, provided that “the overall economic environment in The Bahamas doesn’t deteriorate to a great extent”.

He added: “The Corporation has embarked on a number of initiatives to improve its operating efficiency, to improve its financial reporting and ability to meet financial reporting requirements, and to on-board at the management level more people fit for purpose.

“We have been able to do that over the course of the last three-and-a-half years.

As a consequence we have a better handle on the operational part.”

Mr Ward said the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation had yet to see “any meaningful deterioration” in loan loss provisioning as a result of borrowers’ inability to repay their mortgages due to COVID-19, although then true picture will not be known until all deferrals end.

Tribune Radio names group sales manager

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net THE Tribune Media Group has appointed Vanessa Mott as sales manager for all the stations that come under Tribune Radio Ltd (Radio House).

Ms Mott started her career for the Examiner in Florida as a marketing writer, before developing her own magazine. She has now become part of the Tribune Media Group, with the Tribune’s radio broadcast section comprising 100 Jamz (100.3), KISS FM (96.1), Y98 (98.7), JOY FM(101.9), and Classical FM (98.1).

“Before joining KISS FM I was actually an on-air personality for More 94. So technically this year since March I have been an on-air personality for KISS FM. I also have a sales background that has led me to this position,” Ms Mott said.

As for switching from that role to sales, she added: “I have been a radio jock for seven years. The changeover is something I have been prepared for. I have been working in marketing and communications for nine years now in conjunction with broadcasting, and right now this job puts together the two things that I love so much, which are radio broadcasting and sales and marketing.”

Ms Mott, who was also head of marketing for Bahamas Local, continued: “I get to have one job, instead of two, and still be able to work in radio. That’s the thing.

That’s the enjoyment.”

“Bahamians do very much love their radio with the personalities, getting to know people, so for me I am very pleased that I have worked for Bahamas Local.

I have worked for the largest software and Internet company in The Bahamas, and now I can say that I work for the largest broadcast media house in The Bahamas. That to me is definitely a blessing.”

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PAGE 18, Wednesday, October 21, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

‘RIDICULOUS’ CURB-SIDE DRIVING RETAIL TO CLOSE

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

to 50 percent of our sales, and especially during the COVID-19 times because people really can only shop on Saturday as they have to work all week.”

“We looked at the numbers last week. If you look at our operating expenses, we are losing money. Kelly’s made the right decision.

If I had my own building I would shut down, too.”

However, he has to “keep some cash in the till, but if this goes on indefinitely I may close down to conserve cash. Every retailer I have spoken to is in the same boat; they are either losing money or barely breaking even.

“I feel the government is purposely targeting us, because they are obviously choosing winners and losers. They have not given us a medical reason

why some can have persons inside and not us. There is none. I feel like a prisoner, and the government only lets us out Monday to Friday to collect the taxes off of our backs, and puts us back into our houses on the weekend.”

Mr Kemp added: “I still question all of the medical reasons for the government’s response to a disease that, statistically speaking, only negatively affects one percent of the population. I don’t see the sense in doing that to our country.

“The cure is much worse than the virus. The only people who are fine with lockdowns are the politicians and the government workers. They are able to draw full salaries, so this shutdown doesn’t affect them.”

COVID-19’s lockdowns and restrictions have reinforced the value for Bahamian retailers in developing online/e-commerce operations, together with digital payments and ordering systems, which allow customers to still transact business with them electronically for curb-side, pick-up and delivery.

Clothing (apparel) retailers have been among the hardest hit because curbside restrictions, which prevent customers from going in-store, are a major obstacle to trying garments on before they are purchased. And, especially for those without an online presence, there is a growing concern that the government’s measures are merely driving Bahamians to order products from abroad.

Margo Farrington,

Lorene’s chief marketing officer, said: “We cannot keep this curb-side up. It is ridiculous. For one, customers like to come in and try on things. They like to touch and feel and look at things, especially for women who need bras. They may not know their size, so they have to be fitted. It’s not working for clothing at all. Our customers want to come inside, they want to look.”

Ms Farrington added that Lorene’s was losing out to the likes of Amazon because “now everyone is sitting at home. They can’t come out to shop and look, so they order from Amazon and it’s quicker and easier for them.

“I do not understand why we cannot be allowed to let people inside, even if it’s only five people in the

store at a time, and when one leaves then another one comes in,” she added. “At least allow us to have a few in at a time.

