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Volume: 123 No. 229, Friday, October 23, 2026
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‘NO STRAIN’ WITH U.S. GB PLANS ‘REAL CONCERN’ U.S. AMBASSADOR
US Ambassador accuses govt of telling investors “the rules can change after
By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune News Editor rrolle@tribunemedia.net See US Ambassador Herschel Walker’s full statement - PAGE 8 Losing Free Trade Zone ‘not an option’ - See BUSINESS US Ambassador Herschel Walker
US Ambassador Herschel Walker has publicly accused the Davis administration of telling investors that in The Bahamas, “the rules can change after you have already made the investment”, in an extraordinary intervention following the government’s plan to take over regulatory power in Freeport from the Grand
Bahama Port Authority. The comment came in an opinion article a day after Prime Minister Philip Davis unveiled his reform. It is the second time in a month that Mr Walker has openly taken on the administration. Last month he dismissed as “fake news” the government’s complaint that undercover US drug agents had operated in The Bahamas without permission. WALKER - SEE PAGE THREE
‘PRODUCE YOUR EVIDENCE’, RAHMING Colombian drug accused DENIES CLAIMS OF TENSIONS WITH U.S. set to change his plea By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net
Director of Communications and Government Strategy Senator Letrae Rahming.
THE Davis administration’s chief spokesman told the Senate yesterday that The Bahamas’ relationship with the United States was not under strain, and challenged anyone who said otherwise to “produce their evidence”. “Some wish to suggest that the
global reputation of The Bahamas has been tarnished,” Senator Rahming said. “Some go further to claim that our relationship with the United States has come under strain. I reject those claims outright.” He said critics were using the issue to score political points, and that painting The Bahamas in a TENSION - SEE PAGE THREE
By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net A COLOMBIAN drug dealer accused of working with “multiple corrupt RBPF officials” to smuggle tonnes of cocaine through The Bahamas into the United States is set to change his plea, months
before a high-profile trial involving former Chief Superintendent Elvis Nathaniel Curtis and Jonathan ‘Player’ Gardiner is due to begin. Lorielmo Steele-Pomare, also known as “Steele”, will appear at a change-of-plea hearing in the US District PLEA - SEE PAGE FIVE
AG questions family’s claims of neglect in inmate’s death By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net ATTORNEY General Wayne Munroe says the family of an inmate who died weeks after being sent back to prison would not have been watching him while he served his time, as he questioned their claims that the prison neglected him. Thomas Jean-Baptiste, who had
diabetes, morbid obesity and a history of potentially life-threatening blood clots, died on October 4 after about two weeks in hospital. He had been back in the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services for less than three months after the Court of Appeal revoked his medical bail in July. His sister, Alicia Jean Baptiste, INMATE - SEE PAGE FIVE
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
ATTORNEY GENERAL WAYNE MUNROE
PAGE 2, Friday, October 23, 2026
THE TRIBUNE
Tomorrow.io launches polar orbit satellites to improve weather monitoring across The Bahamas
TOMORROW.IO, a strategic partner of the Bahamas Aviation, Climate and Severe Weather Network (BACSWN), has launched more revolutionary low earth orbit weather satellites into polar orbit. Launched on a SpaceX
Memory In Loving Of
Lia Nikki
ALANNA LASHLEY 03rd JULY, 1981 - 23rd OCTOBER, 2008
We shall forever miss you!
We close our eyes and see your smile; we hear your voice. We see the loving image of your face in our heads. We think of those now in the family who have never experienced your love and laughter as we have. But for all of us, the miss is great.... heartbreaking. WE SHALL LOVE YOU FOREVER!!!!!
Bandwagon-5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the satellites reduce refresh rates over The Bahamas from the current three hours to under an hour dramatically enhancing the safety and timeless of real time situational awareness over the 173,000 sq miles
of the nation. On its website, Tomorrow.io says that it’s weather and climate security platform empowers businesses, governments, and countries to better predict and prepare for the operational impact of weather before it happens.
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, October 23, 2026, PAGE 3
US ambassador challenges Davis over GBPA overhaul WALKER from page one
This time Mr Walker said he had read Mr Davis’s announcement on a new governance framework for Grand Bahama “with real concern”. He put the Freeport plan alongside overflight fees charged to American airlines and new tax demands on cruise lines, which he said he had raised earlier this year. Like 186 other nations, overflight fees apply indiscriminately for services provided to flights for the safe and efficient passage of any flight that neither takes off or lands in the Bahamas but uses the nations sovereign airspace. “Each issue looks narrow on its own,” Mr Walker said. He said that taken together they sent investors a single message, and that Grand Bahama could not afford to send it “because the island needs patient, long-term capital more than anywhere else in the country.” “Changes are coming, details to follow” is the most expensive message a government can send to anyone deciding where to put their capital, he said. “The people of Grand Bahama have waited long enough for the island’s comeback,” Mr Walker said. “I am asking the Davis government to make sure this new framework speeds that comeback up rather than putting it at risk.” Mr Davis unveiled the plan on Wednesday night at the Grand Bahama Shipyard, where the government published a Green Paper on the island’s future. He declared that “the present way of governing Freeport will come to an end” and that whether change happens is no longer up for negotiation. The 1955 Hawksbill Creek Agreement runs until 2054. It gave the privately owned Port Authority control over who may do business, who may build and how land is planned in the Port Area, in exchange for tax exemptions. Mr Davis called the arrangement colonial and said it had outlived its time. Mr Walker said the agreement was “not a technicality”. He said generations of Bahamians found jobs because businesses trusted its promise of stable rules, and that investors from the United States and around the world built factories, shipyards, hotels and homes on it.
US AMBASSADOR HERSHEL WALKER He set out three demands. Businesses that invested in good faith under the agreement should keep what they were promised. The government should publish the full framework, its legal basis and the timeline before anything takes effect. And licensees, investors and Grand Bahamian workers should be brought to the table now rather than after the fact. He said investors had more questions than answers: whether their tax and duty treatment, licences and contracts would be honoured, who would set fees and how they could appeal, and what the timeline was. “Let me be clear about what the United States is asking for,” he said. “We are not asking The Bahamas to give up its sovereign right to govern Grand Bahama. We are not asking for special treatment for American companies.” He also said nobody disputes that Grand Bahama needs better results. American businesses had long complained of overlapping approvals, unclear fees and slow decisions, he said, and Washington would welcome one transparent process with one clear point of accountability. He described the government’s website as beautiful and its Green Paper as impressive, and said the consultation period was welcome. Mr Walker cited American investment in the island’s recovery, including what he described as a $120m redevelopment of the Grand Lucayan resort, Carnival’s Celebration Key cruise port and the Western Atlantic University School of Medicine. “But investors go where the rules hold steady,” he said. On Wednesday, Mr Davis said the change would be made lawfully through Parliament and that “nothing will be done retrospectively”.
GBPA says changes require agreement on Davis’ GB plans By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune News Editor rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE Grand Bahama Port Authority has insisted that its rights under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement “must be respected” and can be changed only by agreement, after Prime Minister Philip Davis declared that whether Freeport’s governance changes was no longer up for negotiation. The GBPA also said much of what Mr Davis announced on Wednesday night had not been shared with it beforehand, and that it needed time to study the proposals before giving a full response. “The Port Authority and its licensees hold rights under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. Those rights must be respected,” the GBPA said in a statement yesterday. “Any proposal to relinquish or vary them must be approached through agreement and demonstrate clear benefits for the local stakeholders whose interests they protect.” Mr Davis spoke at the Grand Bahama Shipyard as the government published a Green Paper on the island’s future. “The present way of governing Freeport will come to an end,” he said. He said he was prepared to discuss the pace of reform but not whether it would happen, and that a private veto was unacceptable. “Whether we change is settled. How we change is yours to shape,” he said. The Hawksbill Creek Agreement was signed in 1955 between the colonial government and the Port Authority, and runs until 2054. In exchange for tax exemptions, it gave the privately owned company powers over the Port Area that elsewhere in The Bahamas belong to government, including who may do business there, who may build and how land is planned. The GBPA is jointly owned by the St George and Hayward families. Mr Davis said of the arrangement: “It is colonial in origin. It is colonial in character. It is unacceptable, and it has outlived its time.” In its response, the Port Authority said the agreement was “never intended to remain static” throughout its 99-year term. It said amendments were agreed in 1960 and 1966 through collaboration between the government of the day and
He said licensees’ lawful rights would be identified, recorded and respected. He told foreign investors that certainty is the strongest incentive a country can offer. The Green Paper sets dates for each stage. Public consultation runs from November 1 to April 30, 2027, with town meetings across the island and written submissions. The government will publish an account of who currently holds each responsibility by January 31, 2027, a White Paper by July 1, 2027, and draft legislation by December 31, 2027. It aims to pass the law in the first quarter of 2028. Mr Davis invited the Port Authority, its shareholders, licensees and staff to take part. Mr Davis also framed the reform as a question of sovereignty. He cited his defence of Bahamian sovereignty at the United Nations General Assembly last month and asked what independence means if it stops at the Port Area boundary. The Port Authority said yesterday that its rights and those of its licensees “must be respected” and could only be varied by agreement. It also said much of what Mr Davis announced had not been shared with it beforehand. The DEA dispute erupted after the government told the US Justice Department that undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents had worked in The Bahamas without authorisation, in the investigation linked to accused drug trafficker Jonathan “Player” Gardiner. “Bahamian officials are concerned that the United States helped to arrest a known drug trafficker?” Mr Walker said at the time. He later said the US “cannot accept the flow of drugs to our shores any longer” and urged the government to work with “its greatest ally”. Attorney General Wayne Munroe responded that foreign agents whose conduct would normally amount to a drug offence could face prosecution if their work had not been authorised. Mr Davis said the dispute was about the process countries follow when they work together. “We ought to take the advice of the ambassador,” he said, adding that people should “wait and see”. Opposition Leader Michael Pintard called the row a “dangerous moment” for The Bahamas and said such disagreements should be
handled diplomatically. Last week he demanded to know in the House of Assembly whether Mr Davis agreed with remarks by the Bahamas’ ambassador in Washington, Wendall Jones. He said the Opposition should be briefed if there was a conflict with the US. In June, the US Embassy barred American government employees from renting jet skis in The Bahamas, citing deaths, injuries and sexual assaults. Mr Walker urged the government to enforce its own
rules. Water sports operators said they feared a 40 percent drop in business. Mr Walker first visited Grand Bahama in June. He said then that he was “shocked” the island had not drawn more American investment and pledged to act as its advocate in New Providence. He ended his article with an offer. “The United States wants Grand Bahama to succeed,” he said. “I have told Bahamian leaders many times that we are ready to do more.”
Rahming rejects claims of strained US relations TENSION from page one negative light for political gain “costs us far more than a news cycle”. “Political advantage lasts for a season. The good name of the Bahamas must outlast every one of us,” he said. He said the US remained The Bahamas’ largest trading partner. “Let them show the Senate a partnership that has been abandoned or a cooperation that has stopped,” he said. “Madam Vice President, they cannot, because that work continues every day.” Yesterday, US Ambassador Herschel Walker took aim at the government’s plan, unveiled by Prime Minister Philip Davis in Freeport on Wednesday night, to end the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s governing role under the 1955 Hawksbill Creek Agreement. He said he had read the announcement “with real concern”. Last month, the government complained to US authorities that undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents had operated in The Bahamas without the knowledge or permission of local authorities. A Bahamian delegation raised the matter with US Justice Department officials. The dispute stems from US court filings in the prosecution of Jonathan Eric “Player” Gardiner, which revealed details of a threeyear DEA investigation involving undercover work in The Bahamas. Mr Walker dismissed the complaint as “fake news”. “Bahamian officials are concerned that the United States helped to arrest a known drug trafficker?” he said. Opposition Leader Michael Pintard called the row a “dangerous moment” for The Bahamas and said disagreements should be handled diplomatically. Mr Rahming said allies
the Port Authority. consent is “That same spirit of required, cooperation should the GBPA guide us today,” it said it welsaid. comed the The GBPA chance to described the proengage posed six-month constructimeframe as ‘ambitively with tious.’ Formal public the governCO-CHAIRMAN GBPA RUPERT HAYWARD consultation on the ment and Green Paper runs from November 1 would make every effort to work with it to April 30, 2027, with public meetings and the wider community. in Freeport, East Grand Bahama and On Wednesday, Mr Davis said West Grand Bahama. A White Paper is the change would be made lawfully due on July 1, 2027, and draft legislation through Parliament and that “nothing by December 31, 2027. The government will be done retrospectively”. He said aims to pass the new law in the first licensees’ lawful rights would be idenquarter of 2028. tified, recorded and respected. He said The Green Paper proposes three the agreement could not simply be reforms. The first is a government-led removed by decree because it is made Grand Bahama Development Council. up of contracts, statutes and concesThe second is a review of the Hawksbill sions, including at least six later Acts Creek Agreement, directed by Attorney of Parliament. He invited the Port General Wayne Munroe KC and lead- Authority, its shareholders and staff to ing to amendments. The third is a Grand take part, saying the company could Bahama Development Act, which have a future as a landowner, develwould create a legal framework for the oper, investor and partner. whole island and offer investment conThe clash follows an international cessions both inside and outside the arbitration. In a partial award on FebPort Area. ruary 27, the tribunal dismissed the The Port Authority warned that the government’s $357m claim against island’s recovery was fragile and urged the Port Authority for administracare not to create further uncertainty tive costs, and rejected seven of the for existing businesses and prospective GBPA’s eight counterclaims. The govinvestors. ernment says the award undermines “After many setbacks, Grand Bahama any claim by the Port Authority to is beginning to see renewed hope and a permanent regulatory franchise opportunity,” it said. “Behind every beyond national law. The GBPA disinvestment decision are livelihoods, putes that reading. employment opportunities and commitIn the bitter exchanges that folments to Grand Bahama’s future.” lowed the ruling in March, GBPA The GBPA said it had long pushed co-chairman Rupert Hayward said it for a modern regulatory framework that was hurtful to see his family portrayed would make it easier to do business and as opposing Bahamian sovereignty. “I make Freeport competitive internation- am not a ‘paper Bahamian’,” he said. ally. It said licensees, the Grand Bahama He also said: “The Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce, the Freeport Port Authority is not going anywhere, Industrial Group, local businesses and and the Government of The Bahamas residents must have a meaningful role is not going anywhere.” in shaping what comes next, through Mr Davis replied: “Both will remain. consultation that lets them meet, be What is changing is the framework heard and influence the outcome. It said within which we coexist.” it had always recognised an important The Green Paper sets out the role for central government, but called island’s decline. Stopover visitors fell for “a measure of decentralisation from from 587,250 in 1995 to 101,077 last Nassau” so that decisions reflect local year, and Grand Bahama’s population needs. fell by 9 percent between 2010 and Despite the gulf over whether its 2022, to 46,740.
sometimes differ, but that disagreements should not be mistaken for a damaged relationship. He said independence gave The Bahamas the right to speak for itself to friends and foes alike. He said anyone in public life who told the world, without evidence, that The Bahamas could not be trusted was doing work that the country’s old detractors once did for themselves. “A people who doubt their own standing invite the world to doubt it too,” he said. He said the government supported the rule of law and would let the process run its course and “the chips fall where they may”. He said The Bahamas had never asked for special treatment, but would not accept unfair treatment either. Mr Walker used similar language in his article. “We are not asking for special treatment for American companies,” he said. He said the US was asking the government to honour existing commitments to Freeport investors, publish the details of its framework and consult before deciding. Mr Davis said on Wednesday that the Freeport reform would be made lawfully through Parliament, that “nothing will be done retrospectively”, and that licensees’ lawful rights would be identified, recorded and respected. Public consultation on the plan runs from November 1 to April 30, 2027. On the DEA dispute, Mr Davis has said his government has nothing to fear from agents targeting criminals, but that there is a process countries must follow when they work together. “We ought to take the advice of the ambassador,” he said earlier this month, urging the public to “wait and see”. Mr Rahming spoke as senators debated the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
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PAGE 4, Friday, October 23, 2026
THE TRIBUNE
Rick Fox calls for power sovereignty amid blackouts By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net SENATOR Rick Fox questioned the Davis administration’s priorities during Senate debate yesterday as he lamented repeated blackouts, shortcomings in the healthcare system and outstanding debt while criticising the government for finding money to fund a royal visit. Mr Fox launched a wide-ranging attack on the government during debate on the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2026 and the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2026. He pointed to widespread protests in Paris over the cost of living and public services, saying he hoped The Bahamas would not experience similar unrest. “But history teaches us every government the same lesson: when people are ignored long enough, they stop asking politely. Let us not wait to find out how long is long enough,” the former NBA star added. Mr Fox said the government’s priorities appeared to be the
monarchy, debt, cruise ships and foreign interests, with Bahamians coming last. He also mentioned Prime Minister Philip Davis’ recent address to the United Nations on national sovereignty and empowering small island states, arguing that those principles must be reflected in the government’s actions at home. “At home, we choose our language depending on who we are looking to impress,” he added. Mr Fox argued that reliable electricity was essential to achieving data sovereignty and developing artificial intelligence infrastructure, He said the country could not pursue those ambitions while struggling to maintain a stable power supply. “What we need, Madam Vice President, is power sovereignty, grid sovereignty, the kind of sovereignty you can feel when you flip on a switch,” he added, “And this isn't about PLP or FNM. This is a problem we all share. It's a Bahamian problem. All hands need to be on deck. But it'll get solved only if we solve the order of our priorities.”