“Our store is way big enough to social distance.

We can probably have 30 in at one time and customers would still be six feet apart. They can just allow us to have a few in at a time and that would help us tremendously. Today I have probably turned away 10 or 12 people just because they can’t come in the store, not that we’re getting a lot of business anyway because they just don’t want to deal with it.”

Ms Farrington said she did not know what to expect for the upcoming Christmas shopping period, but “can’t imagine it will be a great season. I don’t have high expectations at this point”.

Restaurant at point of ‘cheaper to be closed’

Monday morning and I have supplies that have been in my fridge for two-and-a-half days, they are not spot-on to be sold, so I will not sell it. Other people might do it.

They might close the door and be open and sell the same old food, but I cannot do that,” Mr Carlino added.

“Two days of the week where your food is aging and you have to throw it away, that is too much money. Just too much money to waste. It has to make sense to open. It has to make sense because there is a certain number you have to achieve every day, and if that number is not achieved then it doesn’t make sense.

“Even if I was breaking even and I could give a job to my staff it may be good, but you are not even breaking even you are losing some two thirds of what you have put in, that doesn’t make any sense.”

Mr Carlino continued: “There is no point. We go in, you spend money to buy

stuff and looking after the staff, and doing this and that, but at the end there is no money in the till. It is just not enough to justify it, but I am a big operation so in that case I paid my rent, I pay for the staff, I pay for the food, so I never believed in the curb-side.

“I never was a big believer in it, and at this time it assured me that it wasn’t right for me all along. People come to see the ocean when they come to me. You come to see the view, so people will reserve themselves, and when we re-open I hope they will come back.”

Mr Carlino said he had to send staff home with no pay and, while understanding the need for COVID-19 lockdowns, said the major concern for business was the uncertainty they foster and the absence of any strategy to balance economic and health needs.

“The darkness is the problem,” he added. “There is a lockdown going on in

Ireland. They have been told it is for six weeks. Restaurants in France have been closed, and they have been told it is for two weeks.

They have been doing curfews in France where the restaurants close at 9pm, but they are doing it for six weeks.

“They have been told what they are doing, but the total darkness here is the problem because you know what, maybe if I was told that I was going to be like this for two months, I would stick in there with my curbside another week and see if I can bear it.

“But now, even if I believe we are going to open up on November 1, and they come back and say these restrictions are going to go on for another two weeks, I may also stay shut,” Mr Carlino explained. “But if I know now we are going to go into December like this, I may not have shut this week, so the darkness is the problem.

“No communication to the people and I talk as a

restaurant owner, but it is the same for the hairdresser who can only do one person per hour. Nobody can make a living and yet it is VAT filing this week. We still have to pay VAT, but how can we if we have been closed more than we have been opened?

“We can’t pay VAT. I don’t see an announcement to business owners in general telling them to not stress about VAT. The government needs the VAT, but we have been closed more than we have been opened.

If you were to count from March to today I think have been closed for four-and-ahalf months. How do you expect people to survive?

People are going to go down.”

“What we need is for someone to tell us that we are going to shut down the restaurants for two weeks definitely. That’s what we need. You have to give people timeframes on how to manage so they can plan their affairs.”

RETAILERS yesterday warned they are mulling indefinite closures due to “ridiculous” COVID-19 curb-side sales restrictions that have resulted in most losing money or breaking-even at best.

Egan Kemp, president of Eunison Company, the Shoe Depot’s parent, told Tribune Business he may follow Kelly’s House & Home’s lead and shutter until present measures are lifted as a way to stem the financial bleeding and conserve dwindling cash resources.

Referring to the present weekend lockdowns, he said: “Losing the Saturday is about 40 percent

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN restaurant owner yesterday said he has closed indefinitely from Monday because curb-side only sales are unsustainable, adding: “You come to a point where it is cheaper to be closed.”

Jacques Carlino, owner/ operator of the Blue Sail Bar & Grill, told Tribune Business yesterday: “I opened for one week, then I stopped. I have spent three times what I made, so there is no point for me unfortunately...... I think at this point I just told my staff that we are going to sit still and wait.

He explained that he closed on Monday after offering curb-side service for the week of October 12 to October 16. This, Mr

Carlino said, did not work out because Friday’s leftover food was wasted and he could not sell his patrons old produce.