Mr Fox also referenced plans to rename Columbus Primary School as part of efforts to move beyond the country’s colonial history, but questioned why the government would not go further by renaming Prince Charles Drive. He challenged the government to place reparatory justice and full economic independence on the agenda for the King’s visit next week. “Occasionally, we posture like we want to be the next Barbados, and then we acquiesce and roll out the red carpet for the crowd. Out of one side of our mouth we talk tough. Out of the other we bow,” he added. Senator Latrae Rahming later objected on the grounds of relevance. Mr Fox maintained that his remarks were relevant to the anti-terrorism legislation under debate. Mr Rahming asked whether he was calling the King a terrorist. Mr Fox replied that he was debating anti-terrorism and argued that terrorism took many shapes and forms. “It can be super oppressive,” he added.
FNM SENATOR RICK FOX
EDUCATION FOUNDATION GETS $500K IN PLEDGES TOWARDS $300M NEED By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net DONORS pledged about $500,000 at the launch of a new education foundation on Tuesday, less than one percent of the $300m Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Science and Technology Chester Cooper says his ministry needs to transform the country’s schools. The Bahamas Education, Science and Technology (BEST) Foundation is an independent non-profit organisation, overseen by a private sector-led board of directors, created to attract business investment and
philanthropic donations for public education. It was launched during a ceremony at Baha Mar, where the ministry also unveiled a new logo and a roadmap for the education system. Mr Cooper revealed the pledges while speaking to reporters yesterday. He welcomed the early support and said he hoped the private sector would do more to advance what he called a “revolution in education”. He said his ministry receives about $400m from government, but a significant portion goes towards salaries and allowances. He estimated that a further $300m is needed for infrastructure, technology
and the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI). “Every bit helps,” he said. Mr Cooper said the ministry plans significant new initiatives, pointing to the recently launched Young Innovators Club, a focus on special education, building capacity and assessments, and a heavy emphasis on vocational training. He said the country must also build new modern schools with cutting-edge technology and a BTVI campus, and that he hoped the business and investment community would offer significant support. The launch featured video messages from Family Island education officials DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER & MINISTER OF EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CHESTER COOPER describing what students and teachers are going without. Abaco’s District Superintendent, also named Chester Cooper, recalled a house fire last year that left students without their belongings. The school community rallied to help them, the superintendent said. “It wasn’t enough, but of course it went a long way in assisting those students because they would’ve lost all of their possessions,” he said. The superintendent said meaningful progress would mean making sure students have what they need to succeed in the classroom, and that extra funding could help families hit by sudden hardship. Don Barr, district superintendent for Exuma, Cat Island, Long Island and Ragged Island, called for free, well-equipped special education centres for students on the autism spectrum. He said schools
in his district sometimes pay national examination fees for students whose families cannot afford them, and sometimes help cover emergency flights for students who need medical care when their parents cannot pay. South Central Bahamas District Superintendent Andrew Dean said Family Island schools lack basic science equipment, including microscopes, beakers and test tubes, leaving students unable to do experiments. He said they also need reliable internet, books, computers, televisions and interactive screens, and should have the same resources as schools in New Providence.“ Not because a child is in Mayaguana, it means that supplies should be a disadvantage to them,” Mr Dean said. “No, I think every student should have access to an equal opportunity in education.”
Students also spoke at the launch. Roneika Joseph, a student at SC McPherson Junior High who said she is interested in science and technology, called for more investment in modernising public school classrooms so students can compete with their private school counterparts and on the global stage. According to the foundation, it is meant to complement rather than replace government spending on education, and its governing framework provides for an independent annual audit and annual reporting. The launch also included the ministry’s new strategic plan, which targets an 85 percent graduation rate by 2030. In a national address in August, Mr Cooper said there were 67 special education units and programmes across the country, 22 of them in the Family Islands.
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THE TRIBUNE
Friday, October 23, 2026, PAGE 5
Munroe questions family’s claims of prison neglect INMATE from page one has accused prison officials of failing to consistently give him medication he had bought himself before returning to custody, including one drug she said cost nearly $300. She alleged he was supposed to be housed in the prison infirmary but spent about a month in the intake section before being moved to an area with no air conditioning, where he frequently lost electricity and was far from the infirmary. She also said he complained so often about prison food that he sometimes barely ate, relying on meals bought by relatives. By the time doctors discussed discharging him from hospital, after two medical episodes had left him unable to speak or move one side of his body, he cried at the prospect of being returned to prison, she said. The family was told officials were concerned about taking him back to the prison infirmary because it was on the second floor and his size would make it difficult to get him upstairs. “We represent the government,” Mr Munroe said,
“so if those people feel that they have the evidence to prove that, because he died in custody at prison, there could be a coroner’s inquest, and then the matter goes from there.” Under the Coroners Act, a death in custody must be reported to the coroner, and a coroner who opens an inquiry into the death of a prisoner must hold an inquest. The Attorney General is entitled to appear at inquests and receives the coroner’s findings. “I’m not understanding how they could have that feeling or come to that conclusion,” Mr Munroe said. He said he did not think relatives were allowed inside the prison. He claimed the prison has a full medical department, including psychiatrists, and that Jean-Baptiste was housed right next to it. When a doctor and his team felt they could not manage him, they sent him to hospital, Mr Munroe said. Last week, National Security Minister Myles LaRoda said prison officials were confident Jean-Baptiste had received adequate care. He said the commissioner of corrections had advised him that Jean-Baptiste was
ATTORNEY GENERAL WAYNE MUNROE unwell when he entered prison, was referred to hospital for treatment and was then returned to the institution, where he was housed in a dormitory near the infirmary rather than in a cell and had access to medication. Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville has since said his ministry is investigating whether Jean-Baptiste received adequate treatment and
whether his transfer to Princess Margaret Hospital could have been expedited. Dr Darville said preliminary findings indicated he had received medication and treatment while incarcerated. Ms Jean Baptiste rejected the government’s position. She said the family needed further legal proceedings to secure his release, but he died before they could pursue them.
In July, the Court of Appeal rejected Jean-Baptiste’s challenge to his sentences, ruling that his medical conditions did not justify reducing them or replacing them with a non-custodial penalty. It revoked his bail and ordered him back to prison to serve the remainder of concurrent sentences of three years for possession of an unlicensed firearm and two
years for possession of ammunition. During the appeal, consultant urologist Dr Robin Roberts warned that Jean-Baptiste’s conditions placed him at high risk of serious complications, including another pulmonary embolism and potwentially fatal infection. The court placed greater weight on prison physician Dr Scavella, who said the institution could manage his illnesses and transfer him to Princess Margaret Hospital if specialised treatment became necessary. The court said he could seek relief through the Prerogative of Mercy if prison authorities could not provide adequate care. Jean-Baptiste was convicted on November 10, 2025, after police found a firearm containing five rounds of ammunition in his vehicle during a traffic stop in April 2023. He was granted bail on medical grounds the following month. His sister said his death had devastated his family, including his three children. She described him as an outgoing man known through his work as a boat captain.
Colombian accused of working with corrupt police set to change plea PLEA from page one Court for the Southern District of New York on November 5 at 11am. In a new filing, US Attorney Jonathan Bodansky asked the court to schedule the hearing on any date between November 2 and 5, and the request was granted. In the US federal system, a change-of-plea hearing is where a defendant who has denied the charges can formally plead guilty, usually under an agreement with prosecutors. If Steele-Pomare admits the charge, he will be only the second of the 13 people named in the 2024 indictment to do so. The first was former Royal Bahamas Defence Force Chief Petty
Officer Darrin Alexander Roker, who pleaded guilty to cocaine importation conspiracy and was sentenced to four years in prison. In February, prosecutors told the court that negotiations were continuing over a possible plea deal to resolve the case before trial. The indictment describes Steele-Pomare as a ‘narcotics broker’ who introduces Colombian and Bahamian drug traffickers so they can work together to distribute cocaine to the US. He is accused of coordinating shipments by air and sea, working closely with corrupt police officers, and carrying drug proceeds, typically by air, to and from The Bahamas. The cocaine importation conspiracy charge carries a
mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison and a maximum of life. Roker avoided the minimum by pleading to a lesser offence, his lawyer said at the time. Among the other defendants are Curtis, former RBPF Sergeant Prince Albert Symonette, another Bahamian, William Simeon, and Gardiner. Curtis, who headed the RBPF’s Airport Division, and Symonette are accused of each accepting about $10,000 in October 2023 as a down payment for helping a 600kg cocaine shipment pass through Lynden Pindling International Airport. They allegedly offered armed protection and firearms for drug shipments passing through The
Funeral Service for Donnalee (lie) Elizabeth Higgs-Evans, 67 of New Providence will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, 24th October, 2026 at St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral, West Hill Street. Officiating will be Fr. Glen C. Nixon assisted by other members of the clergy. Interment will follow in Catholic Cemetery, Tyler Street. Left to cherish Donnalee precious memories are her Children: Natasha, Linda, and Lindell Evans; Grandchildren: Demetri Evans-Armstrong, Leivana EvansAnderson; Brothers: Bernard Higgs (Deborah), Dwight Higgs (Jacinta), Albert Higgs, and Gregory Higgs. Sisters: Angela Higgs, Pamela Higgs, and Charlene Dorsette; Nieces and Nephews: Kenya Higgs-Moss (Ricardo), Kendra Bowe, Kenria Kelly, Kenice Samuels (Ryan), Kenneth Higgs (Xavia), and Kenrick Higgs, Bernard Higgs Jr. and Lemoyne Higgs, Shantel (Dwayne) McKenzie, Kyle Garland, Tara (Kencil) Smith, Dwina Higgs, Cecilia (Paul) Okwesili, Dwight Higgs Jr., Antonio, Alexa and Shantanna Higgs, Lucas Mathew Jerez, Paula (Valentino) Woodside, Anastacia (Rodney) Davis, Anjanicka (Sharon) Davis, Angelo Limage, LaTia Spence, Gregory (Daphne) Jr., Shaquann (Brittany), Lagrea Higgs, Gregranique and Francesco Higgs, Royann and James Poitier, Jeroime Higgs, Devon Higgs, Franklyn Dorsett, Frankila (Lambert) Sands, and Leonardo Dorsett. May Her Soul Rest In Peace! Friends may pay their last respects at the church on Saturday, 24th October, 2026 from 9:00 a.m. until service time.
Bahamas. The indictment also alleges that Curtis claimed a high-ranking Bahamian politician would facilitate the movement of drugs in exchange for $2m. According to a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) affidavit, undercover agents posing as members of an international drug trafficking organisation met the defendants several times, and many of the meetings were recorded. Gardiner, a convicted drug smuggler who was arrested after surviving an
Election Day plane crash, is accused of taking part in the conspiracy between May 2021 and May 2026. He faces cocaine conspiracy and firearms charges in New York and has pleaded not guilty. He faces similar charges in a separate prosecution in Georgia. Separate US court filings allege that an unidentified senior Bahamian politician met an undercover DEA source inside a Parliament building in October 2024 to discuss a proposed $30m cocaine shipment. US authorities say it is the same
politician whose name was handwritten on an envelope of cash found with Gardiner on the day of the crash. Gardiner has since sought dismissal of the charges, arguing that delays in bringing the case have prejudiced his defence. He has also asked for the $30,000 seized during his arrest to be returned. Gardiner and the other defendants who have not pleaded guilty are due to stand trial on March 1, 2027, before US District Judge Lewis J Liman, who was recently assigned the case.
PAGE 6, Friday, October 23, 2026
THE TRIBUNE
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Publisher/Editor 1903-1914
SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH,
Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt . Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991
RT HON EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON,
C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B. Publisher/Editor 1972-
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The family affair THIS weekend the Free National Movement will meet to determine its way forward. The conclave, self-branded by the party’s current leader Michael Pintard as a “family affair”, should be anything but that. Mr Pintard is seeking to hold on to power within the organization by the tips of his fingers. He knows that his time is up, but is seeking to quell any move against him. Yesterday he posted on Facebook a message of “fellowship” with his deputy leader, calling him his “right hand”. The funny thing about that post is there was not one photo of the two together embracing, or being cordial. Mr Shanendon Cartwright has been sidelined by Michael Pintard in a naked attempt to stifle his rise within the party. Having lost his race in the St James constituency, political observers were left baffled when the deputy leader of their party was not offered a seat in the Senate, where the voice of Mr Cartwright would have been heard loud and clear. Instead, loyalists to Pintard were elevated. This is a long-standing practice of “padding the voting block” to protect the leader for exactly what this weekend is designed to do — course correction. Under Michael Pintard, the FNM has experienced loss after loss after loss. The party’s crushing defeat in the last general election should have seen Pintard resigning that night. However, he played the long game, and delayed and delayed until the party was forced to bring forth former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. Mr Ingraham, never one to mince words, told FNMs in August in the presence of Pintard that their job was to now “find a leader who could win”. Not recalibrate. Not reimagine. Go and find. That message was unambiguous. The Bahamian people would recall this was the same Hubert Ingraham who Pintard had to
lean on to draw crowds and excitement in the lead-up to the last election, as he alone could not. It was painful to see, therefore, Pintard turn on Mr Ingraham in the days and weeks following Mr Ingraham’s charge to the party. He rebuked his former party leader. He rebuked a three-time Prime Minister. He then went on to declare that he would be the only person to decide his future while proclaiming that he, and he alone, was the best option for the FNM. That level of narcissism is not only problematic but concerning for an organization that would seek to remain relevant in an evolving political environment. The political stakes extend beyond who occupies the leader’s office. An opposition must persuade voters that it has the judgment, discipline and depth to form a government. That requires room for ambitious colleagues, credible voices and disagreement. If internal advancement depends on loyalty to one individual, the party risks confusing personal allegiance with political strength. Delegates must therefore ask a harder question: what has changed that would make the next electoral outcome different? Familiar slogans and declarations of unity cannot answer it. Neither can a photograph or a carefully worded Facebook post. The answer must involve a credible plan to rebuild public confidence and a change in leadership that can inspire the party’s base and court those who feel disillusioned with the political system. Unless the FNM has an honest and open conversation and follows the urging of Mr Ingraham, they stand to remain in opposition for a long, long time. The party has to determine if it is bigger than the dreams and delusions of one man. That opportunity is now, and the Bahamian people, who have spoken to the organization time and time again, are watching closely.