“I gave all of my food away I had from Friday, and closed my doors and decided to stay closed,” he added. “We were doing the take-out and it was just not enough. It is not enough to sustain a restaurant. You come to a point where it is cheaper to be closed.

“Even if you still have your regular business you still have utilities. Then you have to buy food, and not sell it. Then it goes into your fridge over the weekend, and Saturday and Sunday, food is staying in your fridge getting old.

“Then you come in on Monday morning. The salad is not as it should be. I know people who might do it, but for me if I come in on

Minister: ‘Slightest thing could derail’ Shell talks

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net A CABINET minister yesterday warned that the “slightest thing” can “derail” negotiations between the Shell North America and Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) on New Providence’s new power plant.

Desmond Bannister, pictured, minister of works, said it was for this reason that he will not comment publicly on the status of talks that have lasted almost two years between the parties as they attempt

to lock down an agreement intended to take The Bahamas towards a more affordable, reliable and environmentally-friendly energy future.

“I think we all have seen

the statements that Shell has put out this week,” Mr Bannister said, referring to the company’s exclusive interview with Tribune Business. “I’m not going to speak about those

negotiations, because they are at sensitive stages.

“When you are at that kind of stage, it’s only very small groups of people who ought to be involved in it because the slightest thing can cause it to be derailed.

When you get to more definitive stages, make determinations, then other people can be involved in it.”

BPL-related sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested yesterday to this newspaper that its interview with Shell North America’s project director for the proposed multi-fuel power plant had caught the state-owned energy utility off-guard.

They added that the multinational energy giant was seeking to pressure BPL and the government to get a move on and conclude the negotiations by going public. However, the latter two were said to feel that the Shell-controlled power plant is charging to high a price for the energy it will sell to BPL.

“Shell is pulling a trump card here,” the source said. “They’re trying to force BPL’s hand. It caught BPL by surprise; they didn’t expect it to be in the newspapers.

“Shell wants to charge too much. In the long-run it’s not going to augur well for the Bahamian people.

They’re trying to force the government’s hand. They’re playing a high stakes game and using pressure tactics to do what they need to do. The government has to make a decision.”

Gerard Van-Ginkel, Shell North America’s project director, told Tribune Business on Monday that negotiations with BPL and the government were “at the precipice” of reaching a conclusion following nearly two years of negotiations and the parties now needed to take that final step.

Signalling that all sides are close to completing a long-running, complex negotiation, he told this newspaper: “I think that we’re weeks out. I think

that when we last spoke we were targeting to conclude in the third quarter.

“That has just passed.

Despite all the challenges caused by COVID-19 and lockdowns, I think in the next few weeks we will be in a position to see this come to a conclusion with BPL and the government.”

Dr Donovan Moxey, BPL’s chairman, echoed Mr Van-Ginkel by telling this newspaper that “we have made progress” although he declined to detail the outstanding issues or give a likely completion timeline.

“We’re still negotiating,” Dr Moxey said of the Shell talks. “I’m not prepared to say exactly where we are, but this negotiating process has been moving forward and we have been making progress. I’m not going to give a timeline, but we have made progress from January to now and are doing everything we can to get this wrapped up as soon as we possibly can.”

SEE PAGE 17

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 21, 2020, PAGE 19

ANDROS BRIDGE REPAIRS TO COMPLETE THIS WEEK INTERIM repairs to the Fresh Creek Bridge in central Andros will be completed by the end of this week, a Cabinet minister confirmed yesterday.

Desmond Bannister, minister of works, said the bridge is a vital transport link as it provides the only crossing of the Fresh Creek waterway.

“The bridge was known to be in a poor condition, and the urgent need to construct a replacement has been made one of the priority schemes for the Ministry of Public Works. A few months ago, the existing bridge

FRESH Creek Bridge.

for years.

“When you see the infrastructure upgrade that is taking place here you must be amazed, because before you can do any investments you have to make sure the infrastructure is intact, and that’s what is happening right now. I’m very excited over the works that are being done in North Andros,” Mr Bowleg added.

“I can honestly say as a resident of Andros that I’m very excited. I also heard from a lot of residents I grew up with. When they see the work taking place they are very excited as

Photo: Riel Major

was damaged by a mail boat that broke free from its moorings in stormy weather. I visited the Fresh

Creek Bridge last week and the contractor has made tremendous progress” he said.

Carlton Bowleg, North Andros MP, said his constituency’s infrastructure has been neglected

THE WEATHER REPORT

5-Day Forecast

TODAY

ORLANDO

High: 83° F/28° C Low: 73° F/23° C

TAMPA

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Rain and drizzle in the afternoon

partly to mostly cloudy

Mostly sunny and breezy

Breezy in the morning; mostly sunny

Partly sunny and comfortable

Cloudy with a thunderstorm

High: 85°

Low: 77°

High: 86° Low: 77°

High: 86° Low: 76°

High: 85° Low: 76°

High: 86° Low: 75°

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

92° F

79° F

91°-79° F

90°-80° F

93°-78° F

91°-81° F

The exclusive AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature® is an index that combines the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation, pressure and elevation on the human body—everything that affects how warm or cold a person feels. Temperatures reflect the high and the low for the day.

N

almanac

E

W

ABACO

S

N

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 80° F/27° C

8-16 knots

S

High: 82° F/28° C Low: 77° F/25° C

10-20 knots

FT. LAUDERDALE

FREEPORT

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 78° F/26° C

E

W S

E

W

WEST PALM BEACH

N

uV inDex toDay

TONIGHT

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 74° F/23° C

High: 85° F/29° C Low: 75° F/24° C

MIAMI

High: 82° F/28° C Low: 77° F/25° C

10-20 knots

KEY WEST

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 78° F/26° C

ELEUTHERA

NASSAU

High: 85° F/29° C Low: 77° F/25° C

Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020

N

The higher the AccuWeather UV IndexTM number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.

tiDes For nassau Low

Ht.(ft.)

Today

12:12 p.m.

-----

High

Ht.(ft.)

3.5 -----

5:47 a.m.

6:45 p.m.

0.1 0.4

Thursday

12:39 a.m.

1:13 p.m.

2.7 3.3

6:46 a.m.

7:49 p.m.

0.4 0.6

Friday

1:44 a.m.

2:17 p.m.

2.6 3.1

7:50 a.m.

8:54 p.m.

0.6 0.7

Saturday

2:52 a.m.

3:22 p.m.

2.5 3.0

8:58 a.m.

9:57 p.m.

0.8 0.8

Sunday

3:59 a.m.

4:23 p.m.

2.5 2.9

10:06 a.m. 0.9 10:53 p.m. 0.8

Monday

4:58 a.m.

5:17 p.m.

2.6 2.9

11:06 a.m. 0.9 11:41 p.m. 0.7

Tuesday

5:48 a.m.

6:04 p.m.

2.8 2.9

11:59 a.m. 0.8 ---------

sun anD moon Sunrise Sunset

7:11 a.m.

6:37 p.m.

Moonrise Moonset

12:21 p.m.

11:06 p.m.

First

Full

Last

New

Oct. 23

Oct. 31

Nov. 8

Nov. 14

CAT ISLAND

E

W

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 78° F/26° C

N

S

E

W

8-16 knots

S

8-16 knots Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

Statistics are for Nassau through 2 p.m. yesterday Temperature High ................................................... 82° F/28° C Low .................................................... 75° F/24° C Normal high ....................................... 84° F/29° C Normal low ........................................ 73° F/23° C Last year’s high ................................. 92° F/33° C Last year’s low ................................... 79° F/26° C Precipitation As of 2 p.m. yesterday ................................. 0.01” Year to date ............................................... 55.02” Normal year to date ................................... 33.09”

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 80° F/27° C

well. It’s just a joy to see.”

Brando Thompson, Bahamas Marine Construction’s project supervisor, said the repairs made to the bridge will give it a lifespan of another 45 to 50 years.

“The structural part of the bridge is already sealed and finished. Due to the salt air, one side of the bridge took a lot of rust versus the next side.

We did the majority of the work on the northern side.

To date we have put down two 50-feet piles, and we have also put in a beam to give the bridge extra support,” Mr Thompson said.