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Response to the Older Persons Bill, 2026 EDITOR, The Tribune. I HAVE read the Bill in full. As a doctor who has sat at the bedside in Princess Margaret Hospital and in clinics in New Providence and the Family Islands, I welcome it. We need this law. Our population is ageing. We have seen a 28.2% increase in persons 65 and older since 2010. In my practice, I see what the Bill is trying to stop every week. I see the 78-year-old woman with pressure injuries — bed sores — because no one taught the family how to turn her every 2 hours or check for early skin breakdown. I see the man with dementia, now 1,920 Bahamians and counting, who is given the wrong medication, or no medication, because the caregiver does not understand dementia awareness and competency standards — the very training Clause 50(c) finally calls for. I see the older man whose NIB pension is collected on the first of the month and finished by the 3rd by a family member — economic abuse as defined in Clause 2. I see the elderly patient medically fit for discharge, left in a hospital bed for 30, 60, 90 days, not because the family does not love them, but because there is no residential care bed, no community nursing service as promised in Clause 48, no homebased service as promised in Clause 49. So yes — I support the core rights in Part III: general human rights, protection from physical, psychological, sexual and economic abuse (Clauses 17-18), the right to financial self-management (Clause 19), access to healthcare including dementia support and palliative care (Clause 14), and access to places and services (Clause 12-13). But as a Bahamian physician, I must tell the Government: You cannot legislate the family to do what the system has failed to do. My concerns from the wards:
LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net 1. The 72-hour rule will punish poverty, not abuse. The Bill criminalizes failure to collect a relative and failure to provide food, water, clothing and safe environment. The penalty is up to $50,000 and 5 years. In my experience, abandonment is rarely malice — it is burnout, poverty, and lack of support. A single mother working at Atlantis, a son fishing in Andros with no private nurse, cannot provide 24-hour care alone. If you make them criminals, families will hide patients, not bring them for care. 2. We need infrastructure before enforcement. Clauses 42-57 promise a lot that does not yet exist: a digital portal for social assistance, daycare services (Clause 47), community nursing (Clause 48), home-based services (Clause 49), caregiver support and development (Clause 50), a designated liaison officer to coordinate Family Island travel for appointments (Clause 51), priority access, wheelchair ramps and grab bars (Clause 52), and transport services. As a doctor, I ask: Where are they? Who will staff them? The Bill says the Minister shall promote and facilitate — but my patients need a nurse who will show up on Tuesday to change a catheter, teach wound care, and check for early sepsis. Without funding and manpower in Social Services and Public Health, this Bill is a paper promise. 3. We need prevention, not just protection orders. Clauses 64-66 provide for general and emergency care and protection orders — to remove an older person to a place of safety, with or without consent. That is necessary for real abuse. But in medicine, we prevent admission. We need Clause 44 — public education on abuse, financial literacy, online safety,
dementia risk reduction — to be in every clinic, every church hall, on every ZNS program, in plain language. And we need Clause 50(3) — training for caregivers via workshops, brochures, TV — to actually reach the auntie in Bain Town who is now the sole caregiver for her mother with Alzheimer’s. What I recommend as a physician: 1. Fund care, not just courts. Pair every protection officer (Clause 61) with a community health nurse. Establish the liaison service in Clause 51 immediately — my Family Island patients miss chemotherapy and eye clinic because no one verified their appointment before they spent $300 to fly to Nassau. 2. Create a clear, non-punitive pathway for help. Before a family is charged under the 72-hour rule, let them have a single phone number, a 24-hour helpline, and a documented assessment of financial and physical incapacity. 3. Protect autonomy while protecting from exploitation. As a doctor I see both sides of Clause 19. Let us allow supported decision-making — a trusted child can help manage money — while criminalizing true exploitation. Require banks and NIB to flag unusual withdrawals for persons over 80. 4. Publish and cost the National Older Persons Policy and the National Dementia Strategy within 6 months, not 12. We already know 2,000 Bahamians live with dementia. They cannot wait. I want to grow old in The Bahamas. I want my patients to grow old with dignity. This Bill can be the foundation for that — if it is more than a list of offences. Let it be a guarantee of services. Protect our elders, yes. But let us also support the families and health workers who carry them every day. Respectfully, Dr Jacqueline Penn-Knowles A Bahamian Physician Nassau, Bahamas October 22, 2026.
Lack of confidence and political will to be rid of colonialism EDITOR, The Tribune. THE impending visit of king Charles 3rd to the Bahamas later this month has renewed calls from certain quarters and various groupings for reparations and a formal apology for injustices against peoples of African ancestry, injustices which cannot be swept away by time and history. And as the days and hours tick by, the chants and drumbeat for substantive dialogue and action have become increasingly louder. Emotions have been stirred, and the level of resentment and hostility in the atmosphere (whether rightly or wrongly) is undeniable. I fully agree that peoples of African descent should be fully compensated; the time has long passed; I wouldn’t hold my breath though, because any meaningful talk about reparations and apology cannot even begin, much less be seriously addressed in a one- or two-days visit. “Ain’t nutton ga happen!”. Further, some persons have also renewed calls for the Bahamas to become a republic, which brings me to the main gist of this letter, which is the notion of us swearing to His majesty the King, his heirs and successors. “How can we call ourselves an independent country if we continue to swear allegiance to the
king, his heirs and successors?” some persons argued. But the fact that we continue to swear to the king, his heirs and successors after July 10th 1973 is because the decision was made by our founding fathers to continue that practice perhaps because we were a young nation. But we have now come of age. And so, it was and still is a governmental decision. But the Bahamas is a free, democratic, and independent country. Our governments are to blame; they decided to continue in that tradition; to keep the then Queen Elizabeth and now her son King Charles as head of state. No Bahamian government, at any time since 1973, has even remotely hinted at the prospect of throwing off that last vestige of Colonialism and make the Bahamas a republic like Barbados and a few other Caribbean countries are intending to do or have done. As a nation, we can discontinue the practice of recognising the king as head of state tomorrow, if we so choose. Putting the visit aside, it is a governmental decision, and it will take a government with enough intestinal fortitude to fix it. This one is not on King Charles; it is on us. We seem to be afraid of the unknown. It’s only a perception, but we seem to lack the confidence in our
ability to stand on our own feet, having a mindset which suggests that we still find comfort or solace in wrapping ourselves in the apron of mother England. There is no other way to put it. As a person or a nation, I am aware that there are individual exceptions- it suggests that our minds might not be completely liberated. After fifty years, we still seem afraid or unwilling to server the umbilical cord that attaches us to Great Britain. This decision can be changed either by an act of parliament or by a referendum, whichever is applicable. I sense no urgency or appetite on the part of this administration, or even the one before, or any prior administration for such a change. There has been and continues to be almost a palpable timid energy and a sheer lack of confidence and political will on the part of successive administrations to tackle this issue head on. Perhaps someday, maybe not in my lifetime, we might summon enough delayed courage to clip that umbilical cord, install a president as our head of state, and take our rightful place amongst sister Caribbean countries. We owe it to ourselves. ZEPHANIAH BURROWS Nassau, October 22, 2026.
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, October 23, 2026, PAGE 7
Eight foreign nationals fined $4,600 for immigration offences By KEILE CAMPBELL Tribune Staff Reporter kcampbell@tribunemedia.net A HAITIAN man who told a court he had paid his employer to handle his immigration paperwork, only for the application never to be filed, was among eight foreign nationals fined a combined $4,600 yesterday. Seven Haitians and a Jamaican woman appeared before Senior Magistrate Kendra Kelly. Six were convicted of overstaying their permitted time in The Bahamas,
and two of landing without the permission of an immigration officer. Carlo Liberal, 21, was found in Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera, on October 20, five days past his permitted stay. He told the court he had given his employer money for his immigration paperwork, but the application was never submitted. Magistrate Kelly said it was improper to enter The Bahamas as a visitor and then apply for permission to work, explaining that people seeking work permits must be outside the
country while their applications are processed. Liberal was fined $500 or one month at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services (BDOCS), and deportation was recommended. Judeson Saindelien, 30, also known as Deper Val, Marie Naidjie Estilien, 21, and Love Chandela Estilien, 19, pleaded guilty to overstaying after immigration officers found them in New Providence on October 19. The court heard that Saindelien had overstayed by six months and 29 days, Marie Estilien by
nine months and 28 days and Love Estilien by three months and 21 days. When Marie Estilien tried to explain her circumstances, she told the court she had been working in The Bahamas. Magistrate Kelly said immigration records showed she had entered as a visitor, and that working on those terms was illegal. Saindelien and Marie Estilien were each fined $1,000 or two months at BDOCS. Love Estilien was fined $500 or one month. All three were ordered deported. Aikouze Paul, 29, and Loudni Jille, 20, were
each fined $300 or one month at BDOCS for illegal landing. The pair were found in New Providence on October 8 and told the court they had arrived by boat but could not remember when. Richard-Mos Spee James Joseph, 26, also found in New Providence on October 8, pleaded guilty to overstaying. The court heard his work permit had expired on June 9, 2026, more than three months before he was found. He was fined $500 or one month at BDOCS. Jamaican national Leshana Woodburn, 40, pleaded guilty to
overstaying after immigration officers found her in George Town, Exuma, on October 20. She told the court she had arrived on September 9, 2026, intending to stay for two months, and had already bought a return ticket for November. She was fined $500 or one month at BDOCS, and deportation was recommended. Magistrate Kelly told her immigration authorities could coordinate her departure with a scheduled return flight if she bought a ticket. All defendants except Joseph were told they had seven days to appeal.
Man denies indecent assault of teen but admits stealing $1,750 42-YEAR-OLD ORDERED TO REPORT WEEKLY WHILE By KEILE CAMPBELL Tribune Staff Reporter kcampbell@tribunemedia.net
A MAN accused of indecently assaulting a 16-year-old boy denied the charge in Magistrate’s Court, but admitted stealing $1,750 in a separate case. Kevin Pennerman, of Farrington Road, is alleged to have indecently assaulted the teenager in New
Providence between August 17 and 18, 2026. He pleaded not guilty before Senior Magistrate Kendra Kelly and was granted $9,500 bail with one or two sureties. Under his bail conditions, he must wear an electronic monitoring device and sign in at the Nassau Street Police Station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday before 6pm. His trial is set for
December 9, 2026. In the separate matter, Pennerman pleaded guilty to stealing $1,750 from Diline Joseph by reason of service, a charge that applies to theft by an employee, on August 24, 2026. He was ordered to repay Ms Joseph the full $1,750 and fined $5,000 or one year in prison. Inspector Vernon Pyfrom prosecuted.
Credit union employee accused of stealing more than $20,000 By KEILE CAMPBELL Tribune Staff Reporter kcampbell@tribunemedia.net A WOMAN is accused of stealing more than $20,000 from the Public Workers Co-operative Credit Union over three months, with more than $14,000 allegedly taken in March alone. Karell St Agnes, 28, of
Key West Street, pleaded not guilty to three counts of stealing a combined $20,145.80, funds she allegedly had access to through her employment. She is accused of stealing $3,330.05 between January 16 and January 29, 2026, $2,506.50 between February 2 and February 27, and $14,309.25 between March
2 and March 26. Senior Magistrate Kendra Kelly granted her $9,000 bail with one or two sureties. She must sign in at the Wulff Road Police Station on the first Monday of every month. Her trial is set for January 22, 2027. Inspector Vernon Pyfrom prosecuted.
SCOTIABANK EXPANDS BAHA MAR PARTNERSHIP WITH MULTI-YEAR FESTIVAL SPONSORSHIP SCOTIABANK has expanded its partnership with Baha Mar through a multi-year sponsorship agreement, becoming the presenting sponsor and exclusive financial services partner of the 2026 Bahamas Culinary & Arts Festival. The festival, scheduled for October 21–25 at Baha Mar, brings together local and international culinary and artistic talent while providing opportunities for businesses in the hospitality sector. The bank said the expanded agreement follows its initial involvement in the festival, during which it reported strong engagement with clients and
business leaders. Scotiabank Bahamas vice-president and country head Roger Archer said the sponsorship reflects the bank’s commitment to supporting the Caribbean’s cultural and hospitality industries. “Our expanded partnership with Baha Mar reflects our strong belief in the Caribbean’s future and in the unique power of culture to bring people together, inspire new opportunities, and contribute to sustainable economic growth,” Mr Archer said. “As Presenting Sponsor, we are proud to help create a world-class platform that celebrates the extraordinary talent, creativity and
entrepreneurship found across our region, from chefs and artists and local businesses in hospitality.” He said the festival also provides an opportunity for the bank to strengthen relationships with clients and businesses throughout the region. Scotiabank said the partnership complements its Global Arts Programme, which manages nearly 10,000 works of art across its international operations. The bank added that the multi-year agreement is intended to support business development and strengthen its relationships within The Bahamas’ hospitality sector.
From left: Robert Sands, Senior Vice President Baha Mar; John Cox, Vice President Art, Baha Mar; Graeme Davis, President and CEO, Baha Mar; Leslia Brice; Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage; Roger Archer, Vice President and Country Head, Scotiabank
AWAITING MONEY LAUNDERING PROCEEDINGS By KEILE CAMPBELL Tribune Staff Reporter kcampbell@tribunemedia.net A 42-YEAR-OLD man pleaded not guilty to a money laundering charge involving $5,005.50 when
he appeared before Senior Magistrate Kendra Kelly yesterday. Jeremy Johnson, of Cordia Street, is accused of knowingly acquiring the proceeds of crime in New Providence on September 21.
He was granted $3,500 bail with one or two sureties and must sign in at the East Street South Police Station every Friday before 6pm. Inspector Vernon Pyfrom prosecuted.
PAGE 8, Friday, October 23, 2026
THE TRIBUNE
Grand Bahama needs certainty, not another reset By HERSCHEL WALKER US Ambassador to The Bahamas WHEN I arrived in Nassau, I made a simple promise: the United States wants to partner with The Bahamas. Nowhere does that promise matter more than on Grand Bahama. American companies have stayed with Freeport through hurricanes, downturns and decades of uncertainty. Right now they are putting real money behind the island's comeback: a $120 million redevelopment of the Grand Lucayan resort, the opening of Celebration Cay, the establishment of Western Atlantic University School of Medicine, and much more. So, I read Prime Minister Davis's recent announcement on a new governance framework for Grand Bahama with real concern. The Hawksbill Creek Agreement is not a technicality. Since 1955 it has served as the foundation of Freeport. It created a Port Area of about 230 square miles, put the Grand Bahama Port Authority in
charge of running it, and promised investors a stable set of rules in exchange for their capital. Generations of Bahamians found jobs because businesses trusted that promise. Investors from the United States and around the world-built factories, shipyards, hotels and homes on it. The government now proposes to consolidate regulatory and licensing authority in the Port Area under a single government-led framework and revise the role of the GBPA. Nobody disputes that Grand Bahama needs better results. For years, American businesses on the island have told us about overlapping approvals, unclear fees and slow decisions. If the goal is one transparent process with one clear point of accountability, we welcome it. But the way the government makes this change matters just as much as the goal. The Bahamian government has published a beautiful website, an impressive green paper, and a consultation period. We hope that these will continue to address the
US AMBASSADOR TO THE BAHAMAS HERSCHEL WALKER following critical points: Right now, investors on Grand Bahama have more questions than answers: · What happens to existing rights? Licensees signed up under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. Will the government honor their tax and duty treatment, their licenses and their contracts? · Who sets the fees, and
how? Investors need to know who will charge them, on what basis, and how they can appeal. · What is the timeline? "Changes are coming, details to follow" is the most expensive message a government can send to anyone deciding where to put their capital. · Who got a say? The
businesses and workers who keep Freeport running deserve a real role in shaping the rules before the government finalizes them. This concern is not new for me. Earlier this year I raised the overflight fees charged to American airlines and the new tax demands facing cruise lines. Each issue looks narrow on its own. Taken together, they send investors one message: in The Bahamas, the rules can change after you have already made the investment. Grand Bahama cannot afford to send that message, because the island needs patient, long-term capital more than anywhere else in the country. Let me be clear about what the United States is asking for. We are not asking The Bahamas to give up its sovereign right to govern Grand Bahama. We are not asking for special treatment for American companies. We are asking for what Secretary Rubio called for after the Prime Minister's reelection this May: "transparent and reliable economic and infrastructure partnerships that support sustainable
growth." That means three things: 1. Honor existing commitments. Businesses that invested in good faith under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement deserve to keep what they were promised. 2. Publish the details. Release the full framework, the legal basis and the timeline before anything takes effect. 3. Consult before deciding. Bring licensees, investors and Grand Bahamian workers to the table now, not after the fact. The United States wants Grand Bahama to succeed. We want more American visitors in Freeport, more American ships in its harbor and more American investment in its future. I have told Bahamian leaders many times that we are ready to do more. But investors go where the rules hold steady. The people of Grand Bahama have waited long enough for the island's comeback. I am asking the Davis government to make sure this new framework speeds that comeback up rather than putting it at risk.