ANDROS

SAN SALVADOR

GREAT EXUMA

High: 85° F/29° C Low: 79° F/26° C

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 80° F/27° C

N

High: 85° F/29° C Low: 80° F/27° C

E

W S

LONG ISLAND

tracking map

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 80° F/27° C

8-16 knots

MAYAGUANA High: 85° F/29° C Low: 80° F/27° C

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

CROOKED ISLAND / ACKLINS RAGGED ISLAND High: 84° F/29° C Low: 81° F/27° C

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 80° F/27° C

GREAT INAGUA High: 87° F/31° C Low: 80° F/27° C

N

E

W

E

W

N

S

S

7-14 knots

6-12 knots

marine Forecast ABACO ANDROS CAT ISLAND CROOKED ISLAND ELEUTHERA FREEPORT GREAT EXUMA GREAT INAGUA LONG ISLAND MAYAGUANA NASSAU RAGGED ISLAND SAN SALVADOR

Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday:

WINDS E at 10-20 Knots ENE at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 7-14 Knots E at 7-14 Knots SE at 7-14 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 10-20 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 6-12 Knots SE at 7-14 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 7-14 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 7-14 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 7-14 Knots ESE at 7-14 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots

WAVES 6-10 Feet 6-10 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-3 Feet 5-9 Feet 5-9 Feet 4-7 Feet 4-7 Feet 6-10 Feet 6-10 Feet 3-6 Feet 3-6 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-3 Feet 4-7 Feet 4-7 Feet 2-4 Feet 2-4 Feet 6-10 Feet 6-10 Feet 3-5 Feet 2-4 Feet 1-3 Feet 2-4 Feet 3-6 Feet 3-5 Feet

VISIBILITY 6 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 6 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 6 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 6 Miles 10 Miles 6 Miles 10 Miles 6 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 7 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 6 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles

WATER TEMPS. 83° F 83° F 82° F 82° F 84° F 84° F 85° F 85° F 83° F 83° F 80° F 79° F 84° F 83° F 85° F 85° F 84° F 84° F 85° F 85° F 83° F 83° F 84° F 84° F 84° F 84° F

business@tribunemedia.net

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2020

$4.10 Dive operator eyes comeback on Thanksgiving

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A PROMINENT Bahamian dive operator yesterday said he is aiming to re-open for the Thanksgiving weekend as he readies to move to facilitate Albany’s south-west New Providence expansion.

Stuart Cove, principal of Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas, told Tribune Business he will be “starting from scratch” as he urged the government to avoid a repeat of July when the tourism industry’s re-opening was halted by the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases.

The re-opening comes as Mr Cove and his company are investing “a sizeable” sum in their new Coral Harbour base, to where they will eventually re-locate to make way for Albany’s beachfront expansion at the former South Ocean property adjacent to its present 600-acre development.

“No one has given us any firm date. We’re just going day-by-day,” Mr Cove said of his company’s eventual relocation. “I couldn’t say enough good things about Albany. They’ve been awesome. When it’s time and they know for sure, they will be straight up and tell me.”

He added that it would take “six months to get our ducks in a row” on construction at Coral Harbour, where himself and Stuart Cove’s will be their “own landlords” and own the property where their base will sit.

This will compensate, at least somewhat, for the loss of a superior location. “Nothing beats South Ocean,” Mr Cove told this newspaper. “But I won’t have a landlord. Right now I have to work to pay the rent. It will be my ground; I own the dirt.”

While it will take longer for Stuart Cove’s boats to reach the northern side of New Providence from Coral Harbour, as compared to the South Ocean location, Mr Cove said: “The loan payment will be much less than the rent, so there will be a saving there alone.

It’s a short-term five-year loan, then it will all be ours, which is a good thing.

“It’ll have the whole package; a hotel and restaurant. The hotel will be more

SEE PAGE 17

$4.10

$4.03

Mortgage Corp: Taxpayer bail-out is ‘not an option’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A

taxpayer-funded bail-out is “not an option” for repaying the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation’s $110m bond debt that will start coming due within three years, its chairman said yesterday.

Patrick Ward told Tribune Business the state-owned lender planned to “meet a portion” of the principal due to Bahamian institutional investors from its own resources while also “developing a plan” to deal with the remaining debt.

While declining to provide specifics on this “plan”, Mr Ward said the “heavy lifting” performed by himself and other Board directors over the past three-and-a-half years had left the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation better-placed to be selfsustaining and not require taxpayer support.

In particular, he disclosed

• Aims to clear seven-year audit backlog in 2021 • Lender ‘developing plan’ for $110m bond debts • Has more management that are ‘fit for purpose’

PATRICK WARD that the seven-year backlog of audited financial statements dating back to 2014 should be cleared by year-end 2021, with the corporation “not in a state to be audited” when the present board took office following the May 2012 general election.