Davis attends opening ceremony for renovated Mandara Spa
PRIME MINISTER Philip Davis tours Mandara Spa at Atlantis ahead of its reopening after extensive renovations. The upgraded spa features luxurious relaxation lounges, wet and thermal circuits with steam rooms, saunas and cold plunges, a full-service beauty salon, men’s grooming and barbering services, and new Medi-Spa offerings, including advanced aesthetic treatments and IV therapies
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, October 23, 2026, PAGE 9
Diane Phillips
When all it took was
a notepad, pay phone, and you
Traditional media and social media messages, worlds apart in appearance, may also overlap, one reinforcing or re-affirming the other. Voices
produced the Teen Town News, a black and white mimeographed 11x14 tabloid with all the latest school news and gossip. Every Friday night I ran off copies on a mimeograph machine, turning the big wheel that spun paper through and spat it out with print on it, a fact that never ceased to amaze me. It was so popular that I doubled the price from five cents to a dime and still sold out every week. Later, as a reporter for the Palm Beach Post and basically running the South County bureau, I covered coming city council meetings, Photo: Shvetsa/pexels from different places elections, the civil rights with a single thread of thought. But movement, my alma mater their delivery must be slick and compel- FAU still in its infancy, crime and fire. ling to compete for attention from a global I didn’t follow influencers. The concept audience that’s information fatigued. Our had not been invented, nor had the cell message doesn’t need a slick or snazzy phone or internet. What I followed was the coating. It needs compelling content that is scratchy voice of the police radio. My conbased on fact, knowledge, and assessment tacts in police and fire in the multi-city area not just of what this sliver of news means were strong. If a fire broke out or there for today, but what impact it can have on was a drug bust at some ungodly hour, the tomorrow. phone – a landline -- would ring. I knew Their success is based on who looks at their voices, they didn’t have to identify what they produced today and follows themselves when they dropped a hint about them into tomorrow. It’s about them. Ours where to go. I grabbed my young daughter, is harder to measure. It’s not about us. Or threw her on the blanket that I kept on the rarely about us, though the lines are more floor of my light green El Camino truck blurred, as newscasters become quasi-TV and off we went in the middle of the night stars and anchors have their own following. to cover the action. What Jennifer Lopez did as a pioneer After a City Council meeting, I dropped in personal branding in the early 2000s by a dime or a quarter, I don’t remember turning voice, acting, and body into the JLo which, into the pay phone in the hall and brand set the stage for celebrity branding dictated the story. I wrote it as I spoke it, with followers. The unsolved disappear- though sometimes I usually knew the lead ance of Savannah Guthrie’s mother raised by the time I was done dialing the number the Today Show’s following, sadly, through for City Desk. tragedy. At the National Enquirer and Weekly Following tragedy World News where I worked for the legNo one plans a tragedy. Millions follow it. endary Generoso Pope, we had the best of For those of us who have long been at everything, the newest, finest equipment, this work of reporting, providing informa- the best Fleet Street writers, live artists tion, building news libraries, and helping to before the days of apps and software like record or write history, there is one element Photoshop. that will always distinguish what the Alex It took a true artist to doctor a photo of Wolff’s do from what we did – it’s the how, a heavy Elvis or Carole Burnett or Mary the means, and methods. Tyler Moore. Pope wanted to bring in the When stories were a bike ride away latest technology, electric typewriters. When I began my ‘career’ at 14, I rode Every writer got one – and almost every a bike and collected photos, which I ped- writer rejected it. After two weeks, they dled back to the Boca Raton News where, begged to go back to their manual Royal in exchange for my writing the weekly or Underwood. The sound of the electric birthdays, weddings and obituaries, they let motor was too much pressure to produce me write a teen column. In high school, I the next few words.
Marvel of the IBM Selectric The IBM Selectric with its ink ball revolutionized the act of telling a story. It was a marvel. Less than six months after it was introduced in 1961, there were orders for 80,000. By 1986 – just 25 years later – there were 13 million IBM Selectrics in use. When I moved to The Bahamas 44 years ago, I worked on one and found it amazingly state-of-the-art. Then the even more amazing word processor came along. You could correct a mistake up to 17 letters back without having to start all over again, yank your paper out of the machine, insert new, and start all over again, typing from the top of the page. The PC revolution, nearly 300 million units later It all seems like ancient history now, yet it was not that long ago. The world of how we tell our story, how we attract those who will follow, faced its greatest change when the PC was invented. Then came the laptop (some 220 million of them have been sold to date!) In 2025, the total number of laptops and desktops reached 278 million, creating a $250 billion market with all the accessories. Stories began to spread via phone, first text, then all the social media channels a Smart phone could get. Memes
Photo: Pavel Danilyuk/pexels
IF you are reading these words on publication day, October 23, it’s likely I will be delivering similar ones to the most unlikely of audiences – high level content creators. The fact that I was invited to speak to a group of renowned people who do what I have absolutely no idea how to do was as anathema to me as those creators believing that banking is something you do inside a bank. Yet the invitation to address such an august group of hundreds at a gathering organized by Janay Symonette and Bevy Agency with world-famous creators was too tempting to ignore and too challenging to refuse. Despite my worries that I’d be like a rhino trying to pass as a kitten, I recognize there is nothing like a good challenge to keep the mind greased and the body refreshed. Taking on challenges so long as they don’t involve climbing mountains like Kilimanjaro--which I can’t even spell, let alone climb--makes the difference between staying relevant and becoming a relic. So what does someone like me have to offer to those who can whip out a Tik Tok video faster than I can sign into my account? They want to know about branding. I want to know how to turn my playlist into a user-friendly Spotify whatchamacallit. Another pot of coffee later – yes, a pot, not a pod – and I understand the connection between their world and mine, the one I started in a half a century ago and have plodded through every day since, most holidays included. It’s all about messaging. Theirs is a world built on how the messaging looks, sounds, and feels when it is delivered and how the messenger is perceived. Will he or she move up in the rankings? Will they be recognized and rewarded? Will they be a creator or an influencer? Mine is based on the information it delivers. More often than not, to attract attention, theirs has pizzazz. It’s fun. Content creators shun scandal You don’t see content creators reporting a murder or revealing the latest twist in a scandal. Mine is hard news, features, human interest, threats to a fragile environment, a court case, the story of a child with special needs who stuns everyone with a singular engineering feat. We are not so different as we are similar in many ways. I won’t be posting about the hottest look in sandals. They won’t be creating content about pending legislation, but both of us will jump on it when there is a matter of public interest – their posts on protecting the environment will be every bit if not more powerful than mine. Their recipes for a perfect holiday meal might take a few shortcuts, but if I write tightly, mine will be similar. Where the real difference lies goes beyond the method of delivery. For influencers trying to build their brand, what they do is about them. It’s intended to make them the centrepiece. JLo set the stage As I, and others do by contributing the musings we do, we focus externally, on the subject, not ourselves. Our delivery requires another route, through media, not a self-constructed platform. For that, we depend on relationships. They deliver through channels. They build their reputation on platforms. We build ours on the news we uncover, analyze, report, share. Our placement of our reporting requires that third party. And in doing so, it becomes more personal. We work with people upon whose good graces we depend, news editors of TV, radio, print – the media. We build relationships with clients whose stories we tell and whose products or services we may help enhance. We help them build relationships through networking. We are the connectors.
flew back and forth faster than all the airplanes in the sky at any given time. Today there are eight billion cell phones in use, the equivalent of one for every man, woman, child, and infant. So where does this leave us? Content creation is not new. What is new is the means by which it is prepped and delivered. For all the greats, like TV host and creator Lolo Wood; Alex Wolf, one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business; and Grammy-winning producer Bryan-Michael Cox, there were the predecessors. Like Edward R Murphy, whose voice explained wars to us; Barbara Walters, whose probing personal interviews produced laughter and tears and gave us close-ups of hundreds, including Fidel Castro; Bob Woodward, whose reporting brought down a president; and Brian Moss, who with the testimony of people like Norman Solomon brought down the crime cartel of Colombia and the Colombian flag that flew over Norman’s Cay, a symbol of the shame that smeared The Bahamas for its blatant condoning of the drug trade. And, if there is a lesson to be learned from all of this, it is this: In the end, it’s not the means of the message, but the honesty on which it is built and the relationships that guarantee it will be heard. No matter how easy it is to post something without ever having to come into contact with or pump the flesh of a human, it is, in the end, the human touch and interaction that matters. When there is a crisis, when there is a sense of urgency, when there is an outbreak or an injustice that must be righted, it’s people who make it happen and relationships that make it better. In the end, it’s about trust and relationships. Our dependence on technology, our absorption of the content others create, no matter how remarkable or popular, shall never erase the power of the personal touch. Don’t get swept away by the metrics. In the end, it’s people and relationships that matter. There’s room for both worlds and a better world for all when they intersect.
A humble oyster pail turned takeout icon: The American story of the Chinese food carton By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press
A CHINESE takeout container with fried rice inside is photographed in Phoenix, May 12, 2026. AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills
NEW YORK (AP) — It's an icon, that small white receptacle made from a single piece of cardboard folded into a trapezoid-shaped box. Sometimes there's a wire handle, sometimes a bright red graphic of a Chinese-style pagoda on the side. And inside, deliciousness. The Chinese takeout container — at least, as it's commonly seen in the United States — is actually about as American as it gets, with its mix of ingenuity, immigrant cultures becoming homegrown staples, and
the desire for convenience (also known as sitting at home in your PJs.) The idea of what is essentially a paper bucket dates to 1894, when inventor Frederick Weeks Wilcox was granted a patent for what he called "a new and useful improvement" for pails used to carry oysters. A single piece of material would be folded in such a way that it would have structural stability while also limiting the ways it could leak, and also incorporate a lid. That's the container. What about the contents we assume are inside it? Chinese immigrants started coming to the U.S. in the mid-1800s, taking part in the Gold Rush and working to help build the railroads. The communities they created, known as Chinatowns, rose up in places like San Francisco and later around the country. They included eating spots where the foundations of an Americanized style of Chinese food was laid. After World War II, there was a "real profusion of Chinese restaurants,
diversifying away from just chop suey and chow mein ... we see this explosion of interest and growth in Chinese food," says Michelle King, professor of Chinese history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Crucially, it was also the start of an association in the public mind of Chinese food with cheaper prices, availability and convenience, she said. And restaurant owners wanted to be considered accessible, for which takeout played a part, she said. "You need to take it home, you have a dinner party you want to cater for, we can do that for you, right?" King says. At some point in the 1970s, at a packaging company then known as Fold-Pak, the pagoda design was added, sometimes along with words printed in a font used to stereotypically evoke an association with Chinese culture. "It kind of becomes claimed as a Chinese American food eatery item, like the pizza box or something like that might be for Italian food," King said.
PAGE 10, Friday, October 23, 2026
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World News
Foreign citizen beaten to death during march in South Africa as antiimmigrant tensions flare By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A foreign citizen was beaten to death by a group of around 50 people during a protest march in South Africa's east coast city of Durban, police said Thursday, as anti-immigrant tensions continue to flare in Africa's most advanced economy. Police said the group approached the man, who was standing at the side of a road during a march through the streets of Durban's city center, and assaulted him.
Police did not immediately give the man's nationality or details on what the march was related to. They said the victim was in his 30s or early 40s, and they were still trying to identify suspects in the attack. South Africa has struggled with months of anti-immigration tensions. Marches calling for government action against migrants in the country illegally have sometimes spilled over into violence. Nigeria, Mozambique, Malawi and other countries have said some of their citizens have been killed in xenophobic
A Malawian migrant jumps over a barricade as the police officer manage the queue for their deportation at a temporary centre, in Durban, South Africa, Thursday, June 18, 2026. AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File
Santa celebrates early!
Santa and bellhops pose in front of the Selfridges’ Christmas windows during a media preview in London, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. AP Photo/Kin Cheung
attacks linked to the anti-immigration protests. South African authorities have disputed some of those claims and said some deaths were related to criminal activity and not the protests. Tens of thousands of migrants have left South Africa in recent months in one of the biggest mass exoduses in years. Many cite the threat of violence from angry locals, though the government also said that many were deported for not having the proper documents to be in South Africa. As Africa's biggest economy, South Africa attracts migrants from many nations on the continent, but that has sometimes brought tensions within communities because of the country's extremely high unemployment rate and overburdened public services. Durban, South Africa's third biggest city of nearly four million people, has become a hotspot for the anti-immigrant tensions that have surged this year. In June, thousands of migrants mainly from Malawi gathered at a park in the city seeking to be repatriated to their home country. They claimed they were fleeing threats of violence after a
protest group demanded undocumented migrants leave South Africa by June 30. The camp of migrants seeking to leave grew so quickly that authorities had to build more temporary accommodation centers to handle the numbers. This month, cars were torched and shops were looted in the Johannesburg township of Soweto after a court ruling made it easier for foreign citizens to claim asylum in South Africa, leading to many making applications at government buildings and sparking a reaction from locals. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has denounced violence related to immigration but has also acknowledged failures in the border control system over years that have allowed migrants to travel to and stay in South Africa without documentation. South Africa's official government figures show there are around 2.4 million foreign nationals among the country's population of 62 million, but protesters say there are many more in South Africa without documentation who haven't been counted.
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, October 23, 2026, PAGE 11
Angela’s story: finding a new life after retirement By BRITNEY DEAN bdean@tribunemedia.net
WHEN Angela Ferguson retired from the Public Hospitals Authority and told her children she was going to look for a job, they had another idea. “They told me mommy, don’t go look for no job,” she said, “take that retirement money and get yourself a hot dog cart, and a Jeep to pull it.” Four years later, the woman known as “Fox Hill Anne” is up around 4am every day, loading her Jeep for another shift selling hot dogs outside St Paul’s Methodist Church in Fox Hill. She told The Tribune that one thought drove her into business: “I’m not sitting down.” The money that comes in each day matters to her more than she expected. Asked what it means to earn an income of her own, Ms Ferguson said: “It means so much to me because when I was working we got paid by the month. Here you make something every day; even if it’s only a dollar. It means a lot to me.” Ms Ferguson spent 11 years at the PHA, where she was a supervisor in the housekeeping department. She had never cooked for anyone but herself and had never been in the food business. With her children’s encouragement, she bought the equipment she needed and started out.
“Hotdogs are the easiest thing,” she said. The hardest part, she said, is the prep. She began at Christie Park before moving to her current spot at St Paul’s. Her days have the same rhythm as her working life, only now the job is her own. “It’s just like getting up every morning to go to PHA, now I am working for myself,” she said. Packing the Jeep and heading out each morning feels like any normal day, she said, and she likes it that way. Running the business has also changed how she deals with people. She said working for herself has taught her how to treat customers and how to talk to them. “That’s what brings them back,” she said. Her story comes as The Bahamas’ population grows older. The official retirement age is 65, with early retirement possible from 60. A 2024 Inter-American Development Bank report found that the number of Bahamians aged 60 and over had reached 48,000 by 2020, and projected that the group will make up 27.1 percent of the population by 2050. The report said many seniors face fixed incomes and rising living costs, and that ageism makes it harder for them to find jobs or start businesses. The IDB and the government
agreed to split the cost of a $700,000 project to help older Bahamians become entrepreneurs. Ms Ferguson said retirement is not about slowing down, and she urged other retirees to stay active. “When you sit down and mope about, you just get older,” she said. “You just get up and go make things happen for yourself.”
PROPIETOR of Anne’s Hotdogs talks about her past as a PHA employee, and her experience in working her retirement job selling hotdogs in Fox hHill by St Paul’s church on October 21, 2026
Photos by Chappell Whyms, Jr
PAGE 12, Friday, October 23, 2026
THE TRIBUNE
Nearly 700 students attend Grand Bahama Career Fair NEARLY 700 high school students explored career opportunities in industries ranging from tourism and maritime services to healthcare and technology during the fifth annual Innovate Grand Bahama High School Career Fair. The event, hosted by the Ministry for Grand Bahama at the City of Life on October 15, brought together 23 businesses and government agencies to provide students in grades nine through 12 with information about career paths and employment opportunities. Minister for Grand Bahama Ginger Moxey encouraged students to take advantage of the event, noting that millions of dollars are being invested in tourism, maritime services, healthcare, education and infrastructure on the island. She said the career fair was established five years ago to help prepare young Bahamians to participate in the island’s developing economy. “We created a platform
where companies connected with bright young minds and link career preparation to economic development happening on the island,” Ms Moxey said. She stressed that preparing students for future employment requires exposing them to different industries and the skills needed to enter them. “The Government of The Bahamas is focused on bridging our nation’s skills gap now more than ever. Building a stronger economy requires more than attracting investments in development and restructure. It also requires investing in people and preparing our youth to participate in the economy we are building,” she said. Participating organisations included the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Ministry of Tourism, Freeport Container Port, Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation, Bahamas Air Navigation Services Authority, Celebration Key, Buckeye Partners, Bahamas Customs, Freeport Airport
Development, Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute, Bahamas Immigration, Grand Bahama Shipyard, JMAC Construction, Grand Bahama Power Company, Grand Bahama Health Services and Waterkeepers Bahamas. Students also received information about careers in medicine, nursing and dentistry. Ms Moxey highlighted other government initiatives aimed at preparing young people for employment, including the Innovate242 Agricultural Initiative, Maritime 101 Cadet Programme and the recently introduced Young Innovators Club National Pilot Programme, which involves students in Grand Bahama, New Providence and Abaco. She said the programmes were designed to help students develop practical skills, explore their interests and prepare for careers in emerging and established industries. Ms Moxey also thanked participating businesses,
THE MINISTRY of Grand Bahama played host to nearly 700 students at its Fifth Annual Innovate Grand Bahama High School Career Fair where Minister for Grand Bahama Ginger Moxey encouraged the youngsters to take full advantage of the resources being made available to them at the City of Life on October 15, 2026. Photos: Andrew Miller/BIS government agencies and industry representatives for sharing their knowledge and experience with students. “Your willingness to share your knowledge, experiences and professional insights can make a
lasting difference in the life of a student discovering
a career path for the first time,” she said.