Acknowledging that the

Bahamas Mortgage Corporation was in breach of its own law by failing to produce audited financial statements since 2013, a trait not uncommon with many state-owned enterprises (SOEs), Mr Ward revealed: “We were very concerned when we discovered that was the case.

We have been working on building our accounts department to facilitate an audit.

“We now believe we have arrived arrived at a point where we can have an audit of prior years. The board is now fully engaged on having audited financial statements produced, and it is our expectation that we will have a full set of audits completed for the prior years in the course of 2021, so we will have fulfilled all our obligations for the years up to 2021.

“It’s a mandated requirement under the Act for audited financial statements to be produced, but for whatever reason they have not been produced since 2013. I think we now feel a lot better about the fact we can now get an audit done,” Mr Ward continued.

“I can tell you that the Mortgage Corporation was not in a state to be audited prior to all the heavy lifting that had to be done up to this point. I feel a lot better where we are now. We have been through a lot of heavy lifting, but are in much better shape for sure.”

Few, if any, SOEs and government corporations produce their audited financial statements in a timely

SEE PAGE 17

Extend tax breaks again so Abaco, GB ‘roar back’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE further extension of Hurricane Dorian tax breaks is vital to the ability of Abaco and Grand Bahama’s economies to “come roaring back”, private sector leaders urged yesterday.

Ken Hutton and Gregory LaRoda, Chamber of Commerce presidents for Abaco and Grand Bahama respectively, separately pleaded with the government to extend both islands’ Special Economic Recovery Zone status for a second time given that COVID-19 had blunted their recoveries from the category five storm.

Mr Hutton, who said has been in contact with K Peter Turnquest, deputy prime minister and minister of finance, on the issue for some two to three weeks, called for a one-two year extension that targeted VAT and import duty relief specifically at rebuilding

• Chamber chief plead for second Dorian extension • Justified as much rebuilding time ‘lost’ to COVID • DPM: Government ‘cannot carry tax relief for ever’

KEN HUTTON

GREGORY LARODA

K PETER TURNQUEST

and construction-related services.

Pointing out that some seven to eight months have been “lost” to COVID-19, with travel restrictions and other measures limiting the ability of both residents and Abaco second homeowners to return and rebuild their properties, Mr Hutton said extending the menu of tax breaks beyond their

2020 year-end expiry will give “surety and clarity” to the ongoing reconstruction effort.

Asserting that such relief is “not just a freebie”, but an incentive to restore Doriandevastated communities at a more affordable cost, the Abaco chamber chief argued that the government will likely “be surprised at how quickly the economy

comes roaring back” if it extends the Recovery Zone status.

Failure to do so, he warned, would simply “drag out even longer” Abaco’s already-protracted recovery from the category five storm’s ravages. Mr LaRoda, meanwhile, said that while no formal contact

SEE PAGE 16

$3.95

MICHAEL ANDERSON

Stop ‘dictating’ FDI direction, banker warns

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas must be more willing to open up to foreign direct investment (FDI) in non-traditional areas to have any hope of paying-off rising US dollar debt, a top investment banker is arguing.

Michael Anderson, RoyalFidelity Merchant Bank & Trust’s president, told Tribune Business that both the government and private sector must be less willing to “dictate” where foreign investors place their capital if the country is to smoothly emerge from them fiscal and foreign exchange earnings crisis created by COVID-19.

With tourism inflows having almost completely dried up, Mr Anderson argued that more “accommodating” laws and policies were needed to attract overseas investment as one of the few alternative foreign currency inflows available to The Bahamas in the short-term.

With COVID-19 producing increasing competition among all nations to attract FDI, the RoyalFidelity chief said The Bahamas needed to make itself stand out from the crowd if it ever hoped to attract sufficient foreign currency to service a growing US dollar debt that was increased by a net $352m as a result of the government’s recent $600m bond issue.

“The only way for the country to reduce is US dollar debt, and we do get foreign currency movements from tourism, but to make any significant repayments we need to get a bigger amount of US dollar investment into the country,” Mr Anderson said.

“Typically investors go into hotels, but there’s not a huge amount of interest in investing in the tourism market here at the moment.

We need to open up investment into other areas.

There’s a tendency here to

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